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Blue Peter Book Awards 2021

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Congratulations to all involved with titles that have been longlisted for the 2021 Blue Peter Book Awards.
The shortlists will be announced on Blue Peter on 5 November.

Best Story

  • Adventures on Trains: The Highland Falcon Thief by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Books)
  • A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll (Knights Of)
  • Anisha, Accidental Detective: School’s Cancelled by Serena Patel, illustrated by Emma McCann (Usborne Publishing)
  • Life of Riley: Beginner’s Luck by Simon James Green, illustrated by Aleksei Bitskoff (Scholastic)
  • Llama Out Loud! by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan (Egmont)
  • Pizazz by Sophy Henn (Simon & Schuster Children’s UK)
  • Snow Foal by Susanna Bailey (Egmont)
  • Tamarind & The Star of Ishta by Jasbinder Bilan (Chicken House)
  • The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook (Nosy Crow)
  • Where the Wilderness Lives by Jess Butterworth (Orion Children’s Books)

Best Book With Facts

  • A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu, and You by Mike Barfield, illustrated by Jess Bradley (Buster Books)
  • Be Plastic Clever by Amy and Ella Meek, illustrated by Sarah Goodreau (DK)
  • Copycat Science by Mike Barfield (QED)
  • Fearless by Liam Hackett, illustrated by Mike Perry (Scholastic)
  • I Like Animals… What Jobs Are There? by Steve Martin, illustrated by Roberto Blefari (Ivy Kids)
  • Inventors by Professor Robert Winston, illustrated by Jessamy Hawke (DK)
  • Professor Astro Cat’s Deep Sea Voyage by Dr Dominic Walliman, illustrated by Ben Newman (Flying Eye Books)
  • Question Everything! by Susan Martineau, illustrated by Vicky Barker (b small publishing)
  • The Humans by Jonny Marx, illustrated by Charlie Davis (Little Tiger)
  • Who Do You Think You Are? by Alice Harman, illustrated by Mark “Blok” Magnaye (Wide Eyed Editions)

The Diverse Book Awards 2020 Winners

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The winners of the newly-established Diverse Book Awards in the children’s and young adult categories are

The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q. Rauf

and

Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung

 

These books were selected from the following shortlists:

Children’ s 

  • My Hair by Hannah Lee, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan (Faber & Faber) 
  • Planet Omar Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian, illustrated by Nasaya Mafaridik (Hodder) 
  • Son of the Circus by E. L. Norry (Scholastic) 
  • The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q. Rauf (Orion Children’s Books) 
  • Tin Boy by Steve Cole, illustrated by Oriol Vidal (Barrington Stoke) 

​Young Adult 

  • All The Things We Never Said by Yasmin Rahman (Hot Key Books) 
  • Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung (Andersen Press) 
  • The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (Hodder) 
  • The Boxer by Nikesh Shukla (Hodder) 
  • The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Hachette) 

For more information about the award go to its website: https://www.thediversebookawards.co.uk

Little Rebels Award 2020 Winner

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The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award, now in its 8th year, is a prize for radical fiction aimed at children aged 0-12. The award is given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and was established in conjunction with Letterbox Library. The award is now administered by Letterbox Library and Housmans Bookshop.

This year’s winner is The Boy Who Loved Everyone by Jane Porter ill. Maisie Paradise Shearring.

The award ceremony was held virtually on Zoom at 7pm yesterday, 22 October 2020.

The winner was chosen (by Darren Chetty, Shaun Dellenty, Emily Drabble, Patrice Lawrence and Jim MacSweeney) from a shortlist of seven:

SOFIA VALDEZ, FUTURE PREZ by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts (Abrams & Chronicle)

SNEAKY BEAK  by Tracey Corderoy, illustrated by Tony Neal (Little Tiger)

THE BOY WHO LOVED EVERYONE by Jane Porter, illustrated by Maisie Paradise Shearring (Walker)

THE LITTLE ISLAND by Smriti Prasadam-Halls, illustrated by Robert Starling

KING LEONARD’S TEDDY by Phoebe Swan (Child’s Play)

NOW OR NEVER – A DUNKIRK STORY by Bali Rai (Scholastic)

THE CLOSEST THING TO FLYING by Gill Lewis (OUP)

Previous years’ winners and shortlists can be found here:
https://littlerebels.org/previous-shortlists-winners/

Follow the award on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlerebelsaward/

Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards 2020 Winners

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sainsburys2020

Congratulations to all those involved with the books recently announced as winners of the 2020 Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards, now in their seventh year.

  • Activity Book
    Winner: Draw With Rob by Rob Biddulph
  • Baby & Toddler
    Winner: Don’t Tickle The Dinosaur! by Sam Taplin, illustrated by Ana Martin Larranaga
  • Favourite Characters
    Winner: Oi See It! Say It! by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field
  • Fiction
    Winner: Anisha, Accidental Detective by Serena Patel, illustrated by Emma McCann
  • Learning & Development
    Winner: Do You Love Bugs? by Matt Robertson
  • Picture Book
    Winner: Mabel and the Mountain by Kim Hillyard
  • Children’s Classic
    Winner: Where’s Spot by Eric Hill

 

Andersen Press Release Free Half Term Holiday Pack

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Following the success of the free Elmer Day at Home and Summer Staycation activity packs Andersen Press are continuing their commitment to supporting children and families through the pandemic with a new, free activity pack featuring their Autumn releases, along with some Halloween classic titles.

Andersen tell us: “The two previous packs have been downloaded over 5,000 times and, as families face another school holiday at home, this is a way to celebrate books in an accessible and cost-effective way for families, and hopefully give them something to do on a rainy, autumnal day.”

The Half Term Halloween Fun Activity Pack features free colouring sheets, word puzzles, creative challenges and more based on a selection of Andersen titles;


Vampire Peter written by Ben Manley, illustrated by Hannah Peck


The Spots and The Dots written by Helen Baugh, illustrated by Marion Deuchars


Who Makes a Forest? written by Sally Nicholls, illustrated by Carolina Rabei


Fergal Meets Fern written and illustrated by Robert Starling


Cally and Jimmy by Zoe Antoniades, illustrated by Katie Kear


Not Now, Bernard by David McKee 

 

Also included is a competition, for one family to win all books included in the pack.
To enter: complete one of the activity pages in the pack and tweet a photo of it to @AndersenPress, making sure you include the hashtag #APHalloweenFun.

The Half Term Halloween Fun Activity Pack is available for immediate download here:

http://bit.ly/APHalloweenFun

OU Launches ‘Book Chat’ In Partnership With Macmillan Children’s Books

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The Open University (OU) is today launching Book Chat: Reading with your Child, a free resource which comprises three short films and support materials to help parents, families and carers read books conversationally and creatively to children. Working with Macmillan Children’s Books, the films use two picture books and a poetry collection to support families with reading to different ages of children.

Book Chat is the informal interaction that accompanies quality reading to and with children, developing children’s language and comprehension and nurturing a love of reading. The films model this relaxed interaction through the use of open questions, comments and prompts to initiate Book Chat and enable parents and children to share the pleasure of reading together –  a significant step for the project, as homelife becomes even more important whilst families cope with a post-pandemic world.

The films are based around three titles published on the Macmillan Children’s Books list and their Two Hoots illustrated imprint. Each is aimed at a different age of child who will be engaging with the stories or poems.

One Fox by Kate Read (5+) – a previous ACHUKA Book of the Day

A House That Once Was by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Lane Smith (7+)

and The Same Inside: Poems about Empathy and Friendship, a collection of poems by Liz Brownlee, Matt Goodfellow and Roger Stevens (9+)

 

These new films and other resources in the OU’s Supporting Reading Reading At Home series can be found here:
https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/supporting-rah 

For other resources in the OU’s Supporting Reading Reading At Home series can be found here:
https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/supporting-rah

The OU’s Reading for Pleasure programme is led by Professor Teresa Cremin, who also reads on one of the films, along with Richard Charlesworth and Ben Harris, both experienced teachers and long-standing partners of The Open University’s work. The aim is to reach over a million families across the UK, through The OU, The Reading Agency, The United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and the Department for Education’s English Hubs as well as through other consumer-facing partners. 

Alyx Price, Associate Publisher at Macmillan Children’s Books, says: “We were delighted when the OU approached us to support Book Chat. We have partnered with them on other Reading for Pleasure initiatives and this new project was a perfect match for us, particularly at this important time for families and home life. Book Chat offers great support to families and carers who don’t know where to start, as well as giving new inspiration to those who already share stories regularly with their children. The selected titles are perfect for reading aloud and the films will introduce families to these great books and more, setting them up for a lifetime loving stories together”.

This new stage in the OU’s Reading for Pleasure programme is about supporting parents and carers at home. 

HEADSUP!

WEBINAR: Sharing the pleasure: the role of talk in reading  

Tuesday 20 October, 20:00 – 21:00

This OU webinar is free and open to educators, librarians, parents and others interested in supporting young people develop the reading habit. The Book Chat crew, Teresa Cremin, Ben Harris and Richard Charlesworth will be joined by the children’s author Smriti Hall (TBC) and Rumenar Atkar, a mum and primary school librarian. The session will include research and practice insights, strategies to enrich informal book talk at home and school, and book recommendations that get everyone talking.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-sharing-the-pleasure-the-role-of-talk-in-reading-tickets-122427514993

Winner Of FCBG Book Award 2020

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The winner of the 2020 Federation of Children’s Book Award is Tom Palmer for his novel D-Day Dog. Last year he won the Books for Older Readers category with Armistice Runner.

