The Children’s Booker has just been announced. The first prize will be awarded in 2027 for children’s books for age 8 to 12 published between Nov 2025 and Oct 2026. We have had 6 Irish Adult Booker winners and our children’s writers are equally world class. So expect to see some Irish Children’s Booker winner over the years.
Here are my suggestions for Irish books that could have won The Children’s Booker over the past ten years. I love comic books, so I’ve proudly picked one of the best, Frankie’s World by Aoife Dooley, published in 2022 as my possible 2023 Children’s Booker winner. A girl can dream.
They are novels for readers aged 8 to 12 years, ones I believe could have won if the award had been around then. Many of them did win the KPMG Children’s Book Ireland Awards or An Post Irish Book Awards.
My Choice for Children’s Booker Winner (for a book published in the previous year)
2025
Fia and the Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher, illustrated by Dermot Flynn
Winner of the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award and the Senior Children’s Category at the Irish Book Awards
An outstanding verse novel with stunning illustrations
2024
Wider Than the Sea by Serena Molloy
Another brilliant verse novel
2023
Frankie’s World by Aoife Dooley
A graphic novel that has stood the test of time
2022
The Summer I Robbed a Bank by David O’Doherty, illustrated by Chris Judge
One of my favourite Irish children’s books of all time - funny, wise, sad yet hopeful.
2021
The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny
Dark, creepy and beautifully written
2020
The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan
Another remarkable verse novel - still brings me to tears.
2019
Flying Tips for Flightless Birds by Kelly McCaughrain
Tender, stong and beautifully written
2018
Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano
An outstanding graphic novel, full of truth and hope
2017
Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden
A powerful fantasy novel
2016
The Wordsmith by Patricia Forde
An outstanding debut
What books would you have chosen? I’d love to know.
Roll on The Children’s Booker 2027.