The Icing on the Cake

You write a book and people publish it, buy it, read it. That's the cake.
You get nominated for some awards * and you think, that's the icing on the cake.
 But you're wrong. Because this is the icing on the cake. Literally.

This magnificent cake -  not so much a cake as a work of art -  was created for the tenth birthday party of  the British Isles chapter of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators in Winchester this weekend. At the party 17 books published by members in 2010 were celebrated. How did my book get to be immortalised (temporarily) in cake? The lovely organisers of the party picked two books to feature on the cake by pulling names out of a hat (the other is gorgous picture book Vern and Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre).
The party also honoured Margaret Carey, my cousin-in-law, for being a stalwart volunteer who has done so much to make SCWBI the fantastic organisation it is today. Hurray for Margaret!  I'm new to SCWBI, and I'd recommend it to anyone who writes or makes art for children.
So...thank you SCWBI for the beautiful book cake! That was the best surprise in the world. I will blog about the rest of the conference later in the week.
*I don't like to show off, so I'm writing this small. In recent weeks,When I Was Joe has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal in the UK and for the William C Morris Award in the USA. It's also been nominated to be included on the  American Library Association 2011 list of Best Fiction for Young Adults. It's shortlisted for the North East Teen Book Award and  the Coventry Inspiration Awards,   (votes and coments much appreciated) and long-listed for the Redbridge Book Awards, and the UK Literacy Association Book Award.