The winners of the CBCA Book of the Year Awards 2016
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) have announced their Book of the Year Awards winners for 2016. The CBCA Awards, which are in their 70th year, celebrates the best Australian books for readers in early childhood up to young adult readers. Congratulations to the winners!
Here are the winners for each category.
Older Readers
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Scholarship student Vân U’oc Phan is all work and no play – until star athlete Billy Gardiner develops a sudden and (in Vân U’oc’s opinion) irrational interest in her. Worried that she’s at the centre of an elaborate joke, Vân U’oc starts to wonder if magic could actually exist.
Honour books:
A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay
Inbetween Days by Vikki Wakefield
Younger Readers
Soon by Morris Gleitzman
Soon continues the incredibly moving story of Felix, a Jewish boy still struggling to survive in the wake of the liberation of Poland after the end of World War Two: I hoped the Nazis would be defeated. And they were. I hoped the war would be over. And it was. I hoped we would be safe. But we aren’t.
Honour books:
Sister Heart by Sally Morgan
Shadows of the Master by Emily Rodda
Early Childhood
Mr Huff by Anna Walker
Mr Huff is a story about the clouds and the sunshine in each of our lives. Bill is having a bad day. Mr Huff is following him around and making everything seem difficult. Bill tries to get rid of him, but Mr Huff just gets bigger and bigger! Then they both stop, and a surprising thing happens…
Honour books:
Perfect by Danny Parker (illustrated by Freya Blackwood)
The Cow Tripped Over The Moon by Tony Wilson (illustrated by Laura Wood)
Picture Book of the Year
Flight by Armin Greder (text by Nadia Wheatley)
Set in biblical times, a small family sets off across a desert in search of refuge from persecution in their own country, and an ancient story becomes a fable for our times.
Honour books:
Ride, Ricardo, Ride! by Shane Devries (text by Phil Cummings)
One Step at a Time by Sally Heinrich (text by Jane Jolly)
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Lennie The Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony by Stephanie Owen Reeder
This is the inspiring true story of 9-year-old Lennie Gwyther who, at the height of the Great Depression in 1932, rode his pony from his home town of Leongatha in rural Victoria to Sydney to witness the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Honour books:
Phasmid: Saving the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect by Rohan Cleave (illustrated by Coral Tulloch)
Ancestry: Stories of Multicultural Anzacs by Robyn Siers (illustrated by Carlie Walker)
Crichton Award for New Illustrators
The Underwater Fancy Dress Parade by Allison Colpoys (text by Davina Bell)
The night before the underwater fancy-dress parade, Alfie got that feeling… Sometimes it’s hard to be brave. Sometimes you get that feeling. Sometimes you’re just not ready… Until, one day, you are.
