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Pious tales and dirty stories : the Young Australians Best Book Award (YABBA)

A study of the older readers' section of Young Australians Best Book Award (YABBA) from 1986 to 1991, based on analysis of 21,351 voting forms from this period. Through analysis of the data from these voting forms, ranking authors and titles, comparing gender preferences, the source of the book voted for, school type and school location were all compiled into graphs and tables. Appropriate comparisons have been made between variables across the six year period, to give some idea of the voting population involved in the older readers' section of YABBA and their preferences and motivations. A follow up survey of voters and YABBA organisers in 1992 attempted to further enhance this data by collecting information on voter preferences, opinions and possible influences on the voting process. The study attempts to place YABBA in the context of the wider children's literature community and discuss briefly its historical development with reference to other children's choice awards, their strengths and weaknesses. A relevant discussion on popularity versus literary merit is related to the ongoing discussion of YABBA in comparison to the Children's Book Council awards. Later chapters include a discussion of the most popular YABBA titles (seven highest rating titles) with particular emphasis given to YABBA's two most popular authors - Paul Jennings and Robin Klein. Humour is an important factor in the popularity of many YABBA titles and this is discussed as are developments since 1991 and the long-term future of YABBA.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245439
Date January 1995
CreatorsLa Marca, Susan Gaye
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
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