Award winning South Australian children’s author and Early Years educator Katrina Germein has just released her twenty ninth book, a lively tribute to all things girlhood. Told through short four line verses with carefully chosen words, this skilfully written picture book radiates energy and charm. Its dynamic rhythm and joyful vibe are sure to delight readers from start to finish.
Girls like…
Chalk art Mud art Box art Bud art
Quick beats Slow beats Soft beats Show beats
Skirts on Jewels on Shirts on Tools on
A powerful message of diversity and inclusivity is shared throughout the narrative, with the bold and captivating illustrations bringing visual interest and vitality to the text. The endpapers, both front and back, extend the richness of the illustrations by showcasing a beautiful array of colourful snapshots drawn from the artwork within. This will provide a wonderful Early Year’s learning opportunity that will encourage young readers to recognise familiar images and search for them as the story unfolds.
A loving homage to family and the way they interact is shown through this depiction of a year of activity. Beginning with the child’s birthday, celebrated on a picnic rug in the woods, the pages move through the year, revealing each new month as the page is turned. Starting with the summer birthday, the pages move through a day at the beach, then in the garden with the approach of the cooler months, the leaves falling all around with blustery winds, followed by the wild rains of winter, and leading to spring and finally back to the same place as the next birthday is celebrated.
Each double page is full of colour and movement, the wonderful illustrations drawing children’s eyes to the detail, while the brief rhyming lines of text point the reader to a specific activity being undertaken by the young girl. She hums while looking at the bugs on the leaves, skips and swirls with the encroaching fog and winds of early autumn, roars in the heavy rain.
Readers will love seeing what the child does throughout the year, comparing them with the things they do. All of the activities occur out of doors, only one, where the girl is playing in the water in the gutter, shows their house.
The family involves itself in a range of activities; flying a kite, playing at the beach, imagining a mermaid, working in the garden, picking fruit, playing in the fallen leaves, feeding the chooks, having a birthday celebration in the woods. All are activities attainable by children and discussions in the classroom or at home will see plans made by for them all to leave their devices at home as they venture outside. A lovely way to celebrate the passing of time.
Childhood fun throughout the year is beautifully highlighted in this delightful picture book from two South Australians, author Katrina Germein and illustrator Alice Lindstrom. With the simplicity of very few words, the rhyming text flows creatively and with each strikingly detailed illustration, the meaning behind the words is abundantly clear. The glorious cover is a visual treat with the careful circular placement of each season identifiable by nature, colour, clothing, and familiar items.
The narrative begins with a young child and her family celebrating a birthday while picnicking outdoors. As the story moves through the pages, the reader becomes connected to common things that are unique to each of the particular seasons. These include time at the beach in summer, exploring rockpools and daydreaming. Cloudy skies and the pure joy of falling leaves in autumn. Rainy days, umbrellas, and the magic of puddles in winter. Kite flying, birds flying and new growth in spring. Each stunning double page spread is full of bold vibrant colour with opportunities for younger readers to explore and recognise different objects. Using both collage and drawn elements, the images show movement as the young child excitedly explores their natural environment.
Another Year Around the Sun is an engaging and entertaining picture book to read with young children. A must have for an early years learning environment as well as a school or public library.
Children’s non-fiction picture book duo, author Katrina Germein and illustrator Suzanne Houghton who wrote the delightful book Wonderful Wasps, have once again combined to present another engaging factual book, Fabulous Frogs. Written in skilfully constructed rhyme, this book will captivate and amaze readers as they learn all about a variety of Australian frogs. With a striking front cover displaying some rather appealing frogs, readers will be immediately drawn to this book. The detailed endpapers showcase 18 different frogs, numbered and named, in various colours, shapes and sizes, that are featured throughout this entertaining book.
