CBCA Short lists 2026 announced today - my predictions

If you are reading this before 12 noon on 31st March, then you might like to see if my predictions match yours and IF you are reading this after 12 noon on 31st March you might be saying ha ha I was right or ha ha you were so wrong!

Picture Book of the Year - my top six. Of the twenty-five notables I was able to read 17. I read a good report about Jo and the No but I wasn't able to find this book over the last month. 

Once I was a giant

Dawn

One Day

Bob and Dob

Gone

The Thing about Christmas

Younger Readers Book of the Year - my top six (I have ten on my list). Of the twenty-five notables I was able to read or skim through 15. 

Song of a Thousand Seas

Run

The Keeper of the Octopus

The Silken Thread

Promises and other lies

Into the Bewilderness

My other three choices are The Year we Escaped; How to sail to Somewhere; and The Making of Martha Mayfield. I am currently reading The Surface Trials and it might be another possible title on the short list. The other title from the Younger Readers that I wanted to read but didn't find was The Paperbark Tree Committee. 

Our Beautiful World by Sarah Speedie illustrated by Margeaux Davis

Please grab an atlas or find a simple world map online to share alongside this book. You will begin in Australia then travel on to Chile, China, England, Italy, Canada, Japan, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Morocco, and South Africa. Each location is matched with a landscape and a colour. Purple grapes in Chile, white snow in Canada, and yellow sunflowers (see the cover) in Italy for example. 

"Yellow, bold sunflowers and in neat rows. The Italian summer puts on a bright show."

Each landscape is a double page spread but the text placement varies. The children in each country change too. I especially loved the Japanese kids in their iconic school uniforms. 

Our Beautiful World celebrates a rainbow of colours and these same colours are used across the front and back end papers. 

I really like the cover of Our Beautiful World and, this might sound strange, but when I first saw this book in a shop in April 2025, I thought it looked like it came from a Japanese illustrator - I had no idea (at that time) that this was an Australian title. 

I love books about concepts like colours, days of the week, numbers and the alphabet. Our Beautiful World uses simple colours and landscapes to explore the world.  It reminded me of this truly exceptional book:

Our Beautiful World is a 2026 CBCA Early Childhood Notable title. 

Margeaux Davis is the illustrator of a book I really loved - What Stars are for. Here is her blog.

I was sent one of Sarah Speedie's early titles when I was a previous CBCA judge. I am going to honest and say it did not really appeal to me. I gifted it to a friend for her library and she told me her students really enjoyed it so that's great!

Here are the previous books by Sarah Speedie:

Here is my blog post about The Great Dawn Choir

Derek by Anne Donaldson illustrated by Matt Shanks

Bookseller blurb: Derek is a fish with many questions. Why is the universe round? Where do bubbles come from? Why does food rain down from above? But the question Derek asks himself more than any other is: ‘Why am I alone?’

I actually gasped when I turned the page and read that question - Why am I alone?

The solution is unexpected, delightful and hilarious.

Derek is a debut picture book for Anne Donaldson (her book/s will be in good company on your library shelves beside the famous Julia Donaldson!) and here are other books illustrated by Matt Shanks. 

Here is part of the ReadPlus review:

The wonderfully sparse illustrations are full of extra inferential information and make brilliant use of perspective and proportion. The front cover foreshadows Derek as a curious, wide-eyed fish in a big world. Observant endpaper readers know from the beginning of the story where Derek is (a pet fish shop) but it is never explicitly said.  Derek is a curious fish; among other things he wants to know why the (his) universe is round and why the (his) earth is pink. ...  The big creatures that Derek sees 'when food rains down' are shown just as a giant hand (as would be seen by Derek) and poor Derek is desperate to know why he is all alone. Adventurous Derek decides to make contact with the big creatures above but try as he might they are never that interested in him. There's a great little goldfish joke here as it is noted 'they must have very short attention spans'. 

