Jenny Valentine facts for kids

Jenny Valentine (born 1970) is an English author who writes exciting novels for children. Her first and most famous book is Finding Violet Park, published in 2007. This book won the special Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. This award is given only once to an author for their best children's book.

Jenny Valentine lives in Glasbury-on-Wye, Wales. She lives there with her husband, Alex Valentine, who is a singer and songwriter. Together, they also run a health food shop in a nearby town called Hay-on-Wye.

Her Amazing Books

Jenny Valentine's books are published by HarperCollins. They usually come out in Britain first, then in America a year later. For example, Finding Violet Park (2007) was called Me, The Missing and The Dead in the US (2008).

Awards and Recognition

Besides winning the Guardian Prize, Finding Violet Park was also chosen for the shortlist of the Carnegie Medal. This is a very important award given by British librarians for the best children's book published in the UK each year.

Many countries have translated Finding Violet Park into their languages. These include Basque, Catalan, Italian, Dutch, French, German, Slovenian, Spanish, and Norwegian.

Her second novel, Broken Soup, came out in 2008. It was also very popular and won many nominations. It was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize and the Costa Book Children's Book Award. It was also longlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. This book has also been translated into Dutch and German.

Other Stories

In 2009, Jenny Valentine wrote a short story called "Ten Stations." This story is a prequel to Finding Violet Park, meaning it tells what happened before the main book. It was part of the World Book Day publications.

That same year, she started a series of short stories for younger children. These stories are called Iggy and Me.

Her third novel, The Ant Colony, was published in 2009. It has also been translated into Dutch and German.

Jenny Valentine's fourth novel is The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight. This book is set in her hometown of Hay-on-Wye. It was also nominated for the Carnegie Medal, making it one of the top forty children's books of the year. This book has also been published in Dutch.

Jenny Valentine often takes part in the Hay Festival every year. This is a big festival where authors and readers meet.

List of Books

Here is a list of Jenny Valentine's books and some of the awards they received: