The shortlists have been announced for the UKLA Book Awards 2022. The only awards chosen by teachers, talented new authors are well represented and independent publishers feature strongly.

The shortlists are:

3 to 6+                                                 

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

What Happened to You? written by James Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George (Faber)

Pip and Egg written by Alex Latimer, illustrated by David Litchfield (Scholastic)

I’m (Almost) Always Kind written by Anna Milbourne illustrated by Asa Gilland, (Usborne)

The Invisible written and illustrated by Tom Percival (Simon & Schuster)

Barbara Throws a Wobbler written and illustrated by Nadia Shireen, (Puffin)                                          

7 to 10+                                                               

October, October written by Katya Balen, illustrated by Angela Harding   (Bloomsbury)

When Life Gives You Mangoes written by Kereen Getten (Pushkin Press)

When Stars are Scattered written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson, with Omar Mohamed (Faber)

A Kind of Spark written by Elle McNicholl (Knights Of)

The Valley of the Lost Secrets written by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)

Front Desk written by Kelly Yang (Knights Of)

11 to 14+                                                            

The Short Knife written by Elen Caldecott (Andersen)

When the World Was Ours written by Liz Kessler (Simon & Schuster)

Tsunami Girl written by Julian Sedgwick, illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada (Guppy Books)

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne written by Jonathan Stroud (Walker)

Cane Warriors   written by Alex Wheatle (Andersen)

Punching The Air written by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (HarperCollins)                  

Information Books 3-14+                                                             

Fourteen Wolves written by Catherine Barr, illustrated by Jenni Desmond (Bloomsbury)

What’s the T? written by Juno Dawson, illustrated by soofiya (Wren & Rook)

Modern Art Explorer written by Alice Harman, illustrated by Serge Bloch (Thames and Hudson)

The Great Barrier Reef written by Helen Scales, illustrated by Lisk Feng, (Flying Eye)

Ultimate Gamer- Career Mode written by Craig Steele, illustrated by Berat Pekmezci (Kingfisher)

Nano written by Dr Jess Wade, illustrated by Melissa Castrillon (Walker)

For UKLA, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read high quality new children’s books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.

12 teachers nominated from the 85 involved in the shortlisting will now form the final judging panel and have the challenging task of reading all the shortlisted books in all categories. The winner’s announcement will take place at the UKLA International Conference in Birmingham on 1 July.

The awards are sponsored by Lovereading4kids and Reading Cloud.

Deborah McLaren, Director of Lovereading4kids said, ‘This is a cracking shortlist of children’s books that deserve to be celebrated. The UKLA Awards are a special thing, ensuring that the teacher judges can share the books first-hand with their students, all with the aim of encouraging reading for pleasure. We are excited to see which books shine through this year, but they are all stars!’

A spokesperson at Reading Cloud added, ‘We are always heartened to see so many dedicated teacher judges all over the UK working with the longlisted, shortlisted and winning books to inspire a love of reading in their pupil groups and beyond. Encouraging reading for enjoyment and improving literacy are very much at the heart of Reading Cloud and through our platform, pupils can review and recommend books, sharing their enthusiasm for reading through a variety of accessible and engaging tools and features.’