After by Padraig Kenny

"Tell me again how the world ended."

Jen and her father live in the world of 'our' future. All the cities have been destroyed following a huge flood and also, as Jen discovers later, a violent war. At the heart of this destruction is just one man. Edward Seacroft is a tech genius. He has developed a way to build powerful robots called Merks and then he has convinced humans to implant chips in their brains but when his plans went badly wrong he implemented his first contingency. 

"Seacroft was the man who invented the Hive, an artificial intelligence network that spanned the globe ... He created robots and machines that were connected via this Hive intelligence. Then he had the bright idea of also connecting humans via implants. ...  Soon the Hive became such an accepted part of life that people were given implants at birth. ... But for some reason the Hive turned on the human race ... The Meks rose up. They showed no mercy. The war was bitter and short. Then the Flood came, overloading everyone and anything connect to the Hive."

People who were too poor for the implants have survived and as this story begins Jen and her Father have stumbled onto a small colony. Their leader Albert is welcoming and Jen knows this could be a place that she will feel safe but it vital that no one discovers the true identity of her 'father'. But who is Albert? Is this really a utopian community? What is hidden under behind that locked door? Are the people right to be suspicious of strangers? 

There are eight chilling words in chapter 18:

"Human beings are useful. Up to a point."

Jen is a character who will linger with you long after you finish this book. She is so wise and insightful but also at times witty and funny.  The idea of brain implants is explored in another very old dystopian book that I read decades ago - Devil on my Back by Monica Hughes.

Okay so I need to say I have had this book on my 'to read' pile for over six months. The cover reminded me of another book I read by Padraig Kenny and I wrongly assumed this one would be similar. I did enjoy Stitch but it was a somewhat harrowing book and so I kept waiting to feel 'in the right mood' to tackle After. 

YES as I said I was wrong. After is a gripping book with a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is not a horror story in the traditional sense such as another Padraig Kenny title -  The Monsters of Rookhaven. This new book, After, has more in common with Tin published in 2018 because once again he explores the possibilities of robots and their role or interactions in our human world.

I found After when I visited an independent bookstore in Balmain. Chatting to the shop owner I mentioned I enjoy middle grade novels with a dystopian setting - she checked her database and handed me After but months after adding this book to my huge 'to read' pile I had forgotten this conversation and I let the cover guide me to keep skipping past this book. 

Yesterday I started and finished After. I was so engrossed reading this on a bus that I totally stepped away from the 'real world' for several minutes. I love that feeling of being so absorbed in a story. 

This is science-fiction, a dystopian future, but also a message about how we care for each other, and why we do so. Just Imagine

From the outset, the reader is encouraged to question the dynamic between Jen and Father, who are wandering along a path hoping to find a better place, hunting for food and avoiding gangs of scavengers. They have an unusual relationship: Jen is an independent and clever twelve-year-old girl who seems to make a lot of the decisions for the pair, while Father is quiet, protective and obsessed with a parenting book he has read. ...  this (is a) fast-paced and action-packed take on what could be a frightening dystopian topic, that is handled in a moving and thought-provoking manner for young readers. From its gripping first line – ‘Tell me again how the world ended’ – immediately setting the scene, to the final thrilling climax, this book will open young readers’ minds to some big philosophical questions about what it means to be human, whether machines can learn to have feelings and how we treat those who are different to us. Who are the real monsters here, machines or humans?  Children's Books Ireland

Here is a radio interview with the author.

Pádraig Kenny is an Irish writer from County Kildare, now living in Limerick. Previously an arts journalist, a teacher and a librarian's assistant, he now writes full-time. His first novel Tin and recent The Monsters of Rookhaven were both Waterstones Books of the Month. He has twice won the Children's Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction, has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards.

After is sure to make you think about similar issues to those raised in other robot books such as The Wild Robot. Jen's 'father' makes a sacrifice to save her life and the life of the people in this small community. How did the processors of a robot allow him to do this? If you are looking for other dystopian books and books about robots use the labels at the bottom of this post - this book covers lots of issues that should generate deeper discussions about technology, power, corruption, climate change, and even AI.

