Longlists announced for Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards 2022

February 16th 2022

The UK’s longest running and best-loved book awards for children and young people, the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards, today announced the longlists for 2022.

33 books have been selected in total – 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal and 15 for the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal – with themes of community and connection, shared humanity and friendship all explored in the titles.

The lists include:

• Nine debut children’s books, including two novels from teachers: the hard-hitting YA novel Grow by secondary school teacher Luke Palmer and enthralling historical middle-grade mystery The Valley of Lost Secrets by primary school teacher Lesley Parr
• Danica Novgorodoff’s astonishing graphic novel edition of 2019 Carnegie-shortlisted Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Carnegie Medal winner 2021 for Look Both Ways) – her first for young people published in the UK
• A first-time longlisting for award-winning author Patrice Lawrence, who after three previous nominations is recognised with Rat, her insightful story of loneliness, community and unexpected friendships
• Two double Kate Greenaway winners: Sydney Smith (2018 & 2021) for I Talk Like A River, a moving picture book about a boy who stutters, inspired by poet Jordan Scott’s own experience; and Emily Gravett (2005 and 2008) with Too Much Stuff!, a vibrant, rhyming tale of two magpies and their warning about the perils of over-consumption
• Two Carnegie winners: Manjeet Mann (Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice, 2021) for her second trailblazing novel, The Crossing, which explores the refugee crisis in verse; and Angie Thomas (Carnegie Amnesty CILIP Honour, 2018) with Concrete Rose, the searing prequel to The Hate U Give, about Black boyhood and manhood, and the responsibility of becoming a young father

The Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by children’s librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Award voted for by children and young people. The longlists were chosen from 148 nominations by the judging panel, which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

The 2022 Yoto Carnegie Medal longlist is (alphabetical by author surname):

• October, October by Katya Balen, illustrated by Angela Harding (Bloomsbury)
• Musical Truth by Jeffrey Boakye, illustrated by Ngadi Smart (Faber)
• We Were Wolves by Jason Cockcroft (Andersen Press)
• Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)
• When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten (Pushkin Children’s Books)
• The Climbers by Keith Gray (Barrington Stoke)
• Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock (Faber)
• The Wolf Road by Richard Lambert (Everything With Words)
• Rat by Patrice Lawrence (Oxford University Press)
• The Crossing by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Children’s Books)
• Grow by Luke Palmer (Firefly Press)
• The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
• Tsunami Girl by Julian Sedgwick (Guppy Books)
• Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas (Walker Books)
• Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle (Andersen Press)
• In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner (Andersen Press)
• Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

The 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal longlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):

• While You're Sleeping illustrated by John Broadley, written by Mick Jackson (Pavilion Books)
• Drawn Across Borders illustrated and written by George Butler (Walker Books)
• The Midnight Fair illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio, written by Gideon Sterer (Walker Books)
• Wild Child illustrated by Barry Falls, written by Dara McAnulty (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• A Cat Called Waverley illustrated and written by Debi Gliori (Otter-Barry Books)
• Too Much Stuff! illustrated and written by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
• Diamonds illustrated and written by Armin Greder (Allen & Unwin Children’s Books)
• Over the Shop illustrated by Qin Leng, written by JonArno Lawson (Walker Books)
• Long Way Down illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff, written by Jason Reynolds (Faber)
• The Invisible illustrated and written by Tom Percival (Simon & Schuster)
• Milo Imagines the World illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de la Pena (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• Shu Lin's Grandpa illustrated by Yu Rong, written by Matt Goodfellow (Otter-Barry Books)
• I Talk Like a River illustrated by Sydney Smith, written by Jordan Scott (Walker Books)
• The House by the Lake illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, written by Thomas Harding (Walker Books)
• The Wanderer illustrated and written by Peter Van den Ende (Pushkin Children’s Books)

Jennifer Horan, Chair of Judges for the Yoto Carnegie and Greenaway Awards 2022, comments:

“It is a real privilege to be chairing the judging panel during what has been an exceptional year for children’s publishing. We were transported and moved by evocative and lyrical prose; taken on fantastical journeys and invited into new worlds through powerful illustration; and given real hope by the messages of humanity, connection and community that so many of this year’s longlisted books share. I congratulate all the authors and illustrators on their outstanding work, which will bring young readers so much pleasure and reassurance in these times of worry.”

The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.
Now in its fourth year, the Shadowers’ Choice Award – voted for and awarded by the children and young people who shadow the Medals – will also be announced at the ceremony.

Read full details on the Carnegie Greenaway website.

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