The 2021 CBCA Notables are here!

Exciting news for younger Aussie readers – the 2021 CBCA Notables list was revealed last night!

The extensive longlist announcement kicked off anticipation for the most prestigious Australian prize for children’s literature, The Children’s Book Council of Australia Books of the Year awards. CBCA National Chair Wendy Rapee told viewers that the Council had received 526 entries for consideration this year. She also had high praise for the many longlisted books.

‘In keeping with the CBCA Book Week theme for 2021, ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’, our 95 Notable books offer beautiful and challenging representations of Australia’s people, landscapes and histories. They feature contemporary and ancient themes told in many different voices, including the voices of our Indigenous peoples,’ Wendy said.

‘This year’s entries show a real depth of understanding about young Australians and the way they think. As well as food and talking animals, which will always be at the heart of younger children’s books, the Notables celebrate ways of exploring new realities – the after-effects of the bushfires, homelessness and non-traditional families, for example.’

The shortlist will be revealed at 12pm on the 30th of March while the winners announcement will kick off Book Week at 12pm on the 20th of August. Keep scrolling for the full 2021 CBCA Notables list!

Book of the Year: Older Readers

The F Team by Rawah Arja (Giramondo Publishing)
Future Girl by Asphyxia (Allen & Unwin)
The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (Text Publishing)
When It Drops by Alex Dyson (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Deep Water by Sarah Epstein (Allen & Unwin)
The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon (Hachette Australia)
When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin (Hachette Australia)
Catch Me If I Fall by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr (Text Publishing)
Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore (Text Publishing)
Before the Beginning by Anna Morgan (Hachette Australia)
Where We Begin by Christie Nieman (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley (Allen & Unwin)
Loner by Georgina Young (Text Publishing)

Book of the Year: Younger Readers

The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks (Hachette Australia)
The January Stars by Kate Constable (Allen & Unwin)
Aster’s Good, Right Things by Kate Gordon (Riveted Press)
The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn by Kate Gordon (University of Queensland Press)
Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus by Steven Herrick (University of Queensland Press)
Across the Risen Sea by Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller (Text Publishing)
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst by Jaclyn Moriarty and illustrated by Kelly Canby (Allen & Unwin)
Worse Things by Sally Murphy and illustrated by Sarah Davis (Walker Books Australia)
We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad (HarperCollins)
The Secret Library of Hummingbird House by Julianne Negri (Affirm Press)
When This Bell Rings by Allison Rushby (Walker Books Australia)
The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle by Pamela Rushby (Walker Books Australia)
Bindi by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Dub Leffler (Magabala Books)
Haywire by Claire Saxby (Scholastic Australia)
The Fire Star by A.L. Tait (Penguin Random House Australia)
Beyond Belief by Dee White (Scholastic Australia)
The Book of Chance by Sue Whiting (Walker Books Australia)
Her Perilous Mansion by Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)

Book of the Year: Early Childhood

Bear in Space by Deborah Abela and illustrated by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall (Walker Books Australia)
Busy Beaks by Sarah Allen (Affirm Press)
Coming Home to Country by Bronwyn Bancroft (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
What Do You Call Your Grandpa? by Ashleigh Barton and illustrated by Martina Heiduczek (HarperCollins Publishers)
Shapes and Colours by John Canty (Berbay Publishing)
Soon by Libby Gleeson and illustrated by Jedda Robaard (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
I’ll Always Be Older Than You by Jane Godwin and illustrated by Sara Acton (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green and illustrated by Anna Zobel (Scribble Kids’ Books)
Me and My Boots by Penny Harrison and illustrated by Evie Barrow (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
No! Never! by Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn-Jarman and illustrated by Mel Pearce (Hachette Australia)
Ruby Red Shoes: My Wonderful Grandmother by Kate Knapp (HarperCollins)
Australia Under the Sea 1, 2, 3 by Frané Lessac (Walker Books Australia)
Anemone is not the Enemy by Anna McGregor (Scribble Kids’ Books)
There’s No Such Thing by Heidi McKinnon (Allen & Unwin)
Respect by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson and illustrated by Lisa Kennedy (Magabala Books)
We Love You, Magoo by Briony Stewart (Penguin Random House Australia)
This Small Blue Dot by Zeno Sworder (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Bin Chicken by Kate & Jol Temple and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh (Scholastic Australia)
Pink! by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Judith Rossell (HarperCollins)
Ten Little Figs by Rhiân Williams and illustrated by Nathaniel Eckstrom (Walker Books Australia)

Picture Book of the Year

Sometimes Cake by Tamsin Ainslie Edwina Wyatt (Walker Books Australia)
The Biscuit Maker by Liz Anelli and Sue Lawson (Walker Books Australia)
I Saw Pete and Pete Saw Me by Evie Barrow and Maggie Hutchings (Affirm Press)
The Unwilling Twin by Freya Blackwood (HarperCollins)
Wolfred by Nick Bland (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Give Me Some Space by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)
Not Cute. by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)
Who Am I? by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)
Wombat by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)
Littlelight by Kelly Canby (Fremantle Press)
Norton and the Bear by Gabriel Evans (Berbay Publishing)
Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham (Walker Books Australia)
Diamonds by Armin Greder (Allen & Unwin)
Sing Me the Summer by Alison Lester and Jane Godwin (Affirm Press_
Colin Cockroach Goes to Caloundra by Chris McKimmie (Ford Street Publishing)
Jelly-Boy by Christopher Nielsen and Nicole Godwin (Walker Books Australia)
How to Make a Bird by Matt Ottley and Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia)
Your Birthday Was the Best! by Felicita Sala and Maggie Hutchings (Affirm Press)
The Fire Wombat by Danny Snell and Jackie French (HarperCollins)
Anisa’s Alphabet by Hannah Sommerville and Mike Dumbleton (Midnight Sun Publishing)
My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart (Larrikin House)
Girl from the Sea by Jane Tanner and Margaret Wild (Allen & Unwin)
Hello Jimmy! by Anna Walker (Penguin Random House Australia)
Good Question: A Tale Told Backwards by Annie White and Sue Whiting (Walker Books Australia)
Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green and illustrated by Anna Zobel (Scribble Kids’ Books)

Eve Pownall Award

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Hachette Australia)
Azaria: A True History by Maree Coote (Melbournestyle Books)
The Daddy Animal Book by Jennifer Cossins (Hachette Australia)
The Mummy Animal Book by Jennifer Cossins (Hachette Australia)
Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli (Walker Books Australia)
Strangers on Country by David Hartley, Kirsty Murray and Dub Leffler (National Library of Australia)
There’s a Zoo in my Poo by Felice Jacka and Rob Craw (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Little Lon by Andrew Kelly, Mark Jackson and Heather Potter (Wild Dog Books)
Saltie Mumma by Sandra Kendall (Windy Hollow Books)
Hold On! Saving the Spotted Handfish by Gina M. Newton and Rachel Tribout (CSIRO Publishing)
Australia’s Wild Weird Wonderful Weather by Stephanie Owen Reeder and Tania McCartney (National Library of Australia)
Will the Wonderkid: Treasure Hunter of the Australian Outback by Stephanie Owen Reeder (National Library of Australia)
Shirley Purdie: My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe by Shirley Purdie (Magabala Books)
Kookaburra by Claire Saxby and Tannya Harricks (Walker Books Australia)
Matthew Flinders – Adventures on Leaky Ships by Carole Wilkinson and Prue Pittock (Dog Books)

Congratulations to all of the authors on the 2021 CBCA Notables List!

Find out more about the Children’s Book Council of Australia here

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