Jackie French wins the 2026 Book Links Award for Children’s Historical Fiction

Congratulations to Jackie French whose book The Mushroom in the Sky, published by Harper Collins, has won this year’s Book Links Award for Children’s Historical Fiction.

The judges were unanimous in their decision commenting on the ‘honesty and bravery of the subject’, the ‘seamless interweaving of two important stories, and how it is  ‘challenging, engrossing, ground-breaking,  a richly detailed read for children which reveals so much, so rewarding on many levels and so cleverly and sensitively dealing with material that is difficult for both adults and children’.

When told of the award Jackie responded: ‘Oh wow!’ She continued:

‘It was a hard book to write – one of my hardest, to balance the horrors I grew up with in the shadow of World War Two with the kindness and richness of Japanese culture, as well as the almost total ignorance of why the two bombs were needed.

Those two bombs were a crime, but sometimes we need to choose between two evils. This doesn’t mean that we, as part of the alliance that dropped the bombs, are absolved of guilt. I believe that it was the correct action, but we still need forgiveness and reparation for the horror that was unleashed.

You asked if I thought it was an appropriate topic for a young audience. Perhaps a young audience is the best. Children are hungry to learn about good and evil. Adults rarely have time. If the book succeeds, the young reader will love Japan and the Japanese characters who tried to do good under military totalitarianism.’

StoryLinks review by Jenny Ruge of The Mushroom in the Sky 

StoryLinks interview with Jackie French talking about writing the book.