Ten Little Ducklings crowned BookTrust Storytime Prize 2025 winner
30 April 2025
Families and librarians have crowned Lucy Rowland and Aki’s book the best for sharing with children under five.
Ten Little Ducklings by Lucy Rowland and Aki has been crowned the BookTrust Storytime Prize 2025 winner.
The rhyming picture book, published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, captured the hearts of librarians, families, and early years professionals across the country, who voted it their favourite in this year’s competition.
The book – perfect for toddlers and preschoolers – takes children on a playful hide-and-seek adventure, with rhythmic text, bold illustrations and an interactive format making it accessible and engaging for young readers.
“I’m absolutely over the moon that Ten Little Ducklings has won the BookTrust Storytime Prize. I’ve admired BookTrust and their incredible work for a long time, so this recognition feels truly special. It’s a real honour—thank you so much!”
Lucy Rowland, author of Ten Little Ducklings
The award announcement took place at a special ceremony hosted by BookTrust this evening and is part of the BookTrust Storytime 2024–25 programme — an initiative designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading by encouraging families to visit their local library and enjoy stories together.
This year’s programme reached over 2,500 libraries in England and Northern Ireland, engaging around 50,000 children under five. BookTrust Storytime supports libraries with free books, storytelling resources and activity ideas, making it easier for librarians to create welcoming, memorable experiences for families.
Research from BookTrust highlights that children who enjoy reading are more likely to form strong reading habits, and in turn benefit from improved speech and language development, stronger emotional wellbeing and social skills, better family bonds and higher academic achievement later in life.
Diana Gerald MBE, Chief Executive of BookTrust, said BookTrust Storytime is “rooted in the belief that every child deserves joyful and inspiring reading experiences from the very beginning”.
“We’re incredibly grateful to our library and local authority partners who bring these experiences to life in communities across the UK,” she added. “Reading with children isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ — it’s one of the most powerful ways to support a child’s development and future success.
“Congratulations to Lucy and all the shortlisted authors whose books will continue to bring families together through stories.”
The other books nominated this year were:
Whisper, Shout, Let it Out! by Madhvi Ramani, illustrated by Anuska Allepuz (Two Hoots): An empowering call for children to find and use their voices
Into the Wild by Thomas Docherty (Oxford University Press): A vibrant and adventurous picture book full of wonder
Look Out! Hungry Snake by Paul Delaney (Kumusha Books): A fun and engaging hide-and-seek flap book
Roarr! by Sam Taplin, illustrated by Ailie Busby (Usborne): A sound-slider book filled with animal fun and early learning opportunities
A delightful and interactive rhyming book for little ones which uses the Ten Little Ducklings rhyme, but invents a variety of exciting adventures for the ducklings instead, asking readers to play hide and seek with the adorable little ducks.
A bold, celebratory book all about children finding their inner voice. Join a group of friends as they experiment with the sounds they can make in this uplifting and energetic story.
This lovely lift-the-flap book – with good, thick pages and flaps– is colourful and playful, and introduces little ones to a selection of animals and their noises or actions.
Experience excitement of the jungle as wildlife is brought to life by an interactive slider and animal sounds.
BookTrust Storytime
BookTrust Storytime is designed to support libraries to inspire low-income families with children aged 0–5 to share stories together and make visiting their local library part of everyday life
