On 28th June, the Year 8 judging team for the Portsmouth Book Award (Longer Novel) attended the celebration event in the impressive setting of the University of Portsmouth’s Park Building.
This marked the culmination of intense reading and discussion of the four shortlisted novels by the pupils, who came together with other students from Portsmouth schools to discover which author had won this prestigious accolade. Although the voting for this award is usually very close, this year it was an overwhelmingly popular choice, and ‘When The World Was Ours’ by Liz Kessler was duly announced as the winning book.
Liz spoke about the real-life event that happened to her father in Vienna which inspired this story, and how a simple act of kindness to complete strangers by her grandparents resulted in her family being saved from the Holocaust. She ended her talk with a video clip from her father, Harry Kessler, who spoke poignantly about why stories such as this must to be told in order to ensure that young people learn about the darkest days in history and prevent them being repeated. The book has been described as: ‘as life-affirming as it is heart breaking, and shows how bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.’
This is a highly-recommended read and a worthy winner. If any pupils would like to read it, copies are available to borrow from Springfield Library, or they can even get involved in next year’s judging and voting process.
Mrs Williams, Librarian