Double Honours for A Monster Calls

Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls (which was reviewed on the blog back in March) has won both the Carnegie Medal Prize AND the Kate Greenaway Prize Medal for Jim Kay's book illustration. It is the first time in the awards' history that the same book has scooped both prizes. 

The story, which deals with a boy coming to terms with his mother's fight against cancer, is handled with great sensitivity and insight. Rachel Levey, Chair of the Carnegie judges has said, ""We'd go so far as to say that this is one of the defining books of its generation." Ness, who also won the Carnegie prize in 2011 for Monsters of Men has described the win as "extremely humbling and a little unnerving."

Illustrator Jim Kay has said the following about his creative process for the book:

When I got the commission I started collecting thousands of marks and smudges and objects.

I remember reading that before Wimbledon Steffi Graf used to hang tennis balls all round the house, so she was aware of where balls were all the time.

So I did a similar thing. I put thousands of abstract marks and splatters all round the flat.

As I went about my daily life I started to see things in them - maybe an arm or a hedgerow. Things took on their own little life.

The most unusual objects I used in the book were bread boards I picked up from junk markets.

Old bread boards are wonderful - they have a whole history of cuts and marks. When you make a print with one you get an abstract piece of art.

The results are truly astounding.Congratulations to Ness and Kay on a deserved win.