Choosing the Bookbuzz books

A lot of thought goes into choosing the Bookbuzz books each year, and we’re really excited about the final list this year.

Our expert panel spend many hours reading longlisted books and gathering together to discuss and deliberate on which ones should be included – watch this video to get a flavour of the selection process:

Bookbuzz books are chosen by an independent panel of experts. The panel includes school librarians, teachers and other children’s reading experts.

The panellists are chosen for their experience, knowledge and passion for getting children reading. Every panel is different, and panel members come from different parts of the country, from both rural and urban communities, and with differing experience, expertise and perspectives.

Publishers are invited to recommend books for the programme – we receive over 300 books each year for Bookbuzz. BookTrust experts create a longlist from these submissions.

Each panellist then reads a selection of the longlist, up to twenty books each, and they have around eight weeks to do so – that’s a lot of reading for just two months.

We then hold the selection meetings where the panel members meet with the team at BookTrust to discuss the books they’ve been reading. They explore what they liked, what they didn’t like, what they think students will love, and which books they recommend for the final Bookbuzz list.

It’s a lot of fun and there are some great debates, especially when different panellists have different opinions! Through these discussions and debates, the longlist is narrowed down to the titles that the panellists think are the best for the programme.

The books are carefully chosen to offer a spectrum of different reading experiences and to ensure there is something to suit all interests and reading levels, from keen readers to reluctant ones, and from advanced readers to those for whom reading is a challenge.

BookTrust believes every child has the right to access books, so some Bookbuzz titles are chosen to offer something different, such as a dyslexia-friendly print, or non-fiction to dip in and out of, or a book with less text.

And of course, the selection panel looks for books that will be fun, exciting and engaging, that will support young people to build a reading for pleasure habit and become lifelong readers.