CBCA Book of the Year Awards announced (2011)

Sonya Hartnett wins Book of the Year at the CBCA* Awards for 'The Midnight Zoo' Children's Book Council of Australia excerpt from my review of 'The Midnight Zoo':

What I mainly have to say about this book is it is simply astonishing, utterly gorgeous and deeply moving. It was a truly sensory experience, being transported to another time and place. [...] Hartnett's spectacular use of magical realism adds a new dimension in taking the story to somewhere truly gasp-worthy. I felt an ache and tremendous satisfaction at the end. It's life-affirming and a tear-jerker and achingly hopeful and a simply brilliant story to spend your time with.

The prestigious Children's Book Council of Australia Awards were announced this morning (LOVE these awards. Completely). I was very much so looking forward to the announcement this morning (and have been discussing it with my local librarians ;)

LOVED The Midnight Zoo: Read my full review (you know, if you're interested)

The Young Adult short-list looked like this:

Older Readers Short List 2011
Author	Title	Publisher
Crowley, Cath	Graffiti Moon	Pan Macmillan Australia
Hartnett, Sonya	The Midnight Zoo	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Horniman, Joanne	About a Girl	Allen & Unwin
MacLeod, Doug	The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Marchetta, Melina	The Piper’s Son	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Wood, Fiona	Six Impossible Things	Pan Macmillan Australia
These books are for mature readers

I have only read 4 books from the above list and ALL FOUR of them are BELOVED books of mine 

(I gave all four of these books 5 stars, all four are on my exclusive absolute favourites list <3).

HUGE congratulations to Sonya Hartnett and also to all those on the short-list (and notables).

Aussie YA is a genre producing such extraodinarily brilliant books. It really is a genre full of exceptional talent and incredible books. 

Have you read The Midnight Zoo?

(or plan to?)

Have you read any of the short-list?

And what would be your pick?

The Midnight Zoo is available internationally, with a different cover

International covers = gorgeous

Book blurb: Two gypsy boys are fleeing through a war-ravaged country-side during the night carrying a secret bundle. The boys stumble across a town that has been reduced to smoking rubble, and a zoo that is still intact. When the boys take shelter in the zoo, they discover a menagerie of talking animals. Both the boys and the animals tell their tales and their desire for freedom.  

Like The Silver Donkey and The Ghost’s Child, this is another beautiful fable-like tale that will move you to tears. It’s a story that will appeal to all ages-as with any fi ne book that merges history with fantasy, adults will enjoy reading this as much as children.

Like The Silver Donkey and The Ghost’s Child, this is another beautiful fable-like tale that will move you to tears. It’s a story that will appeal to all ages-as with any fi ne book that merges history with fantasy, adults will enjoy reading this as much as children.

To see the CBCA 2011 notables (full of awesome Aussie YA recs) check out my previous blog post <3

I apologise for bloggers formatting. Which, is slightly out of control and entirely irksome. Ugh.

2010 CBCA shortlists have been announced (& Notables)

I ADORE the Children's Book Council of Australia and have ferociously followed them and their recommendations since I was a youngster :)

The awards celebrate the brilliance of Aussie talent and writers and many of my all time fave Aussie YA books were once shortlisted with the CBCA.

And TODAY the shortlists were announced ~ on inkcrush I am only going to post from the Older Readers category but you can check their site for all the other Aussie categories and age groups.

On to the list... a HUGE CONGRATS to all authors who have been nominated!

Older Readers Short List 2011
Author	Title	Publisher
Crowley, Cath	Graffiti Moon	Pan Macmillan Australia
Hartnett, Sonya	The Midnight Zoo	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Horniman, Joanne	About a Girl	Allen & Unwin
MacLeod, Doug	The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Marchetta, Melina	The Piper’s Son	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Wood, Fiona	Six Impossible Things	Pan Macmillan Australia
These books are for mature readers

I have only read 4 books from the above list and ALL FOUR of them are BELOVED books of mine.

The six nominated books were narrowed down from the older readers catagory featuring 32 outstanding Australian young adult titles on their Notable Titles list.

