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| Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher wins Waterstones children's prize | Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher wins Waterstones children's prize |
| (1 day later) | |
| Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, a novel about a teenage girl who befriends a death row prisoner with a series of intimate letters, has won the Waterstones children's book prize. | Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, a novel about a teenage girl who befriends a death row prisoner with a series of intimate letters, has won the Waterstones children's book prize. |
| The story, Pitcher's second novel, was inspired by her own experiences of writing to an inmate who had been sentenced to execution when she was herself a teenager. | The story, Pitcher's second novel, was inspired by her own experiences of writing to an inmate who had been sentenced to execution when she was herself a teenager. |
| The "unsettling" dark tale sees the main character, Zoe, corresponding with the prisoner in order to get her own dark secret and guilt off her chest. | The "unsettling" dark tale sees the main character, Zoe, corresponding with the prisoner in order to get her own dark secret and guilt off her chest. |
| Melissa Cox, the buyer for new children's titles at Waterstones, said of the winner: "It may not sound the most obvious subject for a teen bestseller – a girl writing to a condemned prisoner confessing her own dark secret – but Ketchup Clouds is a classic coming-of-age story featuring death, betrayal and redemption. | Melissa Cox, the buyer for new children's titles at Waterstones, said of the winner: "It may not sound the most obvious subject for a teen bestseller – a girl writing to a condemned prisoner confessing her own dark secret – but Ketchup Clouds is a classic coming-of-age story featuring death, betrayal and redemption. |
| "Annabel Pitcher's handling of the subject is beautifully wrought and peppered with humour, layering the everyday teen experience with the extraordinary and traumatic. It's an unsettling yet fantastically fresh and brave take on the teen confessional. Pitcher is a genuine literary star." | "Annabel Pitcher's handling of the subject is beautifully wrought and peppered with humour, layering the everyday teen experience with the extraordinary and traumatic. It's an unsettling yet fantastically fresh and brave take on the teen confessional. Pitcher is a genuine literary star." |
| Pitcher's book took the award in the best teen book category as well as the overall title, giving her a £5,000 total prize. | Pitcher's book took the award in the best teen book category as well as the overall title, giving her a £5,000 total prize. |
| Other winners in the annual awards – chosen by booksellers nationwide – took £2,000 each. | Other winners in the annual awards – chosen by booksellers nationwide – took £2,000 each. |
| Wonder by RJ Palacio, about a 10-year-old boy with a facial deformity starting school for the first time, took the category for best fiction aimed at readers aged five to 12. Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb triumphed in the picture book category. | Wonder by RJ Palacio, about a 10-year-old boy with a facial deformity starting school for the first time, took the category for best fiction aimed at readers aged five to 12. Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb triumphed in the picture book category. |
| Oxford-educated Pitcher, a former teacher from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, was nominated for the Waterstones children's book prize last year for her debut, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece. | Oxford-educated Pitcher, a former teacher from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, was nominated for the Waterstones children's book prize last year for her debut, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece. |
| The Waterstones managing director, James Daunt, said: "Ketchup Clouds is an extraordinarily compelling read. It is an original and daring piece of writing, quite different to the fantastic and the futuristic that characterises so much of teenage fiction writing today. It deserves great success." /> />Listen to Annabel Pitcher read from and talk about Ketchup Clouds |