A printer friendly version – Press Release BOYA Winners & Honours 2016 The Eve Pownall Information Book of the Year Read Winner’s speech from Stephanie Owen Reeder The Book of the Year: Early Childhood Read Winner’s speech from Anna Walker The Book of the Year: Younger Readers The Book of the Year: Older Readers Read Winner’s speech from Fiona Wood The Picture Book of the Year The Crichton Award for New Illustrators
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Richard Kurti, Maladapted, Walker Books, 1 June 2016, 307pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781406346299 Maladapted is an action suspense novel is set in the near future, with equal billing given to a young man and young woman, Cillian and Tess, who find themselves isolated, hunted, outnumbered, and with only their wits, and their strong moral intuition that all is not right, to give them a chance. Some of the futuristic devices are well tried and have a now long tradition via Mary Shelley, Thomas Huxley and George Orwell. In this novel they are present as explorations of genetic manipulation on fetuses, the merging…
Wendy Darvill and Kelsey Powell, The Puberty Book (6th edition), Hachette, 28 June 2016, 224pp., $24.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780733635496 Between them, authors Wendy Darvill and Kelsey Powell have backgrounds including nursing, education, family planning and medical education – and it shows. The Puberty Book, in its sixth edition, has been fully updated to include current information, statistics and internet resources, and since its first publication in 1995, has eased the minds of thousands of Australian children and their parents. Using child friendly language and accurate information, The Puberty Book discusses all aspects of growing up – social, emotional and physical. Clear headings…
Jedidah Morley (text), Karen Erasmus (illus.) You’re Different, Jemima, Empowering Resources, 20 Feb 2016, 36pp., $17.00 (pbk), ISBN 9780994501028 You’re Different, Jemima is a cheerful story of the irrepressible Jemima whose imagination and exuberance are repressed by her teacher’s dedication to conformity and uniformity. One day a new teacher is sitting on the desk at the front of the class, a teacher who helps Jemima value her differences. The characters in this story are brought to life by Erasmus’ watercolour and pencil-sketched illustrations. Jemima’s mess of orange hair and round features are contrasted with Mrs Smith’s sharp and dowdy features. When Mrs Chuckles…
Eek! Book Week is NEXT WEEK! Here’s some costume ideas from picture books that fit this year’s Australiana theme. By Reading Time reviewer Carissa Mason Until I heard this year’s Book Week theme: “Australia! Story Country”, I confess I hadn’t paid very much attention to whether or not the books we read were Australian. One of our shelves at home is dedicated to Australian picture books, but at the library we just picked up the ones we liked the look of (absolutely judging them by their covers) or stories that were recommended by friends or online. So when I stated…
Dianne Touchell, Forgetting Foster, Allen & Unwin, 22 July 2016, 240 pp., $19.99 (pbk.), ISBN: 9781760110796 Innocently poignant and devastatingly beautiful is this novel by Dianne Touchell. She has captured the perspective of a child confronting the frailty of a parent with such rawness that, at times, it hurt to read. But make no mistake; it is a hurt no one should miss out on. Seven-year-old Foster knows something is not right when his father starts to forget things. Small forgetting turns into big forgetting and while he is told there’s “nothing to worry about” the hole in his heart…
Colleen Oakes, Queen of Hearts, HarperCollins, 26 April 2016, 320 pp., $19.99 (pbk.), ISBN: 9780008175399 Although this version is missing the random wildness and insanity of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, this origin story is still an interesting read. In Queen of Hearts we are introduced to the future villain of Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts, 15 year old Dinah. Unloved and abused by her widowed father, her days are filled with mind-numbing croquet, etiquette, history, dancing lessons, fantasising about Wardley and feeling in her bones that something bad is going to happen. And as her 18th birthday and her…
Stephen Michael King, Snail and Turtle Rainy Days, Scholastic Australia, 1 July 2016, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760159061 Rainy days – cold, wet, damp and dark. What better to do than stay inside where you feel warm, safe and cosy? In the latest Snail and Turtle book by Stephen Michael King, Snail feels like doing just that; he doesn’t want to face the world. This story explores the beauty of friendship, especially its important position in motivating, boosting and lifting each other up. Turtle will stop at nothing to cheer up Snail; through the rainy days he juggled, spun, danced…
Blaze Kwaymullina (text), Jess Racklyeft (illus.), Little Koala Lost, Scholastic Australia, 1 July 2016, 24 pp., $19.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781742991283 I fell in love with this simple yet appealing book as soon as I opened the cover. The opening pages are filled with a mosaic of the Aussie animals which feature in the story, including Little Koala Lost – can you find him? This story begins with ‘one koala lost in the bush’ who is trying to find where he belongs. Little Koala’s journey is filled with counting and alliteration as he meets new animals along the way – marvellous…
P Crumble (text), Lucinda Gifford (illus), The Cat Wants Custard, Scholastic Australia, 1 July 2016, 32pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760155780 Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows that they do not have owners; they have staff. Kevin, the eponymous cat of The Cat Wants Custard has a craving for a sweet treat, and his antics in trying to communicate with his humans in order to obtain a delicious bowl of warm, creamy custard form the basis for this entertaining story. The author of the well-known There Was an Old Lady series, the mysterious P. Crumble (pen name for children’s author…