Notorious

How lovely. The New Zealand Children’s Literature Foundation, Storylines, has announced its Notable Books of 2006 list:

Junior fiction
Fiction suitable for primary and intermediate-age children.
And Did Those Feet… by Ted Dawe. Longacre Press.
Boyznbikes by Vince Ford. Scholastic New Zealand.
Ocean Without End: Book One of the Swashbuckler Trilogy by Kelly Gardiner. HarperCollins.
Frog Whistle Mine by Des Hunt. HarperCollins.
Thor's Tale: Endurance and Adventure in the Southern Ocean by Janice Marriott. HarperCollins.
The Unquiet by Carolyn McCurdie. Longacre Press.
Mind Over Matter by Heather McQuillan. Scholastic New Zealand.
Old Bones by Bill Nagelkerke. Scholastic New Zealand.
Castaway: the Diary of Samuel Abraham Clark, Disappointment Island, 1907 by Bill O'Brien [My Story series]. Scholastic New Zealand.
The Whizbanger that Emmental Built by Reuben Schwarz. Puffin.

That makes up for missing out on the NZ Post Awards shortlist last week, although it’s such a strong field in junior fiction one can’t be too bitter:

Boyznbikes
Frog Whistle Mine
My Story: Castaway
Thor's Tale

I confess I do wonder what the girls are supposed to vote for in the Children’s Choice round. Finer minds than mine have pondered the dominance of books for boys in awards lists. But there's no need to argue on the basis of quality. They are all terrific books.

The School Library Board in the US has also published its list of notable international books, with special mentions for Steven Herrick, Markus Zusak and Margot Lanagan, and Margaret Mahy's wonderful, riotous poem, Down the Back of the Chair.