Author: Admin

Emily Rodda won the 2019 Book of the Year Award, Younger Readers for His Name Was Walter. The Award was presented at Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne on Friday 16 August. This is Emily’s acceptance speech. It’s hard to express how much this award means to me. It’s 35 years this year since my first book, Something Special, was published by Angus & Robertson. That book won what was then called the CBCA Junior Book of the Year Award, with the result that I was encouraged to think that, whatever my doubts, I could be a writer—or, at least, that…

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Mark Gravas, Noodle Bear, Walker Books Australia, August 2019, 32 pp,. RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760651022 My first praise for this book is the striking front cover (my husband commented on it as soon as he saw the book). The bold orange-red with three different, but very cool, fonts and a skyline silhouette created out of noodles demands the book be picked up. This bold, fun and engaging style is carried through the entire book, giving the characters an immediately comic vibe. We meet Fox, and Bear’s other friends, enjoying the first party of spring. Noticing Bear is absent, Fox goes…

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Will Kostakis, Monuments, Lothian Children’s Books, August 2019, 288 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780734419224 All 16-year-old Connor is trying to do is avoid his ex-best friend when he stumbles upon a trapdoor to a secret chamber under his school. But when Sally Rodgers breaks into the same secret chamber looking for an ancient being, things take an unexpected turn . . . and Connor’s life will never be the same again. Along with the mysterious Sally and, later on, his new friend Locky, Connor discovers the Monuments – gods who have been buried for generations – who created the…

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Clare Atkins won the 2019 Book of the Year Award, Older Readers for Between Us. The Award was presented at Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne on Friday 16 August. This is Clare’s acceptance speech. Growing up, it felt rare to find a novel that reflected my experience of living between parents, between cultures, between worlds. When I did find a rare gem that portrayed this tentative balancing act, I would read it over and over, soaking in the reassurance that lay beneath the words: you are not alone. In Between Us, I wanted to personalise the debate around multiculturalism and immigration,…

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Sally Odgers (text), and Adele K Thomas (illustrator), The Happy Unicorn (Pearl #4), Scholastic Australia, June 2019, 128 pp,. RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760664275 The fourth instalment in the Pearl series, Pearl the Happy Unicorn sees Pearl and her friends, Tweet the firebird and Olive the ogre, attend Ogrefest – a festival for ogres. Disguised in green ogre lotion, Pearl and Tweet have a lot of fun, eating, singing and stomping. But when a group of smelly gobble-uns crash the party, Pearl needs to use her magic to save the day. Pearl the Happy Unicorn is an early chapter book…

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Acceptance Speech I would like to begin by thanking the Children’s Book Council of Australia for the honour they have bestowed upon me today. When I think of the many names among both writers and advocates for Australia’s youth literature whose work deserves to be recognised, I feel both humble and especially proud to have been singled out. Those dual roles that the CBCA takes on, on the one hand celebrating the best of Australia’s writing and secondly, projecting and infusing that literature into the lives of young Australians is something I will return to in a moment. First, though,…

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Yvette Poshoglian (text) and Phil Judd (illustrations), Puppy Diary: The Great Toy Rescue, Scholastic Australia, July 2019, 96 pp,. RRP $9.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760662936 “Hello, Diary! I had the most amazing day today!” And so begins an entertaining adventure, written in the form of diary entry from a loveable, cheeky schnoodle puppy named Archie. Archie is excited about his first day at doggy day care, but his favourite toy, Foxy, goes missing. It turns out his new friends’ toys are missing too. When they discover that a tabby cat, Geoffrey, is behind the disappearing toys, the puppies need to work…

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Jacqueline Harvey, Alice-Miranda Keeps the Beat (Alice-Miranda #18), Puffin Books, June 2019, 367 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk) ISBN 978014378603 As a parent, this is absolutely the kind of book I want my children to read, mainly because Alice-Miranda is such a great character. She’s kind and clever and has a wonderful way of bringing people together. My 10-year-old is inhaling this series. She has been bringing Alice-Miranda books home from school every library day lately! This newest instalment, Alice-Miranda Keeps the Beat, begins with Alice-Miranda being caught out daydreaming in class. I just love the way she responds with a…

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B.C.R Fegan (text), and Lenny Wen (illustrator), Don’t Drink the Pink, TaleBlade Press, August 2019, 40 pp., RRP $24.00 (pbk), ISBN 9781925810097 “Happy birthday, Madeline,” he said with a wink. “Take a potion, take a brew. Just don’t drink the pink.” Madeline loves her Grandfather Gilderberry. Her parents think he’s a little mad, but she loves him all he more. From the day of her first birthday, Grandpa has presented Madeline with a box of potions and the reminder: “Don’t drink the pink.” Each year, the potion she chooses takes her on a wild adventure. From breathing fire, to super…

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Emma Smith-Barton, The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, Penguin Books, July 2019, 320 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780241363317 The Million Pieces of Neena Gill is a debut novel by Emma Smith-Barton. It’s an exciting addition to YA #OwnVoices novels — with both the main character, Neena, and Smith-Barton herself having been born to Pakistani parents in the UK. This book has much in common with other books and films that explore south Asian migrants’ children’s struggles with identity and belonging. The setting and some themes feel familiar from the outset. There’s lots of affectionate attention given to details like clothing and food, and tension…

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