The continuing rise in the quality and sales of children's books should quell fears about the future of the book, according to the judges of Book of the Year Awards for the Children's Book Council of Australia.
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More than 400 books were entered for six awards.
Information books in particular were very strong this year, said Angela Briant, the chairwoman of the national council (but not one of the eight judges), in announcing the shortlists for the 2015 awards on Tuesday.
She noted the rising number of entries and range of shortlisted books in that category, including the large-format, handsomely illustrated A-Z of Convicts in Van Diemen's Land by Simon Barnard.
"I bought a copy and a number of people picked it up from my kitchen table, both adults and children," Briant said.
"Information books have really got the capacity to engage children. It's about story too, connecting readers with people of another time.
"Children can find facts and figures on the internet, though they might not always be accurate, so a book has to engage and provoke an emotional reaction."
Also on the information books shortlist was Audacity: Stories of Heroic Australians in Wartime by Carlie Walker and illustrator Brett Hatherly, which was published by the Department of Veterans' Affairs and was one of many entries on the theme of war across the categories.
In the picture book category, which includes books for small children and teenagers, there were 19 entries about war, especially the Gallipoli campaign, in the lead-up to the centenary.
But there are also plenty of books on other recurrent subjects in children's books: multiculturalism, families, pets and animals, humour, fantasy and the environment; and, in books for older readers, teenage sexuality, drugs and other confronting issues that they - and often their parents and other adults - want to read about from a young adult perspective.
Among the shortlisted authors and illustrators are veterans such as Libby Gleeson, Freya Blackwood and Stephen Michael King, who all appear several times, as well as a strong showing of new talent. Some of the finalists for the new illustrator award are also contenders for the main awards.
"It's a very healthy industry," said Briant, noting there were some high-quality self-published books on the extended list of Notable Books that will be released soon, along with the judges' reports.
The winners will be announced on August 21 at the beginning of Children's Book Week.
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS
THE 2015 SHORTLIST
Book of the Year: Older Readers
(NB: These books are for mature readers)
Clare Atkins, Nona & Me (Black Inc.)
Christine Bongers, Intruder (Random House Australia)
Darren Groth, Are You Seeing Me? (Random House Australia)
Melissa Keil, The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl (Hardie Grant Egmont)
Diana Sweeney, The Minnow (Text Publishing)
Claire Zorn, The Protected (University of Queensland Press)
Book of the Year: Younger Readers
Tristan Bancks, Two Wolves (Random House Australia)
Bill Condon, ill. Beth Norling, The Simple Things (Allen & Unwin)
Libby Gleeson, ill. Freya Blackwood, The Cleo Stories: The Necklace and the Present (Allen & Unwin)
Steven Herrick, Bleakboy and Hunter Stand out in the Rain (University of Queensland Press)
Tamsin Janu, Figgy in the World (Omnibus Books, Scholastic Australia)
Judith Rossell, Withering-by-Sea: a Stella Montgomery Intrigue (ABC Books)
Book of the Year: Early Childhood
Aaron Blabey, Pig the Pug (Scholastic Press)
Lesley Gibbes, ill. Stephen Michael King, Scary Night (Working Title Press)
Libby Gleeson, ill. Freya Blackwood, Go to Sleep, Jessie (Little Hare)
Jenny Hughes, ill. Jonathan Bentley, A House of Her Own (Hardie Grant Egmont)
Stephen Michael King, Snail and Turtle Are Friends (Scholastic Press)
Alison Lester, Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach (Allen & Unwin)
Picture Book of the Year
Some of these books may be for mature readers
(Arranged by illustrator)
Trace Balla, Rivertime (Allen & Unwin)
Freya Blackwood, text Irena Kobald, My Two Blankets (Little Hare)
Michael Camilleri, text David Metzenthen, One Minute's Silence (Allen & Unwin)
Stephen Michael King, text Glenda Millard, The Duck and the Darklings (Allen & Unwin)
Ritva Voutila, text Margaret Wild, The Stone Lion (Little Hare)
Bruce Whatley, text Jackie French, Fire (Scholastic Press)
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
(NB: These books are intended for an audience birth to 18 years)
Simon Barnard, A-Z of Convicts in Van Diemen's Land (Text Publishing)
Demet Divaroren & Amra Pajalic (editors), Coming of Age: Growing Up Muslim in Australia (Allen & Unwin)
Pamela Freeman, Mary's Australia: How Mary Mackillop Changed Australia (Black Dog Books)
James Jolly, ill. Robert Ingpen, Tea and Sugar Christmas (National Library of Australia)
Claire Saxby, ill. Graham Byrne, Emu (Walker Books Australia)
Carlie Walker, ill. Brett Hatherly, Audacity: Stories of Heroic Australians in Wartime (Department of Veterans' Affairs)
Crichton Award for New Illustrators
Trace Balla, Rivertime (Allen & Unwin)
Karen Briggs, text Paul Seden, Kick with My Left Foot (Allen & Unwin)
Michael Camilleri, text David Metzenthen, One Minute's Silence (Allen & Unwin)
Robin Cowcher, text Corinne Fenton, Little Dog and the Christmas Wish (Walker Books Australia)
Snip Green, text Mike Dumbleton, Meet Douglas Mawson (Random House Australia)
Leanne Tobin, text Ambelin Kwaymullina, The Lost Girl (Walker Books Australia)
