Award-Winning Books by First Nations Voices

Honour Book in the 2019 CBCAs for Book of the Year: Younger Readers

Shortlisted for the 2019 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards in the Eight to 10 Years category

Black Cockatoo is a vignette that follows Mia, a young Aboriginal girl as she explores the fragile connections of family and culture.

Mia is a 13-year-old girl from a remote community in the Kimberley. She is saddened by the loss of her brother as he distances himself from the family. She feels powerless to change the things she sees around her… until one day she rescues her totem animal, the  dirran black cockatoo, and soon discovers her own inner strength.

Black Cockatoo is a wonderful small tale on the power of standing up for yourself, culture and ever-present family ties.

Teachers' notes available here

Age range 12 to 18

Winner, 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary award, Young Adult Literature

Albert Cutts is a tree feller. A fella who cuts down trees. Fog is a fox cub raised by a dingo. He's called a dox because people are suspicious of foxes and Albert Cutts owns the dingo and now the dox. Albert is a bushman and lives a remote life surrounded by animals and birds. All goes well until Albert has an accident ... This is a story of courage, acceptance and respect. It is reminiscent of the gentle story-telling style of Australian author Alan Marshall (I can jump puddles). The dialogue is finely crafted and Indigenous cultural knowledge and awareness are seamlessly integrated into the story.

LONGLISTED, 2017 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS, SMALL PUBLISHERS' CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR

WINNER, 2017 SPEECH PATHOLOGY AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS, INDIGENOUS CHILDREN'S CATEGORY

Age range 3 to 9

Mad Magpie is the third book in this successful series of morality tales from Gregg Dreise. Inspired by wise sayings and the knowledge of his Elders, Mad Magpie tells the story of Guluu, an angry magpie who is being teased by a gang of butcher birds. The more he is teased, the angrier he becomes. When Guluu seeks advice, his Elders tell him to stay calm like the river, ignore the butcher birds and to be strong on the inside. Guluu tries this, but the cheeky birds just laugh at him. One day, when Guluu is at the river looking for worms, the butcher birds arrive and steal his food. He remembers the words of his Elders and he tries again – and this time Guluu has a different outcome. He stands proudly at the riverbank and remembers how he used to sing when he was having a bad day. Guluu sings so loud he cannot hear the birds laughing at him and they eventually give up and fly away. From that time on, the animals learnt to use music to create a happy mood and they worked together to stop bullying.

Teachers' notes available here

Shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal 2019

'A gentle whisper from the past
Visits me in my dreams
Or is it the future that I see ... '

From well-known poets John Kinsella and Charmaine Papertalk-Green comes a tête-à-tête that is powerful, thought provoking, and challenges what we think we know about our country, colonisation, and how we understand our land. Striking conversations surrounding childhood, life, love, mining, death, respect, and diversity; imbued by silken Yamatji sensibility and sublimely responded to by the son of a foreman from South Champion Mine.

This extraordinary publication weaves two differing points of view together as Papertalk-Green and Kinsella's words traverse this land and reflect back to us all, our many identities and quiet voices.

Age range 3 to 6

Molly the Pirate  is a swashbuckling tale that will delight anyone who ever wanted to be a pirate. Young Molly’s imagination knows no bounds when she transforms her Australian backyard into an adventure playground on the high seas. Molly conjures up a pirate ship on her inland horizon and takes her loyal cat and dog along for the ride as she rows across the choppy ocean to the unsuspecting pirates. On board, she meets a feisty crew of salty buccaneers who look suspiciously like her own farmyard chickens. They are no match for Molly’s daring exploits as she walks the plank, dances jolly jigs, scrambles up the rigging (or is that a clothesline?) and steers the ship like a true seafaring adventurer.

Paul Seden’s witty illustrations pop off the page. His visual storytelling is a standout and children will love searching for objects from Molly’s real world that take on a hilarious new purpose in this jaunty pirate story.

Included on the Children's Book Council of Australia 2018 Notables list. 

