Good news! Goat on a Boat has been shortlisted for Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Award 2020 for readers aged 5-8.
These awards are for books that promote language and literacy development. There are five different award categories, and Goatie is up against a formidable line-up of ten of the year’s best books for kids.
The 3-5 year category criteria are to “support children’s emergent literacy in the context of shared book reading”. Some of the specific things the judges are looking for are: strong narrative; appealing characters; a story that arouses interest in real world events or circumstances; and one that develops knowledge of figurative language (metaphors, onomatopoeia) and other literary devices.
Goatie is up against books by writers including Alison Lester, Sophie Masson and Nicki Greenberg. What an honour! We’ll be waiting with baited breath for the winners’ announcement on Friday 6 November 2020.