LoveReading4Schools is pleased to feature the UKLA Book Awards 2018 run by the UK Literacy Association and sponsored by LoveReading4Kids, LoveReading4Schools and MLS. What makes these awards so unique is that they are the only awards judged entirely by active classroom teachers, who are able to share the books with their classes and genuinely discover what works with young readers.
Past years: 2018 UKLA Shortlisted Titles | 2017 UKLA Shortlisted Titles | 2016 UKLA Shortlisted Titles
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UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Visually sophisticated and multilayered, this Caldecott winner is not just a humorous tale of what happens next. It sensitively deals with fears and the impact of trauma.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Award-winning duo, Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen are beloved for their trade mark dark humour in which nasty things happen and some unexpected results follow. Here, the Mouse is swallowed by the Wolf. But being swallowed by the Wolf turns out not to be such a bad thing after all. The Mouse finds the Duck is already comfortably at home in the Wolf’s stomach and soon the pair are happy improving their dark but cosy home – with the unwitting help of the Wolf. After all, as the Duck says, “I live well. I may have been swallowed, but I have no intention of being eaten.” As ever, Barnett and Klassen amusingly provoke readers to question apparent truths.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | This must be one of the brightest and best picture books of the year. With minimalist illustrations – simple shapes against blocks of Day-Glo colour – and short lines of text, Morag Hood tells a story that will dazzle and entertain all readers. Cherries, Bat tells us, ‘are my favourite things’, following this up with a fiercely delivered threat: ‘Do not take my cherries.’ In later pages though we see the cherries being stolen. Bat is inconsolable until one of the thieves leaves a pear in their place. Bat’s emotions – joy, anger, confusion, despair, surprise and joy again – are rendered brilliantly in the tilt of an eyebrow and the angle of the head while the intensity of those emotions will be hilarious yet recognisable to child and parent alike. Superb!
UKLA Longlist Book Awards 2019 | September 2018 Book of the Month | This story of a little girl’s trip to the library has so much to tell us. Luna loves going to the library, not just because she loves books, but because her dad meets her there. Together they read and share books and one of them, ‘The Troll King and the Mermaid Queen’, is actually included as a mini book within the book. Its story of the Troll King who can’t live with the Mermaid Queen but fiercely loves their little daughter has special meaning for Luna, and will have for lots of readers too. The story is beautifully told, leaving space for readers to take what they want, and the illustrations are lively and full of warmth.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | One little girl dreams of being a star. But whether it's finding Mum's lost wedding ring or winning the fancy-dress prize, her big sister always shines brighter. Yet for her grandad she is a star and, as he dries her eyes and they both gaze up at the night sky, he tells a story, the story of the beginning of the world. Everything and everyone is made of stardust, and we all shine in different ways. It's a lesson this little girl will never forget . . . and one day her dream comes true, and she finally realises her ambition to become an astronaut and fly up to the stars.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | You can feel the love that the author and illustrator of Baby Goes to Market have for West Africa, both of whom grew up there. The vibrant market place leaps out of the page, you can almost smell the fruit for sale and hear the shouts from the market traders. Baby is snuggly wrapped in a papoose on Mama's back and is enjoying the trip to the market, especially when the market traders start giving Baby presents. First bananas, then juicy oranges, then biscuits. Baby eats a little of each and adds the remainder to the shopping basket that Mama carries on her head. Mama must be very strong! After all those treats Baby has a nap and Mama gets a well-deserved taxi ride home. Each page is gloriously filled with tantalising pictures of delicious things to eat and colourful things to buy, and there’s a gentle introduction to simple counting too.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | A beautiful picture book about friendship and art. Bob and Bat are best friends. They do everything together (look out for the wonderful illustration of them dancing to the radio!) but best of all they love painting. Then one day Bat leaves a note for Bob explaining that he has to go away for a while. Bob is bereft, indeed just how sad is clear not just in his attitude, but in his paintings: whatever he paints is blue, representative of the big blue hole where Bat used to be. Fortunately his other friends come to his help, opening his eyes to the colourful beauty and hope of a sun rise, and shortly after that, Bat returns too. This is simply gorgeous to look at, and opens up all sorts of discussions about friendship, resilience, art and expression.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Wonderfully amusing animals get their comeuppance in this artful tale of acceptance and the need to be kind.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Nominated for the 2019 Kate Greenaway Medal Why do octopuses have eight arms? Why do crabs run sideways? Are jellyfish made of jelly? Yuval Zommer's beautiful new book provides the answers to these and many more fishy questions. His wonderfully quirky illustrations show off all kinds of slippery, shimmery and surprising sea creatures, including sea turtles, whales, sharks, rays and seahorses. Chatty, funny and full of amazing facts, it will be devoured by children eager to find out about the most exciting creatures from the deep blue.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Virtually wordless, this beautful tiny book packs a powerful emotional punch and shows thepowerful impact that simple kindness can have.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | This empowering tale of a little girl who is nobody's victim has a surprising environmental twist in its tail. Award winning Mini Grey triumphs again!
