2001 Award Prize for Older Readers

Water Colours

by Sarah Walker
Hodder Headline Australia

The novel centres on Beatrice, a 14-year-old girl who has been brought up by her grandmother since she was an infant. It is an insightful portrayal of the complex ramifications that follow the uncovering of family secrets. Bea's family decides she is no longer able to live with her grandmother and that she will go to live with her aunt and uncle, even though this is something Bea is not happy about. As Bea deals with the emotions around this decision other issues are raised, precipitating her decision to find out more about her parents. While Bea's friends feature strongly in the narrative, the story also revolves around her extended family, including ‘aunts’ who are in fact very close friends of Bea’s mother.

Commended

A Tale of Two Families: The Diary of Jan Packard, Melbourne, 1974

by Jenny Pausacker
Scholastic Australia

This engaging story, set in a time of major social changes, successfully recreates the ambience of the period. It explores issues of feminism and the impact of war, conscription and draft resistance through the experiences of two families and their interactions with each other, as observed and lived by a 13-year-old diary writer. This book is a very valuable and readable way of introducing Australian social history to young readers.

Two Hands Together

by the late Diana Kidd
Penguin Australia (Puffin)

It is a sensitive story with contemporary indigenous and non-indigenous reconciliation themes as a central focus. When an Aboriginal family moves in next door to Lily and her white Australian family, Lily is dismayed by her father's reactions. Lily and her brother find themselves in powerless positions, unable to directly confront their father. Despite the cultural differences between the two families, the children's persistence ultimately provides the first steps towards rapprochement.

2001 Annual Prize for a Picture Book

You'll Wake The Baby

by Catherine Jinks (author) & Andrew McLean (illustrator)
Penguin Australia (Puffin)

Their book is a humorous and realistic look at life in the family of a young baby, particularly appealing to older siblings. Andy's and Annie's ingenuity and creativity in finding noisy games to play is not always appreciated by their mother. Nevertheless her interactions with the children demonstrate a focus on all their needs rather than, as can often be the case, just on the baby.