CHILDREN from across Oxfordshire have chosen their favourite books of last year for a top literary award shortlist.

Unlike other children’s fiction prizes, youngsters alone decide which authors win Oxfordshire Book Awards, with school librarians counting up their votes to find the most popular books of the year.

The authors are then invited to a ceremony to meet pupils from across the county later in the year.

Among those to make the 2012 shortlist are weighty children’s novels about terrorism, cancer, family break-up, and domestic abuse, as well as lighter picture books about furry animals looking for a new home and a confused wolf.

War Horse creator Michael Morpurgo, comedian David Walliams and former children’s laureate Jacqueline Wilson make the shortlist.

Burford School librarian Lynne Cooper, who set up the awards in 2007, said: “It is quite a serious shortlist, with not much there which is light or frivolous, but there are some really good books there.

“It seems that at the moment children are very much more into real drama, rather than imaginative stories.

“There is not much in the way of fantasy, which is definitely different from a few years ago.”

Among the nominees is Rose Hill author Sarah Powell for her first novel Fifty Fifty, which describes the moral dilemmas faced by 13-year-old Gil as he his torn between his scientist father and an animal rights activist he meets.

She said: “It is really exciting, because it can be difficult to get noticed when there is so much out there.”

Veteran children’s author Eva Ibbotson, who died aged 85 in October 2010, has been nominated for last book One Dog and his Boy, published posthumously last February.

Her son, Piers Ibbotson, 57, from Summertown, said: “She would have been delighted to have been nominated, particularly as this is something chosen by children.

“She always said never mind what other people said about her books, what mattered to her most was if the children liked them.”

Children at Burford School said they were planning to read all of the nominees before they vote for their favourite.

Wilf Holdcroft, 14, said: “I chose to nominate An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons, because I’m very interested in the war in Afghanistan.

“I’m really pleased it has made it to the shortlist.”

Twenty-two secondary schools, 26 primary schools and libraries across the county are promoting the awards.

To vote, children should give the name of their favoured book along with their name, age and school, and send it to Alicia Marshall, The Library, The Marlborough School, Shipton Road, Woodstock, OX20 1LP, or drop it off at any public library. The closing date for voting is Wednesday, March 28, with winners announced on Wednesday, April 18.