Huge congratulations to all of the authors and illustrators on the Lollies 2018 shortlist! The shortlist has been published today and you can already start voting for your favourite funny books 🙂
The Lollies (Laugh Out Loud Awards) were created in response to findings from The Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report™, which found that what two-thirds of children aged 6-17 looked for when choosing books for themselves were “books that make me laugh”. The awards are supported by Book Trust who will be working with Scholastic to encourage schools, parents and children to participate and vote for their favourite books. Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, who announced the third Lollies shortlist, says;
“Anyone around children looking for books to have them giggling and laughing over and over again, these 12 books will do the job. They are infectious and contagious and dangerous! Children will want to read them and ask for more. People talk about the importance of getting children reading, well, these shortlisted books do the work all by themselves.”
Before compiling the Lollies 2018 shortlist Michael and judges Katie Thistleton, presenter and host of the CBBC Children’s Book Club, primary school teachers and bloggers, Jo Cummins and Jonny Walker, as well as Kate Newport, Product Director for Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs, read 118 funny books submitted by different children’s publishers. The shortlisted books in each category are as follows;
Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book
Mr Bunny’s Chocolate Factory by Elys Dolan (Oxford University Press)
The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (Hachette)
Oi Cat! by Kes Gray and Jim Field (Hachette)
I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt (Penguin Random House)
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds
Barry Loser and the Birthday Billions by Jim Smith (Egmont)
The Big, Fat, Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig by Emer Stamp (Scholastic)
There’s a Werewolf in My Tent! by Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham (Nosy Crow)
Lyttle Lies: The Pudding Problem by Joe Berger (Simon and Schuster)
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds
Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (Kind Of) by Liz Pichon (Scholastic)
My Mum’s Growing Down by Laura Dockrill and David Tazzyman (Faber)
Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure by A. L. Kennedy and Gemma Correll (Walker)
Football Season 2: Where Football Saves the World by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton and Spike Gerrell (Walker)
Voting for The Lollies 2018 is now open to teachers and their pupils, parents and children. You can vote from June 4th until December 14th and the winning book in each category will be decided solely by children’s votes. Parents and teachers please help your children to get involved and vote for their favourite funny books via the Lollies website or via the @Lollies channel on PopJam.
You can also keep up to date with #Lollies18 news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The winning books will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in January 2019. So start reading and voting now!
Which of the shortlisted books have you already read? Which books make you laugh out loud?
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