Cleverly commencing with two questions, Do you have a favourite, fabulous frog? A fine fascinating, Australian frog? provides a perfect learning moment for children to share what they already know about frogs. These questions are followed by many remarkable and unique facts about Australian frogs. For example, frogs eat frogs that are smaller in size, or that the male Pouched frog has pouches on his legs where the tadpoles turn into frogs. The glorious full colour illustrations accompanying the text provide added impact and the ability for the readers to visualise and differentiate between each frog.
Fabulous Frogs also raises important environmental issues that children will be able to understand and appreciate:
Frogs need fresh water to drink through their skin. So, make sure your rubbish goes into a bin. Litter that falls into gutters and drains flows into waterways after the rains. Avoid using chemicals out in your yard. They hurt froggy skin, which makes breathing too hard.
Educators in the early and middle grade years are often looking for accessible texts to teach their students research and report writing skills. Fabulous Frogs would be an excellent resource to support these concepts as there is the opportunity to find key words, learn about life cycles, descriptions, habitats, predators and diet. There are further fascinating facts in the final pages, an extensive glossary and a valuable guide to creating a frog-friendly garden.
Katrina Germein and Tom Jellett have once again provided another humorous and entertaining book to add the ever-growing ‘My dad..’ collection. This series is very popular in school libraries with children who love ‘Dad jokes’, with this latest edition all about Halloween and Dad’s attempt to be funny.
As the family prepare for trick or treating, Dad, dressed as a ghost, has already started on the jokes. To his wife who is a mummy, he says '…you look rotten. Perhaps you should sit in the living room?' To the narrator, his son, he says, 'You used to be small but now…you gruesome?' The jokes are flying fast and furiously on this Halloween evening. As the family walk past the cemetery, dad comes out with some very amusing puns:
'Look!...The dead centre of town. People are dying just to get in. They are so dead-icated! It’s a great place for stories, so many plots.'
Throughout this engaging book, the jokes dad comes up with will keep young readers guessing. They are witty and clever and his son, who has probably heard more jokes than he needs to, repeatedly says 'My dad thinks he’s a scream.'
This close family has a great time out together on Halloween and the bold and bright illustrations add so much to the enjoyment of the text. The colourful images on the endpapers will delight children with many sweet favourites such as lolly teeth, chocolate freckles and lolly snakes appearing amongst them.
A perfect book for families to share with Father’s Day and Halloween coming up.
The full range of how books fit into a baby’s life from waking in the morning to going to bed at night is presented in this charming book with rhyming lines form Katrina Germein and wonderfully soft illustrations by Cheryl Orsini. The result is a family oriented story with the baby at its heart modelling the ways books fit into the everyday. On waking the baby needs a book to start the day, then it reads books in the car, visiting its grandparents where books again are shared. Then mum and the baby play and tumble about. Funny stories are shared, and books are read in the pusher and on the tram. At the end of a very busy day the baby has a cuddle and a book, a yawn then snuggles down to sleep.
A range of books is read; pop up books, large books filled with colour, board books and baby soft material books.
German shows soundly that books have a place in all aspects of a child’s life, with humour and verse to get her message across. I love the first three words of each pair of rhyming lines, as she uses the phrase ‘baby book’ with another word describing something about the baby. Repetition and alliteration are used with great effect, and complimented by Orsini’s soft illustrations adding a level of humour to the book.
This is a lovely book to read and share, and will be enjoyed by all ages.
Themes Reading, Books, Grandparents, Family.
Fran Knight
Wonderful wasps by Katrina Germein. Illus. by Suzanne Houghton
With award winning children’s author, Katrina Germein penning the words for this wonderful non fiction book, readers will look forward to a well written, concise book in which every word has a place. Teamed with award winning illustrator, Suzanne Houghton, the illustrations are just as detailed as the words are concise, as beautiful as the written words, making a book to be savoured and referred to again and again. All 12,000 species of wasps found in Australia, do not get a look in, but those that do exemplify the range of these little insects, the part they play in the cycle of life and why they are important.
Told in rhyming stanzas, information about the wasps is in every line. Not European wasps, but hundreds of smaller wasps live to pollinate our plants so they grow and survive, produce fruit and then seed, enabling the cycle to start again.