This award is much-cherished by children’s authors as it is voted for by children rather than adults. 

This winners in each category were chosen from the following shortlists:

Books for Younger Children

Jazz Dog, written and illustrated by Marie Voigt, published by OUP

Matisse’s Magical Trail, written by Tim Hopgood and illustrated by Sam Boughton, published by OUP

The Runaway Pea, written by Kjartan Poskitt and illustrated by Alex Willmore, published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books [CATEGORY WINNER]

Books for Younger Readers

Mutant Zombies Cursed My School Trip, written by Matt Brown and illustrated by Paco Sordo, published by Usborne [CATEGORY WINNER]

Owen and The Soldier, written by Lisa Thompson, published by Barrington Stoke

The Maker of Monsters, written by Lorraine Gregory, published by OUP

Books for Confident Readers

Wildspark, written by Vashti Hardy, published by Scholastic

A Pocketful of Stars, written by Aisha Bushby, published by Egmont

D-Day Dog, written by Tom Palmer, published by Barrington Stoke [CATEGORY WINNER]

Books for Older Readers

Becoming Dinah, written by Kit de Waal, published by Hachette Children’s Group

On The Come Up, written by Angie Thomas, published by Walker Books [CATEGORY WINNER]

Two Can Keep a Secret, written by Karen M McManus, published by Penguin

Alex Wheatle To Be Subject Of New Film Series From Steve McQueen

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The life of award-winning author Alex Wheatle is to be the basis of a new film from Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen for BBC One. Episode 5 of McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ series for BBC One and iPlayer is entitled ‘Alex Wheatle’ and stars Sheyi Cole playing the part of the author as a young adult. The episode will be live on iPlayer and on BBC One on Sunday 6th December. [In the USA the series will premier on Amazon Prime on 15th November.]

The BBC has released the following description of the episode:

Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and opportunity to grow his passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton Uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing. Sheyi Cole stars opposite Jonathan Jules. 

 This announcement comes alongside the publication of Wheatle’s latest novel, Cane Warriors from Andersen Press. 

On the release of the new novel, Alex has said “On Remembrance Sunday every year, the UK honours its fallen dead from the First and Second World Wars and other significant wars. With CANE WARRIORS, I wanted to honour my ancestry and our glori­ous dead. I wanted to lend power to their voices and realise them on the page. I would like my children’s children to learn about the mighty CANE WARRIORS just as they read about Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc and Queen Elizabeth I repelling the Spanish Armada.”

 

CLiPPA 2020 Winner

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Poet Zaro Weil was today announced the winner of the annual poetry award, CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) for her collection of nature poems, Cherry Moon, published by ZaZaKids Books/ Troika Books and illustrated by Junli Song.

Zaro Weil lives in southern France with her husband and two sheepdogs, Spot and Clementine, alongside a host of birds, insects, badgers, wild boars, crickets, donkeys, goats, and hares. Her poetry for children has appeared in many anthologies and previous publications include Mud, Moon and Me published by Orchard Books, Firecrackers fromTroika and Spot Guevara, Guerilla Dog.

Junli Song, whose illustrations add so much to the appeal of this title, is an American, from Chicago.

Illustrator & Poet at the 2019 Bologna Book Fair from Junil Song’s Instagram

In a year of outstanding poetry publishing for children, the judges were particularly impressed by the thoughtfulness and variety of Weil’s poetry, the opportunities Cherry Moon offers for sharing poems aloud, and because, after months of lockdown, her book answers children’s growing need for poetry and the outdoors.

From a particularly strong shortlist, the judges also chose to honour Poems the Wind Blew In by Karmelo C. Iribarren, illustrated by Riya Chowdhury, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel and the first work in translation to be shortlisted.

The announcement of the 2020 Award, delayed from the summer, was revealed in a live Poetry Show, part of The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. 

Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive at CLPE said, “The CLiPPA is a huge, inclusive celebration of poetry and its power to engage children. There has been a marked upsurge in interest in poetry for children this year – the National Poetry Archive has seen record levels of site visits for example and subscriptions to our Shadowing Scheme are three times what they were in 2019. Our winner is the perfect book for today: Zaro’s poems allow children to explore their emotions and understand them as shared experiences; and it connects readers with the natural world, something that is vital at this time. Children need poetry right now…”

Zaro Weil receives a trophy and a cheque for £1000. As part of the prize she will also be recorded for the prestigious National Poetry Archive.