Patrick Ness, who wins the Children’s Book Award for The Ask and the Answer (Book Two of the Chaos Walking trilogy) which the judges acclaimed as “a major achievement in the making”

I quite agree with the judge that the Chaos walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness is a major achievement in the making, I can’t wait for the next installment this autumn, but it is NOT a children’s book and should not be given an award as such.

How many children will be given this book or pick it up themselves because it has won a children’s book prize and then be upset by the relentless grimness and explicit violence?

Something has gone wrong with Children’s Book Prizes. Can crossover books be called exciting books for adults who like a proper, well-written story with a proper plot? Then can we have children’s books prizes for proper children’s books that are written for children again?

Actually, I’m embarrassed that I used to recommend the first book, The knife of never knowing, to year fives and sixes – Id never have done that if I knew what was coming.