Magic Beach by Alison Lister has been named Australia’s Best Children’s Picture Book | Picture books

Alison Lister’s Magic Beach has won a Guardian Australia poll to find Australia’s best children’s picture book of all time.

More than 100,000 votes were cast after polling began on January 27. Aside from Day 1, when Possum Magic by writer Mem Fox and illustrator Julia Vivas took the early lead, Magic Beach was the most voted book every two days of the count.

With the recurring line “On our beach, on our magic beach,” Lister’s rhyming picture book from 1990 follows the different adventures kids can have on a day at the beach, through the wonders of the natural environment and the power of the imagination. Illustrated in Lister’s instantly recognizable watercolor style.

Lister was told about her win on Thursday, while at the same beach in Walkerville South, Victoria, that inspired the picture book.

“This is wonderful news – and how amazing it is to be at Magic Beach while you tell me,” she said.

The former Australian Children’s Prize winner thanked everyone who voted for her book, saying: “I think I owe a lot to my family and friends who were all there voting for me too… There were so many beautiful books, so I’m very happy.”

Of all her books, Magic Beach has been translated into relatively few languages. “I think it’s a very Australian way to go to the beach,” Lester said.

“It’s incredible that people still love it, that it won this poll,” she said, adding with a laugh: “I always thought it would be nice to share a similar situation with the tawny-mouthed frog” – the winner of last year’s Guardian Australia poll for Bird of the Year.

When asked how she would celebrate her win, Lister said: “I have to thank all the people who stood by me first, which is really nice. Maybe I’ll go swimming… I think that would be a nice way to celebrate.”

Lester offered to share her award with her fellow authors. When she was told it was just fame, she said, “It’s so much easier to share!”

On the final day of voting, Magic Peach won with 2,557 votes, nearly 800 votes ahead of Possum Magic, which placed second with 1,782 votes.

Where is the green sheep? By writer Mim Fox and illustrator Judy Horacek, it came in third place with 1,609 votes, while the novel The Wombat Diaries by Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley came in fourth place with 1,556 votes.

My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stewart – a much-loved picture book published in 2020 and singled out by US President Donald Trump last year – received 1,436 votes, followed by Graeme Base’s intricately illustrated 1986 alphabet book, Animalia, with 1,340 votes.

Room on Our Rock, by authors Kate and Jules Temple, received 1,290 votes, followed by the 1976 classic There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, by Hazel Edwards and illustrator Deborah Nyland, with 1,267 votes.

The 2022 picture book Come Home to My House, co-written by Sally Rippin and Eliza Hall and illustrated by Daniel Gray Barnett, received 1,008 votes, with All the Ways to Be Clever by Davina Bell and illustrator Alison Colboys trailing just six votes with 1,002 votes.

Guardian readers initially voted in December to form a list of the 50 best children’s picture books in Australia, four of which were written by Lister: A Kiss from the Moon, Are We There Yet?, Imagine, and A Magical Beach. “I would be happy to get one, but to get four seems like a miracle,” Lester told The Guardian in January.

Nearly 15,000 votes were cast each day, with the final five books eliminated from contention before voting was returned for the next round.