We are utterly thrilled that two Guppy books have been nominated for the acclaimed Carnegie Medal for Writing 2026!

Handle with Care by Louisa Reid has been nominated – Louisa’s fourth nomination in total! – this stunning novel in both verse and prose has received rave reviews as well as being shortlisted for the Sheffield Book Award 2025 (ceremony next week!), and longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2026. This follows the amazing news that Louisa’s first book for Guppy, Gloves Off, WON the Beste Boek voor Jongeren 2025 (Best YA Book 2025) in the Netherlands this year – Louisa is simply one of our best contemporary YA writers and it is wonderful to see this being recognised around the world!

And second to be nominated for the Carnegie Medal is Kenneth Oppel’s fascinating speculative YA novel, Best of All Worlds – last week this extraordinary story was chosen as the Times Children’s Book of the Week, with a glowing review and we are so proud to be publishing Ken’s novel here in the UK. ‘ Here are just a few of the reviews it has received since its publication earlier this year…

The Times: ‘an electrifying story for young adults. It reads like a thriller, but has the soul of a ‘sandbox’ video game with an eerie element of The Truman Show thrown in for good measure’

The Guardian, Best children’s and YA books of the month: ‘hugely thought-provoking, frequently frustrating, this speculative YA novel will stay in the mind long after it’s finished’.

The Financial Times, best books to read this summer: ‘Racism, divisive politics, conspiracy theories and the environment all feature in a spellbinding and chilling fable’.

Daily Mail, Best children’s books out now: ‘I love Oppel’s control of menace and there’s deep disquiet in this dystopian thriller’.

SFX Magazine: ‘a creepy, uplifting, head-scratching fairy tale‘