Last night St Peter's hosted its Booker Shadowing Debate where eleven brave Sixth Form pupils defended a novel from the 2021 Booker longlist- which had made it onto the St Peter's School shortlist- and argued why it should be the winning novel. Mrs Mallard and Mrs Wong who hosted and organised the event made it a wonderful, fun evening for all the staff and pupils involved. There was a real buzz about books and reading for pleasure. In teams of two, pupils defended a book in order to prove that they deserve to win the St Peter’s Booker award. All the pupils who participated spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about their novels and the audience were treated to lots of reading inspiration.
The winners of the debate were Rachael and Molly with the Great Circle. After a few rounds of sharing key features from the novel and its pros and cons, they summed-up their winning novel in three words: refreshing, powerful and dynamic.
Pupils said that 'the atmosphere was fantastic, and they loved having everyone together for live event.' They enjoyed the 'relaxed environment which allowed them to talk about books simply for the love of them.'
Naomi, an Upper Sixth who came to watch, said that it was 'Very engaging and exciting to see peers speak about something they were passionate about' and Lucy, who took part with Jess to present their novel 'Bewilderment', said it was 'a great opportunity to ignite the spark of reading'.
The pupils involved in the debate were:
Justin- 'Klara and the Sun' Kazuo Ishiguro
Rachael and Molly- 'Great Circle' Maggie Shipstead
Ella and Dasha- 'Light Perpetual' Francis Spufford
Ellie and Natasha- 'China Room' Sunjeev Sahota
Freddy and Sam- 'A Passage North' Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucy and Jess- 'Bewilderment' Richard Powers
Huge thanks to all the pupils and staff involved for making the evening such a wonderful event.
.JPG&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "Awards Ceremony for the Inaugural York Book Award")
