The 2021 CBCA Book of the Year shortlist is here!

The 2021 CBCA Books of the Year shortlist has just been announced, featuring beloved authors such as Davina Bell, Jaclyn Moriarty, Sami Bayly and more!

The announcement was made over on YouTube with a video made by the authors and illustrators of the South Australian brand of the CBCA. The Books of the Year for each category will be announced at 12pm on the 20th of August, to kick off Book Week (themed ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’).

Scroll down to see the 2021 CBCA shortlist!

Book of the Year: Older Readers

The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (Text Publishing)

The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon (Hachette Australia)

When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin (Hachette Australia)

Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore (Text Publishing)

Where We Begin by Christie Nieman (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley (Allen & Unwin)

Book of the Year: Younger Readers

Aster’s Good, Right Things by Kate Gordon (Riveted Press)

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)

Bindi by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Dub Leffler (Magabala Books)

The Book of Chance by Sue Whiting (Walker Books Australia)

Book of the Year: Early Childhood

Busy Beaks by Sarah Allen (Affirm Press)

Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green and illustrated by Anna Zobel (Scribble Kids’ Books)

No! Never! by Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn-Jarman and illustrated by Mel Pearce (Hachette Australia)

Anemone is not the Enemy by Anna McGregor (Scribble Kids’ Books)

There’s No Such Thing by Heidi McKinnon (Allen & Unwin)

We Love You, Magoo by Briony Stewart (Penguin Random House Australia)

Picture Book of the Year

The Unwilling Twin by Freya Blackwood (HarperCollins)

Not Cute. by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia)

Norton and the Bear by Gabriel Evans (Berbay Publishing)

Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham (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)

Eve Pownall Award

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Hachette Australia)

Azaria: A True History by Maree Coote (Melbournestyle Books)

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)

Hold On! Saving the Spotted Handfish by Gina M. Newton and Rachel Tribout (CSIRO Publishing)

Matthew Flinders – Adventures on Leaky Ships by Carole Wilkinson and Prue Pittock (Dog Books)

CBCA Award for New Illustrator

Sofya Karmazina for Ribbit Rabbit Robot (Scholastic Australia)

Mel Pearce for No! Never! (Hachette Australia)

Dave Petzold for Seven Seas of Fleas (Starfish Bay Publishing)

Shirley Purdie for Shirley Purdie: My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe (Magabala Books)

Zeno Sworder for This Small Blue Dot (Thames & Hudson Australia)

Robin Tatlow–Lord for Go Away, Worry Monster! (EK Books)

Congratulations to all of the authors on the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Shortlist!

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

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Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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