CBCA titles for 2011: http://cbca.org.au/winners2011.htm

WINNER: OLDER READERS The Midnight Zoo by Sonia Hartnett

Two gypsy boys are fleeing through a war-ravaged countryside during thenight carrying a secret bundle. The boys stumble across a town that has beenreduced to smoking rubble, and a zoo that is still intact. When the boystake shelter in the zoo, they discover a menagerie of talking animals. Both the boys and the animals tell their tales and their desire for freedom.

HONOUR: OLDER READERS Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Told in alternating voices, an all-night adventure featuring Lucy, who isdetermined to find an elusive graffiti artist named Shadow, and Ed, the last person Lucy wants to spend time with, except for the fact that he may know how to find Shadow.

HONOUR: OLDER READERS The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher by Doug MacLeod

This is the story of a young man growing up in England in 1828.Thomas Timewell lives a rather sedate life with his mother, but all that changes when he meets a man who steals corpses from cemeteries and sells them to hospitals for dissection. At first reluctantly and later willingly Thomas follows Plenitude, as the man calls himself, through a series ofmacabre and dangerous escapades that include murderous bodysnatchers, a vengeful teacher, and a mad woman of the moors.

WINNER: YOUNGER READERS The Red Wind by Isobelle Carmody

In this captivating first book in the The Kingdom of the Lost series, brothers Zluty and Bily live happily in their little house in the desert. Every year Zluty journeys to the great forest while Bily stays to tend their desert home. And every year Zluty returns with exciting tales of his adventures. But this year a devestating red wind sweeps across the land forcing Bily and Zluty to fight for their survival.

HONOUR: YOUNGER READERS Just a Dog by Michael Gerard Bauer

Mr Mosely isn't a pedigreed dog, but he is just the dog Corey and his family want: he is loyal, protective and loving. And he is much more than that. He might well be the one thing that holds them all together.

HONOUR: YOUNGER READERS Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford and illustrations by Sarah Davis

Violet Mackerel thinks she would QUITE LIKE to own the blue china bird at the Saturday markets. This is not just a SILLY WISH. It is instead the start of a VERY IMPORTANT idea. But what she needs is a PLOT. A BRILLIANT plot. Introducing readers to a new warm and loveable character, Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot is a story not to be missed.

WINNER: PICTURE BOOK Mirror by Jeannie Baker

Two diverse cultures, countries and families are linked with warmth and charm in this two-in-one picture book. Page by page we experience a day in the lives of two boys and their families - one from inner- city Sydney and the other from a small, remote village in Morocco, North Africa.

WINNER: PICTURE BOOK Hamlet by NIcki Greenberg

Adaptation using the Shakespearean text presented in graphic novel form.

WINNER: INFORMATION BOOKS The Return of the Word Spy by Ursula Dubosarsky

A funny and fantastic voyage into language, grammar and beyond.

HONOUR: INFORMATION BOOKS Drawn from the Heart: A Memoir by Ron Brooks

Ron Brooks grew up in East Gippsland, a country boy with a eye for beauty and a passion for drawing.

HONOUR: INFORMATION BOOKS Our World: Bardi Jaawi: Life at Ardiyooloon by One Arm Point Remote Community School

Takes readers inside the lives of the children of a remote Indigenous community - lives very different to those experienced by most Australians. The children take readers camping and fishing, share traditional stories and dances, show them how to find a waterhole, track, cook and eat bush tucker and animals such as turtles, crabs, oysters and clams, and make spears, boomerangs, bough shelters and bush brooms.

Follow this link to see all the short listed books http://cbca.org.au/shortlist_2011.htm

CBCA Novels for 2012.... this year students at GSLC will have the opportunity to preview 4 of the shortlisted novels for public review.