Supporting the National Year of Reading 2026
The Carnegies 2026 Winners
The Carnegie Awards ceremony, held yesterday at the Cambridge Theatre in London, unveiled the 2026 Carnegie Medal winners – plus the Shadowers’ Choice Award, chosen by the shadowers. Read on to find out who won and see some photos from the event!
Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Shadowers’ Choice Award for Writing 2026
Wolf Siren
by Beth O’Brien
A vibrant, evocative and magical debut which centres a positive, empowered disabled character at the heart of a reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood.
The woods are hiding a secret… but then so is Red…
Red is not allowed to go into the woods. Everyone knows that they are dangerous – because of their strange magic and the wolves that lurk there… But Red finds herself increasingly drawn to the woods and the place where her grandmother disappeared without a trace three years ago. When the woodcutter fails to return home one night and wolves are spotted close to the village boundary, fear drives a deep and dangerous divide between the villagers and the nature they live alongside.
Only Red seems to hold the key – but she has a secret, and exposing it could ruin her family forever …
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2026
Wiggling Words
by Kate Rolfe
An inspiring story about a child lost in a forest of letters. The perfect book to share with children with dyslexia and other neurodivergence to encourage problem-solving and build confidence.
Verbs, also known as action words, can be pesky things to master and nobody understands the struggle better than the young child in Wiggling Words. Skip, trip, fumble and fall with them as they discover that even though words can be tricky, they can be fun too!
Shadowers’ Choice for Illustration 2026
Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel
by William Golding (author) and Aimée de Jongh (illustrator)
For the first time, from acclaimed artist Aimée de Jongh, comes the stunning graphic novel adaptation of this classic story, one of the BBC’s ‘100 Novels that shaped our World’.
A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors, a group of schoolboys. By day, they explore the dazzling beaches. By night, they are haunted by nightmares of a primitive beast and of what they’ve lost.
‘There aren’t any grown-ups anywhere.’
Orphaned by society, they must forge their own; but it isn’t long before the group is split, and their innocent games take a dangerous turn.
‘What are we? Humans? Or Animals?’
It was a pleasure attending the Carnegie Awards ceremony this year and celebrating the outstanding achievements in children’s writing and illustration. See below for a few snaps from the day, including our lovely book stand and the charming Matilda: The Musical stage that perfectly set the scene for this brilliant event!
