BOOK OF THE YEAR 


OVERVIEW It was a strong year  with both brand- name authors and newcomers making up  range from wartime Britain to rural China  superheroes and dragons. What they did all have in common was beautiful  backed by impressive campaigns and retail support.


ANISHA ACCIDENTAL DETECTIVE Won at a four-way auction at the London Book Fair, Serena Patel’s fresh new series follows Anisha, a STEM-loving, British Indian Sikh girl, and her huge, hilarious family. Usborne committed to strong branding from the get-go, and brought Emma McCann aboard to illus- trate the project. The title won Sainsbury’s Children’s Fiction Book of the Year.


CODE NAME BANANAS Set in 1940s wartime Britain, David Walliams’ latest, illus- trated by Tony Ross, follows the friendship between a boy and a gorilla. While many books were postponed last year, HarperCollins Children’s Books brought publication forward two days, to support retailers ahead of the second lockdown. It has sold 229,029 copies through Nielsen TCM, excluding lockdown-era sales.


PUBLISHERS 1 USBORNE


2 HARPERCOLLINS CHILDRENS BOOKS


3 SIMON & SCHUSTER CHILDRENS BOOKS


4 PUFFIN


5 MACMILLAN CHILDRENS BOOKS


6 LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS


THE HIGHLAND FALCON THIEF Macmillan Children’s Books acquired M G Leonard and Sam Sedgman’s Adventures on Trains series, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, in 2018. This first book is a murder mystery which takes readers to exciting places on real-life train models and routes, in a bid to entertain and educate young readers. It was a Waterstones Book of the Month in February 2020.


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DRAGON MOUNTAIN The first book in Kevin and Katie Tsang’s Dragon Realm series follows Billy Chan to a summer camp in rural China, where he stumbles upon four dragons. Simon & Schuster developed a cover that would appeal equally to boys and girls, and created buzz- worthy foil-covered proofs. The husband-and-wife duo secured a Waterstones Book of the Month slot, too.


THE DANGER GANG Tom Fletcher’s fourth middle- grade novel, illustrated by Shave Devries, steps outside his Christmasaurus series and features a gang of children who discover that they have extraordinary powers. In lieu of in-person-events, Puffin utilised the McFly singer’s social channels to generate buzz: 78,230 copies have been sold through Nielsen’s TCM, excluding lockdown-era sales.


THE ICKABOG What started as a story that J K Rowling wrote for her own children became a hit when she decided to serialise it for free online, in a bid to brighten up lockdowns for those across the world who may have needed cheering up. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers added value to the hardback edition by featuring full-colour illustrations from young competition winners.


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