On the way to Nana's by Frances and Lindsay Haji-Ali
Ill. by David Hardy. Magabala Books, 2017. ISBN 9781925360301
(Age: 2-6) Recommended. "I'm on the way to Nana's house. What will I
see?" On the way to Nana's by Frances and Lindsay Haji-Ali
celebrates the beauty and majesty of the Far North of Western
Australia. They share the special memories of their own road trips
in this delightful rhyming picture book, with its question and
response perfect for reading aloud to a young audience.
With a countdown from fifteen to one, they experience life on the
road, stopping to fish, observing the rugged anthills, the grazing
cattle and proud brumbies. The family watches the rugged landscape
pass by, with huge boab trees, splashing waterfalls, and road trains
and find new friends to play when they stop. The mud map at the
beginning shows the 1000 kilometre trip from Broome in Western
Australia through Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Kununurra and
Katherine and finally to Darwin.
David Hardy's delightful digital illustrations capture the rich
colours of the bush landscape, the sweeping vistas and show close-up
encounters. Take time to count the bright coloured flowers, termite
mounds, flying magpie geese and the cattle grazing. The repetitive
refrain and descriptions make the long trip come to life. What a
delightful celebration of Indigenous people's connection to the land
and the importance of family relationships. On the way to Nana's
is a great resource for Early Years Geography investigating "Places
having distinctive features".
Rhyllis Bignell
How not to be a twit and other wisdom from Roald Dahl
Ill. by Quentin Blake, Puffin. ISBN 9780241330821
(Age: 6+) Themes: Roald Dahl. Witticisms. Sayings. In this unusual
offering from The Roald Dahl Story Company Ltd, children can read
witticisms and sayings taken from Dahl's books. Based around one of
his most popular books, The Twits, the introduction tells us
that not being a twit is something to be aimed for and this little
volume will help you avoid the trap (of growing up).
With quotes from his broad acreage of books, and references to where
the quotes are from, this inviting volume of sayings will push
readers to search out the books from which the quotes came,
reacquainting themselves with the humour contained in Dahl's books.
To quote just a few: "What's so wonderful about being a little boy
anyway? Why is that necessarily any better than being a mouse?
Little boys have to go to school. Mice don't." (The Witches)
"It's impossible to make your eyes twinkly if you aren't feeling
twinkly yourself" (Danny the Champion of the World) "Life is
made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of
great ones" (Going Solo)
And all illustrated with the dancing pen of Quentin Blake, the
familiar lines of his technique will enthral the reader, recognising
his drawings form other Dahl books they have read.
A sure fire book to reinvigorate interest in Dahl's stories and
Blake's illustrations, this volume, designed to fit comfortably in a
small hand, will be bought by those with fond memories of their
work, designed to pass it on to their children and grandchildren.
Fran Knight
Boats: fast and slow by Iris Volant
Ill. by Jarom Vogel. Flying Eye Books, 2018. ISBN 9781911171522
(Age: 5+) Highly recommended. Themes: Boats, Non fiction, History,
Survival, Exploration, Migration. The history of boats is entwined
with the history of people around the world, as people look for
food, conquer other countries, build boats as a sign of their power
and influence, explore, migrate to new worlds, and use boats for
festivals and races.
From the beginning of this beautifully presented non fiction book,
readers will eagerly read of the ways boats have developed and
changed according to what is required by the population. The first
few pages are devoted to a definition of a boat: a vessel to carry
people across water, and then to elaborate on the different sorts of
boats that we may see. From there the book divides into four
sections: "The first boats", "War boats", "Work boats" and "Leisure
boats" with a double page between each section showcasing one
particular boat that is well known.
Each section gives detail about the style of boat and what it is
used for and where and when. In "War boats", for example is a page
on Viking longships and Pirates, while "Work boats" introduces the Cutty
Sark as well as steam boats. Double pages are devoted to
famous boats, like the legendary Nautilius and Ra's
barge, HMS Beagle and Spray.
