Young Quills 2024 – the longlist

HA annual awards for best historical fiction for young people

Published: 6th March 2024

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 – so 2023 for this year’s selection. 

Our aim is to seek out books which:

  • 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  • Have good historical content and factual information.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, 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.

The longlist for this 2024 is:

For readers aged 5-8 years

Title

Author

Publisher

Wangari's Trees Nadine Cowan  Collins Big Cat
Moving the Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion  Dave Eggers (illus Júlia Sardà)  Walker
The Most Famous Rhinoceros  Dianne Hofmeyr (illus Simona Mulazzani)  Otter-Barry Books
Ijapas Comic Club: Why the Tortoise is Bald  Paula B. Sofowora  Ijapa Books
Tales of Ijapa the Tortoise Paula B. Sofowora  Ijapa Books

For readers aged 8-11 years

Title

Author

Publisher

Rosie Raja: Mission to Cairo  Sufiya Ahmed  Bloomsbury Education
Stone Arrows  Elizabeth Barber  The Book Guild
The Disappearing Diamond  Glen Blackwell  Zoetrope Books
Operation Banana  Tony Bradman  Barrington Stoke
Deep Sea Diver  Nadine Cowan  Collins Big Cat
Secrets at number 6  Jemma Hatt  Elmside Publishing
Secrets at number 7 Jemma Hatt  Elmside Publishing
Peril on the Atlantic  AM Howell  Usborne
Scareground  Angela Kecojevic  Neem Tree Press
Code Name Kingfisher  Liz Kessler  Simon & Schuster
Blackbeard's Treasure  Iszi Lawrence  Bloomsbury Education
Time Machine Next Door: Explorers and Milkshakes  Iszi Lawrence  Bloomsbury Education
Evie and Rhino  Neridah McMullin (illus Astred Hicks)  Walker
Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star  Laura Noakes, (Illus Flavia Sorrentino)  Harper Collins
Fablehouse  E. L. Norry  Bloomsbury
A Different Kind of Freedom:
A Romani Story 
Richard O'Neill  Scholastic
Finding Treasure Island  Robin Scott-Elliot  Cranachan
Vita and the Gladiator  Ally Sherrick  Chicken House
The Storm and the Minotaur  Lucy Strange  Barrington Stoke
I Spy: a Bletchley Park Mystery  Rhian Tracey  Piccadilly Press
Portraits and Poison
(The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries) 
J.T. Williams (illus Simone Douglas)  Farshore
The Grinning Throat  Kate Wiseman  ZunTold books

For readers aged 11-13 years

Title 

Author

Publisher

City of Stolen Magic  Nazneed Ahmed Pathak Puffin
The Song Walker  Zillah Bethell  Usborne
The Stolen Songbird  Judith Eagle  Faber
Rivet Boy  Barbara Henderson  Cranachan
Where the River Takes Us  Lesley Parr  Bloomsbury
The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel  Victoria Princewill  Scholastic
Wolf Road  Alice Roberts  Simon & Schuster
Enola Holmes & the Black Barouche  Nancy Springer  Hot Key Books
Her Majesty's League of Remarkable Young Ladies  Alison D Stegert  Chicken House
The Body in the Blitz
(The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2) 
Robin Stevens  Puffin
Through Water and Fire  Matt Wainwright  Wakeman Trust
The Whistlers in the Dark  Victoria Williamson  Scotland Street Press

For readers aged 14 years and above

Title 

Author 

Publisher 

When Women Were Dragons  Kelly Barnhill  Hot Key Books
This Summer's Secrets  Emily Barr  Penguin
Sisters of Sword and Shadow  Laura Bates  Simon & Schuster
Gwen & Art are not in Love  Lex Croucher  Bloomsbury
How Far We've Come  Joyce Efia Harmer  Simon & Schuster
The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks and the Gods  Tom Holland
(Illus Jason Cockcroft) 
Walker
Betrothal and Betrayal: The Empress Irini Series - Book 1  Janet McGiffin  Scotland Street Press
I am Lydia  J Ryan  The Book Guild
The Wolf Cub of Sparta  J Ryan  The Book Guild
The Wall Between Us  Dan Smith  Chicken House
Stateless  Elizabeth Wein  Bloomsbury