The University of Sussex was the venue for a day of passionate debate, as the 84 teacher judges whittled down the exceptional longlists to the six books now shortlisted in each of the four categories.
The UKLA Book Awards are the only national UK children’s book awards judged entirely by teachers. Their task, defined by the criteria, is to find texts from a “wide and inclusive range” of publishers that will “recognise a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices” but that “first and foremost” are “well written, engaging ‘reads’ “. These awards are completely devoid of any commercial influence, and it is notable that once again we see a strong presence of small, independent publishers, including first shortlist appearances for UCLan, the unique children’s publishing arm of the University of Central Lancaster and for The O’Brien Press from Dublin.
For UKLA, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read high quality new children’s books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.
The full 2024 shortlist is as follows:
Age 3-6+
- Fox & Son Tailers written and illustrated by Paddy Donnelly (The O'Brien Press)
- The Hare-Shaped Hole written by John Dougherty and illustrated by Thomas Docherty (Frances Lincoln)
- 10 Dogs written and illustrated by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
- Martha Maps It Out written and illustrated by Leigh Hodgkinson (Oxford)
- The Wilderness written and illustrated by Steve McCarthy (Walker)
- Dick the Delightful Duck written by Kaye Umansky and illustrated by Ben Mantle (Alison Green)
Age 7-10+
- The Song Walker written by Zillah Bethell and illustrated by Saara Katariina Söderlund (Usborne)
- Call Me Lion written by Camilla Chester and illustrated by Irina Avgustinovich (Firefly)
- How to be More Hedgehog written by Anne Marie Conway and illustrated by Danielle Dey (Uclan)
- Wildsmith: Into the Dark Forest written by Liz Flanagan and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Uclan)
- Finn Jones Was Here written by Simon James Green and illustrated by Jennifer Jamieson (Scholastic)
- Where the River Takes Us written by Lesley Parr and illustrated by David Dean (Bloomsbury)
Age 11-14+
- Away with Words written by Sophie Cameron (Little Tiger)
- Crossing the Line written by Tia Fisher (Hot Key)
- As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow written by Zoulfa Katouh (Bloomsbury)
- Steady for This written by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key)
- All My Rage written by Sabaa Tahir (Atom)
- I Must Betray You written by Ruta Sepetys (Hodder)
Information Books 3-14+
- Unspoken written by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Dare Coulter (Andersen)
- Lands of Belonging: A History of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Britain written by Vikesh Amey Bhatt, and Donna Amey Bhatt and illustrated by Salini Perera (Nosy Crow)
- The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die written by Peter Lantos (Scholastic)
- Whose Tracks in the Snow? Written and illustrated by Alexandra Milton (Boxer Books)
- Saving H'Non: Chang and the Elephant written by Trang Nguyen and illustrated by Jeet Zdung (Macmillan)
- Darwin & Hooker written by Alexander Stewart and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Bloomsbury)
The fact that these shortlists are judged by class teachers and can be heartily recommended to their peers makes them particularly useful.
Twelve teachers nominated from the 84 involved in the shortlisting will now form the final judging panel and have the challenging task of reading all the shortlisted books in all categories. The winner’s announcement will take place at the UKLA International Conference at the University of Sussex on 5th July.
For more information, visit: ukla.org/awards/ukla-book-award