01/03/2012 Blue Peter

'Coming up on a very special Blue Peter, the wait is over.'

'We uncover the winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards.'

'And, your favourite children's book of the last ten years?'

'Reading to the extreme, a battle between tradition and technology.'

'And, he's already worked with the likes of Wretch 32.'

'Angel's here with a performance you won't see anywhere else.'

-(Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi. Welcome to a very special Blue Peter. Hang on a sec.)

(If you're wondering why we're whispering,

(we're in the John Rylands Library in Manchester.)

(We're doing a special show for World Book Day.)

-Barney!

-Sshh!

-Just because we're in a library,

we can still make some noise, can't we?!

-ALL:

-Yeah!

Oh, yes! Not just noise but the angelic voices of Angel at the back.

He's here today.

CHEERING

Please welcome Brett Domino!

CHEERING

They look surprised to be here but they have become legends,

because they wrote a song to help you choose

your favourite children's book of the last ten years.

We've been singing it for weeks. We'll play it for you later.

It's not just about special guests. It's a special location.

This is the John Rylands Library, dedicated to his memory by his wife.

She took ten years to build it, and gave it as a gift to the city.

All the materials used to make it were the best around at the time.

Then she invested in the books. Some of them are just incredible.

Take this one, for example. This is the First Folio of Shakespeare.

Comedies, histories and tragedies.

A copy of this book recently sold for £1.5 million!

Hence the reason I'm not touching it. To keep a close eye on me,

Shakespeare is looking down, and not too impressed

because he knows I've got destructive oils in my fingers.

In a matter of seconds, that book will be whipped away from us.

As it's World Book Day,

you may have been given one of these by your teacher.

It's a book token. If you take it to a book shop,

you will be able to choose from one of these.

All you have to do is hand over the token and pick one of these books.

If you're at school in the UK, you're eligible for a book token.

That's great news.

If you think about it, some books can be very, very expensive.

'Stranded in the wild?'

'Hungry and penniless?'

'You need the first edition of John James Audubon's

'Illustrated Birds of America.

'This twitchers' treat is the most expensive book in the world

'fetching an amazing £7 million at auction a few years ago.

'That's enough to buy you 700,000 takeaway pizzas.'

'Now all you need to do is choose your toppings!'

CHEERING

Now, this is a copy of the Canterbury Tales.

This book is over 500 years old.

It's the third edition, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, published in 1492,

about 100 years after he wrote the original manuscript.

That is why I'm wearing gloves. I'm not about to do a mime.

I can't touch the pages in case I damage them.

What I love about the book is,

you can see that somebody's made notes in the side.

If I turn to the back of the book,

there's actually a little doodle of a horse.

For me, I can picture someone reading and enjoying that book.

You'd get in trouble writing in a school book.

It's 500 years old, so it's fair to say this style of reading stories

has been around for a long time. But things are changing.

The recent invention of the e-reader has changed that.

We're going to see which is the best. The e-reader or book.

-Books!

-Definitely e-reader.

-Books!

I don't think you can beat a real book.

Even if you get it wet, or spill a cup of tea on it,

you can just dry it out and still read it. You can't with an e-reader.

I do love a good book but these paper ones are as ancient as dinosaurs.

You might be able to take one in the bath

but I can store 3,500 books on this bad boy.

This is the future of reading. Check this out.

OK, it does have its merits, I get that.

But, with a proper book, I can swap them with friends, doodle in them,

I can make notes and give someone a personalised gift.

And I don't need battery power!

You have to charge it before using it,

but then the battery can last up to a month.

Let's face it, hi-tech gadgets can make you look cool!

The latest gizmo might get you street cred

but I like people to know what I'm reading.

There's no cover on an e-reader

so how can you let people know how smart and on-trend you are?

Oh sorry. Oh, it's you! Got to be honest, e-readers are the future.

Yeah, but I don't think they'll ever replace a good old-fashioned book,

-the smell and feel of it.

-We have to decide.

There's only one way to settle this.

Yeah, three challenges to find the ultimate winner.

Yeah, that would probably do.

'Who can get their hands on a great novel the quickest?'

-Which book shall we pick?

-Alice in Wonderland.

Not a new one but a classic, easy to find.

-OK. Challenge starts now!

-I wasn't ready!

'This shouldn't be too tricky for me.