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | This is the drum. This is the beat. Clap your hands. Stomp your feet!Babies love song, rhythm and dance. Come along and step to the beat in Tiny Owl’s new Children, Music, Life series, created by the award-winning picture book author and artist Ken Wilson-Max. This series explores different musical instruments from around the world and how they make you feel and move ! Music is great for the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of babies as well as strengthening cognitive and sensory development. So feel the rhythm, clap your hands, stomp your feet and enjoy making music with your baby!
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Told with her characteristic verve and lively illustrations this makes a brilliantly powerful case for understanding difference and developing empathy for others.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Two greedy squirrels learn to share in the third hilarious rhyming adventure from the bestselling creators of The Lion Inside and The Koala Who Could. Greedy squirrels Cyril and Bruce both have their sights on a very special prize: THE VERY LAST NUT OF THE SEASON! As the nut bounces crazily though the forest, the squirrels race after it, between the trees, over boulders, down the river and - ARGH! - right to the edge of a waterfall! Working together might be the only way to save themselves now ... A laugh-out-loud tale about friendship and sharing from the award-winning creators of The Lion Inside and The Koala Who Could. Perfect for competitive friends and sibling rivals! APraise for The Lion Inside: 'heartfelt message, delightfully conveyed' Parents in Touch 'A delight to read over and over again' WRD'Captivating' Books for Keeps 'Will easily win over readers' The Book List 'Field is on top form, offering so many imaginative framings and irreverent characterizations that readers will feel carried along by his visual and comedic generosity.' Publishers Weekly 'Brilliant ... had me in hoots of laughter' The Bookbag Praise for The Koala Who Could: 'Fabulous rhymes, I'm in love with Kevin and would like to buy this for all my friends' children.' Claudia Winkleman
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2017 Inspired by the birth of his son, award-winning Oliver Jeffers has created a deeply touching introduction to the world as a physical space and also as a place that needs to be treated with great care and respect. Subtitled ‘Notes for Living on Planet Earth’ Jeffers uses richly coloured double page spreads and only a few words of commentary to describe the obvious features of land, sea, night and day but also how time can move both slow and fast and should never be wasted! The perfect gift for all parents to share with their new babies – and each other.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | A brilliantly simple, funny, interactive picture book that introduces children to the strange, unseen world of microbes all around them by the award-winning author of Small Wonders and the animator of the insanely successful video Dumb Ways to Die. Min is a microbe. She is small. Very small. In fact so small that you'd need to look through a microscope to see her. Or you can simply open this book and take Min on an adventure to amazing places she's never seen before - like the icy glaciers of your tooth or the twisted, tangled jungle that is your shirt.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Some of the world’s most extraordinary animal migrations are detailed in this beautiful book, in short lyrical passages of text and stylish illustrations. From garter snakes, to Emperor penguins and Bar-headed geese, their journeys are brought to life over stunning double-pages, additional notes at the end detailing the exact distances travelled. There’s a map of the world so that you can trace their journeys across the globe and in an important final scene, people of different races are shown at an airport, a reminder that humans too travel many thousands of miles and for lots of different reasons.