Readers will love reading of these famous ships and how they
influenced our lives. After a fascinating read, children will find
two pages outlining the Semaphore flags and then a further double
page offers an illustrated index. Each of the endpapers has a map of
the world with illustrations showing where some fo the boats
resided.
All in all a wonderful read to educate and entertain, making sure
children and adults will know what they are looking at when they
visit some of these magnificent boats.
Fran Knight
Help around the house by Morris Gleitzman
Penguin, 2018. ISBN 9780143793236
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Themes: Caring. A funny and moving
story of a boy and his friends never losing heart in a sometimes
heartless world. Set in Canberra, Australia.
When Ludo's Dad is elected into Federal Parliament, Ludo knows this
is the perfect chance for him and his Dad to make good on the
promise to his dying Mum - they would always continue to try to help
people.
Unfortunately, Ludo's Dad's Boss seems to think being re-elected is
more important. His Dad is sent off on a fundraising trip the night
after Ludo arrives. But this doesn't stop Ludo, and when an outing
to help the homeless of Canberra uncovers a conspiracy, Ludo starts
to see that maybe it's the rich and powerful who need his help more.
Ludo and his friends are determined to do what's right, at whatever
cost, even though the enemy is not just a person, but a system.
They help us remember that doing what's right is not always easy and
beneficial to us, but we should still do it anyway. You might not be
able to change the world, but you can change someone's world, and
that is just as important.
Donna Isgar
The Gum Family finds home Tania McCartney
Ill. by Christina Booth. NLA Publishing, 2018. ISBN 9780642279255
(Ages: 4-7) Recommended. Themes: Australia - Geography, Koalas. The
Gum family wants a rock-solid home. Mum is determined to move from
their unreliable eucalyptus tree and she plans their journey around
Australia while dad packs the caravan. Mum's list includes a
friendly community, not close to humans, undercover with views.
Where will this family of koalas find the perfect spot to settle
down?
They travel across Australia, stopping at iconic locations including
Uluru, The Three Sisters and Cradle Mountain. The Gum family explore
the stunning Australian landscapes, marvelling at the geographical
features and observing the flora and fauna. A helicopter flight over
the Bungle Bungle ranges shows the deep canyons and sandstone
formations. With large forests of eucalypts, will the Blue Mountains
become their new home?
Tania McCartney's gorgeous descriptions, bring the scenery to life -
imagine walking through 'the ancient rainforests, glacier-carved
valleys and golden moorlands' on the Overland Track in Tasmania.
Interesting geographical facts about Australia's unique geology are
included at the back of the book. Her engaging story centres around
the truth that your home is where your family is. She shows the
caring relationships between each of the Gum family members.
Christina Booth's creative and colourful illustrations show broad
vistas, close-up scenes, montages of real photos and boldly painted
scenes, family photos and the cheeky young koalas Leaf and Nut
creatively posing. The Gum Family finds home is a charming, informative story
that celebrates home-life, family and Australia. Tania McCartney and
Christina Booth's creative synergy make this a wonderful story just
right for sharing with a young family, at a preschool or with a
Junior Primary class. What a great stepping stone into Science and
Geography, exploring natural and man-made objects, Australian
landscapes, housing or wildlife. A great resource for an information
report on koalas - comparing the facts and fiction elements of this
picture book.
Rhyllis Bignell
Careless Love by Peter Robinson
DCI Banks series. Hachette, 2018. ISBN 9781444786989
(Age: senior/adult) Themes: Crime, Yorkshire Robinson's latest DCI
Banks Novel, Careless Love is the 25th in the series. The
Yorkshire setting will be familiar to those who have read the books
and seen the TV adaptations. This new novel involves the discovery
of three bodies, two in Banks' area and one in the neighbouring
jurisdiction. There are problems about each of the deaths and the
scenes of the crimes. There is a definite lack of anything to
identify the bodies, no mobile phones, wallets, purses, credit cards
or keys. They are all well dressed, as if on a swanky night out, not
for a hike on the moors, while one appears to have committed
suicide.
The novel eventually reaches the point many readers probably guessed
at quite early in the narrative, that sex is the contributing factor
not drugs. It is now just the detail that needs expanding and
explaining to keep the audience attentive and reading.
