RHCBA blog tour: Sophie McKenzie

It's really brilliant to see The Medusa Project; Hit Squad has been shortlisted in the Older Readers category  for the Red House Children's Book Award 2013. I have enjoyed all of the books within this fantastic series so it's great to see it nominated here.  The Red House Children's Book Award is the only national children’s award that is voted entirely by children. It is owned and co-ordinated by the Federation of Children's Book Groups, and sponsored by Red House. For more details click here: http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books warmly welcomes Sophie McKenzie to the blog. Here is her post.

Sophie McKenzie on The inspiration behind Hit Squad - and The Medusa Project series

When I was planning The Medusa Project series, I had three aims in mind. Firstly, I wanted to write about teenagers in our own, contemporary world developing a variety of abilities, starting with mind-reading, telekinesis, predicting the future and being able to protect yourself from physical harm. I knew that the big challenge would be to make this feel convincing to the reader - to make something extraordinary feel like it had really happened to four quite ordinary teenagers. To that end I was determined that all the main characters should respond differently to their power and that the type of ability each person developed should grown out of their character and personality.

Secondly, I wanted to write a series of books where all four main characters appear in every book, but where a different person narrates each novel in turn.  And thirdly, and most importantly, I wanted to create characters that readers would care about and stories that would make them eager to turn every page.

The Set-Up, the first book in the series, follows Nico’s attempts to control and use his emerging telekinesis – and the attempts made by others to control and use him. By the end of the story Nico and the other three main characters have been brought together (reluctantly) to form crime-fighting force, the Medusa Project, using their psychic powers and run by a government agent. At this point the four are far from friends, though Nico clearly likes Ketty very much.

The next book in the series, The Hostage, is narrated by Ketty herself. Now we finally find out exactly what Ketty thinks of Nico, as she struggles both with her ability to see into the future, horrified at the prospect of her brother getting mixed up with master-criminal Damian Foster. Ed, the mind-reader of the group, actively resents his psychic power. He tells the story of The Rescue, in which the main characters are sent to a boot camp in Spain to learn some discipline. Back in the UK for Hunted, Dylan takes up the tale. This was my favourite book to write of the six in the series, mostly because of the main character herself. Dylan is prickly and rude, yet extremely vulnerable under the surface. 

I enjoyed writing these first four books so much that I couldn’t stop! After I finished Hunted, I decided to write two more novels. In Double Cross the story is told by Nico but in Hit Squad, all four main characters take a turn at the narration. For these two new books I wanted to introduce a couple of fresh psychic abilities so, during the planning stages I asked the young people at my author talks which additional powers they would like to see. I picked the most popular - shape shifting and flying - and gave these to new characters Amy and Cal.

With Hit Squad I knew that I was writing the last of the series – at least for the time being – and was determined to make the story as dramatic as I could. I’d wanted for ages to write about the threat posed by unscrupulous scientists trying to mimic the effects of the Medusa gene in drug form and this plot line gives the main characters lots of risks to take and plenty of danger to overcome.

                                                               

Thanks for reading - feel free to leave any comments. 

Useful links:
http://www.fcbg.org.uk/
http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk
/http://www.sophiemckenziebooks.com/

Red House Children’s Book Award 2012 - Chosen and voted for entirely by children.

Some of the biggest names in children’s fiction are joined by exciting new authors and illustrators on the shortlist for this year’s Red House Children’s Book Award, the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children themselves. What could be a better indicator of the books that will tempt children away from computer games and DVDs than a list drawn up by young people across the country, which pits literary heavyweights like Morris Gleitzman and Patrick Ness against outstanding debut authors such as Annabel Pitcher?

Who will win? It’s up to children everywhere to decide. Voting is now open and the Red House Children’s Book Award would like to encourage every child in Britain to check out the shortlisted titles and vote for their favourite!

The Red House Children’s Book Award is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians and has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman and Anthony Horowitz. The award has often been the first to recognise the future stars of children’s fiction and has the ability to turn popular authors into bestsellers.

Children nationwide are now invited to vote for their favourite of the ten shortlisted books. The category winners and the author of the best children’s book published in the 2011 nomination period will be announced – for the first time ever – at a glittering awards ceremony which takes place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London on Saturday 18^th February 2012.

A dedicated website www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk showcases all the shortlisted titles and featured authors. Any child can vote here for their favourite book until 20^th January 2012.

The full shortlist for the Red House Children’s Book Award 2012 is as follows:

Books for Younger Children 

Rollo and Ruff and the Little Fluffy Bird by Mick Inkpen, published by Hodder

Don't Worry Douglas! by David Melling, published by Hodder

Peely Wally by Kali Stileman, published by Red Fox

Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell, published by Jonathan Cape

                                 

Books for Younger Readers 

One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson, published by Marion Lloyd Books

Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis, published by Oxford University Press

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon, published by Scholastic

                                

Books for Older Readers

Grace by Morris Gleitzman, published by Puffin

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, published by Walker

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher, published by Orion

The Red House Children’s Book Award, now in its 32nd year, was founded in 1980 by author and librarian Pat Thompson and is owned and run by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. The overall winner is awarded the Red House Children’s Book Award Silver Tree, of which they are the custodian for a year, and an engraved silver acorn which is theirs to keep. Each of the shortlisted authors and illustrators also receives a silver bookmark and an incredible portfolio of writing and artwork created by children inspired by their book. The ten titles on the shortlist for the Books for Younger Children, Books for Younger Readers and Books for Older Readers categories, as well as 40 highly recommended titles, were chosen by children who read and voted for the books at lively events organised nationwide by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups.

The Federation of Children’s Book Groups was set up as a charity by Anne Wood, the originator of the Teletubbies. It acts as an umbrella organisation for local Children’s Book Groups all over the UK. The groups organise a variety of activities including author events and other activities that promote the enjoyment of children’s books. The Federation also produces numerous specialist book lists, organises National Share-a-Story Month each May, National Non-Fiction Day each November and holds an annual conference each spring.  "http://www.fcbg.org.uk"