CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards 2015.

The shortlists for this year’s CBCA Book of the Year awards were recently announced.  There are 6 books in each category, with the categories being: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Book of the Year, Eve Pownall Award for Information Books and the Crichton Award for new illustrators. The winners are announce the Friday 21 August, before the official launch of Book Week.  The shortlisted books are chosen for particular criteria focusing on their literary merit. In the Younger Readers section, which is ideal for primary aged children from about grades 3 – 6, there are some really good reads. In the Early Childhood section there are some delightful picture books which children of all ages would enjoy.   My particular favourite is Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey but I also enjoyed Stephen Michael King’s Snail and Turtle are Friends.  

In the Picture Book of the Year section there often one or two picture books that are more suitable for mature readers and this year is no exception.   For example, One Minute’s Silence is quite  graphic and confronting in its retelling of events in  World War 1 but it is an outstanding picture book.   My Two Blankets  is a beautifully crafted picture book about a young girl who leaves her war-ravaged homeland and arrives in Australia. It conveys how she is  faced with the challenges of fitting into a new land where everything is different to her home.  If you are interested in sharing books from this category with your child ,I would recommend you have a read of them first.

We will have to wait until August to find out who the winders are. In the meantime, keep an eye out for these books and see what you think. The shortlist can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://cbca.org.au then selecting Book of the Year.