Librarian to help judge book of year
A TOOWOOMBA school librarian had the honour of being selected as a judge of the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards.
Toowoomba Grammar School junior school librarian Michelle Worthington is one of three judges, and the only Queenslander, on the panel for the older readers (13 to 18 years) section. She was selected from more than 200 nominations Australia-wide.
She just returned from Canberra, where she met with her two colleagues to select the 2018 Book of the Year for Older Readers. The winning entry won’t be announced until Book Week, from August 18-24.
There was six titles shortlisted: Mallee Boys (by Charlie Archbold), In the Dark Spaces (Cally Black), Take Three Girls (Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood), Because of You (Pip Harry), The Secret Science of Magic (Melissa Keil) and Ballad for a Mad Girl (Vikki Wakefield).
“It was very hard for the three of us to come to a final decision because we all had different opinions and reasons about what made the shortlisted books so worthy,” Ms Worthington said.
“We looked at the flaws, and the positives of each book and also took in to account the audience – what that age group would enjoy.”
Ms Worthington can’t reveal the winning title, but said it was a great read and had a really powerful message.
She spent the past year reading an impressive 72 books nominated for the award.
“It was like a part-time job,” she said. “I was sent a dozen books every three weeks and I would have to write an extensive review on each of them. It was very demanding.”
Ms Worthington obviously made an impression on the CBCA as she has been asked to return to the judging panel for next two year’s Awards.