Princess Beatrice: Experts discuss royal’s ‘style’

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The eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has been patron of the Oscar’s Book Prize since 2017. Now, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Princess Beatrice announced this year’s winner via video message on the website and streamed on the prize’s YouTube channel.

Lu Fraser’s debut novel, The Littlest Yak, was named the winner of Oscar’s Book Prize 2021 and received the £10,000 prize.

Speaking about the winning book, Beatrice said, “This is a beautiful book, and the winners should be so proud of everything they’ve achieved in pulling together this beautiful story.”

Speaking about her book, Lu Fraser said: “This story means a huge amount to me, I put my heart into it as it felt like a really important message to remind children, and grown-ups, that we all have bigness inside”

“It is the most tremendous honour, and I can’t thank the judges enough for choosing our book, The Littlest Yak, to be the winner of Oscar’s Book Prize 2021.”

On her illustrations, Kate Hindley said: “Cheers to Lu for writing such a brilliant debut text. It was such a pleasure to illustrate.”

“I’m absolutely delighted and flabbergasted to hear our wee Gertie has won Oscar’s Book Prize. Thank you very, very much.”

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, broadcaster Angellica Bell and animator & illustrator, Axel Scheffler were among the judging panel responsible for selecting the winner from the six-strong shortlist.

Of the book, Lorraine Kelly said: “Despite some incredible competition, this heart-warming book grabbed me right from the first page.

“Featuring a wonderful, relatable character, the story is told beautifully through clever, zippy rhymes and gorgeous illustrations.

“There’s so much to talk about with its lovely message too – realising that however much we might wish to change something about ourselves, actually everyone is perfect, just as they are.”

Angellica Bell added: “This is such a cute story about wanting to quickly grow up to be an adult, something I used to dream about when I was a child – and with hindsight it’s about enjoying the moment and not wishing time away!

“But the real message I took away from this book is the lesson that we are all perfect just the way we are in our own individual ways!”

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Oscar’s Book Prize is awarded in memory of Oscar Ashton, who loved children’s stories and died aged three-and-a-half of an undetected heart condition.

This year, the prize received the highest number of entries in its eight-year history with 143 submissions from children’s writers and illustrators from across the UK.

To recognise and reward the vital work by early-year authors and illustrators in encouraging young children to read, this year’s prize fund doubled in size.

The award celebrates the best in storytelling for under-fives and is supported by Amazon and the National Literacy Trust.

Princess Beatrice is an avid supporter of raising awareness of dyslexia, which she was diagnosed with when she was seven.

On World Book Day last year she opened up about her struggles as a child and said: “Reading was really hard work, even trying to get through the pages of some of the simple school reading books.

“I could not understand why I was still reading behind my classmates.

“It was at this point that stories became one of the key things which inspired me.”

The Queen’s granddaughter also shared how she is “really excited” about all the work that is being done to make learning more creative, including online tutoring and homework help.

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