Jannali Jones, My Father’s Shadow, Magabala Books, August 2019, 232 pp,. RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925936704 Kaya is studying to complete her HSC so she can graduate and travel overseas with her best friend. This plan is derailed when, in the middle of the night, Kaya’s mother wakes her to pack a bag and together they flee their family home. Her father is dead and the criminals responsible will target Kaya and her mother next. Mother and daughter seek sanctuary and anonymity in an old holiday home in the Blue Mountains. There are new rules to follow – no friends,…
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Coral Vass and Dub Leffler won the 2019 Book of the Year Award: Eve Pownall Award for Sorry Day. The Award was presented at Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne on Friday 16 August. These are Coral and Dub’s acceptance speeches. Coral Vass What an honour it is to win this award. Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge and thank the Children’s Book Council of Australia and the judges, for putting Sorry Day in the spotlight. I am delighted for this book. I am delighted for the recognition of the Stolen Generations of Australia and the platform this award allows for truth telling…
Dylan Meconis, Queen of the Sea, Candlewick Press, June 2019, 400 pp,. RRP $37.25 (hbk), ISBN 9781536204988 Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis is a graphic novel which tells the story of Margaret, a young orphan who is raised by a small band of Elysian nuns on a remote island off the coast of the fictional kingdom of Albion. Margaret loves her island, but wonders about her parents and how she came to be there. Then Margaret’s idyllic existence is tested when regal Eleanor, former queen of Albion, arrives. As Margaret and Eleanor grow closer, and Margaret learns more about her past and…
Shaun Tan won the 2019 Picture Book of the Year Award for Cicada. The Award was presented at Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne on Friday 16 August. This is Shaun’s acceptance speech. I remember clearly the Book Week displays at Lymburner Primary School north of Perth, circa 1983, especially that quasi-religious-looking Children’s Book Council logo on so many shiny stickers. Who was this council of wise elders in some faraway parliament, having deep conversations in large rooms with massive bookshelves and overstuffed furniture? I wondered what they would think about my own Texta-infused literary thrills: ‘Mission to Mars’, ‘Poems and…
Catharina Valckx, Zanzibar, Gecko Press, August 2019, 80 pp,. RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781776572564 I was excited to read this book by Gecko Press, an NZ based publisher, that have translated and published a few books our family has really enjoyed, such as the ‘Simon’ series and Leo Timmers’ books. Zanzibar is a translated chapter book, originally written in French by a very prolific author/illustrator, Catharina Valckx. The style of the illustrations is similar to Lucinda Gifford’s images in the Princess Peony series, black, white and one colour. Zanzibar is a crow who, other than having an exotic name, is…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…