Sheffield Children's Book Award Focus - Young Adult

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.

We Come Apart

Written by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

- http://www.sarahcrossan.com
- http://www.the-bia.com/brian-conaghan.html

Published by Bloomsbury

- https://www.bloomsbury.com

Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan join forces to write an epic love story. But this is more than that, it's a story of two different worlds, of two teens struggling to find their place and overcome their own personal challenges, it's about cultures, prejudices and peer pressure, it's about friendship, love, family and loyalty. A clever piece of writing between two brilliant writers, which is written in such an accessible way, making it ideal for all readers.

“I know he's watching - Nicu, the boy who fell in the pond and didn't moan about it. But what does he see when he looks at me? What does anyone ever see?”

Encounters

Written by Jason Wallace

- http://www.jason-wallace.com

Published by Andersen Press

- https://www.andersenpress.co.uk

Based on true accounts of witnesses in Zimbabwe, 1994, when a group of children spot strange lights over the grounds of their school. Everyone has differing opinions on what these lights were, aliens? Mass hysteria? Or something more? An intriguing book not only exploring the idea of UFOs, but mostly focusing on the lives of a group of teenagers. An interesting, gripping and challenging book for older teens.

“When those sad sacks at my school started screaming and yelling about bright lights and creatures in the trees, I was in the tuck shop. So I didn't see any of that stuff. Not that I would have seen any aliens or their dumb spaceship even if I had been out there because those kids made it up...”

After the Fire

Written by Will Hill
- http://www.willhillauthor.com

Published by Usborne 
- https://usborne.com

Telling the story of a cult and the escape from it, we follow the lives of children of a variety of ages and see how they adapt to their escape through a clever alternating before and after method. Rather than follow the escape from the cult, this book unusually focuses on the results, the affect this strange and confined upbringing has had on the children. It's fascinating and emotional. Just because the children are free from the cult, doesn't mean they have freedom!

"He narrows his eyes. "Moonbeam? Did you do something?" Tell them, whispers the voice in the back of my head. Be brave. Tell them what you did..."

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.