Fans of DCI Banks will find the read satisfying, with the constant
references to his music knowledge and choices attempting to make him
more human and adding to the characteristics fans already know about
the man, but all it did for me was to make the reading easier by
skipping all those music citations. The most interesting addition is
Annie's father's partner Zelda, an eastern European woman much
younger than Ray. She has had a number of very nasty experiences
with sex traffickers and now, because of her photographic memory
recall works in London on occasions for one of the government
surveillance agencies. It is her piece of information that directs
Banks and Annie down a path towards an old adversary, one who will
stop at nothing. He has already tried to kill Banks, so fans will
eagerly follow the storyline to see how Banks extricates himself.
It is an easy read, but its satisfaction level may not please
everyone. A click on https://
www.inspectorbanks.com/ will tell you all you need to know
about Banks and the other 24 novels detailing his investigations.
Mark Knight
Dude! by Aaron Reynolds
Hachette Australia, 2018. ISBN 9780734418791
(Age: 5+) Highy recommended. How much story can you get from one
word and some amazing illustrations? You will be surprised. In Dude!,
there is one word - dude - and yet readers will tell more than one
story. A beaver and a platypus want to go surfing. Should they get
an icecream? Will they avoid the rocks? Is that a shark fin? Is that
a crying shark? I wonder why it is sad? Can Wombat and Beaver help
the shark? Will a surfboard help? Can a shark, a beaver and a wombat
become friends? These questions are helping to tell one story. What
story will you tell the next time you read Dude!
The amazing illustrations in Dude! and that one word - dude
- tell a hilarious story of three unusual characters. The wonderful
details and facial expressions explain the story and it is engaging.
Readers will be able to tell their own story, using their story
telling skills as they investigate each picture. The story will
never be the same each time. Dude! is highly recommended for readers aged 5+. It will give
young readers a chance to practise their narrative telling which
could then lead into story writing.
Kylie Kempster
The unscary book by Nick Bland
Scholastic, 2018. ISBN 9781742994147
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Monsters, Humour. Our hero is
all dressed up to scare the living daylights out of the reader. He
has a donned a skeleton costume, a hat with a row of teeth, large
furry slippers and googly eyes sprouting from his head - all things
to provoke and scare. But each time he brings something else into
the picture he is trying to create, something very unscary enters.
Told to expect something scary, readers will laugh with anticipation
and then surprise as he whisks aside the red sheet to reveal an
apple tree not a monster, nothing scary at all. He tries again,
pulling down the blue curtain covered in stars, expecting a monster,
but a rainbow appears. Then a bunch of rabbits hop into the picture.
Frustrated he calls again for a terrifying thing, only to have an
ice cream vendor come onto the page. By now with his hands on his
hips, he declaims loudly how he wanted this to be a scary book, full
of horrifying and terrifying things, aiming to scare the readers,
not make them hungry for an ice cream, or look at a bunch of cute
rabbits. Each page rings with his frustration, so after another
attempt, his grandma rides across the page, he has had enough, and
drags a monster onto the page. The monster unhappily scares everyone
else away, but our hero is happy that he now has something scary to
show the reader, although the monster is not as scary as he wishes
him to be.
A delightfully funny story of not getting what you want, of
frustration at things not working out as you intended, this tale
will resonate with younger children who will recognise exactly what
the boy feels.
Bland creates a wonderful mix of the scary and unscary, using words
in a different type to entertain the reader and make them aware of
the meanings of some of these new words. In the background can be
seen parallel stories: his dog loves the apple tree, digging around
its roots and finding a bone, the rabbits eat all the apples, going
to great lengths to get the last one on the tree. Readers will love
the humour, picking out details on each page, watching the antics of
all the other characters on each page.
Fran Knight
Wraith by Alexandra and Shane Smithers
Magabala Books, 2018. ISBN 9781925360950
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Themes: Science Fiction, Flight, Climate
Change, Aboriginal people. James can fly; he practices his technique
out in the bush, as his best friend Darren shouts words of
encouragement. He's unsure of his special powers and unfortunately
tends to crash land. Darren hatches a cunning plan when James'
parents travel to New Zealand for a work conference. Through some
tricky manoeuvres Darren helps his Bra'a return to his empty family
home and continue to master his flying skills.
