LibGuides: Catherine McAuley College: Picture Book Of The Year

Afloat

Afloat by Freya Blackwood
ISBN: 9781760505899
Publication Date: 2024
Roam the water with me. We are here to learn. Here to spin wisdom, to grow. From award-winning Gunai author Kirli Saunders and seven-time CBCA-winner Freya Blackwood comes Afloat, a story told in a time of climate crisis. Against a backdrop of a changed environment, an Elder leads a child along the waterways, sharing her People's knowledge and gathering community along the way. Afloat is an uplifting and inspiring picture book that uses the practice of weaving as a powerful metaphor for the honouring and teaching of First Nations wisdom, and the coming together of all people to survive, thrive and create a more hopeful future. (Publisher)

Freya Blackwood - Reading Australia

Freya Blackwood is an Australian illustrator and special effects artist. She worked on special effects for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy from 2001 to 2003 and won the Kate Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration in 2010.

website

These Long-Loved Things

These Long-Loved Things by Ronojoy Ghosh
ISBN: 9781761293849
Publication Date: 2025
Where do they go, these long-loved things? These stories told, these songs we sing? Once a memory is made, it remains. Even when it is forgotten.

Ronojoy Ghosh - Penguin Books Australia

Ronojoy Ghosh has been an art director in the advertising industry for almost twenty years. His first children's book, Ollie and the Wind (Penguin Random House Australia) was shortlisted for Book of the Year by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2016. He currently lives in Australia with his family. ..

The Garden of Broken Things

The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood
ISBN: 9781460757550
Publication Date: 2024
One day, curious Sadie follows a cat into the tangled vines behind the lonely house at Number 9, Ardent Street. Deep in the undergrowth, past all the twisted, rusted things, Sadie finds the cat sitting on the lap of a woman, bent with time and weariness. Sadie has found the Garden of Broken Things. (Publisher)

Freya Blackwood - Reading Australia

website

The Truck Cat

The Truck cat by Danny Snell
ISBN: 9781761215766
Publication Date: 2024
Along with his human, Yacoub, Tinka travels roads wide and narrow, near and distant. But no matter how much they travel, home feels very far away for both of them. Yacoub drives his truck to make a living, learning the landscape of a new country along the way, and longing for connection. When Tinka and Yacoub are unexpectedly separated, they are determined to find their way back to each other and, in doing so, might find more than they expected.

Danny Snell – HarperCollins

As a child Danny Snell was a reluctant reader, so it was pictures rather than words that drew him to the wonder of books. Danny went on to study graphic design and illustration at the University of South Australia and he now works as a picture book illustrator and occasional author. His books have won a number of awards including the CBCA Eve Pownall Award, the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, and The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award. Danny Lives in Adelaide with his partner, his 2 daughters and a sleepy old cat. And yes, he loves to read.

website

A Leaf Called Greaf

Greaf by Kelly Canby
ISBN: 9781760993894
Bear is all alone and lonely until he finds the greenest, most beguiling leaf. A leaf called Greaf. Bear holds Greaf tight throughout the days and nights that follow. Bear can barely remember a time before Greaf. It is as if things have always been this way. Until one day, they aren’t. Greaf changes with the seasons, and so does Bear. As Greaf leaves him, Bear feels a lightness and warmth that he had almost forgotten. Greaf has gone, but Bear knows its memory will hold a special place in his heart forever. (Publisher)

Bio & Bibliography

KELLY CANBY is an award-winning, internationally published illustrator and author. Kelly’s last three author-illustrated picture books have all been Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable ...

website

We Live in a Bus

We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold
ISBN: 9781760764647
Publication Date: 2025
We live in a bus. She’s called Gracie Joy Rufus Bean (we couldn’t agree on a name). Gracie Joy Rufus Bean has six wheels and a door that opens when you push a button, tic-shhh. (Publisher)

Dave Petzold — Annabel Barker Agency

Australian children's book author and illustrator Dave Petzold is interested in the little things that go unnoticed, the things we take for granted. His writing invites the reader on a journey of discovery in the hope they will discover something about themselves.

website