We talk with Tom McLaughlin about his graphic novel Alan, King of the Universe. Alan is an orange cat convinced he is born to rule. Blessed with opposable thumbs and a side kick called Fido, he spends his days dreaming up ways to take up the universe.

Tom's website can be found here and here are some links to his books:

Alan King of the Universe

The Day that Aliens (nearly) Ate our Brains

The Day I Became the Most Wanted Boy in the World

The Accidental Prime Minister

You've Been Werewolfed

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Join us to hear all about Jasbinder Bilan's new book, Naeli and the Secret Song. Find out where the idea came from and the research she did.

Here are links to all of Jasbinder's Books

Naeli and the Secret Song

Aarti and the Blue Gods

Tamarind and the Star of Ishta

Asha and the Spirit Bird

India, Incredible India, illustrated by Nina Chakrabarti

Xanthe and the Ruby Crown

Calling the Whales, illustrated by Skylar White

Nush and the Stolen Emerald

Paloma and the Bear, illustrated by Skylar White

Anya's Quest, illustrated by Jane Ray

And links to the book prizes we mentioned;

Jhalak Prize

The Women's Prize

The Week Junior Book Awards

Branford Boase Award

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We are joined by Alison Jewitt a teacher from South London who leads a Carnegie Shadowing Group at her school and Sophia Bower a school librarian from Durham who is a Carnegie judge this year.

We talk about shadowing groups and then all of the books on the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist. Sophia then hides while the rest of us make our predictions about who wins - we were completely wrong last year, can we do better this year?

Carnegie Medal Short Listed Books

All That it Ever Meant, Blessing Musariri

Glasgow Boys, Margaret McDonald

King of Nothing, Nathanael Lessore

Little Bang, Kelly McCaughrain

Play, Luke Palmer

The Final Year, Matt Goodfellow

The Things we Leave Behind, Clare Furniss

Treacle Town, Brian Conaghan

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