children's & YA recommendations on the go
Following the real-life exploits of Doorkins, Southwark Cathedral’s self-proclaimed ‘Magnificat’, this charming picture book gives a complete tour of the Cathedral and is sure to raise a smile on the face of any cathedral attendee, or fan of cats.
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:
For more information about the award go to its website: https://www.thediversebookawards.co.uk
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/
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.
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:
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.
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:
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]
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
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]
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
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.”
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.
From over 400 submissions across the four categories, here are the books longlisted for the 13th UKLA Book Awards, the only national awards judged by classroom teachers:
Longlist 3-6+
Under the Great Plum Tree written by Sufiya Ahmed, illustrated by Reza Dalvand. (Tiny Owl)
I Am Brown written by Ashok Banker, illustrated by Sandya Prabhat. (Lantana Publishing)
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez written by Andrea Beatty, illustrated by David Roberts. (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
The Worrysaurus written by Rachel Bright, illustrated by Chris Chatterton. (Orchard Books)
Look Up! Written by Nathan Bryon, illustrated by Dapo Adeola. (Puffin)
Mr Gumpy’s Rhino written and illustrated by John Burningham. (Jonathan Cape)
Hello Friend, written and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. (Macmillan)
No Longer Alone written by Joseph Coehlo, illustrated by Robyn Wilson- Owen. (Egmont)
Fair Shares written by Pippa Goodhart, illustrated by Anna Doherty. (Tiny Owl)
Rabbit & Bear- A Bite in the Night written by Julian Gough, illustrated by Jim Field. (Hodder)
Where Happiness Begins written and illustrated by Eva Eland. (Andersen Press)
Brenda is a Sheep written and illustrated by Morag Hood. (Two Hoots)
The Last Tiger written and illustrated by Petr Horáček. (Otter- Barry Books)
The Fate of Fausto written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. (HarperCollins)
My Hair written by Hannah Lee, illustrated by Allen Fatimarahan. (Faber & Faber)
My Friend Earth written by Patricia Maclachlan, illustrated by Francesca Sanna. (Chronicle Books)
The Misadventures of Frederick written by Ben Manley, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. (Two Hoots)
Tibble and Grandpa written by Wendy Meddour, illustrated by Daniel Egneus. (Oxford)
Umbrella written and illustrated by Elena Arevalo Melville. (Scallywag Press)
I’m Not (Very) Afraid of the Dark written by Anna Milbourne, illustrated by Daniel Riley. (Usborne)
It’s a No Money Day written and illustrated by Kate Milner. (Barrington Stoke)
Sulwe written by Lupita Nyong’o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison. (Puffin)
Hey Water, written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis. (Scallywag Press)
One Fox: A Counting Thriller written and illustrated by Kate Read. (Two Hoots)
How About a Night Out? Written and illustrated by Sam Williams. (Boxer Books)
Longlist 7-10+
The Girl Who Speaks Bear written by Sophie Anderson. (Usborne)
Too Small Tola written by Atinuke, illustrated Onyinye Iwu. (Walker Books)
The Space We’re In written by Katya Balen, illustrated by Laura Carlin. (Bloomsbury)
A Pocketful of Stars written by Aisha Busby. (Egmont)
The Somerset Tsunami written by Emma Carroll. (Faber & Faber)
Saving Winslow written by Sharon Creech. (Guppy Books)
Talking to the Moon written by S.E Durrant. Nosy Crow
The Girl Who Stole an Elephant written by Nizrana Farook. (Nosy Crow)
Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror written by Natasha Farrant, illustrated by Lydia Corry. (Zephyr)
Check Mates written by Stewart Foster. (Simon & Schuster)
The Highland Falcon Thief written by M.G Leonard and Sam Sedgeman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. (Macmillan)
