As followers and friends of the Little Rebels Awards, the Youth Libraries Group is delighted to feature a celebratory blog on the day of its announcement!  Running for 8 years, the Little Rebels Award is designed to recognise the rich tradition of radical publishing for children aged between 0 and 12 in the UK.  The award is given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and was established in conjunction with Letterbox Librarywho now jointly administer it with founder member of the Alliance or Radical Booksellers, Housmans Bookshop.

Seven titles make up the strong and wide-ranging 2020 shortlist.  Videos comprising an introduction and information about each title presented by the authors and some illustrators of the shortlisted titles can be found on the National Shelf Service.  The stellar shortlist this year is as follows…

Sofia Valdez                                                 Future Prez

Tracey Corderory, ill Tony Neal                Sneaky Beak

Gill Lewis                                                       The Closest Thing to Flying

Jane Porter, ill Maisie Paradise                  The Boy who Loved Everyone

Smriti Halls, ill Robert Starling                   The Little Island

Bali Rai                                                           Now or Never: A Dunkirk story

Phoebe Swan                                               King Leonard’s Teddy

At a special virtual ceremony hosted by Patrice Lawrence, the winner of the 2020 award was announced.  The winner is The Boy who Loved Everyone by Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearring.  Subtle and understated it is a powerful picture book about love, friendship and the ways in which these can be shown.  Judge, author and educator, Shaun Dellenty said, ‘In these challenging and divisive times, the most radical act of all I surely to love; The Boy who Loved Everyone brims joyfully with it.’

Head of Children’s Book Promotion for BookTrust, Emily Drabble described the book as ‘A deceptively deeply radical book on expressing love.’  While author and critic Darren Chetty praised ‘the story’s sincerity, and its willingness to embrace uncertainty.’

It is hard to imagine a time when the unifying qualities of love and compassion have been more important.  Massive congratulations to Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise on winning this year’s award and to all of the 2020 shortlist which arouse curiosity and change the ways in which young readers see and think about the world in which they live.