Coventry Inspiration Book Awards: The First Evictions

It’s time to say goodbye to the first books in this year’s competition. Make sure you keep voting so that your favourite book doesn’t get voted out!

What’s The Story? said goodbye to I Don’t Like Books. Never Ever. The End by Emma Perry and Sharon Davey. Mabel hates books. She gets given loads of them but has no interest in reading them whatsoever. Instead of reading them, she uses them for all sorts of things, from juggling to sledging, but she never looks at the stories inside. One night, the books have had enough and piled up in her bedroom they come alive. The stories jump out of their covers and off the pages so that they can show Mabel their story worlds. She is intrigued by a detective adventure, excited by the chance to board a spaceship and take a trip to the moon, delighted by the thought of accompanying a knight on his quest to seek castles and to duel with dragons. However, there is no way she can find out what happens next in these stories unless she begins to read the books!

If you enjoyed Mabel’s story, try You Choose: Fairy Tales by Pippa Goodhart, illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Make up your very own fairy tale adventure where YOU CHOOSE what happens next!
Which fairy tale hero would you like to be today? Where will you go on your fairy tale quest? And what fairy tale baddy would you least like to meet? The possibilities are infinite in this captivating creative toolkit which will inspire children from three up to make their own stories again and again.

Telling Tales lose Sohal Finds A Friend by Jion Sheibani. Sohal worries about a lot of things: the dark, mutant sheep, being alone – you name it, he worries about it! So one night he tries drawing his worries to make himself feel better – and somehow they look a lot less worrying once they’re scribbled down. But then imagine Sohal’s surprise when he wakes up the next morning to find a set of funny, furry friends at the end of his bed! His worries have come to life, and it’s not long before Hurt, Fail, Anger, Big and Alone have turned his world upside down. Now it’s up to Sohal to work out how to keep his worries under control – and have some serious fun while he’s at it!

If you enjoyed Sohal Finda A Friend, try Sam Wu Is Not Afraid Of Ghosts by Katie and Kevin Tsang. The first in a brilliantly funny series about the bravest scaredy-cat in the world. Sam Wu is NOT a scaredy-cat (except he is). When a trip to the Space Museum goes terrifyingly wrong, Sam begins a mission to prove to the school bully, and all of his friends, that he is a fearless space adventurer. A truly laugh-out-loud, voice-led and madcap story of ghost hunting, snakes and mischievous pet cats called Butterbutt

The first book out of Hooked On Books is The Last Gate Of The Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen. Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and smart mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb’s Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared to log in with his real name, it triggers an attack that rocks the city. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears. Suddenly, all the stories Yared’s uncle told him as a young boy are coming to life, of kingdoms in the sky and city-razing monsters. And somehow Yared is at the centre of them. Together with Besa and the Ibis – a game rival turned reluctant ally – Yared must search for his uncle… and answers to his place in a forgotten, galaxy-spanning war.

If you enjoyed The Last Gate Of The Emperor, try Skywake: Invasion by Jamie Russell, an exciting and original debut sci-fi adventure trilogy for the gaming generation, from a screenwriter, film critic and gamer. Fifteen-year-old girl gamer Casey Henderson is obsessed with smash-hit game SkyWake – and she’s good at it, too. Little does she realize it’s actually an alien training tool created by an evil extra-terrestrial race. When the aliens swoop down on a national gaming tournament, Casey and her teammates discover they’re abducting the best gamers to fight in a distant alien war across the galaxy. And they’ve got her brother. Casey’s gaming skills are her best hope of stopping the aliens – but first she and her online teammates must learn to work together in real life…

If you don’t want your favourite book to be evicted next week, make sure you keep voting here!