Book of the Week (41): "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by John Lawrence

A horse dashing through the night, a deadly black spot… Prepare for the adventure of your life. The wild, whispering sea dominates the book, as it did illustrator John Lawrence’s childhood, and he portrays it in all its moods; you can hear the rolling waves, and the cabins creak and experience the wonder and cruelty of sea life. We accompany the pirates' approach to the Admiral Benbow inn, the rowdy bustle of harbour life. The cast of unforgettable characters leap from the page; Lawrence’s vibrant woodcut engravings convey the rough-hewn, vivid lives of Jim and his pirates, and portrays the extraordinary Long John Silver, Jim’s nemesis and saviour, and one of the greatest characters you’ll ever meet, just as I imagined him, leaving him haunting you long after you close the book. Rarely have I seen illustrations that match more closely to my own ideal image of the story and its characters; they amplify the key scenes like the best music does in a film, so we feel we are peering over brave Jim Hawkins's shoulder as he writes. We creep through trees of the mysterious island itself, catching glimpses of shocking scenes, and stumbling upon the castaway Ben Gunn, who reveals an extraordinary secret. The text itself is beautiful; but the illustrations make is something special. A fantastic gift, perfect for pirates of all ages.

The Walker Illustrated Classics series of which this is a part is an amazing project, and they have matched artists to the texts perfectly, with each artist responding imaginatively to the text in a way that opens up new ways of seeing. Particular favourites so far are Chris Riddell’s rendering of Gulliver’s Travels, Inga Moore’s wonderfully evocative drawings for The Secret Garden, and the witty paintings and collages of Sara Fanelli that capture the mischevious spirit of Pinocchio. The series is hugely collectable, and gives both new readers and those familiar with the classics an ideal opportunity to discover some of the greatest children’s stories ever told, in beautiful editions that make turning each page a surprise and delight.

Recommended by Ariel Kahn

Book of the Week (40): "Crocodile Tears" by Anthony Horowitz

Alex is in Scotland for New Year’s Eve enjoying normal life for once. Until he meets Desmond McCain who is head of a charity called First Aid. He starts a simple card game that slowly becomes a duel to the death. This all gets worse when he meets a journalist who plans to reveal the truth about Alex being a spy. Alex is forced to ask MI6 for protection, but this sends him on a new mission that could lead to the deaths of millions of people in East Africa. Will he be able to save millions of African people or not? You have to read the book to find out!

This is the 8th book in the Alex Rider series and probably the best one because it really keeps you gripped. My favourite character is, without doubt, Alex - because he’s curious, clever and strong (I could probably go on forever...).

Recommended by Jeremy Assouly, age 11

Book of the Week (39): "Grubtown Tales" series by Philip Ardagh

Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky, The Year That It Rained Cows and The Far From Great Escape are the first three titles in the Grubtown Tales series. The books are as extremely silly as one would expect from a collection of stories penned by the illustrious Mr Ardagh.

Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky has just won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in the age 7-14 category, and funny it is indeed. It tells of the trials of several members of Grubtown, including Jilly Cheeter the official duck gatherer, her friend Mango Claptrap, and Manual Org, a chap so repulsive that instead of having greasy hair, he has hairy grease.

Beardy Ardagh is himself a character in the story as he too is, it turns out, an inhabitant of Grubtown. This allows for many entertaining asides. For example, he reports that after a spell of windy weather:

"I'd found a missing child in my beard. She must have been blown in there. I don't want you to think that my beard's particularly big. It's just that the child was particularly small."

If you like your reading matter to be exceedingly daft, Grubtown Tales are for you.

Recommended by Susan Reuben

Next?

• For more Philip Ardagh, try the Eddie Dickens series, starting with Awful End.
• Or for something if possible even sillier than Grubtown Tales, read Andy Stanton's Mr Gum books, starting with You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum!
• Jeremy Strong writes funny and anarchic books. Try Krazy Kow Saves the World - Well, Almost.

And a photo too...

This from the end of the BTP event yesterday:

Front row (L to R) are judge Aniketa Khushu (one of last year's teen judges) and this year's teen judges Manyara, Laura, Daniel and Claudia; back row (L to R) are shortlisted authors Keith Gray and Helen Grant, chair of judges Judi James, judge (and 2007 BTP winner) Marcus Sedgwick, shortlisted author (and last year's winner) Patrick Ness, judge Me, and shortlisted authors Paul Dowswell and Jenny Valentine.

[Photo (c) Alex Rumford]

Yes, so the Booktrust Awards Ceremony was on the 10th floor of the Penguin building on The Strand, with a rather extraordinary view of the Thames stretching in both directions.

The prize announcer (who I believe was the chair of the judges?) gave a short summary of each title before announcing the winner - causing me to recite 'The Lady of Shallot' frantically in my head to try to block her out whenever she was talking about one of the titles I hadn't read yet - lest she should give a vital plot point away. This may make me a bit strange.

There was mention of the judges having put an extraordinary amount of work into reading over 100 books in a not very large amount of time. There was reference to them reading well into the night and sending out emails in the early hours of the morning. Danny is the main culprit, I strongly suspect. Much praise was also given to the teen judges who had won a writing competition in order to take part.

I asked fellow judge and previous winner Marcus Sedgwick whether he'd got over the judging process yet. "I'll never get over it," he replied, darkly.

The Graveyard Book as winner came as no big surprise. Neil Gaiman is not only such a strong writer, but also such an extremely original one, that the book seems just made for an award. Chris Riddell, the brilliant illustrator of the children's edition of the book, who came up to receive the award, was given a short speech to read out on behalf of Neil Gaiman - which ended with a laugh when he had to end by thanking himself.

So - lots of wine and chat, not enough canapes - but the event was fun and interesting, and well done Danny and co.

and the winner is...

The Graveyard Book!

Which is a result I'm very proud of (though I've heard from dissenters already...) - I think it's a wonderful book. I'm not going to write about the book itself at any length here as I've raved about it often enough - in the forthcoming new Teen Guide I chose this as one of the ones I recommended myself, actually - but in short, I do love it. Original, witty, charming, beautifully written, warm, wise, gripping, all those good things that go to making a book I believe will last a long, long time.

(Oh, and talking about the new Teen Guide, my final act as editor of the UTBG was to e-mail our publishers this afternoon with the news of the BTPrize winner so that this last last-minute piece of information could be dropped in, and then it goes to press! Done forever! Hooray!)

But back to the prize... It was a good party with all the shortlisted authors (apart from Neil Gaiman himself, who was represented by his illustrator Chris Riddell) and many other friends; Susan was there too and will report back in detail, but I couldn't wait to share the news!

Booktrust Teenage Prize Countdown...

So, the judges have met and the winner has been chosen. The announcement ceremony will be held at 12:30 on Wednesday - just 39 hours to go... So who's it going to be?

A reminder of the shortlist:

• The Ant Colony (Jenny Valentine)
• The Ask and the Answer (Patrick Ness)
• Ausländer (Paul Dowswell)
• The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
• Ostrich Boys (Keith Gray)
• The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (Helen Grant)

A good list or what?

We'll let you know how it all goes on Wednesday... Can't wait!