My Clayton’s Shortlist

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I take my hat off to the real judges of the CBCA Book of the Year Awards.

Not just because they short-listed my Henry Hoey Hobson For Book of the Year for Younger Readers (though, let’s be honest, I LOVE them for that), but because they do such a difficult job, for little pay or thanks.

As a Qld Clayton’s judge, I managed to read less than half of the 95 books entered in the Older Readers category of this year’s Children’s Book Council Awards.

(Though in my own defence, I was given less than a month to do the job – thank the high heavens I’d already read ten before they asked me!)

The real judges read more than 400 books across four categories and then had to nut out Notables and Shortlists in each.

I enjoyed picking my Clayton’s Notable Books for Older Readers (the twenty-plus books that I thought were just terrific last year), but really struggled to decide the final six.

In the end it was a teenager’s plea that swayed me: “Pick some books that we might love, instead of the ones that oldies like you love.”

He had a point; I’m not 15 anymore. So in trying to be true to both myself and the intended audience, I went with the following six books because I loved them AND I couldn’t wait to press them into the hands of teenage readers.

Cath Crowley – Graffiti Moon

A lyrical, beautifully-crafted novel told seamlessly through three voices: Ed, a functionally illiterate high-school drop-out who moonlights as the mysterious graffiti artist Shadow; Lucy Dervish, the smitten teenager who is determined to track Shadow down; and Poet, the edgy wordsmith who is Shadow’s partner-in-crime.

The action unfolds over a single night at the end of Year Twelve, bringing to life the street art of Melbourne and illuminating the lives of its teenage protagonists.  An invigorating read that proves art and poetry are definitely not too cool for school.

Anthony Eaton – Daywards.

This final instalment in Eaton’s Darklands Trilogy completes a landmark undertaking in Australian speculative fiction writing.

The landscape is evocatively Australian, a thousand years into a dystopian future, where the only hope for a dying world lies in the bloodlines of the few surviving descendants of its oldest inhabitants.

Dara, her brother Jaran, and cousin Eyna are ‘viable” members of their hunter-gatherer clan. With clan elder Ma Saria,  the children flee the invading Nightpeople, by walking Daywards, into the deadly sunlight.

In their fight for survival, the children’s spiritual connection to the land is their only defence and greatest weapon against the technologically-driven survivors of the doomed Sky Cities.

This is political writing in the best tradition of science fiction, pitting a spiritual affinity with the land against the transgressions of technology and the contamination of nature.

While Daywards can be read as a stand-alone novel, this trilogy has been ten years in the making and cries out to be introduced to a new generation of readers.

AJ Betts – Wavelength

Oliver’s world has shrunk to the point where he can’t see past the 80 percent he needs to get into Uni with his mates.

But the study break he takes away from the noise and distraction of his Mum’s crunchy muffin business turns sour 300 kilometres from home.

He lands at the Sunny Haven Old People’s home without text books, clothes, phone, or money. The only person anywhere near his age hates him, nobody is on his wavelength, and his chances of achieving the all-important 80 percent seem to have disappeared with his luggage.

But somehow, between the incorrigible elderly and the girl he can’t impress, he learns what no text book can teach: life is long, choices are infinite, and there is always time to change your mind….

A must-read for teens stressing out over OPs and HSCs.

Cassandra Golds – The Three Loves of Persimmon

The shy and solitary Persimmon Polidori is an unlikely rebel.

Cast out by her family for favouring the frivolity of flowers over a more respectable career in vegetables, she labours alone, dreaming of love, in her heart-shaped florist shop on the top level of a vast underground railway station.

Five levels below, under the railway line to Platform One, a tiny mouse called Epiphany dreams of a world free of the rattle and screech of trains arriving and departing at six minute intervals.

They embark on their separate quests,  not knowing that they are destined to meet in a life-changing encounter that will win them their hearts’ desires.

An exquisitely layered tale that will appeal to girls who appreciate the magical in life and reading.

Fiona Wood – Six Impossible Things

Fourteen-year-old nerd-boy Dan Cereill (pronounced surreal) has lost everything.

His family is bankrupt, his dad gay, his Mum is sabotaging her own wedding cake business by talking potential customers out of getting married, the new house is freezing, the new school a living hell, and then there’s the impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door.

Dan sorts the whole unspeakable mess into something quantifiable; to make his life better he needs to achieve just six impossible things.

Fortunately, Dan Cereill is an anagram for Cinderella…And yes, there is a climactic dance scene, a midnight curfew, and unexpected helpers who come out of the woodwork to save Dan’s adorable dorky hide.

This fresh and funny reversal-of-fortune story about love and loneliness in Year 10 is perfect for early-to-mid secondary schoolers with undeniable appeal for older readers as well.

