Best Australian Picture Book of all Time

 

The Guardian Australia

Illustration by Daniel Grey-Barnett

Which books will be nominated? 

Who will win - who will miss out?  
The title of this project implies ONE book will be selected
AND What is the expertise of the people who compile this list

It needs to be someone who knows which books are Australian because I am sure other books will be nominated. I'm thinking of Spot (Eric Hill), Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell), Elmer (David McKee), We're going on a Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury), any book by Allan Ahlberg, any book by Julia Donaldson, any book by Mick Ingpen, any book by Mo Willems, all Dick Bruna titles, Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins, and so many more.

 AND ...  OF ALL TIME.  I am sorry but I do think this is way too broad.

Here are the criteria:

To be eligible a book must be -

• Primarily intended to be read aloud to children who don’t yet read independently;
• Able to be read in a few minutes – we’re looking for a child’s picture book, rather than a graphic novel or illustrated chapter book;
• Written by an Australian (or someone we’ve claimed);
• Published in Australia.

I wonder what a 'few minutes' means. In my experience even the shortest very easy picture book takes around ten minutes to read. 

"Don't yet read independently" - does this mean ages 0-5?

AND what will they do if there are several titles by one author for example Possum Magic and Koala Lou (Mem Fox) and think about Pamela Allen or Margaret Wild who both have so many books that perfectly meet this criterion. Oh, and how many books will 'make the cut'? Top 10, top 20, top 100? And have they considered concept books, alphabet books, counting rhymes, or adaptions of nursery rhymes?

I do rejoice that this criterion does eliminate some 'golden oldies' such as The Magic Pudding; Snugglepot and Cuddlepie; and Blinky Bill. I know it is sure to be nominated but if Where is the Green Sheep 'wins' again I will sigh. It recently made the top 100 of the ABC Radio National vote. 

I also hope people who 'vote' realise that absolutely wonderful books such as John Brown Rose and the Midnight cat by Jenny Wagner; The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek and even Greetings from Sandy Beach by Bob Graham don't work for this list. I could list lots more examples. 

Here is another issue: What about a famous title like Are we There yet by Alison Lester? Surely it's way too long. Will 'someone' read each submission aloud to see if they meet the criterion of 'a few minutes'?

From the way the submission page is set out I think you can only nominate ONE book per entry but I still need to investigate this.  Anyway, I thought I would just pop some of my choices here (you can read about more of these if you search using my side bar):