Badger Book Awards 2023 — The Winners

Year 7 Badger Book Award Winner — The Elemental Detectives by Patrice Lawrence

Nominated School for £500 Book Prize: Maryland School (London)

Step into a London lit up by the Elemental spirits: the fiery Dragons, the airy Fumis, the watery Chads and the earthbound Magogs.

But humans have been causing chaos for centuries, trampling through the landscape trailing noise, mess and pollution. What if the Elements could slow down this new world... or stop it all together

The revenge-fuelled Shepherdess, who moves between the everyday and the supernatural London worlds, is the perfect weapon. She brings a sleeping sickness down on the city with the destruction of society in her sights.

Marisee and Robert are the Elemental Detectives chasing the clues to avoid catastrophe: they must face the ghosts of Hyde Park, the monstrous coiled snake of the Serpentine, and a whole host of other fantastical creatures in their mission to stop the Shepherdess and prevent London slumbering for all eternity...

Available as part of our Best New Books for Year 7 collection

Year 8 Badger Book Award Winner — Running Out of Time by Simon Fox

Nominated School for £500 Book Prize: Cardinal Newman School (Hove)

I can steal time.

The most I can take at the moment is fifteen seconds, which is not a lot. Grandmother took almost three minutes once and she told me she’s done more, but I never saw it.

She says there are stories of someone who can take all the time in the world, but how can that be right?

When Alex and his father are forced to flee their home to escape a brutal government, they begin a life-threatening journey across Europe. But when they are separated before they can reach Britain, Alex finds himself alone, with only his extraordinary gift to keep him alive.

Available as part of our Best New Books for Year 8 collection

Year 9 Badger Book Award Winner — Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin

Nominated School for £500 Book Prize: Walthamstow School for Girls (London)

Kurara has never known any other life than being a servant on board the Midori, but when her party trick of making paper come to life turns out to be a power treasured across the empire, she joins a skyship and its motley crew to become a Crafter. Taught by the gruff but wise Himura, Kurara learns to hunt shikigami — wild paper spirits who are sought after by the Princess.

But are these creatures just powerful slaves, or are they beings with their own souls? And can a teenage girl be the one to help them find their voice — and change the course of an empire?

Available as part of our Best New Books for Year 9 collection

Year 10 Badger Book Award Winner — Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot

Nominated School for £500 Book Prize: The Forest School (Horsham)

Someone is stripping Europe’s most haunted city of its spirits. When self-destructive, 16-year-old seer, Charlie Frith, realises that one of his own ghostly friends has gone missing, he must put aside his own safety — and reclusive existence — if he is to find them.

Charlie reluctantly teams up with Sam Harrow — the new seer in town — and a rag-tag group of ghosts, to save their friends from a fate literally worse than death.

But there is a dark purpose behind these disappearances — more sinister than Charlie could ever have imagined. And, as he slowly comes to terms with his romantic feelings for Sam, the stakes become even higher as time quickly runs out!

Available as part of our Best New Books for Year 10 collection

Year 11 Badger Book Award Winner — All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

Nominated School for £500 Book Prize: The Portsmouth Academy (Portsmouth)

When the Superflu wipes out most of the population, Jamie finds himself completely alone in a cabin in the woods — until an injured stranger crosses his path.

Life is dangerous now and, armed with a gun, Jamie goes to pull the trigger. But there’s something about Andrew... something that stops Jamie in his tracks. Jamie takes him in, and as Andrew heals and they eventually step out into the strange new world, their relationship starts to feel like more than just friendship...

But trouble isn’t far behind. As the boys make a perilous journey south, they’ll come face to face with a world torn apart and society in ruins. And who, or what, will they find waiting for them at the end of it all?

Available as part of our Best New Books for Year 11 collection