Happy New Year, everyone! This is a @theguardian.com books cartoon from a few years ago.

I just read The Dad Trap in one sitting, a joyful & funny story. @ianeagletonauthor.bsky.social is great at including "issues" without it being an "issues" book (friendship anxieties, neurodiversity, family breakup, homophobia...). Thanks @scholasticuk.bsky.social for sending me a copy #KidLitUK

Bea & S have gone to the park & I'm working on my Discworld puzzle while listening to the audiobook of 'Queer as Folklore'. Happy Boxing Day!

Starting the day as we mean to go on. Top tip: cut the ferrero rocher in half before folding the pancake over 🤤

Children's publishing right now

After my last class left the library today, I quickly changed a Christmas display to a @royalsociety.org #YoungSciBooks display! Roll on January and the chance to discuss the shortlist! royalsociety.org/news/2025/11...

I got a copy of this in the post today #SmugFace #KidLitUK

📣Teachers & school librarians, we want to hear from you!📣 We want to know how best to support schools with our free downloadable resources. Please take a minute to complete our survey so we can make sure our classroom materials are the best they can be. bit.ly/47Z4qQU

Another great read! 'The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good' by Kirsty Applebaum is a great balance of mystery & creepiness for MG (& some nice points about being yourself & friendship) @nosycrow.bsky.social #KidLitUK

for those who have missed them, the CATS NOT TERFS badges are back on my website shop.frankduffy.co.uk/product/cats...

I read Big Words by Luke Palmer this weekend & wish we could get all angry young (& older) men to read it. It is published in March by @barringtonstoke.bsky.social, one of their snappy novellas that packs *everything* into few words, hopefully a great conversation starter in 2ndry schools #KidLitUK

I got a copy of this, very excited! I adored 'The House With Chicken Legs'.

I made a terrible mistake and read this already and it doesn't even publish until April so I have to wait forever until book 2 and OH MY GOD @patricknessbooks.bsky.social 😭😭😭 #KidLitUK @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social

💥 Seventy thousand women have now signed our letter. Seventy thousand women saying clearly that exclusion is not in our name and that trans people deserve dignity, safety and belonging. 🙏 Sign and share: notinourname.org.uk #NotInOurName #Love #Inclusion #WomenUnite

Look, if you're going to buy some kid you know a sciencey book for Christmas, it really ought to be one of mine. You know, to show that you've really thought about it and not just grabbed the first science book you came across: alomshaha.com

🏆 Announcing the IBC Awards 2026 LONGLIST! This list showcases the UK’s best inclusive children’s books of 2024 in two of our three awards categories. Congratulations to all our longlisted authors and illustrators! #IBCawards #IBCawards2026

I've just emailed the leaders of the Brownies unit Bea was part of to say that I hope they're as horrified as me and to share the GLP post & contact details

@ldlapinski.bsky.social just wanted to tell you that the literacy lead of the borough I work in was raving about Jamie in a meeting yesterday - they chose it for the borough-wide transition book club last year (& you did a remote talk for them) on my recommendation 😊

Look what I've got & you don't have 😃 & signed by the man himself @patricknessbooks.bsky.social (who is as uncomfortable at parties as I am, so we say very few words to each other 😬). Thankyou so much @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social for organising a lovely event this evening, really brightened my week!

Girl Guiding and the Women’s Institute have announced that they will now exclude trans women and girls after legal threats – but organisations can and should remain inclusive: https://goodlaw.social/cpfx

You want there to be a legal challenge to this? Support the one that's already in progress that, if successful, will remove the risk of legal action against Guides and WI, or other organisations, for being trans inclusive goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/...

I do not feel sad, I feel rage

I was always so proud that the Girl Guides were so inclusive, made a point of mentioning it (positively) every time I did one of their satisfaction surveys as Bea went through Rainbows & Brownies (she decided not to carry on Guides because it clashed with swimming). This is so upsetting.

I was thinking this morning, this year I've not got any new #Christmas books with global majority characters created by authors/illustrators of colour. Anyone got any recommendations? #BookAdvent #KidLitUK

Alt text advent, day one. A classic of the genre, now with alt text to match. 🎅

Every year we make a free-to-download-and-print-off-yourself colouring-in Advent Calendar. This year’s heavily features Bigfoots. Please share! Download it for free here… www.worldofmoose.com/pages/2025-b...

Pleased to be at the @sla.org.uk #InformationBookAwards ceremony, representing @ylglondon.bsky.social!

#KidLitUK a beautiful book, I'm so glad it has been reissued

Boosting! #KidLitUK #EduSky

If an author has chosen to reference HP in their novel published in *2025*, I will immediately put that book down regardless of how much I was enjoying it up to that point. I will also never recommend or read their books ever again.

The 8th Annual Reflecting Realities Report is out now, showing progress in ethnic representation in children’s books and urging publishers to keep inclusion as a standard practice. https://clpe.org.uk/research/clpe-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-childrens-literature-3

Librarians! Fellow authors! You might find this article about Librarians supporting authors interesting:

Boosting, as obviously we have them all already #KidLitUK

CREATIVES! A gang of us are organising an auction raising funds for mutual aid groups in Sudan, amid the war on civilians. Can YOU contribute to the auction? Perhaps a piece of art or music? Signed books? Embroidery? Half an hour of creative mentoring? Sign up here! www.sudancoup.com/auction

Less than three weeks until December - have you got your advent book ready?? www.waterstones.com/book/stepfat...

But do pop in or ring and ask, because I took a couple of bags of toys into a local charity shop last week and they said they weren't taking them at the moment!

We're THRILLED that The Gnome Book has been shortlisted for @foylesforbooks.bsky.social Book of the Year! The gnomes feel so proud to have been recognised in our world 🍬

Directing to you all to this piece from 2021 in advance of the BBC and the Times maliciously raking up and rewriting painful history this week www.theguardian.com/books/2021/a...

These articles elide exactly what Clanchy wrote in her book, so a reminder that she described girls going through puberty as having "Cypriot bosoms" and wearing "flirty hijabs". She also talked about Jewish noses and commented on the skull shapes of various children.

We're so excited to announce that we have three books nominated for this year's @CarnegieMedals for Illustration! Huge congratulations to illustrators Billy Partridge, Neetols and Wenjia Tang! #Carnegies2026 #MedalForIllustration #GraphicNovels #IllustratedNonFiction

We’ve only gone and got ourselves nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration?! Hugest congratulations to Logan Hanning for pulling this out of the bag for their debut book, and endless thanks to all the librarians who have given Elliot this chance to shine 💛🤍💜🖤 Non Binary November indeed!

We are BEYOND delighted to have two nominations for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing! A FIX OF LIGHT and SOLO! Huge congratulations to YA debut authors Kel Menton and Gráinne O’Brien! @kelmenton.bsky.social @grainneobrien.bsky.social @carnegiemedals.bsky.social #Carnegies2026

Some faves on these lists #Carnegies2026