Two Mates is the true story of the special mateship between two young boys who have grown up together in the coastal town of Broome in Australia's north-west. Jack is Indigenous and Raf is a non-Indigenous boy who has spina bifida. Jack and Raf take the reader on a journey of their daily life growing up in Broome. Together they search for hermit crabs, go hunting for barni, fish for salmon, explore the markets, eat satays and dress up as superheros. The fact that Raf is in a wheelchair is only revealed at the end of the story.

Age range 12 to 18

Through a pair of ornate wrought-iron gates was one of the oldest universities in the country. Our paths had just intersected. It was 1985 and I, little black duck, was about to embark on a law degree. 

Set within the explosive cultural shifts of the 1960s and 1980s, Becoming Kirrali Lewis chronicles the journey of a young Aboriginal teenager as she leaves her home town in rural Victoria to take on a law degree in Melbourne in 1985. Adopted at birth by a white family, Kirrali doesn't question her cultural roots until a series of life-changing events force her to face up to her true identify. Her decision to search for her biological parents sparks off a political awakening that no-one sees coming, least of all Kirrali herself as she discovers her mother is white and her father is a radical black activist. Narrative flashbacks to the 1960s, where Kirrali's biological mother, Cherie, is rebelling against her parent's strict conservatism sees her fall into a clandestine relationship with an Aboriginal man. Unmarried and pregnant, Cherie's traumatic story of an unforgiving Australian society give meaning to Kirrali's own rites of passage nearly twenty years later. The generational threads of human experience are the very things that will complete her. If only she can let go.

Read this lovely post on Alpha Reader

Reviewed in The Sydney morning Herald and Subversive Reader

*Shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2020: Children's Literature*

*Shortlisted for the SPN Book of the Year Award 2020*

*Longlisted for the CBCA 2020 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books*

*Longlisted for the 2020 ABIA Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year*

Age range 5 to 12

'Warami mittigar. Hello friend. 
We welcome you to Darug Country.'

Cooee Mittigar, meaning Come Here Friend, is an invitation to yana (walk), on Darug Country.  In this stunning picture book, Darug creators Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson tell a story on Darug Songlines, introducing children and adults-alike to Darug Nura (Country) and language.

Greeted by Mulgo, the black swan, readers are welcomed to Nura. Journeying through the seasons, Mulgo describes the land, skyscape, birds, animals and totems. It is a gentle guide to how Darug people read the seasons, knowing when it is time to hunt and time to rest. It is also an appeal to remember, off ering new ways of seeing and reading the lands of the surrounding Sydney region.   

With Darug language interspersed with English and an extensive glossary throughout, Cooee Mittigar presents an important tool for learning, told as a tender story with exquisite illustrations. It is Jasmine and Leanne's wish that with this book, everyone will know that the Darug mob are still here and still strong. 

Cooee mittigar. Tread softly on our lands.
Know that this dreaming was here. Is still here.
Will be forever.

Teachers' Notes available here

*Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2021*

*Shortlisted for the ABIA 2020 Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year*

This is the breaking,
the shattering,
the smattering
of every limit
ever accepted
or imposed…

Kindred, Kirli Saunders debut poetry collection, is a pleasure to lose yourself in. Kirli has a keen eye for observation, humour and big themes that surround Love/Connection/Loss in an engaging style, complemented by evocative and poignant imagery. It talks to identity, culture, community and the role of Earth as healer. Kindred has the ability to grab hold of the personal in the universal and reflect this back to the reader.

*Winner of CBCA 2020 Notable Book of the Year: Picture Book*

*Longlisted for the 2020 ABIA Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year*

Age range 3 to 6

Baby Business tells the story of the baby smoking ceremony that welcomes baby to country. The smoke is a blessing — it will protect the baby and remind them that they belong. This beautiful ritual is recounted in a way young children will completely relate to.

Jasmine Seymour is a Darug woman and a descendant of Maria Lock, daughter of Yarramundi, the Boorooberongal Elder who had met Governor Phillip on the banks of the Hawkesbury in 1791. It is Jasmine's wish that through her books, everyone will know that the Darug mob are still here, still strong. Jasmine is a primary school teacher in the Hawkesbury area of NSW.

