Terms

Subscribe with RSS

Books of the Year 2008/2009

December 12, 2008

And so, the Puffin Blog proudly gives you The Book of the Year 2008 and Hot Tips for 2009, as chosen by an assortment of Puffins here at HQ. It's a great big blog, packed with books we really love and want to tell you about, books we've devoured in 2008 and can't wait to bring you in 2009. So all you have to do is sit back, relax and see if anything here takes your fancy. Over to you, fellow Puffins . . .

Book of 2008
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney
 
I snorted tea on my keyboard laughing so hard at this book. It's the funniest thing I have read in a VERY long time.
 
The Simpsons meets The Wonder Years in this comic adventure for anyone age 8 and upwards (and there's even a lot in here that'll make grown ups laugh - especially boy grown ups!) Told in black-and-white line cartoons, Diary of a Wimpy Kid charts the experiences of the hapless Greg Heffley who finds himself thrust into a new year and a new school where undersize weaklings share the corridors with kids who are taller, meaner and already shaving. And don't even mention the cheese slice...

       

Hot tip 2009
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES by Jeff Kinney
 
With some fantastic sales of the first Wimpy Kid book, a film in the making, readers clamouring for the sequel, and equally side-splittingly hilarious experiences from Greg Heffley in Rodrick Rules, this book and the Diary of a Wimpy series looks set to go stellar for 2009. You heard it here first!

Lindsey Heaven
Senior Fiction Editor, Puffin

My favourite book of 08 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney for its Simpsons-esque humour and comic charm. It made me laugh out loud and want to share the joke with the entire carriage full of passengers as I travelled to work on the tube.

 

Adele Minchin
Publicity Director, Puffin

 

Book of 2008
Train Your Brain - I know it's a bit geeky but it's brilliant fun!  Time yourself against your friends and see how much time you can shave off each day.  It's addictive, trust me.
 
Hot tip for 2009
A new series coming from Young Bond author Charlie Higson in September.  I can't tell you what it's called at the moment, but I've just finished reading and it's INCREDIBLE!

Emily Cox
Puffin Marketing Manager

Book of 2008
Bridget Fidget
As a little girl, I couldn’t sit still. For my parents, this was a problem. Particularly given that it usually went hand in hand with me breaking LOTS of things. But Bridget Fidget is the same. She just can’t stay still! Although none of my dresses were nearly as cute as Bridget’s and I didn’t have a trusty companion called Captain Cat. Joe Berger is an absolute genius with a pen and he is most definitely a talent to keep an eye on.

Hot tip for 2009
Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian
My favourite word is extraordinary. My second favourite word is beastly. And by happy coincidence, both of them apply in equal measure to the escapades of my favourite half-god hero, Percy Jackson. I genuinely cannot wait to find out what extraordinary beasts will want to gobble up Percy as he turns 16 (the age when legend dictates half-god heroes get eaten) and he tries to avert an almighty War of the Gods.

Louise Heskett
Puffin Marketing Officer

      

My Book of the Year 2008 is Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford. I loved Karate Kid when I was younger but this has a fascinating historical setting with samurai swords and real ninjas!

My Hot Tip for 2009 is the Monsterbook series by Michael Broad. The books are perfect for readers 7+ and are really funny with great illustrations of all the stinky, blobby monsters!

Shannon Park
Senior Fiction Editor
Puffin

Book of the Year 2008
MR BIG By Ed Vere
Bright colours, a suited gorilla and JAZZ!  What more could you want from a picture book?  The reason I loved Mr Big so much was because of the really important messages it delivers 1) It's OK to be different and everyone should embrace their uniqueness and 2) If you can play jazz piano, you're cool and will make loads of friends!  
 
Hot Tip for 2009
This book is so hot it sizzles like a bbq sausage when you pick it up!  It's the fast, furious and totally techno-fabulous DOT ROBOT.  It's rare to get a book so amazingly slick and tech-savvy like this one and straight from the No 1 voice of the UK Gadget scene, Jason Bradbury. His authenticity and love of robotics really comes through and I love the sassy American schoolgirl called Brook (the main character's partner in cyber-crime) - she's not just there to look pretty, she has skills too! 

Reetu Kabra
Puffin Press Officer

        

My pick for 2008 is the very first book I was sent from Puffin, just before I started working here: Savvy, by Ingrid Law. It's touching, funny, magical and yet real, and packed with amazing characters and locations that took me right out of my head and slap bang into the wide spaces and blue skies of America. I also passed it on to a good friend of mine called Becca (aged 10), who loved it to pieces too - is there anything better than sharing a great book with a friend?

