WINNER Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2019
Audience: Ages 7+
Maggie holds tight to her mother as they await the long anticipated apology to show a willingness to reconcile the past for future generations. In the excitement of the crowd Maggie loses touch of her mother’s hand and is lost. As the Prime Minister’s speech unfolds Maggie is reunited with her mother. But the faces and memories of the stolen generation are all around them. Two stories entwine in this captivating retelling of the momentous day when the then Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, acknowledged the sorrows of past and said ‘Sorry’ to the generation of children who were taken from their homes.
In 1942, Sergeant “Griff” Griffin was a prisoner of war. With Christmas approaching, he decided to make a book for the children cooped up in nearby Changi Prison. The book was said to contain the secrets to happiness. But the enemy was suspicious … With this picture book, award winners Mark Greenwood and Andrew McLean bring to life the inspirational true story of a book that became a National Treasure.
The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is one of Australia's most threatened species. When their existence came under extreme threat from habitat loss, predators and human development, Eastern Barred Bandicoots found refuge in the most unlikely of places - a rubbish tip. This captivating true story details the plight these small, nocturnal marsupials faced, and the outstanding efforts that ensured their survival.
Every journey is perilous, every situation heartbreaking. Every refugee is a person forced by famine or war or fear to leave their home, their families, their friends and all they know. Children have travelled on the waves of migration to the shores of Australia for tens of thousands of years. This book tells some of their stories.Waves is a book about the waves of migration to the shores of Australia.
A book of birds from around Yirrkala, which is Siena’s home in North East Arnhem Land. This beautiful little book includes the English and Yolngu names of the birds and their Yolngu moiety. In Yolngu culture, everything is divided into two moieties: Yirritja and Dhuwa – and as a result all things are classified, from a body of water to a specific type of tree and all our birds. Birds give themselves their Yolngu name by the sounds they make.
WINNER Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2018
Audience: Ages 4-8
Summary: Min is a microbe. She is small. Very small. In fact so small that you'd need to look through a microscope to see her. Or you can simply open this book and take Min on an adventure to amazing places she's never seen before--like the icy glaciers of your tooth or the twisted, tangled jungle that is your shirt. The perfect book for anyone who wants to take a closer look at the world.
Summary: When a young male koala outgrows his mother's pouch, it's time to find a new home for himself -- braving perils and adventures along the way. In a high tree fork, a gray ball unfurls. Koala seeks his mother's milk, but for the first time, she won't let him into her pouch. It's time for Koala to make his own way in the world. Rival koalas, fierce storms, and frightening snakes force Koala to keep moving -- until he finds a safe place to call his own. In this dramatic nonfiction account, two renowned Australian picture-book creators bring us a surprising and authentic look at the ever-popular koala. Fascinating facts about koalas are sprinkled throughout the compelling story.
Summary: Left and right are all around us. From our hands and feet to our eyes and ears, the notion of left and right is inescapable. Left and right control how we travel and play sport, and even how we eat. The vast extent of how this deceptively simple subject shapes our lives is revealed in the Left And Right book.
Summary: A taste of the intriguing history of Australia and the many entry points for readers to explore further. In the late 18th century, ragtag groups of Europeans started to arrive in Australia. Most were convicts, some were soldiers, a few had just run out of choices. They blundered onto an ancient land that had been peopled for 60,000 years. They wanted to make it just like home. They cleared the land, they fenced it, they paved it, and they put buildings on it. All the while, the country's first peoples watched on, bewildered by these clumsy immigrants and their mysterious ways.
Summary: Antarctica is the driest, coldest and wildest continent on Earth. Even though it is harsh and difficult place to live, Antarctica is home to more than a thousand plant and several hundred animal species. Antarctica has 90 per cent of Earth’s ice and plays a major role in our weather. Scientists from around the world live and work in Antarctica to better understand the future of our planet.
Imagine what it was like to travel to far-off places before there were aeroplanes. For early 20th-century Australian, it could take days, weeks, or months just to get where they were going. Amazing Australians in Their Flying Machines tells the stories of ten brave Australians, including the youngest licensed woman pilot Nancy Bird, who took to the skies and changed the face of aviation forever.
Canberra, A.C.T. National Library of Australia, 2016
WINNER Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2017
Audience: For children 8-12 years
Summary: This book brings together 55 national parks, selected across all Australian states and territories, and over 120 animals. It is divided into seven sections according to habitat, each including a number of national parks and a selection of the animals that inhabit them. The information is divided into the following sections: 'Fast Facts' gives you all the vital statistics, such as size, lifespan and number of young; 'Where Does It Live?' tells you where in Australia you can find the species and provides details about its home; 'What's Its Life Like?' tells you a bit about how the animal moves, behaves, eats and has young; and 'Interesting Info' has quirky and fascinating facts.
Summary: This beautifully illustrated full-colour picture book is packed with interesting facts and is perfect for young conservationists and students alike with a keen interest in the world around us. On this journey through the alphabet, you will encounter some of the world's most beautiful, rare and endangered animals, from the majestic Amur tiger and the curious kakapo, to the misunderstood Tasmanian devil and the shy zebra duiker. Come on an illustrated expedition through the animal kingdom with Tasmanian artist Jennifer Cossins.
Summary: Why do people in families look similar? How closely are you related to your cousins, a chimpanzee and a banana? Whose fault is it if you can?t roll your tongue? Find out in The Gigantic Book of Genes!
Summary: A powerful, moving story based on a true story about one heroic horse who saved others during a bushfire. Fabish had once been a racehorse. Now he lived in a paddock with the frisky young horses and showed them how to behave. But one hot summer day, a wild wind blew up, and the horses were nervous and flighty. This was the day that became known as Black Saturday. When Fabish smelled smoke he knew that fire was coming. The trainer threw open the gate and told Fabish, "Go now! Take care of the boys." The horses galloped away. Where would Fabish lead them? And could he keep them safe?
South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia : Melbournestyle Books, 2016
Audience: For children
Summary: There are shapes all around us--shapes that look like the letters of the alphabet. Spellbound is 120 pages of unique typographic illustration known as "Letter Art." This introduction to typographic design is the first of its kind, and promotes and improves letter recognition, observation, spelling, and design skills.
Summary: William Bligh: a stormy story of tempestuous times unpeels the layers of some of the most incredible circumstances in Australia's colonial history. Some people may have heard of the famous mutiny on the Bounty; others may have heard of the Rum Rebellion coup; but the details in and around these events are largely unknown and truly extraordinary. This is precisely what the latest book reveals. Written by Michael Sedunary and complemented by the stunning artwork of Australia's most prominent ceramic artist, Bern Emmerichs.
Canberra, A.C.T. National Library of Australia, 2015
WINNER Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2016
Audience: For primary school age. Age 7+
Summary: Based on a true story of nine-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. Lenniea s 1,000-kilometre solo journey captured the imagination of the nation, and his determination and courage provided hope to many at a difficult time in Australia's history.
Summary: Phasmid presents the amazing true story of the Lord Howe Island Phasmid - aka Stick Insect. Once thought to be extinct, the phasmids were rediscovered on Balls Pyramid, a volcanic outcrop 23 kilometers off the coast of Lord Howe Island, Australia, prompting an extraordinary conservation effort to save this remarkable insect. With a captivating narrative by Rohan Cleave and stunning watercolor illustrations by renowned artist Coral Tulloch, Phasmid is a positive story about one species' incredible story of survival in a time of worldwide species decline. It will help to inspire young readers to think about the survival of all species, including insects.
Canberra, A.C.T. Department of Veterans' Affairs in association with the Australian War Memorial, 2015
Honour Book 2016
Audience: Upper primary & lower secondary
Summary: This book explores stories of individuals and families from different cultural backgrounds who served in Australian units during the First World War. The stories contain educational questions, historical facts, did you know questions and a glossary of terms used in the text.
Summary: Nancy Wake, nicknamed 'the white mouse' for her ability to evade capture, tells her own story. After living and working in Paris in the 1930's, Nancy married a wealthy Frenchman and settled in Marseilles. Her idyllic new life was ended by World War II and the invasion of France. Her life shattered, Nancy joined the French resistance and, later, began work with an escape-route network for allied soldiers. Eventually Nancy had to escape from France herself to avoid capture by the Gestapo. In London she trained with the Special Operations Executive as a secret agent and saboteur before parachuting back into France.
Summary: A study of the women who made the rebellion in an abridged edition for younger readers. There was . . . Poet ELLEN YOUNG, stirring up the miners with her letters to he paper; Newspaper editor CLARA DUVAL SEEKAMP, publishing them; Actor SARAH HANMER, raising money for the cause; Teacher ANASTASIA HAYES and the other women who sewed the Eureka flag . . . not to mention the unknown woman who was killed in the fighting, then completely forgotten for 150 years.
Melbourne, Victoria The Text Publishing Company, 2014
WINNER Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Audience: For secondary school age
Summary: Convicts in Van Diemen's Land is a rich and compelling account of the lives of the men, women and children who were transported to Tasmania for crimes ranging from stealing bread to poisoning family members. Their sentences, punishments, achievements and suffering make for fascinating reading. And the spectacular illustrations, each one carefully drawn in meticulous detail from contemporary records, bring this extraordinary history to life.