'All I need to do is find a Wi-Fi signal for the e-reader to log on to,

'track down the book in the online store,'

and download it straight to this.

'I've further to go, but in most towns

'you'll come across a good book shop.'

Travel, no. History, no. I need children's fiction.

'In the square, I was having a few issues with signal.'

Come on! Ugh. Still connecting.

'But, I have the advantage. When I'm connected,

'my download will take seconds.'

Unless she buys a book in the next five minutes,

this is in the bag.

Fiction. History... Classics!

It's got to be in classics, surely.

Alice in Wonderland...

..Alice in Wonderland!

Connect to Wi-Fi, yes! Please, connect.

What I've been waiting for.

-Brilliant, thanks!

-Thank you!

-Cheers.

The little thing's gone round the corner. We're in business.

-Harwood!

-Ah-ha-ha...

-Do you have it?

-I'm still on the set-up page.

-Ha ha!

It's not fair, I thought I'd trounce that one.

Well, more challenges still to come.

'Without a good connection, I couldn't show off the download speed.

'It's 1-0 to the book, but can the e-reader battle back?'

'The beauty of reading is you can do it any time, whatever the weather.

'We want to test the book and e-reader

'to see if they can stand the worst of the British climate.'

We've chilled our books in a domestic fridge

because, on your way to school in the morning, that could happen

and we want to be thorough with our tests.

Mine, as you can see, is working perfectly well.

And mine is absolutely fine.

So, I think that we should supersize this experiment

because I'm not convinced this all-singing, all-dancing gizmo

can cope with extreme temperatures.

'Temperatures plummeted to minus 15 this winter,

'so the book and e-reader have spent the night in a frozen food warehouse

'where it's even colder, minus 25, to be precise.

'But will they still work?'

It's so cold that it hurts to breathe in.

-My book is intact.

-Can you open it?

-Yep.

-Oh-ho-ho.

I'll try and turn this on. The button won't even move because it's solid.

-Hang on!

-That's not turning on.

-No, it is, look, the green light's on.

-No. Can you read it now?

-Yeah, it says, um, model number...

-Can you read a book on this e-reader now?

-No!

A victory for the humble book, my gadget-loving friend!

'The e-reader's batteries still work

'but the microparticles in the liquid display seem to be frozen.

'That's 2-0 to the book.'

'Carrying a book around means it's likely to get sat on,

'dropped, or even worse.'

Three, two, one...

'So, we tested which type of book can take falling down the stairs.

'They were pretty good with small scrapes, and still totally readable.

'I reckon it's time to make this a little more interesting. Helen?'

We've come to a field in Blackpool

to see if our books can still be read once they've been run over...

..by this monster!

'This is the 432-30 tank. I want one!

'At 15 tonnes, it's 88,000 times heavier than my e-reader

'which weighs just 170 grammes.'

But I think I've got a chance because this is 8.6mm thick, that's tiny.

The tracks on the tank seem to be off the ground more than that

so, with any luck, it'll just glide over it.

'This is the e-reader's last chance to score a point. But I'm confident.

'You've heard of David and Goliath, right?

'Despite being run over by the tank's massive treads,

'it looks like it's still working!'

You know what? You know what?

I heard some crunching sounds then.

Please still work. Please still work...

It doesn't work.

'As the tank gets ready for another run,

'I've got one more go at breaking Helen's book.'

-Oi, come on!

-All right.

Do your worst, Harwood!

Wa-hoo!

Oh, it's muddy, it's crushed, but ultimately,

this book is readable so it survived.

The book wins this challenge, definitely.

-Let me read the end of Alice in Wonderland.

-Give my hat back.

Thanks very much, OK, yeah, very good, you win!

Humpty Dumpty took the book and looked at it carefully...

'After a crushing victory for the book,

'I guess the world of reading isn't going completely digital just yet.'

CHEERING

Hang on a minute - can I draw your attention to this, please?

You might recognise it from the film.

This is the frozen e-reader from the film, and look at it. Still working.

-But it didn't work at the time!

-It works now, that means I win.

No, that would have made it 2-1, Barney.

It's not about me and you now, it's about making noise in the library!

-AUDIENCE:

-Yeah!

'Still to come, even more noise: The hottest new act on the music scene.

'Angel is here to perform his new single, live in the library.'

