Saturday 30 September 2023

World Kid Lit Month 2023: CBCA Book of the Year

Bonus: Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Picture Book winner

My strange shrinking parents: being: a picture story told in 38 pages
Written & drawn by Zeno Sworder.

Thames and Hudson, 2022.

Sorry for the bad photos - trying to get them while I could. 

Oh my word. This is heart-breaking. 

The metaphor of shrinking yourself to fit is blown apart in this. 

The giving and giving and giving and giving of yourself.






World Kid Lit Month 2023: Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

A book by a winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award:

Daytime visions: an alphabet. 
By Isol; adapted in English by Isol and Elisa Amado.

Enchanted Lion, 2016. 

I found the creator's reflection on how to adapt her work into another language fascinating.

How language - and alphabets - frame our thinking. 







World Kid Lit Month 2023: IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award

A book by a winner of the IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award

The great piratical rumbustification; &, the librarian and the robbers. 
Written by Margaret Mahy; with pictures by Quentin Blake.  

Dent, 1978. 

It will always be Margaret Mahy! 

This time, I've included another HCA winner: Quentin Blake. 

Why this book? Well, it's really the second story: "The Librarian and the Robbers." 

I wish I had Serena Laburnum's sangfroid. 

I do have a t-shirt with a Miss Laburnum quote on it (thanks to my manager.)

AND the memory of spending time with Margaret Mahy. Including at this gathering for her 70th birthday, where we are admiring the bracelet I made for her. 










World Kid Lit Month 2023: USBBY Outstanding International Books list

A book from the USBBY Outstanding International Books list:

This place: 150 years retold.
Foreword by Alicia Elliott; colouring by Scott A. Ford and Donovan Yaciuk.
Stories by:
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm. Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Jen Storm, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, Chelsea Vowel.
Illustrated by: 
Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, GMB Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Andrew Lodwick, Scott A. Ford, Donovan Yaciuk, Ryan Howe, and Jen Storm.

Highwater Press, 2019.

Merging together various storytelling traditions – oral, written, and visual – this is a powerful anthology, commemorating Canada’s indigenous peoples.

There are stories of the past, the present, and the future.

As one reviewer said, these are post-apocalyptic tales – indigenous cultures worldwide have lived – still live – in post-apocalyptic worlds, thanks to Western colonisation. 






World Kid Lit Month 2023: White Ravens Catalog

A book from the White Ravens Catalog:

We all play = Kimêtawânaw.
By Julie Flett.

Greystone Kids, 2021.

A joyous romp of a book! 

I challenge you not to smile while reading this. 

Children and animals are lovingly detailed, with just enough scenery to provide context.