Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

Welcome!

Welcome!
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO MY RED BUBBLE STORE.

Monday 20 August 2018

There's discoveries to be found in a book

I don't know if you are a reader, but I've been a reader as long as I can remember. I always have a book to read when I go to bed at night. Sometimes I am lucky to have time to read during the day...but sadly not often. 

I have found memories of borrowing books from the travelling library van that came to our house during the school holidays, and laying engrossed on the cool lino of the passage in the heat of summer reading the latest Milly-Molly-Mandy book, or Enid Blyton's Secret Seven or the Famous FIve series. And oh! the delicious smell of a new reading book!

I love to see my grandies reading when they come to my house. It is so much better to hold a real book in your hands rather than an e-reader don't you think?


The last couple of weeks I have been relieving in our local primary school library while the library officer is on leave, and I am very happy to be there for book week and to see the fabulous array of short listed and awarded books for the Childrens Book Council of Australia 2018 children's book awards.

There are so many wonderful books being created for children with amazing illustrations. In in this world of digital technology I think there is so important to introduce children early to the wonderful world of books. Visuals attract us, so a great cover and illustrations are very important.


2018 is the 72nd year of the Children’s Book Council of Australia book of the year awards and the theme for this year is "Find Your Treasure".
From the 444 entries and 36 shortlisted titles, the judges selected one winner and two honoured books for the five categories and one winner for the Crichton Award for New Illustrators.

“Professor Margot Hillel OAM, Chair of the CBCA National Board said, “This is our 72nd Book of the Year Awards and the high number of engaging, imaginative and inspiring stories that continue to be published for young Australians each year is very encouraging, particularly in an age where digital technologies compete for their time and attention.”

 I haven't personally had time to read the winning books as yet, but I intend to do so over the next week at school. 


The Book of the Year for younger readers is “How to Bee” by Bren MacDibble.
 Peony lives with her sister and grandfather on a fruit farm outside the city. In a world where real bees are extinct, the quickest, bravest kids climb the fruit trees and pollinate the flowers by hand. A story about family, loyalty, kindness and bravery, set against an all-too-possible future where climate change has forever changed the way we live.

Honoured in this section were “Henrietta and the Perfect Night” by Martine Murray and “Marsh and Me” by Martine Murray. 

The Early Childhood book of the year is “Rodney Loses It” by Michael Gerard Bauer and illustrated by Chrissie Krebs.

Rodney was a rabbit who loved nothing more than drawing. He never found it tiresome, tedious or boring. But then one day, disaster struck, the one thing Rodney feared, while working at his drawing desk his pen just… DISAPPEARED!  A truly hysterical search for a missing pen.

Honoured in the Early Childhood section was “The Very Noisy Baby” written and illustrated by Alison Lester and “Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee” by Lisa Shanahan and Illustrated by Binny.
Picture Book of the Year is “A Walk in the Bush” written and illustrated by Gwyn Perkins -

“A story about the wonders of nature, the funny side of life and spending time with the ones we love.”
Honoured books in the Picture Book section were “The Great Rabbit Chase” written and illustrated by Freya Blackwood and “Mopoke” written and illustrated by Phillip Bunting. 

The Eve Pownall Award for factual information was awarded to “Do Not Lick This Book” by Idan Ben-Barak and illustrated by Julian Frost.  Honestly what child could resist picking up a book with a name like that! 
A brilliantly simple, funny, interactive picture book that introduces children to the strange, unseen world of microbes all around them through the character of Min the microbe.

Honoured in this section were “Left and Right” by Lorna Hendry and Koala by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Julie Vivas.

The Crichton Award for New Illustrators went to “Tintinnabula” written by Margo Lanagan and illustrated by Rovina Cai. Rovina's illustrations are truly amazing. 

"In wild times and in wartime, in times of fear and illness, I go to Tintinnabula, where soft rains fall."  

Tintinnabula is a picture book that explores light and shade. Through a poetic narrative, the story looks at the different things that can confront us, while conveying the message that in times of trouble it is often within ourselves that we find comfort.


The Book of the Year for older readers was "Take Three Girls" by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood. This lively novel captures the good and the bad of female friendship"
Honours in this section were awarded to to Mallee Boys by Charlie Archbold and In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black. 

For more information please go to the Childrens Book Council of Australia - www.cbca.org.au/
I hope you have enjoyed this short look at the 2018 Children's Books of the Year Awards in Australia. What was your favourite book as a child, what is your favourite book now? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

It is hard for me to pin them down exactly to one book, but as a child some of mine were the "Milly-Molly-Mandy" books and just about anything written by Enid Blyton,  and currently Kate Morton's "The Forgotten Garden", but I also adored recently, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Have you read them? I recommend them to you if you haven't.

 Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
Life in Reflection

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.


27 comments:

  1. Oh I so love 'real' books! They are stacked high in our Greek home and they were stacked high in our US home. We gave many away when we downsized and turn many into book exchanges now, but no technology will ever match the wonders of opening a real book and setting off to some new world with new characters!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life Images by Jill21 August 2018 at 13:05

      they are stacked high in our house too. I've always wanted a mezzanine floor library.

      Delete
  2. Oh I love books, but when we downsized we gave so many away. I used to keep all our childrens' books, but have only kept a few hopefully for the grandies! Loved a look at this current list. They look fabulous :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life Images by JIll21 August 2018 at 13:18

      It is difficult for me to cull books from our huge collection. The only ones that go are ones I didn't enjoy.

      Delete
  3. Jill - I have a smile on my face just from reading the descriptions of these books, especially 'Don't lick this book'. I was a voracious reader when I was young - I guess I had more free time then … my favorites were the Little House on the Prairie books, along with Harriet the Spy and anything by Roald Dahl. Thanks for this delightful post - I am so impressed by those who write and illustrate children's books and get our kids engaged in this very important life skill (and I do enjoy a real book over an e-reader).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to say that sadly I've never read any of the Little House on the Prairie books, though we used to watch the TV series years ago. I think they have them in the library here. I will have to borrow them.

      Delete
  4. Do not lick this book - makes me want to pick it up and lick it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great title isn't it. And fabulous pics through a microscope inside.

      Delete
  5. If I were to go to university again, I'd probably take up Library Science this time. The library is my happy place!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I too love reading books but only hard copies not PDF . keep commenting in my blog because I love your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh to just lose oneself in the stories of books was/is always a favorite time spent. Love the tennis shoe photo. :) Thanks for hosting the link up.

    Peabea from Peabea Scribbles

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was an avid reader as a child - the world created by books and the adventures within those pages fired my imagination. I still read for the same reason. Guernsey was one of my fave books so far this year, but I haven't (yet) read any Kate Morton.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the idea of book week as it wasn't something we had when I was a kid. Like Jo though I read a lot and adored Enid Blighton as a youngster... I'm sure my current love of reading grew from my childhood! #teamlovinlife

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jill I have so many lovely memories of reading from my own childhood, and visits to our local library. I loved Enid Blyton, particularly the Famous Five. And then the joys of introducing books to my own two. As a speech pathologist I am so aware of the importance of reading to children for their early literacy development, and am grateful that my boys both loved books. I also have many happy memories of their book week costumes (many made by me) and attending book week parades at school. One thing I did find hard was as they got older, it was so difficult to find wholesome age-appropriate books for teenagers. I wonder if this is still the case??

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for sharing all these amazing titles with us! I love to read, but don't sadly get as much time to as I would like. Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a wonderful array of children's books. I wish I had someone to buy one of these for! #TeamLovinLife

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love books. Thanks for this post. I giggled at "do not lick this book" ...

    ReplyDelete
  14. So pleased that you joined us for Mosaic Monday, the "do not lick this book" made me smile, what a great title!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think we all should put a few children's books on our reading list. It's uplifting and fun to read them and nice to see what kids are being taught now too. I've read the two 'grown up' books you mentioned at the end...both of them exceptional! Thanks for the links! I'm going to check them out!

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a great post, Jill. I saw it earlier on my phone but wasn't able to comment. I have made note of A Walk in the Bush. I like to buy books for the grandchildren when we travel, and we're going back to Australia in late November and now I have some suggestions!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, books are some of my dearest friends. I love The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and have re-read it many times. Did you see the recent movie? It was good, but not nearly as complete and satisfying as the book. I've read Kate Morton's books, too.
    Children's books are fascinating and I love getting unusual ones for my grandchildren.
    Thanks for a great post, Jill.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I enjoyed this Post for Mosaic Monday... Do you know the Augsburger Puppenkiste? This is my remembering to the youth
    Wish you a lovely Week

    ReplyDelete
  19. I absolutely love books and am an avid reader. One of my favorite parts of homeschooling has been getting to share picture books and stories with my girls. I'm going to look into some of these titles for my girls this year.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jesh - All Seasons25 September 2018 at 15:46

    Hello Jill,
    We are on the same page about reading books:) Maybe also healthier for the eyes, since the effect of the rays coming off the screen is really not know yet.Laughed at the title Don't lick this book - awesome title! Last week had my 11 year old grand over, and he needed to read a (children's) book for (home) school. the chapter were indicated by Roman numerals - he didn't know them, so his grand dad printed a page with them - very clever -another item learned!
    Loved your post for All Seasons - have a great week! Jesh/Junieper

    ReplyDelete

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog. Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment. I read and very much appreciate every comment and love hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return.