Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761066597. (Age:3+) Recommended.
Through the image of a young bird attempting to fly, flapping its wings ferociously and not getting anywhere, Rim presents the reader with a scenario that all of us can identify with - that of life getting just too hard. The little bird flaps its wings in vain. It tries again, and again, saddened by the thought that it may never learn to fly. Readers will laugh out loud at the many attempts the bird takes to get into the sky. But a passing crow shows it how to get over its despondency, and it learns to fly with the other birds.
But first it must learn to breathe. Illustrations show the crow teaching the younger to breathe correctly and deeply, expelling all of its worries and fears. Once the little bird masters this skill, it is ready to take another shot at flying, and it does, getting better and better with each attempt.
The wonderful pencil and watercolour drawings create an image in the readers’ minds of a despondent bird, frustrated after many failed attempts to fly, scrunched on the ground. Anyone seeing the bird and its situation would recognise a moment in their own lives. But the intervention of someone probably older and wiser saves the day and the illustrations show clearly the way to breathe. Just as taking a breath could simply mean to take a little time out, so too it means breathing correctly, and in doing so, being able to do things that before seemed too difficult.
Carnegie Medal-winner Kevin Crossley-Holland and former Children's Laureate Chris Riddell have collaborated in a breathtaking retelling of the Arthurian legends, from Arthur’s early childhood, the sword in the stone, the Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, the love of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere and Merlin in his house of glass. The contents page sets out eleven key chronological events commencing with Arthur’s childhood and continuing to last of the legends. It also contains portraits of the twelve knights of the Round Table, each with distinct features and having a shield with an emblem behind.
Crossley-Holland’s language is lyrical and beautifully descriptive: “Arthur! called the knight across the dark and shining water, “You will live, and live for ever. Our always king.” The pageantry, the castles, the magic, and the chivalry all come alive for the reader. The author’s retellings are not simple stories for young children and will appeal to an older audience. They could well become a valued part of an adult’s collection.
Each legend is complemented by Riddell’s wonderful illustrations. Many are stunning full page or double page drawings, all in vivid colours, giving the reader an insight into the characters in the stories as well as a background of the castles, clothing, and happenings. Other drawings form borders, some in full colour, others in black and white and the horses in particular stand out. Readers will want to flick through the pages repeatedly to look at particular illustrations, each time finding more details to marvel at: beautiful castles, blood and gore, a fierce Green Knight and a Fisher King in agony.
Arthur: The always king is a sumptuous production and a must for fans of the King Arthur legends. It is one that will be treasured by those who are lucky enough to own it and will be sought after in libraries for its outstanding retelling. Readers interested in Arthurian legends may enjoy The sword in the stone by T.H. White or the Merlin series by Mary Stewart.
Themes King Arthur, Legends, Folklore, Middle Ages.
Wow! I found myself chuckling aloud as I read Lionel eats all by himself. Every parent and grandparent who has watched toddlers learn how to wield a spoon and feed themselves will really relate to the very funny portrayal of Lionel learning how to eat his meal all by himself. He is not interested in having his father help him but of course Daddy’s praise, ‘Well done, Lionel’ as he eats his peas and ‘Good job, Lionel’ as he eats his pumpkin all spur him along to make a big effort with cake, banana, and pudding, leaving so many food remnants on his face that he can no longer be seen. With a huge roar of a burp, he gets the last bits of his food off his face and then says ‘Linel wan gedarn.’ And the readers and listeners will have fun working out what he is saying.
Lionel is an engaging little character. Eric Veille has drawn a very cute little lion, with amazing expressions, just with a few black lines. The text is short, done in bold black print on a bright yellow background and is very easy to read aloud and hold the interest of very young children.
Like Lionel poops, this board book will be a delightful addition to a family’s collection of books, and one that grandparents may love to give as a gift.
