The CBCA Shortlist 2017

Dear readers,

Once again I have copied the CBCA shortlist from a blog instead of the CBCA web site. I do this in my iPad, which I always have to hand, instead of a desktop computer which I don't, and the web site only has the list with lots of pictures or in PDF, neither of which can readily be copied with a finger. 

The blog is A Strong Belief in Wicker  and the blogger is Louise, a fellow Aussie who reads a lot of children's books and posts about them. Unlike me, she not only gave her readers the shortlist, she added the Notables(longlist) while I only gave you a link. I strongly recommend you visit this site and consider following.

I confess I have only read/completed a few of these books. I'm asterisking those with which I'm familiar. 

Let's face it - I have a lot of reading to do, and shopping for the library! 

I miss the wonderful Selena, the only student whom I could ever persuade to read the entire Older Readers list with me... Selena is studying Science at Melbourne University and volunteering with Western Chances on the engineering camp and mentoring. I wonder if she still reads much for pleasure?

I am hoping to read all the Older Reader books and comment on them as I go, as I did last year. Keep an eye out!

So, without further ado, here is the list, sans publishers. 

CBCA Shortlist 2017

Book of the Year Older Readers Shortlist

Waer - Meg Caddy

Words in Deep Blue - Cath Crowley *

The Bone Sparrow - Zana Fraillon *

Yellow - Megan Jacobson

Frankie - Shivaun Plozza 

One Would Think the Deep - Claire Zorn 

I haven't even come across most of the Older Readers list, but I'm looking forward to the Claire Zorn one. I have read and enjoyed The Sky So Heavy, her dystopian account of the lives of ordinary Aussies in the Blue Mountains as the world is dying in nuclear winter. A student who returned it recently said she loved it, especially the (recognisable) Australian setting. So many books we are offered these days are American or English. 

I'm currently reading and loving Words In Deep Blue, a YA love story set in a bookshop. Cath Crowley has never let me down yet. Her books are gentle and funny and sometimes sad at the same time. It's the gentle, though, that drags me in every time. I really need to promote her more to the kids.

Book of the Year Younger Readers Shortlist

Rockhopping - Trace Balla  

Within These Walls - Robyn Bavati 

A Most Magical Girl - Karen Foxlee

Dragonfly Song - Wendy Orr *

Mrs Whitlam - Bruce Pascoe

Captain Jimmy Cook Discovers Third Grade - Kate & Jol Temple *

Okay, on this list I've read Captain Jimmy Cook and Dragonfly Song. I reviewed Jimmy and interviewed Wendy Orr about Dragonfly Song, an amazing novel set in ancient Crete, about youthful bull leapers. Reading it, I couldn't help comparing it with Mary Renault's Classic The King Must Die, but while Mary Renault unquestionably made me believe in her vision, Wendy not only did that, but she definitely knew more about bulls and their habits, after twenty years on a dairy farm! Go back and check out my interview.

Book of the Year Early Childhood Shortlist

Go Home Cheeky Animals - Johanna Bell (author), Dion Beasley (illustrator)

All I Want for Christmas is Rain - Cori Brooke (author), Cori Brooke (illustrator)

The Snow Wombat - Susannah Chambers (author), Mark Jackson (illustrator)

Nannie Loves - Kylie Dustan

Chip - Kylie Howarth

Gary - Leila Rudge

Picture Book of the Year Shortlist

One Photo - Liz Anelli (illustrator), Ross Watkins (author)

Mechanica - Lance Balchin 

Home in the Rain - Bob Graham 

My Brother - Oliver Huxley (illustrator), Dee Huxley and Tiffany Huxley (authors)

The Patchwork Bike - Van T Rudd (illustrator), Maxine Beneba Clarke (author)

Out  - Owen Swan (illustrator), Angela May George (author)

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Shortlist 

Spellbound Making Pictures with the A B C - Maree Coote

A-Z of Endangered Animals - Jennifer Cossins

The Gigantic Book of Genes - Lorna Hendry

Fabish The Horse that Braved a Bushfire - Neridah McMullen (author), Andrew McLean (illustrator)

Amazing Animals of Australia's National Parks - Gina M Newton

William Bligh A Stormy Story of Tempestuous Times - Michael Sedentary (author), Bern Emmerichs (illustrator)

Crichton Award for New Illustrators 2017

A Patch from Scratch - Megan Forward

Mechanica- A beginner's field guide - Lance Balchin 

Melbourne Word by Word - Michael McMahon

Small Things - Mel Tregonning

The Patchwork Bike - Van T Rudd (illustrator), Maxine Beneba Clarke (author)

Welcome to Country - Lisa Kennedy (illustrator), Aunty Joy Murphy (author)