Down on the harbour it is Tug's job to work around the big ships as they are manoeuvred this way and that so they can load and unload their cargo for and from faraway destinations. Some ships she sees often and there is one that she has a special bond with, missing it mightily when it sails out over the horizon. And while she still goes about her daily tasks as best she can, she wonders whether Ship misses her as much as she misses Ship.
But her questions are answered and her worries allayed when Ship returns and the bond is renewed as they share their connection with each other.
Written for our youngest readers to reassure them that even though they might be separated from a parent for a time, out of sight does not mean out of mind and that they are always anchored in the heart of the absent one regardless. At a time when there are many reasons that separation might happen, stories like this help alleviate anxiety and confirm that the parent will return. This would be a good one to share whenever there is the prospect of parent and child being apart enabling the child to become the tough little tug with a job to do that is as important as that of the Ship who is away.
Barbara Braxton
Birdie lights up the world by Alison McLennan and Lauren Mullinder
EK Books, 2023. ISBN: 9781922539489. (Age:3+)
Birdie the penguin sings every night, calling up the light of the moon and stars. All the animals in the zoo wait for her beautiful singing and the light that it brings. It is her role in life and she is proud to be useful. The animals depend upon her to bring light at sunset.
But one day she has a sore throat. Her feathers are clammy and her teeth chattery and her throat feels like it is full of seaweed. Her voice disappears. The other animals reassure her that the voice will come back, but it does not. As sunset approaches, all the animals try their hardest to sing for the light.
Sunset comes and the animals, especially Birdie, find that the light still appears. Birdie is agog, she has always believed that she bought the light, lighting up the world for the animals. She feels she must find another job to make her feel useful. She tries to help the elephant move the tree trunks, but without tusks she cannot do it. She tries to collect acacia leaves with the giraffe, but she is not tall enough, so she spends a day with the monkeys to see what they do, but finds they do very little.
With sunset about to occur, the animals beg her to try singing again and she does, the most beautiful singing that still lights up the world.
A lovely story of finding your spot in the world, of practising what you are good at, of not giving up will have broad appeal, especially teamed with the images of all the animals in the zoo, which will entreat young readers. Teacher's notes are available.
Atlanta is the latest in Jennifer Saint’s reimagining of Greek myths; the earlier tales being Ariadne and Elektra. If you have read either of those, you will know that Saint’s story will be an account of a strong determined woman struggling against the misogyny of a male-dominated world. Who, even today, knows that there was a woman aboard the fabled journey of Jason and the Argonauts? Saint has researched the ancient sources. Atalanta was the only woman, a heroine backed by the goddess Artemis, to venture as an equal with the heroes of the ancient world, sailing on the quest to seize the Golden Fleece. But, as a woman, she has been forgotten, or purposely ignored, and history only remembers the male heroes.
Atalanta started life as a female baby abandoned on a mountain to be raised by wild bears. She becomes one of Artemis’s followers, a woman amongst the nymphs that Artemis protects as long as they swear to a life of celibacy, scorning the attentions of men. Atalanta becomes a skilled huntress, running faster than any man, and an unrivalled archer. Because of her unparalleled abilities, Artemis sends Atalanta as her champion, to join the finest heroes of the land, to join Jason’s expedition.
And so we discover that many of the successes of that journey were due to Atalanta’s clear headed thinking, determination and skill, abilities that her fellow adventurers are reluctant to acknowledge, because it goes against all their preconceptions of the role of a woman.
Atalanta is determined to prove herself, to defeat every man, but the final crisis for her becomes choosing between asserting her superiority and glory, or allowing a man to win her love and become part of her life.
The story of Atalanta is one that may still resonate for readers today: the female experience of being overlooked or unappreciated in the workplace, the status always going to men. Saint calls it out, and reminds us that women still face issues of inequality and discrimination. But while the lessons are there, her books are a wonderful immersion in a mythical world that are such a joy to read. I am sure that her readers will enjoy this one also.
Text Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9781922790101. (Age:8+) Highly recommended.
The Hotel Witch written by Jessica Miller is a beautiful story about adventure, mystery and determination. Filled with spells, magic and strong family connections, this story is one to capture your attention and fill you with joy.
Protagonist, Sybil, is an apprentice witch who lives in The Grand Mirror Hotel with her grandma, the official Hotel Witch. Her mother lives in the nearby Black Mountains, and Sybil is always waiting in anticipation of a visit from her.
