The shortlists for this year’s FCBG Children’s Book Award have been announced, highlighting the titles that are most popular with their intended readers – children.

Established in 1980, the FCBG Children’s Book Award is the only national award voted for entirely by children from beginning to end. Over the last year, thousands of children in FCBG groups around the country have been reading and reviewing around 800 titles to come up with the shortlists for the three award categories: Books for Younger Children; Books for Younger Readers; and Books for Older Readers.

Voting for the category winners and the Overall Winner of this year’s Award will now open for any child or young person up to the age of 18 in the UK.  Voting takes place online and young people have until 27th May to cast their votes.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators!

Books for Younger Children (Picture Books)

Stella and the Seagull by Georgina Stevens, illustrated by Izzy Burton (Oxford University Press)

Barbara Throws a Wobbler by Nadia Shireen (Jonathan Cape)

Octopus Shocktopus! By Peter Bently, illustrated by Steven Lenton (Nosy Crow)

Perdu by Richard Jones (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

Books for Younger Readers (age 6-11)

The Griffin Gate by Vashti Hardy, illustrated by Natalie Smillie (Barrington Stoke)

Anisha, Accidental Detective by Serena Patel, illustrated by Emma McCann (Usborne Publishing)

The Highland Falcon Thief  by M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Books for Older Readers (age 10-18)

When The World Was Ours by Liz Kessler (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

The Midnight Guardians by Ross Montgomery (Walker Books)

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

The winners will be announced at an award ceremony in June 2022. Keep an eye out for our winner announcement.