December 7, 2018 – Services for Children and Youth

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/mixed-age-head-start-classes-hinders-kids-academic-progress.html

Description

My activity is a book review on this year winner of the Early Childhood Award from Children’s Book Council of Australian (CBCA) titled “Rodney Rabbit Loses It” authored by Michael Gerard Bauer and illustrated by Chrissie Krebs (Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2018a). It is a story about a rabbit who loses his favourite pen and goes on a chaotic search to recover it. The illustrations are simple but effective by building on the humour. Well suited for the target audience 0-7 yrs and received high praise from the judges.
The CBCA was established in 1945 to celebrate passionate people who encourage youths to read (Children Book Council of Australia, 2018a). The award ceremony was designed to encourage and promote Australian authors and publishers in a time where libraries were filled with English and American books (Kett, 2016). In 2001, the award categories increased, and the Early Childhood was one of the new categories (Buckley & Kirkland, 2010, p. 16).

What did you learn?

In all categories literature is judged on setting, characterisation, plot and themes. During the age of 0-7yrs, kids are beginning to develop their literacy skills and starting to read themselves. The Early Childhood award takes into consideration that the children will also be reading the books and pays attention to:
• Font size, style and placement
• Illustrations
• Page layout
• Editing (while learning to read misspelt words can confuse).
(Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2018b, p. 1).

The CBCA book week begins the following day after winners are announced, the event is held in Australian libraries to encourage kids to read, and the winners of the awards are promoted or chosen for the event (Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2018a). This provides excellent promotion for the winners but also promotes CBCA who rely on donations for the awards to continue.

How was the activity relevant to your professional practice working with children and/or young adults?

It is important for librarians to know popular books and authors to stay up-to-date and provides an opportunity to promote a library’s collection. A key part of the librarian job is to choose materials for their library that is diverse and meets their client’s needs. With such a large variety of high-quality work, one must be able to identify the target audience and critical analyses the resources to make a calculated decision when purchasing new materials. This is done by understanding the targets audience needs and preferences while keeping up with relevant trends. As well as seeing the possible learning tools the stories provide, so children can grow emotionally and mentally while having fun. When reviewing a book, you do not just look at the story; illustrations also play a large role especially in books targeted at younger children, it is not important for the art to be of high quality what matter is the ability to inspire the imagination and add to the story.

What gaps in your knowledge were revealed and how might you fill those gaps?

Something that became apparent to me during my review and research into the CBCA awards was my understanding of why the winners were chosen. As previously stated, the fields in which a book is judged is clearly outlined, however, the ability to understand what children of each generation will enjoy is a skill that comes with experience. Judges chosen will have at least 10yrs experience with children literature, to develop the ability to not only analyse the literature but also to understand the target audience. In each report about the winners and honours of the award, I learnt something new about the book but also about the target audience, things the judges considered that never occurred to me. The ability to analyse and understand the target audience can be achieved by continuing reading and reviewing of books as well as working in the industry, which I one day hope to do.

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelGerardBauerAuthor/photos/d41d8cd9/1509586542432087/

References

Buckley, T., & Kirkland, M. (2010). The children’s book council of Australia. Access
(10300155), 24(3), 16-19. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=f4f1412c-78af-4986-a0a4-2f13f4f9030e%40sdc-v-sessmgr04

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2018a). Appendix 2: Additional Judging Criteria.
Retrieved from https://cbcacloud.blob.core.windows.net/documents/Awards%20Policy%20-%20Appendix%202%20Additional%20Judging%20Criteria.pdf

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2018b). CBCA, Retrieved from
https://www.cbca.org.au/

Kett, M. R. (2016, August 11). How to Choose Award-winning children’s books (Blog post).
Retrieved from
http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2034637/how-to-choose-award-winning-childrens-books

https://michaelgerardbauer.com/rodney-loses-it/

The story centres around a grey, long-eared rabbit who wears a purple bow tie and glasses named Rodney. Rodney loves to draw more than anything else and has a favourite pen which he calls Penny. One day he loses Penny and goes on a crazy search for Penny which escalates quickly.

In the story has Rodney discover his pen is missing and instead of performing a methodical search or asking for help, he wastes energy doing a wild search which only makes a mess and causes damage. At the end he is unable to locate his pen, he then throws a tantrum which causes his pen to fall on the table from behind his ear. This bad behaviour displayed in the book can be used as a teaching tool to show children how not to act when things go wrong and to think about their actions. However, in the end, Rodney’s tantrum leads to him finding his pen, which might show children that throwing a tantrum can work. He also did not learn his lesson as after finding his pen he loses his glasses, and on the last page we see him about to have another tantrum. His behaviour can be used in a discussion with a child about appropriate behaviour however, I feel the story would be a more effective learning tool if Rodney learnt that tantrums do not get you what you want.

The text is large and easy to read, always placed on a background which allows it to stand out. There is rhythm and rhyming which makes it easy and fun to read-aloud or together. However, some of the language used might confuse younger readers; on page one “tedious” is used, this word is above some under six children’s reading level. Also, on page twenty-one the word “caper” is used. I needed to search for the definition, which is a “playful skipping movement”. In the illustration Rodney is dancing, and since I was not aware of the definition, then I believe children and some adult readers might also be confused. I also considered whether it was a spelling error and was meant to read “paper” which would also fit the context.

The simple, colourful illustrations provide a character full of energy and personality. The unfussy design allows children to easily spot objects from the story such as items previously mentioned at the beginning for example the slinky dangling from the chandelier. The illustration builds on the story but also add to the jokes such as seeing that Penny is behind Rodney’s ear the whole time.

I found this, for the most part, a fun, easy read that both children and adults can enjoy and have a laugh. The illustration and story work well together matching and building on each other. With a fun, passionate character and relatable story it offers a chance to teach a lesson and help children think about their action. There is room for improvement to make the lesson more effective. It is a good book that will resonate with its target audience of 0-6yrs old’s and make an acceptable addition to a library’s collection.

Day: December 7, 2018

This Year Winner of the CBCA Early Childhood Award Activity

“Rodney Rabbit Loses It” Book Review