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 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

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

 

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

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)

Eva Eland has won the 2020 Klaus Flugge Prize for the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. She won for her book When Sadness Comes to Call (Andersen Press), in which a young child opens the door to an unexpected visitor, Sadness, personified as a semi-transparent amorphous shape. As the two spend time together, the child comes to know and understand Sadness, and then one day wakes up to find the visitor has left. Described by the judges as “a masterpiece of minimalism”, it is a sensitive and profound exploration of a complex emotion in a story that will speak to every child, no matter how young.

Eva Eland grew up in Delft, Netherlands. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the School of Visual Arts in New York as well as at the Cambridge School of Art, where she received a distinction in children’s book illustration. She started working on the book while on the prestigious Cambridge MA course and originally planned to feature other ‘difficult emotions’ such as anger and fear.  However, she says: “Sadness was the one that most resonated with me, as it’s a feeling that has frequently visited me since childhood, and one that has become very familiar, almost like an old friend.”

Judge and winner of the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize, Jessica Love says: “This book is profound in its simplicity. There isn’t a single line that Eva Eland puts down that doesn’t tell the truth. Perfect.”

Now in its fifth year, the Klaus Flugge Prize was founded to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, a supremely influential figure in picture books. Flugge set up Andersen Press in 1976 and has discovered and nurtured many of today’s most distinguished illustrators including David McKee, Tony Ross, Satoshi Kitamura, Ruth Brown and Susan Varley.

Receiving the prize, Eva Eland said: “When Sadness Comes to Call started as a personal exploration of difficult emotions in images and text during my studies at the MA Children’s Book Illustration in Cambridge and when I took my first version of this book to the Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, displayed on the stand of the Cambridge School of Art, I thought I had made something very peculiar and niche and had very little expectations of getting any serious interest. So when Andersen Press approached me and wanted to publish the book, I could hardly believe it. I didn’t think I was ready at all to publish my debut book as I was still studying and learning a lot, but I was gently reminded by my tutors that this was a great opportunity I shouldn’t let pass – and working with my publisher has been a wonderful, uplifting experience. To be shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize was such a delightful surprise and a huge honour, and now I’ve learned I won the award as well! It’s very encouraging to receive recognition like this and it will also help me to dedicate more resources to developing my work further. And I can’t help but smile at the fact that this often unwanted guest, called sadness, is now finding its way and being welcomed by so many more people and children, with a little help from my book and the Klaus Flugge Prize.”

The judges also chose to award Highly Commended to Sabina Radeva for her book, On the Origin of Species, an illustrated retelling of Darwin’s famous book.

Chair of the judges, Julia Eccleshare said: “The Klaus Flugge Prize puts picture book illustration and illustrators into the spotlight and, in its fifth year, we were particularly excited by the standard of books submitted and by the talent and ambition demonstrated by the shortlisted illustrators. When Sadness Comes to Call stands out, however.  It is very much a book for today when so many children will be experiencing sadness, struggling to understand why and how to express themselves. Yet it also has the makings of a classic, a perfect meeting of intention and delivery, and an example of how much picture books can do. We are also delighted to highlight On the Origin of Species, another outstanding picture book and a very different example of how illustration can successfully convey complex ideas clearly and with beauty.”

The announcement was made on the evening of Wednesday 16 September. Eva Eland wins £5,000.