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.
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