The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable Books for 2024 have been announced.
Follow the links to those books I have already reviewed or interviewed the author or illustrator at PaperbarkWords blog.
NB I will add reviews and interviews here and on the Inside the 2024 Shortlist page on the blog (once the shortlist is announced) until the winners are announced in Book Week in August.
To the authors, illustrators and publishers – apologies if I don’t feature your book. It is most likely because I haven’t been able to access a copy.
Congratulations to those creators who have been longlisted. Sincere commiserations to those who have created great books but have missed out on these awards.
Book of the Year: OLDER READERS
Borderland by Graham Akhurst (UWA Publishing) Author interview
Stuck Up & Stupid by Angourie Rice and Kate Rice (Walker Books Australia) Author interview may be pending
One Song by A.J. Betts (Pan Macmillan Australia) Author interview
Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong (A & U Children) Author interview
Two Can Play That Game by Leanne Yong (A & U Children) Author interview
Let’s Never Speak of This Again by Megan Williams (Text Publishing) Guest author post
This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang (Penguin Random House Australia) My review in Magpies magazine 2023 (read in Supplementary resources at the end of this post)
Other books from this list to feature soon
Book of the Year:YOUNGER READERS
Scar Town by Tristan Bancks (Puffin AU) Book review and teacher notes by Joy Lawn
Dirrarn by Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler (Magabala Books) Author interview
Running With Ivan by Suzanne Leal (HarperCollins Publishers) Author interview
Meet Me at the Moon Tree by Shivaun Plozza (University of Queensland Press) Guest author post
Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd (Puffin AU) Guest author post
Other books from this list to feature soon
Book of the Year: Early Childhood
The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books Australia) One of my 6 best books of 2023 in the Weekend Australian (behind the paywall). Read my comments in Supplementary resources at the end of this post)
In the Rockpool by Andrea Rowe, ill. Hannah Sommerville (Little Hare) My review for Books + Publishing
One Little Duck by Katrina Germein, ill. Danny Snell (HarperCollins Publishers) My review as part of an extended survey (scroll down).
Grace and Mr Milligan by Caz Goodwin, ill. Pip Kruger (Marshall Cavendish International) Guest author post
Other books from this list to feature soon
Picture Book of the Year
Note: some of these books may be for mature readers.
The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books Australia) One of my 6 best books of 2023 in the Weekend Australian (behind the paywall). Read my comments in Supplementary resources at the end of this post.
The Lucky Shack by Jennifer Falkner, text by Apsara Baldovino (Working Title Press) My review as part of an extended survey (scroll down).
Plague by Bruce Whatley, text by Jackie French (Scholastic Australia) My review in Magpies magazine 2023 (read in Supplementary resources at the end of this post)
Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker (Scholastic Australia) Guest author/illustrator post
World by Anna Read, text by Martine Murray (Parachute Press) Guest author post
The Garden at the End of the World by Briony Stewart, text by Cassy Polimeni (University of Queensland Press) Guest author post
Other books from this list to feature soon
Eve Pownall Award
Note: SOME books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide. Parental guidance is recommended.
All About the HEART by Remi Kowalski, ill. Tonia Composto (Berbay Books) My review for Books + Publishing (reproduced with permission)
Australia: Country of Colour by Jess Racklyeft (Affirm Press) My review as part of an extended survey (scroll down).
Australian Backyard Birds by Myke Mollard (Woodslane Press)
Wildlife of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by Myke Mollard (Woodland Press) Author interview about these books and others in Magpies magazine 2023 (read in Supplementary resources at the end of this post)
Other books from this list to feature soon
******
The 2024 CBCA shortlist will be announced on 19th March. The winners will be announced in Book Week in August.
Thank you to the publishers who have kindly sent me review copies and to the authors and illustrators who have responded so generously by answering interview questions and writing about their books.
*****
Supplementary Resources
Book of the Year: OLDER READERS
This Time It’s Real (2023) by Ann Liang,Penguin, 352 pp.
Review by Joy Lawn for Magpies magazine (reproduced with permission)
Ann Liang is one of a talented group of young Asian-Australian YA novelists who are producing relevant, entertaining and accomplished works. In her romantic comedy This Time It’s Real Liang uses the experience of some of her formative years travelling to and from Beijing to create Eliza Lin, her seventeen-year-old protagonist.
Eliza lived in China when very young and has since lived in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Her Chinese is not fluent and she is reluctant to develop friendships because, although capable of making friends, she can’t maintain them. Fortunately she still has Zoe, her best friend in LA, but even that relationship seems to be disintegrating.
