THE shortlist for Bolton Children's Fiction Award 2017 has been announced.

The prestigious annual award puts the voting entirely in the hands of the children under the age of fifteen in the borough.

The award has been run by Bolton School for the past four years.

The shortlisted books have been chosen by school librarians at Bolton School. However, the voting and therefore ultimate choice of winner is entirely in the hands of children taking part.

The shortlist is Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave; Beetle Boy by M G Leonard, The Last Immortal by Alex Marlowe, Jessica’s Ghost by Andrew Norris, My Brother is a Superhero by David Solomons and Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford

In the coming months, children will read each of the books and participate in a number of activities in their English lesson and School Library Book Clubs.

In May they will vote for their top three favourites.

They will be encouraged to write reviews and follow the School’s Twitter feed @BoltonSchoolLib with #BCFA2017.

The votes will be counted up, and the winner will finally be announced at the Award Ceremony in July when children from across Bolton will have the opportunity to meet the shortlisted authors.

Pupils from around 20 secondary school pupils in Bolton and surrounding areas will be taking part.

Maria Howarth, the Senior Librarian at Bolton School, said: "I am really pleased with this diverse list which includes a number of new and emerging authors.

"This supports the aim of the Award, which is to broaden children’s reading choices and raise the profile of new authors. I am also hoping that teachers and Librarians will be able to use the books to support cross-curricular learning in subjects such as Art, Science, Geography and PSHE."

Year nine pupil, Lawson Bates said: "I really like the award because it opens your eyes to lots of different genres. I usually read mostly crime and mystery books, but the award makes you try lots of different types of books."

The Bolton Children’s Fiction Award is promoted by Bolton School, and supported by independent bookseller Ebb & Flo and Bolton School Library Service.

It is described as way for school librarians to introduce year seven pupils to the library and to engage pupils in reading.

Any schools interested in taking part should contact Mrs Howarth on mhowarth@boltonschool.org