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Esther Glen Award
The New Zealand Library and Information Association Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa offers annually an award, known as the Esther Glen Award. This award is offered annually to the author of the book which is considered to be the most distinguished contribution to literature for children aged 0-15, by an author who is a citizen or resident of New Zealand.
There are no limitations on the character of the book except that it be an original work, or, if traditional in design, new to children's literature and the result of individual research, the re-telling and interpretation being the writer's own. The book will have been published in the previous year and no reprint or new edition of a book shall be eligible for the award. The format and physical make-up of the book shall be a consideration
A medal and $1000.00 are awarded to the winner.
2009 Esther Glen Award Shortlist
Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale (Random House New Zealand)
Juno of Taris is the compelling new novel from Fleur Beale. It explores the struggle of Juno, a young teen on the verge of adulthood, who is torn between her need to fit in and belong in her society, and her growing discomfort and questioning of that society's rules. Your ordinary teen? Not quite! Because Juno lives - in the not-too-distant future - on Taris, a bubble-covered island in the Pacific, to which a select few hundred people were evacuated when Earth's inhabitants took everything just a bit too far and began to self-destruct. On Taris there are many rules governing appearance, behaviour, even procreation . but all are for the good of the community, to ensure the survival of humankind. Or are they? As Taris' protected environment begins to break down and Juno's questioning nature takes hold, she uncovers some startling inconsistencies (read more)
Old Drumble by Jack Lasenby (HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Ltd)
The humorous and heartwarming story of Jack Jackman, a young boy who wants to be a stock drover, set in the small Waikato township of Waharoa in the late 1930s. Jack has a wonderful warm relationship with his parents and an old family friend, Andy the Drover, who each week drives a mob of cattle or sheep through the main street with the help of his dog, Old Drumble, and his horse, Nosy. All three become the boy's close friends over the long hot summer holidays, and each week Andy (read more)
The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner (Walker Books Australia)
"The end of the world started quietly enough for Tane Williams and Rebecca Richards. . . ."
"Tane and Rebecca aren't sure what to make of it--a sequence of 1s and 0s, the message looks like nothing more thana random collection of alternating digits. Working to decode it, however, they discover that the messagecontains lottery numbers . . . lottery numbers that win the next random draw! More messages follow, and slowly it becomes clear--the messages are being sent from Tane and Rebecca's future. Something there has gone horribly wrong, and it's up to them to prevent it from happening. The very survival of the human race may be at stake!
"[A] terrifying SF page-turner!"--"Booklist
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"A tautly constructed plot. Fast-paced and all-too-realistic. This technothriller offers gearhead ecowarriors everything, including a hugely satisfying ending."--Kirkus Reviews
The 10pm Question by Kate de Goldi (Longacre Press)
Frankie Parsons is twelve going on old man, an apparently sensible, talented boy with a drumbeat of worrying questions steadily gaining volume in his head: Are the smoke alarm batteries flat? Does the cat, and therefore the rest of the family, have worms? Will bird flu strike and ruin life as we know it? Is the Kidney-shaped spot on his chest actually a galloping cancer? Only Ma takes seriously his catalogue of persistent queries. But it is Ma who is the cause of the most worrying question of all, the one that Frankie can never bring himself to ask. Then the new girl arrives at school and has questions of her own: relentless, unavoidable questions. So begins the unravelling of Frankie Parsons's carefully controlled world. More
Violence 101 by Denis Wright (Penguin New Zealand)
Hamish Graham is intelligent, disciplined, resourceful and fearless, and scorns all weakness. His heroes include Charles Upham, Alexander the Great and Te Rauparaha - all men of action. But he is also a fourteen-year-old with an anger problem and a disturbing past, and these have landed him in a series of boys' homes for violent and troubled young offenders. The gripping series of events following his arrival at New Horizons culminates in a desperate rescue mission on a mountain that has already claimed the lives of two young soldiers. More
2009 Award Judges
Belynda Smith (Convenor) - Children's and Teenage Service's Librarian, Takapuna Library
Pene Walsh - District Librarian, Gisborne
Colleen Shipley - Librarian, Marlborough Girls College
Alice Heather (Convenor) - Te Kura Pounamu
Past Recipients
2008 - Mandy Hager Smashed
Smashed tackles gritty teenage issues such as alcohol, physical and sexual abuse, and anger. But authorMandyHager delivers it with a sense of humour and great sensitivity. It is a thoughtful, pacy read - one that is hard to put down. Smashed tells the story of three teenage friends, and how their friendship, loyalties and values are thrown into confusion when the main character's younger sister is raped by one of his best friends. His reaction sets in motion a "ripple effect", which culminates in a violent act of revenge upon the rapist. Has our hero done this? As he finds himself deep in trouble and confused about the truth, he is forced to the vital question: are we really just puppets controlled by our genes, or do we have the free will to rewrite our own destiny? It's a cautionary tale of growing up - of the huge and complex challenges today's young people face in their lives. Told with humour and compassion it is also, ultimately, a story of courage, love and redemption. DARE plan to use this novel in some of their education programmes.