Wearing Darren's invention, the Variable Pressure Release unit,
James is propelled up into the atmosphere. He crashes into
Nebulosity, a cloud city peopled by sky dwellers. After waking from
a coma, he is amazed by this advanced city, a different civilisation
with its unique transport and technological advances. James is drawn
into a desperate search to find the SAFFIRE technology designed to
save the city from the effects of climate change. With the help of
Aureole, a young girl determined to save Nebulosity, James needs his
to rise to the challenges and help in this journey.
Woven throughout is the three villains' story, their mission is to
find and destroy the SAFFIRE technology. They travel in an array of
fast vehicles, employ a range of tools and utilise their specialised
skills to thwart the teens' plans. Their attitudes, conversations
and actions heighten the drama and build the fast-paced action.
The main Aboriginal characters James and his mate Darren are
genuinely relatable, realistic, humorous, showing determination as
they discover, grow and develop their abilities. Key environmental
messages of personal responsibility and working together to save the
planet underpin "Wraith: James Locke and the Azuriens".
Alexandra and Shane Smithers have written a complex and compelling
narrative, set against the background of both rural and urban
Australia. Their creativity, attention to detail, scientific
understandings, complex worlds and populations of sky and earth
dwellers make this a richly rewarding read for teens and young
adults.
Rhyllis Bignell
Puffin the architect by Kimberly Andrews
Puffin, 2018, ISBN 9780143793755
(Age: 4-7) Recommended. Themes: Housing, Design, Architecture,
Homes, Rhyming fiction, STEM. Puffin is a smart architect who's
trying to design a house for some very fussy clients, two pufflings.
They tour the town, investigating all the other animals' houses with
special design features just right for the animal, their jobs and
personal needs. In wonderful rhyming poems, Andrews takes these hard
to please clients to Platypus the baker's place cut into the
hillside, Detective Hound's secret study and Painter Goose's
light-filled art studio.
Each rhyme begins with 'a lot of clever cupboards' for storage and
adds the furniture and special built-ins, a place perfect for them.
The poems are written on a project plan, just like an architect
uses. Kimberley Andrews delightful cut-away paintings are perfect
for children to explore, matching the design element from the poem.
Pilot Moose's treetop home includes cupboards for his flannel
shirts, a pulley-operated lift and a flying fox between the bathroom
and his house. Look for the energetic pufflings on each double-page
spread, flying or playing with Pig's collapsible stools.
Architectural drawings, blue prints and plans add to the interest of
this fun picture book.
The pufflings are the architect's most bothersome clients. At the
conclusion of the story we discover who the Puffin architect is and
who the pufflings belong to, a heart-warming ending.
"Puffin the Architect" is an excellent story to link with STEM
topics for younger students, as they can design and plan other
animal homes or their own personal spaces. This is just right for
families to share and for Early Years classes as a springboard into
Technology activities.
Rhyllis Bignell
Other Worlds series by George Ivanoff
Ill. by James Hart. Random House Australia, 2018. Game World book 3. ISBN 9780143786238 Dark World book 4. ISBN 9780143786252
(Age: 8-11) Recommended. Themes: Friendship, Adventure, Zombies,
Gaming. "Find the key! Open the doorway! Enter the other world!"
George Ivanoff's gripping portal fiction series continues with "Game
World" and "Dark World". Each stand-alone story features new
characters facing challenges, obstacles and competing for survival
in an alternate world.
"Game World" centres around a world of virtual reality, when gamer
Hall puts on the VR helmet and is transported into a strange game
world where humans and computers battle to survive. Field Marshall
Maheera meets Hall and warns him that he is in the middle of a war,
fighting drones of all shapes and sizes. He must use his gaming
skills to discern what is reality and what is virtual and find a way
back home. Hall's online nemesis Randomizarbian actually assists him
in his mission.