Melina Marchetta – The Piper’s Son

This stunning stand-alone book picks up the lives of a group of friends from Saving Francesca. It’s five years down the track, and this time it’s Tom Mackee who needs saving.

Tom has lost his way, seeking oblivion through drink and drugs. Trying to forget the London bombing that claimed his uncle’s life, trying to survive without the friends he has pushed away and a family torn apart by grief, alcoholism and loss.

His journey back from the edge is a heart-wrenching read, leavened with a warm humour and lovingly crafted by an author who understands the flaws and strengths of family and friendship, and how they weave a safety net capable of saving us all.  Powerful and unforgettable, for mature readers.

And that’s my six. No doubt they will differ from your six in various important ways – and so they should. As Kate Grenville once wrote “Each of us brings our own experiences, memories and prejudices to a work of art and looks at it through that unique lens. We all read the same words…but we all see different things.’

[This is an abridged version of the talk I gave to celebrate the Qld CBCA Shortlist announcement at St Aiden's College on April 12. Please click here for a full list of CBCA Notable and Short Listed Books in the 2011 Book of the Year Awards.]

My Clayton’s Notable Books (Older Readers) for 2011

The CBCA 2011 Notable Books have been released (click here for the full list), so it’s now safe for me to publish my own Clayton’s Notables for Older Readers.

AJ Betts – Wavelength A must-read for stressed out Year Twelve students

Laura Buzo – Good Oil Ahhh, first love, don’t we all remember that?

Cath Crowley – Graffiti Moon A lyrical adventure proving that Art and Poetry are not too cool for school

Cassandra Golds – The Three Loves of Persimmon An exquisite fable for those who believe in love, magic and talking cabbages

Kirsty Eagar – Saltwater Vampires Aussie vampire fiction with bite – a clever re-imagining of the story behind the wreck of the Batavia

Anthony Eaton – Daywards The highly-anticipated final instalment in a landmark Australian speculative fiction trilogy

Jackie French – A Waltz for Matilda Absorbing drama set against the backdrop of the shearer’s strike, federation, suffragette movement and war

Steven Herrick – SLICE Sixteen year old Darcy suffers from premature enunciation; his mouth runs ahead of his brain. Just delicious.

Leanne Hall – This is Shyness A weird and wonderful night on the prowl with Wolfboy and Wildgirl

Sonya Hartnett – The Midnight Zoo Talking animals and gypsy children create a moving fable about war and freedom

Nette Hilton – The Innocents Deadly secrets in 1950s Australia. A rewarding read for mature readers.

Joanne Horniman – About a Girl A beautiful, wistful story about love between two teenage girls.

Belinda Jeffrey – Big River, Little Fish All the makings of an Australian classic, set against the 1956 flooding of the Murray.

Kathryn Lomer – What Now, Tilda B? A heartening story of finding a purpose washing up on the shores of your life.

Melina Marchetta – The Piper’s Son Heart-wrenchingly real; a lovingly crafted story of grief and redemption from an outstanding Australian writer

Foz Meadows – Solace and Grief Supernatural fantasy set in Sydney’s underworld introducing a vampire saviour and other members of the Rare.

Kirsty Murray – India Dark Based on a true story of exploitation and mutiny in a troupe of child stars touring India in 1909.

Tim Pegler -Five Parts Dead Dan has dodged death five times, but his mates haven’t been so lucky. Supernatural thriller with dual time-line making for addictive reading for teens.

Nicole Pluss – Scout Fascinating historical fiction based on a young English girl’s experiences setting sail to the colonies.

Michael Pryor – Laws of Magic 5: Moment of Truth The latest enthralling episode in a phenomenal steam-punk adventure series.

James Roy – Anonymity Jones When life falls apart for this sixteen year old, should she hang on, get out or get even? Tough choices for our resourceful, headstrong heroine.

Karen Tayleur – Six Guaranteed to keep you reading. Six teenagers. Five seatbelts. One after-party. And a twist in the tale.

Fiona Wood – Six Impossible Things Fresh and funny tale of love and loneliness in Year Ten.

Richard Yaxley – Drink the Air A beautiful and moving verse novel set in Hervey Bay about love and loss in high school.

[PS: I was given less than a month to come up with a CBCA Clayton's shortlist for 2011 (which stays strictly Secret Squirrel until tonight's Qld CBCA function at St Aidens), so I didn't get to read all 95 novels entered in the Older Readers category. So please feel free to add any other Notables published in 2010 that you have discovered for yourself.]

My week just got better

I’ve just spent the best part of a week unable to walk up or down stairs.

Quadriceps that once functioned perfectly adequately for a woman of my years, have failed me.

Despite the general consensus of family and friends, I refuse to blame it on last week’s indoor netball game.

I may be the oldest member of the team (the oldest member in the comp, some have unkindly suggested), and I may have played only the one season since 1973, but by golly, I’m still up for it.