And we reveal which children's book you have voted

as your favourite from the last decade.

Now for our first award, the Blue Peter's Children's Book of the Year.

Very exciting. We announced the nominations a few months ago

and a top panel of experts put them together. There they are down there.

The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games by Simon Hart.

The Considine Curse by Gareth P Jones.

Discover the Extreme World is our third book.

And A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler.

Now, from those four books, we asked over 200 children

from ten different schools to select their favourite.

They did. We have a winner.

Before we tell you who it is, here's a bit more about the contenders.

If you could see into the future, would you look?

Jenni Green doesn't have a choice in Liz Kessler's A Year Without Autumn.

Autumn is Jenni's best friend. Funny, smart, perfect.

They share everything, including family holidays.

What starts as a standard novel about teenage friends

takes a time travel twist when Jenni stumbles across an old disused lift.

The lift takes Jenni on a ride one year into the future

where she discovers that a terrible tragedy has struck Autumn.

The time-travelling lift is Jenni's only chance of putting things right.

But, in trying to change the future,

Jenni is in danger of making things much, much worse.

The whole universe and everything in it

is the subject of our next Book of the Year candidate,

Discover the Extreme World.

It tests human knowledge with amazing facts about the natural world,

machines, science and history, all illustrated with amazing pictures.

Find out the temperature at the very centre of the Earth.

The fish with a bite 60 times stronger than a human.

And the most dangerous jobs on the planet.

Over 200 pages of the fastest, hottest, coldest, wildest,

scariest, teeniest, screamiest everything.

If it's extreme, it's in this book.

Ever thought your family is a bit strange?

They're probably normal, compared to the family in The Considine Curse.

14-year-old Mariel and her mum return from Australia to the UK

for her grandmother's funeral.

She hasn't been back since emigrating as a baby.

So stays with her extended family of long-lost cousins.

Cousin Amelia is drenched in perfume.

Angry Oberon is always hungry.

Elspeth speaks only in rhyme.

Mariel tries to fit in,

but is met with a steely, "Go away, you're not one of us."

Gareth P Jones' novel is a darkly comic story

that taps into the experience of growing up.

It's also a gripping mystery.

Why did Mariel's mum leave all those years ago?

How did Grandma really die??

And, most important of all, what is the secret of the Considine Curse?

We can't all be athletes,

but The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games

will let you boff up on Olympic and Paralympic info

and win a gold medal in fact-spouting.

From the Games' origins, to the latest stars and stats,

this book has all the facts lined up and under starter's orders.

Did you know London is the first city in the world

to host the Olympic Games three times?

Or Britain has won a rowing gold medal at every Olympics since 1984?

And mascot Wenlock has a headlight inspired by the London black cab?

After this Fact Olympics,

you'll need a tin-foil blanket and energy drinks to recover!

CHEERING

MUFFLED: As you can see, the four contenders are on stage.

Sorry, I've got some technical problems. As you can see...

He likes being on stage, like a pop star!

Let's do karaoke! No, moving on! Four contenders on the stage.

We are now about to announce the winner.

-It's tense.

-Don't breathe in like that, it feels worse.

We can reveal that the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2012 is...

You are good at that...

The Considine Curse by Gareth P Jones!

CHEERING

Whoo!

That's how you make an entrance, everybody, perfect.

Gareth, not only the best entrance, but the best book.

-How do you feel?

-Congratulations.

I feel like I stepped through my book, fantastic. Oh! Yes, amazing.

I'm on Blue Peter, I've won an award, thank you so much

to everybody who voted for it.

There's a lot in the book, a lot happens.

How did you come up with the ideas?

It is complicated. It's difficult to condense.

It's about a girl called Mariel who grows up in Australia.

She comes over to England to her grandmother's funeral.

A grandmother she doesn't know. She meets her seven cousins.

-The cousins are sinister.

-Creepy, isn't it?

I have seven cousins, but mine are all lovely, sweet and nice.

It's no coincidence she has the same number of cousins that I do.

-Mine are lovely!

-We have some questions from the audience.

Do you want to step up on to the stage?

-What's your name, fella?

-Mohammed.

-What's your question?

-What is your next book going to be about?

-My next book?

Um, well, I've got a series of books coming out this year.

-There's a few already out there. About Ninja meerkats.