The wild Robot

This book also explores the issue of robots and emotions.

This book also reminded me of the pods that are found in this book:

The Raven's Song

The Picturebook Makers Part 2 edited by Sam McCullen

The Picturebook Makers series reveals the picturebook’s immense creative potential, celebrates outstanding international picturebooks and their creators, and constitutes an inspiring collection of picturebook knowledge for anyone interested in this unique 

and dynamic art form.

"When the words and the pictures communicate different things at the same time, a third reality is created in the mind of the reader."

"Picturebooks have the power to convey universal sentiments and challenging themes in deceptively simple ways, engaging with the hearts and minds of readers directly and concisely."

The editor of The Picturebook Makers says: 

"I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the all-too-common misconception that making picturebooks is an easy thing to do, and I wanted to show people the hard work, dedication, passion, skill and of course time it takes to make picturebooks of outstanding quality."

In 2014 dPICTUS launched their blog Picturebook Makers. "The artists who feature on the blog are not interviewed; they're just asked to tell the stories of how their picturebooks came to be."

In the first book from this series we meet these twelve illustrators: Jon Klassen, Kitty Crowther, Beatrice Alemagna, Shaun Tan, Eva Lindström, Blexbolex, Chris Haughton, Suzy Lee, Bernardo P. Carvalho, Isol, Manuel Marsol, and Johanna Schaible.

In the second book we meet: Carson Ellis, Axel Scheffler, Anna Höglund, Sydney Smith, Kristin Roskifte, André Letria, Issa Watanabe, Valerio Vidali & Violeta Lópiz, Anete Melece, Vincent Pianina, Marika Maijala, and Jimmy Liao.

Many of these names may be unfamiliar to you here in Australia but hopefully through this blog post you will make some new discoveries. 

See inside Part 2 here.

Valerio Vidali and Violeta Lopiz (Italy and Spain) The Forest.  I previously talked about Hundred illustrated by Valerio Vidali. 

This image is the front cover. The Forest has 70 pages. The bookseller notes say: A lyrical book about the adventure of life, The Forest is also a magnificent visual work, both painterly and a technical feat of paper engineering. Here, sensory experience and the textures of the material world are rendered through die-cuts, embossing, cutouts, and two gatefolds. A beautifully considered work. Riccardo Bozzi was born in Milan in 1966. He is a journalist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Violeta Lópiz is an illustrator from the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her beautifully textured work is filled with personality and playfulness. Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator based in Berlin. Vidali enjoys botanical gardens and spends his spare time building kites that rarely fly.

Leonard Marcus "The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books I've ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as bookmaking. It's a landmark."

Here is the Kirkus review. 

Marika Maijala (Finland) Rosie Runs (Ruusun Matka).

Bookseller blurb: Rosie dreams of forests, meadows, hares, and freedom. Trapped at the racetrack, she sprints in endless circles - until one day, Rosie makes a fearless beeline to the enormous world beyond the track. Scared and a little excited too, Rosie runs through shadowy forests, a circus, a bustling train station, and even takes a quick dip alongside a ferry. She keeps running through small towns and whirling cities, observing the gentle, giddy moments of passersby. Readers will find peace in a private look at a man watering his plants, or a jolt of happiness at a long-snouted dog wearing a cap on a train. A book about taking in the wide world around you, Rosie Runs beckons young readers to rediscover their favorite hobbies and passions, and revel in the joy of playing and being among new friends.

Kirkus Star review.

Carson Ellis (USA) Home

Bookseller blurb: Home might be a house in the country, a flat in the city, or even a shoe. There are clean homes, messy homes, sea homes and bee homes. Home resides on the road or the sea, in the realm of myth, or in the artist's own studio. This loving look at the places where people live brims with intriguing characters and is a visual treat that demands many a return visit.

Here is the Kirkus review. Home is available here in Australia in paperback for a good price. 

