The Other Notables

CBCA Book of the Year lists always gender healthy discussion and keen readers may ponder the absence of some favourite reads that didn’t make either the short list or the notable list. Avid reader, Nella Pickup, has picked out some of her favourite titles from 2023 to expand your reading – can you think of others?

If you’ve read the CBCA Notables and are looking for more outstanding Australian books to share with young people, this is for you.

Firstly, check out the excellent suggestions at Storylinks and the “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Notable 2024” offerings in the Reading List section – it includes some excellent quality books to explore. These are also available as a pdf document.

 

Some further suggestions include the following titles.

 

Younger Readers

French Jackie Secret Sparrow, HarperCollins 97846076468

Based on a true story about a female signaller in WW1 and the British Army’s obliteration of any record showing how women and girls were working behind the scenes, in the trenches and even in battles.

 

Jason Pamment Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures, Allen & Unwin 9781761067488 

Ember feels like an outsider at his new school for the orphaned and solitary and has to deal with some unusual events.  Winner Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work Aurealis Award 2024

 

Edwina Wyatt & Evie Barrow Cub and Brown, Walker 9781760654641

A young cub scout and a bear share adventures and friendship. Twelve stories based on the values of Scout Law. A beautiful book for younger readers.

 

Eve Pownall

The Big Vision series, Berbay & Vision Australia.

Each book features braille alongside the conventional text and is designed to inspire conversations about inclusivity, representation and resilience.

John Dickson & Philip Bunting Matt Formston: Surfing in the Dark, Berbay, & Vision Australia  9780645558401

John Dickson & Claudia Frittitta Craig Shanahan: Cooking up a Storm, Berbay & Vision Australia  9780645558418

John Dickson & Chantel de Sousa Nikki Hind Dressed for Success, Berbay &  Vision Australia, 9780645558401

 

David Gullan & Suzanne Houghton Life in a Hollow, CSIRO 9781486316342

Explores life in tree hollows and the many native animals who live there.

 

Suzanne Houghton Where are all the Christmas Beetles, CSIRO 9781486317905

Sparkling, brightly coloured Christmas beetles usually appear in December, but they are disappearing. Where have they gone?

 

Sandra Severgnini Meet Min, EK Books 9781992539557

Delve into the world of the shallow ocean bed to meet Mim the amazing mimic octopus.

Early Childhood

Raewyn Caisley & Gabriel Evans Count the Stars, Walker 9781760653552

Maddie loves maths; she finds examples everywhere. She longs to find a friend who shares her interests. 

 

Wai Chim & Freda Chiu Last place Lin, Allen & Unwin 9781761067754

Lin's excited about her first school sports day until she comes last. For those who keep trying no matter what happens.

 

Bethany Clark & Sara Acton You’ve got Yoghurt in your Nostrils, Affirm 9781922848246

A baby’s joyous celebration of eating.

Phillip Gwynne & Tony Flowers Grandma’s First Tattoo, Yaffler Press 9780646854465  

The story of Grandma’s tattoo and the excitement it causes at her granddaughter’s school.

 

Meg McKinlay & Leila Rudge Always Never Always, Walker 9781760655204

A rhyming book of advice such as always follow secret tracks and take useful things, like a torch and fairy-wings.

 

Sandhya Parappukkaran and Michelle Pereira Stay for Dinner, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, 9781761211966

Reshma, Charlotte, Phoebe and Leo eat dinner at each other’s homes; they eat different food in different ways. Reshma is worried as her friends do not lick fingers or burp to show their appreciation of the delicious food. A story of family, diversity, friendship and understanding. Winner 2024 Multicultural NSW Award

 

Tami Sussman & Tom Jellett Tiny Tradies, Affirm 9781922848123

A big day at childcare described as if the toddlers were construction workers. A delight.

 

Nella Pickup

Retired librarian; book buying grandmother for 4 boys.

Neurodivergence in Children’s Literature: To identify, or not to identify a character?

Contemporary children’s fiction increasingly represents neuro diverse characters and this week’s post considers whether this should be identified in the blurb or not.

A recent post in a book chat group complained about book blurbs that fail to identify the neurodivergence of the characters in the story; and it made me ponder what the need or benefit would be to have this information, both for the reader and for the character.