-Oh, genius.

So, a few more coming out. My next full-length book is a ghost story.

I can't tell you the title yet. It's a ghost story with a difference.

It isn't the ghosts who are scary, it's the living people.

-You heard it here first.

-What's your name?

-Lorray.

-Your question?

-How did you start writing?

I started writing when I was about your age. I'd write short stories.

I'd begin ambitious long books which I'd never finish.

It took me a long time to finish a book.

It took longer to get published,

a book called The Dragon Detective Agency.

It took me a long time to get there.

Congratulations, Gareth, thanks for coming.

To meet the nominated authors, head to a Blue Peter session

at the Oxford Literary Festival, on 1st April.

Blue Peter badge holders may get in for free. Check the website.

-Can I do karaoke now?

-No.

At 1m 78 cm tall, and just over 1m wide,

the 350-year-old Klencke Atlas is the largest book in the world.

Not the handiest thing to carry in your rucksack,

but perfect for surviving on a desert island.

Its massive bulk could provide ample shelter from the weather.

And, for a quick escape, you could turn it into a handy raft!

At least you'd have an in-built map to guide you home.

CHEERING

So, moving from the largest book to the smallest book you've ever seen.

Take a look at this.

If you look really closely, on top of this stand, you can see something.

That is one of the smallest books, mechanically printed.

The only way to see this is to use a microscope like this.

If you were to shine it over the top and use a computer,

you would see an image like this.

There you have it, the Lord's prayer, 6mm x 6mm.

Isn't that the coolest book you've ever seen?

-That is pretty cool, isn't it, Amos?

-Yeah.

-You definitely need your glasses to read that.

-Yes.

This year, we have a new category to the Blue Peter Book Awards.

It's your favourite children's book of the last ten years.

To give you some clues as to what you should select,

we asked Brett Domino to write a song especially for you. Here it is.

I didn't tell you. Blue Peter are doing this thing

where they get people to vote

-for their favourite children's book of the last ten years.

-Oh, right.

-And they've asked us to do a song about it.

-Cool.

-Do you think we should do that now?

-Um, yeah.

I was thinking of making it dramatic

like the song they use on the Apprentice, like...

"MONTAGUES AND CAPULETS" BY PROKOFIEV

Yeah? You start singing the tune.

# What's your favourite children's book of the last ten ye-ars?

# I've got the nominations on this piece of paper he-ere.

# Have you read any?

# Yes, I've read them all.

# I'll tell you about them, give me a beat on that keyboard.

HIP-HOP VERSION OF "MONTAGUES AND CAPULETS"

# Huh.

# So there are ten nominations for your favourite book

# Of the last ten years, let's take a look

# Obvious ones, like Lemony Snicket

# Only one of the series. How'd they pick it?

# I don't know, but the nominee is number five

# The one where Coach Genghis is Olaf's disguise

# The book's title is The Austere Academy

-# Next?

-Harry Potter.

-Wonder which that'll be

# The one they've gone for is Order of the Phoenix

# Again, the fifth book of the series

# It's the one with... you know, Sirius

# Won't give it away, I'll remain mysterious

# It's the one with 12 Grimmauld Place

# Voldemort and Dumbledore come face to face

# I could talk to you all day about Harry P

# I'm conscious of time Let's speed up the nominees

# Candy Floss by Jacqueline Wilson

# The UK's fourth Children's Laureate - for children

# Alex Ryder, Skeleton Key

# Saving the world from nuclear catastrophe

# Theodore Boone, the pint-sized lawyer

# Only 13, but in the courtroom he'll destroy ya

# Five nominations before you start your discussion

# Let's have a break I want to hear some percussion

DRUMBEAT SOLO

# OK, let's proceed

# Next is Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend

# You like football. Have you read that, Steve?

# No, only Horrid Henry Meets the Queen.

# How about Silverfin by Charlie Higson

# About James Bond as a teenager when he went to Eton

# There's one by David Walliams, Mr Stink

# I think I've read that one... I think

# Two more nominees to get your head spinning

# There's Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

# About a kid by the name of Gregg Heffley

# And his time at school. He has to tread carefully

# Last up, a novel about the First World War

# It's already won a Blue Peter Book award

# Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

# That ends the nominations and this concerto

# BOTH: What's your favourite children's book

# of the last ten ye-ars?

# They were the nominations, yeah, you heard them he-ere

# So who's the winner? Which one will you choose?

# Cast your vote now and find out soon. #

APPLAUSE

Only one word, really - genius.

