Little Rebels Book Award Short List 2021
By Letterbox Library
Little Rebels Book Award Short List 2021
By Letterbox Library
The Little Rebels Children's Book Award is a prize for radical children's fiction. The award was established in 2012 by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers in conjunction with Letterbox Library.
It Isn't Rude to Be Nude
Rosie Haine
£7.99 £7.59"It isn't rude to be nude. Everyone has a bum". A highly body-positive and inclusive celebration of nudity, showing all types of bodies in all of their diversity. Perfect for countering body-shaming and mixed cultural messages about how we view our bodies. Debut creator. Age 3-8, Hardback 30pp
Boy, Everywhere
A. M. Dassu
£7.99 £7.59WINNER - "It's strange how we'd got used to the war in Syria and thought it wouldn't affect us...But then everyone in Syria thought the war wouldn't affect them- until it did." 13-year-old Sami and his family flee their privileged, comfortable life in Damascus for safety in the UK. Challenges preconceptions about refugees and raises awareness of the multiple obstacles faced by those seeking sanctuary, from grasping opportunists to unyielding and inhumane bureaucratic systems. Debut author. Age 9-12, Paperback 283pp
The Soup Movement
Ben Davis
£7.99 £7.59"'They'd rather send stuff to the landfill than feed people in need,' said Harry. They seem to accept it as a fact of life, but to me it's the most unfair thing I've ever heard". When a fellow cancer patient, Rio, challenges Jordan to perform daily mitzvahs/acts of kindness, it sets him on a campaigning road to raise awareness of and provide support to the local street homeless community. Soon, a small scale DIY soup kitchen grows in to a much wider protest, attracting local and national attention. Age 9-12, Paperback 314pp
The Goody
Lauren Child
£12.99 £12.34"Chirton Krauss was a good child, the very goodest. He did everything he was told, when he was told...Myrtle was not a good child, everyone told her so. And Myrtle never forgot to remember this". An always-good child and their never-good sibling cast off their labels to do something more and to be something more. Challenges the expectations and labels of others and celebrates the power to self-define. Age 5-8, Hardback 30pp
A Kind of Spark
Elle McNicoll
£7.99 £7.59"This memorial's really important to me. It's hard to explain why. Jean, Mary, those women...They didn't sound dangerous at all to me, they sounded scared. Different and scared". Addie has immediate experience of living in a society which tries to make her fit its ideas of 'normal'. So when she hears about her own local history of women accused of witchcraft, she is stirred and angered. Determined to restore and reframe those lost voices, she starts a campaign to build a memorial in her Scottish village. Debut author. Age 9-12, Paperback 186pp
Agent Asha: Mission Shark Bytes
Sophie Deen
£6.99 £6.64Super-smart 11-year-old techie coder, Asha Joshi, is recruited by the Children's Spy Agency for a secret mission: to uncover the mighty corporation, Shelly Inc., as it threatens to take sole ownership of the entire Internet. Important topics are tackled along the way including fake news, surveillance, privacy, social media and democracy. All wrapped up in a dizzying, heady adventure with gadgets, drones, bots, farting selfie sticks...and a STEM-savvy Asian girl protagonist. Shortlisted for the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children's Fiction 2021. Age 8-12, Paperback 239pp
Hope Jones Saves the World
Josh Lacey and Beatriz Castro
£6.99 £6.64"My name is Hope Jones. I am ten years old. I am going to save the world". The first in a new series in which a determined budding young activist, Hope Jones, tackles different environmental concerns. Here, her push to get her family to go plastic-free mushrooms in to a wider local community -and then a national- movement against supermarket plastic waste. Age 8-12, Paperback 169pp
Fearless Fairy Tales
Konnie Huq, James Kay, et al.
£15.99 £15.19"It's not lying! It's simply taking the truth and twisting it. Adding a bit of spin. That's what news is all about these days." From Sly Fox spinning the news in Spinocchio to Wolf overcharging his three tenants in The Three Little Pugs, this collection of subversive fairy tales is a treat for both children and adults with its howls of protest. Age 7-12, Hardback 167pp
Brand New Boy
David Almond and Marta Altes
£10.99 £10.44"I know that I am George. I know that everyone of us is George. I know that every morning when we awake, we are the new kids, born again". An AI named George joins a school as an experiment in integration, prompting a complex but accessible enquiry in to what it means to be human, the limits of free will, the nature of education and the wisdom of children. Age 9-14, Hardback 307pp