One of the reasons I became a book blogger was because, many moons ago in a different life, I used to read and review children’s books for Hodder and Stoughton to recommend those that would make great KS3 or middle grade readers for classroom use. I even wrote the classroom resources for many of them.

Consequently, I love to include children’s fiction on Linda’s Book Bag, so it is an absolute delight to be able to celebrate The Week Junior’s first ever children’s book awards.

The Week Junior Book Awards 2023

The UK’s most influential children’s magazine has announced the nine winners of its first children’s book awards. On 2nd October, The Week Junior Book Awards 2023, sponsored by Bookily from National Book Tokens and in partnership with The Bookseller and World Book Day, were celebrated at a ceremony at London’s County Hall. Guests from across the UK children’s publishing industry came together to applaud the uplifting, enriching, and life-enhancing power of books to change children’s lives, and the talented people who create them.

The inaugural awards were chaired by Editorial Director of The Week Junior, Anna Bassi, who said: “Our wonderful – and thoroughly deserving – winning titles represent a broad and fascinating spectrum of topics, genres and voices, but what they all have in common is their absolute power to captivate, entertain and inform young readers. The judges were unanimous in their decisions and I feel privileged to celebrate the success of the authors, illustrators and publishers whose brilliant books bring such pleasure to children, and help form a love of reading that will have benefits for the rest of their lives.”

Deciding the Awards

Each category was judged by a panel of experts, with judges including children’s TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya, presenter and YouTuber Maddie Moate, and award-winning authors Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Elle McNicoll. The awards were set up at the start of 2023, to address the lack of critical discourse around children’s literature and shine a light on the brilliant work of both new and established children’s authors. Radzi Chinyanganya, said: “There were so many brilliant titles throughout the Younger Non-Fiction category all touching on such important themes. However, Poppy O’Neill’s The Extraordinary Book That Makes You Feel Happy was superb, simultaneously as practical as it is engrossing. With its beautiful illustrations and easy-to-digest and practical takeaways, it is an absolutely super resource for any child or parent of a child who is struggling with low confidence, anxiety or sadness.”

Maddie Moate, said: “It was an honour to judge the Children’s Book of the Year: STEM award, a category full of such great titles and tough competition. However, Rob Lloyd Jones’s 24 Hours in Space was just fantastic – a gripping story that also wove in lots of facts and information for children to absorb. From start to finish, it was such a clever concept, and the graphic novel format was brilliant. It’s the kind of book all children should read.“

A. M. Dassu, said: “Non-fiction books were my first love growing up, so it felt serendipitous to be asked to judge the Older Non-Fiction category! My fellow judges and I were so impressed by the inaugural shortlist, however, our winner, Real Life Dragons and Their Stories of Survival, surpassed the criteria. This book offers an original perspective to the subject and provides easily digestible facts which are beautifully presented, resulting in a satisfying reading experience. My daughter and I both loved it!”

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, said: “We had a really tough time deciding the winner of the Breakthrough category. It was encouraging to see so many of the titles had real ambition and a spirit of adventure. Also to see such a thrilling diversity of characters taking off on adventures in history, detection and super-heroism! In the end, we’ve gone for a book full of breezy wit and invention set in a particularly exciting part of our history.”

The Winners

Science, animals and the environment were at the heart of a number of the winning titles, including Audio Adventures: Natural Wonders of the World (Ladybird), written by Sidra Ansari and brilliantly narrated by actor Ben Bailey-Smith. The book takes listeners on a sound-filled journey through the natural world and beat stiff competition including comedian Richard Ayoade’s The Book That No One Wanted to Read, to win Children’s Audiobook of the Year. The judges described it as “exceptional” and a great example of how publishers should embrace audio.

Children’s Audiobook of the Year

Fearless explorer Otto (voiced by actor Ben Bailey-Smith) and Missy, the smartest raven in the universe, take readers on a journey of discovery across the globe to learn about the seven wonders of the world, and how we can all protect them.

