Friday, April 2, 2021

CBCA 2021 Short Listed books

 



The thirty-six books in six categories were announced on Tuesday. I posted my predictions the night before for Picture Book of the Year; Early Childhood Picture Book of the Year and Younger Readers Book of the Year.  Each category contains six titles but I was only able, of the eighteen in total that I discussed, to predict six. I feel quite at a loss as to why some of the books I loved did not make the cut. I want our CBCA winners to celebrate the best we have on offer. The books in this national competition will reach a wide audience here in Australia and, I like to think, some will travel beyond our shores to other English speaking countries such as USA, Canada, UK and New Zealand.  These books can be our ambassadors. That is what I hoped would happen with I saw Pete and Pete saw me; The biscuit maker; Scary Bird (not a notable); Littlelight; The Fire Wombat; Anisa's Alphabet; Respect; and Coming home to Country. Alas none of these made the cut.  

On the upside I am thrilled to see two verse novels (Worse things and Bindi) on the Younger Readers list. I'm also looking forward to exploring the six books selected for the new illustrator award which was previously called the Crichton Award. 

In future posts I plan to talk about the themes in some of the picture book selections and I will share some companion texts you could use with a class.

Here are the short listed titles for 2021 - if a title is in colour it links to a review on this blog:

Younger Readers

Kate Gordon, Aster’s Good, Right Things 

Jaclyn Moriarty (illus. by Kelly Canby), The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst 

Sally Murphy (illus. by Sarah Davis), Worse Things 

Katrina Nannestad, We Are Wolves 

Kirli Saunders (illus. by Dub Leffler), Bindi 

Sue Whiting, The Book of Chance 

Early Childhood

Sarah Allen, Busy Beaks 

Bernadette Green (illus. by Anna Zobel), Who’s Your Real Mum? 

Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn-Jarman (illus. by Mel Pearce, No! Never! 

Anna McGregor, Anemone is not the Enemy 

Heidi McKinnon, There’s No Such Thing 

Briony Stewart, We Love You, Magoo 

Picture Book of the Year

Freya Blackwood, The Unwilling Twin 

Philip Bunting, Not Cute

Gabriel Evans, Norton and the Bear 

Bob Graham, Ellie’s Dragon 

Matt Ottley (text by Meg McKinlay), How to Make a Bird 

Felicita Sala (text by Maggie Hutchings), Your Birthday Was the Best! 

Eve Pownall Non Fiction

Sami Bayly, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals

Maree Coote, Azaria: A True History 

Pamela Freeman (illus. by Liz Anelli), Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu

David Hartley & Kirsty Murray (illus. by Dub Leffler), Strangers on Country 

Gina M Newton (illus. by Rachel Tribout), Hold On! Saving the Spotted Handfish

Carole Wilkinson (illus. by Prue Pittock), Matthew Flinders – Adventures on Leaky Ships

New Illustrator Award 

Sofya Karmazina, Ribbit Rabbit Robot 

Mel Pearce, No! Never! 

Dave Petzold, Seven Seas of Fleas 


Shirley Purdie, Shirley Purdie: My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe

Zeno Sworder, This Small Blue Dot 

Robin Tatlow-Lord, Go Away, Worry Monster! 


You might like to watch this video with Shaun Tan where he explores the 2021 slogan. And here is a splendid video made in South Australia to announce the 2021 short list (20 minutes) featuring a host of authors and illustrators from South Australia.






3 comments:

Jess64 said...

As a senior school teacher, I was disappointed with the Picture Book category this year. There were several books I felt belonged in the Early Childhood section, rather than picture book. The fact that the books that could be used to facilitate deep discussion in older students missed out was disappointing.

Momo said...

I think it is important to look beyond the short list. There are some gems among the notables and certainly some titles I would suggest for a senior class.

Jess64 said...

I agree, but so many people don't. It is change I'm trying to drive in our school.