Rundell wins Costa Children's Book

The Costa Children's Book Award has been won by Katherine Rundell for The Explorer, an adventure story set in the Amazon rainforest, published by Bloomsbury Children's Books.

The Explorer follows four children and their fight for survival after crash-landing in the Amazon forest. Our reviewer, Emily Marcuccilli, said of The Explorer: "(This) is a book with real spirit and soul. Courage, anger, humour, grief, love, hope, fear, loyalty and steely determination are all to be found within the pages of this book. The author's characterisation is flawless, drawing the reader into this unlikely band of survivors." The other category winners included: - Gail Honeyman for her acclaimed debut, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which scooped the Costa First Novel Award. - Jon McGregor won the Costa Novel Award category for his fourth novel, Reservoir 13 - Novelist and historian Rebecca Stott took the Costa Biography Award for In The Days of Rain, her memoir of growing up in, and breaking away from, a fundamentalist Christian sect - The late Helen Dunmore posthumously won the Costa Poetry Award for Inside the Wave which the judges called 'a final, great achievement'. The five Costa Book Award winners will each receive a 5,000 prize and are eligible for the final prize - the 2017 Costa Book of the Year. Last year's winner of the overall award was Frances Hardinge for The Lie Tree. The only other children's author to win the Costa Book of the Year award was Philip Pullman for The Amber Spyglass. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges chaired by novelist Wendy Holden and comprising authors and category judges Moniza Alvi, Simon Garfield, Freya North, Sophie Raworth and Piers Torday, joined by Contributing Editor, British Vogue, Laura Bailey, author and presenter, Fern Britton and actor Art Malik. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 30th January 2018.