Waterstones announces its 2025 Children's Book Prize shortlists

With a focus on reading for pleasure, Waterstones' booksellers have voted for the books they believe are the very best in new children's writing and illustration.

Previous winners of the prize have included Katherine Rundell, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Rob Biddulph. Last year's winner was Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson.

Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones, said, "Sharing a love of books with young readers is the most important thing we do as booksellers, and we have been proud to celebrate the very best emerging talent in children's publishing for over 20 years with this special prize."

The shortlist includes 12 books across three categories. The three category winners will vye for the overall title of Waterstones Children's Book Prize Winner 2025, which will be announced next month on Thursday, 27th March 2025. The winner of each category will receive £2,000, with the overall winner receiving £5,000.

Illustrated Books category

Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf by Craig Barr-Green (author) and Francis Martin (illustrator), an innovative and funny retelling of Red Riding Hood featuring a neurodivergent protagonist, is joined by Jana Curll's heartwarming tale about facing worries and finding friendship, Mountain and Cloud. Also on the list are Dim Sum Palace by X. Fang, a mouth-watering, beautifully illustrated story about a girl dreaming of a palace of dumplings, and Mikey Please's playful, funny and immersive rhyming story, The Café at the Edge of the Woods.

Category for Younger Readers

This category showcases a breadth of genres; from impactful fiction reflecting real life in James Fox's timely and heartfelt portrayal of a boy's search for security, community and connection, The Boy in the Suit; to fantasy in the magical adventures of a shapeshifting girl on a quest to find her missing father in Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit by Clare Harlow; to historical adventure with the evocative and engaging Secrets of the Snakestone by Piu DasGupta. The list concludes with Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sánchez, a rich graphic novel adventure with a beautifully imagined magic system based on sign language.

Older Readers Category

Leanne Egan tells a gentle enemies-to-lovers story with Lover Birds, a Liverpool-set romcom full of heart, whilst King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore is a teen comedy about an unlikely friendship between two boys that, despite exploring some serious topics, is in equal parts hilarious and heartfelt. Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald is a poignant but ultimately hopeful and uplifting novel about two young men beginning new lives apart after growing up together in the care system, whereas For She is Wrath, a fantasy novel by Emily Varga, is a powerful, whip-smart take on The Count of Monte Cristo.