Muslims – now the Planet Omar series – by Zanib Mian); the ethics of digital culture and Big Tech (Brand New Boy by David Almond; Agent Asha by Sophie Deen; Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll); and much more.
Child-centred storytelling Crucially, all these books centre children, both in the stories and the intended readership, in a way that is itself radical: respecting young people as thoughtful individuals whose lives are often impacted by world events and social injustices they have little control over – and who deserve books that help them to navigate and make sense of those events.
And it is principally children that the award is for, though of course the shortlist is usually first discovered by children’s literature ‘gatekeepers’: booksellers, librarians, teachers, publishers, and parents/carers. With ever-shrinking review space for children’s books, and the recent demise of a number of major children’s book prizes, including the Blue Peter
Book Award and the Costa Children’s Book Prize, we see the Little Rebels Award as more important than ever. It exists in part to help develop a canon of radical literature, which will exist as a continuous resource for gatekeepers who might otherwise be stretched for the time and resources to seek out and platform ‘alternative’ children’s literature. And in 2022, for the first time – and with help from funders the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust – Little Rebels offered free downloadable reading guides on their website, as well as physical resources including stickers and bookmarks, to further help librarians and educators to bring these books to their students.
Advancing authors
Along with children’s book gatekeepers and children themselves, the award is also for authors. Little Rebels shortlistees and winners are often risk-takers, writing outside trends and sometimes exploring subjects considered too complex or weighty for commercial children’s books. They rarely command the largest advances or generate the most sales, and can rarely support themselves entirely through writing. We wanted to reward those writers and illustrators tackling social justice issues, and encourage them to keep doing what they’re doing. Thanks, again, to our funders, since 2020 the Little Rebels has offered prize- money of £2,000, bringing it closer in line with major book prizes like the YA Book Prize and CILIP’s Yota Carnegie Greenaway Awards.
It was never the desire of the Little Rebels Award to be a ‘niche’ prize: rather, we wanted to demonstrate that social justice children’s books can and should be read widely; they should sit within the mainstream and reach as many children as any commercial big hitter.
Catherine Johnson, 2019 winner, has said that the Little Rebels Award “did wonders for my little book… it was probably one of the best moments of my writing career”; and 2018 winner Zanib Mian said: “With no exaggeration… it’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my career as an author.” After her Little Rebels win, Mian’s
Autumn-Winter 2022
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