The Alliance of Radical Booksellers has announced the shortlist for the Little Rebels Award 2023, an award set up to celebrate fiction for children aged 0-12 that challenges stereotypes and promotes social equality.

This year’s shortlist, which includes three picture books and four novels, was chosen by a panel of authors, booksellers and children’s book experts. All seven titles highlight issues of social justice and celebrate young people’s resilience and courage as characters push back against different forms of discrimination or come together to fight for a more inclusive and just society.

Commenting on the award, Sarah Hagger Holt, author of last year’s winning title Proud of Me (Usborne), said, ‘Sometimes I feel powerless and alone. The distance I see between the world around me and the world I would like to see seems vast. Yet every single, wonderful book that is put forward for the Little Rebels Award seeks to bridge this distance. Winning the Little Rebels Award last year – for a story about a bunch of queer kids and allies finding each other, defending what matters to them and learning to value themselves, their families and each other – encouraged me to keep on writing stories and to keep on speaking out. We are not powerless. We are not alone.’

Teachers and carers interested in exploring the issues raised in this year’s shortlist and discussing them with their pupils can download free reading guides for each of the shortlisted titles from the Little Rebels Award website.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators!

The 2023 Little Rebels Award shortlist:

You Need to Chill! by Juno Dawson, illustrated by Laura Hughes (Farshore)

Mayor Bunny’s Chocolate Town by Elys Dolan (Oxford University Press)

Fight Back by A. M. Dassu (Scholastic Fiction)

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton (Puffin Books)

I Am Nefertiti by Annemarie Anang and Natelle Quek (Five Quills)

Needle by Patrice Lawrence (Barrington Stoke)

Ajay and the Mumbai Sun by Varsa Shah (Chicken House Books)

The winner of the 2023 Little Rebels Award will be announced at an award ceremony in London in July. Watch out for our winner announcement.

For more children’s book awards, click here.