"Dark World" begins with Newt and Rowan waiting in Principal
Hardnose's office after an altercation in Science class. They remove
a magical book from the principal's library and on opening it a
portal appears. They are a drawn in to a sinister world filled with
piles of rubble, destroyed buildings and zombie-like creatures
roaming around. Newt and Rowan discover a laboratory run by an evil
scientist intent of destroying the Darkness with a bolt of energy
from her Volt Cannon. This conjures up a huge spider-like creature
and a royal character from another portal which results in magic and
mayhem. Newt and Rowan learn to rely on each other and overcome
their differences as they seek to escape from the Darkness.
The books in the "Other Worlds" series are exciting fast-paced
junior novels, filled with action, adventure, mystery, set in
alternate realities. With both boy and girl protagonists and themes
of friendship, collaboration, accepting diversity and problem
solving, these novels will engage readers from ages 8 and up.
Rhyllis Bignell
Found by Fleur Ferris
Random House, 2018. ISBN 9780143784326
(Ages: secondary) Highly Recommended. Themes: Crime, Survival,
Witness protection. About to tell her strict father, Bear, about her
boyfriend, Beth hesitates when she sees him across the road waiting
for her. A van pulls up and he is gone, his backpack left on the
road. Explaining this to her mother she is met with a strictness she
has never heard in her voice. Told to wait she is frightened by her
tone, even more so when confronted by what she hears as they head
for the bunker on their farm.
In a witness protection program since she was a baby, Beth has had
no idea that the skills her parents have developed in her as part of
growing up were designed to make her resilient, able to adapt and
survive.
This is a pace maker of a story, sure to grab every reader's
attention as they are impelled to turn the pages wanting to see how
Beth copes with this new set of circumstances.
Ferris' police background gives a strong base of reality to the
tale, and her story telling skills are paramount as we watch Beth
avoid the pitfalls put in her way.
Her new boyfriend, Jonah, senses that something is wrong when Beth
does not answer calls or text messages, and her father does not turn
up to sports training. Used to the family being absolute sticklers
about turning up on time and keeping appointments, Jonah takes steps
to go to the farm to investigate.
Here there are three men in balaklavas, already holding Bear, and
waiting for Beth to show up. But they find Jonah instead and from
the security of the bunker, Beth and her mother see him being
beaten, and so decide to act, despite the strict instructions from
Bear that once in the bunker they stay until help arrives.
Eventually Bear, Beth and Jonah are able to make some headway, but
as the police arrive and the ambulance takes away Beth's mother, we
know that the leader of the gang, Carlos, is still at large.
A superb thriller, Fleur Ferris has found a niche in young
adolescent novels waiting to be filled by a writer with a strong
background knowledge that permeates the whole story.
Fran Knight
Fairytales for feisty girls by Susannah McFarlane
Allen and Unwin, 2018. ISBN 9781760523541
(Age: 5+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fairy tales. Fractured fairy
tales. Women and girls. Old stories rewritten for a modern age,
these tales will have younger listeners laughing out loud as they
recognise stories they have heard but with a difference, making them
more palatable for modern children, and undermining the stereotypes
that persist. The recent spate of pink books have met their match in
these funny, up-to-date stories of girls taking their situation in
hand and improving their lot. Living 'happily ever after' is much
more fun when the girls manage their futures for themselves.
Not a Rapunzel serenely waiting for a handsome prince to ride by but
a Rapunzel who loves building things, longs to see what is outside
her tower and makes a plait from her hair which she cuts off and has
a passing lad tie to the tree, using her lute to sail down the hair
to freedom. And not a Red Riding Hood, screaming for help from the
axe-man, but a strong-willed girl using her knowledge of the flowers
in the wood to give the wolf a tainted cup of tea, enough to make
him drowsy, enabling her to rescue her Gran. Cinderella goes to the
ball, dropping her glass slipper. All is well. But she does not go
home and wait for the prince to try it on her slender foot, she goes
in the other direction and sells the remaining slipper giving her
the financial independence to achieve her dream. And Thumbelina
freeing herself from the various small animals that beset her, had
me scrambling for a fairytale book to see how the 'original'
developed.
