Dave McKean & Bobby Joseph Judge The Week Junior Book Awards

Article Summary

• Dave McKean & Bobby Joseph join star-studded judging panel for The Week Junior Book Awards.
• Children’s Graphic Novel of the Year among highly anticipated shortlists revealed.
• Young readers empowered to vote for Book Cover of the Year and Children’s Choice Award.
• Prominent 12-week promotional campaign to showcase all shortlisted works to The Week Junior audience.

Children's Audiobook of the Year

• Animal Tales from India: Ten Stories from the Panchatantra by Nikita Gill, narrated by the author (Nosy Crow)
• Billy and the Giant Adventure by Jamie Oliver, narrated by the author (Penguin Random House Group)
• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, narrated by Samuel West (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
• Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Ruling the World by Louie Stowell, narrated by Ben Willbond (W F Howes)
• Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels by Tọlá Okogwu, narrated by Nneka Okoye (Simon & Schuster)
• Stink: Fairy vs Boy by Jenny McLachlan, narrated by Caius Nicholas (Farshore)

Breakthrough Book of the Year, sponsored by World Book Day

• Digging for Victory by Cathy Faulkner (Firefly Press)
• Greenwild: The World Behind The Door by Pari Thomson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan Children's Books)
• My Name is Sunshine Simpson  by G M Linton, illustrated by Fuuji Takashi (Usborne)
• The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi, illustrated by Tom Clohosy Cole  (Simon & Schuster)
• The Nowhere Thief by Alice M Ross (Nosy Crow)

Cover of the Year

• Animal Tales from India: Ten Stories from the Panchatantra by Nikita Gill, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, designed by Manda Scott  (Nosy Crow)
• Bite Risk by S J Wills, designed by Jose Real Art  (Simon & Schuster)
• Boy Underground by Isabelle Marinov, illustrated by Paula Zorite, cover design by Sophie Jones (Sweet Cherry Publishing)
• Cloudlanders  by Christopher Mackie, illustrated by Hoang Giang, cover design by Leah McDowell  (Floris Books)
• Kyan Green and the Infinity Racers by David Wilkerson, cover illustrated by David Wilkerson and designed by Rose Gerrard  (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
• My Name is Sunshine Simpson by G M Linton, cover design by Fuuji Takashi (Usborne)
• The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi, cover designed and illustrated by Tom Clohosy Cole (Simon & Schuster)

Children's Book of the Year: Fiction Older

• Finding Bear by Hannah Gold, illustrated Levi Pinfold (HarperCollins Children's Books)
• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Tomislav Tomic, Virginia Allyn and Daniel Egneus (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
• Kicked Out by A M Dassu, illustrated by Daby Zainab Faidhi (Old Barn Books)
• Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer by Jeffrey Boakye (Faber)
• Man-Man and the Tree of Memories by Yaba Badoe, illustrated by Joelle Avelino (Head of Zeus)
• Monster in the Woods by Dave Shelton (David Fickling Books)
• Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
• Adventuremice: Otter Chaos by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre (David Fickling Books)

Children's Book of the Year: Fiction Younger

• Faith Muntu and the Lost Elephant by Lela Burbridge, illustrated by Claire Pinfold  (The Lela Initiative)
• Michael the Amazing Mind-Reading Sausage Dog by Terrie Chilvers, illustrated by Tim Budgen (Firefly Press)
• Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions by Carrie Sellon, illustrated by Sarah Horne  (Guppy Books)
• Yomi and the Fury of Ninki Nanka by Davina Tijani, illustrated by  Adam Douglas-Bagley  (Little Tiger)

Children's Graphic Novel of the Year

• Bumble and Snug and the Shy Ghost by Mark Bradley, illustrated by the author (Hachette Children's Group)
• Bunny vs Monkey: Multiverse Mix-up by Jamie Smart, illustrated by the author (David Fickling Books)
• Dog Man 11: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey, illustrated by the author (Scholastic)
• Drawn to Change the World Graphic Novel Collection: 16 Youth Climate Activisits, 16 Artists by Emma Reynolds, Ann Maulina, Natsha Donovan, Teo DuVall, Devon Holzwarth et al (HarperCollins)
• InvestiGators: All Tide Up  by John Patrick Green, illustrated by the author (Macmillan Children's Books)
• Juniper Mae: Knight of Tykotech City by Sarah Soh, illustrated by the author (Flying Eye Books)
• Mexikid by Pedro Martin, illustrated by the author (Guppy Books)

