Released on: February 12, 2008, 4:26 am

Press Release Author: Lorna Windham

Industry: Entertainment

Press Release Summary: Northumberland author recognised for prestigious children\'s
book award

Press Release Body: There were over 2000 entries in The Times/Chicken House Fiction
Competition this year, and Northumberland children's book author Lorna Windham has
been recently notified that her story entitled "Toby's Secret" had been selected to
be in the Top 22.

According the reader's report provided by the editorial panel for this competition,
the key strengths of this story are:

"Told from Toby's point of view, the story grips the attention of the reader through
fast-paced, compelling, contemporary language, and the deep description of its
characters through past and present events.

Many twists and turns, past relations and events make this story a page turner,
appealing to boys and girls, but with a tendency to grip boys especially.

The story describes how the loss of morals affect all of us - it gives an insight
into gang culture, and impression of fighting the war in Serbia and the fight
against criminals."

In this story, Toby is a boy from the back streets of London who runs with a gang
called The Strepton Snake Boys. One day his father suddenly takes him to live with
his grandfather, which Toby thinks is because of something he's done. Toby
befriends a group of local children and discovers more about himself and his family,
and becomes involved in an adventure which brings him into contact with the
supernatural and the world of international criminals.

Lorna Windham, the author of this fast-paced adventure novel, lives in Choppington
in Northumberland. Lorna is an avid reader of the "Classics" including anything
from Little Women to Black Beauty, from Huckleberry Finn to The Iliad, and these
have influenced her in writing Toby's Secret. Lorna is currently working on her
next children's story.



Web Site: http://www.lornawindham.co.uk/ex-tobysecret.htm

Contact Details: Bradley Road
Enfield