Book week winners

The winners of the 2008 Children's Book Week awards have been announced! View details of all the winners here. Manly Library has copies of all the shortlisted and award winning books. Search the online catalogue to view availablity and place your holds.

Leaf litter

by Rachel Tonkin. HarperCollins, 2006.

This is one of the best illustrated children’s books I have ever seen. But although Leaf Litter is a children’s book, adults should take the time to examine its wonders too. Rachel Tonkin illustrates a small patch of ground beneath a tree, and shows the changes that occur among the leaf litter over a year. Plants and animals co-exist, each with their part to play. Minute eggs hatch out. Insects forage among the dead leaves, ready to eat or be eaten. There are flaps to be lifted, to give a sort of 3-D effect – see what takes place inside the ants’ nest. At the end of the book there are lists of things to find in each double-page spread, and this is when you will need your wits about you and your strongest magnifying glass. Tonkin is a scrupulous illustrator, and must have laboured for many hours in the creation of this book. Her message is that without leaf litter there is nothing to stop the rain from washing the soil away, there is nothing for creatures to eat. It looks like debris but is vital for the environment’s future.

- John

What book got you hooked?

Is an initiative of an American Organisation called First Book; a non-profit whose aim is to provide books for children in need. For what book got you hooked they asked celebrities to name the first book that really got them into reading. They also conducted an online poll and the top 50 books are listed on the site. The top five were:

1. Nancy Drew series; Carolyn Keene
2. Green Eggs and Ham; Dr. Seuss
3. Little House on the Prairie; Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. Little Women; Louisa May Alcott
5. The Cat in the Hat; Dr. Seuss

Children's Book of the Year winners

The CBCA Children's Book of the Year award winners for 2007 have been announced! The official page can be found here, or there is an easy to print PDF. Here's the list of winners, including Manly Library call numbers:

Book of the Year - Older Readers: Red spikes, Margo Lanagan (YA /LANA)
Book of the Year - Younger Readers: Being Bee, Catherine Bateson (JF /BATE)
Book of the Year - Early Childhood: Amy & Louis, Libby Gleeson (EA /GLEE)
Picture Book of the Year: The Arrival, Shaun Tan (QJF /TAN)
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books: The penguin book: birds in suits, Mark Norman (J 598.47/NOR)

You can check the availability of these titles and place holds via our online catalogue.

MS Readathon 2007

This year's MS Readathon runs from the 1st-30th of June. Kids can register online with the help of their parents, and are encourage to read as much as they can for the month. Friends and family can sponsor the participants for either the number of books they read or blocks of time spent reading. Funds raised go to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Children's Book of the Year Awards 2007

The Children's Book Council of Australia's shortlist for the Children's Book of the Year award has been announced. A PDF of the entire list can be downloaded here and listed below with Manly Library call numbers (the book may be on loan, but you can check on our online catalogue and place holds there).

Book of the Year: Older Readers
Don't call me Ishmael!: Bauer, Michael Gerard - YAPB /B
One whole and perfect day: Clarke, Judith - YAPB /C
Monster blood tattoo book 1: Foundling: Cornish, D. M. - YA /CORN
The red shoe: Dubosarsky, Ursula - YAPB /D
Red spikes: Lanagan, Margo - YA /LANA
My big birkett: Shanahan, Lisa - YAPB /S

Book of the Year: Younger Readers
Being Bee: Bateson, Catherine (Young Adult Fiction) - JF /BATE
The tuckshop kid: Flynn, Pat (Young Adult Fiction) - JPB /F
Macbeth and son: French, Jackie - JF /FREN
The cat on the mat is flat: Griffiths, Andy - JF /GRIF
Bird & Sugar Boy: Laguna, Sofie - YAPB /L
Layla, Queen of hearts: Millard, Glenda - Held at Lanecove, Stanton, Mosman, Chatswood

Book of the Year: Early Childhood
Grandpa and Thomas and the green umbrella: Allen, Pamela - EA /ALLE
Doodledum dancing: Costain, Meredith - EA /COST
Ella Kazoo will not brush her hair: Fox, Lee - Held at Lanecove, Stanton, Chatswood
Amy & Louis: Gleeson, Libby - EA /GLEE
Eight: Lee, Lyn - EA /LEE
Chatterbox: Wild, Margaret - EA /WILD

Picture Book of the Year
Brian Banana Duck Sunshine Yellow: McKimmie, Chris - Held at Mosman, Stanton
Home: Oliver, Narelle - Held at Lanecove, Stanton
Water Witcher: Ormerod, Jan - EA /ORME
The Rainbirds: Rippin, Sally - EA /METZ
Woolvs in the sitee: Spudvilas, Anne - QJF /WILD
The Arrival: Tan, Shaun - QJF /TAN

Eve Pownell Award for Information Books
Red haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam: Davidson, Leon - J 959.7043
Queenie: one elephant's story: Fenton, Corinne - EA /FENT
Amazing facts about Australian dinosaurs: Hocknull, Scott - Held at Lanecove, Stanton
All cats have Asperger Syndrome: Hoopmann, Kathy - EA /RED DOT
The penguin book: birds in suits: Norman, Mark - J 598.47/MOR
Leaf litter: Tonkin, Rachel - Held at Lanecove, Stanton

Holdings information correct as at 25th May 2007.
The CBCA also runs Children's Book Week which this year is 18th -24th of August.