Channel Islands Children's Book Award shortlist released

The hunt is on for the Channel Islands’ favourite children’s book of the last year, as the shortlist for the Channel Island Children’s Book Award is announced.

A joint initiative between Jersey Library and Guernsey’s Guille-Allès Library, the Award – supported by Ravenscroft Limited – celebrates excellence in children’s writing and was created to help children develop a love of reading for pleasure. 

All Channel Island children in Years 5, 6 and 7 were invited to nominate their favourite book published in 2019, with a panel of librarian judges whittling the nominations down into a final shortlist.

The four books shortlisted for the award are:

Children across the Channel Islands can now take part by reading the shortlisted books, before picking their favourite and voting for it online. Any child aged 9-12 years old can take part, and copies of the shortlisted books can be borrowed from Jersey Library.

The closing date for voting is Friday 17 July. The winner will be announced at a special award ceremony in September.

Librarian Cathy Bithell, one of the Award judges, said: “We received so many fantastic nominations that picking just four was a real challenge, but ultimately we’ve chosen a shortlist of engaging books with plenty of variety – there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”

Juliet Bousfield, Marketing & Public Relations Manager at Ravenscroft, said: “Ravenscroft is delighted to continue its support of the Channel Island Children’s Book Award. We hope the process of voting will encourage young people to read more extensively, and to discover authors and genres new to them.”

The Award ran for the first time last year, with Katherine Rundell’s book ‘The Explorer’, about a group of children who crash-land in the Amazon jungle, announced as the winner in June.