My readings confirmed my thoughts, that the main benefit to the individual of a diagnosis are to create some self-understanding and help explain to themselves why they may respond in certain ways to situations (that this response is normal for them), and enable them to advocate for themselves with authority. Diagnosis can also help others to make workplace and social accommodations to support the neurodiverse person. There may also be a negative to diagnosis, as it may affect the person’s options to move countries or see increases in travel insurance as it will identified as a pre-existing condition.

Small studies have shown that when a reader has high transportation engagement with the fiction, they experience affective sympathy (the ability to share feelings and emotions) and this can transfer to their responses to situations in their environment. Readers can also develop cognitive empathy (the ability to understand events from another’s viewpoint), although this may have little impact on their responses to situations.  

As a reader, I select books based around the storyline, rather than the character. The character development is an adjunct to the story, so to be told too much about the character in the blurb, would detract from the joy of the story. The wonder is in the discovery and development of the person. Whether the character is neurodiverse, culturally diverse, cis gender or not, is all part of the story development. 

So, to answer my own question in the title of this blog: No, I do not believe identification of neurodiversity is required in the blurb.

The Little Bookroom has a good list of neurodivergence stories (though not many current titles are listed); many by authors who have self-identified as neurodivergent creators. Some examples from this list, Children’s Books with Neurodiverse Characters for Kids, Parents, Teachers and Therapists · The Little Bookroom, are included below.

Picture Book: Colour of Music by Lisa Tiffin and Matt Ottley; Midnight Sun Publishing, 2020. 

A story where colour and sound are inseparable in the character’s experience of the world.

Junior Fiction: Polly and Buster series by Sally Rippin; Hardie Grant Egmont, 2017. 

A 2018 CBCA Notable title; the characters have dyslexia and anxiety and a friendship which doesn’t fit the societal norm, for either of them.

Middle Grade Fiction: Paws by Kate Foster;  Walker Books, 2021. 

The main character has autism and needs to use learned skills to approach friendship.

Young Adult: Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley; Allen & Unwin, 2020. 

A CBCA 2021 Shortlist title which covers a full range of neurodivergent topics in a natural, honest and times both humorous and poignant story.

Interesting sites I visited in my research

Noetic Health

Big Think

National Library of Medicine

 

Felicity Sly 

Felicity is a recently retired Teacher Librarian and a CBCA Tasmania committee member.

Editor's note: For further primary school examples check out Tasmanian author Kate Gordon and her Aster series of books.

Engaging middle school students with recreational reading through Library book clubs

 Engaging students in recreational reading is crucial to build literacy capabilities. This week, Michelle Davies outlines a book club that is based on free choice and student driven discussions to explore personal and group interests.

The initial aim of the book club program was not only to encourage recreational reading, to share reading experiences, and support each other as readers but also to drive library user engagement. It is evident that library usage declines in this age group, especially in the absence of regular library classes.

Each book club is scheduled to run over four weeks, my role during this time is to supervise discussions, manage activities, and deliver “book talks” at each session. The first session focuses on strategies for selecting books to inform book choice. Students then agree on a book to read independently over the following four weeks, with discussions taking place in the final week. Sessions in-between focus on complimentary literacy and library-based activities that intend to foster relationships, and connections and expose students to varying formats and genres. 

Last term students especially enjoyed reading books with an environmental message and making connections with place and community.

Books selected for Term One 2024

Non-Fiction

This term the focus of student selection highlighted non-fiction titles, and thus became the over-arching concept of the subsequent four weeks. For the book club book, the students chose to read You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska. A diarised account of a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl who, along with her grandmother, suffers the ravages of war due to the invasion of Russia. The story unfolds as they flee their hometown of Kharkiv to seek refuge in Europe and then find safety in Ireland. 

Themes initiated from the shared discussion centred around the effects of war, the impact that has on daily lives, and the eventual displacement of people. 

Students reflected on their connection to the author with regard to their corresponding ages, and the recognition of the development of Yevs’s emotional strength as she faced new challenges each day.

They also liked the structure of the book. The integration of Yeva’s compelling personal narrative with photographs and extracts of text messages between herself and her school friends added authenticity and enhanced understanding.

                                                          

To align with the non-fiction concept, a student recommended that each reader select and borrow a non-fiction title from the library based on themes chosen by the group. The objective was to read and explore the book during the week, and then share an intriguing fact at the following book club session. 

 

Themes: World War Two and Economics

During the subsequent session, each student shared their information of interest and was then tasked with creating a statement that would connect the two different themes of World War Two and economics. Their final premise was that the global economy is significantly affected by war due to fuel and food shortages.