Derek is a 2026 CBCA Early Childhood Picture Book Notable title. I have not read all of the 2026 Notables in this category, but I am hoping Derek will make the shortlist of six. 

Here are the judges' comments:

Check out this post from Kinderbookswitheverything where you will find lots more goldfish books. 

Companion books:

Paul meets Bernadette

Aquarium

Poor Fish isn't directly linked with Derek but it is a wonderful book to read aloud to Grade One or Two

For middle primary readers try to find these two books (short novel and a picture book):

Growing Home (Highly recommended)

Whale in a fishbowl

Gone by Michel Streich

It happened

on a quiet morning

in autumn.

I woke early and saw that my bird had died during the night.

My own bird died just like this one and, like this child, we discovered him in the morning. My mother and I buried my little yellow budgie in our garden under some trees and beside a small rock shelf. I often think about that spot in the garden and wish we had put some sort of marker. It makes me a little sad to think I am the only person now who has a memory of this - I think I was in about Grade 4 or 5 and it was one of the first sad events in my life. 

The child in this book also carries his little friend out to the garden - think about the words in this sentence:

"I gently carried the body into the garden and dig a little hole and there I buried my bird."

Now think about the depth of this sentence:

"I thought about how life ticks away. One minute, one hour, one day at a time."

And what happens when we die? Michel Streich does not shy away from this either - instead each family member contributes their own wisdom. 

Image Source: Michel Streich

You can see the interesting page design used in this book. The text is placed at angles and two of the double spreads ask the reader to turn the book sideways. 

This is a gentle, soft-touch exploration of life cycles and life spans and the emotions that are evoked, made more sensitive by the creator choosing autumn to be the time when the bird passes so the illustrations are naturally those warm colours of red, orange and yellow. Read Plus Barbara Braxton

About Michel Streich: I was born in the Westphalia region of Germany, where I grew up and studied visual communication and graphic design, specializing in illustration. After graduating, I moved to London and started my career as a freelance illustrator. Three years later, in 2000, I relocated to Australia. After living in Sydney for a decade, I am now based in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney.

I am so pleased the CBCA judges did not shy away from selecting Gone which deals with the big topics of death and grief. Last year we had the wonderful book A Leaf called Greaf. It might be good to revisit that book when you share Gone with your library groups from Grade 2 up. 

There are some terrific titles this year in the CBCA Picture Book Notables list - I have picked out four that I am hopeful will make the short list of six - maybe Gone will be one of them. 

I was interested to read the CBCA Judges notes. They mention Old Pig; The Tenth Good think about Barney; When Violet Died (which is a book I have never seen published in 1973) and another book with the one-word title 'Heaven'. I wonder if this might be the book by Nicholas Allen?  My choices for companion books are:

The dead bird

Circles in the sky

The Bear and the Wildcat

When I saw Michel Streich had a 2026 CBCA Notable title I knew I wanted to read it. I adored this previous book:

Writing about Scary Bird in 2021 when it didn't make the CBCA Notables etc. I said: "I am certain this will WIN other awards. I really thought this would be the 2021 Picture Book of the Year winner. Message to the publisher (Scholastic) - please send this book far and wide. Perhaps it might win a future Kate Greenaway Medal as Bob Graham did in 2002 for Jethro Bird Fairy Child or a Caldecott prize as we saw with Hello Lighthouse in 2019. Nop (Caroline Magerl) is on the 2021 Greenaway Medal Long List. I adore Scary Bird so much I plan to add a copy to my own picture book collection."

Here are some other books by Michel Streich:

General Waste

The worst dog in the world

CBCA 2026 Notables

Last night I attended the CBCA NSW Night of the Notables. I will pen a separate blog post to share the three books that were 'launched' at this event and other CBCA happenings. For now, I need to show you the 125 Notables and give links to a few of my blog posts AND as usual I will share a few of the titles I think should have 'made the cut' - I can these THE MISSING. 