Sidra Ansari is a teacher, author and freelance author, who has always dreamt of being a children’s author. Ansara has written six titles for LadyBird Education and is currently editing her women’s fiction novel after The Novelry awarded her a bursary to study on
The Big Edit Course. Her non-fiction book for adults, Finding Peace Through Prayer and Love (Beacon Books) was published in early 2021 and won the Golden Door Bronze.

Children’s Book of the Year: Older Non-Fiction (9-12 year-olds)

Anita Ganeri, the critically acclaimed author of the Horrible Geography series, won the Older Fiction award with Real Life Dragons and Their Stories of Survival (Wayland). The title explores the fascinating stories of ten real-life dragons and the myths and legends surrounding them.

For centuries, dragons have captured our imaginations, guarding troves of treasure and breathing out fire. But how many children realise that dragons still exist today? While there is no such thing as a fire-breathing dragon, this book brings together the stories of ten real-life dragons, from Komodo dragons to dragon snakes.

Anita Ganeri is a critically acclaimed British Indian author, best-known for her Horrible Geography series, which led her to become Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She graduated from University of Cambridge and worked in publishing before becoming
a writer. She has written over 600 non-fiction books.

Children’s Book of the Year: STEM

Meanwhile Rob Lloyd Jones’s 24 Hours In Space won Children’s Book of the Year: STEM (in association with The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine).

Join an astronaut for a day as she goes on her first ever spacewalk, and new crew members arrive. How do you eat and drink at zero gravity? How do space toilets work? What are space suits designed for?

Rob Lloyd Jones is an American British writer and is the author of more than thirty books. His debut Wild Boy was nominated for the Carnegie Award and named one of the five best debut novels in the Branford Boase Award.

Younger Fiction Award

Mystery and adventure stories proved popular, with winners including Serena Patel’s Anisha, Accidental Detective: Holiday Adventure (Usborne), which won the Younger Fiction category.

The Mistrys are off on holiday – but there’s never any time to relax for Anisha, Accidental Detective. When the holiday park’s mascot, Delilah the duck, is destroyed and Anisha’s new friend, Cleo, is the number one suspect, Anisha must do whatever it takes to prove her innocence.

Serena Patel is a children’s author, best known for her multi-award winning series, Anisha, Accidental Detective, first published in 2020. Awards include the Sainsbury’s Childrens Book Award for Fiction 2020 and The CrimeFest Award for Children’s Crime
Fiction 2020.

Children’s Book of the Year: Breakthrough, supported by World Book Day

Author J. T. Williams won the exciting Children’s Book of the Year: Breakthrough, supported by World Book Day, with The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger (Farshore), the first in a new adventure series set in the 18th century, featuring characters inspired by real Black British historical figures.

Set in 18th century London, Lizzie Sancho and her friend Dido Belle try to work out the mystery of who is threatening to murder Lizzie’s father, Ignatius, before his debut performance on the West End stage.

J. T. Williams studied English Literature at University of Cambridge, before becoming a primary school teacher. Since leaving teaching, she’s been a programme manager at the Royal African Society, leading creative writing school workshops for the literature festival, Africa Writes. The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries is her debut children’s series.

Children’s Book of the Year: Older Fiction (9-12 year-olds)

The award for older fiction went to Tyger, the “triumph of a novel” by SF Said and illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books).

This is a dark and magical story about two children who find a mythical creature – a Tyger – in a rubbish dump in London – set in the near future of the 21st Century. An altered, dark London, where the Tyger is in danger and our protagonists Adam and Zadie are driven to save the Tyger, and in the process save London too.

SF Said is a British Muslim author, born in Bierut and raised in London. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he worked as press attaché and speech writer for the Crown Prince of Jordan. Tyger is SF Said’s fourth children’s book.

Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year

Author and illustrator Aoife Dooley won Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year for Frankie’s World, a graphic novel starring an autistic protagonist. Judges praised the book’s “engaging, accessible illustrations and really welcome message about being yourself”. They also noted the high calibre of illustrations across the winning titles, created by talent from across the globe, including Jianan Liu from China and Caribay M. Benavides from Buenos Aires.

