Independent Booksellers' Children's Book of the Month

Our Children’s Book of the Month titles are chosen by a panel of independent booksellers, from a range of new children’s titles submitted by publishers. It will give one new children’s book the opportunity of focussed promotion in independent bookshops across the country each month. The Children’s Book of the Month was created after the success of the Children's Book of the Season in 2018 and aims to showcase independent bookshops’ power and unique expertise to drive sales of children’s books.
From the author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood, Our Castle by the Sea is a poignant tale which follows a young girl living in a lighthouse during WWII, whose familiar surroundings are disturbed by the turbulence of war. It is available to buy now, published by Chicken House. 

 “I love that feeling you get when you step through the door of your local bookshop. The bell jingles, the door shuts behind you, and you take a moment just to breathe it all in: the smell of books, the colours, the soft papery whispering of a thousand magical stories..." - Lucy Strange 

Independent bookshops around the UK and Ireland will be promoting Our Castle by the Sea throughout January. The BA will be supporting the promotion of the Children’s Book of the Month through social media and promotional materials, including posters, bookmarks and stickers. Booksellers will also be supporting the Children’s Book of the Month on social media - social assets are available to download below and the hashtag is #indiebookofthemonth
- Twitter banner
- Instagram banner

Call for Submissions (April-June):
The BA Children’s Bookselling Group is now welcoming entries for the Independent Booksellers’ Children’s Book of the Month for April to June. Submissions are open to books for children aged up to 11 years old across picture books, middle grade fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with the genre varying from month to month. The submitted titles must be new: first format publication of any submitted titles should fall between 1 April and 31 June inclusive. Publishers are invited to submit titles on a quarterly basis, with a maximum of six titles per quarter. Submissions must be published within the quarter – or ideally the month – of promotion, and sequels will not be considered. Publishers can download a submissions form from here.
 
Publishers can get in touch with emma.bradshaw@booksellers.org.uk or sharon.benton@booksellers.org.uk with any queries.

The logo is available to download from here. 

Join in on social media:
- #indiebookofthemonth
- twitter.com/booksaremybag
- facebook.com/booksaremybag
- instagram.com/booksaremybag