Hull Children's Book Award Longlist 2026

The Awards, now in their 19th year, are aimed at fostering a love of reading from an early age by introducing young people to new writers and titles they might not normally pick up.

Over the course of 2025, newly published titles, suitable for children and young people have been read by Hull Libraries’ staff and an army of volunteers, who reviewed and scored each title. This information was then used to draw up the longlist.

Separated into three age categories, the longlists are as follows:

EYFS/KS1 Picture Book Award Longlist:

• A Million Chameleons - Rachel Morrisroe and Aysha Awwad / Hodder

• Basil Dreams Big - Lu Fraser and Sarah Warburton / Simon and Schuster

• Brave Bears Don’t Get Scared - Suzy Senior and Eleonora De Pieri / Little Tiger

• Every Botty Burps - Becky Wilson and Alex Patrick / Little Tiger

• Hank Goes Honk - Maudie Powell - Tuck and Duncan Beedie / Little Tiger

• Jenny Peckles Lays Eggs with Speckles - Rachel Emily and Paul Delaney / Farshore

• Llama Library - Holly Ryan and Ella Bailey / Rocket Bird Books

• Pooems - Kes Gray and David Tazzyman / Hodder

• The Snappy Shark - Michelle Robinson and Tim Budgen / Scholastic

• Tiny McToot - Barry Falls / Farshore

The KS2 Longlist:

• Diary of a Future Billionaire - Pamela Butchart / Scholastic

• Ghostlines - Katya Balen / Bloomsbury

• Grimstink - Daniel Peak / Firefly Press

• Hunt for the Golden Scarab - M.G. Leonard / Macmillan

• Jed Greenleaf - Kieran Larwood / Faber

• Murder at Wintertide - Fleur Hitchcock / Nosy Crow

• Murder! By Narwhal! - Alex T Smith / Hachette

• The Scream of the Whistle - Emily Randall-Jones / Chicken House

• Speedwheels 3000: The Race Against Crime - Jenny Pearson / Usbourne

• Starspill - Catherine Fisher / Firefly Press

The KS3 Longlist:

• Café Chaos - Catherine Wilkins / Nosy Crow

• Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment - Anna James / Harper Collins

• Dragonborn - Struan Murray / Penguin

• Gloam - Jack Mackay / Rock the Boat

• Ice Apprentices - Jacob North / Simon and Schuster

• Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo - Philippa Leathley / Harper Collins

• People Like Stars - Patrice Lawrence / Scholastic

• Shrapnel Boys - Jenny Pearson / Usbourne

• The Starlight Rebel - Lisette Auton / Penguin

• The Boy in the Suit - James Fox / Scholastic

The shortlist will be announced on Monday 5 January 2026.

Copies of the shortlisted titles are donated to all schools subscribing to the Hull Schools Library Service and the authors are invited to the city to work with the young people.

It will then be up to the pupils to vote for their favourite story. The Picture Book Award will take place during National Storytelling Week in February 2026.

The KS2 and KS3 award ceremonies will take place at The Big Malarkey Festival in June 2026 when children hear from the writers, share their opinions of the books and vote for their winning title. The votes are collated on the day and a specially commissioned trophy is presented to the winning writer.

All of the shortlisted books will be available to borrow from Hull’s libraries.

For further information contact [email protected]