Finale Wednesday 5th July 2017

The aim of the game is for you to guess which popular book character you are by asking quick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. Good luck!  

Am I Male / Am I Female? Am I a superhero? Am I good / Am I Evil? Am I Human? Am I an animal? Am I old / Am I young? Am I the main character / secondary character? Can you watch me on TV?  

Finale Susin Nielsen www.susinnielsen.com The Ridgeway School

Finale Hey Book Debaters! I am so delighted that "We Are All Made of Molecules" is one of your selections this year - and of course I want my book to kick butt. :-) This sounds like a wonderful program - I love the thought of all of you arguing passionately for books you love (or don't!).   I hope it's a super day. I am so thrilled to have UK readers. And I also wish you all a great summer, with plenty of relaxed reading ... With best wishes, Susin Nielsen The Ridgeway School

Finale Andrew Norriss www.andrewnorriss.co.uk The Ridgeway School

Finale  I was properly chuffed to hear that my book, Jessica’s Ghost, had been chosen as one of the five books to be read and then discussed at your Gr8 Book debate on July 5th - and I hope that those of you that read it didn’t find it too much of a strain.   I remember thinking, while I was writing it, that it was a bit of an odd sort of a story, and I wasn’t at all sure that anyone would want to read it when I had finished. But if you did read it, you will probably have realised that, as well as being about how difficult and painful life can be sometimes, it was really a story about kindness and about friendship. And the older I get, the more I think that those two things matter more than almost anything else. My congratulations to all of you for taking part in the debate. I hope you enjoy it - at the moment, I don’t know what the other books are, but I’m sure they will have made the enterprise worthwhile - and may they lead you to find many, many more books to enjoy in the future! With all best wishes,  Andrew Norriss The Ridgeway School

Finale Kenneth Oppel www.kennethoppel.ca The Ridgeway School

Finale To all the contestants of the Gr8 Book Debate, I hope you have a fantastic event – and I truly hope you have a passionate, spirited debate about your favourite books! I wish there had been something like this when I was your age! Thanks so much for being passionate readers – and please keep reading all your lives! It’s one of the best things we can do as humans!   Ken Oppel The Ridgeway School

Finale Mimi Thebo www.mimithebo.net The Ridgeway School

Finale Bear and I are thrilled to be one of the five books for the Gr8 Book Debate. What an honour!   I've made a little film for the young people involved. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/5eJmg4Qki_Y Hope it helps the students feel good about their amazing work and your wonderful event. Well done to all involved! XXX M The Ridgeway School

Finale Polly Ho-Yen www.pollyhoyen.com The Ridgeway School

Finale To all at the Gr8 Book Debate,   Hello! I was thrilled to hear that 'Boy in the Tower' has been part of your book debate reading list and wish that I were able to hear you all talking about what you liked, what you didn't and how all the books you've read made you feel. Quite often readers ask me questions about details in 'Boy in the Tower' that they would like me to explain more fully - things like where was Ade's dad and what happened exactly to Ade's mum ... I love these kind of questions because I always like to hear what the reader thinks happened. Books allow us to use our imagination in such a unique way, unlike other popular storytelling methods like films or video games, which is one of the reasons why I love them so much. Books depend on their readers. This was why I was so pleased to hear about your event because it's all about placing you, the readers, at the centre of the action! Recently, like so many others, I have been deeply distressed about the tragedy of the fire at Grenfell Tower. I used to work in a primary school that was very close to tower blocks that were very similar to Grenfell. Many children I taught lived in the block; in fact, visiting one of the families that were joining my school who lived in one of the tower blocks was a huge inspiration for my book. This connection with blocks similar to Grenfell makes me feel very personally upset about what happened, although obviously in my story, its characters and setting are fictional and Ade's tower block in fact became the only refuge amidst the sea of bluchers.  I wish you all a happy book debate today and happy reading, forever more! Polly  The Ridgeway School

We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen And the winner was… We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen How lovely to hear! Thank you so much. What a great thing you are doing at your schools, getting kids passionate about reading, and helping them become critical thinkers. I'm delighted that Molecules squeaked in - please tell the kids how tickled I am, and I'll pass this on to my UK publisher as well.   Best, Susin The Ridgeway School