Eliza excels at writing and invents a boyfriend in an online essay, “Love and Other Small, Sacred Things”. Their romance is so sweet and beautiful her posts go viral and she is offered an internship at Craneswift, the publication behind some of the world’s most successful writers. When she needs a real boy to play the role of her boyfriend she proposes a contract to Caz Song, a fellow student who also happens to be one of China’s top three heartthrobs. Caz is a “pretty-boy” yet talented actor who is mobbed by fangirls. He admires Eliza’s writing and agrees that he will act the part if she helps him with his college applications. During their subsequent fake dates he gradually reveals his complicated home and public life. Of course, Eliza starts to fall for him but her fear and ingrained self-protectiveness send mixed messages.
Family is an important part of the story. Eliza comes from a loving home and her younger sister Emily is wiser than her nine years. Caz’s parents are rarely home and his mother brags about him in the tone of making a complaint, a very refined, subtle art, one that most Asian parents seem to perfect by the time their children enter kindergarten. Humour stems from family – when Eliza’s family don’t believe she could be dating the famous Caz Song – and from Eliza’s own misunderstandings and awkwardness. Both protagonists are engaging, endearing, and layered.
This Time It’s Real explores complexities of truth and hope through a feel-good lens that generates feelings of sympathy, envy, glee and joy. Teen readers will love it.
Book of the Year: EARLY CHILDHOOD & Picture Book of the Year
The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books Australia) in the Weekend Australian 2023. Scroll down to bolded section.
Praiseworthy (Giramondo) by Waanyi author Alexis Wright is the Australian Ulysses. A searing satirical yet lyrical allegory about Aboriginal Sovereignty, at more than 700 pages it requires commitment but is a transformative almost hallucinatory reading experience.
Equally masterful is Matt Ottley’s monumental The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness (One Tentacle Publishing), an awarded multimodal work of art, word, music and film. Like a phantastic Alice, it spirals through mental illness, metamorphosis and restoration.
Another surreal illustrated book for older readers is Paradise Sands: A Story of Enchantment (Walker Studio) by Levi Pinfold. To save her brothers, a sister must withstand three days of fasting while others feast. Original, allusively layered and technically brilliant.
The Concrete Garden (Walker Books), by national treasure Bob Graham, is a picture book for all ages. Playing together, children transform ordinary, grey life through rainbow colours. They inspire the world. Suffused with humour, this book celebrates community, diversity, joy, hope and wonder. Flawless.
Wonder and innocence are threatened when a five-year-old’s childhood friend is snatched in Lucy Treloar’s slow-burning literary thriller Days of Innocence and Wonder (Picador). Damaged survivor, Till, changes her name and tries to outrun her fear. Sculpted, charring storytelling.
Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything, by Julia Baird (4th Estate), is the book for our jaded, wounded age. The author’s quest for “awe, wonder and light” leads her to seek grace, discovered through undeserved kindness and love, forgiveness and beauty – a liberating gift that is “bright shining as the sun”.
Joy Lawn is a critic specialising in literary fiction, YA and children’s books.
Picture Book of the Year
PLAGUE (2023) by Jackie French, ill. Bruce Whatley, Scholastic Press Australia, 32pp.
Review by Joy Lawn for Magpies magazine (reproduced with permission)
Jackie French and Bruce Whatley must be considered one of Australia’s most successful picture book collaborative pairings. They are responsible for the ‘Diary of a Wombat’ and ‘Shaggy Gully’ series as well as the ‘Natural Disaster’ picture books. Books in this series so far are Flood, Fire, Cyclone, Drought, Pandemic and Earthquake. The latest release is Plague. The creators have a clear commitment to producing fine work and their passion is undiminished. Plague is one of the best in the series.
In current times we could assume that a book titled Plague is about sickness or a pandemic but this work is about a locust invasion. Told in first person from an omniscient locust viewpoint, with threatening close-ups of the insects in the foreground, we begin in the past where women ground grass seeds for flour. Men hunted kangaroos and white ibis hunted us. The food chain worked effectively; the world was balanced then. Bruce Whatley’s depictions of First Peoples are sensitive, his unspoiled panoramas are stunning and his locust swarms have an awful beauty.
However, two hundred years ago farmers (shown in drab monochrome) were responsible for changing the ecosystem. They cut down trees and drained the ibis swamps, which caused the ibis to become scavenging ‘bin chickens’. With the migration of their natural predators to the city, the locusts ravage the land. The story today is of poison that not only kills the locusts but is sprayed over the grasslands onto birds, animals and people.
The ancient voices know how Country should be understood and cherished. Jackie French has also been warning us and sharing this message for many years. In the author notes in this sophisticated and timely book, she gives specific solutions to manage locust infestations and to care generally for our planet.
