Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out book reviews on beijingkids here.

The Panda Book Awards are annual literary prizes co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded to international children’s books in four age categories. The books are nominated and voted on by students and teachers at more than 20 international schools across China. The ballots have closed, and the results are in, so it’s time to announce and congratulate the winners!

This year, the winners in each category are:

Younger Readers (EC 3-Grade 2)
Creepy Carrots (2012) by Aaron Reynolds

Middle Readers (Grades 3-5)
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (2013) by Stephan Pastis

Older Readers (Grades 6-8)
Wonder (2012) by R.J. Palacio

Mature Readers (Grades 9-12)
The Fault in Our Stars (2012) by John Green

Stay tuned to beijingkids for further information on next year’s Panda Book Awards.

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewer: Virginia Morgan, Secondary Teacher-Librarian, International School of Tianjin

Book: Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Category: Older Readers (Grades 6-8)

Virginia writes: This young adult novel is set in a dystopian time – an alternative 1950s Great Britain. Because of some dark event, the world is no longer as we know it. There are severe food shortages, and the country is under the military rule of the Motherland. The main character, 15-year-old Standish, is undesirable as he lives in poverty with his grandfathering in the destitute Zone 7. He has two differently-colored eyes, is dyslexic, and is severely bullied at school by both students and by his teacher. But life starts to change when a boy named Hector moves into Zone 7. He and Standish become best friends and Hector’s mysterious past stirs up questions. Why was he moved from a prestigious Zone? Where is his father? And why does Hector himself disappear one day? Standish pursues the truth in this twisted story of totalitarian rule. This is an unusual story, sometimes bleak and sometimes actually rather funny. Sally Gardner won the 2013 CILIP Carnegie Medal for this novel.

Overview: Narrated against the backdrop of a ruthless regime determined to beat its enemies in the race to the moon, Maggot Moon is the astonishing new novel from award-winning author Sally Gardner. When his best friend Hector is suddenly taken away, Standish Treadwell realizes that it is up to him, his grandfather and a small band of rebels to confront and defeat the ever-present oppressive forces of the Motherland. Utterly original and stunning, it is impossible not to be moved by Maggot Moon’s powerful story and the unforgettable heroism of Standish.

Publishers overview via Amazon

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewer: Virginia Morgan, Secondary Teacher-Librarian, International School of Tianjin

Book: Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

Category: Mature Readers (Grades 9-12)

Virginia writes: Set in the 1940s, this exciting piece of historical fiction is told from the point of view of 14-year-old Aspen, a Norwegian boy living in a mountain village that has just been invaded by the German army. While his best friend joins the German youth soldier group, Aspen chooses to become a spy for his country and uses his youth to fool the Nazis. He innocently slides through checkpoints while carrying valuable enemy information. His adventures lead up to a harrowing cross-country ski trip. Pursued by rifle-bearing Germans, Aspen has to ski over the border to survive. Does he live? Read The Shadow on the Mountain and find out!

Overview: Shadow on the Mountain recounts the adventures of a 14-year-old Norwegian boy named Espen during World War II. After Nazi Germany invades and occupies Norway, Espen and his friends are swept up in the Norwegian resistance movement. Espen gets his start by delivering illegal newspapers, then graduates to the role of courier and finally becomes a spy, dodging the Gestapo along the way. During five years under the Nazi regime, he gains –and loses– friends, falls in love, and makes one small mistake that threatens to catch up with him as he sets out to escape on skis over the mountains to Sweden.

Preus incorporates archival photographs, maps, and other images to tell this story based on the real-life adventures of Norwegian Erling Storrusten, whom Preus interviewed in Norway.

Publishers overview via Amazon

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewer: Peter Evers, Year 5, Harrow International School Beijing

Book: Ungifted by Gordon Korman

Category: Older Readers (Grades 6-8)

Peter writes: Ungifted is a quirky story about a boy who gets into lots of trouble. Trouble seems to find him. He manages to damage things, such as the basketball gym when people are playing when he simply knocks over a small statue. It’s called Ungifted as the boy does not appear to have any special gifts. As he says himself:

“Gifted? Me? I was the guy who skateboarded down waterslides and shot a SuperSoaker at an electric fence. When people heard my name, they thought, don’t try this at home! Not gifted.”

