Celebrating incredible children’s books with Sainsbury's books of the year

Published on: 24 August 2017 Author: Gemma Malley

Gemma Malley, our Director of Communications and Development, tells us what it's like to judge a children's books prize – and reveals the winners picked for the Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards 2017.

It is always great fun to be a judge for a Children’s Book Award – what could be better than reading through a pile of fabulous picture books and chapter books? It’s the one area of my job that I’m very happy to take home, and I can unashamedly reveal that my own children’s feedback on the various books definitely got an airing at the BookTrust panel discussion (which got quite heated at times, so passionately did we champion our favourites).

From left to right: Pete Selby, Head of Books and Music at Sainsbury's, children's author Adrian Edmondson and Gemma Malley

BookTrust exists to get children reading, because we know that children who read are happier, healthier and do better at school. We’re delighted to be partnering with Sainsbury’s on these awards, because our job is made much easier when brilliant books are readily available and accessible.

The truth is that reading can, too often, slip down our list of priorities, pushed out by work and family commitments, to-do lists, and distractions like games and social media. It’s why BookTrust is committed to making reading fun, easy, and part of everyday life – for instance, working with much-loved Daddy Pig on our Bath Book Bed campaign, reminding hard-pressed parents that a simple bedtime routine of bath and story time is a wonderful way to decompress at the end of a busy day.

We couldn’t be prouder that Peppa Goes Shopping, an exclusive Sainsbury’s title produced in partnership with BookTrust, Penguin Random House and Entertainment One, is out this week promoting Bath Book Bed to a whole new legion of Peppa fans.

So if you want to get your family back into reading, or are looking for some book ideas to get your children turning the pages, check out the Sainsbury’s Award Winners below. We think you’ll love them. We certainly did.