Sheffield Children's Book Award Focus - Longer Novels

The Sheffield Children's Book Award is back and brilliant as ever. 2018 sees a new shortlist of dazzling titles. Every year, in January, a stack of Sheffield Library staff escape the cold, and fueled by tea and biscuits, look through a long-list of the previous year's children's book releases, selecting only the very best to make the award shortlist. These books are then sent out to schools and libraries throughout Sheffield, where children read and vote for their favourites. That's what is special about the Sheffield Children's Book Award, it is the children, well known for being the harshest of critics, who decide on the winners.

This year is the 30th Anniversary of the awards!! (I know, we look far too young for it don't we?), so we are going to be celebrating in style!

For the next few weeks we are zooming in on the shortlisted titles in each category, and our next stop is with the epic Longer Novels! We hope you love these as much as we do.

Kick

Written by Mitch Johnson

- https://www.mitchjohnsonauthor.com

Published by Usborne

- https://usborne.com

For many children, Kick is a story which transports them to a world unlike their own, telling a tale of true poverty with suspenseful and exciting writing, keeping them interested, while covering numerous important topics such as religion, friendship hope and courage. Budi works hard sewing football boots and shirts for pittance, while his real dream is to be out on the field as a football star. But one unlucky kick puts Budi in the eyes of the wrong person. A dangerous person! A brilliantly written debut from Mitch Johnson, it's an ideal book for reluctant older readers.

“I've broken my side of the deal, and it's only a matter of time before they frame me. I wonder when they'll come for me. I wonder who will come for me. Will it be the police? Will they let the foreman punish me first? Will it be the Dragon himself?”

The Island at the End of Everything

Written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

- http://www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.co.uk

Published by Chicken House

- https://www.chickenhousebooks.com

Ami lives with her mother, sick with Leprosy, on the most beautiful island, an idyllic home, until a new government official arrives and states the island is to become a leprosy colony and all those uninfected must leave. Ami is ripped from her beloved mother and home and sent to an orphanage. With the threat of the workhouse hovering over her, Ami determines to find her way back home! A beautiful, unusual and emotive book.

“I am luckier than most. I was born here, so I never had to know the name-calling, the spitting in the street. My nanay was already carrying me when they came for her, though she didn't know until she stepped from the boat a month after leaving home and felt a flutter in her stomach, like wings. Me, growing.”

The Goldfish Boy

Written by Lisa Thompson
- http://www.lisathompsonauthor.com

Published by Scholastic 
- https://www.scholastic.co.uk

Matthew suffers from OCD, and as a result likes to stay safe and protected in his bedroom and make notes about his neighbours. When a toddler next door goes missing, Matthew is pulled into a mystery in which every neighbour is a suspect, and only Matthew holds the key to the answer.A poignant read, this story gets to the heart of how it feels to suffer with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A story of friendship, family, loneliness, and a brilliant whodunit tale.

"That was my secret box that I kept under the bed. Not a dusty old box of treasure but a box of a hundred disposable latex gloves, which now held just fifteen pairs. A secret agreement between me and my mum: she'd supply me with gloves and I would stop burning my skin with bleach. We didn't need to tell Dad - he wouldn't understand."

All of the above books are available to borrow from Sheffield Libraries, so why not read them all with your children and then vote for your favourite! Pick up the voting form from your local library.