Hannah Flynn
Puffin Marketing Assistant

My Book of the Year was BY ROYAL COMMAND - the best Young Bond adventure yet, it's breathtakingly exciting. 
 
My tip for next year is LOVE, AUBREY. The most moving story I've read in a long long time. I wanted to give it to my mum, my sister, my best friend - and you will too!

Amanda Punter
Acting Editorial Director, Fiction
Puffin

       

Book of 2008
SilverFin Graphic Novel

Kev Walker has created the most incredible artwork in this book, it’s fast-paced and crammed with action - I hope Young Bond fans will love to pore over it time and time again.

Jacqui Butler
Senior Editor, Puffin Characters

My book of 2008 has to be the brilliant Airman by the even-more-brilliant Eoin Colfer. Swashbuckling high adventure, dastardly villains, a beautiful princess, the invention of flight – can it get more classic than this?! But it’s also brilliantly written, wonderfully conceived and is one of the few books I’ve read in my life that genuinely had me up until 4am (on a weeknight!) racing to finish it. If you haven’t read this book, then read it. Then re-read it. Then read it again, and again and again and again, until you’ve spent the whole of 2009 immersed in Airman. And then go on, read it again for good measure. It really is just that good.

Sophie Stott
Puffin Publicity Assisstant
 
Jan Pienkowksi's Nut Cracker (told by David Walser) is my Book of the Year for 2008. David remains true to the darkness of the original tale and Jan's magical silhouettes are sprinkled with fairy dust. You'll be awestruck by the 3d grand finale! Gorgeously packaged, it's like opening a box of your favourite chocolates.

My hot tip for 2009 is Then by Morris Gleitzman, the moving story of two children on the run from the Nazis in occupied Poland. A story that will haunt you long after you finish the book.
 
Tania Vian-Smith
Marketing Manager
Puffin Publicity

     

And now for some more hot tips . . .

My Tip for 2009 is Then by Morris Gleitzman. Read it in one sitting; wipe your eyes and then start over again. Truly one of the most moving and powerful books I've ever read. It is the sequel to Once.

Jessica Clarke
Puffin Editorial Assistant

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy, the Percy Jackson series is so much fun - exciting, engaging and terribly funny. The fourth book set up what looks to be a heart-stopping and heart-breaking finale.

Jenny Berlin
Group Marketing and Publicity Assistant

What Does Daddy Do? is a brilliant new picture book by author/ illustrator Rachel Bright. Daisy’s best friends at Little Nipper’s Nursery, Dexter, Evie and Bob, ask her a very important question: ‘What does your Daddy do?’... and then the story really begins!

This is Rachel’s first book for Puffin and it is charmingly written, with fantastic illustrations. This is my favourite picture book of 2009, not only because Rachel really understands the mind of a small child, but also because this book has lots to offer grown ups too!

Rebecca Oku
Editorial Assisstant, Puffin Picture Books

The Sarah Dessen books are fast becoming my favourite titles on the Puffin list, and it’s not just because they have such beautifully designed jackets! Her characters are refreshingly normal, sometimes difficult girls on the cusp of adulthood, and they really remind me of myself at their age.

The main character of Sarah's new book, Lock and Key, is the charming but spikily defensive Ruby, who is fiercely independent, and doesn’t want anyone to see her failings, especially not her perfect big sister . . . publishing in April 2009, this book will unlock even the hardest heart.

Sara Flavell
Senior Designer
Fiction Titles
Puffin

       

I am delighted to shout the word BOTTOMS, loud and proud, for who doesn't like to say the word BOTTOMS loudly every now and again? The bottoms in question star in Bottoms Up!, the brand new picture book from the wonderful, award-winning Jeanne Willis, which lands at Puffin HQ in March 2009. Bottoms Up! is a celebration of botties in all shapes and sizes, singing the praises of running around freely without a hint of nappies or knicker elastic in sight. Every page is laugh-out-loud funny, with brilliant illustrations by Adam Stower. It poses such questions as 'Do penguins or pythons or pandas wear undies? No, they do not! No, not even on Sundays' and 'Do lions wear loin cloths to keep out the breeze? Do donkeys wear droopy drawers down to their knees?' This book is perfect for potty training tots or for anyone who likes to say the word 'bottoms' a lot, so that's most of us here at Puffin then. That's my hot tip for 2009 - cheers everyone, bottoms up!

Sarah Kettle
Puffin Creative Executive

Remember that by posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use. If you consider any content on this site to be inappropriate, please report it to Penguin Books by emailing reportabuse@penguin.co.uk

Posted at 09:47 AM in Books of the Year 2008/2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

© 1995 - 2008 Penguin Books LTD

Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy

Registered Number: 861590 England
Registered Office: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL