Ballymote Library Book Club revel in their role as book critics!

Ballymote national School pupils are not only readers, some of them were also Judge and Jury for the Children's Books Ireland Awards 2013.The 6th class children are members of Ballymote Community Library's Junior Bookclub. They read, critiqued and debated all 10 shortlisted titles and then voted for their favourite book.

The children, with their teacher Ms Hunt and Librarians Brenda Cawley, Naoni Brennan and Louise McGrath made the trip to the National Library of Ireland in Dublin for the Awards ceremony. Eimer Conlon and Cian Quinn made the preseentation on 'Hong'. Ada McDonagh, Niamh Currid and Katie Anderson presented 'Mise agus an Dragun'.

The children also met and chatted with Sheena Wilkinson, winner of the Children's choice awards for her book 'Grounded'

Belfast author Sheena Wilkinson, the winner of the 23rd CBI Book of the Year Award is the second author ever to win both the Book of The Year Award and the Children’s Choice Award for her novel Grounded. Set in a beak, contemporary Belfast, the novel follows a talented show-jumper from the wrong side of the tracks and his struggle to cope with his responsibilities as a boyfriend, son, employee and friend. The judges said ‘this powerful first person narrative is an unsentimental account of a teenager trying to cope with a series of unexpected responsibilities, and explores the effects of caring too much and of caring too little.’ Grounded is the sequel to Sheena’s previous novel Taking Flight, which won both the CBI Honour Award for Fiction and the Children’s Choice Award in 2011.


The winner of the Eilís Dillon award, which is awarded to a first time author or illustrator is Sarah Crossan for The Weight of Water. Written in a verse narrative, Sarah’s coming of age tale portrays not only the fear and isolation felt by many young immigrants, but also the courage and resilience that is often needed for a young person to find his or her way in the world.