                

Engaging in poetry by using technology

For this session, a variety of poetry books were spread out on the table for the group to discover. Each student selected a title to borrow and returned the following week with a poem that resonated with them. They were encouraged to think about the most important line, what words stood out to them, and how the poem made them think or feel. The students utilised the Book Creator application to make a book snap of their poem and then highlighted their favourite line or stanza, thus creating a personalised image to share with their peers.

As the book clubs have grown, so has the engagement with reading and the development of relationships between students and library staff. In addition, they have provided much more by supporting students as they build their reader identities and allowing them the opportunity to form social connections with their peers, at the same time offering a safe and inclusive space to experiment with alternate ideas, thinking in their discussions, and develop their autonomy.

Michelle Davies

The Hutchins School

Emotional Intelligence

This week Maureen Mann casts an alternative lens over a selection of CBCA Shortlisted titles to consider those that could spark conversations around empathy and resilience because of the emotional intelligence displayed in the characters. You are invited to add your own examples to this list.

The 2024 CBCA Shortlist contains books with a wealth of themes which can be explored in the classroom or at home. There are the regular themes of family relationships, friendship, historical settings, mental health issues and many others. I’d like to focus on Emotional Intelligence which I’ll define as the ability to empathise with others’ feelings, viewpoints, cultural backgrounds and diversity to develop resilience and coping skills. The ideal is that through experiencing Emotional Intelligence in story format that readers can then discuss and learn, at an appropriate level, from their reading.

Here are a few of my favourites from the 2024 Short List which I think will be excellent books to use with different age groups to focus on this concept.

Grace Notes by Karen Comer.  

Set during Victoria’s early lockdowns, Grace sets out to help her grandmother, now in a nursing home, cope with the absence of her husband, absence of music and contact with the outside world. Crux learns to understand others’ points of views through his interaction with other street artists. Positive family dynamics are very well portrayed, while allowing the reader to understand the everyday frictions.

Inkflower by Suzi Zail. 

This story has two timelines: the 1980s and the Holocaust years. The latter sections are harrowing, possibly making readers question their veracity over the hardships and cruelty but by using discussion readers should becoming more empathetic people. Lisa’s story in the 1980s shows her emotional adjustment to the earlier conditions as she learns more and more, and how to cope with the grief of her father’s encroaching illness. 

Scout and the Rescue Dogs by Dianne Wolfer and Tony Flowers.

Scout as a character is almost too good to be true as she responds to the plight of homeless dogs, of animals injured in the wildfires across Victoria and NSW, and her developing friendship from a school assignment. But Scout such an empathetic character and her actions centre on her emotional maturity, her generosity and her wonderful relationship with her truckie father. 

Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd. 

Jimmy is a carer and old beyond his years, while also being naïve. The reader has to come to terms with these variables to develop an understanding of his view of the world, and eventually realise that not everyone has the same opportunities or setbacks.

Grace and Mr Milligan by Caz Goodwin. 

Grace forms a strong friendship with her neighbour Mr Milligan as well as his pet goat Charlie and the three of them do everything together. When Charlie dies from old age, Mr Milligan in particular loses the will to live and Grace slowly encourages him to return to his old self. There are lots of discussion points which will help early childhood readers understand the sadness as well as the importance of friendship.

Bear and Duck are Friends by Sue deGennaro. 

Bear is scared of everything and Duck has to help him overcome his fears. It’s the small creature helping the bigger one until they both realise that, in fact, they are helping each other achieve their goals. Lots of discussion for early childhood readers on bullying and stereotypes and meeting new challenges. 

That Bird has Arms by Kate Temple & Jol Temple and Ronojoy Ghosh & Niharika Hukku.  

Roy is a bird who has arms but has to hide them from all the other birds because that’s an unheard-of condition. The other birds mock the basic concept, but all have to accept the differences when Roy demonstrates so clearly and uniquely that he can solve a problem. For the picture book reader, regardless of age, this understanding of diversity as well as the establishment of individual identity is a strength.

Every Night at Midnight by Peter Cheong. 

This is another book exploring identity and acceptance. Felix struggles to make and keep friends because he can’t join in normal activities: every night he turns into a wolf and fears being ostracised by his human buddies. On first reading, its suited to younger readers but older picture book readers will bring many more emotional experiences and maturity to all the events in this book. 

Do you agree with my selections? Which other 2024 short list titles would you like to add to this list of books exploring emotional intelligence? 

 

Maureen Mann

Retired teacher librarian and avid reader.