As the only book award voted for by young people, children from across the UK are now invited to select their favourite books across three categories – Books for Younger Children, Books for Younger Readers and Books for Older Readers.

In the Older Readers category, the shortlisted titles are: Dread Wood (Farshore) by Jennifer Killick; The Light In Everything (Bloomsbury) by Katya Balen; and While The Storm Rages (Andersen Press) by Phil Earle.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Saturday 10th June.

Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of resilience and homecoming, of weight and motion, of rediscovering love and faith, and of journeys practical, spiritual and geological. A captivating blend of exploration, memoir and myth, and an insight into a beguiling craft, it asks what lessons might be learned from stone, what we choose to carry with us and what we return to put down or pick up again. Published by Harvill Secker, this is Beatrice Searle’s first book.

A gifted writer, capable of luminous description ― Spectator

Congratulations, Bea!

Publishing in spring 2024, The Clockwork Conspiracy is the first book in the Isaac Turner Investigates series and Sedgman’s first solo middle-grade project. Ellen Holgate, head of fiction at Bloomsbury, acquired world rights in three books from Kirsty McLachlan at Morgan Green Creatives in a significant six-figure pre-empt.

The Clockwork Conspiracy is the story of aspiring inventor Isaac Turner, who lives with his dad, the chief horologist in charge of Big Ben. When Isaac’s father vanishes from the belfry on the night the clocks go back, leaving behind only a smashed pocket watch and a cryptic message, Isaac determines to find him. Hunting a trail of clues through London’s landmarks, Isaac uncovers a sinister plot in the gears of government and must race against time to save his father – and time itself.

Congratulations, Sam!

At the stroke of midnight on the dawn of December, five-year-old Finn Albedo is found frozen in the city park on a pedestal of ice. The doctor says his heart is beating, but no one can wake him.

Can Bianca remember her mission and find a way to save her brother and the other Ice Children before all their hearts are lost forever? A future classic with a powerful message at its core.

Released in audio, by Audible Original today.

Sarah Levison, editorial director, acquired world rights to Read, Scream, Repeat for readers aged nine to 12. It will publish in September 2023. The stories encompass everything from a ghostly graveyard discovery to mysterious beasts of the deep, flesh-eating aliens that lurk in the shadows and a birthday party that you really don’t want an invitation to.

Authors include Aisha Bushby, J T Williams, current Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and Waterstones Prize winners Elle McNicoll and Sharna Jackson, alongside Kirsty Applebaum, Jasbinder Bilan, Rachel Delahaye, Kat Ellis, Phil Hickes, Polly Ho-Yen, Dan Smith and Killick herself.

The prize-winning Adventures on Trains series embarks on a thrilling sixth adventure as Harrison Beck and Uncle Nat climb aboard the night train to Narvik, travelling to the Arctic Circle to see the northern lights for Christmas.

But as their train leaves Stockholm, Hal and Uncle Nat realize they’re being followed by a sinister figure, and Hal’s powers of observation are tested when Uncle Nat’s past comes back to haunt him. Journeying into the never ending night of the arctic winter, our railway detectives must outsmart an assassin in their most chilling adventure yet, in which nothing is as it seems.

Published today by Macmillan, The Arctic Railway Assassin, is the last book is this bestselling series.

Out today, in Eve Bites Back, Anna Beer investigates the lives and achievements of eight women writers, uncovering a startling and unconventional history of literature

From the fourteenth century through to the present day, women who write have been understood as mad, undisciplined, or dangerous. Female writers have always had to find ways to overcome or challenge these beliefs. Some were cautious and discreet, some didn’t give a damn, but all lived complex, eventful, and often controversial lives.

Published by Oneworld Publications.

Commissioning editor Siân Heap has acquired World English Language rights to a new crime series by Sarah Ward in a three-book deal.

The Birthday Girl is the first book in a new crime series featuring former-Met police officer Mallory Dawson who moves to the remote Welsh island of Eldey to take up the position of night manager at a boutique hotel. As an odd assortment of guests gather and a storm hits the island, and the body count climbs, Mallory is in a race against time to work out which of her guests is the ‘Birthday Girl’.

Sarah Ward is a critically acclaimed crime and gothic thriller writer.

The Birthday Girl will be published in April 2023. Translation rights are represented by PFD.

Scotland is famed for its rugged coastlines, pristine beaches, endless rivers and deep lochs. From the Highlands to the Islands, from the east coast to the west coast, the whole country is an unreported mecca for wild water sports. A guide to the very best locations - with personal experiences and tips. Mollie Hughes is a world record-breaking sports adventurer, mountaineer, polar explorer and international motivational speaker.

Photos by Rachel Keenan. Published by Birlinn. All rights with the publisher.

There’s a new craze at Dread Wood High. Flinch is a game of fear. The more you scare your friends, the more points on the app you get. At first it’s fun, but soon fun is replaced by fear. And Angelo and his friends notice that everyone is behaving more and more strangely every day – almost as if something is taking over their brains…

“Deliciously scary and hilarious comedy-horror, perfectly pitched for eight-plus.”