Teachers' notes available here

Age range 12 to 18

Shortlisted for Most Underrated Book Award 2019 

Rob; (and his brother Pen) white Aussies. Rob is completing Year 12, going to schoolies, working as an apprentice in his dad's company and loves his dog, Nig. Rob believes real men take risks.

Pen; fifteen-years-old, storyteller, graffiti artiste extraordinaire with a penchant for male anatomy. Pen is liked by everyone. Pen and Benny Boy are mates.

Benny Boy; fifteen-years-old, Aboriginal, loves drawing, fishing and living with his awesome (white) foster Nan. Benny Boy doesn't trust Rob.

Jack; white, male, finishing Year 12, new to the area, from the bush and adopted into an Aboriginal family. Jack has met Pen and reckons he's a funny bugger. He has also just signed up as an apprentice working alongside Rob-the-knob.

Brontide is a coming of age story about four boys and their lot in life. Recounted through storytelling sessions at their school over a period of five days, these boys chronicle their lives. They are at times demanding, occasionally rude, always funny and unexpectedly profound. The boys like to challenge themselves and the rules, and soon realise that not everything goes to plan…

Age range 4 to 8 Frances and Lindsay Haji-Ali take us counting backwards from FIFTEEN to ONE on this spectactular journey in the far north of WA. When Frances and Lindsay lived with their family in Broome, they often set out to visit Nana in the tiny outback town of Wyndham over 1,000km north. These road trips took them across the magnificent Kimberley landscape and inspired this counting story. On the way to Nana's is a standout counting book. Counting backwards from 'fifteen to one' is a challenging concept for children to grasp. Each double-page spread includes numbers and words and will enthrall readers, parents and educators as they find and count the objects on each page. From bulbous boabs and wild brumbies to weary travellers, flying magpie geese and flowing waterfalls, David Hardy's striking illustrations capture the awe and excitement of this special family adventure.

Age range 3 to 8

 Untangle the crab pots, and zoom up the creek — we're going mud crabbing in the boat with Dad.

Crabbing with Dad is a beautiful children's picture book debut from Darwin-based author and illustrator, Paul Seden. Aimed at a younger audience, children will love reading about the adventures of two small children as they go out in the boat with Dad to set crab pots in their secret spot.

Sunscreen and life jackets on, they zoom off into the creek, passing other boats and people fishing along the way. It's a good tide to be on the water and they even come across Cousin Dan throwing his net as far as he can. Crab pots set, they all wait patiently and play games as they guess what fish could be swimming under their boat. When it's finally time to check the crab pots, the adventure begins as they pull up a big, angry crab! Dad teaches the children how to handle the crabs very carefully so they don't get nipped!

Winner of the Speech Pathology Australia Indigenous Book of the Year Award for 2015

Age range 3 to 9

In this humble, charming and humorous morality tale, Maliyan is a proud eagle who always looks, listens and sees things from a long way away. One day he meets the turkey Wagun, who is a silly bird, and together these two new friends begin to do silly-bird things. The Elders and Maliyan's parents become very disappointed and soon the local billabong becomes a mess. The silly birds do not care for anyone and seem to have eaten all the food. Maliyan begins to see the error of his ways and tries to talk to Wagun and the other birds about their actions. No one listens. So Maliyan flies away and begins the journey of listening again. Maliyan soon becomes a proud leader and all the silly birds begin to follow his example. They all help clean up the messes they have made. All except one … In this quintessential Australian fable, Silly Birds combines richly textured and striking illustrations of Australian animals with the gentle humour of an Aussie truism that it is hard to soar like an eagle when you are, in fact, surrounded by turkeys.

Dingoes, bats, red-eyed green tree frogs ...an ABC of amazing Australian creatures At last ...a unique Australian ABC book. Featuring the artwork of celebrated Queensland artist Warren Brim, ABC Dreaming introduces young children to their alphabet and the beauty of Indigenous art in a bright and fun way. With well-thought out design and an array of amazing creatures that can be found in the rainforest, both parents and teachers will love this book when introducing young children to the letters of the alphabet. ABC Dreaming has been produced in consultation with Early Childhood specialists.

