Shortlist 2021 – The Branford Boase Award and The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition

The Branford Boase Award
2021 Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award is announced today.

The shortlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award is announced today, Thursday 29 April 2021. Since 2000, the Branford Boase has been awarded annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

Founded to commemorate author Henrietta Branford and influential Walker Books editor Wendy Boase, the Branford Boase Award is recognised as ‘the one to watch’ with an impressive record of identifying exceptional authors at the start of their careers. Winners and shortlisted authors include Siobhan Dowd, Meg Rosoff, Muhammad Khan, Philip Reeve, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Frances Hardinge, Patrick Ness and Marcus Sedgwick. The 2020 winner was Liz Hyder.

When Life Gives You Mangoes

Author: Kereen Getten
Editor: Sarah Odedina
Publisher: Pushkin Children’s Books 9+

Clara lives in a small village on an island, where it seems nothing much happens.
There is a mystery though: why can’t Clara remember what happened when she was playing in the sea last year? The truth when it emerges is shocking for readers, and a gentle story of rural life on a Caribbean island is suddenly taut with uncertainty.

‘deals beautifully with grief, guilt, friendship, all as part of the story’; ‘Clara is glorious, a great central character’; ‘there’s a twist you don’t see coming, but even when you know, the book stands up to a second reading’; ‘very clever writing’.

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Witch

Author: Finbar Hawkins
Editor: Fiona Kennedy
Publisher: Zephyr 13+

Finbar Hawkins sets his gripping story in 17th century England, where witches were feared and hated by the general population. Evey has always suppressed her magical powers but thing change when her mother is murdered by four witch-hunters.
Consumed by a desire for revenge, she sets out to track the killers down, acknowledging what and who she is in the process.

I loved the language, the setting, the relationships’; a wonderful sense of foreboding, it’s deliciously dark’; ‘I really enjoyed it, a rollicking good read’.

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And the Stars Were Burning Brightly

Author: Danielle Jawando
Editor: Jane Griffiths
Publisher: Simon and Schuster YA

Seventeen-year-old Al Bryant is intellectually voracious, a reader, a painter. He seems strong, modest but confident, and generous spirited; everything’s to play for. His suicide therefore is not just shocking, it’s incomprehensible. Al’s brother Nate and Megan, a girl in Al’s class, need to understand it. As answers come, the revelations are savage, but Megan and Nate are guided by the beacon which Al’s life becomes.

‘this book took my heart, smashed it, then put it back together’; ‘written with so much sophistication and empathy’; ‘the characters are so authentic, each one sympathetic but flawed’; ‘the emotions are so raw, you really feel them’; ‘heartbreaking yet hopeful too’.

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A Kind of Spark

Author: Elle McNicoll
Editor: Eishar Brar
Publisher: Knights Of 9+

Addie is autistic and finds school difficult to navigate at the best of times, and it’s worse when her one friend seems to reject her. Fortunately, her family understand, especially big sister Keedie, who is also autistic. The story opens out when Addie’s class begin to study local history and learn about a group of so-called witches. Though they lived hundreds of years ago, Addie identifies with these misunderstood, persecuted women, and determines to do something for them.

‘Phenomenal’; ‘I loved it’; ‘brings a brand new voice into children’s books’; ‘deals with ideas of difference without being heavy handed’.

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Run, Rebel

Author: Manjeet Mann
Editor: Carmen McCullough
Publisher: Penguin YA

Amber Rai is only truly alive when running and shows potential. But her abusive father refuses to allow her on the track. Her mother is powerless to help, held back by illiteracy and lack of English and also a victim of Amber’s father. But together, Amber, her mother and her sister Ruby can take small steps to freedom. A powerful, moving verse novel.

‘I read it in one sitting’; ‘wonderful storytelling’; ‘brilliant’; ‘full of hope despite the dark subject matter’.

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Orphans of the Tide

Author: Struan Murray
Illustrator: Manuel Sumberac
Editor: Ben Horslen
Publisher: Puffin: 9+

Set in the last city of a drowned world, the book opens with a dead whale washing in with the tide, only for a mysterious boy to climb out alive. The City’s religious authorities believe his body to house The Enemy, the god responsible for putting the world in its watery grave. However, our protagonist Ellie, a young inventor, is sure he’s innocent, sparking a thrilling adventure to find out the truth.

‘hard to believe this is a debut’; ‘a really exciting new voice in storytelling’; ‘the world-building is perfect, so vivid’; ‘the experience was like reading His Dark Materials for the first time’; ‘distinctive, quality writing’.

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The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates

Author: Jenny Pearson
Illustrator: Rob Biddulph
Editors: Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker
Publisher: Usborne 8+

When Freddie sets off on a secret journey that will take him half-way across the country, his two best friends come too; they have their own reasons for wanting to escape home for a bit. Together the three boys get into and out of some extraordinary scrapes, inadvertently becoming heroes in the process, and Freddie experiences what might be an actual miracle. A wonderful road-trip adventure.

‘wonderfully funny with some terrific visual gags’; ‘I’m going to read it whenever I feel a bit down’; ‘it’s The Inbetweeners in a book’; ‘very funny but very emotional too’.

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BBA & HBWC Administrator

Andrea Reece
30 Winton Avenue, London, N11 2AT
Tel: 0208 889 1292
Mob: 07807 893369
Email: branford.boase@gmail.com

Press Enquiries

Andrea Reece
Tel: 07807 893369 | Email: branford.boase@gmail.com