Longlists announced for the 2025 UKLA Book Awards

The longlists have been announced for the 2025 UKLA Book Awards, the only national children’s book awards to be judged by teachers. A total of 470 books were submitted across the four categories, publishers represented for the first time include Rocket Bird Books, The Neem Tree Press, Alanna Max and Greystone Books.

Awards Chair, Christine Lockwood, said, ‘We always approach this difficult but exciting task with great anticipation.  The longlisting team were challenged to select from a very rich and exceptional list of submissions this year and they have come up with four enticing longlists.  It is always a joy to meet our committed, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic longlisters in person, after a long summer of reading and exchanging views online.  I would like to thank them for their hard work over the summer.  The longlists will now pass to our teams of teacher judges and their group leaders in Liverpool and the North-West, and I can’t wait to share these books with them over the next year.’

This year there are 87 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.

Longlist 3-6+

I Want a Dog. Written and illustrated by Jon Agee (Scallywag Press)

Gigantic. Written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph (HarperCollins)

Gina Kaminkski Saves a Wolf. Written by Craig Barr-Green and illustrated by Francis Martin (Little Tiger Press)

Doris. Written and illustrated by Lo Cole (Rocket Bird Books)

The Magic Callaloo. Written by Trish Cooke and illustrated by Sophie Bass (Walker Books)

Beneath. Written and illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld (Scallywag Press)

There’s A Tiger on The Train. Written by Mariesa Dulak and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb (Faber)

Grey. Written by Laura Dockrill and illustrated by Lauren Child (Walker Books)

The Golden Hare. Written and illustrated by Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)

Champ. Written by Payam Ebrahimi, illustrated by Reza Dalvand and translated by Caroline Croskery (Aldana Libros)

Dim Sum Palace. Written and illustrated by X. Fang (Pushkin Press)

Let’s Go! haw êkwa!. Written and illustrated by Julie Flett (Greystone Books)

Mr Mornington’s Favourite Things.  Written and illustrated by Karen George (Welbeck)

Stop! That’s Not My Story. Written by Smriti Halls and illustrated by Erika Meza (Simon & Schuster)

I Love Books. Written and illustrated by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln)

Lulu’s Nana Visits. Written by Anna McQuinn and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Alanna Max)

Poetry is Not for Me! Written by Joshua Seigal and illustrated by Rebecca Burgess (Collins)

Geoffrey Gets the Jitters. Written and illustrated by Nadia Shireen (Puffin)

Listening to the Quiet. Written by Cassie Silva and illustrated by Frances Ives (Lantana)

Salat in Secret. Written by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrated by Hatem Aly (Andersen Press)

The Elephant and the Sea. Written and illustrated by Ed Vere (Puffin)

The Starling’s Song. Written by Octavie Wolters and illustrated by Michele Hutchinson (Pushkin Press)

 

Longlist 7-10+

Puppet. Written by David Almond and illustrated by Lizzy Stewart (Walker Books)

Little House. Written by Katya Balen and illustrated by Richard Johnson (Barrington Stoke)

The Wonder Brothers. Written by Frank Cottell-Boyce and illustrated by Steven Lenton (Macmillan)

Mis Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters: The Wrath of the Woolington Worm Written by Karen Foxlee and illustrated by Freda Chiu (Pushkin Press)

The Final Year. Written by Matt Goodfellow  and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)

Stitch. Written by Pádraig Kenny (Walker Books)

Code Name Kingfisher. Written by Liz Kessler (Simon & Schuster)

Safiyyah’s War. Written by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)

And I Climbed And I Climbed. Written by Stephen Lightbown and illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin         (Troika Books)

On Poetry Street. Written by Brian Moses and illustrated by Mark Elvins (Scallywag Press)

The Wrong Shoes. Written and illustrated by Tom Percival (Simon & Schuster)

The Boy Who Made Monsters. Written by Jenny Pearson and illustrated by Katie Kear (Usborne)

Impossible Creatures. Written by Katherine Rundell and illustrated by Tomislav Tomić (Bloomsbury)