2007- Bernard Beckett Genesis
Go forward in time: it's nearing the end of the century. Do you see a dramatically altered New Zealand? InGenesis, Bernard Beckett, one of our most provocative writers for young adults, gives us his view of a brave new world. In a terrifying and stifl ing examination environment a young Academy candidate, Anaximander, is put through a gruelling exercise in interpreting the history and origins of her society. Though her answers, we learn that in 2052, New Zealand has been renamed Th e Republic after a reforming Governor, Plato. It has separated itself from a plague-ridden globe with a gargantuan ring fence guarded with military outposts. All approaching boats, exploratory air craft or refugees are shot on sight. Society is strictly divided and individuals deviate from their assigned roles at their peril. When one man, Adam Forde (2058-2077) insists on his right to independent thought and action, The Republic is set at grave risk. More
2006- Elizabeth Knox Dreamhunter
Laura comes from a world similar to our own except for one difference: it is next to the Place, an unfathomableland that fosters dreams of every kind and is inaccessible to all but a select few, the Dreamhunters. These are individuals with special gifts: the ability to catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace, the Rainbow Opera. People travel from all around to experience the benefits of the hunters’ unique visions. Now fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose, daughters of Dreamhunters, are eligible to test
themselves at the Place and find out (read more)
2005- Bernard Beckett Malcom and Juliet
Here is the novel equivalent to a modern TV sit-com. Providing moments of farce and slapstick it takes on quirky butrelatively credible teenagers and puts them in extraordinary situations (Malcom decides to make a documentary on sex), and watches them behave strangely and hilariously. MALCOLM AND JULIET is different in tone and style from anything else published in New Zealand and is full of overt sitcom elements: sharp, smart one-liners, stretched situations, a cast of idiosyncratic characters, a 'sexy' theme and a minimum of description. Beckett's novel not only tackles teenagers' main preoccupation, it undercuts, subverts and sends it up as well. Hilarious, with a marvellous sting in the tail. More
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2004- Ken Catran Jacko Moran, sniper
2003- David Hill Right where it hurts
2002- Alison Robertson Knocked for Six
2001- Margaret Mahy 24 hours
1998 - David Hill Fat, Four-eyed and Useless
1997- Kate de Goldi Sanctuary
1996 - Janice Marriott Crossroads
1995 - Maurice Gee The fat man
1994 - Paula Boock Sasscat to win
1993 - Margaret Mahy Underrunners
1992 - Tessa Duder Alessandra: Alex in Rome
1991- William Taylor Agnes the sheep
1990 - Tessa Duder Alex in winter
1989 - Jack Lazenby The mangrove summer
1988 - Tessa Duder Alex
1986 - Maurice Gee Motherstone
1985 - Margaret Mahy The changeover
1984 - Caroline MacDonald Elephant rock
1983 - Margaret Mahy The haunting
1982 - Katherine O'Brien The year of the Yelvertons
1979 - Joan de Hamel Take the long path
1978 - Rhonda and David Armitage The lighthouse keeper's lunch
1975 - Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd My cat likes to hide in boxes
1973 - Margaret Mahy The first Margaret Mahy storybook
1970 - Margaret Mahy A lion in the meadow
1964 - Lesley C Powell Turi, the story of a little boy
1959 - Maurice N. Duggan Tom and the water boy.
1950 - Joan Smith The adventure of Nimble, Rumble and tumble
1947 - Alexander W. Reed Myths and legends of Mäoriland
1945 - Stella M. Morice The book of Wiremu
