An update from the Readings Children's Book Team
It’s been a big week for children’s books at Readings. Here’s what’s been happening!
On Tuesday, we enjoyed champagne and cake to celebrate Trace Balla’s win of this year’s Readings Children’s Book Prize. Our managing director Mark Rubbo was as proud as punch to hand over a giant cheque worth $4000 to Trace for her wonderful book Rivertime.
We have sold over 750 copies of the book since announcing the shortlist on March 22nd, so Rivertime is not only our beloved award winner, but also our bestselling children’s book of the year so far! Thank you to all of our customers who have supported this initiative to promote rising stars of Australian children’s fiction, and more thanks to our fabulous guest judge for the second year running, Sally Rippin.
We were able to convince Trace Balla to venture up from Castlemaine to Readings Hawthorn, where she and I had a Q&A about Rivertime and the process of creating books. Here are some of the things I said about Rivertime and Trace in my speech:
‘This is a book that can be revisited and enjoyed time and again with more discoveries each time you read it. We are sure it will not only be cherished on many bookshelves, but also used as a birdwatching tool for a long time to come.
Trace, we would like to thank you for sharing with the world and wish you all the best in your writing career. We think you are a shining star in the pantheon of Australian authors and we will be eagerly awaiting future books and cheering you along every step of the way. Congratulations!’
As is customary for all good celebrations, there was, of course, cake. But this wasn’t any old cake. It was a chocolately, gluten-free masterpiece emblazoned with the cover of the book. It was also utterly delicious!
Later that night, Rivertime went on to win the fiction prize in the 2015 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. It was a fantastic night for Rivertime and just shows that Readings is not alone in our great taste for fabulous books.
We will also continue to champion the other brilliant stories on our all-Australian shortlist:
Stuff Happens: Jack by Tony Wilson, Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy by Karen Foxlee, Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu, How To Save the Universe in Ten Easy Steps by Allison Rushby, and The Mapmaker Chronicles: Race to the End of the World by A.L. Tait.
Phew! If that wasn’t enough to get us excited for the week, on Wednesday it was announced that Readings is the recipient of a James Patterson Bookseller Grant to further children’s literacy. We were absolutely thrilled to receive this grant, which will allow us to create a travelling author visit and bookshop to low socio-economic schools in the Carlton area to help inspire a love of reading.
Stay tuned for more on this initiative, but it’s safe to say that we can’t wait to get on the road and share our passion for children’s books with local school kids.