When war is declared between Germany and the Allies it creates a storm for everyone in England as new regulations and plans are introduced to protect the residents of London in the face of the threats of attack. For Noah, the difficulty of farewelling his father to serve and the likelihood of evacuation is compounded by the Government’s demand that his dog, Winn should be put down, along with the other pets in London. Time pressures means that there is little time to come up with a plan to save Winn, but Noah and his intelligent and wise friend Clem, desperately want to save their pets. Noah always has ideas, some of them good, that Clem seems able to iron out using her reasoning skills and intelligent responses. But this time, commandeering his father’s dilapidated river boat and finding a haven for the animals he has gathered along the way (including the local bully’s pet python, a donkey and some rescued kittens) comes with all sorts of dilemmas that even Clem with all her wisdom cannot solve. But persistence and team work give them a chance to attempt to save their ‘Noah’s ark’ of animals and leads them to discover that the bully, Col and his python, can help too.
This is a brilliant story of the courageous actions of young people in the face of the awfulness of the war’s impacts on a community. The friendship between Noah and Clem is powerful, but the promise that Noah made to his father to protect Winn drives the young boy to action. This story reminds me of Michael Morpurgo’s war stories written for children. It is mature in its thoughtful dealing with a difficult time in history, but child-focused in that it deals with the children’s love for their animals and their impetuosity to save them, and is written in a child-friendly style. There is a quest-like aspect to the journey along the Thames that is exciting and action-packed, and some decisions made are ill-conceived and potentially life-threatening. The courage and quick-thinking of Noah and Clem are woven into the 1939 historical period, and yet the story has a fresh contemporary feel that will appeal to young readers aged 10-14. I loved this story and it is worth promoting to young readers who will definitely recommend it to their friends.
Themes World War II, Evacuation, Animals, Friendship, Perseverance.
Dan Marshall, the author of Super Duper, is certain to stimulate the imaginations of his young readers. With the help of some amazing children, he has invented some exciting ways to use a superpower. Cooper is Super Duper and is strong, and can fly, laser and run and leads the young reader through the book looking at different superheroes. There is Scott who with his skunk power that scares people off with his pong and Faye who become wi-fi and flies through the air. There is Cam who can camouflage and Glitter who shoots lightning through his shoes and finally a section where people use their superpowers to help everyone. Hope wants to build someone a house in less than an hour and Ian would help to cool down global warming.
The rhyming narrative flows along smoothly and makes it a delightful read aloud for young children, while older children would have fun trying to make up a book with some superheroes of their own. The illustrations are bright and cheerful. Each superhero is unique with a very happy facial expression and the details are sure to appeal to young children. Readers can also follow Cooper complete with red cape and boots and blue body suit as she goes from double spread to double spread each showing off the superpower that a child has imagined.
This would be an enjoyable and valuable book to emphasise the importance of the imagination and the power of individuals to do good.
This is a dramatic story from a debut author that will appeal to teenage readers, particularly those that like gentle mystery and romance combined. Clarissa (also known as Reece) is in a world of pain. She is broken. The cause is a secret to the community in her new home town. Having left her old High School behind, where her pain is most potent, she has to resettle into a new school for her final school year. Her family is now living within the community where her Grandmother was well-known. She has had to leave everything (including her other best school friend, Nina, behind), but carries her struggles and pain with her. Sadly, the death of her Nan, a former renowned surgeon, adds to her pain and Reece is a shadow of her former self. The inheritance of some unusual gifts leads Reece into some strange historical territory, but it is the connection to the hunky Gideon, who pulls her from the ocean rather than leave her drowning in her own grief, that ultimately gives her an opportunity to see a way forward. The new friends that she makes help her to see a future that deals with the past and builds new connections.
