Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2021 shortlists

Waterstones has announced the shortlists for its Children's Book Prize. The shortlists are selected by its own booksellers across three categories: Illustrated Books, Younger Readers and Older Readers.

These six shortlisted books in each category will now compete to be chosen as the category winner, with the winners then vying for the overall title of Waterstones Children's Book of the Year 2021.  The winners will be announced on 1st July.

The shortlists for each category are as follows:

Illustrated Books

• Bear Shaped by Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden (Oxford University Press) 


• The Blue Giant by Katie Cottle (Pavilion) 


• Where Happiness Begins by Eva Eland (Andersen Press)


• Found You by Devon Holzwarth (Scholastic)


• Freedom, We Sing by Amyra León, illustrated by Molly Mendoza (Flying Eye Books)


• The Grumpy Fairies by Bethan Stevens (The Quarto Group)

Younger Readers

• The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, by Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Rob Biddulph (Usborne) 


• When Life Gives you Mangoes by Kereen Getten (Pushkin)


• Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm (Nosy Crow)


• A Clock of Stars: The Shadow Moth by Francesca Gibbons, illustrated by Chris Riddell (HarperCollins)


• A Kind of Spark by McNicoll (Knights of)


• Llama Out Loud by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan (Farshore)

Older Readers

• And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando (Simon & Schuster)


• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (Hachette Children's Group)


• Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger Group) 


• Boy, Everywhere by A  M Dassu (Old Barn Books)


• Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales (Hachette Children's Group)


• Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (Bonnier Books UK)