Since I no longer work in a school library I am not going to attempt to read the fifty plus titles from three of these lists that I have not yet seen or read mainly because there are only four weeks to do this before the shortlists are announced and my own to read pile is out of control. Instead, I have listed a few that I am keen to borrow from a library or perhaps buy. Blue links take you to my blog posts:

Picture Book

A is for… A Rabbit’s Tale, Lucinda Gifford, text by Jackie Hosking (Walker Books Australia) 

Being Indy, Estee Sarsfield, text by Zoe Gaetjens (WestWords Children’s) 

Between, Anna Walker (Scribble) 

Bigfoot vs Yeti, James Foley (Fremantle Press) 

Bob and Dob, Sean E Avery (Walker Books Australia) 

Bored, Felicita Sala (Little Hare) 

Dawn, Marc Martin (Walker Books Australia) 

Dear Broccoli, Cate James, text by Jo Dabrowski (Affirm Press) 

Dropbear, Philip Bunting (Walker Books Australia) 

The Frog’s First Song, Jason Phu, text by Jazz Money (University of Queensland Press) 

Going for Pippies, Tori-Jay Mordey, text by Wilaaran Laurie (Magabala Books) 

Gone, Michel Streich (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

Hello Cocky, Antonia Pesenti, text by Hilary Bell (Scribble) 

Here Come the Cousins, Sarah Zweck, text by Maggie Hutchings (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

How My Family Says I Love You, Aurore McLeod, text by Yvonne Sewankambo (Walker Books Australia) 

Jo and the No, Judy Watson, text by Kyle Mewburn (Dirt Lane Press) 

My Mum is a Bird, Evie Barrow, text by Angie Cui (University of Queensland Press) 

Neville’s Great Escape, Sean E Avery (Walker Books Australia) 

Once I was a Giant, Zeno Sworder (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

One Day, Michael Speechley, text by Shirley Marr (Walker Books Australia) 

One Word and a Bird, Stephen Michael King (Scholastic Press) 

Rain on the Rock, Valerie Brumby, text by Jodi Toering (Bright Light) 

Some Days You’ll have Days Like These, Stephen Michael King, text by Josh Pyke (Scholastic Press) 

The Thing About Christmas, Briony Stewart, text by Jo Dabrowski (Little Book Press) 

Tiwi in Paris, Glen Farmer Illortaminni (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

On my own to read list now the Picture Book Notables have been announced I have Bored; Gone; The Thing about Christmas; Rain on the Rock; and Hello Cocky. I made my predictions a couple of weeks ago. I am pleased my top three - One day; Dawn; and Once I was a Giant made the notables. BUT here are a couple of books that are 

THE MISSING:

The Fishmonger and the Pastry Chef

The enchantment of the Golden eagle

A Hatful of Dreams

Emmie builds something new

Younger Readers

Chickenpox, Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin) 

Creature Clinic, Gavin Aung Than (Figment Books) 

Frances Bloom, Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Marina Zlatanova (ABC Books) 

Ghost Guitar, TJ DOOM, illustrated by Nahum Ziersch (Penguin Random House Australia) 

The Hits and Misses of Melody Moss, Helen Dallimore (Penguin Random House Australia) 

How to Sail to Somewhere, Ashleigh Barton (Lothian Children’s Books) 

Inked, Karen Wasson, illustrated by Jake A Minton (Figment Books) 

Into the Bewilderness, Gus Gordon (Figment Books) 

Jungle Escape, Nathan Luff (Walker Books Australia) 

The Keeper of the Octopus, Neridah McMullin (Walker Books Australia) 

Little Bones, Sandy Bigna, illustrated by Tamlyn Teow (University of Queensland Press) 

The Making of Martha Mayfield, Jo Dabrowski (Affirm Press) 

Moonboy, Anna Ciddor (Allen & Unwin) 

The Paperbark Tree Committee, Karys McEwen (Text Publishing) 