The sweet young things we played were barely half our age, but I only fell over the once; the scrape on my elbow hardly bled at all and my left knee didn’t turn green for days.

But old and cunning still has some advantages over young and beautiful.

Unlike the SYTs on the other team, we didn’t have any makeup to sweat off, we weren’t there to hook up, and we didn’t have the rest of our lives to win a game of netball; every mature netballer knows that every game could be her last.

I was feeling pretty good afterward, despite my fall. So good in fact, that the very next day I offered to stand in for a fellow indoor netballer at her group Pilates class.

Clearly she knew something I didn’t.

The instructor had biceps like ham hocks and little understanding of the special needs of the more mature indoor netballer.

An hour later I wobbled out on trembling legs, in such a state that a friend who has survived cancer asked if I needed a hand.

I’ve been keeping a low profile since. Walking the dog slowly, hoping to regain full use of my legs.

But today, I rose without groaning, felt an unaccustomed spring in my step, ran up the stairs, just to prove that I could, and turned on the computer to hear via the lovely Jim Roy that HENRY HOEY HOBSON had made the Victorian CBCA Clayton’s Shortlist for Younger Readers.

So chuffed was I that I did a little dance (just because I could). Happy too, that Jim’s latest novel ANONYMITY JONES made the list for Older Readers, along with fellow Woolshed Press author Nette Hilton for THE INNOCENTS.

If you’d like to see the Victorian Clayton’s judges’ hot tips on which books could be contenders for the REAL Children’s Book Council Shortlist to be announced on April 12, click here.

Meantime, I can die happy.

I’ve won an indoor netball game (I did mention we won, didn’t I? 29-20. Against those spritely young things) AND I’ve shared a (Clayton’s) shortlist with the likes of  Michael Gerard Bauer and Glenda Millard.)

Oh yes, my week has definitely got better.

I ♥ my job

For the next nine days don’t expect too much from me.

I’ll be feeding my kids Weet Bix for dinner, letting the unopened mail topple from my desk, pushing all other deadlines back as far they’ll go (and praying they don’t snap back in my face).

I’ll be busy – on the couch, on the bus, at the airport – reading books. Lots and lots and lots of books.

All part of the fun of being a Queensland Clayton’s Judge for the CBCA Book Awards this year. Ninety-five books have been entered in the Older Readers Category and I have to choose just six by March 11….

It’s a bit like lining up 95 fabulous people that you like and/or love for different and complex reasons, then taking the hands of just six and pulling them forward for special acknowledgement. With so many fabulous books to choose from, I think I’ll just have to post my own Claytons Notables List as well the Shortlist…

The REAL CBCA Shortlist and Notable Books for 2011 will be announced nation-wide at noon on April 12.

I’m planning to put my fingers in my ears, squeeze my eyes shut, and avoid facebook, so that I can stand up in all innocence and ignorance at CBCA’s Qld Shortlist function that night and wax lyrical about the six books published last year that I loved best.

They’ll be the books that I clasped to my chest, then pressed onto friends and family. The books that made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, and made me happy to be a reader and proud to be a writer in a country that produces books and writers like these.

So if you need me in the next nine days, you know where to find me.

Triple H makes the Readers Cup!

A huge thank you to all the hard-working librarians who have chosen Henry Hoey Hobson for this year’s Readers Cup.

Five regions so far – Brisbane South, Brisbane Bayside, Gold Coast, Capricornia and Somerset/Lockyer – have put HHH on the list of books to be read in their regional competitions in June. Other regions will be declaring their lists in the coming weeks, so fingers crossed!

I’m really looking forward to presenting the cups and medallions to regional finalists in June  and being part of the State Finals to be held in conjunction with the Ipswich Literature Festival in September.

The Readers Cup promotes the love of literature to students in Years 6/7 and 8/9, so if your school hasn’t yet signed up, click here to register. You have until the end of March to join the cool kids.

Spoiler Alert!

I’m dying here, people. Torn. Torn. Torn.

Half of me wants to let the cat out of the bag, the other half wants to warn off anyone who hasn’t yet read Henry Hoey Hobson.

Teachers Notes for HHH are now available. They’re awesome, but be warned, they do contain, ahem, spoilers (like a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of plot and character, and pages of ready-to-use classroom activities for over-worked teachers of Grades 6-8).

Click here if you are a teacher, know a teacher, or want to make a teacher’s life just that little bit easier.

The rest of you, click here for a taste that won’t spoil your appetite for more.

It’s a juggle out there

Writing books is like having children. You go into it in ignorance, make a lot of mistakes, and marvel when each turns out so beautiful in its own way.

But oh my giddy aunt, they are so so different, sometimes it’s hard to believe that they all share the same blood.