The four stories in this wonderful book, "Red Riding Hood",
"Rapunzel", "Thumbelina" and "Cinderella" are rewritten by Susannah
McFarlane, well known for her stories in the "EJ12 Girl Hero",
"EJ12Spy School", "D Bot" series, as well as being involved with the
highly acclaimed "Go Girl" and "Zac Power" series.
Each of the stories in this book is illustrated by a different
Australian artist, giving a differing perspective of life in these
fairy stories to watch out for as they are read. Seeing Rapunzel
using her saw and hammer, or Cinderella tending to her rescued
animals or Red finding the axe for the woodsman who has misplaced
it, or Thumbelina taking her self in hand, shows a feisty side to
these girls which will enliven, fascinate and entertain all readers.
Fran Knight
The cook and the king by Julia Donaldson
Ill. by David Roberts. Macmillan Books, 2018. ISBN 9781509813773
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Humour. Fears. Cooking. Food
preparation. Medieval history. Castles. How wonderful to read and
look at a very funny picture book. So many coming across my desk at
the moment are portentous and heavy-handed, trying to address an
issue (mainly mental health) in a didactic and preaching way. So
this book is a breath of fresh air: funny, beautifully illustrated,
with an whiff of irony about the cook's dealings with the king that
is frankly delicious. The king wants a new chef, one who can cook
what he really wants, but there is no one to be found. He rejects
all applicants, until Wobbly Bob turns up, self deprecating and
anxious about his inability to do what the king wants. But his
anxiety is not the core of the book. The core is humour, laughing at
the king wanting things to be just so, that by the end he has done
all the preparation and cooking himself. Wobbly Bob didn't have to
worry at all, because telling the king how worried he was about
going fishing or digging up the potatoes, or using a knife or frying
something over a fire, he was able to extricate himself from the
task, leaving the king to do it himself. And of course the king
thinks his meal the best ever and offers Bob the position.
Readers will laugh out loud at the situation and its conclusion,
revelling in Bob's inabilities and the way he was able to manipulate
the king into doing the work. The repetition is infectious, the
rhyme encouraging children to predict what word will end each line,
and the illustrations are just wonderful.
The medieval background gives a lot of information to readers about
that period of time: costume, castles, kitchen and cooking, while
the opening page with its unicorn tapestry is eye popping. Each page
gives another humorous situation and the looks on the faces of the
king and his subjects are wonderful. And kids will just love Bob's
wobbly hat, which may lead kids to ask about his trousers and other
accoutrements of his trade.
Fran Knight
You can't let an elephant drive a digger by Patricia Cleveland-Peck
Ill. by David Tazzyman. Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408879146
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: STEM. Probability. Humour. Verse. A
range of improbably domesticated animals are given impossible things
to do, inviting every reader to simply laugh out loud at the antics
shown. Each double page shows an improbable scene: a shark in the
bath, a polar bear cutting hair, a seal acting as a chef, brushing
your teeth with a crocodile and more, all illustrated with gusto,
hinting at the possible things which may happen with the animal
doing something he is simply not designed to do.
Told in four line rhyming stanzas, each page invites the reader to
predict the last word of each line and many adults will find
children learning the stanza detailing the animal they like best.
Kids will love the looks on their faces as they try out their
impossible tasks, and the corresponding looks on the children's
faces as a shark appears in the bath or an octopus helps with
dressing or a wolf offers to read a bedtime story. Each page
bristles with laughter and kids will love looking at the detail
where other things are happening: mice carrying away the mousetrap,
a cat under the table eating the fish dropped by the seal or the
elephant's poo dropping onto one of the workers.
Full to the brim with hilarity, children will relish this unusual
tale, another from the duo who created "You can't take an elephant
on a bus". David Tazzyman is new to me and I found out more about
him here.
Initially a commercial illustrator, he illustrated the "Mr Gum"
books for Egmont in 2006 and has illustrated children's books ever
since. Patricia Cleveland-Peck has written some 14 books and more
information can be found here.
Fran Knight
