Big Book Award 2026 Longlist
“The project encourages children to read novels they would not normally venture into. It stretches the most able readers and the discussions that follow support those children who find reading more of a challenge….. If anyone wants to bring reading to life in their school then SIGN UP FOR BOOKFEST now!” Head Teacher at Castlefields Primary School
Over the summer months, we invited the leading UK children’s publishers to submit up to five of their best titles for 9- to 11-year-olds published between 1st August 2024 and 31st July 2025 for the longlist for the Big Book Award 2026. We ended up with over 70 titles!
During September and October 2025, all these books were read and reviewed by Year 5 and Year 6 pupils from the following primary schools:
- Baschurch C/E Primary School
- Castlefields Primary School, Bridgnorth
- Cheswardine Primary School
- Hinstock Primary School
- Lilleshall Primary School
- Longnor C/E Primary School
- Norton-in-Hales C/E Primary School
- Oakmeadow C/E Primary School
- Packwood School
- Prestfelde School
- Rushbury C/E Primary School
- St Leonard’s C/E Primary School, Bridgnorth
Huge thanks to the Pupil Reading Groups from these schools!
Based on their feedback, the six books that they enjoyed the most and recommended the most highly were selected for the Big Book Award 2026 shortlist.
This is the complete list of titles nominated for the longlist:
| Title: | Author: | Publisher: |
| Evenfall: The Golden Linnet | Alexander Armstrong | Farshore |
| Auntie Medusa and Me | Marie Basting | Chicken House Books |
| Shadow Thieves | Peter Burns | Farshore |
| Diary of a Future Billionaire | Pamela Butchart | Scholastic |
| Nate Yu’s Blast From the Past | Maisie Chan | Bonnier Books |
| Project Pony | Camilla Chester | Firefly Press |
| Cringe Club | Emily-Jane Clark | Simon & Schuster |
| Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter | Joseph Coelho | Walker Books |
| Faiza is a Fighter | Debasmita Dasgupta | Soaring Kite Books |
| Let Sleeping Gods Lie | Thiago de Moraes | David Fickling Books |
| Escape Room: Game Zero | Christopher Edge | Nosy Crow |
| Ella Jones vs the Sun Stealer | Lucy Edwards | Scholastic |
| Running My Own Race | Abena Eyeson | Nosy Crow |
| Murder for Two | Niyla Farook | Bonnier Books |
| Starspill | Catherine Fisher | Firefly Press |
| A Riddle for a King | Mark Forsyth | David Fickling Books |
| The Boy in the Suit | James Fox | Scholastic |
| The Elixir | Lindsay Galvin | Barrington Stoke |
| Turtle Moon | Hannah Gold | Harper Collins |
| The First Year | Matt Goodfellow | Otter-Barry Books |
| A Box Full of Murders | Janice Hallett | Puffin |
| School of Doom | Sarah Harrison | Chicken House Books |
| Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree | Janeen Hayat | Guppy Books |
| Will Wolfheart | Teresa Heapy | David Fickling Books |
| The Last Pebble | Alex Horne | Walker Books |
| When the Storm Comes | Polly Ho-Yen | Knights Of |
| An Ancient Haunting | Kate Innes | Mindforest Press |
| Maisie vs Antarctica | Jack Jackman | Nosy Crow |
| The Kid Who Fell Through Time | Greg James & Chris Smith | Puffin |
| After | Pádraig Kenny | Walker Books |
| Serial Chillers: The Witch in the Woods | Jennifer Killick | Farshore |
| The Haunting of Fortune Farm | Sophie Kirtley | Bloomsbury |
| The Cursed Tomb | Iszi Lawrence | Bloomsbury |
| People Like Stars | Patrice Lawrence | Scholastic |
| Hunt for the Golden Scarab | M.G. Leonard | Macmillan |
| Solving Crimes is NOT My Superpower | Nathanael Lessore | Little Tiger |
| The Lucky House Detective Agency | Scarlett Li | Knights Of |
| Becoming Grace | Hilary McKay | Barrington Stoke |
| Dragon Riders of Roar | Jenny McLachlan | Farshore |
| My Name is Samim | Fidan Meikle | Floris Books |
| Cobweb | Michael Morpurgo | Harper Collins |
| The Edge of the Silver Sea | Alex Mullarky | Floris Books |
| Dragonborn | Struan Murphy | Puffin |
| Wildlands | Brogen Murphy | Puffin |
| Deep Dark | Zohra Nabi | Simon & Schuster |
| Runaways | E.L. Norry | Bloomsbury |
| Ice Apprentices | Jacob North | Simon & Schuster |
| The Last House in the Row | Lesley Parr | Barrington Stoke |
| Grimstink | Daniel Peak | Firefly Press |
| The River Thief | Hannah Peck | Bonnier Books |
| Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo | Philippa Leathley | Harper Collins |
| Hero Wanted! | Mark Powers | Bloomsbury |
| The World’s Worst Alien | Alice Primmer | Walker Books |
| Fishfolk | Steven Quincey-Jones | Firefly Press |
| The Doughnut Club: Do You Have to be Alike to be a Family? | Kristina Rahim | Nosy Crow |
| Me and My Brian | Helen Rutter | Barrington Stoke |
| The Boy with Big Decisions | Helen Rutter | Scholastic |
| Tosh’s Island | Linda Sargent & Joe Brady | David Fickling Books |
| Land of the Last Wildcat | Lui Sit | Macmillan |
| Lockett and Wilde’s Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries: The Ghosts of the Manor | Lucy Strange | Walker Books |
| Letters to a Dog | Piers Torday | Barrington Stoke |
| Midnight Treasure | Piers Torday | Quercus Children’s Books |
| The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster: The Frenemies | Jenny Valentine | Simon & Schuster |
| The Spick and the Span | Phil Van Martin | Harper Collins |
| My Dog | Olivia Wakeford | Harper Collins |
| Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed | Eve Wersocki-Morris | Little Tiger |
| Café Chaos: My Family is Not a Piece of Cake | Catherine Wilkins | Nosy Crow |
The Big Book Award:
A child-led reading development project delivered into Shropshire primary schools to find the book published in the previous two years that children aged 9 – 11 years old love the most.
The first Book Award project in 2010 was an immediate and overwhelming success, so we have run the project every two years since then. We have developed its scope and widened its reach each time.
If your school would like to take part in Book Award 2026, or find out more about how to get involved, please get in touch with the Bookfest team here.
The Picture Book Award:
This project was first delivered in 2018 in response to demand from the education sector in Shropshire, to follow the aims and ideals (i.e. to generate a love of reading for younger children) of the established Big Book Award, this time focusing on Years 1 and 2 (children aged 5 to 7 years old). The Picture Book Award followed the aim to generate a love of reading for younger children and to provide a platform to inspire and influence younger pupils. A ‘buddy reading system’ was be implemented where KS2 readers help KS1 readers throughout this project.
If your school would like to take part in Book Award 2026, or find out more about how to get involved, please get in touch with the Bookfest team here.
Bookfest Hall of Fame
Registered Charity Number: 1120177
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