Book of the Year Older Readers Winner
Cloudwish - Fiona Wood
Book of the Year Older Readers Honour Books
A Single Stone - Meg McKinlay
Inbetween Days - Vikki Wakefield
Book of the Year Younger Readers Winner
Soon - Morris Gleitzman
Book of the Year Younger Readers Honour Books
Sister Heart - Sally Morgan (see my review)
Star of Deltora: Shadows of the Master - Emily Rodda
Book of the Year Early Childhood Winner
Mr Huff - Anna Walker
Book of the Year Early Childhood Honour Books
Perfect - Danny Parker, Freya Blackwood (illustrator)
The Cow Tripped Over the Moon - Tony Wilson, Laura Wood (illustrator)
Book of the Year Picture Book Winner
Flight - Armin Greder (illustrator), Nadia Wheatley (text)
Book of the Year Picture Book Honour Books
Perfect - Freya Blackwood (illustrator), Danny Parker (text)
Ride, Ricardo, Ride - Shane Devries (illustrator), Phil Cummings (text)
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Winner
Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony - Stephanie Owen Reeder
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Honour Books
Phasmid: Saving the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect - Rohan Cleave, Coral Tulloch (illustrator)
Ancestry: Stories of Multicultural Anzacs - Robyn Siers, Carlie Walker (illustrator)
Crichton Award for New Illustrators Winner
The Underwater Fancy Dress Parade - Allison Colpoys (illustrator), Davina Bell (text)
For even more great reads check out the full shortlist and notable books.
I've read all the Older Readers books this year and one of the Younger Readers books. Interestingly, the only younger readers book I read was Soon, the winner. :-) And a wonderful book it was too. So was Cloudwish. I think the judges got it right this year, though I would rather have seen The Flywheel get an Honour than either of those that did. They were both good books, but I had nitpicks with them. Still, Cloudwish and Soon are both beautiful books and Cloudwish has a lot of gentle humour, plus it's a love letter to Melbourne.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see what you think when you have read some more of them. If nothing else, do read the winners, I'd be very surprised if you didn't enjoy them.
Hi Sue. Thanks for your comment. I would love to read Cloudwish and Soon soon... I've amused myself there. Anyway though, both are sequels really, and I've never read any of Fiona Woods' books- I do know that her three books are loosely related, but that's enough for me to want to read them in order. Soon of course is the fifth book in the series, and rather incredibly I've never read any of them either! I have read some of Morris's other books though. I have Once in the house (and Fiona Wood's first book too), it's just finding the time to read them. I do have high hopes for getting the other winners read soon though. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou don't really have to read the Fiona Wood books in order or even read all of them. I was halfway through Cloudwish before I thought, "Hang on... Isn't this set in the same universe as Wildlife?" What she does is take a minor character from the previous book and make her the main character in the next. The style is completely different in each one. One of our students who had never read the other two loved Cloudwish. We agreed that it was a more cheerful version of Alice Pung's Laurinda, with a similar storyline. And it has a sense of place - Melbourne - neither of the others do. I think it's the best of the three. But you don't HAVE to have read them.
ReplyDeleteYou probably should read Once before attempting the others, agreed. The author says he's written the series to stand alone, but it doesn't, really. You could read Soon alone, but Felix, the hero, just wouldn't mean the same to you, you couldn't feel his grief as you do when you know what he's been through.
Not only have I not read any of the books, I am not familiar with any of the authors. Very sad day for me. Will I never become a more worldly children's book reader?
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