For a first-time author, this is a well-crafted story dealing with teenage friendship and romance as well as a psychological journey into grief and the struggle of dealing with trauma. The secret carried by Reece remains suitably ‘hidden’ for a considerable part of the novel, which magnifies the psychological difficulties for the central character and leaves the reader wondering. It is good that she has a strong and loving family (her younger brother is a gay teen who is comfortable with his sexuality and accepted by his family, but is exploring his own romance journey). The romance aspect of the story will appeal to lovers of teen romance fiction, and there are a number of slightly steamy scenes but without extreme description. Beware though giving this to very young readers, it is targeted to readers at the end of their High School journey when exams, future decisions and romance complications may collide, sometimes uncomfortably. The difficulties of trauma and grief and the psychological impacts for a teenager would best be appreciated by readers aged 15+.
Lionel Poops, a small board book, could become a very welcome and humorous addition to a family’s collection of books, this one tackling the fun and games of training a toddler to use a potty to poop in. Lionel is a cheeky little lion with the most delightful grin on his face. He is having lots of fun bouncing on the trampoline ‘when all of a sudden he needs to poop.' Then begins the fun when he poops on some cows, some wild cats, some tennis balls, some polar bears, a bus, the Eiffel Tower, mountains, and the sun, all before he finally poops in his potty.
Toddlers will enjoy singing out the refrain, ‘No, Lionel, No’ as Lionel poops in the most inappropriate places and will love seeing the triumphant expression on his face as he finally uses his potty and takes a bow to the applause of ‘Well done, Lionel.’
The illustrations are very engaging, and Lionel is a delightful character, his actions full of mischief and enjoyment. The board book is sturdy and brightly coloured and will appeal to its toddler audience, while adults will enjoy the amusing depiction of toilet training.
A fun gift for the family, Lionel poops would also be very useful in childcare centres. Take a look inside the book here.
Themes Humour, Toilet training.
Pat Pledger
Where's Wally? Through History activity book by Martin Handford
Walker Books, 2022. ISBN: 9781529503159. (Age:7+)
Where’s Wally books are favourites with children and adults of all ages. Often the most sort after books in both school and public libraries for certain age groups, they both entertain and challenge readers to find that tiny hidden character. This latest activity book takes the readers through times in History including dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, and even a gold mine. Children have the opportunity to draw, memorise, sequence items, find out facts, use a word wheel, complete a word search, find flags and colourful characters, and even do a cross word puzzle. There is also a page of over 100 stickers. A welcome gift for a Where’s Wally fan.
Themes Puzzles, Games, Searches, Stickers.
Kathryn Beilby
Get me out of here! Foolish and fearless convict escapes by Pauline Deeves. Illus. by Brent Wilson
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781760526993. (Age:8+) Highly recommended.
Australian History has been full of convict folklore and this latest release, Get Me Out of Here: Foolish and Fearless Convict Escapes, adds another dimension to this genre. Written by Pauline Deeves, this book includes seven stories about some foolish and fearless escapees, some of whom may be unfamiliar to the reader. Each story is wonderfully illustrated by Brent Wilson who uses bold colours and graphic-style images. The stories begin with a large portrait of the escapee followed by a brief fact file which includes date of birth, birthplace, occupation, description, crime, sentence, transported to, arrived in Australia, and escaped from. The easily accessible story, told at times in the first person, is presented over several pages with a final page about the outcome of the escape. This is then accompanied by a double page of fun facts related to each individual story. The story of William Buckley, who lived with the Wadawurrung People for many years, and was not trusted by either white settlers or the Wadawurrung People in the end, has been reviewed by the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. Mary Bryant’s escape story with her family is one of great determination, danger, and hardship. The final pages of the book give an overview of the Australia’s Convict Prisons, a glossary, index, answers to some questions posed throughout the book plus further research suggestions.
An excellent resource for school or public library.
Themes Australian History, Convicts, Escapes, Humour.
This is such a beautiful portrayal of young love, about two young people, hesitant at first, but who come to realise that each other is ‘the one’. Ray is wary of relationships, having seen how love ended sadly for her mother, and spends her time creating ‘found poetry’ from the words that leap out from literary texts. Orion is a high achieving swimmer, driven by his father’s expectation of him, but clumsy when talking to girls. He has sensory processing disorder, unable to process competing sounds. But his honesty and openness about his condition, and his feelings, makes him more attractive to Ray.
