There were some great winners this year in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards. The shortlisted books were impressive and it would have been very hard to choose a winner from them.The awards passed with hardly a mention in our local papers. One very small article by the Advertiser with a photo of Bob Graham and that was it. Blink and you would have missed it. What a shame. It seems that Children’s Books still don’t make news.
The Picture Book winner was Bob Graham with his beautiful book, “A Bus Called Heaven”. In typical Bob Graham understated style, this book tells the story of a community coming together when an abandoned bus appears in their midst. Amnesty International have endorsed it and the kids at school love it.
The Early Childhood winner was “The Runaway Hug” by Nick Bland with illustrations by Freya Blackwood. A gorgeous story about a hug, which when you get, you have to give back. I bet Nick Bland went “A ha!” when he got that idea for the story. The illustrations are beautiful, as we have come to expect, from Freya Blackwood. The home is very familiar to kids, with toys left about and washing and dirty clothes scattered around.
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Winner of the book for Younger Readers was “Crow Country” by Kate Constable.It is described as a “gripping time-slip mystery”. The main character, Sadie, a thirteen year old girl, finds herself dragged from the city by her mother to live in a small country town. It is here that she gets caught up in a mystery which includes crows. I have it on my bedside table to read this weekend so will get back to you on my thoughts about it in a couple of days.
“One Small Island” by Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch won the Information Book of the Year. This is a magnificent book which is a cross between a picture book with the most stunning illustrations and a non-fiction information book. It tells the history of Macquarie Island and needs to be pored over for hours to discover and read every little piece of information.