Anete Melece (Latvia) The Kiosk

Bookseller blurb: For years, the kiosk has been Olga’s life. She spends her days inside reading travel magazines and dreaming of distant places. One day a chance occurrence turns her upside down—literally—and sets her off on an unexpected journey. The Kiosk is a warm and curious story about someone who is stuck finding a way to be free. The story was originally produced as a short animation which gained international recognition and was selected for over 100 festivals around the world.

Andre Letria (Portugal) War (A Guerra)

Here is the Kirkus Star review.

Issa Watanabe (Peru) Migrants

Bookseller blurb: A heart-stoppingly beautiful wordless picture book about migration and empathy. The migrants must leave the forest. Borders are crossed, sacrifices made, loved ones are lost. It takes such courage to reach the end. At last the journey is over and the migrants arrive. This is the new place. Through extraordinarily powerful images, Migrants narrates the journey of a group of animals that leaves behind a leafless forest. With forceful simplicity, Migrants shows us the courage, loss and underlying hope migration takes. And that arriving in a new land may mean burying a portion of the past. Children will empathise quickly with the elegantly illustrated animal characters, each of whom have their own identity with details like clothing, colour choices and expressions. The dark pages add weight to the silence of their journey and the individual animals help make the story a universal one. A perfect book to help teach children about refugees and migration, with humanity, inclusivity and empathy. Readers can’t fail to be moved by this deeply emotional and thought-provoking tale.

Read the Kirkus Star review. 

Sydney Smith (Canada) Do you remember?

Bookseller blurb: Tucked up in bed at their new flat, a boy and his mum share memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp when a rainstorm blew the power out. Now it’s just the two of them, and the house where all of those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favourite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined.

Here are all my previous posts about Sydney Smith winner of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. He will be a keynote speaker at the 40th IBBY Congress this year - 2026.

Axel Scheffler (Germany) The Gruffalo

Jimmy Liao (Taiwan) The Starry Starry Night

Jimmy Liao is the illustrator of a very important book - The Sound of Colours. I talked about his book When the Moon forgot here. I'm not sure that the book featured in The Picturebook Makers  (The Starry Starry Night) is available in Engish. I did have this glorious book in my former school library. 

Kristin Roskifte (Norway) Everybody Counts 

Book seller blurb: This fun book teaches you to count from 0 to 7.5 billion, but also to do so much more. Follow the characters' stories through the book and see how their lives collide with those of others. There are a lot of secrets to be discovered for the sharp-eyed! You'll see that everyone is different, everyone has their own life, and that - most importantly - everybody counts. At the end, a spotting section allows you to go back and have even more fun.

The sequel to Everybody Counts is Everybody Travels. 

Anna Hoglund (Sweden) There are three titles to explore - The Shadow; Didi and Gogo waiting for the bus; and Whereof one only speaks with Rabbits.

None of these titles are available in English. But you may have seen this one:

You can see Shaun Tan listed for Book One - I would like to suggest these Australian illustrators if Book Three is published in the future: Bob Graham; Freya Blackwood; Jeannie Baker; Zeno Sworder; Marc Martin; and Ann James.

CBCA Predicting the 2026 Younger Readers Notable titles

Trapped

Song of a Thousand Seas

Spud and Snowball

The CBCA 2026 Notables in five Book of the Year categories will be announced at various events around Australia next week on Tuesday 24th February. I love attending these events - it is so exciting to discover books I have not yet read and also to see many books that I loved reading during 2025. 

I was honestly very disappointed, though, with the CBCA Younger Readers choices and winners in 2024 and 2025. I do hope some of the titles in this post have been entered and that they 'make the cut'.  I have put my top three above. I used three of our Australian Standing order services as a way to remind myself or hunt out Younger Readers (ages 7-12). Lost in a Book may not be eligible because it is a sequel, but I think it can stand alone and I loved it even more than the first installment. 

I gave four stars to Oceanforged; Danger Road; The Keeper of the Octopus; Little Bones; Promises and other Lies; The Silken Thread; How to Sail to Somewhere; and Willow Bright's Secret Plot. 

