Since 1946 the Children's Book Council of Australia has presented an award for the Children's Book of the Year.

From a single award, the annual event has now grown to encompass Picture Books, Early Childhood, Younger Readers, Older Readers and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. 

Download this year's finalists from the CBC Short List page and select either the Books for Older Readers or Books for Younger Readers, depending on which best suits your circumstances.

Discuss the sorts of things that a reader could expect a book of this standard to offer. What characteristics should it have to make it stand apart from all others in the field?

Consider
*relevance and suitability of the topic
*quality and continuity of the storyline
*personality and credibility of the characters
*choice of sentence structure and vocabulary

Other criteria can be found on the Young Australian Readers' Awards Write a Review page.

From these characteristics, have the students construct a list of criteria and a points rubric against which they will be able to measure each book.
For example

Criterion	Excellent	Very Good	Ordinary	Mediocre	Poor
Vocabulary	4	3	2	1	0

Have the students read as many of the shortlisted books as they can and compare each one against the rubric to find their personal choice.
Which title scores the most points?
Were they surprised?
Was it their personal favourite?

For more information about each book, check CMIS -Children's Book Week

Now identify the class choice for the Book of the Year.
Have the students devise a way that this can be done fairly, so each title gets an equal proportion of the votes to eliminate the possibility of one title being chosen simply because most students read it.
What is the class choice for Book of the Year?

Contact other schools also involved in this activity via email.
How do their lists compare to yours?

Using a 6-5-4-3-2-1 system, create what you think will be the judges' selection for first, runner-up and honour books. Check your choices with the official list announced on Friday August 16, 2002