The Best Books for the Youngest Readers

Booktrust announces the shortlist for their sixth annual Early Years Awards
www.booktrust.org.uk

Booktrust is pleased to announce the 2009 shortlist for their Early Years Awards. The shortlisted books all exemplify the remarkable creativity in words, design and illustration necessary to encourage young children to read.
The winner for each category will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London on the evening of 23 September 2009. Each winner will receive a cheque for £2,000.

Commenting on this year’s shortlist, Edith Bowman, judge and BBC broadcaster said: ’It has been such a wonderful experience being on the judging panel this year; I've been able to read so many books to my little boy and it's only made me enjoy reading to him even more. Books are such an important thing in children’s lives and the high standard on offer is incredible.’

The shortlisted books are by category:

Baby Book Award
Chick by Ed Vere (Puffin)
The Big Night-Night Book by Georgie Birkett (Red Fox)
Baby Loves: Tiger by Claire Dowe (Scholastic)
Five Little Ducks by Francesca Stich & Jemima Lumley, illus. Jason Chapman (Simon & Schuster)
Baby’s Very First Outdoors Book by Stella Baggott (Usborne)
That’s Not My Frog… by Fiona Watt, illus. Rachel Wells (Usborne)

Pre-School Award
If I Were You by Richard Hamilton, illus. Babette Cole (Bloomsbury)
Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide by Mara Bergman, illus. Nick Maland (Hodder Children’s)
Sylvia and Bird by Catherine Rayner (Little Tiger Press)
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood (Macmillan)
The Tail of the Whale by Ellie Patterson, illus. Christine Pym (Meadowside)
Miaow Said the Cow by Emma Dodd (Templar Publishing)

Best Emerging Illustrator
The Grump by Sarah Garson (Andersen Press)
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia (Boxer Books)
Box of Tricks by Katie Cleminson (Jonathan Cape)
Small Mouse Big City by Simon Prescott (Little Tiger Press)
The Haunted House by Kazuno Kohara (Macmillan)
Peas! by Andy Cullen, illus. Simon Rickerty (Puffin Books)

The judges for the 2009 Early Years Awards are broadcaster and television presenter Edith Bowman, Bookstart founder Wendy Cooling MBE, librarian Jo Dixon, award-winning illustrator Neal Layton and health professional Val Woolfe.

The Booktrust Early Years Awards aim:
· to celebrate, publicise and reward the exciting range of books being published today for babies, toddlers and pre-school children
· to promote and make these books accessible to as wide an audience as possible