Booktrust awards name best children's books

The first ever Booktrust Best Book Awards, in partnership with Amazon Kindle and taking place today (2 July) in London, celebrate the best books for babies, children and teenagers as voted for by school pupils.

The awards have been organised to coincide with the Booktrust’s Children’s Book Week, 30 June-4 July, an annual celebration of reading for pleasure for children.

A shortlist for each category was compiled by a group of judges (pictured-left to right) from literature and children’s television, including Great British Bake Off Star Mel Giedroyc, author and presenter Cerrie Burnell, former Apprentice winner Tom Pellerau and TV presenter Helen Skelton.

Thousands of school children nationwide voted for the winning titles in six categories.

The winners are:

Best picture book for children aged 0-5

‘Peck, Peck, Peck’ by Lucy Cousins.

Best story for 6-8-year-olds

‘Timmy Failure: Mistakes were Made' by Stephen Pastis

Best story for 9-11-year-olds

‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck’, written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney

Best factual story for 9-11-year-olds

‘Operation Ouch! Your Brilliant Body’, by Doctor Chris and Xand Van Tulleken.

Best story for 12-14-year-olds

‘The Fault in our Stars’, by John Green.

Best use of technology in children’s books for 0-14-year-olds

‘Little Red Riding Hood’, illustrated by Ed Bryan. An interactive storybook app that provides a new take on the classic fairytale by letting children create their own story.

Viv Bird, chief executive of Booktrust, said, ‘What’s unique about the new Booktrust Best Book Awards is that children choose the winners themselves. Strikingly, this year, real life drama has taken over from fantasy, with children voting for books that deal with some of the real challenges facing young people today. Often using humour to lighten the load, these types of books can offer comfort and reassurance to children as well as entertaining them.’