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Hagger-Holt wins Little Rebels Award with 'powerful' Proud of Me
Sarah Hagger-Holt has won the £2,000 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction, for her "powerful" coming-of-age middle-grade novel Proud of Me (Usborne).
The award, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, recognises radical fiction for children aged up to 12, and is administered by children’s bookseller Letterbox Library and London bookshop Housmans. It promotes children’s books that explore political ideas, challenge the status quo, or promote social justice, social equality and a more peaceful and fairer world.
Proud of Me follows Josh and Becky, siblings parented by two mums, who start to explore their family’s and their own identities. It is billed as a "a crisp, fresh, contemporary narrative which effortlessly threads through nuanced themes of cross-generational responses to LGBTQ+ identities, religious-based homophobia and the legacy of Section 28".
Judge and author and illustrator Emily Haworth Booth described the story as a "powerful tool of change — it needs to be in school libraries”.
Fellow panellist, research and development director at the Centre for Literature in Primary Education, Farrah Serroukh, said: “Same-sex families living their lives in the middle-grade sphere is rare and it’s even rarer for it to be this well executed — this touching book platforms a family make-up that has had to resist being delegitimised at every turn. It does [this] by sensitively and gracefully shining a light on their everyday lives and in doing so celebrating their right to be.”
Other judges on the panel included manager of Gays the Word bookshop Jim MacSweeney, writer and educator Shaun Dellenty and reading development and children’s book consultant Jake Hope.
Hagger-Holt was presented with the award by MacSweeney at a ceremony in the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education on 21st July.
The award organisers said: “Middle-grade readers are at that exact age where they are often experiencing first attractions, crushes and desires. So this is the moment where we need to validate and ‘normalise’ their feelings. In the case of young LGBTQ+ people this need is pressing and urgent. Sarah’s novel is such an important and glowing presence in this space and we hope it will help grow even more fabulous LGBTQ+ middle-grade fiction”.