Promises and Other Lies, Sue Whiting (Walker Books Australia) 

Run, Sarah Armstrong (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing) 

Seriously Soccer, Matt Stanton (ABC Books) 

The Serpent Rider, Yxavel Magno Diño (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) 

The Silken Thread, Gabrielle Wang (Penguin Random House Australia) 

Something Terrible: Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces, Sally Barton, illustrated by Christopher Nielsen (Walker Books Australia) 

Song of a Thousand Seas, Zana Fraillon, illustrated by Aviva Reed (University of Queensland Press) 

Spirit of the Crocodile, Aaron Fa’Aoso & Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White (Allen & Unwin) 

The Surface Trials, H.M. Waugh (Allen & Unwin) 

Too Big to Be a Fairy, Kiah Thomas, Bec Kitson, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing 

The Year We Escaped, Suzanne Leal (Angus & Robertson)

I am planning to read The Year we escaped; The Surface Trials; and The Paperbark Tree Committee.

THE MISSING:

Trapped

Oceanforged: The wicked Ship

Danger Road

The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe

Early Childhood

The Bin Monster, Annabelle Hale (Affirm Press) 

Castle Crashing, Andrea Rowe, illustrated by Hannah Sommerville (Little Hare) 

The Colours of Home, Sally Soweol Han (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

Counting Crocodiles, Students from Bulla Camp Primary School (Indigenous Literacy Foundation) 

Derek, Anne Donaldson, illustrated by Matt Shanks (Little Hare) 

Dropbear, Philip Bunting (Walker Books Australia) 

Earthspeak, Sean McCann, illustrated by Jade Goodwin (Allen & Unwin) 

The Emperor’s Egg, Rae Tan (Lothian Children’s Books) 

Fly Mama, Fly!, Anna McGregor (Scribble) 

Frogs Are Our Friends, Toni D’Alia, Madeline White (Bright Light) 

Going Fishing with Nana, Frances Haji-Ali & Lindsay Haji-Ali, illustrated by Karen Briggs (Magabala Books) 

How to Help When You Really Want to Help, Davina Bell, illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper (Lothian Children’s Books) 

Laugh in the Bath, Rory H. Mather, illustrated by Brent Wilson (Little Book Press) 

Look, See, Find Me, Sandra Severgnini (CSIRO Publishing) 

My Father’s Arms, Toni D’Alia, illustrated by Mimi Purnell (Little Hare) 

My Nonno Loves, Adelle Frittitta, illustrated by Claudia Frittitta (Little Hare) 

Now You Are a Chicken, Andrew McDonald, illustrated by Ben Wood (Little Hare) 

Our Beautiful World, Sarah Speedie, illustrated by Margeaux Davis (New Frontier Publishing) 

Potion Commotion, Rebecca Grant, illustrated by Niña Nill (Affirm Press) 

Say Goodnight, Renae Hayward, illustrated by Rebecca Mills (Fremantle Press) 

Sidney of Sydney, Sue Whiting, illustrated by Liz Anelli (Walker Books Australia) 

The Thing About Christmas, Jo Dabrowski, illustrated by Briony Stewart (Little Book Press) 

The Train at the End of My Street, Tom Jellett (Affirm Press) 

What is a Dot?, Johanna Bell, illustrated by Amelia Luscombe (Thames and Hudson Australia) 

Where the River Runs Free, Vikki Conley, illustrated by Jedda Robaard (Windy Hollow Books) 

There are some important and possible familiar names on this list - people I have talked about previously such as Briony Stewart; Liz Anelli; Sue Whiting; Sally Soweol Han; Anna McGregor; Hilary Jean Tapper and Vikki Conley. 

You can see the Eve Pownall and Older Readers lists her. I previously talked about:

Foal in the wire (for ages 14+)

Drift

All About Antarctica

The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt

Platypus Bend

This Bird