Age range 3 to 9

Clever Crow is an endearing and witty tale that follows the exploits of a hungry and very clever crow. Crow searches in the bush for food but he can find none. It is only when he comes across people preparing for a ceremony that his luck changes. Crow spots a big turtle egg waiting to be cooked, and he cries out, ‘Yummy, food for me!’ But it is not an easy task stealing a turtle egg – even for a clever crow. Crow has to be more clever than he has ever been before! Children will love Bronwyn Bancrofts’s distinctive illustrations, and how the Djambarrpuynu language translation – Yolnu language from North East Arnhem Land – is woven into the design.

Read the Teachers' Notes here

Ardiyooloon is home to the Bardi-Jaawi people and sits at the end of a red dirt road at the top of the Dampier Peninsula, 200km north of Broome in the north-west of Western Australia. Our World: Bardi-Jaawi life at Ardiyooloon 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. Created by the children themselves, it is full of colourful illustrations and amazing photographs of the students experiencing their world and keeping alive the age-old traditions of their people. Our World chosen by the CBCA Book of the Year Judges as an HONOUR BOOK CBCA BOOK OF THE YEAR: EVE POWNALL AWARD FOR INFORMATION BOOKS Voted the inaugural Best Book for Language & Literacy Development - Indigenous Children (8 - 12 years) in the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards 2011

Age range 9 to 12

 Marnie Clark of Curdie Vale can ride but she doesn't have a horse. She dreams of owning one and having the whole world to ride it in. Before too long Marnie is gifted Mrs Margaret 'Maggie' Whitlam, a beautiful, big Clydesdale – bold, fearless and able to jump anything.

From the very first ride, Marnie and Maggie get more adventure than they bargained for. Soon Marnie is  learning to negotiate newfound friendships, pony club and how to stand up for what she believes in. Will her friendship with George Costa, another outsider, make being accepted harder? Or will being true to yourself be the hardest decision Marnie makes?

Age range 3 to 8

In this delightful Early Childhood board book, Tori-Jay Mordey's graphic illustrations bring the city to life in all its colourful glory.

Mordey's bold and painterly art style celebrates the pace of the cityscape whether it be her built environment of tall buildings and big signs, or her moving panorama of long buses.

With a fresh and youthful eye, Tori-Jay captures the quirky gait of walking dogs and a jittery assembly of hungry pigeons as they share the streets with happy buskersand lots of people!

In the City I See is also a gentle snapshot of how our Indigenous culture is reflected in our cities. It will become a valuable and loved addition to family book collections and libraries in rural, regional and urban areas.

Age range 3 to 8 This delightful book for early childhood will enthrall young children and their older readers. The vibrant illustrations are accompanied by a soft lyrical text and together they introduce some of the diverse native and exotic animals to be found in Australian zoos. The 'doleful lion', the 'pacing jaguar', the 'trumpeting elephant' and the 'cheeky cassowary' are just some of the zoo animals that will tug at the heartstrings in this fabulous animal parade.

Age range 3 to 6 Steve is a gorilla who lives at a zoo in Rio. In the evenings, he listens to jazz on the radio with his friend, Antonio the zookeeper. One night, Steve is feeling a little lonely and so he lifts the latch of his cage door and goes off to search for Antonio. At the tram stop outside the zoo, he finds a hat - the perfect disguise. Steve climbs aboard a tram and rides down the hillside, past the favelas and into the city. It is carnival time in Rio! Fireworks explode in the sky and sequinned dancers shimmy along the avenue. 'Feliz Carnaval' cry the sambistas. Steve follows the sounds of a saxophone and discovers his friend Antonio playing in a quartet at the Blue Jaguar Jazz Club. When a beautiful dancer steps on to the dance floor, Steve takes her by the hand. They twirl and twist to the music until suddenly, Steve's hat falls off to reveal he is a gorilla! Calmly, the dancer puts Steve's hat back on his head and they spin this way and that way, this way and that way, all the way to dawn.