Frankie believes she is an alien; she is the smallest person in her class – and she is accused of talking too much. But really, all she is is different – neurodivergent, though it is not until nearly the end of the book that Frankie gets an insight into why she views things differently.

Aoife Dooley is an award-winning illustrator, author and comedian from Ireland, who is best known for her series Your One Nikita, which came to screens for RTE Player animated in 2019. In 2018, she was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 27. Frankie’s World is a graphic novel based on Aoife’s real-life experiences of having undiagnosed autism as a child, and the emotions she felt for always feeling different from her peers.

Children’s Book of the Year: Younger Non-Fiction (6-9 year-olds)

Focussing on mental health, a vital topic in children’s publishing, The Extraordinary Book That Makes You Feel Happy (Weldon Owen Children’s Books) by Poppy O’Neill was awarded Children’s Book of the Year: Younger Non-Fiction (6-9 year-olds). This innovative book includes a foreword from mindfulness expert Wynne Kinder, and details projects, ideas and activities to help children feel positive, confident, focused, calm and included.

The Extraordinary Book that Makes You Feel Happy is for every child, with a host of projects, ideas and activities to help them to feel positive, confident, focused, calm, relaxed, inclusive and included. The activities help young children to build resilience to big, overwhelming feelings and to feel connected to themselves and to others.

Poppy O’Neill is an author specializing in children and parental mental health and emotions. She lives in Sussex with her wife, children and pets. Her previous books include, Mother Power, To Help Your Anxious Child and I Like Being Me: A Child’s Guide to Self-Worth.

Children’s Book Cover of the Year

The Week Junior invited readers to help choose the Children’s Book Cover of the Year. Thousands of kids cast their votes online, and Rob Biddulph’s Peanut Jones and the Twelve Portals was propelled into first place. The Week Junior’s Art Director, Dave Kelsall, described the book as: “A highly imaginative, colourful and ‘in-your-face’ cover that grabs your attention immediately”.

Some legends are born, some are drawn . . . Famous works of art are disappearing from all over the world. One moment they are there, the next, they have crumbled to dust. Peanut Jones and her friends suspect it might have something to do with the magical
world of Chroma and the wicked Mr White’s plot to wipe out colour, art and creativity. It’s time to head back to the Illustrated City and help the resistance fight back. This title, by the uber-creative creator of the #DrawWithRob draw-along video series active during the COVID-19 pandemic, fizzes with magic, danger, friendship and art.

Rob Biddulph is a bestselling and multi award-winning author/illustrator. He is the author of many highly, acclaimed, award-winning picture books, including Blown Away, GRRRRR!, Odd Dog Out, Sunk, Kevin, Show and Tell, Dog Gone and the Dinosaur Juniors series. Before he became a full-time author/illustrator Rob was the art director of the Observer Magazine, NME, Uncut, SKY and Just Seventeen. He lives in London with his wife and three daughters.

The Week Junior Book Festival

Audiences will have the chance to see some of the award winners, including the Breakthrough winner, J. T. Williams, and Younger Fiction winner Serena Patel at The Week Junior Book Festival, which will take place during the school halfterm on 24th October in London. They will be joined by best-selling authors, such as Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen and Jenny Pearson.

For further information about The Week Junior Book Awards, visit the website.

For The Week Junior Book Festival, please click here!

About The Week Junior

The Week Junior is a multi award-winning magazine packed full of engaging articles, eye-catching images and big ideas that get eight to 14-year-olds reading, thinking and talking. It features everything from current affairs, to sport, science, cooking and craft. With 32 fact-packed pages, The Week Junior feeds children’s natural curiosity, encourages critical thinking and promotes reading for pleasure with a dedicated books section and annual Summer of Reading challenge.

For further information, visit the website and find The Week Junior on Facebook, Twitter/x @theweekjunior and Instagram.