UKLA Book Awards 2027 longlists announced
Posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2026
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The longlists for the 2027 UKLA Book Awards have been announced. The national award is judged by teachers, and includes three age categories for fiction, poetry and information books, and focuses on books that will be useful in the classroom.
The 20 longlisted books will now be read and discussed by 89 teacher judges and shared with their classes. The judges will meet in March 2027 to select shortlists of six per category, with the winners to be announced in July 2027.
This year's longlist features books in translation, past winners, exciting debuts and a huge range of genres, topics and themes, reflecting identities and promoting diversity in children's literature.
The selection panels for each category comprises experienced past teacher judges, ex-teachers, librarians, and consultants. For teacher Kerry Hudson, judging the prize has been an opportunity to "immerse myself in wonderful children's literature, in all its richness and diversity" and to discuss with colleagues how the texts could be used in the classroom.
Independent publishers are strongly represented in the award longlists, including Troika Books, Scallywag Press, Magic Cat, Everything with Words, Old Barn Books, Cicada Books and newcomer Catch a Leaf. UKLA also allow submissions from international publishers with a UK distributor and so books from Little Island, Greenwillow, Clarion and Greystone Kids add an international flavour to the longlists. More familiar names are also well represented with Walker Books the most successful publisher overall, having a total of eight books longlisted across the categories, while Penguin Random House has six books longlisted.
Awards Chair, Christine Lockwood, said "Our four teams of longlisting judges, one for each Book Awards category, have been reading non-stop over a hot summer. From the many wonderful books submitted by publishers, they have chosen a selection of 20 brilliant books per category to present to our four teams of teacher judges at a launch meeting in Manchester on September 19th."
UKLA Book Awards 2027 Longlists
Longlist 3-6+
Aya Has Never Seen a Bear. Written by Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, translated by Paul Qiao and Helen Mixter, illustrated by Jiu'er (Greystone Kids)
Bear's Nap Written and illustrated by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
Broken. Written and illustrated by X.Fang (Pushkin Press)
Cranky, Crabby Crow ( Saves the World) Written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor(Greenwillow Books)
Ellie Has a Secret. Written and illustrated by Amelia Bothe (Clarion Books)
Five Little Friends. Written by SeanTaylor and illustrated by Fiona Woodcock (Walker Books)
George and Lenny Are Always Together. Written and illustrated by Jon Agee (Scallywag Press)
If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone. Written by Gideon Sterer and illustrated by Emily Hughes (Clarion Books)
King School. Written and illustrated by Alexis Deacon (Otter-Barry Books)
Monkeypig. Written and illustrated by Huw Aaron (Puffin)
Mo's Stick. Written and illustrated by Fiona Lumbers (Little Tiger Press)
Oh Dear, Look What I Got. Written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books)
Once Upon a Time in the Woods. Written and illustrated by Anthony Browne (Puffin)
Raindrops. Written and illustrated by Robin Boyden (Farshore)
The Lost Robot. Written and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Flying Eye Books)
The Sleeper Train. Written by Mick Jackson and illustrated by Baljinder Kaur (Walker Books)
The Tour at School. Written by Katie Clapham and illustrated by Nadia Shireen (Walker Books)
To Activate Space Portal Lift Here. Written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis (Scallywag Press)
Unexpected Guests. Written and illustrated by Mariajo Illustrajo (Frances Lincoln Childrens Books)
When Tad Kicked Vlad Written by Julian Gogh and illustrated by Ross Collins (Faber)
Longlist 7-10+
Birdlands. Written by Anthony McGowan (Rock the Boat)
Boy Vs Reality. Written by James Fox (Scholastic)
Cabin Head and Tree Head. Written and illustrated by Scott Campbell (DK Flip)
Everything In Between. Written by Shagufta K.Iqbal (Troika Books)
