2011 Winners of the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards

August 23, 2011 | Tasha

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has announced the winners of their 2011 awards.

Older Readers Book of the Year

WINNER

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett

HONORS

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher by Doug MacLeod

Younger Readers Book of the Year

WINNER

The Red Wind by Isobelle Carmody

HONORS

Just a Dog by Michael Gerard Bauer

Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford, illustrated by Sarah Davis

Early Childhood Book of the Year

WINNER

Maudie and Bear by Jan Ormerod, illustrated by Freya Blackwood

HONORS

The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies by Tom Niland Champion and Kilmeny Niland, illustrated by Deborah Niland

Look See, Look at Me by Leonie Norrington, illustrated by Dee Huxley

Picture Book of the Year

WINNERS

Mirror by Jeannie Baker

Hamlet by Nicki Greenberg

HONORS

Why I Love Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft

My Uncle’s Donkey by Tohby Riddle

Eve Pownall Book of the Year

WINNER

The Return of the Word Spy by Ursula Dubosarsky, illustrated by Tohby Riddle

HONORS

Drawn from the Heart: A Memoir by Ron Brooks

Our World: Bardi Jaawi: Life at Ardiyooloon

NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

August 11, 2011 | Tasha

From a group of titles nominated and then voted on by over 60,000 people, here are the top 10 titles in NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books. You can click here to see the entire Top 100 list.

My biggest gripe with the top titles are that there is not a single female author in the bunch. The first female author appears at #20 and is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. That is followed closely by Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. But then there is another large gap until Anne McCaffrey appears at #33 with Dragonflight.

I know it was a democratic voting process, but I still think it shows how dominant male writers are in sci fi and fantasy despite such amazing female authors. Sigh. We have a long way to go!

Note: the list does not include horror or teen books, but teen readers enjoy fantasy and science fiction for adults, so I thought the list still had a place here on my blog.

Top 10

1. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert

5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984 by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

VOYA Lists

June 17, 2011 | Tasha

VOYA, the incredible YA book review magazine, has some new lists from their 2010 reviews. One of my favorite features of VOYA reviews is that they look at books from two perspectives, quality and popularity.

The best of the best are listed in VOYA’s Perfect Tens which are books that received top scores of 5 in both quality and popularity: 5Q 5P. So many of my favorites are here as well as others that are on my list, but I never got around to reading. Still others are brand new on my reading list, but I know they are worth the time.

If you are looking for great middle school reads, check out Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers 2010. These are books chosen by a committee, so they don’t have the top ten ranking. Any with a star are the Top of the Top Shelf, or the best of the best.

The Nonfiction Honor List 2010 has nonfiction suitable for grades 6-8. I love the mix of science, history and just plain fascinating.

2011 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards

June 13, 2011 | Tasha

Roger Sutton announced the winners and honor books for the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards on his blog.

Here they are:

Fiction Winner

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

Fiction Honors

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

Nonfiction Winner

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin

Nonfiction Honors

Into the Unknown: How Great Exploreres Found Their Way by Land, Sea and Air by Stewart Ross, illustrated by Stephen Biesty

Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Vicky White

Picture Book Winner

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasure by Nursery Rhymes by Salley Mavor

Picture Book Honors

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen

Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

New British Children’s Laureate Announced

June 7, 2011 | Tasha

Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, has been appointed as the new children’s laureate, following the term of Anthony Browne. Donaldson is the first Scottish-based laureate. She has been a children’s book author for over 20 years and is best known for her picture books.

Librarians will be happy to hear of her plans for her tenure:

"Maybe I’ll be able to talk to the minister of culture and persuade the government to have some kind of overall plan because at the moment I feel all the library cuts and closures are very piecemeal, so I’ll do what I can," she added.

2011 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize Longlist

June 4, 2011 | Tasha

The longlist of the 2011 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize has been announced. The Guardian site has summaries for each book. Here are the books in the running:

Momentum by Saci Lloyd

Moon Pie by Simon Mason

Mr. Gum and the Secret Hideout by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman

My Name is Mina by David Almond

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan

Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans

Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge (titled Fly Trap in the US)

2011 Nautilus Book Award Gold Winners

June 2, 2011 | Tasha

The winners of the Nautilus Book Awards have been announced. The Nautilus Awards describe themselves as: “Gold and Silver awards are given to print and audio books of exceptional merit that make a literary and heartfelt contribution to spiritual growth, conscious living, high-level wellness, green values, responsible leadership and positive social change, as well as to the worlds of art, creativity and inspiration.”

They give awards in a wide range of categories, several of which are for books for children and teens. The following are the winners of the children’s Gold Nautilus Awards:

Children’s Picture Books (Preschool – Grade 2)

Benjamin & Bumper to the Rescue by Molly Coxe, photographs by Olivier Toppin

Children’s Illustrated (Grades 3-6)

The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time by Anne Baring, illustrated by Thetis Blacker

Children’s Nonfiction (Grades 1-6)

Molly the Owl by Eric Blehm, illustrated by Christopher Adams

Middle Grade & Teen Fiction

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrations by Peter Sis

Merlin’s Dragon: Ultimate Magic by T. A. Barron

Middle Grade & Teen Nonfiction

Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands by Cathryn Berger Kaye & Philippe Cousteau

Nautilus Book Awards 2011–Silver Awards

June 2, 2011June 2, 2011 | Tasha

They give awards in a wide range of categories, several of which are for books for children and teens. These are books that libraries often miss, since they are primarily small press and therefore not reviewed in the larger library review journals.

2011 Silver Nautilus Award Winners

Children’s Picture Books (preschool – Grade 2)