Congratulations to the following authors, illustrators and publishers on being recognised on this year’s lists. Shortlists will be announced on March 25. Check local branch websites and social media for events discussing these lists, and join us to celebrate the diversity of books written for children and young adults. Links on titles are to reviews on Reading Time.
The Notable book with Judges’ critiques is now available for purchase at the CBCA eStore
Book of the Year: Older Readers
Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers in their secondary years of schooling. Ages 13 – 18 years.
| Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher | ISBN |
| A Way Home | Emily Brewin | MidnightSun Publishing | 9781922858382 | |
| A Wreck of Seabirds | Karleah Olson | Fremantle Press | 9781760993924 | |
| Birdy | Sharon Kernot | Text Publishing | 9781922790606 | |
| Comes the Night | Isobelle Carmody | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781760294762 | |
| Deep is the Fen | Lili Wilkinson | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761066863 | |
| Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret | Amy Doak | Penguin Random House Australia | 9781761342424 | |
| I hope this doesn’t Find You | Ann Liang | Penguin Random House Australia | 9781761049811 | |
| I’m Not Really Here | Gary Lonesborough | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180767 | |
| Into the Mouth of the Wolf | Erin Gough | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781760507558 | |
| Kate Forsyth’s Long-Lost Fairy Tales | Kate Forsyth | Lorena Carrington | New Dawn Publishing | 9780645489965 |
| Liar’s Test | Ambelin Kwaymullina | Text Publishing | 9781922790873 | |
| Look Me in the Eye | Jane Godwin | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734420794 | |
| Maria Petranelli is Prepared for Anything (Except This) | Eliza Chenowith | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781761212451 | |
| My Brother Finch | Kate Gordon | Riveted Press | 9780645869347 | |
| My Family and Other Suspects | Kate Emery | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781760529215 | |
| Return to Sender | Lauren Draper | Macmillan Australia | 9781761266515 | |
| The Invocations | Krystal Sutherland | Penguin Random House Australia | 9780143777410 | |
| The Skin I’m In | Steph Tidsell | Macmillan Australian | 9781760984977 | |
| The Sweetness Between Us | Sarah Winnifred Searle | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761181245 | |
| Thunderhead | Sophie Beer | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180958 | |
| White Noise | Raelke Grimmer | UWA Publishing | 9781760802851 | |
| Wrong Answers Only | Tobias Madden | Penguin Random House Australia | 9780143777403 |
Book of the Year: Younger Readers
Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers from the middle to upper primary years. 7 – 12 years.
Note: Some of the titles in this category may only be suitable for readers who are in the upper primary years as they may contain mature themes, including violence. Parental guidance is recommended.
| Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher | ISBN |
| Aggie Flea Steals the Show | Tania Ingram | Annie Yi | Scholastic Australia | 9781760976309 |
| Countdown to Yesterday | Shirley Marr | Penguin Random House | 9781761340598 | |
| Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra | Casey Polami | Hykie Breeze | UWA Publishing | 9781760802899 |
| Fluff: Mess Up | Matt Stanton | Matt Stanton | ABC Books | 9780733342110 |
| Hello Twigs, Look Who’s Grumpy | Andrew McDonald | Ben Wood | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781761212031 |
| How to Break a World Record and Survive Grade Five | Carla Fitzgerald | University of Queensland Press | 9780702268717 | |
| Jy Goes for Gold | Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler | Samantha Campbell | HarperCollins AU | 9781460765074 |
| Landovel | Emily Rodda | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761069758 | |
| Laughter is the Best Ending | Maryam Master | Astred Hicks | Pan Australia | 9781761560132 |
| Ming and Ada Spark the Digital Age | Jackie French | HarperCollins AU | 9781460764879 | |
| Oscar Vs the Grand Old Dude Named York | Russ Curnow | Walker Books Australia | 9781760657819 | |
| Real Pigeons Power Up | Andrew McDonald | Ben Wood | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781761211553 |
| Saskia Spark-Lee: Fundraiser Fail | Rebecka Sharpe Shelberg | Sofya Karmazina | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655556 |
| Shower Land 1: Break the Curse | Nat Amoore | James Hart | Penguin Random House | 9781761342523 |
| Six Summers of Tash and Leopold | Danielle Binks | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734421890 | |
| Small Acts | Kate Gordon & Kate Foster | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655938 | |
| The Kindness Project | Deborah Abela | Penguin Random House | 9781761340185 | |
| The Midwatch | Judith Rossell | Judith Rossell | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781761212369 |
| The Other Shadow | Tania Ingram | Scholastic Australia | 9781761203251 | |
| Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger | Jackie French | HarperCollins AU | 9781460763506 | |
| To and Fro | Anton Clifford-Motopi | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180378 | |
| Tweet | Morris Gleitzman | Penguin Random House Australia | 9781761343742 | |
| Twinning BFF’s (NOT) | Alexa Moses | Sofya Karmazina | Scholastic Australia | 9781761292620 |
| We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord | Garth Nix | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180491 | |
| Worst Week Ever! Saturday | Eva Amores | Matt Cosgrove | Scholastic Australia | 9781760979089 |
Book of the Year: Early Childhood
Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for children who are at pre-reading or early stages of reading. Ages 0 – 6 years.
| Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher | ISBN |
| Amid the Sand Dunes | Andrea Rowe | Hannah Sommerville | Little Hare | 9781761213786 |
| Dinosaur in my Pocket | Ashleigh Barton | Blithe Fielden | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734422668 |
| Don’t Worry, Felix | Yohann Devezy & Katharine Alice | Zoe Bennett | New Frontier Publishing | 9781923145054 |
| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn’t) | Briony Stewart | Briony Stewart | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734421883 |
| Good Hair | Yvonne Sewankambo | Freda Chiu | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655709 |
| Happy All Over | Emma Quay | Emma Quay | ABC Books | 9780733341441 |
| How to Make a Bedtime | Meg McKinlay | Karen Blair | Walker Books Australia | 9781760653712 |
| How to Move a Zoo | Kate Simpson | Owen Swan | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180309 |
| I am Tree Rex! | Mo Davey | Mo Davey | Berbay | 9781922610669 |
| Just Like You | Natashia Curtin | Natashia Curtin | Walker Books Australia | 9781760658069 |
| Kittens Do Not Care for Baths | Ali Rutstein | Niña Nill | Hardie Grant Children’s Books | 9781761213274 |
| Mem Fox | Judy Horacek | Penguin Random House | 9780143777687 | |
| Night Watch | Jodi Toering | Tannya Harricks | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655310 |
| One Little Dung Beetle | Rhian Williams | Mark Jackson & Heather Potter | Wild Dog Books | 9781742036656 |
| Over or Under? | Pip Harry | Hilary Jean Tapper | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734421807 |
| Reading to Baby | Margaret Wild | Hannah Sommerville | Affirm Press | 9781922930378 |
| Sky Country | Aunty Patsy Cameron | Lisa Kennedy | Magabala Books | 9781922777218 |
| Spiro | Anna McGregor | Anna McGregor | Scribble | 9781761381010 |
| The Big Book of Australian Nursery Rhymes | Frané Lessac | Frané Lessac | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655099 |
| The Most Amazing Thing | Ian Hayward Robinson | Matt Shanks | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180118 |
| The Wobbly Bike | Darren McCallum | Craig Smith | Walker Books Australia | 9781760656416 |
| To Stir with Love | Kate Mildenhall | Jess Racklyeft | Simon & Schuster | 9781761426391 |
| Two Turtles | Kiah Thomas | Jake Minton | Little Book Press | 9780645401493 |
| Willow’s Gumboots | Beverley McWilliam | Hélène Magisson | MidnightSun Publishing | 9781922858535 |
| Worms are our Friends | Toni D’Alia | Mica Purnell | Bright Light | 9781761212994 |
The Picture Book of the Year
Entries in this category should be outstanding books of the Picture Book genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity or, in wordless texts, where the story, theme or concept is unified through the illustrations. Ages 0 – 18. Note: Some books may be for mature readers).
