Book Week
Written by Catriona Coote Sunday, 06 September 2009 07:45
As many of you probably know from your children (and local libraries), the Children's Book Council of Australia awards were announced recently. While I'm not obsessive about reviewing the shortlisted books, it's always good to keep an eye on what the judges regard as Notable Books (the step prior to shortlisting) and you will find many CBCA recommendations on the review site.
Now that the CBCA has the Junior Judges system up and running, it's also thought-provoking to look at what the kids chose as winners and honours books out of the shortlist in their reading age category. This year there was very little common ground between adult and junior judges, despite the fact they were using the same judging criteria - an education to writers (and reviewers!) about the different ways books are valued and perceived by adults and younger readers. See for yourself at: http://cbca.org.au/awards.htm
Just loaded: For those who don't know, there was a slight (!) nobody's-fault-just-one-of-those-things glitch when the NSWAGTC website changed servers and all 700 or so reviews disappeared in the process. Thankfully I had kept copies of all but the very earliest (written between 1999-2001), which I'd lost when my computer crashed. (I've since become obsessive about backing up onto USB drive and CD!)
I'm trying to load 5 reviews a day from the earlier database as well as posting new ones as I write them, but it will still take some months to get the review database back to its earlier breadth and depth. Of recent releases I can strongly recommend The Magic Thief trilogy by Sarah Prineas for 11-14yrs. Two books have been released - look for reviews on the review site. The third title should be available next year.
Currently reading: Word Spy (Ursula Dubosarsky); The Princess Bride (William Goldman); The Ode Less Travelled (Stephen Fry)
Read but haven't yet reviewed: Fat, Four-eyed and Useless (David Hill); The Book of Unicorns (Jackie French); Octavius O'Malley & the Mystery of the Criminal Cat (Alan Sunderland); Moonbird (Joyce Dunbar/Jane Ray); Where's God? (Victor Kelleher/Elise Hurst); I'm Number One (Michael Rosen/Bob Graham)
Bedside Box (the pile fell over): Jasper Jones (Craig Silvey); Vermonia: quest for the Silver Tiger (manga); Letters to Leonardo (Dee White); Exposure (Mal Peet); Time of Trial (M. Pryor); Ransom (David Malouf) and about 14 other titles!
Until next time - happy reading! 
Just in...
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The blogs appearing on the NSWAGTC site are designed to provide colour, news and subjective views about the many issues and concerns facing gifted children and their parents, care-givers and educators. Some of the blogs are associated with formal roles of the NSWAGTC, such as the President and the Webmaster. These allow the persons filling these roles to note to members any current news and changes. Other NSWAGTC blogs are written by individuals with experience of gifted children from one or more perspectives - for example Cate's Blog is from the viewpoint of a primary school teacher and parent of gifted children. These blogs are written solely by the person identified and represent his or her views, rather than necessarily those of the NSWAGTC. Comments are invited We invite comments on our blog entries, by both financial members and registered users (free). Click here to register. Comments may be reviewed and those considered inappropriate will be deleted. New blogs? We would also be delighted to consider applications from potential bloggers provided that the applicant accepts that this will be subject to a review process and may well be declined for any number of reasons which may not be shared with the applicant. Applications, which should include a resume and a vision for the potential blog, and suggestions for new blogs, can be sent in the first instance to the webmaster. |
