UKLA Book Awards 2026 longlists announced

The 2026 longlists for the UKLA Book Awards, announced today, include books in translation, past winners, exciting debuts and a huge range of genres, topics and themes.

The national children's book awards is judged by teachers and aims to showcase high quality children's books that reflect all identities and promote diversity, as well as helping to inspire reading for pleasure.

The  longlist selection panels include past teacher judges, ex-teachers, librarians and consultants. One of these, headteacher Simon Smith, said: "Being part of the UKLA longlist judging panel has been a transformative experience. Professionally, it sharpened my critical eye for quality literature and deepened my understanding of children's voices in reading; personally, it reignited my passion for storytelling and reminded me of the power books have to connect, challenge, and inspire."

The awards chair Christine Lockwood added, "The longlisting team was challenged to select from a very rich and exceptional list of submissions this year and they have come up with four enticing longlists. The longlists will now pass to our teams of teacher judges and their group leaders, drawn largely from Scotland but also from around the UK, and I can't wait to share these books with them over the next year."

This year there are 85 judges covering the four categories and they have until mid-March to read the longlisted books, discuss them with their group leaders, and share them with pupils. All the groups will then meet for the difficult task of choosing their shortlist of 6 books in each category. 

@The_UKLA  #UKLA26  #teachersbookawards

Longlist 3-6+

A Wild Walk to School by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan)
Bear by Natalia Shaloshvili.(Frances Lincoln)
Bear's Lost Glasses by Leo Timmers and translated by David Colmer (Gecko Press)
Bothered by Bugs by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
Colin's Castle by Holly Swain (Farshore)
Coorie Doon: A Scottish Lullaby Story by Jackie Kay and illustrated by Jill Calder (Walker Books)
Don't Think of Tigers by Alex Latimer (Andersen Press)
Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat (Andersen Press)
Drawn Onward by Daniel Nayeri and illustrated by Matt Rockefeller (Harper 360)
How We Share Cake by Kim Hyo-eun. Translated by Deborah Smith (Scribe)
I Am a Potato! by Ziggy Hanaor, illus Elliot Kruszynski (Cicada Books)
Once I was a Tree by Eoin McLaughlin, illus Guilherme Karsten (Nosy Crow)
One Smart Cookie by Mika Song (Pushkin Press)
So Tired, So Wide Awake by Susanne Strasser (Gecko Press)
The Bicycle by Patricia McCormick and Mevan Babakar, illus Yas Imamura (Farshore)
The Search for Carmella by Chloe Savage (Walker Books)
These Are My Rocks by Bethan Woolvin (Frances Lincoln)
Tiger Its Snowing! by Daishu Ma (  Post Wave Children's Books)
Wild by Katya Balen, illus by Gill Smith (Walker Books)
Zeki Goes to the Market by Anna McQuinn, illus Ruth Hearson (Alanna Max)

Longlist 7-10+

After by Pádraig Kenny.(Walker Books)
Birdie by J P Rose (Andersen Press)
Blitz - One family's war by Martin Impey (Harbour Moon Publishing)
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illus Tim Miller (Walker Books)
Dragonborn by Struan Murray (Puffin)
Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood, illus Joe Todd-Stanton (Nosy Crow)
Ettie and the Midnight Pool by Julia Green, illus Pam Smy (David Fickling Books)
Evie and Maryjam's Family Tree by Janeen Hayat (Guppy Books)
Fallout by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
Ghostlines by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury)
Gordon the Meanest Goose on Earth by Alex Latimer (Oxford  University Press)
Jakub's Otter by  Coral Rumble (Troika Books)
Leo and Ralph by  Peter Carnavas (Pushkin Press)
Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo (Bloomsbury)
Reek by Alastair Chisholm, illus George Caltsoudas (Barrington Stoke)
The Falling Boy by David Almond(Hodder)
The Remarkables by Clotilde Perrin and translated by Daniel Hahn     (Gecko Press)
The Secret of Golden Island by Natasha Farrant (Faber)
Tosh's Island by  Linda Sargent and Joe Brady, illus Leo Marcell (David Fickling Books)
Why Did My Brain Make Me Say It? by Sarah Ziman (Troika Books)

Longlist 11- 14+

Black Star by Kwame Alexander (Andersen Press)
Every Borrowed Beat by Erin Stewart (Rock the Boat)
Handle with Care by Louisa Reid (Guppy Books)
Here to Slay by Radhika Sanghani (Knights Of)
Let the Light In by Jenny Downham and Louis Hill (David Fickling Books)
Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson (Usborne)
Songlight by Moira Buffini (Faber)
Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai (Zephyr)
Stealing Happy by Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury)
The Boy I Love by William Hussey (Andersen Press)
The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen (Rock the Boat)
The Line They Drew Through Us by  Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
The Thread That Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud(Usborne)
Thunder City by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)
Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds (Faber)
Us in the Before and After by  Jenny Valentine (Simon & Schuster)
What Happens Online by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books)
When It's Your Turn for Midnight by Blessing Musariri (Zephyr)
When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain (Electric Monkey)
Wolf Siren by Beth O'Brien (HarperCollins)

Longlist Information Books 3-14+

Ayo's Adventure: Across the African Diaspora from Afro to Zulu by Ain Heath Drew, illus Erin K. Robinson (Barefoot Books)
Black History for Every Day of the Year by David Olusoga, Yinka Olusoga and Kemi Olusoga; illus Kemi Olusoga (Macmillan)
Bridges by Magda Garguláková, illus Jakub Bachorík (Post Wave Children's Books)
Bright Birds and their Brilliant Brains by Kate Read (Two Hoots)
Choose Your Own Evolution by Jules Howard, illus Gordy Wright (Nosy Crow)
Explodapedia: The Brain by Ben Martynoga, illus Moose Allain (David Fickling Books)
Frog by Isabel Thomas, illus Daniel Egnéus (Bloomsbury)
Galápagos Islands: The World's Living Laboratory by Karen Romano Young, illus Amy Grimes (What on Earth!)
Graphic Novel Builder: The illustrated guide to making your own comics by Edward Ross (Collins)
It's a Brave Young World by Anu Adebogun, illus Soofiya and Lila Cruz (Little Tiger Press)
Me and My Hair by Kimberley Kinloch, illus Jessica Gibson (Usborne)
Michael Rosen's Pocket Shakespeare: A Beginner's Guide to the Best Bits of the Bard by Michael Rosen, illus Chris Riddell (Walker Books)
Six Queens by Lydia Monk (Macmillan)
The Endless Sea by Chi Thai, illus Linh Dao (Walker Books)
The History of Information by Chris Haughton (DK)
The Jellyfish Garden by Paola Vitale,  illus Rossana Bossù, translated by Margaret Greenan (Post Wave Children's Books)
University of Cambridge: There's No Such Thing as a Silly Question by Mike Rampton, illus Guilherme Karsten (Nosy Crow)
We Are Your Children by David Roberts (Two Hoots)
Who lives here? by Alexandra Milton (Boxer Books)
Why Do We Sleep? by Cathy Evans, illus Polya Plavinskaia (Cicada)