In ‘Lark’, things are getting tense at home for brothers Nicky and Kenny as they wait for a visit from their estranged mum. Many have suggested this is a book for teenagers, well I stepped back a few years and found the short story hard to put down. This is the first hint that in this book the tables will be turned: while Nicky has always been the carer, in Lark it’s ultimately Kenny who has to care for his brother. Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned. Barrington Stoke are renowned for publishing short fiction appealing to readers whose interests may be in advance of their reading abilities.

The epilogue of the book skips forward some decades, portraying the brothers as older adults who have lived out full and largely happy lives. My feeling is that it is, insofar as knowing about Barrington Stoke is a useful frame for understanding what the book sets out to do (it’s also important to know that the book is the last of a series, even though it works – as it must according to the criteria of the Medal – as a stand-alone read). We're always happy to answer any questions or queries you might have, please get in touch using one of the methods below. Whereas some of my Shadowing group found this a bit contradictory, I found this a very realistic note which highlights the way that caring for someone can often mean focusing on their needs first. On the other hand, this is something which has often given rise to criticism in relation to the Carnegie Medal’s trend towards awarding more and more young adult fiction.In addition to his 2020 win, he has been twice longlisted (for The Knife That Killed Me in 2008 and Brock in 2014) and once shortlisted (for Rook in 2018) for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and is the winner of the 2006 Booktrust Teenage Prize for Henry Tumour. But Nicky is inexperienced and underestimates the dangers involved; it's a lot of responsibility to load onto his shoulders. They also have attractive cover designs which present them as typical mass market paperbacks rather than as ‘special’ books (these have gotten better and better over time as Barrington Stoke have become more established and their budget correspondingly higher).

The series began in 2013 with Brock, a bleak but powerful story introducing us to Nicky and his brother Kenny, longlisted for the CILIP in 2014, it heralded the start of an entralling and gritty tale of fraternal love.McGowan collaborated with author Joanna Nadin on the book Everybody Hurts (2017), a love story between two teenagers of different social classes. It’s quite challenging to judge a humorous novel for 8-10 year olds against a serious historical novel aimed at 15+, and the risk is that the more complex writing and themes of the latter will be more appealing to the (adult) judges, especially absent any explicit directive to consider the readership. Nice novella with some good human touches, weighed down by a basic setup and structure which is too obviously constructed to pull tears at the end. In fact, I think you could read this epilogue as Nicky’s imagined ending for them: we learn for example that he’s been married to Sarah, the character who was his girlfriend in the previous book (they’ve broken up by Lark), which aids narrative economy but also could be read as something of a fantasy. His Barrington Stoke titles include the Carnegie Medal shortlisted Rook and the 2020 Carnegie Medal winner Lark which the judges described as “a standalone masterpiece”.

McGowan's understanding of masculine youth its brashness and unexpected tendernesses is evident, and there is a quiet worldliness underpinning the whole. You guys were so fab and Dawn was such a lovely presence in the schools - I will absolutely be in touch next time I'm in your neck of the woods. Nicky’s last act of care for Kenny is his final act of storytelling, and his picture of Tina seeking Kenny out in heaven. The final piece of this is thinking about Lark in the context of its publisher, and the wider significance of choosing this particular kind of publication for the Carnegie Medal. The relationship between the two brothers is so sensitively portrayed, as is the deep connection with nature and the animal world.I was attracted by the blurb, the lovely creamy pages, the relatively short length and the wide set font - always a dream to read. It also provides the basis for the beginning of a shift in their relationship which is the real story of the book, since Kenny refuses to wear the woollies and suggests Nicky wear them himself.