Books of the Year 2021

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2021 has been another year of disruption, stops and restarts, and even as we approach the last weeks of the year, no-one is quite sure what might happen next. Thank heavens for children’s literature! Has it been a golden year though? We asked a panel of regular contributors to choose the best books of 2021.

 

Nicholas Tucker, honorary senior lecturer in Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University.

Geraldine McCaughrean and Hilary McKay, the two grandes dames of contemporary children’s books, were both in good form this year – Geraldine with The Supreme Lie, celebrating strength of spirit under a criminal regime, and Hilary with The Swallows’ Flight, set in World War Two and including German as well as British characters.  These two irreplaceable writers continue to uphold the highest standards of children’s literature and long may their reign continue. Also of this elevated company, Marcus Sedgwick goes on writing his clever, teasing and ultimately philosophical stories, with Dark Peak constantly exciting as well as super-readable. Coming up fast on the inside however, William Sutcliffe combines excellent one-liners with a powerful social message in The Summer We Turned Green, even more pressingly topical now than when it first appeared in July.

 

Miranda McKearney, EmpathyLab

Michael Rosen has an extraordinary ability to turn his life experiences into powerful books. I’ve long admired The Sad Book, and Sticky McStickStick, illustrated by Tony Ross, is surely destined to become a picture book classic in a similar vein. It tells the story of Michael’s recovery from Covid, and his struggle to learn to walk again – helped by doctors and nurses and his trusty NHS stick– ‘the friend who helped me walk again’. The clarity of the language, and superb Tony Ross illustrations take the reader on a journey to the heart of Michael’s experience, which ends with a sense of great relief and hope. It’s been a huge privilege to work with Michael on empathy themes in 2021. Sticky’s publication was the springboard for an Empathy Check-In Month, led by Michael who’s asked children to revisit the Empathy Walks and Resolutions they made for Empathy Day. Who better than him to explore the importance of empathy, and help us all reflect on the empathetic doctors and nurses who’ve got us through this grim pandemic. And thank god he made it through.

 

Zoey Dixon, Chair of YLG (Youth Libraries Group) London.

I’ve read a lot of amazing books this year, but two that really stood out for me were Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Nen and the Lonely Fisherman, written by Ian Eagleton and illustrated by James Mayhew.

Ace of Spades definitely lived up to the hype and is one of the best debuts I have ever read. Set in a prestigious school, Devon, a gay Black scholarship boy, and Chiamaka, a queer girl with mixed Nigerian and Italian heritage, both find themselves being blackmailed by a mysterious group. The novel explores themes of race, sexuality, class and tackles the topic of white supremacy within a thrilling plot with lots of twists and turns. I’m pretty sure I’ll still be gushing about it next year.

Nen and the Lonely Fisherman is a heart-warming story inspired by the Little Mermaid that will melt your heart. Beautifully drawn, you can really see the love and affection between Nen (the merman) and Ernest (the fisherman). A powerful story of love and acceptance, I hope this book is in every school and public library and read throughout the year, not just for LGBTQ+ History Month or Pride.

 

Martin Salisbury, Professor of Illustration, Director, The Centre for Children’s Book Studies, Cambridge School of Art

I’ve chosen Lost by Alexandra Mîrzac. This exceptional debut picturebook by Romanian artist, Mîrzac follows Cat’s growing suspicion that he is invisible as his attempts to engage his increasingly work-preoccupied householders meet with growing indifference. Cat decides to strike out into the big city to seek some more attentive playmates, only to find himself lost, lonely and even less visible in the uncaring metropolis.

Employing an exquisite balance of delicate line drawing with large areas of flat colour, limited to black, red and blue, Mîrzac takes us on a Cat’s eye-level journey into the unforgiving nocturnal metropolis. We find ourselves dwarfed by the monumental figures that step over and around us as they look at their phones, carry their deliveries and grapple with their children. Cat’s realisation that he is lost is described in a stunning panoramic centrefold of night-time city traffic, with a glimpse of Cat’s desperately searching owners. Narrative graphic art at its best!

 

Jane Churchill, Fiction Advisor, Gallimard Jeunesse

This is a vintage year for rip-roaring tales.  My first choice is the wonderful Jonathan Stroud’s The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne.  The eponymous protagonists are two of the most arresting characters to be found in children’s literature and the alternative future Britain they inhabit is superbly imagined.  The humour is black and the dialogue – so quick and clever!  Pony by RJ Palacio is no less an astonishing story of outlaws and a courageous boy travelling across America to solve a mystery accompanied by a strange pony and an enigmatic ghost.  The writing is sublime.  My final choice is very much a crossover book – Crushing by Sophie Burrows.  This wordless graphic novel is a masterpiece.  It captures exactly the loneliness and alienation of two young people living in a large metropolis and yearning for friendship and love with such amazing tenderness, delicacy and humour. The artwork in a limited palette of reds and bluey greys and blacks is glorious.

 

Charlotte Hacking, CLPE Learning Programmes Leader

An enchanting personal narrative shares the story of a young child’s experience of getting their first ever pet, a goldfish named Richard, accompanied by sumptuous and lifelike illustrations in Catherine Rayner’s distinctively enrapturing style. The text of My Pet Goldfish also contains a range of fascinating information about goldfish, allowing children to hear the voice of different styles of writing as well as learning new vocabulary and knowledge. A delight for children aged 3-7.

