The Lollies Awards (The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards) Shortlist

There’s nothing faster than a cheetah… or is there?

The eye-catching cover, with its bright pink background and comical illustrations, creates a real buzz and get the book talk flowing. From start to finish, this book does not disappoint!

Packed with large, bold print, repetitive language and comical illustrations, it hooks younger readers and is a great read-aloud story with lots of giggles guaranteed.

After reading, the children are keen to share their wacky ideas about what might be faster than a cheetah. The speed stats on the inside covers are also a great starting point for further discussions! This is a brilliant book to inspire EYFS children.

When Keisha finds out that her Great Aunt Bea was an activist, she sets up The Bee Squad with best friends KD and Paisley with plans to stand up for others and fight against injustice. They find out that female rabbits are being sold in the local pet shop for less than the male rabbits and set out to right this wrong. However, their plans don’t always work in quite the right way.

The book is written in a way that would be easy for children aged 7-9 to read – the text is broken up with lists, email exchanges and illustrations that take away the pressure of pages full of text. A good early chapter book for those moving on from reading schemes.

The characters are a diverse mix and provide good representation for readers. The story has a noble message at its heart – anyone can stand up for what they believe in. However, the tactics that The Bee Squad employ are not always the most sensible and would provide a useful discussion point about the best way to have your views listened to in order to achieve your goals.

Trixie Pickle is an arty ‘sort-of-superhero’ and this is her second adventure (the first being Trixie Pickle, Art Avenger). Trixie and her best friend, Beeks, have a lot going on in their lives. First, there is the latest edition of their comic, Blammo, to work on. Then there are the ‘mean girls’ to avoid or they will cause all sorts of trouble for Trixie and Beeks. There is also a new mystery illness doing the rounds; nicknamed ‘Wormwood fever’, it makes the patient very ill and can be briefly summed up by the words ‘it’s coming out both ends’. Could the mystery illness have anything to do with someone Trixie sees dumping toxic waste in the local reservoir? Who is it and can they be stopped? Trixie has a comic to finish, a mystery to solve and enemies to get revenge on . . . but all in an artistic way of course and with plenty of scope for mishap.

Full of fantastic, detailed fact files of the real artists who inspire Trixie and fully illustrated by the author, it was great to discover some artists I hadn’t been aware of before. This is a fast-paced, funny, fact-filled book which will appeal to art lovers, adventure lovers and humour lovers. It would also lend itself extremely well to a variety of art projects based on the artists featured.

This 60 page book is bursting with accessible information! A great read, which will certainly hook children into reading lots of fascinating science information.

This non-fiction book covers a wide range of topics covered throughout the Science National Curriculum to engage and support children with new learning. This colourful book will engage readers from age 7 and beyond. Although set out in a fun and light-hearted comic strip layout the book contains lots of science vocabulary with visuals to support understanding and recognises famous scientists for their work.

Each double-page spread covers the topic interestingly and succinctly to ensure children will not be overfaced with information. This would be great to complete as a shared read at the start of a science lesson in class for teachers too!

Part of a series this physics book features short, funny comic strips that explain a process or aspect of science. Around the strips, diagrams and panels further expand on the information for the topic. They are a fantastic way to engage children with science and each page is an excellent learning tool for parents and teachers