Brett Domino, everybody. Thank you very much.

CHEERING

The time to find out, though, is right now.

We can reveal that you have selected

as the favourite children's book of the last ten years...

I'm building the tension.

It's Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, everybody.

CHEERING

Brilliant. Thank you.

Jeff lives in America

so couldn't be here to accept his award or give a speech

so instead, he recorded us this lovely message.

Wow! I cannot believe Diary of a Wimpy Kid was chosen

as the best book of the past decade by fans of the Blue Peter show.

Thank you so much to every kid who voted.

I can't believe you voted Diary of a Wimpy Kid the winner.

I saw the other books on the list and said, "I don't stand a chance."

Ten years ago, I was a failed cartoonist.

I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist but I couldn't break in

and I'm so surprised that today

I'm talking to you in the UK and you've embraced my books.

Thank you so much.

I've been to the UK twice. I can't wait to come back

and meet as many fans of the Wimpy Kid series as I can.

Thank you, Blue Peter, and thank you to all fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

There's more from Jeff on the Blue Peter website.

We've still got a performance by an R&B singer

but first, a bit more of this:

At 23,675 pages long,

this Danish monster is officially

the thickest book in the whole world.

It's perhaps not suitable for a bit of light holiday reading.

But why not take it into battle?

This fantastic breastplate

could save your life from spears, arrows or even a pesky sword.

But be warned, this mammoth work is all about Danish unemployment law

so it might save your life

but reading it could bore you to death.

We've all read a book like that, haven't we? I have.

I once tried to read War and Peace. It's about that big!

That's almost it for today. We've had a brilliant time in the library.

Thank you for joining us, everybody.

Now get ready to dance. We've a performance brewing.

There's just time to say what's happening next week.

We'll be making a Mother's Day make.

We've got some vintage jewellery.

It's a make that won't break the bank

and trust me, it's a funky piece of jewellery you'll end up with.

But now it's time for a superb performance. It's the soundtrack

to the new Streetdance 2 movie. Everybody, it's Angel!

CHEERING

# When I go in, when I go hard

# There's nobody else on my level

# When I go near, when I go far

-# It's over

-(o-o-over)

# Always remember those days

# When I couldn't go play I was singing all day

# No pain, they say there's no gain

# Wasn't given on no plate

# I had to work hard

# I was frustrated, I made mistakes and

# They hated, so I prayed

# And I know it's gonna come my way

-#

-(I know)

-I'll be singing to the world someday

# Can't give up the fight

# I know wrong from right

# I'ma keep it tight

# Through the darkness I can find

# Light is shining bright, cos I know

# When I go in, when I go hard

# There's nobody else on my level

# When I go near, when I go far

-# It's over

-(o-o-over)

# Cos I came to shout it out

# Until there ain't no trace of doubt

# When I go in, when I go hard

-# It's over

-(o-o-o-over)

# Always remember those days

# When I wanted to stay But I've been on my way

# No trace, I've been in this game

# I've been doing the right thing I had to work hard

# I was frustrated, I made mistakes and

# They hated, so I prayed and

# I know it's gonna come my way

-#

-(I know)

-I'll be singing to the world someday

# Can't give up the fight

# I know wrong from right

# I'ma keep it tight

# Through the darkness I can find

# A light that's shining bright

# Cos I know

# When I go in, when I go hard

# There's nobody else on my level

# When I go near, when I go far

-# It's over

-(it's over)

# Cos I came to shout it out

# Until there ain't no trace of doubt

# When I go in, when I go hard

-# It's over

-(o-o-over)

# They keep telling me what they want me to be

# But I know I made a bigger promise to me

# And I put in the work so I'ma get what I deserve, yeah

# One day, I know

# O-oh o-oh o-oh

# (G-g-get what I deserve, yeah)

# O-oh o-oh who-oa

# When I go in, when I go hard

# There's nobody else on my level

# When I go near, when I go far

-# It's over

-(It's over!)

# Cos I came to shout it out

# Until there ain't no trace of doubt

# When I go in, when I go hard

-# It's over

-(over!)

-#

APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd