The Children’s Book Council of Australia invited young people to vote for their own set of winners in the Children’s Book of the Year Book of the Year awards.
Called the Sun Project: Shadower’s Choice Award this year’s winners were announced on 25 August 2023.
The CBCA Book of the Year Awards connect young people to great literature. During CBCA Book Week we celebrate reading for pleasure and applaud our awarded books.
Our Sun Project: Shadow Judging is an exciting addition to our annual calendar. We invite young voices from groups across Australia to join the conversation about our annual Shortlist and choose their own winners. They will be announced at the end of CBCA Book Week at the first ever Shadowers’ Choice Awards (26 August). CBCA Sun Project: Shadow Judging – Young voices welcome here
Older Readers
Completely Normal (and Other Lies) by Biffy James
Love has rules. So does grief. And Stella Wilde’s about to break them all… Stella Wilde is secretly in love with Isaac Calder. He already has a girlfriend — the gorgeous Grace Reyes — but he seems to love Stella back. He even promises Stella he’ll break up with Grace. But then Isaac is killed in a car accident, and Stella is left wondering who Isaac really had feelings for. So when Stella and Grace unexpectedly become friends, Stella hides the fact that she and Isaac were together. After all, being friends with Grace — at least until the truth comes out — is completely normal. Isn’t it?
Younger Readers
August & Jones by Pip Harry
Eleven-year-old Jones Kirby has just moved to Sydney from her farm in country New South Wales. She’s missing her alpacas and wide-open paddocks and can’t get used to her family’s tiny city apartment. She’s also worried that her vision is blurry — she lost her eye to cancer as a toddler. Could it be another tumour? Enrolling at her new school, Jones meets shy, awkward August Genting. He loves fun facts, the library and knitting as much as Jones loves rock climbing and being outdoors. Who would have thought they’d become fast friends? At home, August’s parents are fighting. And for Jones, the news from the doctor is not good. To cheer themselves up, the pair hatch a brilliant plan: the August and Jones Must-See Bucket List. Together, this brave duo will set out to meet a rare monkey, run across the Harbour Bridge and even climb Australia’s highest mountain. After all, with your best friend beside you, anything is possible!
Early Childhood
Lionel and Me by Corinne Fenton, with illustrations by Tracie Grimwood
When Lionel arrives, Maverick is unimpressed. Is there enough love to go round for the two of them?
Picture Book of the Year
Frank’s Red Hat by Sean E Avery
Frank is a penguin with ideas. Mostly terrible ones. That’s why his fellow penguins are nervous when he shows them his strange new creation. Something they’d never seen or expected to see in their cold and colourless Antarctic world — a red hat.
Eve Pownall Award
DEEP: Delve into Hidden Worlds by Jess McGeachin
What hidden worlds lie beneath your feet? Or in the deepest parts of the ocean, where not even sunlight can reach? Come on a journey to meet glowing deep-sea creatures, zombie-making fungi and the trillions of tiny workers that live inside your own body. But be warned, things can get a little strange in the deep… Deep is an illustrated non-fiction book that explores the places hardest to reach, from the molten depths of our planet to the frigid depths of outer space. Linking seemingly diverse subject matter, it invites the reader to explore worlds hidden from view.
