Eleven year-old Brionie Underhill-Ashton from Benfield School in Newcastle has won the inaugural My Marsh competition.
The competition tasked young people with reviewing their favourite title on the shortlist for this year’s Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. Brionie chose to review Bronze and Sunflower, authored by Cao Wenxuan and translated by Helen Wang, published by Walker Books.
Bronze and Sunflower was originally written in Mandarin and tells the story of the friendship between two young children in a rural Chinese village, touching on themes of family, poverty, and communities working together to overcome hardship. In her review, Brionie observed that the book teaches readers about ‘love and kindness and how important some people are in families’.
Duncan Partridge, Director of Education at the ESU, said that ‘Brionie’s review communicates not only her infectious enthusiasm but also the enjoyment she gained from learning about and from another culture. We believe that translated literature is a powerful way of developing intercultural understanding, so we loved the way that Brionie shares how new worlds were opened up to her within the pages of the book’. The winner of the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation will be announced on Wednesday, 25th January.
For the full shortlist, see here. Brionie and her school win a selection of prizes from our project partners, Browns Books for Students, the Week Junior and the School Library Association, as well as a copy of all 27 books entered for the competition. Congratulations to Brionie and to Benfield School!