Eve Pownall Award
Australian Backyard Birds & Wildlife of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Interview with Myke Mollard for Magpies magazine 2022 by Joy Lawn (reproduced with permission)
Myke Mollard & Australia’s Bush Creatures
Interview with Myke Mollard by Joy Lawn
Myke Mollard is the author and illustrator of An A-Z of Australian Bush Creatures, Australia’s Endangered Bush Creatures, Australia’s Dangerous Bush Creatures (Woodslane Press) and other books. These books are well-researched and gloriously, colourfully and meticulously illustrated.
Myke’s first book, The A-Z of Australian Bush Creatures, is in large format with double-page spreads filled with animals, birds, reptiles and other creatures from Australia and surrounding islands and territories. It also includes sea creatures. It is stunning and, although more factual, it is the closest book to Graeme Base’s Animalia that I can recall viewing.
Thanks for speaking with Magpies, Myke.
Where are you based and, apart from writing and illustrating books, how to you spend your time?
I live in Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula. Apart from insanely busy drawing schedule, with research and writing on top of this, I create TikToks on Wildlife and Sunsets and encourage people to get out in nature or if they can’t, just experience it through my presentations and content posts. I also do my own spearfishing, snorkelling and scuba diving adventures, again filming these aquatic “bush creatures” for TikTok too.
What do you love about the Australian bush?
The wildlife, the unique flora and fauna! The little sensory things like the smell, waxy leaves, the light, the extraordinary colour palette and the sounds of our kookaburras and bellbirds – it’s like nothing else in the world.
How do you encourage children to enter into and explore your books, particularly in Australia’s Dangerous Bush Creatures?
Well, I think this is a trick question (insert chuckle)? Between my two newest Bush Creatures books (Dangerous and Endangered) I have taken two distinct approaches. Endangered explores my “naturalist” approach to researching and discovering wildlife and Dangerous has more personal “adventurer” stories in the book. I want kids to know that even though these creatures are dangerous they aren’t to be feared only respected. Wonderment comes from our inner curiosity and respect for the environment.
Please walk us through your available books in order of publication and, on the way, tell us about one of the creatures from each book that you feature.
An A-Z of Australian Bush Creatures
It’s an alphabet book with some extra categories thrown in. Fully indexed so parents have cheat notes and kids can learn all the names of over 415 Aussie Bush creatures … It has over 40 pages of creatures to discover and identify. Endless hours learning through just observing … just like in nature learning by looking and through innate fascination.
Australia’s Dangerous Bush Creatures
Really happy with this book! It’s a perfect way for kids to learn about 50 Bush creatures and get up close and personal with some of our most venomous and potentially dangerous creatures. There is a lot of misinformation and sensationalism online and so I have really tied hard to find some of the best facts and balance out with some interesting truths and drive it all home with some stunning visuals.
Australia’s Endangered Bush Creatures
Believe it or not climate change isn’t the biggest threat to our ecosystem, especially for our Bush Creatures! Feral pests, logging, human impact, urban sprawl and overfishing is all playing a more dire role. We can help these endangered creatures dramatically and we can stop pushing these creatures to extinction by pulling our socks up and fixing these issues. I love the unique stories collected within the book. 157 endangered species feature and stories of survival, hope, surprises and fascinating creatures most people haven’t even heard of. It’s a wonderland of living heritage and something we could do something about.
How do you find information about the creatures that you write about and illustrate?
I have amassed a library of books over the years about Australian Bush Creatures. I do use google, I have a long standing subscription to Australian Geographic and National geographic, I go to the zoo, national parks and I have a growing community of environmental scientists and eco-friends on social media. I actively bird watch, do nature photography, wildlife filming, hike or go into nature and see for myself. I read either from books or internet and enjoy a good silent meander through my local library when I can.
What media and illustrative process do you use and how has it changed over the course of your published book career?
My style is not unique, but I think very unique to publishing and kids’ books. I do pencil sketches that I render out in simple cartoon-like pen and ink. This infusion of kid-friendly, high visual impact of comic-book rendering and softer more understated botanical prints that inspire me come together in my process. I honestly do hundreds of thousands of drawings; I scan them all in and colour them individually. Once I have a library of drawings, a treasure trove of pictures, I collage and compose my scenes to mimic the environment, paint the with SFX and light. Dapple in rich shadows and moods. Then tend to the details and layers of leaves and rocks and sticks and plants. I love the tiny details and themes of majesty, fascination, organic design, patterns, plus recycling and repetition. Like the chaos and structure of nature and the design of all flora and fauna there is this ongoing cycle of life that creates this visually stunning world that I build on every page. Even in the simplest piece it’s still brimming with story, life and character.
