Teachers choose their favourite books

The shortlist for the UKLA Book Awards has been announced. This is the only award judged by teachers, and it highlights books for children aged three to 16 years that "enhance all aspects of literacy learning".

This year, independent publishers dominate the shortlist with past winners Jason Wallace and Sarah Crossan once again recognised. Books in translation, information books and graphic novels are also represented. Jason Wallace, who won the 12-16 category in 2011 with his debut novel Out of Shadows, seems to have the magic touch as a writer for teenagers according to the judges for the teachers' 'Carnegie' since his second novel Encounters has now also been shortlisted. He is up against some stiff competition from another past winner, Sarah Crossan whose verse novel, We Come Apart, co-authored with Brian Conaghan is also on the list. Joining them are current Carnegie medal shortlistees Geraldine McCaughrean with Where the World Ends and Marcus Sedgwick with Saint Death and best-selling Australian fantasy author, Garth Nix, with Frogkisser. For the first time a graphic novel, the hard hitting refugee story from France, Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord, by Bessora and Barroux, completes the list. The 7-11 category also features a book in translation, this time from tiny Gecko Press, Yours Sincerely Giraffe by Japanese author Megumi Iwasa is up against Elizabeth Laird's powerful refugee story Welcome to Nowhere, Jackie Morris' beautifully illustrated The White Fox and Maria Farrer's debut novel Me and Mr P. For the first time there are two information books completing the shortlist with Martin Brown's Lesser Spotted Animals and Charlotte Gullian and Yuval Zommer's highly innovative The Street Beneath My Feet showing that exciting information books can capture readers too. The 3-6 category sees Eric and Terry Fan, aka The Fan Brothers, competing against themselves having illustrated two books on the shortlist with The Darkest Dark, the autobiographical tale of astronaut Chris Hadfield, up against their own mystical story of The Secret Gardener. They are competing with two English Association award winners - the inaugural winner of the Margaret Mallet Award for Children's Non-Fiction, It Starts With a Seed by Laura Knowles and the 2017 4-7 picturebook category winner Oi Dog by Kes and Claire Gray and Jim Field. Completing the line-up there is Morag Hood's debut Colin and Lee, Carrot and Pea and Rob Biddulph's Odd Dog Out. Nine teachers nominated from the 45 involved in the shortlisting, who came from around Cardiff and from Gloucestershire, will now form the final judging panel and have the challenging task of selecting the final winners for the announcement on 6 July at the UKLA International Conference. The Shortlists in full: 3-6 Years The Night Gardener written and illustrated by Eric and Terry Fan (Frances Lincoln) Odd Dog Out written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph (HarperCollins Children's Books) Oi Dog written by Kes and Claire Gray and illustrated by Jim Field (Hodder) The Darkest Dark written by Chris Hadfield and illustrated by The Fan Brothers (Macmillan) Colin and Lee, Carrot and Pea written and illustrated by Morag Hood (Two Hoots) It Starts with a Seed written by Laura Knowles and illustrated by Jennie Webber (Words & Pictures) 7-11 Years The White Fox written and illustrated by Jackie Morris (Barrington Stoke) Lesser Spotted Animals written and illustrated by Martin Brown (David Fickling Books) Yours Sincerely, Giraffe Written by Megumi Iwasa, translated by Cathy Hirano and Illustrated by Jun Takabatake (Gecko Press) Welcome to Nowhere written by Elizabeth Laird and illustrated by Lucy Eldridge (Macmillan) Me and Mister P written by Maria Farrer and illustrated by Daniel Rieley (OUP) The Street Beneath My Feet written by Charlotte Gullian and illustrated by Yuval Zommer (Words and Pictures) 12-16 Years Encounters written by Jason Wallace (Andersen Press) Come Apart written by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury) Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord written Bessora, translated by sarah Ardizzone and illustrated by Barroux (The Bucket List) Saint Death written by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion) Frogkisser! written by Garth Nix (Piccadilly Press) Where the World Ends written by Geraldine McCaughrean (Usborne) @The_UKLA #UKLA18 #teachersbookawards