Both young people are dealing with loss and grief in their lives. They are drawn to each other, unaware that their separate family secrets link them in an unexpected way. And the climax hits in a Romeo and Juliet scenario that threatens to separate them forever.
Finding Jupiter by Kelis Rowe is a wonderful new contemporary novel about Black teens, worthy of listing alongside the authors of the Blackout love stories. The novel speaks for love, trust, honesty, and communication. Kelis Rowe is clearly a rising young author to watch out for.
Themes Black Americans, Love, Romance, Loss, Grief, Diversity.
This is an enthralling story, an immense and captivating quest story with Arabian mythology woven in the fantasy tale. Loulie al-Nazari (or Layla) is a young woman living with the sadness of a personal history in which her family is destroyed by attackers and she lives with an aching need for justice. But in the meantime, she works as a collector and seller of magical relics. She is the Midnight Merchant. Her faithful ‘bodyguard’, Qadir, is in fact a jinn (a genie) from the magical underworld that interacts with humanity with a mysterious and usually restrained power. Within the Sultan’s royal household is a history marred by violence and interactions with the jinn world. The older Prince Omar is a hard and violent pursuer of the magical jinns at his father’s direction. Younger brother Prince Mazen is a gentle and peaceful contrast to his older brother. He wishes he could impress his father the Sultan, but is only adept at sharing the folklore stories of his Arabian culture. When Omar concocts a plan to uncover more jinn relics and appropriate their magic, he sends the Midnight Merchant and Qadir on a quest through the desert to uncover more of these relics. He also uses his brother as a scapegoat for other evil actions, by sending him on the quest. With them is one of his forty thieves, Aisha, a woman with her own need for justice. Or is it revenge? The quest is marked by magical interactions and mystery and is a fantastic saga of Arabian mythology intertwined with human tragedy and power. There are battles and mystical interactions, and humans learning to deal with their own uncertainties and frailties.
The Stardust Thief is absolutely awesome in its scope and enchantment, not just because it is 467 pages of story. I was hooked from the beginning and did not want to stop discovering more of this amazing charmed tale. With the cultural influences of the oral story-telling traditions of the Arabian regions, this is a book that is unique, but yet it has the magical qualities of a Lord of the Rings – style dramatic quest. Some actual stories are interlaced through the epic tale in stories that Mazen relates, but the flavour of the mythology or folklore stories are neatly woven in the entire saga. With an author with a Kuwaiti family background and an education in USA, there is a wonderful symbiosis of the literary craft of the two cultures. This is a book that will be loved by enthusiasts of fantasy and magical quest stories, as well as by those who are intrigued by cultural folklore stories. There is violence with a magical quality throughout the story, more like an epic computer game with two forces pitted against one another. Consequently, this is suited to readers from age 15 to Adult readers. But it will be much enjoyed and treasured. It is truly a magical story.
Themes Magic, Storytelling, Arabian legends, Royal intrigue, Quest story.
Carolyn Hull
What we all saw by Mike Lucas
Penguin Random House, 2022. ISBN: 9781761045936. (Age:12+) Highly recommended.
On the cusp of their teenage years, four friends growing up in the south-west of England, share a disturbing summer holiday. Sam, Charlie, Gray and Shell have all very different personalities and characteristics yet are all strongly connected to each other. Blind Shell is intuitive and wise yet allows the boys to think they are stronger than her. Asthmatic Charlie appears the weakest of the three boys, yet his persuasive storytelling leads them into a situation out of their control. Tough and unpredictable Gray with a difficult home life, quick to be provoked and to do the provoking, is always searching for something more. Finally, there is Sam who tells the story of that summer. He is the follower, the quiet one experiencing the throes of first love, lacking confidence to express his own opinion when it is so desperately needed.