Gloam. Written by Jack Mackay and illustrated by Ben Joel Price (Rock the Boat)
I Am Ray's Imaginary Friend. Written by Brian Moses and illustrated by Bethan Welby (Scallywag Press)
Korobá The Case of the Missing Kolo. Written and illustrated by Àlàbá Ònájìn (Scallywag Press)
Letters From the Upside. Written by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury)
Minotaur Boy. Written by Shane Hegarty and illustrated by Ruby Fresson (DK Flip)
Nate Yu's Blast from the Past. Written by Maisie Chan (Piccadilly Press)
Runaways. Written by E.L.Norry (Bloomsbury)
Small Wonder. Written by Ross Montgomery (Walker Books)
The Blitz Sisters. Written by Judith Eagle (Faber)
The Dawn of Adonis. Written by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)
The Experiment. Written by Rebecca Stead (Andersen Press)
The Feathered Book. Written by Charlie Nutbrown (Everything with Words)
The Lions' Run. Written by Sara Pennypacker (Hodder)
The Monsters at the End of the World. Written by Rebecca Orwin.(Puffin)
The Night I Borrowed Time. Written by Iqbal Hussein (Puffin)
Two is a Crowd. Written by Cath Howe (Nosy Crow)
Longlist 11- 14+
A Million Tiny Missiles All at Once. Written by Lucas Maxwell (Chicken House)
Always Angel Written by Kimberly Whittam (Usborne)
Best of all Worlds. Written by Kenneth Oppel (Guppy Books)
Day of Now. Written by Miranda Reason (Bloomsbury)
Dead Straight Line. Written by Malcolm Duffy (Zephyr)
Gone for Good. Written by Sarah Crossan (Simon & Schuster)
My Name is Jodie Jones. Written by Emma Shevah (David Fickling Books)
Not Going to Plan. Written by Tia Fisher (Hot Key Books)
On the Edge. Written by Nicola Garrard (Old Barn Books)
Pearl Beach. Written by Beth Steiner (Pushkin Press)
Phoenix Brothers. Written by Sita Brahmachari (OUP)
Red Star Rebels. Written by Amie Kaufman (Hot Key Books)
Roar. Written by Manjeet Mann (Penguin)
Runaway Road. Written by Sue Divin (First Ink)
Sisters in the Wind. Written by Angeline Boulley (Rock the Boat)
Tadpole Summer. Written by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow)
The Danger of Small Things. Written by Caryl Lewis (Simon & Schuster)
The Last Death Poet. Written by Stephen Daly (Rock the Boat )
Thirst. Written by Darren Simpson (Pushkin Press)
Tom Burne has Left the Chat Written by Seán Farrelly (Faber)
Longlist Information Books 3-14+
A Natural History of Bums. Written by The Crab Museum and illustrated by Inga Ziemele (Wide Eyed Editions)
A River Running Through You. Written by Amy-Jane Beer and illustrated by Elin Manon (Magic Cat Publishing)
Bust or Trust - A Kid's Mystery Book. Written by Small Wardour and illustrated by Sam Peet (Words & Pictures)
Dance of Resistance. Written by Catherine Johnstone and illustrated by Katie Hickey (Barrington Stoke)
Dangerous Animals Survival Guide. Written by Sam Hume.(Collins)
Flush it Down: The Story of Sewers Through Time. Written by Rob Flowers (Cicada)
Let's Explore Pigeons. Written and illustrated by Siski Kalla (Catch a Leaf Publishing)
Making It Up as You Go Along Written by Patricia Forde and illustrated by Mary Murphy (Little Island)
Mixed: Explore and Celebrate Your Mixed Identity Written by Emma Slade Edmondson (Rocket Fox)
Quantum! The Strange Science of the Smallest Stuff in the Universe. Written by Christopher Edge and illustrated by Paul Daviz (Walker Books)
Scream If You Wanna Go Faster: The History and Science of Amusement Parks Written by Peter Morris and illustrated by Roozeboos (Cicada)
Shoes! A Footwear Fashion Frolic Written by Anna Davies and illustrated byDaisy Wynter (Cicada)
Start Small, Think Big: Small Shiny Dung Beetle. Written by Mary Auld and illustrated by Hannah Bailey (Mama Makes Books)
The Cave Explorer. Written and illustrated by Kate Winter (Puffin)
The History of We. Written and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith (Rock the Boat)
The Shipwreck Atlas Written by Jo Arnold and illustrated by Philip Harris (Wide Eyed Editions)
The Story of Portraits. Written by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granström (Franklin Watts)
The Week Junior Guide to Politics. Written by Catherine Brereton (Bloomsbury Education)
Whale Song. Written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup (Walker Books)
Your Planet Needs You. Written by Elizabeth Laird and Will McDowall and illustrated by Paul Boston (Walker Books)
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