Shepherd’s warm-hearted debut novel tells the story of Tomas who discovers a strange old tree at the bottom of his grandad's garden. When he takes the strange fruit from the tree back into the house a tiny dragon hatches. He quickly discovers that dragons are great fun but very unpredictable.
Andy Shepherd says: “It’s such an honour to be shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize - I’m (Image removed)completely thrilled and if I had scales that changed colour like Flicker, the little dragon in my book, I’d be shimmering ALL the colours right now in utter delight!”
The Waterstones Children’s Book Prize exists to reward and champion new and emerging talent in children’s books. Now in its fifteenth year, it is widely regarded as one of the most important prizes for children’s books.
Last year’s winner, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas shot to the top of the bestseller charts following the award announcement and saw an increase in sales of over 900% across the Waterstones estate.
The winners will be announced at an evening reception at Waterstones Piccadilly (London), Europe’s largest bookshop, on Thursday 21st March 2019. Six books will compete within each category to be crowned category winner, with the three category winners then vying for the overall title of Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year 2019. The winner of each category will receive £2000, with the overall winner receiving an extra £3000. In the event that the prize is awarded to a partnership then the prize money will be split equally between the joint winners.
The winning authors and illustrators will also see a significant boost in sales, and the promise of an ongoing commitment to their writing career from all Waterstones shops nationwide.
The full lists of shortlisted titles (in alphabetical order by author) for the 2019 Prize are:
Illustrated Books:
The Girls by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie (The Little Tiger Press)
Mini Rabbit Not Lost by John Bond (HarperCollins)
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison (Penguin)
The King Who Banned the Dark by Emily Haworth-Booth (Pavilion)
Julian Is A Mermaid by Jessica Love (Walker Books)
100 Dogs by Michael Whaite (Penguin)
Younger Fiction:
The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson (Usborne)
The Train To Impossible Places by P.G. Bell (Usborne)
Brightstorm by Vashti Hardy (Scholastic)
The Mystery Of The Colour Thief by Ewa Jozefkowicz (Head of Zeus)
The Boy At the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf (Hachette Children’s)
The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd (Templar)
Older Fiction:
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (Egmont)
Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Pan MacMillan)
A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos (Europa Editions)
The Truth About Lies by Tracy Darnton (Little Tiger Press)
Me Mam.Me Dad. Me by Malcolm Duffy (Head of Zeus)
Boy 87 by Ele Fountain (Pushkin)