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Children's titles from Serena Patel, Rob Biddulph and Kes Gray are among the winners of Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards in partnership with BookTrust.
The awards, spanning seven categories, are in their seventh year and aim to celebrate some of the "most exciting and enjoyable" books of the year.
Anisha, Accidental Detective by Serena Patel (pictured), illustrated by Emma McCann (Usborne), came top of Fiction with its tale of a reluctant bridesmaid turned detective. Rob Biddulph's Draw with Rob (HarperCollins Children’s Books) took the Activity Book category and Sam Taplin's touchy-feely board book Don’t tickle the Dinosaur, illustrated by Ana Martin Larranaga (Usborne), won Baby & Toddler. Meanwhile the rhyming sticker book Oi See it! Say it! by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field (Hodder Children's) was recognised for Favourite Characters; Matt Robertson's Do you Love Bugs? (Bloomsbury Children's), teaching why bugs are awesome, came top in Learning & Development; and the confidence-inspiring Mabel and the Mountain by Kim Hillyard (Ladybird) was triumphant in the Picture Book category. The Children's Classic award, an accolade celebrating "a book which has brought joy to generations of children, that parents will have grown up reading and that will continue to delight many more children in years to come", went to Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill (PRH Children's).
Nicola Miller, books buyer for Sainsbury’s, said: "It is an honour to chair the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards 2020. Now in its seventh year, this year’s awards are bigger than ever with the introduction of the new Activity Book category which aims to encourage creativity in children. The awards cover all ages and reading abilities and in this year’s shortlist there really was something for everyone. This year more than ever, with our children out of school for nearly six months, we need to keep a focus on child literacy but also encourage those reluctant readers to enjoy a good book and our winners really have these values at their core. Congratulations to you all."
Jill Coleman, director of children’s books at BookTrust, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Sainsbury’s on this year’s Children’s Book Awards. At BookTrust we know the power of reading and stories in supporting children of all ages with language development, confidence, communication skills and resilience—and this is now more important than ever. This year’s winning books were selected for their inclusiveness and for their ability to engage and keep readers entertained time after time. I’d like to congratulate the winning authors and illustrators for all the pleasure that these books bring to children and families alike.”