Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlist, Christmas Cards and Polish Christmas Blue Peter

It is Thursday, it is 5:30, there is one place to be, right here. Today

we can exclusively reveal the six books that have made it to the short

list for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2014. And we will be showing you how

to make your very own CBBC Christmas card with the help of Mr Hacker T

Dog. Stay tuned, it is live here on today's Blue Peter.

Hello! Welcome to Blue Peter. First things first, look at Lindsey's

jumper, it lights up! It is the favourite thing I have ever worn. I

am a big fan. Barney is rehearsing for panto! But we have got a

jam-packed show for you. That is right, we are getting super excited

about the Blue Peter Book Awards 2014, and we want to hear from you.

This is a live show, so we have got a question for you, tell us about

your favourite book on the website. At the end of the show, we will read

out as many of your favourite as possible. Can I just say, how

festive is the studio looking?! It is looking so Christmassy today, and

the reason for that is we are counting down the days to Christmas

with the rest of CBBC. Do you know what? 20 days to go! How exciting?!

Do not get too excited, Radzi! Never! We will be showing you how to

make a CBBC Christmas card, and we will find out what happened when I

went to Newcastle to find out how they celebrate Christmas Polish

style. We want to say thank you to everyone who sent sonic designs for

the Doctor Who competition. The competition is now closed! Yes, and

that means you cannot send in any more applications, but we will be

revealing the three winners on our Christmas special on the 19th of

December at 5:30 right here on CBBC. But for now, some really exciting

news, follow us this way. Yes, you may be able to tell what I'm going

to talk about next, because of our lovely reading corner in the

background. We are going to be revealing the six short listed books

in the Blue Peter Book Awards 2014. We have been doing the awards for a

lot of years now, and they give you a chance to vote for your favourite

books. Barney went to find out what the awards are all about.

There's nothing quite like a good book, you can get lost in a whole

other world, and that is why... Sorry, I know you are excited to

read your book. That is why this year the Blue Peter Book Awards...

No, sorry, I have got one more line then you can read. Are you ready?

That is why this year... Oh, come on! As I was saying, there is

nothing like a good book, and this year the Blue Peter Book Awards

return once again. From a line-up of 40 brilliant books, we are on the

hand to find the best story and the best book with facts, and to do that

we have enlisted a panel of genius judges. Marcus Sedgwick is already a

Blue Peter book award know it all, he won a book award in 2011. I am a

judge for the awards, and we are looking for a book that is a little

bit better than all the others. Kirsten Grant is the director of

World Book Day and has worked in children's literature for 17 years.

I am looking for a book where I am going to learn something and where

the facts are going to be really well organised and really clear. You

will find Katie Thistelton in the CBBC of its most days, but she is

also the host of the CBBC Book Club and a self-confessed bookworm. I am

looking for a book that you cannot put down, which you want to tell

your friends and family about, and which makes you laugh and cry. And

our very own UN, the big boss of Blue Peter. He is not voting, he is

chairing the voting, making sure everything runs smoothly. This gives

us a chance to celebrate the books you have been reading and hopefully

introduce you to some new books you might not have read yet. The judges

have already read each book, and now they are bashing their heads

together to come up with a short list of just six, the three best

stories and the three best books with facts, easier said than done!

And after hours of deliberation... They have done it! These are the

final six, is everyone happy? Very happy, it is a good selection. So

there you have it, the book awards short list, around 200 from ten

schools will be reading the books and voting for your favourites. Make

sure you're watching in the New Year to find out who has been picked.

So let's find out a bit more about them, the nominees for best book

with facts are Weird World Of Wonders: World War II by Tony

Robinson. Marvellous Maths by Jonathon Litton and Thomas Flintham.

And The World In Infographics: Animal Kingdom by Jon Richards and

Ed Simkins. Let's find out a little bit more about them.

Weird World Of Wonders sees the curiosity grew Discover the smellier

and more disgusting bits of the Second World War. Wheelbarrows full

of money, things that go bang, standing up to bullies, must potato

moustaches, it is history, but not as you know it.

Did you know the number zero add to be invented? Or that there is an

equation to work out the geometry of a doughnut? That is what you get

with Marvellous Maths, incredible ideas and interactive bits and bobs,

mats made easy. If you are a budding numberSmith, that is some fun. A

picture is worth a thousand words, and nowhere is that more true than

in The World In Infographics: Animal Kingdom. This is a mash up of icons

and pictures, facts and figures to help you make sense of the stats.

From boat to birds, mammals and amphibians, each page is bursting

with unexpected information about the world of animals, it is wild.

That is such an exciting line-up of books, isn't it? Now it is the

nominees for best story. We have Oliver And The Seawigs, by Philip

Reeve and the Sarah McIntyre. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell L.

And last but by no means least, Whale Boy by Nicola Davies and Joe

McLaren. Very exciting times, time to find out more about them.