Carnegie Medal longlists

The Carnegies are managed by CILIP, the library and information association, and celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people.  They are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Medal voted for by children and young people. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives. To celebrate this mission and make the shadowing scheme more accessible, 2026 marks the piloting of a new age-inclusive longlist shadowing offer that will run alongside the established shortlist shadowing scheme. This development is designed to open Carnegie shadowing to all ages and provide more choice to groups taking part. Source

The longlists were chosen from 127 nominations by the Judging Panel which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

You can see a full list of previous Illustration Winners from 1956 and Writing Winners from 1936. Notice our Australian names - Bob Graham (Jethro Byrde Fairy Child); Freya Blackwood (Harry and Hopper); Gregory Rogers (Way Home); and Ivan Southall (Josh). I was also excited to see a few of my own childhood favourites as past winners - The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge; The Borrowers by Mary Norton; along with some books I read during my early years as a Teacher Librarian such as Pack of Lies by Geraldine McCaughrean; Wolf by Gillian Cross; Skellig by David Almond; The Other side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo; Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech; Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce; and very recently I discovered The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros.

I am always pleased to see these lists and to cheer for books I have read and enjoyed and also to have titles to add to my enormous 'to read' list.

I have read these:

The Endless Sea

Don't trust Fish

High Ground

Birdie

Ghostlines

Wolf Siren

The winners will be announced on 23 June 2026. 

Here are images of the two sets of longlists - Illustration and Writing:

The Awards mission is: to champion librarians to inspire and empower the next generation to create a better world through books and reading.

We do this by:

• Celebrating outstanding writing and illustration for children and young people.
• Recognising a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices.
• Championing the power of librarians to connect children and young people with outstanding books that represent their identities and help them shape a better world.
• Encouraging authors, illustrators and publishers to create more books for children and young people that reflect all identities and promote diversity.
• Promoting a readership and market that values diversity, representation and inclusion in books for books for children and young people.
• Challenging children and young people with a diversity of ideas and perspectives to promote empathy and understanding.

CBCA Predicting the 2026 Notables - Picture Books

Dawn

Once I was a Giant

One Day

Next week the CBCA will announce the 2026 Book of the Year Notables. There will be 25 books in each of five categories. (Note there is no notable list for New Illustrator).

I looked through three of our Australian Standing Order services and some of my past blog posts and compiled this list of picture books published in 2025 which may have been submitted to the CBCA judges for the 2026 award. The 40+ books I have put here are from both possible categories - Picture Book of the Year and Early Childhood Picture Book of the Year.

I put my top three Picture Book choices at the top of this post.

Hatch by Heidi Cooper Smith

There are so many animals that lay eggs - many of them might not have occurred to you - while others will be very familiar - Green Sea Turtle; Mud Crab; echidna; cicada; tarantula; tawny frogmouth, Green Tree Frog; Platypus; Bearded Dragon; Brush Turkey; and crocodile.

Hatch is a perfect book - it is a non fiction, it covers a fascinating topic, and it has wonderful illustrations - well done to our Australian publisher CSIRO Publishing. AND there is a glossary and an four pages of extra facts. The end papers are also perfect - eggs at the front and babies at the back. There are teachers notes on the publisher page. 

A few days ago I talked about a couple of other new books from CSIRO Publishing and I mentioned that to my eye their illustrations were not as good as previous books from this company. Books from the series Nature Storybooks (formerly Read and Wonder) from a different publisher always use the very best illustrators and I commented that it would be great if these splendid books from CSIRO Publishing could emulate this.

I am happy to say Hatch, published in 2025, is perfect. 

I am in love with the beauty, warmth, and detail of the illustrations in this book! Hatch can work as a picture book for bedtime with the long vowels and gentle rhythm, and also as a scientific resource to spark curiosity and interest and for school projects. Story Links

Other books about eggs:

First the Egg

Other CSIRO Publishing titles - pop CSIRO into my search bar - I have talked about Bear to the Rescue; Look, see find me; The World from here; and Mystery of the Missing Turtles.