The English Association is proud to present the shortlist for the 2023 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards.

Established in 1995, the awards are presented by the English Association to the best children’s picture books of the year. Awards are given to Fiction and Non-Fiction in age ranges 4-7 years and 7-11 years. The winning books are chosen by the editorial board of English 4-11, the journal for primary teachers published by the English Association and the United Kingdom Literacy Association, from a shortlist selected by a panel of teachers and Primary specialists. Each year, one of the books submitted to the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards will be selected as the recipient of the Margaret Mallett Prize for Children’s Non-Fiction. The winners in each category, plus the winner of this year’s Margaret Mallett Award for Children’s Non-Fiction, will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Thursday 25 May 2023.

The Chair of the judging panel, Dr Sally Wilkinson, commented that
the calibre of entries this year was extremely high. We were delighted to see submissions from established authors and illustrators like Joseph Coelho and Levi Pinfold, as well as having the chance to discover newer talent like Mariajo Illustrajo. It was a pleasure to see so many books where word and image are of equal importance, each working with the other to create the perfect synergy of picture and text; it was very difficult to choose our shortlist and even harder to choose the winners!

The Chair of the English Association, Professor David Duff, added that
the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards provide an ideal opportunity to celebrate the crucial role of teachers in supporting children to develop a love of reading for pleasure. I’m thrilled that, as the Picture Book Awards approach their 30th year, we can keep on inspiring teachers and librarians to explore new high-quality children’s picture books.

Author Hilary Robinson, whose book Prima Spiderina was shortlisted in a previous year, commented that
when [...] book awards are underpinned by credible organisations such as The English Association, any shortlisting adopts a new level of levitation. The permanent endorsement does not become yesterday's news but takes the form of a credible and considered judgement, a safe and effective means to welcome a book on to any bookshelf. The reason why the English Association Picture Book Awards are valued so highly is because of the credibility of the judges. They are experts in their fields - panels of teachers and Primary specialists who recognise the skill in storytelling, wordcraft and the marrying of that artform with art itself.

The shortlisted books are:

Non-fiction 4-7
Invertebrates Are Cool! by Nicola Davies and Abbie Cameron
Luminous: Living Things That Light Up The Night by Julia Kuo
Wild Life: The Extraordinary Adventures of Sir David Attenborough by Leisa Stewart Sharpe and Helen Shoesmith
An Arctic Story by Jane Burnard and Kendra Binney
Narhwal: The Arctic Unicorn by Justine Anderson and Jo Weaver

Fiction 4-7
Bibi: A Flamingo's Tale by Jo Weaver
Five Bears by Catherine Rayner
Fox & Son Tailers by Paddy Donnelly
Flooded by Mariajo Illustrajo
The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage

Non-fiction 7-11
Real-Life Dragons And Their Stories Of Survival by Anita Ganeri and Jianan Liu 
The Magic Of Flight by Nicola Davies and Lorna Scobie
Do Bears Poop In The Woods? by Huew Lewis-Jones and Sam Caldwell
Inside The Body: An extrarodinary layer-by-layer guide to human anatomy by Joelle Jolivet

Fiction 7-11
The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry
Our Tower by Joseph Coelho and Richard Johnson
Spin To Survive: Deadly Jungle by Emily Hawkins and R. Fresson
Saving The Butterfly by Helen Cooper and Gill Smith
Paradise Sands by Levi Pinfold