Summary: The Tea and Sugar train only came once a week on a Thursday. But the special Christmas train only came once a year. Today was Sunday. Four more days without sugar. Four more days until the Christmas train. Please, please be on time. Please don't be late. Join Kathleen in the outback as she eagerly awaits the Christmas Tea and Sugar train.
Summary: In this refreshing and fascinating collection, twelve Muslim-Australians - some known names, some not - reveal their fascinating, funny, candid stories of growing up with a dual identity. These honest and heartfelt stories will resonate with all readers, providing different snapshots of Muslim life in Australia, dispelling myths and stereotypes, and above all celebrating diversity, achievement, courage and determination.
Summary: Mary MacKillop watched Australia grow from a collection of small colonies into a nation - and she was proud of the country she had a part in creating. How did Australia change in her lifetime? And how much influence did Mary MacKillop have in shaping Australia?
Tiny Jeremy is only a few days old when he falls out of his nest and is brought home by the family cat. Luckily, Jeremy is a fighter and he loves to eat. Little by little he grows stronger and stronger, until the time comes when he must say goodbye. This delightful story about raising and rearing a baby kookaburra is based on a true story.
A wonderfully engaging and heartening account of a successful Aboriginal community based at a beautiful beach site in Arnhem Land. Bawaka Country refers to the diverse land, water, animals, plants, rocks, thoughts, and songs that make up their Indigenous homeland of Bawaka. Theirs is a story of lives entwined and of new places of being and belonging. Welcome to My Country is also a collaborative narrative of unexpected transformations, embedded families, and the spirituality and agency of non-human elements in and of the landscape.
The extraordinary achievements of Australias own Antarctic hero. Douglas Mawson was the first man to reach the South Magnetic Pole, and led Australia s first Antarctic expedition. This is a story of adventure and survival, as Mawson faces enormous challenges and triumphs. Kids will be gripped by this extraordinary true story!
Summary: He emerged from the cave of bats with the name given to him by his people. He was Jandamarra - a man of power who could appear and disappear like a ghost. Set in the Kimberley region in north-west Australia, this is the story of a young warrior born to lead. To the settlers, he was an outlaw to be hunted. To the Bunuba, he was a courageous defender of his country. Mark Greenwood's text and Terry Denton's watercolour illustrations bring to life this story of conflict and divided loyalties - giving a unique insight into an extraordinary man and a tragic but important part of Australia's frontier history.
Captain Cook was the first European to discover the eastern coast of Australia. Along with his crew on the HMS Endeavor, Cook set out from England with royal orders to look for signs of the great southern land known as Terra Australis, which they chartered in 1788. From Ned Kelly to Saint Mary Mackillop, Captain Cook to Douglas Mawson, the Meet... series of picture books tells the exciting stories of the men and women who shaped Australian history.
The diary of Yoko, a 13-year-old Japanese girl who lived near Hiroshima during the war. With additions by Yokos relatives and fellow students, and an introduction by Paul Ham, Yokos Diary is a touching account of the consequences of the first nuclear bombing of a city.
Summary: Its morning in the bush. Python stirs and slithers out from her shelter. She warms her head and smells the air with her forked tongue. Python is a beautiful snake, but also dangerous and she is looking for a meal. Python is part of the Nature Storybook series, which was shortlisted for the 2012 CBCA Awards.
Summary: When Edith met a cheeky young lyrebird on her garden path, she could not guess that he would one day be known as 'A Miracle of the Dandenongs.' Soon, James the lyrebird was singing and dancing for Edith, mimicking the birdsongs and other sounds that echoed through the bush. Word of their friendship spread and people travelled from near and far to film and record James. But with people came change...
Summary: To the first Europeans who came to Australia, everything seemed topsy turvy. Christmas was in the summer and trees shed their bark but not their leaves. And the animals were bizarre. There was a bird that laughed like a donkey and a type of greyhound that bound along on its hind legs like a hare. There was an animal in Tasmania whose nocturnal screeches sounded like the devil and a river creature that had a ducks bill at one end and a beavers tail at the other. The Europeans had never seen anything like these animals before and gave them names similar to those of the European creatures they already knew. They drew and painted odd pictures of them, showing they did not understand the animals habits. In one illustration, a wombat is standing on its back legs and in another a Tasmanian tiger is wrestling with a platypus of the same size.
South Brisbane, Qld. : Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, 2012
Audience/Format: Primary school
Summary: Portrait of Spain for Kids is the fourth childrens book published by QAGOMA and features full-page colour images, information about the artists, fun facts about Spanish history and culture, as well as instructions for at-home activities such as Spanish recipes.