As an apprentice witch, Sybil spends her days busily completing spell patterns within the hotel; to keep the patrons’ content. Sybil and her Grandma endeavour to make the stay of the hotel’s guests highly enjoyable by shining guests’ shoes, finding lost things and cleaning thoroughly. But Sybil is desperate to do more complicated spells like her Grandma. She sees her skills as merely simple and she wants to prove herself and show that she is capable of so much more. Yet her Grandma continually reminds her of her need to concentrate, as Sybil’s mind can often wander, and she can lose focus for the task at hand.
Everything is going smoothly, and it is very busy and everyday blends into the next. But when Sybil notices a shadow is missing from the large grandfather clock she is perplexed.
Things become even more complicated when Grandma gets stuck in last Tuesday, after entering the thirteenth floor. So, Sybil is left to step up and take over the role as Hotel Witch. As more strange things occur throughout the hotel, will Sybil find the strength in her abilities of seemingly simple spells, or will she become too overwhelmed with the whole situation?
Jessica Miller has written a wonderful story that will keep the audience captivated and enchanted. This novel will appeal to those lovers of fantasy and adventure. The Hotel Witch is filled with excitement and mystery, friendship, love and self-belief. Teacher's notes are available.
Themes Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Friendship, Problem solving.
Michelle O'Connell
Colour makes the world go round by Christopher Nielsen
Colour Makes the World Go Round is a bold and vibrant picture book which thoughtfully and ingeniously asks the question: 'What would the world be like without colour?' It has a spectacular cover with embossed letters that draw readers into a fascinating journey of a world with and without colour.
Beginning and ending with striking green and white endpapers showing zebras with reverse stripes, the illustrations cleverly extend across a double page with one half in colour and the other in black and white. The young child asks questions about where the colour has gone from a number of images including themselves, a scarf, a rainbow, and autumn leaves. They decide that a world without colour is not much fun, as colour makes us both different and the same. So, a little magic is required to bring back colour to the world. The reader is encouraged to say some magic words, tap the book, and turn the page and lo and behold! the colour is back, as beautiful and luminous as ever.
This highly engaging book will be a wonderful classroom resource to encourage children to use their imaginations to explore what their world might look like without colour.
This is a third verse novel in the series, following on from the award-winning The One and Only Ivan (based on a true story) and its sequel The One and Only Bob. The One and Only Ruby picks up shortly after the Bob installment, taking place in a wildlife sanctuary where she now lives with a herd of aunty elephants as well as being close to both Ivan and Bob. Ruby is growing up and her tusks are coming in, which means it is nearly time for her Tusk Day. But Ruby has a secret; she doesn't like her tusks and she doesn't want to celebrate them. When a carer from her old orphanage shows up it reminds Ruby of all sorts of things from her past- both good and bad. She lightens her load by sharing her story, which helps the others to understand her and her feelings and make her Tusk Day a happy experience.
The first-person narration helps the reader to empathise with Ruby as we directly hear her feelings, experiences and fears. Her voice is a relatable child's voice and equatable to human life: relationships with family, self-doubt, worries, grief and curiosity. Applegate manages to anthropomorphise Ruby, while at the same time telling a true-to-life tale of an elephant. There are some distressing themes, including drought, death, grief, poaching and painful memories but these are tempered with the supportive network of humans and animals in the wildlife park and touches of humour in Ruby's conversations and wonderings.
The verse format of the novel means that despite it being 200 pages it is really approachable, with plenty of white space, text broken up with headings and a smattering of black and white illustrations. The book includes an elephant body language visual dictionary, a glossary of terms used in the story, a sneak-peak of Ivan for those who haven't read it and a brief author's note about the true plight of elephants in the wild and in cruel captivity. There is also a film adaptation of The One and Only Ivan. There is no need to have read the other books first, this stands perfectly well alone, but it will be adored by fans of the other books, wildlife and conservation advocates and those who enjoy verse novels and true stories.
Themes Wild Animals, Friendship, Empathy, Kindness, Memories, Novels in Verse.
