Posted on April 6, 2026 at 11:45 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards has revealed its 2025 winners, chosen by actual readers.
Reading groups in London and Stockholm chose the adult winners, and students in eight United Kingdom schools picked the children’s-book winners.
The complete list of winners is on the Wishing Shelf Book Awards’ website; here are the gold winners for each of the categories.
Preschool picture books: 5 Different Boo-Boos, written by Maggie Keefe and illustrated by Vaughan Duck
Books for 6- to 8-year-olds: Bellyrina, A Tutu Tale from the Belly of the Beast by Once Upon a Dance and The Adventures of Mrs. Crockess and Ivy: No Pockets? No Problem! by Julia Kolouch
Books for 9- to 12-year-olds: A Pirates' Pact by Sarah Branson and Liv Forever: Never Say Zombie by Diana Davis
Books for teenagers: Dirt by Laura Baggaley
Books for adults (fiction): After Amba by Stephanie Shields, The Bourbon Bet by D K Marie, and The Butterfly Witch by E. L. Williams
Books for adults (nonfiction): The Magician's Daughter, A Memoir by Katy Grabel
Audiobooks for children/young adult: Predestined, written by Rachel Byrne and performed by Madeline Smith
Audiobooks for adults: Thar She Blows, written by Susan Emshwiller and performed by Gabrielle de Cuir
Best book cover (children/young adult): Bigfoot is a Jerk by J. Ditchburn Patton
Best book cover (adult): The Night Counsellor by L K Pang
Adult/children's poetry: Exits, Selected Poems by Stephen C. Pollock
Short story/novelette: The Horned Women by Christy Matheson
Categories: Today in Books