My first-born, Dust, was all sweat and tears. Delivered after an excruciating elephantine labour dogged by every conceivable complication.

When I finally held it in my hands I marveled that such a small package could have caused such anguish and such joy.

Twelve months later, I welcomed Henry Hoey Hobson into the world. The unplanned second-born. My little surprise.

Perhaps because he arrived unannounced to an uncertain reception, he was different from the word go. His story came out with so little prompting, it was as though he had been here before, an old soul who had come into the world fully formed.

He slipped out so naturally, so sweet and so true, that I wondered if he would forever spoil me for the next…

I hope not, because I’m currently tussling with my third in three years.

This time round, I’ve found it harder to juggle three balls at once. There’s always one ball in the air, and of late it seems to have been Intruder, the work-in-progress.

Dust has made it into high schools, and Henry Hoey Hobson into middle school, so there’s been a flurry of activity on the schools and promotion front.

But now that I’ve finished my last public appearance for the year, I have finally been able to put those two balls to the side.

I’m back in the dacks of track, centring myself at the keyboard.

Picking up that third ball and running with it. A thousand words a day until it’s done.

Digging in its claws

People love to know where we writers get our ideas.

They seem to think that ideas are elusive, and that we find them in secret places where others never think to look.

The truth is that ideas spring at us from all directions.

Like hungry cats, they clamour for our attention, rubbing up against our legs, jumping onto our laps, and whingeing till they get what they want.

Some inevitably drift off, bored with our lack of response.

Others are more persistent, digging in their claws and refusing to let go till we give in to their demands.

Henry Hoey Hobson was a clawer. He arrived unannounced, when I was busy working on a crime novel, and waiting for my novel Dust to come out.

A likeable kid that nobody liked. How was that even possible?

I felt for him, even pulled out a pen and jotted down his details, then shooed him away so that I could concentrate on my work-in-progress.

But he was a persistent little begger, sneaking into my thoughts, and into my dreams, until finally I got out of bed and started writing his story.

Now there’s another one clawing at me.

I’ve been pushing Intruder away with my foot, while I got through the month of Book Week, the school visits, the festivals and conferences.

It’s shredded my pants up to the knee, and if I don’t get to it soon, there will be blood.

This morning I shoved it, hissing and spitting, into a hold-all, to take it up the coast for two weeks.

There’s no internet. No telephone. No mail deliveries. And they’re predicting rain.

Wish me luck. It’s time to feed the beast.

Knocking myself out at BWF

The gods are rubbing their hands and giggling with wicked delight.

Only days after publicly revealing my fear of ever again sharing a signing table with Morris Gleitzman, they’ve conspired to put us on the same bill for this year’s Word Play at the Brisbane Writers Festival.

For those who missed it the first time, Morris has queues that extend to the outer reaches of the galaxy, while I try to attract passing interest by balancing a pen on the end of my nose, toppling backwards out of a chair, and knocking myself unconscious.

If you’d like to see me knock myself out for Grades 6-9, click  here and here to book for my sessions (1 and 2 Sept). Book now and ker-ching! you’ll get an early bird discount (available to June 25 or while stocks last. )

Seriously, Word Play at BWF is made of awesome for kids and lovers of kids’ literature. Click here for everything you need to know about Word Play, and here for the full program of fabulous authors and illustrators.

Serial monogamist

It’s not like I went looking for it. But after breaking my vows twice in less than twelve months, it ‘s time to have a good hard look at myself.

In my own defence, I wasn’t used to the freedom. Dust and I had been together a long time. First love and all that. But as soon as what we had became public, I had to move on.

I stumbled into something I wasn’t prepared for, an irresistible character in a difficult situation (The Lonely Dead, for those in the know).  I was a bit out of my depth in the criminal milieu, inexperienced, but smitten. TLD was challenging, complex, and unusually for me, surprisingly age-appropriate. Forsaking all others, I made the commitment.

The relationship was getting serious when Henry Hoey Hobson appeared on the scene, a kid in need if I ever saw one. I couldn’t get HHH out of my head; couldn’t give TLD what he needed, so decided to take a break. Swore I’d be back, soon as I got the kid settled.

I was as good as my word. By new year, HHH was off my hands. TLD and me, hell, we just picked up where we’d left off, and if anything it was even better than before. Like the break had done us both good.

I vowed that 2010 would be TLD’s year, but within weeks Intruder had stalked into my life. Bold, vaguely threatening, and young, with too much potential to ignore. What could I do?

TLD didn’t even need to be told: stepped aside, just like the last time, to make way for another young one. Which is just as well; Intruder is difficult, demanding and taking up all of my time.

Part of me feels guilty, leaving TLD on hold, while I tend to the kids. I console myself with the knowledge that he’s a keeper; he’ll be waiting with open arms when I put Intruder to bed.

I’ll make it up to him then. I promise.