The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. It is owned and coordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians. It has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo, who has won a record four times. The award has often been the first to recognise the future stars of children’s fiction and has the ability to turn popular authors into bestsellers.

Rob Biddulph is no stranger to the FCBG Children’s Book Award!  He has appeared on the Top Ten previously and his books are always incredibly popular with readers! Gigantic is his latest book and it features wondrous underwater scenes and a message about helping others and how the small can be mighty!

A mulberry sky full of flashes and rumbles.
An ocean alive as it rises and tumbles.
And there, ’neath the waves of a stormy Atlantic,
There lives a blue whale, and his name is Gigantic.

Meet Gigantic, the smallest blue whale in the Atlantic. Dwarfed by the other whales, Gigantic keeps to himself, making new friends and perfecting his somersaults and flips in the bay. But one day when Gigantic’s brother, Titan, gets stuck on the sand, it’s down to Gigantic and his smallest sea creature friends to save the day. Can they show it’s possible to be tiny and tough?

A swimmingly good story about little fins and big hearts.

Perfect read-aloud fun for children aged 4+.

During lockdown, Rob’s Draw alongs became widely popular with children and adults alike. Please click the link to discover how to draw characters from Gigantic. And, this link will take you to a special sample of Rob reading from Gigantic.

Who Will Win?? FCBG groups are voting within their group and non-members can vote online via the link at https://fcbg.org.uk/cba-2024. The deadline for voting is Friday 18th May. The category winners and the author of the best children’s book published in 2024 will be announced at a ceremony in Birmingham on 8th June, attended by representatives from all our local groups.

Huge thanks to Erin and FCBG for inviting me to take part in the blog tour. Do make sure you check out all of the other stops so you don’t miss out on any of the books that made this year’s top ten!