A question is posed on the first page asking readers what they know about wasps. The European wasp is dismissed as it is plain and everywhere. We are told that this book is about the amazing world of the Australian wasp, beautiful, unusual and colourful. On each page we are introduced to wasps and their traits. The many thousands of them are sky polluters, along with fruit bats and bees. These pollinators and their work ensure the plants grow and produce seed, thus helping out planet’s flora keep on growing.
And many animals live on the wasps: small animals, birds and grubs eat them as part of their diet, if wasps were not available then some animals’ diet would be reduced. The wasps’ egg laying will have readers surprised but this does not reduce their importance to our ecosystem.
German goes on to tell the readers where eggs are also laid and describes the nests built to house them, while a plea for more gardeners to plant native plants which will help wasps survive is added.
An excellent glossary is presented on the last page and the two pages preceding has a double page with more information about wasps, with specific information about those shown in the book.
The information is given about the small group illustrated. And the illustrations are spectacular, showing the insects diversity, colour and beauty. Houghton includes the flora on which these insects feed, begging the reader to go out and look for themselves. The insects are more difficult to spot, as the illustrations show, using a magnifying glass to show the reader. The endpapers show eleven of the insects with their names, to encourage readers to look very closely. Teacher resources are available.
Each time Mother Duck goes to call her wandering duckling back home, she uses a different barnyard call, resulting in an array of farm animals sitting at her table. When she forgets her quack, she calls out a moo and the duckling returns with a cow. The next night she calls out bow wow and a dog is added to the group. A cluck cluck next time results in a chicken sitting at the table.
A nod to the well known Five little ducks, We’re going on a bear hunt and I went walking, sees the duckling building up a friendship group consisting of a cow, dog, chook, donkey, lamb and piglet to go walking with, each time getting a little further away from home. One day they go off together and stay out all night, Mother Duck eventually finding her quack and calling the duckling home.
Danny Snell’s lovely illustrations provoke lots of laughter as the animals sit together at the kitchen table, watching Mother Duck cook them a meal in her little house. Each additional mouth to feed sees an increase in her bag of groceries while the cooking pot grows, and the number of plates and cups escalates. The cow and donkey sitting like humans will cause lots of smiles, as will the slope of the bench when the cow sits down. Their wanderings during the day, to the fields, through the hay, over the bridge, ignoring the rain, to the beach, to the fields of flowers and finally staying out all night camping in their tent, will entreat the readers as they peruse all the details of rambling far from home, enjoying the companionship of the group of animals as they wander together, knowing that Mother Duck is there waiting for the duckling to return.
Readers will love counting along with the text, ticking off each of the animals encountered on each page, predicting the new line and what the animal might be when Mother Duck calls. One little duck is a wonderfully interactive read, begging to be read aloud and acted out.
Well-known South Australian children’s author Katrina Germein has written her first information picture book in collaboration with illustrator Suzanne Houghton. Wonderful Wasps is a stunning read with ingenious rhyming text and striking illustrations and is all about a number of little-known wasps that exist in Australia.
From the detailed endpapers where eleven different wasps are displayed and labelled, to the double-page spread of facts and the glossary in the final pages, this delightful book will engage its young readers with its interesting information and colourful illustrations.
The book begins by asking the question: What do you know about wasps? It then mentions ‘not the plain European wasp’ but ‘colourful, wonderful, weird Aussie wasps.’ The text then goes on to explain about Australian wasps, what they do, where they are found, what might happen if they are no longer around, as well as giving a snapshot of some of their characteristics including this one of the Orange spider wasp:
Spiders are food that many wasps need. They paralyse spiders so larvae can feed. A wasp lays an egg right onto a spider. The baby wasp hatches and feeds from outside her! (Think that sounds gross? It’s what parasites do, and they need to eat, like me and you.)