A tiny outpost of colonial administration is planted on the desolate mudflats of King Sound, at Derby. Leases are marked on a map covering huge areas, and the push into the north begins. Vast herds of cattle and sheep move across the land and with it, a new future. In the remote Kimberley, in the late nineteenth century, on the ancient lands of the Bunuba, the last stages of an invasion are about to be played out. Amidst the ensuing chaos and turmoil, extraordinary relationships grow. The thrilling story of the great warrior, Jandamarra, who turned from police assistant to resistance fighter. Thought to be unstoppable, he led the Bunuba against the forces invading their land. A legend, forever etched into the history of the Kimberley, Jandamarra's courage and fighting spirit made him one of the region's most wanted men. Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance is a grand story with a grand theme. A powerful collaboration between a non-Indigenous historian and the Indigenous custodian of the Jandamarra story.

Age range 7-14 This third instalment in the Deadly D series is another page-turning adventure story that sees Dylan and his loyal friend, Justice Jones, desperately trying to keep the secret of Deadly D from being revealed to the world. But is it time for Dylan to fess up to his mother about how he has been using his superhero powers? What will the Brisbane Broncos do if Deadly D doesn't return? And why are Dylan and Justice Jones being pursued by Socks and Jocks, two mysterious clowns who work for the villainous Ringmaster? Join the boys in a fantastic nail-biting orange-van ride as they uncover the dark secrets of the Big Top.

I am the native cat, I dance everywhere. I hop, skip and jump. I jump on the flat stone and dance and wobble my bum and hold my hips And then I dance again. This remarkable book weaves together the story of Daisy Utemorrah's life with a collection of playful parables and poems. Exploring themes such as Creation, tradition, memories, family and most importantly, country, Do Not Go around the Edges imbues a simple autobiographical story with humour and depth, and will appeal to adults and children alike. Retold with love and honour, be transported to a place where time stands still...This book is beautifully illustrated by Broome-based Djugan artist Pat Torres.

After conducting welding repairs on the outer hull of a space vessel, token human and lowly engineer Milton Lance returns to a silent, gloomy interior. The crew is dead, and the only survivor he can find is an annoying, pointy-eared simian. When a mysterious gun-toting woman rescues the stranded pair, an unlikely trio is formed. But escaping the ship is the easy part, for Milton discovers he is not an ordinary human at all, but a saviour of worlds. Rift Breaker is a sci-fi action adventure driven by distinctive characters, and explores themes of alienation, identity and independence.

Calypso Summer is a story told by Calypso, a young Nukunu man, fresh out of high school in Rastafarian guise. After failing to secure employment in sports retail, his dream occupation, Calypso finds work at the Henley Beach Health Food shop where his boss pressures him to gather Aboriginal plants for natural remedies. Growing up in urban Adelaide and with little understanding of his mother's traditional background, Calypso endeavours to find the appropriate native plants. This leads him to his Nukunu family in the southern Flinders Ranges and the discovery of a world steeped in cultural knowledge. The support of a sassy, smart, young Ngadjuri girl, with a passion for cricket rivalling his own, helps Calypso to reconsider his Rastafarian facade and understand how to take charge of his future.

The Snake and the Boy is a tale of the school playground with an intriguing twist. As children play football beneath a sea-blue sky, one boy takes to the bars in the playground, only to have a cunning green tree snake sneak in and steal his apple. The author's vibrant illustrations using acrylic paints capture the wide-open spaces of a country schoolyard, such as those in and around his home in the remote Kimberley region, where you never know when a wild creature might pay a visit. Children everywhere will relate to this endearing story.

Out of the Desert is a compelling collection of stories, art and photographs from the Walmajarri people of the Great Sandy Desert, in north western Australia. It tells of their remarkable exodus from remote desert country to an unfamiliar modern society. Within only one generation the Walmajarri desert dwellers left their traditional places behind to face station life and a world far beyond the sandhills. These accounts of a recent past reveal the challenges of the epic journey north to station country, the courage of the Walmajarri in confronting the unknown, and their first contact with white people.

This is the autobiography of Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri, a Kwini man from the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. Ambrose speaks out honestly, without malice or accusation, on a number of subjects including the appropriation of rock art, the proposed damming of the Fitzroy River, the impact of tourism on the Kimberley, the exploitation of Aboriginal people, native title and land rights. His life story is a fascinating account of a people and region that have experienced upheaval and change on a monumental scale.