The Alligator’s Mouth Award Announces 2024 Shortlist
Celebrating Young Fiction
Today (Wednesday 1st May), the shortlist for the Alligator’s Mouth Award for Early Illustrated Fiction has been announced. Returning for its sixth year, the Alligator’s Mouth Award celebrates the best in highly illustrated children’s fiction.
The Alligator’s Mouth Award recognises a key part of children’s fiction. Young illustrated fiction plays a special role in many children’s reading journeys, bridging the gap between picture books and longer chapter books. Finding the right book at this stage can be a magical experience that sparks a lifelong love of reading. The Alligator’s Mouth Award provides a brilliant platform for showcasing the most exciting and imaginative offerings that authors and illustrators bring to the table for this age group.
BooksForTopics Represented on the Judging Panel
This year, BooksForTopics founder Alison Leach joined the judging panel. Back in March, we were thrilled to share that plenty of our favourite illustrated titles had made it among the 10 longlisted books, including Bear and Bird, Adventuremice: Otter Chaos and Tiny, the Secret Adventurer. You can see the full longlist for the Alligator’s Mouth Award here.
This week, the 2024 shortlist has been announced, with just five books making it to this stage of the award. Illustrated fiction for younger readers deserves the spotlight and this year’s strong shortlist for the Alligator’s Mouth Award is a testament to the remarkable quality of publishing in this genre over the past year. On this year’s shortlist, readers will be met with animal adventures, mythical creatures, journeys across the sea, science experiments and fairy tale quests. These stories have been imaginatively brought to life through a vibrant balance of text and illustration – a hallmark of this important genre for newly independent readers. We are sure that both children and adults will discover exciting new favourites among the gems on this year’s shortlist, just as the judges have.
The winner of the award will be announced in July 2024 and they will receive The Alligator’s Mouth Award trophy.
The Alligator’s Mouth Award 2024 Shortlist
The Alligator’s Mouth Award for Early Illustrated Fiction: 2024 Shortlist
– Adventuremice: Otter Chaos, written by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, and illustrated by Sarah McIntyre (David Fickling Books)
– Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories, written and illustrated by Jarvis (Walker Books)
– Bibi and the Box of Fairy Tales, written by Vivian French and illustrated by Amy Grimes (Zephyr, Head of Zeus)
– Huxley and Flapjack: Race to the Rescue, written by Alan MacDonald and illustrated by Francesca Gambatesa (Little Tiger)
– Izzy the Inventor and the Unexpected Unicorn, written by Zanna Davidson and illustrated by Elissa Elwick (Usborne Publishing)
For more of the best children’s books for newly independent readers, visit our first chapter books list, our list of storytime chapter books for Ks1 or our Year Group booklists featuring the best reading books for Year 2 and the best books to read in Year 3.
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Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub.
> Browse our Topic Booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
> View our Year Group booklists