Coventry Inspiration Book Awards: The Last Evictions

The fifth and final books are evicted from the competitions this week leaving the top three in each category.

What’s The Story?

Reception and Key Stage 1 say goodbye to Number 7 Evergreen Street by Julia Patton. Pea lives in a flat at Number 7 Evergreen Street. It’s a grey building in a grey street, in a grey city. Inside the building, however, it’s not grey at all. Pea and her parents have lots of amazing, colourful neighbours. One day, an army of construction workers turn up on the street and start putting up brand new buildings. When it looks like Number 7 Evergreen Street is going to be demolished, Pea has to think quickly to save her and her neighbours homes.

Your final three are:

Telling Tales

This week we lose Too Small Tola by Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu. Three delightful stories about Too Small Tola, a young girl who, though small, is very determined. Tola lives in a flat in Lagos with her sister, Moji, who is very clever; her brother, Dapo, who is very fast; and Grandmummy, who is very bossy. Tola proves to be stronger than she seems when she goes to market with Grandmummy and manages to carry home a basket full of yams and vegetables, chilli peppers and fish. When the taps in the flat don’t work, it’s Tola who brings water from the well, and it’s Tola who saves the day when Mr Abdul, the tailor, needs his goods to be delivered quickly.

Your final three are:

Hooked On Books

This week, we leave the Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell. When Arthur, Ren and Cecily investigate a mysterious explosion on their way to school, they find themselves trapped aboard The Principia – a scientific research ship sailing through hazardous waters, captained by one Isaac Newton. Lost in the year 2473 in the Wonderscape, an epic in-reality adventure game, they must call on the help of some unlikely historical heroes, to play their way home before time runs out.

Your final three are:

Make sure you vote for your winner:  https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/140/coventry_inspiration_book_awards

 

And finally, as the sun is out at last and it’s half term next week, I’m sharing The Lost Book Of Adventure from the notebooks of the Unknown Explorer. A facsimile edition of the tattered notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer, this love letter to the wild details everything you need to know about how to live and thrive in nature, from the principles of treehouse building to wilderness first aid.


If you are reading this, it means my notebooks have been found. I am leaving them here at camp for safekeeping along with a few other belongings that I won’t be taking with me. The notebooks are a lifetime’s worth of knowledge, which I’m passing on the you.

So reads an excerpt from the weatherworn letter discovered by nature enthusiast Teddy Keen on a recent trip to the Amazon, along with sketchbooks filled with details of extraordinary adventures and escapades, expedition advice and survival methods, annotated with captivating coloured-pencil drawings. It is thought that the sketchbooks were created for two young relatives of the author. Drawing on Teddy’s knowledge of the outdoors, the pages of the sketchbooks have been carefully transcribed for young readers, as they were originally intended.

You’ll be transported by riveting adventure tales from around the globe, like being dragged off by a hyena in Botswana, surviving a Saharan dust storm, being woken by an intrepid emperor penguin in Antarctica and coming face-to-face with a venomous bushmaster (one of the most dangerous snakes on the planet) – all told in lyrical prose and illustrations that wonder at the mysterious beauty of the wild.

Having inspired the adventurous spirit in you, the Unknown Adventurer encourages you to set out on your own adventure with information on wild camping, rafting, exploration, and shelters and dens, plus tips on first aid and tying knots. Expert instructions on wilderness basics, like building a fire, what to do if you get lost, and how to build various types of shelters are accompanied by more specific skills culled from many years of experience, like baking campfire bread, creating a toothbrush from a twig, making a suture from soldier ants and even how to pan for gold.

Find your way back to your primal self with the immersive text and glorious colour artwork of this one-of-a-kind adventure book.

REMEMBER: be good, be adventurous… and look after your parents.