In a 2008 prologue we see young mothers, Felicity and Jenna relaxing on the lawn with their two year old daughters, Clementine and Senara, on a rare sunny day in Cornwall. All seems fine until little Senara starts digging in the garden and Felicity explodes, angrily shouting at the toddler to stop digging there. Jenna gathers her daughter up and goes home, vowing never to go there again. Fast forward to the present and three local Pentrellis sixteen year olds, Josie, Gareth and Senara, are outside the mysterious, vacant Cliff House grounds planning to fly a drone over as part of Gareth’s media project. When the drone crashes they climb over the fence to retrieve it, scaring themselves with stories of ghosts and zombies. When Senara finds a bone in the camellia bushes she has a feeling of déjà vu but the others just want to film themselves with the bone to add drama to the video. Senara leaves and finds the drone but she also finds old Mrs Roberts, the scary lady in the caretaker's cottage but instead of calling the police she has Senara make her a cup of tea and they become friends. The narrative slips back to 1940 when Violet Roberts picks ten year old evacuee Martha Driscoll as one of four London children to live in Cliff House during the war, a huge house which seemed to the children like a castle. The story switches back and forth between time periods, the next being 1988 when the mothers from the Prologue are sixteen. Felicity and her brother Alex live in Cliff House and when their parents go to Paris for the summer holidays, Felicity’s best friend Jenna comes to stay and they plan a party. The story shifts between the generations, Martha from 1940, Felicity from 1988, and Senara’s first person account from the present, always with the Cliff House as the focus and an undercurrent of menace from things left unsaid. There are a lot of characters in this book and it is hard to keep track of them, especially as the same characters appear in different timelines and take on different roles at different times. Constantly shifting the timeline requires a degree of repetition which interferes with the pace of the book and I sometimes lost the thread as to which 16 year olds were planning a party especially as there was not much happening in between. There were a few nice character studies and I liked Senara’s synaesthesia, but the love stories near the end seemed tacked on and the great mystery of who or what is buried in the garden was not enough to make me keep reading.
Themes Friendship, Mystery.
Sue Speck
Mizuto and the wind by Kay Baillie and Luisa Gioffre-Suzuki
Midnight Sun Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9781922858023. (Age:5+) Highly recommended.
When Mizuto says goodbye to his father who works at the coast, he reminds him of his promise to play soccer with him when he arrives home. But that day a powerful tsunami sweeps away everything along the coastline, including Mizuto’s father. Each day he expects to see him but he does not appear, his mother filling the home with silence.
Mizuto hears about a phone booth in a garden in Otsuchi where the wind carries messages to missing loved ones. Mizuto tells his mother but she is disinterested, so he decides to find the place by himself. He finds the phone booth and speaks to his father, the wind carrying his words through the air. Instead of the knot of crashing waves in his belly, he feels like a calm sea.
He tells his mother and the house becomes a place of comfort as the two talk as they had not done before. They tend his garden and speak his name every day, telling his stories at meal times.
One day she too goes to the phone booth and together they send their words to the missing man.
This beautifully told story of loss and hope is based on a story of a man who did build a phone booth in his garden, initially as a place of solace for his own loss, but later for anyone to come in and speak of their loss. The disconnected telephone allows people to speak of their feelings, to tell the wind of their loss, to join with others in sharing their grief.
The beautiful watercolour illustrations carry the image of the sea through the story, as it changes from a benign place to one of fury, destruction and loss, then back again to a place of serenity and beauty, of introspection and solace.
The illustrations parallel the words which talk of the sea in so many guises: the rumble of the tsunami, the long gone smile of his mother, once like a sunbeam on the sea, the boy feeling crushing waves in his belly, but now feeling lapped by a calm sea.
Themes Death, Loss, Grief, Sea, Tsunami.
Fran Knight
Smile your way to happy by Bernie Hayne. Illus. by Valery Vell
Little Steps, 2022. ISBN: 9781922678379. (Age:3-7)
This brightly coloured picture book is a joyful celebration of the superpower of a smile. With creative rhyming text and diverse character representation, this is a book that will bring a smile to those reading and listening to the story. Sometimes it is hard to find something to smile about, but the happy and positive verse cleverly provides simple strategies to support children to find a way to smile again.
It’s easy when you’re feeling great, But if you are a little blue… just remember, big or small, what a simple smile can do.
When you are feeling down, just smile as big as you can. You can turn your mood around, and feel better all over again.
With an engaging quokka on every page smiling his way through different situations, this would be a lovely book to share with young children who may be finding things challenging or just need a delightful story to brighten their day.
Themes Children, Feelings, Diversity, Smiles.
