Shortlist Announced for Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2026

Bolton School is delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2026 Bolton Children’s Fiction Award (BCFA).

The 2026 Longlist of six books was revealed at the end of the Summer term, when the 2025 winner (The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow) was announced. Bolton School students, staff and other external participants were invited to read the Longlist and help to select the Shortlist of three.

Bolton School’s Library staff said: “We hope that this year’s Bolton Children’s Fiction Award Shortlist will stretch pupils’ reading experiences and introduce them to new authors and genres.

“While all very different stories, the Shortlisted books do have common themes running through them: maintaining a sense of humour when life is challenging, working to change your little corner of the world and life as a 21st century child – with all the positives and negatives that entails.  We hope that everyone reading them will enjoy them as much as we have.”

The three Shortlisted books are:

• The Boy in the Suit by James Fox
• The Haunting of Fortune Farm by Sophie Kirtley
• Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo

The annual Book Award Day, celebrating the books and reading, will take place at Bolton School on 26 March 2026. Readers will then have their say by voting for their favourite book and the winning title will be announced at the end of the summer term in an online event.

The Bolton Children’s Fiction Award is a key part of Bolton School’s wider partnership work, helping to promote reading, creative writing and literacy more generally amongst young people across Bolton and the surrounding area. The School is pleased to be announcing the 2026 BCFA Shortlist during ISC’s Partnerships Week: a celebration of the range of partnerships and collaborative activities taking place throughout the UK independent schools’ sector.

Discover more about the shortlist:

The Boy in the Suit by James Fox

Ten-year-old Solo – embarrassingly, his name isn't short for anything – just wants to be normal.

He wants a name that doesn't stand out. He wishes he had a proper school uniform that fitted him. He dreams about a mum who doesn't get the Big Bad Reds, like his mum Morag.

This book starts with Solo and his Mum attending a funeral – but it isn’t what you might assume. He’s there with his Mum for the free food. But when Solo and Morag crash the funeral of a celebrity and get caught, the press are there to witness their humiliation. The next day it's splashed across the papers. Before Solo knows it, he becomes a viral sensation, and life may never be normal again.

Notes from the Library: This is a book with a realistic setting. Previous winners such as ‘The Final Year’ and ‘When I See Blue’ have shown us how much our readers enjoy books that reflect the lives of children around them, where the characters are faced with difficult situations. Everyone who read this book was enthusiastic about its insightful and thoughtful premise and agreed that it should be on the Shortlist.

The Haunting of Fortune Farm by Sophie Kirtley

In this book, twelve-year-old Edie and her younger brother Pip are spending half term at Fortune Farm, high in the Irish mountains, with their grandmother Lolly. They haven't visited Fortune Farm for years and Edie has been dreading it for months. They spent all their holidays there when Dad was alive. And Edie doesn't like thinking about Dad – even the happy memories haunt her too much.

When Edie uncovers a clue that could lead her to long-lost Viking treasure, it's just the adventure she needs to take her mind off Dad. But the adventure soon takes an unnerving and dangerous turn, and Edie discovers that Fortune Farm has more secrets, mysteries and ghosts than she had ever dared to dream.

This is a spine-tingling adventure about the power of memories and the restless spirits that whisper on the wind…

Notes from the Library: This is classic adventure story which will appeal to readers of all ages. Reminiscent of the books staff enjoyed of children, Sophie has added a modern twist – as well as drawing on myths and legends of Vikings to give it a scary feel. We know Book Award participants enjoy a spooky tale and this is a page-turning thriller with tinges of horror…

Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo

This book is about a girl called Mayowa who stays with her eccentric grandfather, who has a rather peculiar hobby of jumping on books. She discovers that she and her grandfather are ‘logosalters’: they have the magical ability to harness the emotions found in books by jumping on them and then channel those emotions into other people.

Mayowa soon discovers that she and her grandfather are not the only ‘logosalters’ and that other magic users have the same ability and may be using it for more villainous, political reasons.

Notes from the Library: We really enjoyed the blend of characters in this book as it contained a great mix of different generations and cultures that reflected modern society. The book has a positive message that children can change the world and that books, words and communication have the power to influence how we think and feel and, subsequently, our actions.

(The Librarians do not approve of jumping on books for any reason, not even for magic. We’d prefer you to read them!)