2025 CBCA Book of the Year Awards – Shortlists

The annual CBCA Book of the Year Awards affirm the quality of some of Australia’s most creative people and provide a boost to their capacity to devote time to their craft. This list includes: Older Readers Shortlist, Younger Readers Shortlist, Early Childhood Shortlist, Picture Book of the Year Shortlist, Eve Pownall Award Shortlist & New Illustrator Shortlist.

Updated May 24, 2025
C
City of Belmont Ruth Faulkner Library
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A wreck of seabirds
Olson, Karleah
Paper Book
When Briony first meets Ren, he is standing in the freezing sea at the edge of their tiny town.Ren hasn' t been home for a decade but has returned to be with his dying father.Briony won' t leave, hoping that Sarah, her missing sister, will one day reappear.But Sarah and her friend Aria have been...
Birdy
Kernot, Sharon
Ebook
Maddy is mute. Since the Incident she has barely spoken. And now she and her mother and brother are staying in a farmhouse on an old apricot orchard not far from town. It's a chance to rest and recuperate - or a way to hide further away from the world. Alice is waiting. Since Birdy, her...
Comes the night
Carmody, Isobelle
Paper Book
A superb YA fantasy set in the near future, full of secrets, high stakes, peril, deceptions and dreamwalkers, from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of the Obernewtyn Chronicles andThe Gathering. SHORTLISTED: 2025 CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers ...
I'm not really here
Lonesborough, Gary
Paper Book
A wonderful coming-of-age queer romance from the multi award-winning author of The Boy from the Mish. Jonah is the new kid in a country town. When he joins the local footy team to be closer to his crush, Harley, it feels like a fresh start - but he still has to navigate new friendships, an...
The skin I'm in
Tisdell, Steph
Paper Book
'It was the beginning of everything. And the end of so much.' Layla is in her final year of school. It's the last year to make sure that the next major phase of her life begins correctly because she's got big plans.She just wants to be a normal teenager and to fit in but when her troubled cousin...
Aggie Flea steals the show!
Ingram, Tania
Paper Book
Mess up!
Stanton, Matt
Paper Book
The hilarious and unmissable new series about Gilbert, a boy whose best friend is an imaginary giant fluffy bunny called Fluff, from the creator who brought us The Odds, Funny Kid and Bored. Gilbert and Fluff have got themselves into an enormous mess! They have to...
Laughter is the best ending
Master, Maryam; Hicks, Astred
Paper Book
Zee is a loner. She likes to read Oscar Wilde and watch documentaries all day which, according to her parents, is not normal for 13 year olds. So they decide to send her on a five-day holiday camp, hoping she'll make 'at least one friend'.Now, Zee would rather take a bath in Tabasco sauce than...
Afloat
Saunders, Kirli.
Paper Book
Roam the water with me. We are here to learn.  Here to spin wisdom, to grow ... From award-winning Gunai author Kirli Saunders and seven-time CBCA-winner Freya Blackwood comes Afloat, a story told in a time of climate crisis. Against a backdrop of a...
The truck cat
Frenkel, Deborah; Snell, Danny
Paper Book
The Truck Cat is a story about cats and humans, immigration and identity, and homes lost and found.  With illustrations by multi-award-winning artist Danny Snell and words by award-winning new voice Deborah Frenkel, The Truck Cat is the perfect...
Grow Big, Little Seed: A story about rainbow babies
Nanayakkara, Bec.
Paper Book
Grow Big, Little Seed is a tender, hopeful picture book about miscarriage and pregnancy after loss. Illustrated by the extraordinary papercut artist, Sarah Capon (@eyepicturedthis), it's perfect...

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