Library News
CBCA Book Week 2025 - Book an Adventure!
The Winners and Honours of the 2025 CBCA Book of the Year Awards were recently announced! The awards included categories for picture books, junior, middle grade, and young adult fiction. As well as a winner and two Honour Books in each category, CBCA also invited young readers to participate and act as Shadow Judges through The Sun Project.
Established in 1946, the annual CBCA Book of the Year Awards aim to promote quality literature for young Australians by Australians and celebrate contributions to Australian children’s literature.
All CBCA Books can be found in our library at Beaumaris Secondary College.
WINNERS
2025 CBCA Book of the Year for
Older Readers
I’m Not Really Here
By Gary Lonesborough
Footsteps approach behind me. I turn and see an Aboriginal boy arriving at the doorway. He's tall, taller than me. He's got curly hair. His body is fit. His chest is chiselled and bare and he's wearing only football shorts.
When 17-year-old Jonah arrives in a new town - Patience - with his dad and younger brothers, it feels like a foreign place. A new town means he needs to make new friends - which isn't always easy. Especially when he's wrestling with his body image, and his memories of his mother.
When he joins the local footy team so he can spend more time with his new crush, Harley, he feels like he's moving closer to something good. But even though he knows what he wants, it doesn't mean he's ready.
I'm Not Really Here is a beautiful novel from a bestselling Indigenous author about navigating family and friendships and finding a way through grief towards love.
HONOUR BOOKS
- Older Readers
An Honour Book and the Shadow Judges selection was - Birdy by Sharon Kernot.
A novel in verse, Birdy is told entirely through poetry, giving it an intimate tone as it lyrically centres the story on Maddy, a teenage girl grappling with profound loss, trauma, and anxiety—including mutism—as she struggles with shame and healing.
The book’s recognition as both an Honour Book and the Shadow Judges’ favourite highlights its impact on young readers themselves.
Also honoured was Into the Mouth of the Wolf by Erin Gough, a gripping YA novel - part thriller, part queer romance - that follows Iris and her mother, Rohan, as they navigate a dystopian world ravaged by earthquakes and mysterious threats.
Dear Iris,
If all goes well, I will be in touch by this evening. If you hear nothing, contact Glassy Bay International Travellers’ Hostel and ask after me. Use our real names.
Your Mama xxx
Fast paced, the story unfolds as Rohan suddenly disappears, leaving Iris alone and desperate for answers. The only clue she has is the phrase "in bocca al lupo" (into the mouth of the wolf) and a contact in a town called Glassy Bay.
Library Opening Hours
Make your way up to S3 on the Southern level!
Monday - Thursday
9.30am-2.30pm.
The library is open at recess and lunchtime.
Student ID Cards
A reminder to all students that your Compass Student ID card is also your library card. Please bring your student ID card to the library when you would like to borrow.
Book Returns
Please Return any books to the RETURNS BOX at the entrance to the library on Southern level (S3).
During a library class students are to return books to the shelves when they have finished with them, respectfully leaving the space as they found it ready for the next class.
Niamh McPhelimy
Library Manager
