Rainbow Bear by Stephen Michael King

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Rainbow Bear (Scholastic Australia) overflows with family love, especially the love between a father and his children. It is full of gentle humour, founded in the natural rhythms of day and night, night and day; watched over by the celestial bodies of the sun, moon and stars – Stephen Michael King […]

Cicada by Shaun Tan

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Shaun Tan has won major Australian and international awards, including the Astrid Lindgren Award and an Academy Award for The Lost Thing. Australian authors and illustrators are breaking ground on the world stage in their portrayal of refugees and the displaced. (I have written about some of these books in Raising […]

Changing Gear by Scot Gardner

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Scot Gardner explores the young male experience with authenticity, most unexpectedly in the incomparable The Dead I Know, set in a funeral parlour, and most recently in Changing Gear (Allen & Unwin), which is very well written and engaging. Gardner hooks the reader into Changing Gear with some retrospective interaction between 10-year-old […]

The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars by Jaclyn Moriarty

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars (Allen & Unwin) is the stand-alone companion to The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone. It is set in the same fantasy world and Bronte and her friend Alejandro reappear at strategic times to help the protagonists, Findlay of the Orphanage School and […]

The Dress-Up Box by Patrick Guest & Nathaniel Eckstrom

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Dress-Up Box (Hardie Grant Egmont) is a story about home, family, friends and using your imagination. The Frolleys rent the house next door to their best friends, the Choong family. They have a frog pond, bird bath, bamboo forest, haunted shed and a dress-up box. When the Frolleys have to […]

The Happiness Box: a wartime book of hope by Mark Greenwood & Andrew McLean

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Happiness Box (Walker Books Australia) is written by a formidable pair of Australian picture book creators, Mark Greenwood and Andrew McLean, whose illustrations are in pen and watercolour. An adult character, Griff (Sergeant Griffin), features. He is a prisoner of war in Singapore when surrender is imminent but is moved […]

The Feather by Margaret Wild & Freya Blackwood

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Feather (Hardie Grant Egmont) is written and illustrated by two of Australia’s most eminent picture book creators, Margaret Wild and Freya Blackwood. The Feather is an allegorical, allusive tale. It begins, “In the darkness of day, the feather falls. It used to be part of a wing that was serene […]

Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Small Spaces (Walker Books) is shortlisted in the Older Readers category of the CBCA 2019 awards. Something happened in Tash’s past that continues to affect her life. As a child, she saw Mallory Fisher taken from the carnival by an “imaginary monster”. She told the police. Now Tash doesn’t trust her […]

Tricky’s Bad Day by Alison Lester

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Tricky’s Bad Day by Alison Lester (Affirm Press) is shortlisted in the Early Childhood category of the CBCA 2019 awards. It is engaging whilst being full of observations and wise understanding about the life of a young child and his or her family. Tricky is a young cat/child; still young enough […]

His Name Was Walter by Emily Rodda

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Emily Rodda is one of Australia’s most-loved and read authors. Her fantasy writing for children sits alongside the best in the world. She was recently awarded a ‘Companion of the Order of Australia’. His Name Was Walter (HarperCollins) is a quality hardcover novel shortlisted in the CBCA Younger Readers category. It […]