Oliver And The Seawigs is the adventure filled story of

ten-year-old Oliver, the son of explorers who met at the top of

Mount Everest. When his parents go missing, Oliver set sail across the

sea to rescue them. In his quest, he meets a talking albatross, a mermaid

with a black eye, a villainous boy and an army of STC monkeys. -- pesky

sea monkeys. Sophie is an orphan found in a cello case in the English

Channel. When no-one believes her story, she takes matters into our

own hands and flees to Paris to search for her mother. The only clue

she has is the jest of the jelly maker. Income, we find her on the

run from the authorities. -- in Rooftoppers. Will they ever be able

to find her mother before it is too late. Michael has never seen a

whale, not a real one. Everyone knows they disappeared from the

water around the little island of Liberty many years ago. Whale Boy

tells the story that unfolds after a terrible storm brings a mysterious

stranger to his island home who offers what he has always dream of,

his very own boat. All he has to do in return is help the stranger find

the Wales and promise to never tell a soul. Michael is about to find

that sometimes dreams come with a price.

Enormous congratulations to all the nominees. It is a fantastic short

list. Now, on the phone we have Jeff Kinney, who was meant to be live in

the studio, but because of the storms he has been held up. Jeff,

where are you? I am on my way to you in a car, but unfortunately the

train was stopped, we were kicked off the train! We wish you were in

the studio, but as you are not here, we will ask you a couple of

questions. Your book, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, won best book of the last

ten years, how did it feel to win such a special award? I really could

not believe it, I did not feel like I could win against Harry Potter,

which is one of my favourite books. I said to my kids, at least my books

are funnier than Harry Potter, right? And my son was like, no,

Harry Potter is funnier! We think you deserved it, and you have a new

book out from the series, how do you keep coming up with all of the new

ideas and characters all the time? It is really hard. I spent six

months just trying to think of ideas, and it takes me a long time.

I sit there with a blanket over my head and I fall asleep a lot, and I

come up with the ideas I need for a new book. We love the books, and we

are going to talk to Katie, but stay on the line, we will need you in a

minute! Katie, you are a host of the CBBC Bookclub and a judge on the

awards, how tough is it to pick six books? So tough, it is really hard

to judge books, especially with storybooks, and we got it down to

about ten, and we kept taking them out and putting them in again, but

we are really confident we have got brilliant six books, and I would be

happy if any of them won, they are all brilliant. It is not just

stories, we have fact -based books as well. How do you think they ring

the facts together? They do it brilliantly, the maths book, I hated

maths when I was younger, I am more of a words girl, but this is full of

brilliant tips, but I thought it would have made my life a lot

easier! If you do not like maths, it is a good one for you. And the

infographics book is brilliant, full of facts that you can member to tell

your mates, really fun. And Tony Robinson's World War II book is very

funny, with reading for that, but it also helps you to learn about World

War II by putting it into your modern day life. He will say that

you and your friends are quite similar to how countries formed

alliances, and it makes you think, wow, that is why that happened. If

we have got time, what do think it is about a good book that you cannot

put down? There is nothing like it, you are in your own little world,

you can sit and relax and let your imagination run wild. If you don't

like reading, you have not found the right book yet. Jeff, same question

for you, what makes a great book for you that you cannot put down? For

me, it is humour. If it keeps me laughing and turning the Pages, that

is the best. Thank you so much, both of you. It is going to be such a

difficult one for the 200 children who have to decide the winner, and

you will find out the winners of the book award in March next year on

World Book Day. Yes, so get online, get to a library, get a copy and get

involved. We ask you at the beginning of the show, what is your

favourite book and wide? Go to the website and let us know. If having

Katie in the studio is not enough, having a man on the side of the

motorway is not enough, this may be inspiration for you, some famous

faces telling you why they love books and what their favourite books

are. My favourite character from a book when I was a kid was from

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, because he is the guy that I wanted to be and

still do. One of my favourites was in the Vampire series, and I am

partial to a bit of Harry Potter. Reading has had a big influence on

me, I get inspired by things I read all the time. We think reading is

cool because you can let your imagination run wild. Quite

literally! We think reading is cool because you learn a new stuff. And

because it is a good time to chill out. And the paper smells good! Why

don't you tell the guys at home some of your favourite books? Yes, well,

one of mine was the Witches. What is your favourite? Danny The Champion

Of The World. Goebel... The first book I was into was about animals,

and they really got me into doing what I do today. Some of my

favourite things about reading or how you can be transported away to

another land, how you can learn interesting words and be very

inspired, so I suggest you pick up a book and get reading! You forget how

many good books there are. I read a book about blue. I couldn't fit it

down! It is Hacker T Dog! I have just come from our office. I have

come here to help you ruin this, mate. I'm excited to have you here.

Are you excited about Christmas? Yes, I will be sitting down, singing

all my favourite songs. This Christmas at CBBC, we want you to

keep it CBBC. (. I that. -- oh, grand. I like that. We are putting

on Alice in Wonderland. That was really good. I was in that.