Eagle Warrior written by Gill Lewis. (Barrington Stoke)
The Time of Green Magic written by Hilary McKay. (Macmillan)
The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone written by Jaclyn Moriarty, written by Karl James Mountford. (Guppy Books)
Lori and Max written by Catherine O’Flynn. (Firefly Press)
The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates written by Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Rob Biddulph. (Usborne)
The Star Outside My Window written by Onjali Q Raúf. (Orion)
Patina written by Jason Reynolds illustrated by Selom Sunu. (Knights of)
The Cloudhorse Chronicles – Guardians of Magic written and illustrated by Chris Riddell. (Macmillan)
The Good Thieves written by Katherine Rundell illustrated by Matt Saunders. (Bloomsbury)
Clean Getaway written by Nic Stone. (Knights Of)
Owen and the Soldier written by Lisa Thompson, illustrated by Mark Lowery. (Barrington Stoke)
Longlist 11- 14+
Clap When You Land written by Elizabeth Acevedo. (Hot Key Books)
Black Flamingo written by Dean Attaillustrated by Anishka Khullar. (Hodder)
The M Word written by Brian Conaghan. (Bloomsbury)
Furious Thing written by Jenny Downham. (David Fickling Books)
The Last Paper Crane written by Kerry Drewery illustrated by Natsko Seki. (Hot Key Books)
Sofa Surfer written by Malcolm Duffy. (Zephyr)
On Midnight Beach written by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick. (Faber & Faber)
Invisible in a Bright Light written by Sally Gardner (Zephyr)
Bearmouth written by Liz Hyder. (Pushkin)
And the Stars Were Burning Brightly written by Danielle Jawando. (Simon & Schuster)
A House Without Walls written by Elizabeth Laird. (Macmillan)
Run Rebel written by Manjeet Mann. (Penguin)
Burn written by Patrick Ness. (Walker Books)
Gloves Off written by Louisa Reid. Guppy Books
Look Both Ways written by Jason Reynolds. (Knights Of)
Snowflake AZ written by Marcus Sedgwick. (Zephyr)
The Boxer written by Nikesh Shukla. (Hodder)
The List of Things That Will Not Change written by Rebecca Stead. (Andersen Press)
Hello Now written by Jenny Valentine. (HarperCollins)
The Enigma Game written by Elizabeth Wein. (Bloomsbury)
Information Books 3-14+
The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (Andersen Press)
Balloon to the Moon written by Gill Arbuthnott, illustrated by Chris Nielsen. (Big Picture Press)
Africa, Amazing Africa written by Atinuke, illustrated by Mouni Feddag. (Walker Books)
Gut Garden written and illustrated by by Katie Brosnan. (Cicada Books)
Nose Knows written by Emanuelle Figueras, illustrated by Claire De Gastold. (What on Earth Publishing)
We Are Artists written by Kari Herbert. (Thames & Hudson)
River Stories written by Timothy Knapman illustrated by Asling Lindsay and Irene Montano. (Egmont)
A Planet Full of Plastic written and illustrated by Neal Layton. (Wren & Rook)
The Apartment written by Alexandra Litvina, illustrated by Anna Desnitskaya.translated by Antonina Bouis. (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Humanimal written by Christopher Lloyd, illustrated by Mark Ruffle. (What on Earth Publishing)
Prisoners of Geography written by Tim Marshall, illustrated by Grace Easton and Jessica Smith. (Simon & Schuster)
Who is in the Egg? Written and illustrated Alexandra by Milton. (Boxer Books)
Corpse Talk: Rebels written and Illustrated by Adam Murphyand Lisa Murphy. (David Fickling Books)
Planet SOS written and illustrated by Marie G Rhodes. (What on Earth Publishing)
Rise Up! The Art of Protest written by Joanne Rippon. (Palazzo Editions)
The Missing written by Michael Rosen. (Walker Books)
Hidden Planet written and illustrated by Ben Rothery. (Ladybird)
Exquisite: The Life and Poetry of Gwendoline Brooks written by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi Cabrera. (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Language of the Universe written by Colin Stuart, illustrated by Ximo Abadía. (Big Picture Press)
Along the Tapajós written and illustrated by Fernando Vilela, translated by Daniel Hahn. (Amazon Crossing Kids)
Children Who Changed the World written and illustrated by Marcia Williams. (Walker Books)
Big Ideas for Young Thinkers written by Jamia Wilson, illustrated by Andrea Pippins. (Wide Eyed Editions)
Big Book of Blooms written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer. (Thames & Hudson)