The Children’s Book Council of Australia has announced this year’s Children’s Books of the Year.

Picture Book of the Year:
Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan – A story about two boys, one older and one younger, and the kind of ‘rules’ that might govern any relationship between close friends or siblings. Rules that are often so strange or arbitrary, they seem impossible to understand from the outside…

Early Childhood Book of the Year:
The Swap by Jan Ormerod – Caroline Crocodile’s baby brother dribbles. But all Mama crocodile Ever says is how Gorgeous he is. Caroline is very jealous. So she goes to the Baby shop and tries to swap her dribbly brother for a new baby. The trouble is, there’s just something not quite right with any of them…

Younger Readers Book of the Year:
City of Orphans: A very unusual pursuit by Catherine Jinks –  Monsters have been infesting London’s dark places for centuries, eating every child who gets too close. That’s why ten-year-old Birdie McAdam works for Alfred Bunce, the bogler. With her beautiful voice and dainty looks, Birdie is the bait that draws bogles from their lairs. One  day, Alfred and Birdie are approached by two very different women. Both of them threaten the only life Birdie’s ever known.

Older Readers Book of the Year:
Wildlife by Fiona Wood – In the holidays before the dreaded term at Crowthorne Grammar’s outdoor education camp two things out of the ordinary happened. A picture of me was plastered all over a twenty-metre billboard. And I kissed Ben Capaldi… Boarding for a term in the wilderness, sixteen-year-old Sibylla expects the gruesome outdoor education program – but friendship complications, and love that goes wrong? They’re extra-curricula.

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books:
Jeremy by Christopher Faille – A tiny kookaburra, only a few days old, falls out of his nest and is brought home by the family cat; the family name him “Jeremy”. Luckily, Jeremy is a fighter and as the weeks go by he grows stronger and stronger, until the time comes when he must say goodbye.

All of the CBCA winners are available from the Library, you can find them on our catalogue.