The highlights of this story for readers include its humor and Donovan, the boy who manages to get into all sorts of impossible situations. In fact, you often have to ask yourself “how did that happen?” because everything goes wrong so quickly. It is also written in the first person so we get inside the mind of the boy. The lowlight of this story is that it is quite long, but that is my only complaint. The book sometimes even made me laugh out loud (which annoyed my mum).

On reflection, I would recommend this book for kids who like comedy, laughing, and enjoy reading about impossible moments – things that you just don’t think could happen. I think it would suit ages 9-14, as it covers middle school age in the story.

Overview: The word gifted has never been applied to a kid like Donovan Curtis. It’s usually more like Don’t try this at home. So when the troublemaker pulls a major prank at his middle school, he thinks he’s finally gone too far. But thanks to a mix-up by one of the administrators, instead of getting in trouble, Donovan is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD), a special program for gifted and talented students.

Publisher’s overview via Harper Collins

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewer: Safia Benzadi, 9, Harrow International School Beijing

Book: Bridget and Bo Build a Blog by Amanda St. John

Category: Middle Readers (Grades 3-5)

Safia writes: "Bridget and Bo Build a Blog is about a girl and boy who both want to build a blog, so they decide to do one together. They put lots information on their blog and had lots of fun doing it.

I liked this book because I thought the story was interesting and it was fairly simple to read, though there were some difficult bits I didn’t understand. That was frustrating. I especially enjoyed the part of the book which told you how to create your own blog.

Overall this is a great book and I would recommend it to any ‘middle readers’ out there!"

Overview: While on vacation, Bo learns how to write a blog. When he comes back home he teaches his friend Bridget how to start and maintain one.

Publishers overview via Amazon.com

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewers: Steven Kim of Harrow International School Beijing

Book: World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky

Category: Older Readers (Grades 6-8)

Steven writes: "World Without Fish was a practical and very world-caring book. It talks about how most fish are endangered because there are so many fishermen in the world. For example, in a 250 mile stretch of its own coastline, Canada has eaten nearly all of its haddock because so many fishermen have caught them.

The book goes on to say that long ago there used to be lots of other fish species, but now many are either extinct or endangered. Jellyfish have survived the longest and have been around for millions of years, but nobody wants to eat them. If we keep on fishing like this, there will be barely any fish left in the world in eighteen years! All we’ll probably have left is a few jellyfish and leatherbacks.

The main point of the book was that if we keep eating so many fish, it will be harmful to the food chain. If we humans eat too many of one type of fish, the species which eats them will starve and die out. This would be a big problem for the oceans. In conclusion, I suggest that we should eat as little fish as we can. Then the fish can reproduce and we won’t have to worry about them!
I found the book to be interesting and important. It also includes some very famous authors who write about the future of the oceans. I would recommend it to everybody."

Overview: Mark Kurlansky, beloved author of the award-winning bestseller Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, offers a riveting new book for kids about what’s happening to fish, the oceans, and our environment, and what, armed with knowledge, kids can do about it.

Written by a master storyteller, World Without Fish connects all the dots—biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition—in a way that kids can really understand. It describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, and swordfish, could disappear within 50 years, and the domino effect it would have—oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms; seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals. It describes the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen and scientists. It covers the effects of industrialized fishing, and how bottom-dragging nets are turning the ocean floor into a desert.

The answer? Support sustainable fishing. World Without Fish tells kids exactly what they can do: Find out where those fish sticks come from. Tell your parents what’s good to buy, and what’s not. Ask the waiter if the fish on the menu is line-caught And follow simple rules: Use less plastic, and never eat endangered fish like bluefin tuna.

Interwoven with the book is a full-color graphic novel. Each beautifully illustrated chapter opener links to form a larger fictional story that complements the text. Hand in hand, they create a Silent Spring for a new generation.

Publishers overview via Amazon.com

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewers: Nadine Rosevear middle school librarian, International School of Beijing

Book: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Category: Older Readers (Grades 6-8)

Rosevear writes: "If you like reading about time travel and adventures combined with a little bit of romance, then this is a book for you. Even after just reading the first page, I knew I was going to enjoy the story and I had immense trouble putting the book down. It is the story of  17-year old Gwyneth, who is a member of a family of time travelers. Even though she is not supposed to have inherited the travel gene (her exquisite cousin Charlotte is supposed to be the gene carrier) she suddenly gets whisked off to another era in the middle of class."

