Since then his books have been shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award, the Costa Book Award, the Carnegie Medal and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. His first book, Floodland, was published in 2000, and it received the Branford-Boase award for the best debut children's novel of that year.

I would highly recommend this book to someone who is very scared as they will learn that bravely is the key to things. It felt like it could have been fleshed out much more than it was; honestly it reads more like an outline of a story rather than the finished product. No ship was coming to the island for food or taking people or anything, and the last ship that carried people was away with her parents. The most recent of these nominations rekindled a fascination with Poe that has borne fruit here in (in The Restless Dead, 2007) the form of "The Heart of Another" - inspired by Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart. Half way to what’s left of the mainland she comes across another small isle that is dominated by huge Cathedral.

However, as the book continued, rich characters were given little airtime, conflicts were resolved or discarded too quickly, and the ending was sophomoric at best. He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. At first Dooby wanted to escape the island with Zoe, abandoning all his people, but Zoe refused after seeing Dooby's violence.

The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage and determination that is handled with warmth and humanity.On Norwich, we meet our main character, Zoe, who lost her parents as the last they got away on the last boat but Zoe got left behind. Sedgwick's writing is as usual top-notch, literate and engaging, with characters who come to life on the page. In fact, I think I like the story-telling more this way than if another hundred or so pages of explanation and backstories had been added: the reader has to make some leaps along the way.