Pretty much one of the coolest things about this list is that *most* Aussie libraries automatically add these titles to their catalogues. Including mine ~ so I'll have access to a whole new awesome batch of Aussie YA. If you're in Australia and have not checked in with your local libraries catalogue you really should check it out :)

Here's the notables list straight from the site

Author	Title	Publisher
Abdel-Fattah, Randa	Noah’s Law	Pan Macmillan Australia
Bavati, Robyn	Dancing in the Dark	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Blain, Georgia	Dark Water	Random House Australia
Braxton-Smith, Ananda	Merrow	Black Dog Books
Bursztynski, Sue	Wolfborn	Woolshed Press, Random House Australia
Burton, Rebecca	Beyond Evie	Angus & Robertson, HarperCollins Publisher
Buzo, Laura	Good Oil	Allen & Unwin
Cooper, Michelle	The FitzOsbornes in Exile	Random House Australia
Cornish, DM	Monster Blood Tattoo Book 3: Factotum	Omnibus Books, Scholastic Books AustraliaCrowl
Crowley, Cath	Graffiti Moon	Pan Macmillan Australia
Eaton, Anthony	Daywards	University of Queensland Press
Fitzpatrick, Deb	90 Packets of Instant Noodles	Freemantle Press
Flanagan, John	Ranger’s Apprentice: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja	Random House Australia
French, Jackie	Oracle	Angus & Robertson, HarperCollins Publishers
French, Jackie	A Waltz for Matilda	Angus & Robertson, HarperCollins Publishers
Gardner, Scot	Happy as Larry	Allen & Unwin
Golds, Cassandra	The Three Loves of Persimmon	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Hall, Leanne	This is Shyness	The Text Publishing Company
Hartnett, Sonya	The Midnight Zoo	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Hawke, Rosanne	Marrying Ameera	Angus & Robertson, HarperCollins Publishers
Herrick, Steven	Slice: Juicy Moments from my Impossible Life!	Woolshed Press, Random House Australia
Hilton, Nette	The Innocents	Woolshed Press, Random House Australia
Horniman, Joanne	About a Girl	Allen & Unwin
MacLeod, Doug	The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Marchetta, Melina	The Piper’s Son	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Matthews, Penny	A Girl Like Me	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Murray, Kirsty	India Dark	Allen & Unwin
Plüss, Nicole	Scout	Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Pryor, Michael	The Laws of Magic: Moment of Truth	Random House Australia
Roy, James	Anonymity Jones	Woolshed Press, Random House Australia
Westerfeld, Scott Ill. Keith Thompson	Behemoth	Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
Wood, Fiona	Six Impossible Things	Pan Macmillan Australia

I have only read 12 of the above titles (out of 23) and am really looking forward to checking out a bunch of ones I haven't yet read.

What favourites of your made it on here?

Which books on here haven't you read that you're really wanting to?

(I was thrilled to see both SLICE and GOOD OIL on there ~ two other recent faves of mine)

Lucy Christopher's Stolen and Aussie Book Awards

Stolen just won the Branford Boase Award on July 14. Whoo hoo!


This UK award for first-time authors has an impressive track record. Previous winners include names you just might have heard of such as Marcus Sedgwick, Mal Peet, Meg Rosoff, Siobhan Dowd and Frances Hardinge. (info taken from Fiction Focus)


Here's the seven books it was short-listed with - I'll be checking a few of them out too.


It's also on the short-list with the Children's Book Council of Australia for best book of the year for older readers (Aussie YA).


My library has all the books short-listed, but they dont get released to patrons until the winner is announced on Friday the 20th of August - the librarians keep them for display during book week and also for themselves to read. 


But I, oooh yeah, collaborated with my fave librarian and got her to smuggle a copy out for me. 


It pays to buddy up with librarians who rock :) 


I'm nearly finished it already (interrupted my reading to post about it winning the Branford. It's really really good :)


I've read Liar and like Stolen a bit better for the winner. Seriously cannot wait for A Small free Kiss in the Dark where survivors of a sudden war hide out in the ruins of an amusement park 


Book of the Year - Older Readers Short List 2010 CBCA



CHRISTOPHER, Lucy       Stolen       



CLARKE, Judith        The Winds of Heaven       




LARBALESTIER, Justine       Liar       

METZENTHEN, David       Jarvis 24       




MILLARD, Glenda       A Small Free Kiss in the Dark       



TANGEY, Penny       Loving Richard Feynman      





And... just today the Short List was announced for  2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards and for the first time, they have a Young Adult category

Young Adult Fiction shortlist (Prime Ministers Award)

• Stolen, Lucy Christopher
• The Winds of Heaven, Judith Clarke
• Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God, Bill Condon
• The Museum of Mary Child, Cassandra Golds
• Swerve, Phillip Gwynne
• Jarvis 24, David Metzenthen
• Beatle meets Destiny, Gabrielle Williams

And there's Stolen again! (plus some other crossovers from the CBCA short-list.) I've read Swerve, which was a fantastic male POV.

I can't wait to see who the winners will be :) The winner of the Prime Ministers Award will receive $100, 000.


sorry for the wonky formatting. It's all flipped out...(?)