"This is the start of lots of adventures, narrow escapes from death, and mysteries that Gwyneth will have to solve. Why did her mother lie about her birth? Can she trust Gideon, her good-looking travel companion, and what is a chronograph? Kerstin Gier’s writing is slick and the story is well thought out. If you liked this book, you will be happy to know that there are two more books, Sapphire Blue, and Emerald Green, in which Gwyneth solves the mystery of who she really is and what to do about the chronograph."

Overview: Gwyneth Shepherd’s sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon—the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Publishers overview via Amazon.com

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewers: John Byrne, Teacher-Librarian at Western Academy of Beijing

Book: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (2012) by Eric Litwin

Category: Younger Readers (EC 3-Grade 2)

Byrne writes: "Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons is a clear hit with kids and adults alike. Eric Litwin’s cleverly crafted text draws on essential elements of rhyme, rhythm, repetition and call and response in order to bring the book to life! Of course, James Dean’s illustrations of the confident Pete the Cat are simply superb!

Early readers are drawn to it instantly as they become involved with the character of Pete and his conundrum: losing his four buttons!

What is especially delightful is that your child does not even have to be able to read to enjoy this book. Once you read aloud a couple of times, the text weaves its magic and sooner than later everyone is actively (visually and orally) involved in the story.

Litwin is able to include an added musical dimension to Pete’s story, as he does in each of the first four Pete the Cat stories. His music and lyrics are downloadable, for free at www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat, and provide the hook to the success of this picture book. Put the words to music and you have a hit.

Most appealing about all of Litwin’s Pete the Cat books is the enduring subtext: no matter what happens, you keep on going (in Pete’s case, "singing his song") because in the end "it’s all good".

How wonderful it has been to have Eric Litwin visit WAB recently and bring his stories to life…but more exciting was Eric’s encouragement and reassurance that each and every one of us can bring Pete to life! All we have to do…start reading, because it’s all good!"

Overview: Pete the Cat is wearing his favorite shirt—the one with the four totally groovy buttons. But when one falls off, does Pete cry? Goodness, no! He just keeps on singing his song—after all, what could be groovier than three groovy buttons? Count down with Pete in this rocking new story from the creators of the bestselling Pete the Cat books.

Publishers overview via Amazon.com

The Panda Book Awards are a set of children’s literary prizes for international books, co-sponsored by beijingkids and awarded by readers across China. Read all about The Panda Book Awards here, and check out the weekly reviews on beijingkids here.

As co-host, beijingkids is offering an extra 20% discount on those books for our readers. This blog shows you how to use our code to get the discount and make cash-on-delivery purchase from Amazon.cn.

Reviewers: Cici Liu, Grade 6, BCIS

Book: Chomp by Carl Hiaasen 

Category: Older Readers (Grades 6-8)

Cici writes: "I recommend this book to everyone. Its a good book about survival and madness. Its sometimes funny, and sometimes it makes you not want to put the book down because its so exciting… I recommend this book to everyone… from ages 10 to 100. I think that they would all love this book and when they finish the book, they would read it again and again. They will like it because its makes you feel relaxed but sometimes tense."

Overview: Wahoo Cray lives in a zoo. His father is an animal wrangler, so he’s grown up with all manner of gators, snakes, parrots, rats, monkeys, and snappers in his backyard. The critters, he can handle. His father is the unpredictable one. 

When his dad takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he’ll have to do a bit of wrangling himself—to keep his dad from killing Derek Badger, the show’s inept and egotistical star, before the shoot is over. But the job keeps getting more complicated. Derek Badger foolishly believes his own PR and insists on using wild animals for his stunts. And Wahoo’s acquired a shadow named Tuna—a girl who’s sporting a shiner courtesy of her father and needs a place to hide out. 

They’ve only been on location in the Everglades for a day before Derek gets bitten by a bat and goes missing in a storm. Search parties head out and promptly get lost themselves. And then Tuna’s dad shows up with a gun…

It’s anyone’s guess who will actually survive Expedition Survival…

Publishers overview via Amazon.com