Capital writers’ children’s books up for Funny Prize

A CITY writer’s children’s book about a grumpy baby has been shortlisted for a prize handed out in honour of Roald Dahl.

Simon Puttock’s The Baby that Roared has been nominated in the 0-6 age category of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, while fellow Capital author Sara Ogilvie could also claim the award for her book, The Worst Princess.

Broadcaster and comedian, Mel Giedroyc, a Roald Dahl Funny Prize judge, said: “There is nothing I like better in life than a good laugh. And to laugh with a book is a very special kind of laugh indeed.

“Be it a huge guffaw on the tube, a smothered chuckle at the bus stop, an embarrassed titter on the train – it’s an intimate kind of laugh which says ‘this is my very own private laugh and it’s mine, all mine’.

“People are deeply curious about it, and they wish the laugh belonged to them too.

“It’s a privilege to tap into some great laughs from fantastic books, and to hopefully put these books in the way of lots of younger readers out there.”

The winner will take home £2500 from the awards ceremony at the Unicorn Theatre in London in November.