Australia Top Picture Books – What did you think?

Were you an active voter in the recent Guardian poll to identify Australia’s top picture books? Maureen Mann shares some thoughts on this first ever, and significant, poll and the outcomes. Although we celebrate The Guardian’s efforts to put Australian children's authors and illustrators under the spotlight Maureen does provide some food for thought in regard to the outcomes. Hopefully such feedback may inform future polls.

The recent Guardian poll on Australia’s top picture book – congratulations to Alison Lester for winning with the wonderful Magic Beach – raises the criticism that it didn’t contain enough recent titles. The very nature of how the list was compiled gives us one answer: titles were nominated by readers. The oldest book was published in 1973 and the most recent in 2022. 

The eligibility criteria was that the book can be read aloud to someone who is not yet an independent reader; can be read in a few minutes; be created by an Australian and published in Australia. According to the results, about 15000 votes were cast each day. I couldn’t find anything about the age range of voters. Would it have changed things if a younger demographic had been actively involved? But this group tends not to be Guardian readers, though this is, perhaps, a subjective comment. Book nominations were also restricted to those 18 years of over, though could be made on behalf of a child.

So – which titles would you include? Would it change for you if the publication date was restricted to titles from the last 10, or 20 years. Doing so might restrict those who vote to those who have continued to read Australian picture books after their children grew too old for them. 

Using the above criteria, here are my top titles (not in priority order) from the last 10 years.

• Bev and Kev by Katrina Germein and Mandy Foot
• Farmhouse by Sophia Blackall
• Timeless by Kelly Canby
• Grace and Mr Milligan by Caz Goodwin and Pip Kruger
• The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum and Craig Smith
• The Truck Cat by Danny Snell and Deborah Frankel
• Bernie Thinks in Boxes by Jess Horn and Zoe Bennett

What have I missed? What would be on your list?

P.S. Don’t forget to look out for the CBCA 2026 Night of the Notables February 24.

Maureen Mann

Retired teacher librarian and avid reader.

 

Editor’s note: The poll was well promoted via CBCA Tasmania’s social media and I was active in the original nominations and as part of the voting process. My favourite, and recent publication, Jetty Jumping, hung in for a while, but was eliminated in the latter stages. When the top 50 books were announced I did wonder if participants fully grasped the criteria. I really like Maureen’s list and have expanded below with some other favourites of mine from the last 10 years, keeping in mind the intended young audience to read aloud too.