I Am Rebel wins the FCBG Children's Book Award 2025

The Federation of Children's Book Groups has announced the Overall Winner of the 2025 Children's Book Award: I Am Rebel by Ross Montgomery. The Children's Book Award, now in its 45th year, is the only national award voted for entirely by children.

I Am Rebel is a heartwarming adventure about the unbreakable bond between a dog and his human. This gripping tale has clearly struck a chord with young readers across the UK, and it fought off strong competition from Hannah Gold's Turtle Moon and the first in Alex Atkinson's spooky new horror-mystery series, Spooksmiths Investigate, to take the top spot.

ReadingZone's Q&A with Ross Montgomery, introducing I Am Rebel.

The category for younger children was won by Grotti, written and illustrated by Leonie Lord; a sweet and funny picture book about the way new babies become part of our lives. Also on the shortlist were Tom Percival's The Bridges, My Friend Andy by Emma Chinnery and A Wild Walk to School by Rebecca Cobb.

Seven Million Sunflowers by Malcolm Duffy was voted favourite in the category for older readers, inspired by the author's experiences of taking in a Ukrainian family fleeing the war. This powerful and moving story triumphed over a field of strong contenders including Sam Sedgman's The Clockwork Conspiracy and Ditching Saskia by John Moore and Neetols.

This year's voting for the award winners saw a phenomenal response from children, with nearly 30,000 votes cast during the Top 10 voting stage. CBA Co-ordinator, Sarah Stuffins, said, "Congratulations to Ross, and of course Leonie and Malcolm. We had 10 great and varied titles on the Top 10 this year and it is always fascinating to see which ones strike a particular chord with our young voters to become the children's choice.”

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