We are going to be making this car today, with the help of Hacker T

Dog, of course. -- this car. All the details on the website. Make sure

you head online after the show and check that out. For now we are going

to be making this. There is a Blue Peter one you can make. The

templates are online. And they are printed out in full, glorious

colour. Go to the website and print of two templates. Then stick them

together but make sure the one on the back is upside down, so that

when you turn the car over, it is still the right way up. That is

magic! How have you done that? I went on the website. Now, the first

thing to do is to fold it into thirds. Have you done your Christmas

shopping? ? I have. I have got some meat paste. I'm going to shape than

into the shape of a turkey. Next stage is you can see there are pairs

of lines. With these scissors... I bath on a regular basis, Hacker T

Dog. Don't we all. This is what helps the card to stay up. Do each

pair the same length. You messed it up in rehearsal, didn't you? It was

a right dog 's dinner... And I am a dog! Sorry, I just hit you on the

nose. Fold your card over. That is going to make the steps Radzi has

just cut come out. There you go. How good is that? That is dead good. Can

I have it? You can at the end. You need to add the snow panels. It is

as though you have rehearsed these jokes. Once you have folded it, you

fold along the grey line, like so. All lines are grey to me. I am a

dog, I can only see in black and white. After you have done that,

underneath... He does know what he is doing. I am going to glue on the

part that says, do this part again. Come on, we can afford it. Then you

simply glue down here like so. Easy, isn't it? And then once, as Red Sea

has done, you are going to explain about the panels. -- Radzi. It

hangs. It should look like this. Now the fun part, we get to decorate it.

Oh, we can put glitter on it! I am going to put a bit of glue on here.

If you send me that, I will be disappointed. There, you have

finished your card. You can make an individual, pictures of your family

and friends, anything you want. A washing machine if you wanted. That

would be strange. When you have got one, take a photo, we would love to

hear from you. Thank you for coming in, Hacker. My pleasure. Can I come

on every week? I am taller than Barney. How do you celebrate

Christmas? Maybe you are getting your presence sorted. Stop it,

Hacker! We all celebrate Christmas differently. Earlier in the week I

went to Newcastle to find out to celebrate Christmas the traditional

Polish way. I have got a bit multilingual today,

and there's a special reason. It is a time when lots of people are

celebrating Christmas. Considering Polish is the second most spoken

language in England and Wales, I thought they would find out how they

celebrate. They celebrate on the 24th of December, when nothing is

eating until the first star appears in the sky. It is tradition to set

an extra place at the table for a none expected guests. Delicacies

include creamed herring and beetroot. This school holds we can

Polish ( lessons, giving children a chance to hold up with their own

country's traditions. -- this school holds weekend Polish lessons. Hello,

everyone. What are you doing here? We are making pictures. Christmas

pictures? How important is Christmas to you? Very important. We have a

kind of wafer. You pass them around, and who goes first? The oldest

person. What marks Christmas for you? As soon as we see the first

star in the sky. Decorations are also important. You are making a

Christmas tree hat off past. It is looking really good. I'm going to

make one as well. What food do you like? I hold a Christmas puddings,

really. -- I like all the Christmas puddings. I hate mushrooms. But some

of the traditional decorations are sweet treat. This looks delicious!

We are making cookies for the trees. They are gingerbread. We are going

to hang them on the tree. We put them on and make baubles. Yellow

micro something over there, Victor... I didn't really eat it!

The smell of the gingerbread is making me hungry. Heather, is this

what a table would look like at home? The Polish sub but has at

least 12 dishes, in order to represent the 12 disciples. -- the

Polish subpar. What do you say to each other? You make good wishes for

the next year. Good wishes for the next year, however. I am so hungry.

Let the tasting begin, and I tried everything. That is really good. It

is cold. It is delicious. Let's try some cakes. I adore it. Then came

the beetroot soup and dumplings. Not the biggest fan of dumplings. I have

had such a brilliant day. I have learned traditions, decorated the

tree and even tried a bit of Polish food. Just one thing left to say.

Which means Merry Christmas. But to make it a bit more Christmassy, we

have just got time for this. Are you ready? Ready? ! Take it away, guys!

Yea, that was so good! I had such a good day. Thank you so much to all

the kids. You look like you did. One of the best part of being a Blue

Peter presenter is seeing the post you will sent in. Look at this.

Business from Alex, he is eight, and he has sent in Santa Claus going

down the chimney. This one as well is from Allah. She has been inspired

by last week's show. -- from LR. It is a Quackodile. Talking of last

week, we were talking about War Horse. Look at this. He is

galloping. This is Joey on the horse. Finally, this one from

Michael. He made some of the pompons you made. You haven't just been

getting in touch with us about the war. You have been telling us about

your favourite book and why. We are going to get cracking with the

comments. I would kick it off. My favourite is by David Whalley 's. I

Ruby Redford. -- I like. In charge it, by Enid Blyton. -- enchant it.

One of my favourites. I would Jacqueline Wilson when I was

younger. -- I had. I Harry Potter, says one viewer. --

I like. Thank you to everyone for getting in touch. We have got

others, loads of them, but I'm afraid that is all we have time for

full stop make sure you are watching this week as I reveal the top three

sports men and women for sports personality of the year. I am so

excited! And I got a huge surprise behind the set of Dani's Castle. And

I got to put the start-up of the tree in Trafalgar Square. -- the

star on top. We are going to show you how to make some great stocking

fillers. Make sure you are watching next week at the same time.

Goodbye!