The Letter with the Golden Stamp. Written by Onjali Q Raúf (Orion)

The Clockwork Conspiracy. Written by Sam Sedgman (Bloomsbury)

Murray  and Bun : Murray the Viking. Written and illustrated by    Adam Stower (HarperCollins)

Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions. Written by Carrie Sellon and illustrated by Sarah Horne (Guppy Books)

Greenwild: The World Behind the Door. Written by Pari Thomson and illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan)

Norah’s Ark. Written by Victoria Williamson (Neem Tree Press)

Quiet Storm. Written by Kimberly Whittam (Usborne)

 

Longlist 11- 14+

This Book Won’t Burn. Written by Samira Ahmed (Atom)

Bird Boy. Written by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow)

You Could Be So Pretty. Written by Holly Bourne (Usborne)

I Am Wolf. Written by Alastair Chisholm (Nosy Crow)

Sing If You Can’t Dance. Written by Alexia Casale (Faber)

Where The Heart Should Be. Written by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)

Eddy, Eddy. Written by Kate De Goldi (Old Barn Books)

Electric Life. Written by Rachel Delahaye (Troika)

Finding Phoebe. Written by Gavin Extence (Andersen Press)

Northern Soul. Written by Phil Earle (Barrington Stoke)

The Things We Leave Behind. Written by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster)

Noah Frye Gets Crushed.  Written by Maggie Horne (Firefly Press)

The Boy Next Door. Written by Jenny Ireland (Penguin)

If My Words Had Wings. Written by Danielle Jawando (Simon & Schuster)

The Grimmelings. Written by Rachael King (Guppy Books)

King of Nothing  Written by Nathaneal Lessore (Hot Key Books)

Little Bang. Written by Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)

Glasgow Boys. Written by Margaret McDonald (Faber)

Keedie. Written by Elle McNicoll (Knights Of)

Louder Than Hunger. Written by John Schu (Walker Books)

 

Longlist Information Books 3-14+

Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism. Written by Yassmin Abdel-Magied and illustrated by Aleesha Nandhra (Walker Books)

Brilliant Black British History. Written by Atinuke and illustrated by Kingsley Nebechi (Bloomsbury)

Lads. Written by Alan Bisset (Wren & Rook)

Wildlife Crossings. Written by Catherine Barr and illustrated by Christiane Engel   (Otter-Barry Books)

Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales. Written by Catherine Cawthorne and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Bloomsbury)

Wild languages of Mother Nature. Written by Gabby Dawnay and illustrated by Margaux Samson- Abadie (Wide Eyed Editions)

Tasty Tales. Written and illustrated by Anna Lena Feunekes (UCLan)

Against The Odds. Written by Alastair Humphreys and illustrated by Pola Mai (Templar)

Story of Now. Written by Shelina Janmohamed and illustrated by Laura Greenan (Welbeck)

Slug Life. Written and illustrated by Moesha Kellaway (Rocket Bird Books)

Measuring Me. Written and illustrated by Nicola Kent (Little Tiger Press)

Explodapedia: Rewild. Written by Ben Martynoga and illustrated by Moose Allain (David Fickling Books)

This Book Will Make You An Artist. Written by Ruth Millington and illustrated by Ellen Surrey (Nosy Crow)

Homebody. Written and illustrated by Theo Parish      (Macmillan)

Stolen History. Written by Sathnam Sanghera and illustrated by Jen Khatun (Puffin)

Welcome to the Arts: Dance. Written by Sir Alistair Spalding and illustrated by Jason Raish (Big Picture Press )

Wilding. Written by Isabella Tree and illustrated by Angela Harding (Macmillan)

Rise Up and Sing. Written by Andrea Warner and illustrated by Louise Reimer (Greystone)

Mission Arctic Written by Katherine Weiss-Tuider and illustrated by Christiane Schneider (Greystone)

Stones and Bones. Written by Rob Wilshaw and illustrated by Sophie Williams (Cicada)

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