A group of Varndean students are among the tens of thousands of young people taking part in this year’s Carnegie Award Shadowing scheme.

The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. It is the UK's oldest and most prestigious children's book award. Often described by authors as 'the one they want to win' - it is the gold standard in children's literature!

Every spring, CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals) invites reading groups in libraries, schools, homes - in fact, anywhere there are children and young people and books - to get involved with shadowing.

The group of Varndean students will be 'shadowing' the judging process for the CILIP Carnegie Children's Book Awards. They will read, discuss and review the books on the shortlist selected by CILIP's panel of Librarian judges and engage in reading related activity online.

The scheme has thousands of registered reading groups across the UK and Internationally - engaging tens of thousands of children and young people in reading.

We have a web page on the official Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards Shadowing Website. It features reviews, blogs, polls and information about the books and authors - both current and past nominees. 

The books that our ravenous readers will be devouring over the coming weeks are:

• The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

• The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

• Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

• Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

• One by Sarah Crossan

• There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

• The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

• Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Our final meeting will be on 16th June, at the end of which we will cast our votes for our winner. The official result will be announced via a live stream from the British Library on 20th June.