Kathryn Beilby
How brave I can be by Bryll & Beth Stephen. Illus. by Simon Howe
Sisters Byll and Beth Stephen, co- creators of the hit ABC TV show, Teeny Tiny Stevies, have written a book which covers those brave moments in a child’s life as they grow in confidence. Initially with parents guiding hand but more and more with them taking a lesser role, there to support rather than guide. Life’s funny moments figure prominently as she grows, parents down on the floor with her, then guiding her learning to ride a bike, learning to swim, going to school, but as she gets older, the guidance is from another step back, as she climbs a tree, learns to surf, swims with friends, develops relationships at school, then is dropped off by dad for a date with a boyfriend.
The parents are there, but not overwhelming her, allowing her independence until one day, the car packed, she goes her own way, safe in the knowledge that their guiding hands have helped her get to this point.
Humorous illustrations support the timeline of a child’s life, growing up, becoming more independent, growing in confidence, learning to navigate all the world offers by themselves. The images of the interactions between parents and child will support the emphasis on family life at the heart of a child’s life.
Each page shows a family doing what families do: playing together, encouraging the child to get up and try again when she falls from her bike, walking along the street, playing sport and so on. The detail on each page supports the notion of family and the interaction of each member of the family, their support and love.
ABC Iview takes the reader to the Teeny Tiny Stevies series. Kids and classes can watch the shows within the series, and listen to the rollicking songs which support the shows. The mixture of pop and rock is infectious, and kids will learn the lines from many of the songs with ease, if they don’t already know them.
This is a special 3D Coo-llector's edition of the first book in the Real Pigeons series (originally published 2018), which currently boasts ten titles. A holographic cover and some drawing and activity pages at the back provide some extras on the original. For the uninitiated, the Real Pigeons are a team of diverse pigeons named after real pigeons and featuring unique attributes. Rock Pigeon is good at blending in so is constantly in ridiculous disguises. Frillback Pigeon is covered in curly feathers and is super strong (after eating sausages). Tumbler Pigeon somersaults while in flight and is super bendy, Homing Pigeon always returns so is great with directions and Pouter Pigeon (Grandpouter in the story) is the leader of the pack.
There are three parts or separate mysteries to each book, but they are generally connected by the end. This one includes The Great Breadcrumb Mystery, The Bat Trapper and Danger at the Food Truck Fair. Humorous and detailed black and white illustrations are interspersed throughout. Simple, matter-of-fact writing and added dialogue in the pictures gives Real Pigeons a faced-paced and comical flair. This first book in the series shows Grandpouter recruiting the pigeons to form his squad of crime-fighting pigeons because 'Pigeons are perfect for fighting crime. We are everywhere. We are fast. And we can attack.' Their first mystery is why there are no breadcrumbs in the park (clearly a problem for pigeons) and behind each of the mysteries is a criminal animal seeking power or glory. It's a real battle of the city animals and their humorous characterisation. Humans feature only as part players.
This is such a funny series with plenty of word play, hillarious visuals and graphic dialogue. They are not the smartest of super sleuths and while they are usually trying to work together, everything is a little silly and chaotic rather than well-designed problem solving. Fans of Bad Guys, Investigators and the Treehouse series will be instant fans as will those who like quirky humour and rollicking fun in their reading material.
Themes Humorous stories, Mysteries, Pigeons.
Nicole Nelson
Liar's beach by Katie Cotugno
Penguin, 2023. ISBN: 9780241612675. (Age:16-20)
Linden is a lacrosse-playing scholarship-holding College student living amongst other students with far greater financial means. An injury has allowed him to escape vacation work and a romance break-up and yet it also puts his scholarship at risk. Invited to holiday with his College room-mate, Jasper, on their east-coast island holiday home, Linden encounters the life of privilege that is far removed from his own life and his struggles. Keeping his background a hazy unknown allows him the pretence of fitting in and romancing Jasper’s sister. His former childhood companion (ironically named Holiday, and from the wealthy family where his mother works as housekeeper) is also on the island and they reconnect in the heady environment of the USA young adult social life of wealthy indolence. A potentially fatal mishap to one of the former friends of Jasper’s family leads Holiday and Linden to reconnect and try and unravel who might have caused the violence and solve the mystery that the police seem uninterested in pursuing.
This is a story far removed from middle-class Australia, and yet television has given us a glimpse of how wealthy US teens might live their lives. This book feels like it might be waiting to become a film script, with romance, mystery and conflict melding together in an older teen drama set amidst mansion-like holiday homes. I can’t say I loved the setting and the characters, and it has hints of a Great Gatsby drama. The influence of great wealth has a cloying atmosphere and relationships seem to bounce between bedroom and swimming pool or beach parties. The story revolves around the envy and yet desire of Linden to fit in, and his inability to read those around him, and the nonchalance of the wealthy young adults towards the individual whose life has been altered irreparably in the family swimming pool. I won’t rush to recommend this book, but there will be some 16-20 year olds who might enjoy the escape into the alternative life of the uber-wealthy young adults and the mystery in their world. Note: Some drug-references, swearing.
