Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know about the First Peoples by Isaiah Firebrace ill. Jaelyn Biumaiwai

Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know about the First Peoples by Isaiah Firebrace, ill. Jaelyn Biumaiwai (Hardie Grant Publishing) Isaiah Firebrace is a Yorta Yorta and Gundit Jamara man whose formative years were spent on the banks of the Murray River. He grew up singing in church and sprang to fame when he won […]

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature by Sami Bayly

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature by Sami Bayly Inside the 2022 CBCA Shortlist Inside the 2022 CBCA Notable Books A hat-trick for talented natural history illustrator Sami Bayly who has her third book, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature commended by the CBCA awards in the Eve Pownall non-fiction category. […]

Sorry Day by Coral Vass & Dub Leffler

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Sorry Day (National Library of Australia) skilfully tells brief, powerful stories from Australia’s past and recent past about lost and stolen children. The earlier story is told in italics. In the recent past, Maggie and her mother are present in Canberra in 2008 when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes the first […]

Bouncing Back: An Eastern Barred Bandicoot Story by Rohan Cleave & Coral Tulloch

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The bandicoot is a fascinating Australian native animal but is often forgotten, overshadowed by kangaroos, koalas, platypuses and wombats – the animals in books like Alison Lester’s shortlisted Noni the Pony Rescues a Joey. The Easter Barred Bandicoot is, of course, featured in this book. At times it is important to […]

Waves: for those who came across the sea

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Waves: for those who came across the sea by Donna Rawlins, illustrated Mark Jackson & Heather Potter Waves (Walker Books Australia) is narrative non-fiction structured chronologically to show ‘waves’ of refugee movement to Australia. It is told in a factual style to show both current and historical reality and uses first […]

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 […]

Make Believe: M.C. Escher for Kids by Kate Ryan & Cally Bennett

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Make Believe: M.C. Escher for Kids (National Gallery of Victoria) is shortlisted in the CBCA Eve Pownall category for information books. It was written to complement the Escher artworks shown at the Gallery but has an ongoing life of its own after the exhibition. The book is well designed with a […]