The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please (HarperCollins Children’s Books) has been crowned the Overall Winner of this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

Now in its 21st year, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize celebrates the best in new writing for children and teenagers, as voted for by Waterstones booksellers.

Mikey Please is a BAFTA award-winning and Oscar-nominated animation director and writer. The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods is his first picture book and was inspired by a family game played during lockdown. It tells the story of Rene, who opens a cafe beside an enchanted wood ready to serve the finest cuisine with the help of newfound waiter, Glumfoot. However, she discovers that the locals have a very peculiar palette, requesting all kinds of disgusting things.

Bea Carvalho, Waterstones Head of Books said, ‘Our booksellers fell in love with The Café at the Edge of the Woods for its charmingly evocative artwork and its funny, quirky story which is told in such beautifully engaging cadence. This is a book which champions the fun and playful joy to be found in children’s books, takes delight in the delicious and disgusting in equal measure, and begs to be read on repeat. We know that children and adults alike will fall for Rene and Glumfoot, their sweetly slapstick dynamic, and their gorgeously surreal world.’

To be declared this year’s Overall Winner, The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods had first to be chosen as the winner of the Best Illustrated Book category from a shortlist of four titles, before going on to beat the winners of the award’s two other categories: Best Book for Younger Readers and Best Book for Older Readers.

The winner of the Best Book for Younger Readers was Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sánchez (Flying Eye Books). Described as encapsulating ‘everything that is fresh and exciting about the current graphic novel market’ by Lucy Jakes, Waterstones Children’s Buyer, Rune is the first graphic novel to be named a category winner in the award’s history.

Meanwhile, King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books), a ‘funny and heartwarming story of friendship and rearranged priorities’, won the Best Book for Older Readers category. Lessore won the Branford Boase Award in 2024 for his debut novel Steady for This and King of Nothing has also been shortlisted for this year’s Carnegie Medal and the UKLA Awards.

28To see all 12 shortlisted titles for this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, click here.