Children's Book Council Award Winners

On the subject of prizes - check out the winners of the Children's Book Council Awards for Older Readers.

Older Readers Book of the Year:

Winner: Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Honour: Into White Silence by Anthony Eaton

Honour: A Rose for the Anzac Boys by Jackie French

The Inky's Longlist

If you are ever sitting around thinking 'what do I read next', take a look at the website insideadog (http://www.insideadog.com.au/) - created by The Centre for Youth Literature, State Library Victoria - which promotes reading as an active, pleasurable and essential activity for all young people. The site contains reviews, a writer in residence and heaps of info about Australian and overseas books for young people.

They have also created the Inky Awards. The Inkys are international awards for teenage literature, voted for online by the readers of insideadog.com.au. There are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book, the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose.

The Longlist for the Inkys has just been released:

The 2009 Inkys Longlist

Broken Glass by Adrian Stirling

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell

Exposure by Mal Peet

Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Into White Silence by Anthony Eaton

Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne La Fleur

My Candlelight Novel by Joanne Horniman

Paper Towns by John Green

Screw Loose by Chris Wheat

Skim by Mariko & Jillian Tamaki

Ten Mile River by Paul Griffin

The 10pm Question by Kate de Goldi

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Beginners Guide to Living by Lia Hills

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman

Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Worldshaker by Richard Harland

Youth Cafe Launch @ Dubbo Branch Library

Great fun was had at the debut of the Dubbo City Youth Council Youth Cafe - held in the meeting room at the Dubbo Branch Library. The Youth Cafe is a place for youth to go that is fun, safe and a great place to meet up with friends, have a coffee and a snack and play the PlayStation 3. Youth Cafe is on Friday afternoons from 4.00-6.00pm and young people aged 12-24 are welcome.

Somebody's Crying by Maureen McCarthy

A murder in a country town is the backdrop for the story of three young people, Alice, Tom and Jonty, who are bound together because Alice's mother was murdered and Jonty is the suspect.

I really expected to enjoy Somebody's Crying because I loved McCarthy's Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude get a life. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed. I found the storyline a little slow, and the main character of Tom somewhat bland. I felt that McCarthy's depiction of Tom was not authentic - he simply didn't resemble any 22 year old guy that I have ever known.

I did enjoy the character of Alice - McCarthy is extremely good at writing female characters. The storyline was far more entertaining when being presented from Alice's point of view.

The mystery component of the story does keep you reading and the twist at the end is surprising, but by the end of the book I felt neutral - not particularly affected by this book.