The Guardian

Congratulations, Jennifer!

M.G. Leonard, internationally bestselling author of Twitch, Beetleboy and Adventures on Trains, is back with another thrilling wildlife mystery for birdwatching detectives The Twitchers!

When Jack rescues a wounded cat, he quickly suspects foul play. Could there be a wildlife criminal on the loose in Briddvale? Jack rushes to investigate, determined to catch the culprit, only to stumble into a deepening mystery and a sinister criminal plot.

Can Jack and The Twitchers stop the villains before it's too late?

Congratulations, Maya!

When Herbie and Violet's arch-enemy Sebastian Eels turns up in Eerie-on-Sea, seemingly back from the dead, it can only spell bad news. And when they learn the legend of Ludo Festergrimm the clockmaker, creator of a vast mechanical robot that wrought havoc in the wrong hands, they KNOW they're on the right track. But how can they get the residents of Eerie-on-Sea to believe them?

The fourth book in the wonderful Eerie-on-Sea Mystery series. The first book, Malamander, was published to huge acclaim in 2019 and the series has been translated into 20 different languages to date.

Congratulations, Thomas!

Haley McGee’s new one-woman show is the never-the-same-twice show - a gripping story about how our relationship with mortality shapes the way we live - from your 25th birthday through to your death. Seminal moments. Rites of passage. And all the things unsaid. Inspired by hospices, mystics and trips to the cemetery, Age Is a Feeling wrestles with our endless chances to change course while we're alive.

Catch it at Soho Theatre between 6th-24th September.

★★★★★ ‘as breathtaking as it is moving’ - The Guardian

★★★★★ ‘ingenious’ - The Telegraph

★★★★★ ‘by turns hilarious and deeply moving’ - FairyPoweredPro

Can a tiny caravan provide the space to rebuild a life?

‘Life-affirming, soul-shaking, heart-breaking… A book that reminds us what it means to be alive.’ Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of Thin Places

An intimate journal across the space of a defining summer, Thunderstone is celebration of the people and places that hold us when the storms gather; an invitation to approach life with imagination and to embrace change bravely.

Published by Elliott & Thompson, all rights with the publisher.

Bastien Bonlivre is in trouble again. His sworn enemy, Olivier Odieux, has escaped jail and is after Bastien once more.

Meanwhile, trouble is also brewing in Paris. Fires are burning, and danger lurks at every corner. Who could be behind this? As clues start piling up, Bastien and his friends Theo, Alice and Mathilde must set off on a risky treasure hunt to track down the answers they so desperately need. Because if they don't find them, it won't just be Bastien who is in danger...

"A charming and bookish tale of friendship, villainy and the power of stories." Thomas Taylor, author of Malmander

Published by Usborne.

Expectation meets Julie and Julia, The Yellow Kitchen is a brilliant exploration of food, belonging and friendship.

London E17, 2019. A yellow kitchen stands as a metaphor for the lifelong friendship between three women: Claude, the baker, goal-orientated Sophie and political Giulia. Exploring the complexities of female friendship, The Yellow Kitchen is a hymn to the last year of London as we knew it and a celebration of the culture, the food and the rhythms we live by.

Published by Simon & Schuster, and chosen as July’s Independent Bookshop book of the month, US/translation rights represented by PFD.

Congratulations, Margaux!

Audible has announced the commission of family listening title, The Ice Children, by award-winning author M.G. Leonard, which will be its first Original Publishing family title.

The Ice Children, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale The Snow Queen, will be released in audio only on 17th November 2022. The Ice Children is a modern fairytale for the festive season which explores young people’s response to the current climate challenge.

We are thrilled by this acquisition. Macmillan Children’s Books, who publish Leonard’s popular and award-winning Adventures on Trains series with Sam Sedgman, will publish The Ice Children in November 2023.

The 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize longlist has been revealed and M.G. Leonard’s Twitch (published by Walker Books) is on the first longlist for children’s books. Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the aim of the Prize is to inspire everyone to connect with nature and embrace the outdoors.

The prize shortlists will be announced on 28th July and the winners’ announcement will be made live on 7th September at The London Wetland Centre.

Sarah Levison, editorial director at Farshore has snapped up two more books in the Dread Wood comedy horror series from "Queen of Horror for kids" Jennifer Killick.

The first book in the series Dread Wood, launched in April, was picked as a Book of the Month in the Week Junior and a best book for Easter in the i and Irish Independent. The publisher has since accelerated the series publishing schedule to meet demand, launching a new book every six months and bringing forward the publication date of Killick’s next book, Dread Wood: Fear Ground.

"Endlessly illuminating, challenging and compelling. Bi is a vivid and vital read" - Musa Okwonga, author and co-host of the Stadio Podcast

Published today by Canongate, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw explores all that we know about the world's largest sexual minority. From the hunt for a bi gene, to the relationship between bisexuality and consensual non-monogamy, to asylum seekers who need to prove their bisexuality in a court of law, there is more to explore than most have ever realised.

Congratulations, Julia!