Shortlist announced for 2019 UK Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

27 May 2019 Books+Publishing

In the UK, the shortlist for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize, recognising the best science books for children, has been announced.

The shortlisted titles are:

100 Things to Know About Numbers, Computers and Coding (Alice James, Eddie Reynolds, Minna Lacey, Rose Hall & Alex Frith, illus by Federico Mariani, Parko Polo & Shaw Nielsen, Usborne)
The Bacteria Book (Steve Mould, Dorling Kindersley)
The Element in the Room (Mike Barfield, illus by Lauren Humphrey, Laurence King)
Kid Scientists (David Stabler, illus by Anoosha Syed, Quirk Books)
Planetarium (Raman Prinja, illus by Chris Wormell, Big Picture Press)
Science Makers: Making with States of Matter (Anna Claybourne, Wayland).

Chair of judges Sheila Rowan said: ‘The most memorable part of being chair was the opportunity to see such a spectrum of wonderful science books and having the chance to engage with them—and they were truly engaging, hands-on … and beautiful.’

An expert adult judging panel chose the shortlist for the £10,000 (A$18,350) prize and the winner, to be selected by groups of schoolchildren across the UK, will be announced in November. The prize aims to ‘inspire young people to read about science and promotes the writing of excellent, accessible books for under-14s’.

Last year’s winner was Optical Illusions by visual artist and author pair Gianni A Sarcone and Marie-Jo Waeber (Quarto).

For more information, see the Royal Society website.

Category: Awards International news Junior