Waterstones' award winners announced

Kiran Millwood Hargrave has been announced as the overall winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017 with her debut novel, The Girl of Ink & Stars (Chicken House).

Waterstones' children's buyer Florentyna Martin compared the book to the mythical atmosphere of Pullman's His Dark Materials: "Kiran's storytelling prowess takes a tale already rich with invention and delivers a fantasy of real emotional heft." MD James Daunt added, "We have a sensationally good winner, a work of imagination and drive that will command a special place on the bookshelves of many generations of readers to come." In addition to securing her victory as overall winner, The Girl of Ink & Stars was also pronounced winner of the Younger Fiction category. Lizzy Stewart's There's a Tiger in the Garden (Frances Lincoln) won the Illustrated Books category and the urban drama Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hodder) took the Older Fiction category. The winner takes home a 5000 prize and support from the nationwide network of Waterstones stores. Here are the titles the winning books were up against in the full Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist: Illustrated Books: The Bear Who Stared by Duncan Beedie (Templar - Bonnier) Life is Magic by Meg McLaren (Andersen Press) Super Stan by Matt Robertson (Orchard Books - Hachette) The Journey by Francesca Sanna (Flying Eye) Tiger in a Tutu by Fabi Santiago (Orchard Books - Hachette) There's a Tiger in the Garden by Lizzy Stewart (Frances Lincoln) Younger Fiction: Cogheart by Peter Bunzl (Usborne) Captain Pug by Laura James (Bloomsbury) Beetle Boy by M G Leonard (Chicken House) The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Chicken House) Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford (HarperCollins) Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (Corgi Penguin Random House) Older Fiction: Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager (Walker) Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield (Egmont) Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hodder - Hachette) The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin) Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit (Bodley Head) The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Corgi Penguin Random House)