Peters Children's Book of the Year 2026 - Peters
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  Children's Book Awards 2026  

Peters Children's Book of the Year Award for 2027 celebrates the best children's fiction and non-fiction titles published in the UK.

ANNOUNCING THE PETERS CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTS FOR 2027

 

The award highlights books in four categories: Picture Books, Junior Fiction, Teen Fiction and Non-Fiction. Browse the longlisted books in each of the four categories below.

‘Very entertaining,’ ‘quirky,’ and ‘good fun’ are just a few of the phrases used by Peters’ judges to describe this year's fantastic picture book longlist.

Longlisted titles: How to Find a Yeti by Matt Hunt (Nosy Crow), The Forever Bear by Lu Fraser and Pippa Curnick (Bloomsbury Children's Books), Fraidy Dog by Kate Sheehy (O'Brien Press), Now You Know Your ABC: (Or do you?) by Caspar Salmon and Matt Hunt, Is This a Plum? by Dan Ojari and Finn Ojari (Puffin), That Bird Can Draw! by Ged Adamson (Nosy Crow), I, Rock by Eoin McLaughlin (HarperCollins Children's Books) and A Believer's Guide to Dragons by Jenni Desmond (Hodder).

 

'Wildly inventive', 'laugh-out-loud' and 'funny, warm and heartfelt' are a few of the phrases our judges used to describe the junior fiction shortlist. Junior readers have plenty to choose from, from powerful graphic novels to moving stories of family and grief, to fast-paced science-fiction. 

Included on this year's junior fiction shortlist: The Feathered Book by Charlie Nutbrown (Everything With Words); No Refuge by Joe Brady and Patrice Aggs (David Fickling Books); Snot Jelly Island: The Far Out Five by Olaf Falafel (Puffin); The Overthinkers Club: Happy List by Nat Luurtsema (Usborne); Maud is Moving by Viviane Schwarz (Walker Books); Tadpole Summer by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow); Zero Override by Steve Blackman (Scholastic); Galaxy Runners: Jello Breaks the Universe by James Lancett (Scholastic); Into Thin Air by S.E. Durrant (Nosy Crow) and The Last Bard by Maz Evans (Chicken House).

 


 

       

Peters Children's Book of the Year is voted by teachers and librarians in the UK.

Winners of each category, and the overall winner, are chosen by teaching staff, school librarians, and public library staff across the UK. Our category shortlists are decided by our team of children's librarians and children's book specialists.

View previous winners on our awards timeline.

       

 

Longlist: Teen Fiction

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The teen fiction longlist has something for every young adult reader, from thought-provoking, moving explorations of grief and mental health to imaginative, supernatural world building to dystopia and murder mystery. Our judges describe 'great writing, excellent plotting,' absorbing page-turners and 'playful and clever verse'.

Teen longlist: A Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Miranda Moore (David Fickling Books); Survival Show by Juno Dawson (Simon & Schuster); Tom Burne Has Left the Chat by Seán Farrelly (Faber); Red Tide by Curtis Jobling (Fox & Ink Books); Wonderland by Patience Agbabi (Firefly); Lies We Told This Summer by Emily Barr (Penguin); Darker Water by Emma Read (Faber); Traitors' Nest by Frances Hardinge (Pan MacMillan Children's); Young World by Soman Chainani (Simon & Schuster); Like a Brother by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books). 

 

This year's non-fiction longlist is exciting and varied, taking readers on journeys around the world and exploring topics from time travel to misunderstood animals to the magic and mystery of lighthouses!

This year's longlist includes: The Boy Who Became a Parrot: A Foolish Biography of Edward Lear, Who Invented Nonsense by Wolverton Hill and Laura Carlin (Enchanted Lion Books); A Tree is a Time Machine by Rob Sears and Tom Sears (Hachette Children's Books); The Voyage That Changed the World: the Epic Story of the First Crew to Sail Around the Globe by Thekla Priebst (WideEyed Editions); Once Upon an Island: An Atlas of Islands from Around the World by Alice Albinia and Helen Cann; Lost by Tom Adams and Daniela Martin del Campo (Dorling Kindersley); What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us by Benjamin Zephaniah, Rachel Davis-Featherstone and Joelle Avelino (Hodder); Airport Adventure by Mohammed Taher and Michael Parkin; 100 Things to Know About Time by Alice James, Tom Mumbray and Micaela Tapsell (Usborne); Beacons of Light by Gemma Koomen (Post Wave); Wild Wonders: Celebrating the Planet's Most Misunderstood, Unloved and Overlooked Animals by Ben Rothery (Ladybird). 

 

       

Awards Mission

The Peters’ Children’s Book of the Year Awards are awarded annually to celebrate the best of children’s fiction and non-fiction published in the UK. The awards’ mission is to celebrate and champion the power of books to inspire children to read for pleasure, ensuring all children, regardless of background, have access to the opportunities that reading holds.

We are seeking books that provide an outstanding reading experience for children and young people, that will inspire more children to pick up a book and read.

We celebrate publishing in four categories: Picture Books, Junior Fiction, Teen fiction and Non-Fiction.

Read the full Awards Mission and learn more about the longlisting and shortlisting process here.

       

 

Peters Children's Book of the Year 2026 winners

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