Children's Book of the Year: Hobbies & Interests

• Art is Everywhere by Joe Haddow, illustrated by Ellie Hawes (UCLan Publishing)
• Cracking Cricket  by Robin Bennett, illustrated by Matt Cherry (Firefly Press)
• Noodle Juice Rhinoceros Can't Draw, But You Can!  by Luke Newell, illustrated by Newell and Mr Griff (Noodle Juice)
• The Football School Encyclopedia by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, illustrated by Spike Gerrell (Walker Books)
• The Handbook of Forgotten Skills by Natalie Crowley and Elaine Batiste, illustrated by Chris Duriez  (Magic Cat Publishing)
• What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box? by James Maclaine, illustrated by Harriet Noble and Erin Wallace  (Usborne)

Children's Book of the Year: Non-Fiction

• Guinness World Records 2024  by Craig Glenday (Guinness World Records)
• Infographica by Valentina D'Efilippo, Andrew Pettie and Conrad Quilty-Harper (Britannica Books / What on Earth)
• Noodle Juice Little Book Big Idea: What is philosophy?  by Sarah Walden, illustrated by Katie Rewse  (Noodle Juice)
• Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Amazing Power of Activism  by Lily Dyu (Oxford University Press)
• Welcome to Our Table: A Celebration of What Children Eat Everywhere by Ed Smith and Laura Mucha, illustrated by Harriet Lynas (Nosy Crow)

Children's Picture Book of the Year

• Amy Gets Eaten by Adam Kay, illustrated by Henry Paker (Puffin)
• Can I Come Too by Owen Davey, illustrated by  the author (Rocket Bird Books)
• Gigantic by Rob Biddulph, illustrated by the author (HarperCollins Children's Books)
• The Bowerbird by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children's Books)
• Thunderboots  by Naomi Jones, illustrated by Rebecca Ashdown (Oxford University Press)
• Wee Unicorn  by Meg McLaren (Hachette Children's Group)

Children's Poetry Book of the Year

• A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop — Poems to Have Fun With! by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by  Eilidh Muldoon (Otter-Barry Books)
  A Whale of a Time by Lou Peacock, illustrated by Matt Hunt  (Nosy Crow)
  Balam & Lluvia's House by Julio Serrano Echeverría, illustrated by Yolanda Mosquera  (The Emma Press)
  The Final Year  by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)
• Wider Than The Sea by Serena Molloy, illustrated by George Ermos (Hachette Children's Group)

Children's STEM Book of the Year

• How to Spaghettify Your Dog by Hiba Noor Khan, illustrated by Harry Woodgate  (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
• Izzy the Inventor and the Unexpected Unicorn by Zanna Davidson, illustrated by Elissa Elwick  (Usborne)
• That's Mathematics by Chris Smith based on lyrics by Tom Lehrer, illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa (Mama Makes Books)
• Where Are You Really From?  by Adam Rutherford, illustrated by Adam Ming (Hachette Children's Group)
• Wonderfully Wired Brains by Louise Gooding, illustrated by Ruth Burrows (DK)

Children's Wellbeing Book of the Year

• Friendship Survival Guide  by Caroline Young (Usborne)
• Growing Up: An Inclusive Guide to Puberty and Your Changing Body  by Rachel Greener, illustrated by Clare Owen   (Nosy Crow)
• My Family, Your Family: Let's talk about relatives, love and belonging  by Laura Henry-Allain, illustrated by Giovana Medeiros  (Penguin Random House)
• Roots of Happiness by Susie Dent, illustrated by Harriet Hobday (Penguin Random House)
• The Bedtime Boat by Sital Gorasia Chapman, illustrated by Anastasia Suvorova (Farshore)