Just kidding.
In this, my thirtieth year of being a children’s librarian, I came to the end of my second year of judging for the Children’s Book Council of Australia awards, and could finally resume reading what I liked, when I liked.
I have a few new subscribers since my last post (thank you, and welcome!) so I’ll just recap my criteria for the titles featured in 40 Years of Picture Books.
I began work as a children’s librarian in 1977, and my last year of paid employment with that job description was 2017. During those forty years, I was also a stay-at-home parent to Big Bob and Ms May; writer; reviewer; awards judge; editor and publisher – and, a reader. Always a reader.
Memories of sharing stories and poring over pages are strong, but strangely hard to fix in space and time. In planning this blog, and having to narrow the choices down, I decided to take a bibliographer’s approach: books were chosen based on the date of their first publication. This meant that family favourites published before 1977 were automatically excluded – I’ve slipped in a few below.
I was honoured to announce the shortlist for the CBCA Book of the Year: Picture Book category at a ceremony was held at Government House Melbourne in the presence of the the Governor Professor The Hon David de Kretser AM. I read the citation for the excellent Brian Banana Duck Sunshine Yellow by Chris McKimmie from the CBCA Judges Report 2007.
Brian (known as Banana to Nanna, and Duck to Grumpy) spends the weekends with
his grandparents. This experience, told from Brian’s point of view, includes
fascinating collage illustrations. The overall design of the book is complex and
talented, including the quirky endpapers. It is an exceptional whole, with changing
placement of well-designed text that collaborates with the visual images to form a
complete package. What appears simplistic is actually a thoughtful exploration of
relationships and our place in the world, subtly done. The valuable, realistic
exposition of grandparent and grandchild interactions is authentically portrayed. This
is a book that will be enjoyed by a variety of ages, and studied for its wealth of design
features and collaboration of texts.
At the risk of never being asked to judge again – this book was my personal choice for the award but the shortlist was full of dazzling examples of the picture book and I can’t quarrel with the committee’s final decision.
Somehow I absorbed my best-ofs into my shelves – the other 320-odd titles submitted for the awards were donated to nearby schools.
Any ‘best of’ list has an inherent flaw. Here are a few of the family favourites that missed inclusion in this chronology, because of my cataloguer’s approach.
I can’t remember who asked me to share Ms May’s picture to feature on the cover for this journal.
Her delight at Catherine Bateson’s Millie and the Night Heron winning the CBCA Book for Younger Readers in 2006 was more important to me than any vice-regal ceremony.
By the end of this year, she was reading philosophy in Sophie’s World, moving on from PEAC as part of the inital selected intake into one of Perth’s oldest high schools. Big Bob was enjoying hacky sack and other Year 10 pursuits. And I turned my fulltime attention to Better Beginnings, which was developing in resources and scope.