When reading and sharing stories with young children the ability to connect them with the text is so important and this has been skilfully achieved with questions posed throughout. This entertaining new release is an outstanding book that will be enjoyed by all readers, both young and old.
Little Book Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780645027051. (Age:3+) Recommended.
A story of acceptance and friendship will be well received by younger readers as they explore the realm of fitting in. Bev a giraffe hears the same from everybody, they all comment about her size, not giving any thought to how she might feel about it. The words which describe someone’s size come thick and fast as the monkeys ask her about the weather up there, the meerkats gasp at her hugeness, the penguins think she is gigantic, so she wanders off looking for a friend. She travels through the desert and along the coast until exhausted she needs to find a waterhole. Feeling a soft peck on her shoulder she is surprised to see a little bird. Kev tells her that he likes her long neck and she stands up a little taller. Kev wants to rest with Bev and suggests they find the waterhole, together. Bev’s legs were very tired and she was thirsty but the way to the waterhole does not seem as arduous when she has someone with her to talk to and share stories. They are now firm friends and settle in for the night with a host of other big and little animals.
The value of friendship is paramount to this tale of Bev and Kev. The two are opposites but the lonely giraffe is heartened by the little bird, Kev who sees the positives about Bec’s size. Friends do that for you, heightening self esteem, sharing stories and adventures and none of this will be lost on the readers as they too will be enraptured by the unlikely friendship.
Mandy Foot’s illustrations present the reader with an array of African animals and environments. I loved spying all the different animals and was pleased to see the ingenious list of those in the book in the last endpaper. Readers will love working out what animals are at the waterhole, their eyes resting on the distinctive trees in the background.
The endpapers will set kids laughing as they spy the image of Dad from the previous Germein/Jellett My Dad series of books dressed up with an eyepatch and crossed bones. A most recognisable piratical image!
Pirate Dads will be just as popular as children laugh at the humour inherent in a Dad trying hard to be funny. Puns galore along with riddles and knock knock jokes will have the target audience and many older readers laughing out loud. Puns on the word aye, wave, sail, sandwich, sure and so on abound as the family heads for the ocean to spend a day at the beach and fish. More gags are found on the jetty where dad is having trouble landing a catch but digging for buried treasure after having a windy time, sees a chest discovered.
Very funny, involving a wonderful look at family life, in sync with the others in the series, Dad is full of lame jokes, and is endearing and central to the family unit. Children will love seeing him take the family to the beach, one child on his shoulders, fishing with the other while Mum sits of the beach reading.
His continuous run of jokes, riddles and puns make for a very funny read aloud, and kids will pick the book up eagerly for themselves to learn the jokes to share them with their friends and family.
Children will enjoy seeing all the accoutrements of being a pirate, with Dad sporting an earring, an eye patch, a funny hat and left unshaven, while teaching a parrot to talk, carrying a sword and looking for treasure.
Jellett’s illustrations set the scene perfectly, inviting readers into the family, seeing how they interact, looking for clues which underlies their closeness. A wonderfully warm and positive image of family is spread over every page, highlighting the things families do together, modelling a happy involved family group.
Another book in the My Dad thinks series (My dad thinks he's funny and My dad thinks he's super funny) will delight fans as this time Dad thinks he is a pirate. The family are off to the beach and Dad can’t resist his corny jokes. Wordplays and jokes like ‘Here’s our ship. I bought it on sail’’ and ‘The sea is so friendly. It always waves’ are strewn throughout the narrative with the refrain, ‘My dad thinks he’s a pirate’ popping up at the end of each double page spread.
It is fun to read aloud, and children who are independent readers will appreciate the play on words, sure to bring giggles as well as some groans. It is easy to relate to the story as many readers will know a relative or friend who delights in the sorts of jokes and wordplay that is found in the My dad thinks books.
The illustrations of dad with his ginger beard, shirt with skull and cross bones on it, and hairy legs are hilarious, and the pictures add another dimension of humour to the jokes.
