{"id":117863,"date":"2020-01-24T13:05:12","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T02:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=117863"},"modified":"2020-01-24T13:05:15","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T02:05:15","slug":"favourite-australian-book-award-2019-a-year-in-kids-ya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2020\/01\/24\/favourite-australian-book-award-2019-a-year-in-kids-ya\/","title":{"rendered":"Favourite Australian Book Award 2019: A year in kids & YA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"FAB<\/a>
Emily Rodda, author of The Glimme<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate our Favourite Australian Book Award (have you voted<\/a><\/strong> yet?), we’re getting each of our talented book buyers on the blog to talk about their area of expertise – what their favourite books were, what the big trends were, who the breakout authors were and which books became surprise bestsellers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s post is from Sarah McDuling, our kids & YA category manager. Read on!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2019 was a wonderful year for children’s and young adult books!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the highest selling and most beloved picture books of the year was Young Dark Emu<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, the junior edition of Bruce Pascoe’s bestselling and award winning Dark Emu<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. In fact, it has been a really great year for non-fiction picture books! The popularity of books like Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Lisa Harvey-Smith and Love Your Body<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Jessica Sanders are perfect examples of this trend. It has been amazing to see so many beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written non-fiction picture books, ideal for engaging, educating and entertaining young minds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Young Dark Emu<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Bruce Pascoe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Young<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bruce Pascoe has collected a swathe of literary awards for Dark Emu<\/em> and now he has brought together the research and compelling first person accounts in a book for younger readers. Young Dark Emu<\/em> asks young readers to consider a different version of Australia\u2019s history pre-European colonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Lisa Harvey-Smith & Mel Matthews (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9780522876086\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime<\/em> transports curious kids and inquisitive adults on an incredible journey through the night sky. Explore our solar system from the comfort of your cosy bedroom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love Your Body<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Jessica Sanders & Carol Rossetti (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Love<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Love Your Body<\/em> encourages young girls to admire and celebrate their bodies for all the amazing things they can do, and help girls see that they are so much more than their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2019 also brought us some amazing picture storybooks – so many that it’s hard to pick favourites! Two that really stood out for me were The Tiny Star<\/a><\/em><\/strong> – a poignant and timeless story from Mem Fox and Freya Blackwood celebrating the journey of life – and also Celeste the Giraffe Loves to Laugh<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, a funny and heartwarming story from the combined talents of the amazing Celeste Barber and Matt Cosgrove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Tiny Star<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Mem Fox & Freya Blackwood (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A truly unique and moving story about the journey of life, to be cherished and shared for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Celeste the Giraffe Loves to Laugh<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Celeste Barber & Matt Cosgrove (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Celeste<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Celeste was a friendly, happy little giraffe. She had a kind heart and she made others laugh. But Celeste sometimes worried that she wasn’t enough. It seemed like other animals did much cooler stuff. Join Celeste the Giraffe on her hilarious journey as she finds out what it is that makes her unique!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In junior fiction, we were blessed with so many gems it almost broke my brain trying to decide which ones to highlight. In the end, I couldn’t go past The Glimme<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. This truly exquisite book, published in a luxe hardcover, offers a story full of magic and adventure from the beloved and bestselling author Emily Rodda, accompanied by sumptuous illustrations from Marc McBride. I also couldn’t resist including Vincent and The Grandest Hotel on Earth<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Lisa Nicol, because it was so utterly charming (and also because “Everyone deserves a bit of grand!”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Glimme<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Emily Rodda & Marc McBride (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781862919570\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\nFinn’s life in the village of Wichant is hard. Only his drawings of the wild coastline, with its dragon-shaped clouds and headlands that look like giants, make him happy. Then the strange housekeeper from a mysterious clifftop mansion sees his talent and buys him for a handful of gold and then reveals to him seven extraordinary paintings…\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vincent and The Grandest Hotel on Earth<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Lisa Nicol<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vincent<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Perched high on the snowy slopes of the Mabombo Ranges lies The Grandest Hotel on Earth. It’s wilder than the African savanna, more fantastical than Disneyland and more magical than Shangri-la. So when ordinary eleven-year-old Vincent meets the hotel’s young Florence he sets off on a path leading into his most wondrous dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And finally, 2019 was an awesome year for young adult fiction! There were so many brilliant #LoveOzYA books, I could have easily included 20+ titles on this list (and in fact I may have to do a separate list for Australian YA because there are so many great titles not included here!). In the end, the ones I chose to include here are the ones I loved so much, I’ve already re-read them. Aurora Rising<\/a><\/em><\/strong> kicked off the Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and it was such a fun-filled wild ride of a read that as soon as I finished I was ready to start all over again. Meanwhile, It Sounded Better In My Head<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and What I Like About Me<\/a><\/em><\/strong> were two debut YA fiction titles that captured my heart last year and introduced me to two of my new favourite authors (I can’t wait to read what Nina Kenwood and Jenna Guillaume write next)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aurora Rising<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aurora<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch. And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem – that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It Sounded Better In My Head<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Nina Kenwood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781925773910\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A tender, funny and joyful novel about longing, confusion, feeling left out and finding out what really matters, from an exciting new voice in Australian YA writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What I Like About Me<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Jenna Guillaume<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing this summer is entering a beauty pageant. But Maisie’s got something to prove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vote for your Favourite Australian Book of 2019!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Favourite<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah McDuling on the kids & YA trends of 2019 and the books she’s voting for in our FAB award!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":117870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[519,9684,9218,9621,10925,1822,10892,6951,9968,2750,10809,10339,10705,7394,9924,9096,10030,10338,10411,9731,3638,9967,4278,10410,10924,10473,10031,10808,9923,6649],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/FABKidsYA2019-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117863"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117928,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117863\/revisions\/117928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}