Carnegies 2026 Shortlisted Books

Ghostlines by Katya Balen

Tilda lives on the island of Ayrie and wants everything to stay as it is. But when Albie arrives from the city, she sets out to show him the wildlife, coastline and stories that make the island home. As their friendship grows, they are drawn towards the forbidden old island, while Tilda is also forced to face her past. A sparkling middle-grade story.

Featured in our Best Books of Autumn 2023 list.

Not Going To Plan by Tia Fisher

Marnie’s just been expelled; Zed’s all about grades. They meet through tutoring, hardly a natural match, but a fragile friendship begins to form. Then Marnie’s world shifts again: an unplanned pregnancy after non-consensual sex. Told in alternating voices, the story doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff: consent, trust, and what comes next. The visual verse format adds urgency and space to breathe, making it a powerful, relatable read for teens facing big questions. Highly recommended for KS4.

Featured in our Best Books of 2025 list.

Popcorn by Rob Harrell

In Popcorn, Rob Harrell presents a poignant story about Andrew, who grapples with anxiety exacerbated by various mishaps, including a school bully and an exploding science experiment. The situation worsens when he learns that his grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, is missing. Illustrated with black-and-white doodles and panels, the book offers insights into anxiety and OCD while providing practical coping strategies. Aimed at readers aged 9+, it blends humour with meaningful themes, making it a useful text for discussing mental health and support systems with UKS2 and KS3 readers. Highly recommended.

Featured in our Best Books of Autumn 2024 list.

The Boy I Love by William Hussey

When Stephen Wraxhall returns wounded to the Western Front in 1916, he meets Private Danny McCormick just as the Somme offensive approaches. Their relationship develops within an army and a society that criminalises homosexuality, forcing Stephen to balance duty, secrecy and survival. Set in the trenches of the First World War, this moving and powerful YA novel examines themes of war, prejudice and a love story under pressure. Highly recommended for KS4.

Featured in our Best Books of Spring 2025 list.

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Tim Miller

At a school full of animals, being a hall monitor means dealing with lions, seals, pandas and Pelicarnassus, a giant pelican with a grudge. Zeke, Daniel and Alicia take on the job, but as trouble spreads through the corridors, the three lizards have to join forces with a blind red-tailed hawk to protect the school. Fast-paced short chapters, comic scenes and factoids add to the mayhem in this riotously funny chapter book for 9-12 year olds.

Featured in our Best Books of Autumn 2024 list.

Wolf Siren by Beth O’Brien

Red lives in a village that fears the woods, where wolves, disappearances and old magic shape everyday life. Drawn to the place where her grandmother vanished, she begins uncovering a family secret just as suspicion closes in and the wolves come nearer. This clever retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale puts a visually impaired character at the heart of a tense tale about fear, control and the natural world. An enchanting story for 9-14 year olds.

Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds

Twenty-Four Seconds From Now follows Neon Benton as he looks back on what led up to the pivotal moment in his relationship with Aria Wright. Through a reverse timeline, Neon deals with his nerves and seeks advice from his family and friends. Suitable for 14-year-olds, this cathartic and immediate narrative addresses themes of intimacy, love, and personal growth. A startling splash of authentic 2020s teen romance, Twenty-Four Seconds From Now is a must-have for every KS4 school library.

Featured in our Best Books of Autumn 2024 list.

Birdie by J. P. Rose

Sent to live with her great-aunt in a Yorkshire mining village in the 1950s, Birdie arrives as an outsider and feels it straight away. She is isolated and met with suspicion, but finds companionship in Mr Duke, the village’s last pit pony. When the pony is threatened, Birdie pushes back in the only way she can. This stunning short chapter book sensitively examines racism, identity and community, drawing on real history and lived social experience.

Featured in our Year 6 book list.

Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel by William Golding, adapted and illustrated by Aimée de Jongh

After a plane crash, a group of schoolboys are left stranded on an island and tries to build a society of their own. What begins as an attempt at order soon gives way to fear, division and violence. In this stunningly atmospheric graphic adaptation, Aimée de Jongh retells William Golding’s novel while keeping its central questions about power, group behaviour and what remains when social rules fall apart. It’s perfect for less confident readers studying Lord of the Flies in KS3 and KS4.

Featured as our 13th September 2024 book of the day.

The Endless Sea by Chi Thai, illustrated by Linh Dao

Seen through a child’s eyes, this moving and evocative picture book for 4-9 year olds follows Chi Thai’s family as they leave Vietnam for the UK after the war. Packed onto an overcrowded boat as food and water run low, they face fear, waiting and uncertainty at sea, while the story keeps its focus on family and the search for safety. It offers readers and primary school teachers a clear path into discussions about refugees, memory and displacement.

The Playdate by Uje Brandelius and Clara Dackenberg

A child crosses the city with her mother to spend the afternoon at Henry’s house in this thought-provoking picture book for 2-8-year-olds. On the surface, it is a visit built around play, but the illustrations show more than the child fully understands: her mother is there to work, and the two families live very differently. That gap between text and image gives the book its power, opening up key questions about class, friendship, envy and what children notice before they have words for it. A great book to study and to inspire creative writing at any age.

Featured in our Best Books of Spring 2025 list.

Wiggling Words by Kate Rolfe

A child who struggles to make sense of moving letters finds another way into words in this inspiring picture book for 3-6 year olds about reading confidence. Drawing on Kate Rolfe’s own experience, the story uses verbs, letter play and visual metaphor to demonstrate frustration, problem-solving and growing self-belief. A thoughtful afterword adds context, and the book design has been shaped with dyslexic readers in mind. Highly recommended.

Featured in our Best Books of Spring 2025 list.

The Paper Bridge by Joëlle Veyrenc and Seng Soun Ratanavanh

When strong winds hit the paper village of Paperlee, Anya builds a kirigami bridge across the chasm and sets out to investigate the neighbouring settlement. What follows becomes a story about mistrust, shared problems and working together. With text by Joëlle Veyrenc and paper-cut scenes by Seng Soun Ratanavanh, this outstanding book for 4-7 year olds introduces the craft of kirigami while opening up discussion of community, change and how people live side by side.

Featured in our Best Books of Autumn 2024 list.

Freedom Braids by Monique Duncan and Oboh Moses

Nemy works on a sugarcane plantation until Big Mother leads her to a shack where women braid routes, warnings and escape plans into one another’s hair. For Nemy, those patterns become a way out. Inspired by the history of enslaved African women in Colombia, this powerful, stunningly illustrated picture book for 4-6 year olds brings together resistance, community and survival through one child’s story of escape.

Wildful by Kengo Kurimoto

After her gran dies and her mother stops going out, Poppy begins walking Pepper and finds herself drawn into the life of a neglected wood. A new friend changes the shape of those walks, as birds, water, plants and small details start to come into focus. Told as a graphic novel with many wordless sequences, this powerful story for 9+ year olds explores grief, routine, attention and the beginnings of a gradual return to the world outside.

The Sleeper Train by Mick Jackson and Baljinder Kaur

A girl boards a sleeper train with her family for an overnight journey. Too excited to sleep, she thinks through the places she has slept before – at home, in a tent, in her mother’s old room at her grandparents’ house, and in hospital. As the train moves through the night, those memories connect travel, family life and bedtime routine in this bright and imaginative bedtime story picture book for 3-7 year olds.