My review copy came complete with a black eye patch, and I know my son and grandson are going to have great fun with this book. It is sure to leave the reader happy and will be a hit with its audience. A great gift for Dad for Father’s Day or for a laugh anytime.
Themes Pirates, Humour, Puns, Father's Day.
Pat Pledger
My dad thinks he's super funny by Katrina Germein. Illus. by Tom Jellett
The family in My dad thinks he’s funny, has grown. There is now a baby in the mix, which gives dad another layer of jokes to tell revolving around the new addition. Kids will groan as they read dad’s hilarious offerings, delighted at the puns, but at the same time, sighing with embarrassment as the man tries so hard to be funny. And he has an endless supply. He can pun for Australia, making asides, quips and double entendres with words like mosquitoes and ants, spiders and worms, fans and paper plates. Nothing is outside his orbit for a play on words, as he seems to have a response or every occasion.
With the new baby in a sling across his chest, dad and the two boys go off to the supermarket, a storehouse of puns as he spies the biscuits and tells them not to take the plane ones as they might fly away, while he is pleased to meat the butcher, and says the bread is just loafing around. Nothing on the television, says one boy, but dad retorts, ‘yes there is dust’.
All through the puns are funny and will appeal to the younger audience who will think up lots for themselves.
Jellett’s hilarious illustrations, featuring dad in his shorts with hairy legs, falling down socks an old sneakers, will bring the house down. Kids will revel in the way the older man is featured, smiling at the similarities between their dad and the one represented.
He is a super dad: sharing the work needed around the home, taking the kids shopping, minding the baby, hanging out the washing, cooking tea, and on every page, caring for his kids. He wears a cape just like his younger son, eats with them at the table, meets their gran with them. He is a super dad, and is super funny, a charming model for families coming up to Father’s Day.
Helene Magisson's illustrations are a standout here; they have a generosity and a spirit not unlike the style of Julie Vivas in Our Granny. Vibrant double page spreads depict a diverse array of families as they prepare for the arrival of a new baby. Different skin tones, varying homes, an array of ages and famliy sizes, people with disabilities, same-sex parents and various cultures and religions are all depicted. The one thing that is constant throughout the pages is the happiness and love shown on the faces of the families. The other fairly common thread is food, as families come together to eat and enjoy each other's company. Gentle rhyming text, directed at the listener, walks readers through the days leading up to their arrival: 'Before you were born and while you grew, there was a party just for you.' They wonder what the baby is doing inside and when it will arrive ('How big were you growing? Did you have hair?'). Everyone gathers, eager and excited, bearing gifts of clothes and toys and food and the nursery is lovingly prepared. At last the moment arrives ('And now that you're here, I know what to do...I will keep showering my love upon you'.
Little ones will love being read this story by their parents as a reminder of their special and important place within their family and of how loved they are. It would also be a fantastic book to share with those children expecting a new baby in the family so they can see how they too were so eagerly awaited, and to allay feelings of jealousy. In addition, it would be a lovely book to gift to a new baby or expectant parents.
Themes New baby, Family, Love, Rhyming story.
Nicole Nelson
Shoo You Crocodile! by Katrina Germein and Tom Jellett
Little Book Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780648551041. 32pp., pbk.
The class of preschoolers are at the museum when suddenly they are
confronted by a large crocodile! With its crocodile teeth it is
intent on biting the children's feet. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. But instead
of running the children stand their ground and STOMP STOMP STOMP and
ROAR ROAR ROAR frightening it away. Or have they?
This is one of those books that our youngest readers are going to
love because there is no way they will just sit and listen to it.
They HAVE to join in with the sound effects, the louder the better
so the crocodile is sent back to where it came from. The brilliant
illustrations, the repetitive text, the concept of the story and its
ending are engaging enough but the urge to make this a full sensory
experience will be irresistible.
This is the sort of story I loved sharing with my little ones - our
aim was to be so loud that those around us would smile and know that
we were engrossed in the enjoyment of the story. Can there be a
better experience?
Barbara Braxton
