Carnegie Lunch 2017

The Carnegie Lunch 2017 – Library MTBS

Over 50 pupils from Holy Family Catholic High School, St Mary’s College, Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, and Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School, gathered in the library for the annual Carnegie lunch, to hear the announcement of the winner of the Carnegie Medal. 2017 is a special year for this award, named after the famous American philanthropist, whose wealth founded many libraries on both sides of the Atlantic. It is 80 years since the first winner, Arthur Ransome was awarded the medal for Pigeon Post. The parents, grandparents and even great grandparents of today’s readers, could have read the winners from earlier years.

Today, modern technology makes possible the Carnegie shadowing scheme, enabling pupils to post reviews of the shortlisted books on a dedicated website, for other children, and even the authors to read. We were able to watch the announcement, live from London, that Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, was the latest winner. In her acceptance speech the author said that history always records the names of the villains, but never the names of the victims. She wanted to redress this in her moving and vivid novel based on the 1945 sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the largest maritime disaster in history, with the loss of over 9,000 lives. It is a disaster that was kept secret at the time and for many years after the war, in spite of the huge loss of life. The winner here in the library was voted Railhead by Philip Reeve, a work of science fiction set in a parallel universe. However the second favourite was Salt to the Sea.

The winner of the raffle was Caleb Pleavin, from Holy Family, and the winner of the best review was Oliver Bigley, from MTBS.

ER