| Title | Illustrator | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| A Leaf Called Greaf | Kelly Canby | Kelly Canby | Fremantle Press | 9781760993894 |
| Afloat | Freya Blackwood | Kirli Saunders | Little Hare | 9781760505899 |
| Bernie Thinks in Boxes | Zoe Bennett | Jess Horn | Affirm Press | 9781922930033 |
| Dragon Folding | Lucia Masciullo | Christopher Cheng | Penguin Random House | 9781761340949 |
| Footprint | Sally Soweol Han | Phil Cummings | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180323 |
| For 60,000 Years | Rhys Paddick | Marlee Silva | Scholastic Australia | 9781760265274 |
| General Waste | Michael Streich | Michael Streich | Scholastic Australia | 9781761205699 |
| Grow Big, Little Seed | Sarah Capon | Bec Nanayakkara | Bright Light | 9781761212963 |
| House | Charlotte Lane | Don Giovannoni | Fremantle Press | 9781760994709 |
| Listen, Hippo! | Gabriel Evans | Gabriel Evans | Penguin Random House Australia | 9781761341700 |
| Night Watch | Tannya Harricks | Jodi Toering | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655310 |
| Stickboy | Matt Ottley | Rebecca Young | Scholastic Australia | 9781742994468 |
| The Garden Of Broken Things | Freya Blackwood | Freya Blackwood | HarperCollins AU | 9781460757550 |
| The Land Recalls You | David Cragg & Noni Cragg | Kirli Saunders | Scholastic Australia | 9781760975159 |
| The Space Between | Jess McGeachin | Jess McGeachin | Penguin Random House Australia | 9780143779186 |
| The Truck Cat | Danny Snell | Deborah Frenkell | Bright Light | 9781761212291 |
| Then and Now | Datsun Tran | Datsun Tran | Slingshot Books | 9780645975406 |
| These Long-Loved Things | Ronojoy Ghosh | Josh Pyke | Scholastic Australia | 9781761293849 |
| Three Dresses | Wanda Gibson | Wanda Gibson | University of Queensland Press | 9780702266355 |
| Tilly in a Tangle | Monty Lee | Margrete Lamond | Dirt Lane Press | 9781923044289 |
| Two Turtles | Jake Minton | Kyah Thomas | Little Book Press | 9780645401493 |
| Walking Together | Dub Leffler | Coral Vass | Scholastic Australia | 9781761126260 |
| We Live in a Bus | Dave Petzold | Dave Petzold | Thames & Hudson Australia | 9781760764647 |
| Why I Love Christmas | Tom Jellett | Michael Wagner | Penguin Random House Australia | 9781761344688 |
| Words that Taste Like Home | Michelle Pereira | Sandhya Parappukkaran | Bright Light | 9781761213281 |
The Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Entries in this category should be books which have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style. Ages 0 – 18 years.
| Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher | ISBN |
| All About the Brain | Gabriel Dascheck | Kim Siew | Berbay | 9781922610768 |
| Always Was, Always Will Be | Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson | Magabala Books | 9781922777614 | |
| Anti-Racism Kit | Sabina Patawaran & Jinyoung Kim | Emma Ismawi | Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | 9781761211171 |
| Australia’s Baby Animals | Jess Racklyeft | Jess Racklyeft | Affirm Press | 9781923022812 |
| Before the Mountain had a Name | Fiona Leavings | Fiona Leavings | Forty South Publishing | 9780645983579 |
| Come Together Again | Isaiah Firebrace | Jaelyn Biumaiwai | Hardie Grant Explore | 9781741179019 |
| Design & Building on Country | Alison Page & Paul Memmott | Blak Douglas | Thames & Hudson Australia | 9781760763565 |
| Extreme Animal Facts | Jennifer Cossins | Jennifer Cossins | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734422477 |
| Flora: Australia’s Most Curious Plants | Tania McCartney | Tania McCartney | NLA Publishing | 9781922507716 |
| Follow Your Gut | Ailsa Wild & Lisa Stinson, with Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti | Ben Hutchings | Scribe Publications | 9781761380891 |
| I am a Magpie, I am a Currawong | Bridget Farmer | Bridget Farmer | Black Cockatoo Books | 9780645713725 |
| Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica | Allison Lester & Coral Tulloch | Allison Lester & Coral Tulloch | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781760526061 |
| Making the Shrine: Stories From Victoria’s War Memorial | Laura J Carroll | Laura J Carroll | The Crossley Press | 9781763515604 |
| Now for the Good News | Planet Ark Environmental Foundation | Sarah Weicek | Penguin Random House Australia | 9780143779582 |
| Plantabulous! More A to Z of Australian Plants | Catherine Clowes | Rachel Gyan | CSIRO Publishing | 9781486317202 |
| See to Sky: Life in the Daintree | Pamela Freeman | Liz Anelli | Walker Books Australia | 9781760653750 |
| Sensational Australian Animals | Stephanie Owen Reeder | Cher Hart | CSIRO Publishing | 9781486316892 |
| South with the Seabirds | Jess McGeachin | Jess McGeachin | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761068645 |
| Sunny Finds his Song | Catherine Storey & Penny Watson | Sarah Matsuda | Wet Season Books | 9780645370836 |
| The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals | Sami Bayly | Sami Bayly | Lothian Children’s Books | 9780734421395 |
| Too Many Tigers | Monica Reeve | Monica Reeve | Forty South Publishing | 9780975640654 |
| Unreal | Kat Simpson | Leila Rudge | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180347 |
| Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu | Diane Lucas & Ben Tyler | Emma Long | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761067860 |
| Wedge-Tailed Eagle | Claire Saxby | Christina Booth | Walker Books Australia | 9781760655686 |
| When the World was Soft | Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation | Alex Mankiewicz | A&U Books for Children and Young Adults | 9781761180651 |
