Children's Book Week 2016

As I write this, Children’s Book Week comes to an end for another year. How did you celebrate? All of us would like to be able to share your creative successes. The theme for this year, Australia! Story Country, was really open-ended with many opportunities for creative interpretations. For me, Shaun Tan’s artwork reflects one aspect of our country: that of the dark red soils which can be found in many places.

 

Congratulations to all the authors and illustrators whose books were chosen as Winners and Honour books in the Book of the Year Awards. Living overseas, as I do at the moment, means that I haven’t seen many of the titles in the 2016 CBCA Notables Books lists. This list of course includes the titles which were chosen as the best for the year. What do you think of the top books? Do you agree with the judges? If not, what do you think should have been included? Which book should have been omitted in order to have your title included?

 

 

We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that, according to the judging panel, the books chosen were regarded as the best of all the submissions. Another group of people may have chosen differently. That is one of the strengths of the CBCA system: that the judges read all the books, and don’t rely on submissions from others. It’s a challenging and rewarding two-year commitment.

 

 

I enjoy The Children’s Book Council of Australia Facebook page. If you are a Facebook user but haven’t already liked this page, then it’s worth doing so. You’ll hear about all sorts of CBCA news: books, events and reviews. Amongst other things, it recently highlighted past Children’s Book Week promotional posters: a lovely trip down memory lane. How many themes and artists do you remember?

It would be great to hear from you about your Children’s Book Week memories and achievements.