Tuesday, February 27, 2024

The DANZ Children's Book Award


WHAT DOES DANZ STAND FOR?
Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

This is a biennial award which began in 2024.

WHO CAN ENTER THE AWARD?
Authors who are Australian or New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.

DANZ is so much more than an award! Our initiative is a way of supporting time-strapped educators, parents, carers, and booksellers across the two countries, and beyond, to recommend, stock, and offer books to children, which have more than a convenient label of diversity. We aim to share books which have the best, fairest, and most accurate representation of marginalised and minority people and communities across Australia and New Zealand.

Short list 2024:

Picture Books

Be Careful, Xiao Xin!
Written by Alice Pung and illustrated by Sher Rill Ng
Published by Working Title Press



Here are my comments from when this book was submitted for CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) judging for our 2023 awards (it was a Notable title). 

How wonderful to have a dual language text (English and Mandarin) submitted for our judging. The refection image on the cover is a brilliant way to show the boy and his reality versus his dream/desire. The end papers are minimal and interesting and, in some ways, bracket the book’s timeline. The title page hat rack image is intriguing. Sher Rill Ng captures every emotion of this little boy in such a powerful way especially on the pages where Xiao Xin looks directly at the reader. The glossy pages soak up the deep blues and greens, moving between light and dark shades, while little Xiao Xin stands out defiantly in his red puffer jacket. Dressing him in this large puffer jacket adds to the themes of over protection – cushioning him in case of a fall, cocooning him so he stays small. Red is also a lucky and auspicious colour in Chinese culture. The illustrations add so much more to this story – such as the unspoken mud shapes portraying his family as shadow-demons haunting Xiao Xin with their own worries. Why are the family so overprotective? We are given fragments, tiny glimpses into Xiao Xin’s family’s past and their journey as refugees. We can see into Xiao Xin’s imagination and his dream to be a brave warrior. Repeating the shadow on the final page gives this book both a sense of completion and hope for the future.

Ceremony 
Written by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing and illustrated by David Hardy
Published by Allen & Unwin

Come Over to My House
Written by Sally Rippin and Eliza Hull and illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett
Published by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing


Readings (Melbourne) Review by Dani Solomon: I have been waiting for years for a book like Come Over to My House. On every page you’re invited to someone’s house to play, eat, dance, read or any other number of exciting activities. Except each house does things a little differently: one household talks with their hands (but writing things down is fine too if you don’t know Auslan); another has a perfect-sized treehouse that the perfect-sized dad with dwarfism can climb into and have fun. Every household is unique, and importantly, it’s the visitors who adapt to suit the physical, neurodivergent or intellectual disabilities of those who live there.


Chapter Books

When Granny Came to Stay
Written by Alice Pung and Illustrated by Soweol Han
Published by Pan Australia

Maku
By Meyne Wyatt
Published by Pan Australia

29 Things You Didn't Know About Me
Written by Solli Raphael and illustrated by Olana Janfa
Published by Pan Australia


Middle Grade

By Melanie La’Brooy
Published by UQP




By Karen Foxlee and illustrated by Freda Chiu
Published by Allen & Unwin




By Maryam Master
Published by Pan Australia




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