Themes USA – Social life, Wealth and privilege, College students, Mystery, Relationship conflict.
Carolyn Hull
Prank Queen by Zoe George and Dani Vee. Illus. by Jesus Lopez
Mum is a prankster. She is quick and able to catch her family unawares with her practical jokes. She throws water balloons at the kids in bed, gets them to help her fill their Dad’s work bag with spiders and tie dye his shirts pink. They put a fish in the pavlova and chilli in the porridge. Sand finds its way into Dad’s shoe, and his bed is full of itching powder. He seems content to putting up with the practical jokes that come his way, but fart spray in the car seems a little too much.
Even when he is asleep they attack hm with whipped cream, and one day he decides to turn the pranking around. He wraps her car with glad wrap and shuts the doors tight, he replaces all her handbags and shoes with very smelly old rags. But he cannot compete with he Prank Queen as he finds out to his chagrin.
Told in verse, kids will love the pranks that Mum plays on her family. Each description will bring squeals of delight (being wet by a water balloon), trepidation (spiders in the bag) yuck (fish in the pavlova) - the group of kids listening will have a range of responses to the stanzas that detail Mum’s wild and zany actions. They will cheer seeing Dad get some of his own back, but know that the Mum is after all the Prank Queen and will come out on top.
Wonderfully bright and detailed illustrations cover each page, showing clearly the lengths Mum goes to create havoc within her family. Long suffering Dad shows remarkable equanimity with the joke always being on him, providing a positive role model for all. The family works together well, and the illustrations will draw kids eyes to the feeling of cooperation between the members of the family, playing together and treating each day with humour and zeal.
The jokes are all things people may want to have played when they were younger, and the book gives the opportunity for people to do just that. I can just imagine a car wrapping exercise or trying out some of the recipes, and the book gives kids a chance to think of some pranks for themselves. A book trailer is available.
Larrikin House keeps on proceeding books that make me laugh and classroom and homes will love laughing alone with Prank Queen and other books in their list, conveniently shown on the back endpaper.
Following a call from her mentally troubled mother suggesting she is going to end her life, Layla finds herself alone in trying to respond to this latest crisis. She has too much happening in her life, with career, marriage and relationships going badly; and she seems to have become distanced from anybody who might have been able to help.
As Layla gathers herself to travel on an urgent flight to her mother and the childhood home in Tasmania, memories from the past gradually build a picture of fractured relationships in her family. She hopes that she will finally find out the truth about how her father died, and why her mother has never been able to confide in her. However the secrets that come out disrupt her life in a way she never expects.
Layla is a flawed character, who in coming to terms with hidden aspects of the past, has to reassess the important things in life, and renew friendships with those she has neglected. Although there are episodes from Layla’s childhood which may draw the empathy and interest of younger readers, as a story of middle-life crises, this book is more likely to appeal to adult female readers.
Eric Hill died in 2014, but many books are still being published which showcase his wonderful character, Spot.
This story, presented in a heavy duty board book shows the Spot family on a camping holiday in Australia’s outback. They paddle a canoe across the billabong, noting the colour of the surroundings. They stop for lunch on the shore and Spot finds some frogs under the bulrushes. After lunch mum and dad look for Spot but cannot find him and so go off in search of their son. They spy something moving further up the sand dunes and come across a thorny devil while sleeping under a rock. They see a bilby. A termite mound looms up over the page hiding an echidna. Coming to a cave they wonder whether Spot has gone inside. Each time they stop to look for Spot they see another Australian animal hidden beneath a flap. Kids will love lifting the flap to reveal the animal, and of course wonder where Spot might be. Eventually they return to the camping ground to find Spot waiting for them.
Gently humorous, with a touch of concern about where Spot might be, toddlers will love looking for Spot with his parents, lifting the flaps in their search of the Australian landscape, taking in the colours, the animals and flora depicted. New words are presented, an adventure which is out of the ordinary, all couched within the known and loved framework of Spot.
Younger readers will love the scope of this little colourful board book, marvelling at a new edition of Spot, harking back to all the other Spot books they have read.
Themes Lift the flap, Spot, Australian animals, Adventure.
