Field up twice for Sainsbury's Children’s Book Awards

Sainsbury’s has announced the Children’s Book Awards shortlist which features Adrian Edmondson, Quentin Blake and Oliver Jeffers, with illustrator Jim Field appearing twice.

The 15 nominated titles across the five categories will be judged by a guest panel including Axel Sheffler and an unveiled logo from illustrator Tom Percival.

In the Baby and Toddler category there is Bathtime for Little Rabbit (Gecko Press) written and illustrated by Jörg Mühle, The Crayons' Book of Colours written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated  by Oliver Jeffers. Nosy Crow’s Where’s Mr Lion is also nominated, written and illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius.

Ed Vere’s Grumpy Frog (Penguin Random House) has received a nod in the Picture Book category along with Izzy Gizmo (Simon & Schuster ) written by Pip Jones and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. The Koala Who Could (Hachette) by Rachel Bright with illustrations by Jim Field is also featured on the shortlist.

For Fiction, Jim Field’s illustrations are recognised again in Rabbit and Bear: The Pest in the Nest (Hachette) written by Julian Gough alongside Usborne’s Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog written by Claire Baker with images by Ross Collins.  Edomonson’s Tilly and the Time Machine (PRH) features with illustrations by Danny Noble.

For Learning and Development, George's Marvellous Experiments (PRH) by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake is up against 100 Things to Know About the Human Body (Usborne) by Alex Frith, Minna Lacey, Jonathan Melmoth and Mathew Oldham with illustrations by Federico Mariana and Danny Schlitz.

For Licensed Book, Hachette is featured twice with My Little Pony: Ultimate Creative Colouring and Pokémon Encyclopedia going head-to-head with Dorling Kindersley’s LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes The Awesome Guide.

Pete Selby, head of books and music at Sainsbury’s, described the expanded shortlist as the awards' "strongest yet". He said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with BookTrust for the 2017 Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards. As the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, BookTrust’s initiatives and promotion reach millions of children each year, recognising the power of reading to transform a child’s life. At Sainsbury’s we feel equally passionate about supporting our youngest customers at the start of this journey and the awards were set up to celebrate and promote all that is wonderful about children’s publishing.”

He said: “We’re thrilled that in our fourth year we have been able to welcome some Industry veterans, tastemakers and genuine world class talent to the Sainsbury’s judging panel. Alongside representatives from BookTrust and Sainsbury’s, The Bookseller's Charlotte Eyre joins long time friend of the awards Tom Percival on the panel, as well as picture book marketing maven Emma O’Donovan and one of the country’s leading children’s author-illustrators, Nadia Shireen.”

He added: “This year we have also refreshed the awards branding for the first time since its inception and we’re excited to reveal that Tom Percival has created a bespoke logo featuring characters from his forthcoming picture book ‘Perfectly Norman’.

Scheffler praised reading’s ability for helping the parent-child bond. He said: "Reading time is an excellent opportunity to create a strong parent-child bond: I'm still reading to my daughter every night even though she is well above the picture book age."

The winners will be announced on 23rd August.