The North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards 2021
The shortlists for this year’s North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards have been announced. The Awards were founded in 2015 and celebrate ‘the best in children’s literature’ with five separate categories: Picture Book, Poetry, Information, Quality Fiction, Read Aloud and ‘Moving On’, the latter category being added in 2016. The shortlists follow but read on for an introduction to the awards by member Sue Wilsher.
Picture Book:
Rain Before Rainbows Smriti Halls, illustrated by David Litchfield (Walker Books)
A Shelter for Sadness Anne Booth, illustrated by David Litchfield (Templar Books)
The Littlest Yak Lu Fraser, illustrated by Kate Hindley (Simon and Schuster)
The Tale of the Whale Karen Swann, illustrated by Padmacandra (Scallywag Press)
Anita and the Dragons Hannah Carmona, illustrated by Anna Cunha (Lantana Books)
When the Sun Goes Home Momoko Abe (Orchard Books)
Poetry:
Daydreams and Jellybeans Alex Wharton, illustrated by Katy Riddell Firefly Press
Saturdays at the Imaginarium Shauna Darling Robertson, illustrated by Judith Wisdom Troika Books
Riding a Lion Coral Rumble (Troika Books)
Dear Ugly Sisters and other poems Laura Mucha, illustrated by Tania Rex (Otter Barry Books)
Information:
YouthQuake Tom Adams, illustrated by Sarah Walsh (Nosy Crow)
24 Hours in the Stone Age Lan Cook, illustrated by Laurent Kling (Usborne)
How to Change the World Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Annabel Tempest (Puffin Books)
A Turtle’s View of the Ocean Blue Catherine Barr, illustrated by Brendan Kearney (Laurence King)
Quality Fiction:
Harley Hitch and the Iron Forest Vashti Hardy, illustrated by George Ermos (Scholastic)
The Last Bear Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
The Weather Weaver Tamsin Mori (Uclan Publishing)
The Valley of Lost Secrets Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
Read Aloud:
Amber Under Cover Em Norry (Oxford Children’s Books)
Emmy Levels Up Helen Harvey (Oxford Children’s Books)
The Incredible Record Smashers Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Erica Salcedo (Usborne)
Genie and Teeny Make a Wish Steven Lenton (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Moving On:
The Ship of Shadows Maria Kuzniar (Penguin Books)
Melt Ele Fountain (Pushkin Press)
Boy Everywhere A M Dassu (Old Barn Books)
Another Twist in the Tale Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow)
Member Sue Wilsher tells us more about The North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards: ‘NSTBA is open to all teachers, everywhere and has grown steadily over the past seven years. Each year, the number of submissions increases and we are constantly visiting bookshops in search of new gems. As the group all work full time in education, it is hard to juggle everything around all the demands of our actual day jobs, but we post a review (almost!) every day on our website and now run two teachers’ book groups. When we have time, we write planning sequences or ideas for how to use books which we share on the Members’ Section of the site. Books from our lists are often ones which we use in school for guided reading, story times, book groups, book events etc so authors know their work is being used with children. Although we receive no funding or sponsorship, we keep our website advert free so it is ‘Just About Books’!
Once our shortlists have been created, any teacher – from anywhere – can vote. It is really important that they read a complete category before submitting their votes and some people have a favourite category or two which they vote on; some vary from year to year.
Called ‘the loveliest book award’ by Tom Moorhouse, every year we hold an awards’ ceremony which is great fun! Well-known for our cake, there is plenty to eat whilst mingling and chatting before the winners are announced. Last year, sadly, we were unable to have a ‘live’ ceremony and had to announce the winners on Twitter, but we hope to return to a real get-together this year.’
The winners will be announced on Saturday 13 November 2021.
To find out more, email justaboutbooksnsomerset@gmail.com or send a message via Twitter @JustAboutBooks.