Steven Camden is an author who knows children. He speaks to them in a way that engages, reflects and never patronises, and creates and shapes characters and situations that every child can relate to. The story of My Big Mouth is told from the first-person perspective of Jason (Jay) Gardener and revolves around the familiar experiences of school, friends and family. Illustrated fiction is incredibly popular with older children and Chanté Timothy’s carefully chosen and crafted illustrations take us deeper into Jay’s world. An absolute must-have for children aged 8-11.

 

Teresa Cremin, Professor of Education (Literacy) at The Open University in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies.

My choice is October, October by Katya Balen. I adored The Space We’re In and was completely captured by the sparse, lyrical prose here, the pain and October’s journey. A soul song of the wild, this remarkable book reaches deep and lingers long. Free-spirited October lives in the woods with her dad, and they are wild. Until that is their world turns on its axis and they are obliged to leave their forest haven, separately. Katya Balen’s poetic prose captures a sense of place so evocatively that we smell the woodsmoke, hear the city roar, feel the sucking of the mud on the foreshore and see Stig’s feathers in flight. October’s displacement, raw anger, loss, confusion and pain are conveyed with such conviction that when tendrils of hope begin to emerge, we reach for them greedily, wildly. This is stunning storytelling – a book to treasure, re-live and share.

 

Ferelith Hordon, editor, Books for Keeps

Looking back over a year studded with books what has stood out for me? The gorgeous colour saturated illustrations by Grahame Baker-Smith for his picture book Wild is the Wind – such a perfect match for the text. Here information is presented vividly and simply to make an invisible element visible. Elements are also central to my other two books of the year. Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep – Philip Reeve’s latest novel – took me to the depths of the sea to face…what? A goddess? A monster? Or the sea itself? I was captivated by Utterly herself in this immersive coming-of age narrative. Finally there is Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Supreme Lie. When the world is flooded, you must believe the newspapers. Here serious issues are handled with wit, imagination, and brilliant writing. No preaching, but questions – some very clever puzzles and characters who step off the page.

 

Fen Coles for Letterbox Library

Lgbtq+ representations in children’s literature continue to grow with slow, but steady, toddler steps. 2021 saw several delightful ‘incidental’ lgbtq+ characters: Mini Mart owner, Mr Potempa, in Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths; Tam in The Boys; two mums-to-be in Hey You!; teacher Mr Ellory-Jones in Omar, The Bees and Me; the gay and non-binary character in You Can! But we have also seen lgbtq+ characters filling out the foreground, a vital positioning given that so much of lgbtq+ representation has historically been reduced to inferences and ambiguity. So, ‘Hurrah!’ for the 2021 picture book lgbtq+ leading characters (often also characters of colour): Dad and Daddy who head up the superbly-silly family in the technicolour spectacle, Bathe the Cat; Mum and Mama, utterly overwhelmed by their sourdough pet in The Bread Pet; endlessly patient Dad Toby and Dad Greg, troubled by laundry challenges in Covered in Adventures; Zari and Jina, aunties to the irrepressible Lulu; Grandad, Gramps and their unstoppable camper van; Nen the Merman and Ernest the Fisherman; and the two actual stars – surely – of Julian at the Wedding… the two brides who lead this ‘party of love’.

Tony Bradmam, author, reviewer and Chair of ALCS, the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society

My book of the year has to be Cane Warriors by the brilliant Alex Wheatle. Yes, I know it was first published in 2020, but that was in hardback and the paperback was definitely 2021! This gripping story of a slave uprising in 18th-century Jamaica has resonated with me ever since I read it, because it’s so brilliantly written. The characters are so well drawn and you really feel as if you’re there with them. It’s also an important book because it shows that enslaved people in Jamaica weren’t passive and always down-trodden – they really did fight back. I heartily recommend it to all and sundry, and I think it should be on every curriculum reading list – this year and in any year!

 

 

 

 

The Summer We Turned Green, William Sutcliffe, Bloomsbury

The Swallows’ Flight, Hilary McKay, Macmillan Children’s Books

The Supreme Lie, Geraldine McCaughrean, Usborne

Sticky McStickStick, Michael Rosen, illus Tony Ross, Walker Books

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Usborne

Lost, Alexandra Mîrzac, Tate Publishing

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, Jonathan Stroud, Walker Books

Pony, RJ Palacio, Puffin, £12.99

Crushing, Sophie Burrows, David Fickling Books

My Pet Goldfish, Catherine Rayner, Macmillan Children’s Books

My Big Mouth, Steven Camden, Macmillan Children’s Books

October, October Katya Balen, Bloomsbury,

Wild is the Wind, Grahame Baker-Smith, Templar Publishing

Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, Philip Reeve, David Fickling Books

Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths by Maisie Chan, Piccadilly

The Boys by Lauren Ace & Jenny Løvlie, Little Tiger

Hey You! by Dapo Adeola & others, Puffin

Omar, The Bees and Me, Helen Mortimer, illus Katie Cottle, Owlet Press

You Can! By Alexandra Strick & Steve Antony (Otter-Barry Books

Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty & David Roberts, Chronicle Books)

The Bread Pet by Kate DePalma & Nelleke Verhoeff, Barefoot Books

Covered in Adventures by Gillian Hibbs, Child’s Play

Lulu’s Sleepover by Anna McQuinn & Rosalind Beardshaw, Alanna Max

Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate, Andersen Press

Nen and the Lonely Fisherman by Ian Eagleton & James Mayhew, Owlet Press

Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love, Walker Books

Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle, Andersen Press