UKLA Book Awards 2024 shortlists announced

The shortlists for the 2024 UKLA Book Awards, voted for by teachers, have now announced. There are six books shortlisted for each category: ages 3-6 years; 7-10+ years and 11-14+ years, as well as Information Books ages 3-14 years.  The UKLA Book Awards judges seek texts from a 'wide and inclusive range' of publishers that reflect a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices and that are engaging reads. 

Through the judging process, the award gives classroom practitioners the opportunity to read high quality new children's books. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) 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 final judging panel, formed of 12 teachers nominated from the 84 involved in the shortlisting, now has 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.

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UKLA Book Awards 2024 Shortlists

In the 3-6+ age category, the shortlist includes The Wilderness by author Steve McCarthy, a whimsical adventure inspiring children to overcome fear and explore outdoors; Emily Gravett's 10 Dogs, a really funny story about dogs which brilliantly teaches about number bonds to 10; Irish author Paddy Donnelly with Fox & Son Tailers, a pun-packed, heartwarming story about not being afraid to stand out from the crowd; Leigh Hodgkinson with Martha Maps it Out, an immersive guide to Martha's world and her imagination; best-selling author Kaye Umansky with Dick the Delightful Duck, who is hilariously having a very bad mood day, in a book which opens up discussions about feelings; and John Dougherty's The Hare Shaped Hole, a touching and beautifully age appropriate metaphor to depict bereavement, which leaves young readers in a hopeful, optimistic place.

In the 7-10+ category, Camilla Chester's touching debut Call Me Lion and Anne Marie Conway's sensitive How to be More Hedgehog both feature protagonists battling with communication difficulties, bullying and family issues; Simon James Green's Finn Jones Was Here features a young boy in total denial about his best friend's death and manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking; Lesley Parr's Where the River Takes Us is a thrilling adventure mystery about the power of friendship, set in a Welsh valley in the 1970s; Zillah Bethell's extraordinary The Song Walker, which weaves Aboriginal folklore into a courageous story of friendship, loss and discovery; and Wildsmith: Into the Dark Forest by Liz Flanagan provides a richly imagined fantasy world full of magic, mystery and dragons.

In the 11-14+ category, Tia Fisher's powerful verse novel debut, Crossing the Line, dealing with highly topical county lines exploitation of vulnerable youths, joins Nathaneal Lessore's comedic, relatable and authentic debut Steady For This. Sophie Cameron's Away With Words explores what it means for words to mean everything and their loss to mean even more; Ruta Sepetys's I Must Betray You powerfully explores what it was like for families and friends under the brutal Ceausescu regime; Zoulfa Katouh's breathtaking debut, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, exploring Salama's struggle to live the life of an ordinary teenager during the Syrian civil war; and bestselling fantasy author Sabaa Tahir's, All My Rage, is an unforgettable contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a story that crosses generations.

In the Information Books 3-14+ category, Kwame Alexander's The Unspoken explores in words and images the horrors of slavery yet is balanced with hope for the future; the beautiful and informative, Whose Tracks in the Snow by Alexandra Milton introduces young children to animal track identification;  Darwin and Hooker, the accessible biography by Alexander Stewart, explores 'one of science's most important friendships' and leads the reader to understand the struggles of making ground-breaking scientific discoveries. In a moving autobiographical account written for children, The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die, Peter Lantos shares his experiences as a five-year-old child in Belsen Belsen. Husband and wife team Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhat's Lands of Belonging explores the rich and complicated history of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Britain. Finally, using a graphic novel scientist-notebook style, Saving H'Non: Chang and the Elephant, with a mix of Vietnamese art and manga, is a stunningly informative text that tells an important environmental story about the work of the Animals Asia Foundation.

The Shortlists in full:

Category 3-6+ Years

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)

Category 7-10+ Years

The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell, illustrated by Saara Katariina Söderlund (Usborne)
Call Me Lion written by Camilla Chester, illustrated by Irina Avgustinovich (Firefly)
How to be More Hedgehog written by Anne Marie Conway, illustrated by Danielle Dey (Uclan)
Wildsmith: Into the Dark Forest written by Liz Flanagan, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Uclan)
Finn Jones Was Here written by Simon James Green, illustrated by Jennifer Jamieson (Scholastic)
Where the River Takes Us written by Lesley Parr, illustrated by David Dean (Bloomsbury)

Category 11-14+ Years

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)

Category: Information Books 3-14+ Years

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)