The four children do what they have been told not to their whole lives, they go into the woods and to the Old Quarry where a shocking tragedy takes place. They panic and keep their part in the tragedy a secret as they are not certain of what they all actually saw, and if what happened really took place as they each think it did. But they cannot let it go and begin to search deeper until what they feared they imagined becomes very real.
This YA debut by South Australian author Mike Lucas will have readers on edge as they follow the frightening journey of the children to uncover the truth. A wonderful read.
Kind: A call to care for every creature by Jess McGeachin
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761066047. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
Sometimes a book is published that leaves you with a sense of joy. Kind by Jess McGeachen is one such book and is absolutely stunning in both text and illustrations.
In this book you’ll find Many kinds of things Some have slippery scales Some have feathered wings
But kind is more than type Kind is how to care For creatures that you meet And places that we share
This delightful book is encouraging its readers to show kindness and care to all creatures including spiders, crabs, snakes, whales, beetles, fish, frogs, owls, monkeys, penguins, and those with horns.
The beautiful yet simple four-line rhyme about each different species on a double-page spread flows easily. The accompanying detailed and colourful images of creatures from that species will engage readers both young and old. Each animal is clearly labelled and may encourage young readers and their teachers or parents to research further.
In the final pages the reader is encouraged to be kind to where we live, to each other and themselves. Every home, classroom and library should treat themselves to a copy of this wonderful new publication.
Themes Animals, Rhyme, Kindness, Well-being.
Kathryn Beilby
A Kunwinjku counting book by Gabriel Maralngurra & Felicity Wright
A Kunwinjku Counting Book is a stunning new release celebrating the Kunwinjku language of the Bininj people whose home is West Arnhem Land, a region in the Northern Territory. Artist Gabriel Maralngurra has presented his traditional style of rock painting with a contemporary touch, in a wonderful counting book which showcases twelve different animals on a double page spread with a full-page illustration plus a page of easily accessible and interesting information.
Each of the animals is introduced in English which is then followed by the same introduction in Kunwinjku. For example: One sharp crocodile with many sharp teeth - Nakudgji kinga kakarrne kunyidme. Following this is information about the animal, their habitat, behaviour and how the Bininj people interact with the animal. Included in the animals of this region are the knob-tailed geckos, snapping turtles, freshwater prawns, barramundi, dragonflies, snake-necked turtles, goannas, spoonbills, wallabies, echidnas, and water pythons.
In the final pages of the book is valuable information on the Ancient Tradition of rock art, Tools and Techniques, and the seasons of the West Arnhem Land. There is also a wonderful introduction to Gabriel Maralngurra, followed by a Note on Pronunciations.
This very special book has a place in all libraries. A wonderful resource for both primary and secondary students.
Themes Bininj - First Nations People, Storytelling, West Arnhem Land Northern Territory, First Nation Language - Kunwinjku, Flora, Fauna, Rock Art, Ecology.
For children of any age who have a relative, friend or neighbour living with Alzheimer’s disease, this thoughtful and gentle picture book will be a wonderful read to deal with understanding the progression and complexities surrounding the disease. Grace is young girl who lives next door to Phyllis and regularly visits her with homemade biscuits, cake and jelly. They share similar interests and Grace copes well with the forgetfulness, mouldy food and confusing stories from the past. Over time it becomes clear that Phyllis’s memory is continuing to fade, she is struggling to be home alone, and eventually she is placed in a nursing home. Grace, who has a strong bond and a beautiful friendship with Phyllis, continues to visit her where they talk about Phyllis' love of horse riding. This leads to an opportunity for Grace to ride Phyllis’s old horse Starbright, which Grace is able to share with Phyllis through photos.
The charming illustrations in soft pastels tones combined with the sensitive text will make this a valuable and important read with children who may not understand what might be happening to an elderly acquaintance.