Side note. I haven’t changed my style for 20 odd years but I have explored watercolour and other elements within each drawing. I also explore things that are so subtle you would never realise. Like using my own photos for the sky and clouds and sunsets and scanning carpet to bring texture to the fur and scales. There are many evolving secrets in my art and process.
Your page composition is often a work of art. How do you go about composing a page and could you please select one page that you are very happy with to explain the elements, and placement of these, in your composition?
Honestly, I love all my pages, it’s so hard to decide. There is a story and resonance behind every page. Plus, a reason for each high and low in a flow of the book just like notes in music.
In hindsight, thinking over my process, the pages seem to always compose themselves. I have a thumbnail vision, very sketchy, and establish a flow of the animals and sections and then I just hit the sketch pad and go wild. As the book takes shape it finds its own flow like a river. It’s structured for the most part but after a while it talks to me, finds its own way to grow organically like slime mould and as the chaos bursts from each page I try to snapshot the best compositions of action and flow and keep it dramatic and, just like writing has to be a “page turner”, the visuals have to do the same. Create drama and life just like in nature. I trust my editorial knowledge of 30 years as an advertising creative director and magazine art director and years of illustrative work and experiences in studying design to just keep pushing the ideal of dynamic layouts.
Please tell us about your book that is being published later this year. What else is on the way?
It’s going to be big! It’s going to be mega! It’s the most difficult book I’ve undertaken to date, but it’s the one I’ve only dreamed about since I was like 4 or 5 years of age. It’s millions of years in the making and it’s, of course, Australian Dinosaurs and Mega Beasts. So, ALL the dinosaurs of Australia and Mega Fauna and even recently extinct creatures like the giant echidnas, thylacine, giant platypuses and more. It’s so exciting and I can’t wait to bring this epic book to classrooms, libraries and into night-time reading and show off the recent dinosaur discoveries. This book will be the one kids sneak their torches and hide under the donna after dark to read and turn the pages long into the night dreaming about what it would be like to have lived amongst these unique and giant prehistoric bush creatures.
It sounds as though you have a prodigious output. How do you organise your time and what assistance do you have?
I organise my time poorly. Mostly work it all by myself and my publisher and mentors are my go-to emotional support crew. But I thrive on the adrenaline of illustrating and writing. Really to roll out an old saying … “it’s not work when you love it!” But to give you an idea … The last two books took six months of 20-hour long days with zero breaks and no letting up. Oh … I did have a family crisis in there, but I used the lockdowns and the covid crisis to my advantage. I just locked myself down, strapped myself in like I was on a rollercoaster ride and flicked the switch! Focus, determination, and singlemindedness. Hard work will always win the day and foregoing distractions and needless fun gets the job done. I did have a few breaks and scheduled in TikTok filming and nature walks and scuba diving and spearfishing as my reward.
I guess to answer your question “Life organises me” and like any good survivalist I understand the nature of life and make fire and find the means to get the output. But I don’t put pressure on myself I just let things take their course and tackle my process and task head on like a child on a waterslide.
I’ve heard that you have a very positive attitude towards libraries. How did that begin and what is your relationship with libraries now?
My mum was a librarian, I grew up in afterschool library programs, sitting in aisles between bookshelves and pawing over wildlife books and reading and immersing myself in knowledge and photos of far-off wild places. Books transported me into my imagination, and I still find the silence of a library a beautiful church of calm to find my way back inspiration and wonderment. Libraries are magical places, like spell books every book is like a portal to another world. I think you must find it in your heart and imagination how to see the potential of each book and the journey
How should your readers contact you?
I’m on TikTok! My website needs updating, it has tumbleweeds rolling through it, my email is choked and full of spam, my Instagram and Facebook is a ghost town, YouTube, twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are all in states of half-baked, in the too hard basket or unfinished … So, I’m on TikTok and loving it and rocking out videos and exploring the world through my video editing and production skills from years of producing TV commercials.
I guess, if you formally want to get my attention write to Woodslane Press and they will handle things for schools, libraries, excursions and signings.
I think bottom line in the next 10 years is, I want to meet as many kids as possible and inspire our youth to read books every day, lessen our footprint by making choices towards saving our forests, wildlife (Bush Creatures) and get out and live life side by side with nature.
PS.
Additional answer, thinking out loud or some notes on my best visuals:
My favourite pages are the Copperhead and Platypus page in Dangerous. The Orange bellied Parrot and Numbat Page for Endangered.
I guess my proudest illustrations has to be the Parrots and Scrub birds in Endangered and The Death Adder and Great White Shark illustrations in Dangerous. But it’s so hard to choose it can vary as fickle as my emotions on the day and that’s I think what draws kids and readers alike to paw over the book again and again.
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