CBCA Treasure - Bob Graham

Bob Graham and his CBCA books!

Over the past few weeks I have been focusing on past CBCA short listed titles and winners.  One name that appears over and over again is Bob Graham. I adore his books especially one of his earliest titles Pete and Roland.  Here is an interview with Bob Graham.

PICTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR category

1986 First there was Frances (Commended)

1987 The Wild (Short listed)

1988 Crusher is Coming (Winner)

1990 Grandad's Magic (Honour Book)

1991 Greetings from Sandy Beach (Winner)

This is a book that just begs to be read aloud. I love the first page.
"There were plenty of tears at the start of our holiday. Dad cried about leaving our dog. Mum cried about leaving Grandma and Grandad. Gerald cried because he'd been awake all night (over excited and couldn't sleep). I cried because everyone else was crying. And we were only going for two days!"

This is a family holiday many of us relate to. Gerald gets car sick, Dad has no clue about putting up the tent and worse they have to share the camp site with a group of kids on a school camp and with a motor cycle gang. Mum and Dad settle down for a quiet rest on the beach when "the girl from the bus" lands on top of Dad. Nevertheless it is a wonderful holiday and they even bring home some souvenirs.

1993 Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten (Winner)

1998 Queenie the Bantam (Short listed)

Queenie is rescued by a lovely family. She makes herself at home but it is clear she really belongs on a farm. The family take her back and "that might have been the end of the story ... but it wasn't."

2000 Buffy: An adventure Story (Short listed)

This book begins and ends with Bob's trade mark end papers. Little Buffy works with Brillo the Magician but Brillo has become jealous. Buffy is kicked out one night into the rain soaked streets. You could compare Buffy with Mutt Dog a book I also talked about as a part of this treasures focus. Buffy heads for the supermarket. "He spent his last coins on a tin of dog food and a tin opener" then he sets off for a new adventure. He walks and survives many awful situations but one day he simply stops. As he performs for the crowd "someone stood in front of him. His breath stopped. His feet stopped. The sun came out."

2003 Jethro Byrde Fairy Child (Short listed) Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal (2002)

2008 The Trouble with Dogs! (Short listed)

This is the sequel to Let's Get a Pup (see below).

2012 A bus called Heaven (Winner)

2014 Silver Buttons (Honour Book)

2017 Home in the Rain (Winner)

EARLY CHILDHOOD PICTURE BOOK category

2001 Max (Honour Book)

2002 Let's get a pup (Winner)

This one is such a joyous book to read aloud.  I still say the line "she briefly wore him like a hat" to myself when I see a bouncy pup.

2005 Tales from the waterhole (Short listed)

2009 How to heal a Broken wing (Winner)