Telegraph & Argus Children's Book Review competition proves a phenomenal success

We received hundreds of entries in response to our call for budding young critics to pen us a review of up to 250 words of a favourite book or a recent read.

We have some fantastic prizes up for grabs for the winners of each of the three age categories - 7-10-years-old, 11-14-years-old, and 15-16-years-old.

Each winner will receive £100 worth of vouchers from Waterstones, to spend on a whole library of new books! And one runner-up in each category will receive a package of books - supplied by the National Literacy Trust and Waterstones - worth more than £50.

In addition, the writer of the review deemed to be the overall winner will get a fantastic iPad Mini, generously donated by Bradford company Qube Learning.

The first major judging session took place at Waterstones in Bradford city centre, with Ian Oldfield, Waterstones manager, Imran Hafeez, head of the National Literacy Trust's Bradford hub, and David Barnett, of the Telegraph & Argus, poring over the entries.

Ian said: "I was very impressed with the standard of the reviews and the sheer breadth of books that young people are reading in Bradford.

"It's refreshing to see so many different styles and types of books by so many different authors."

When the final judging decisions have been made the winners will be contacted and asked to attend a special presentation event in Bradford. Then we'll be running a full report on the winners in a special supplement planned to coincide with the Bradford Literature Festival later this month.

Imran Hafeez of the Literacy Trust said he was incredibly impressed with the standard of the entries and echoed the thoughts of all the judges when he added that it was an incredibly difficult decision to narrow them down.

Many schools had supported the competition and got classes to read their books and write reviews as part of a class project.

The work of comedian-turned-author David Walliams was a huge favourite among many children, but the range of books being read was astonishing, and the critical examinations of the books was of a hugely high standard.

On this page you will see some examples of the wonderfully illustrated reviews that some children sent in, and you can also read just a tiny selection of the reviews below - we'll be putting more up on our website when the winners are unveiled.

The Boy in the Dress

This book report is about a book named ‘The boy in the Dress’ by David Walliams. When I read this book, with a smile on my face, I knew it was going to make me feel ecstatic. The Boy in the Dress is about a Boy that’s mum had left Dennis, the boy, John, his brother, and his dad Dennis reads vogue magazines and meets a girl called ‘Lisa’ she then persuaded him to wear a dress to school. They say Dennis is a French exchange student but then they go to the French class and surprise their teacher with a nasty shock and end up making their teacher cry, her tears splash like puddles on the floor, as she stands there. He feel bad about what he has done and hopes for the best. But then gets caught! He finds out his headmaster is doing the same hilarious thing!!

I liked the characters and all the funny events that were created. It felt like I was part of the book and I was surrounded by all the amazing people from this interesting book. Lisa was the most fabulous and favourite character from this beautiful book.

This book has persuaded me to read many other books written by David Walliams. I now want to always read and write in my spare time. I now thank David Walliams for this amazing book that he has made.

Beth Miller-Kennedy, 8, Knowleswood Primary.

'Holes' by Louis Sachar

'Holes' by Louis Sachar is about a boy called Stanley that goes to Camp Green Lake because he 'is always in the wrong place at the wrong time'. He has to dig holes five feet deep and five feet wide to find 'anything interesting' for Mr. Sir. Once he found a gold tube but he gave it to X-ray so he could get the rest of the day off. The warden then said to find more things in X-ray's hole but Stanley knew they were digging in the wrong place as he had found it in his own hole! Will they ever dig up the truth?

I thought this book was exciting and fun to read. I would recommend the book for boys ages 8 - 10 years old because it is tricky to read. I would give it 100%.

Abdullah Mahmood, 8, Home Educated

Horses and Ponies

Introduction: Ever wanted to become a spectacular rider? Then take this book all about horses and ponies and you will become a spectacular, super star rider.

About the book: This book can tell you about the spectacular, amazing facts about horses and ponies! You could become the best, ever, rider in town! So come on down and find this gobsmacking book. It will make your whole world of riding dreams come true. This book can change your life forever. This is a chance of a life time. So get this, most fascinating, most spectacular book.

Zayba Abdullah,9, All saints CE Primary

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

The hunger games: Mockingjay is an exciting final book in the series: The Hunger Games. Aswell as answering the questions we might have from the previous two books, it also has a plot of its own: The fight for justice.

It tells us more about the two main characters: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the star-crossed lovers from District 12, and what both of them would go through to save the other.

Mockingjay is one of my favourite books because it is thrilling and action packed; there is never a dull moment, there isn’t anything I don’t like about it.

The idea for the whole series is original, and because of this, i love it even more.

I would recommend this book to other people, especially older children and young adults, although some older adults would probably enjoy it too!

Because I love this book so much and because it is so well written, I would give it: 5/5.

Becky Denison, 11

The Book Thief (1939, Mark Zusak)

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl who has an interest in stolen books. Death had gotten hold of this book that Liesel had written and thrown away after losing her family.

My favourite part of the book was when i found out that Leisel had died after living a long and happy life with kids and grandkids. I liked this part because its nice to know after a sad childhood she finally got a chance to be happy. My least favourite part of the book was when Leisel got whipped for following max as he was marching through molching to Dachau. I think this was courageous and she should not have gotten whipped by the Nazi for it.

My favourite character was Leisel because i thought she was very brave for staying strong through her family problems. All throughout the books she was doing courageous things like risking her life to save Max and trying to make everyone feel better by reading to them whilst protected from the bomb raids outside by a shelter.

My least favourite character was Rosa because even though she was Leisel’s foster mom she still judged other people by the amount of money they had and made Leisel work hard and do disgusting jobs like cleaning spit off doors.

I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because the plot, speech and setting were all amazing. I would definitely recommend this book for you.

Fatima Aziz, 13, Feversham College

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

My book review is about the Boy in the striped pyjamas, written by John Boyne.

This book is based on a family who have moved from the city to the countryside. The only problem was that Bruno didn't want to, however that soon changed. It changed his life as well as his thoughts on living in the countryside.

I found this book very interesting and it encouraged me to read on. This was because the atmosphere built up a lot of tension as it was taken place during the war. Despite the fact I have never experienced a war, I felt like I understood Bruno's thoughts and feelings. Plus the situations he got caught up in.

When reading this book it made me think about how hard his life must have been as he was only young. I don't think that Bruno understood the war neither.Despite the fact he had a tutor teaching him about it nearly everyday.

At many points in this book I felt very intrigued. I specifically liked the part when Bruno's father called for Bruno to enter his office. He must have been terrified as his father demanded for him to 'enter'. This was one of my favourite scenes in the book.

Overall I would rate this book a 9/10.Although there were no illustrations,I could create them in my mind. I would recommend this book to a lot of people my age as I enjoyed it a lot.

Abigail Kendall,13,Thornton Grammar School