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Science, art and diversity are winners at the SLA Information Book Award ceremony
November 25th 2022
About Lucy Forrester
Lucy worked as a children’s librarian in Warwickshire public libraries before joining Peters over ten years ago. She is the company’s comics and manga specialist, and was an assistant organiser for the Birmingham Comic Con for several years. Now she often gives talks to librarians and teachers on how to use this format most effectively. As well as being on the judging panels for the Information Book Award and Excelsior Award, she has spoken at YLG conferences and SLA events.
The winners of the School Library Association's Information Book Award (IBA) 2022 were announced earlier this week at the Hachette Children's Books HQ in London. At Peters we're passionate about the role children's books, non-fiction books for teens, and young adult nonfiction can play in inspiring pupils to read for pleasure, so we were thrilled to support the IBA again in 2022, with our children's librarian, Lucy Forrester, part of the judging panel.
Now in its 12th year, the IBA aims to emphasise the importance of non-fiction books for libraries by highlighting and celebrating the high standard of children’s KS1 non fiction books and information books. This year's shortlist was made up of ten fantastic titles, covering themes of science, art and diversity across three age categories (0-7, 8-12 and 13-16). It was judged by a panel of educators against a criteria that assesses the quality of the text and illustrations, accuracy, bias and currency, alongside areas such as indexes, glossaries, content and whether it is likely to fire the enthusiasm of young readers.
As well as the judges’ choices, children also had the opportunity to vote for their favourite books for curriculum to determine an additional Children’s Choice winner in each age category, and the judges selected one overall winner. This year schools were invited to take part in the IBA Book Club, generously funded by the Foyle Foundation, through which 24 lucky schools received a bundle of free books in exchange for sharing their experiences of using the shortlist in their school library or classroom and taking part in voting.
During the ceremony, a captivated audience listened to opening speeches by the popular KS1 non-fiction books and nonfiction books for teens author Isabel Thomas and CEO of the School Library Association (SLA), Alison Tarrant. The latter added: “It’s wonderful to see such important topics and themes reflected in the shortlist, showing us what young people are interested in and care about." Following this, the winners - Dr Emily Grossman, Katie Daynes and Jordan Akpojaro, Rachel Greener, David Olusoga and Sharna Jackson - were announced.
Our librarian, Lucy, says: "The value of reading information books is impossible to overstate, and it’s so satisfying to be part of an award that not only helps to put great books into children’s hands, but also has an impact on publishers and booksellers, and how they approach their titles. The excitement and enthusiasm of the winning authors and illustrators was delightful to see, and we heard many stories of success using the shortlist in schools."
Illustrated by Maggie Li, this fascinating book helps young readers to visualise concepts like organisms, sickness and health that can be hard to understand. It is a colourful exploration of how these tiny living things play a crucial role in our existence, and is particularly topical in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Described as "gentle" and "sensitive", this lift-the-flap book is illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat. Answering young children's questions about racism is hard, so this book gives both children and adults the language and sensitivity they need to talk about the topic.
Praised by judges for being "interesting, factually correct, and insightful", this book crucially celebrates the diversity of many different types of family. From same-parent families to disabled and non-binary parents, adopted children and surrogate babies, this inclusive title helps children to understand non-nuclear families. It is illustrated by Clare Owen.
An eye-popping celebration of Black history, this accessible, comprehensive and succinct title covers many key moments, from the Romans to Windrush and the modern day. These are the stories that brought us all together in this country, and they are brought to life by Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor's illustrations.
The judges hailed this title as "a stunning beginners’ guide to the best of contemporary Black art". Featuring dynamic black-and-white portraits, the book includes "thoughtfully presented examples of a wide range of types of art [with] clear, concise text and exceptional design". They added that it is a "classic" for any school library.
Hachette Children’s Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books
The evening also saw the announcement of the Hachette Children’s Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books. Launched in 2017, the award is given to an eminent UK writer or illustrator of information books for children, to mark an exceptional contribution to excellence in their field. Following in the footsteps of Nicola Davies, Nicola Morgan and Marcia Williams, along with last year's winner, Anita Ganeri, the 2022 award went to Owen Davey.
Owen is a popular non-fiction illustrator who has worked with a wide range of clients, including WWF, National Geographic, Disney, The Guardian, BBC, Google and ZSL London Zoo. He has been the author and illustrator of numerous non-fiction children's books on animals, which have been published in over 25 languages around the world.
Information books for curriculum are vital for children
Hilary Murray Hill, CEO of Hachette Children’s Group, says: "Information books play a vital role in feeding the minds and development of children and young people today. It is more important than ever that school libraries are supported in providing those readers with access to appealing factual content. To ensure the high-quality non-fiction publishing continues to reach readers, it is essential that we continue to celebrate and draw attention to the knowledge, creativity and imagination of authors and illustrators in this field."
