‘How to Make a Bird’ wins SCBWI Crystal Kite Award

Children’s picture book How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley, Walker) has won the Australian and New Zealand division of this year’s Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards, presented by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

It’s the second year in a row McKinlay has won the Australia and New Zealand division, after her YA novel Catch a Falling Star (Walker Books) won in 2020.

How to Make a Bird follows the protagonist ‘as she contemplates the blue print of an idea, collects the things that inspire from the natural world to shape a bird. And breathes life into it before letting it fly free.’ Walker Books describes it as ‘a moving and visually stunning picture book that celebrates the transformative power of the creative process from inception through recognition to celebration and releasing into the world’.

The Crystal Kite Awards are peer-given awards presented annually in a number of US and international divisions. A complete list of the winning titles for 2021 can be found here.

Category: Awards Local news