Young Quills 2026
Young Quills 2026 Competition submissions
Each year, the Historical Association runs Young Quills, a competition for published historical fiction for children and young adults (14+). The Young Quills books for each year must be published for the first time in English in the year preceding the competition, which was 2025 for the 2026 competition.
Our aim is to seek out books that:
- are a ‘good read’, engaging the imagination of the young reader
- have good historical content and factual information
- have history as a component of the story, and not just a convenient backdrop or setting
- inspire young readers to find out more about that historical period or people.
Divided by age suitability, the books are given to schools on the condition that the children and young people there write a review of the book, following our criteria. Those reviews are used as the basis for us to create the shortlist from which the winners are selected by a panel of judges.
This year, over 41 books were sent to schools across England, sparking historical curiosity across the schools.
All the books will have a review on the HA website from May 2026.
This year is also the National Year of Reading. It is a Department for Education campaign, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, that aims to tackle the profound decline in reading enjoyment in the UK and reconnect people of all ages with reading as a relevant and immediately rewarding activity.
The Young Quills aims to encourage youngsters to develop a love reading and a feel for history, sparking their imagination about the past.
For readers aged 5-8 years
|
Title |
Author |
|
The Boy Who Became Queen |
Christina Balit |
For readers aged 8-11 years
|
Title |
Author |
|
A Box Full of Murders |
Janice Hallett |
|
A Stocking Full of Spies |
Robin Stevens |
|
Angel's Teeth |
Debbie Moss |
|
Becoming Grace |
Hilary McKay |
|
Dance of Resistance |
Catherine Johnson |
|
Hero the Highway Girl |
Penny Chrimes |
|
Hidden Treasure |
Jessie Burton |
|
Hunt for the Golden Scarab |
M.G. Leonard (illustrated by Manuel Šumberac) |
|
Letty and the Mystery of the Golden Thread |
Penny Boxall |
|
Lockett & Wilde: The Ghosts of London |
Lucy Strange (illustrated by Pam Smy) |
|
My Family, the Enemy |
Karen McCombie |
|
Netta Becker and the Timeline Crime |
Jennifer Claessen |
|
Shrapnel Boys |
Jenny Pearson |
|
Spirit Warriors |
Ashley Thorpe |
|
The Black Pennant |
Joseph Lamb |
|
The Boy at the Window |
Lucy Strange |
|
The Dawn of Adonis |
Phil Earle |
|
The Elixir |
Lindsay Galvin |
|
The Girl Who Raced the World |
Nat Harrison |
|
The Kid Who Fell Through Time |
Chris Smith & Greg James |
|
The Legend of Viking Thunder |
M.G. Leonard (illustrated by Manuel Šumberac) |
|
The Line They Drew Through Us |
Hiba Noor Khan |
|
Through Iron Eyes: An Anglo-Saxon Adventure |
Victoria Williamson (illustrated by Art Spellman) |
|
Time Tub Travellers Circus Mystery |
Claire Linney |
|
Tomorrow's Ghost |
Tanya Landman |
|
Wrong Tracks |
Susan Brownrigg (illustrated by Jenny Czerwonka) |
For readers aged 11-13 years
|
Title |
Author |
|
Flipped |
Philip Caveney |
|
Kata and Tor |
Kevin Crossley-Holland |
|
To War With Wallace |
Barbara Henderson |
|
Under a Fire-Red Sky |
Geraldine McCaughrean |
|
Under the London Sky |
Anna Woltz |
For readers aged 14 years and above
|
Title |
Author |
|
A Clash of Claws: 1066 |
Darius Morgan |
|
Birdy Arbuthnot’s Year of ‘Yes’ |
Joanna Nadin |
|
Black Star |
Kwame Alexander |
|
Lobster Blue |
Jacqueline King |
|
Searching For Remarkable Things |
Natalie Lucy |
|
Songs for Ghosts |
Clara Kumagai |
|
The Boy I Love |
William Hussey |
|
Thunderstruck |
R. J. Madon |