Apollo is the latest novel from one of Norway’s most cherished and critically-acclaimed authors for middle-grade children, Bjørn Ingvaldsen. His wide-ranging authorship includes humour for the youngest grades to books that take up serious topics for children and youths. One of his latest books, Your Father (2016), was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize.
This is a wacky, thoughtful and suspenseful book about space exploration and politics that is perfect for middle-grade children who are voracious readers.
In its judgement, the jury draws attention to a masterfully told story, Ingvaldsen’s sure touch for language characterised by dialogue that gives the text a verbal effortlessness, in addition to tension and momentum balanced by humour and fabulously technical ingenuity.