Adam Kershaw (text) and Simon Childerhouse (illustrator), Crocodile Shark, Kershaw Books, December 2020, 28pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780646823133 Is it a cat? Is it a dog? What creature could possibly scare the wits out of this poor dad? A crocodile shark, of course! Despite his brave face when it comes to lions, tigers or even monsters under the bed, this one particular father learns to face his fears, and finally learns who his terrible tormentor really is. Adam Kershaw gives us a fun, easy to read tale ideal for toddlers. Along with colourful illustrations by Simon Childerhouse, Crocodile Shark makes for an engaging…
Author: Admin
Elizabeth Mary Cummings (text) and Cheri Hughes (illustrator), Rain Shaker, Big Sky Publishing, October 2020, 32pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922387165 More and more environment-themed children’s books are popping up for reasons that, by now, should be self-evident. In this latest offering, titled Rain Shaker, an imaginative and determined young girl named Erin wants to grow sunflowers despite the severe drought. The dry, dusty environment, particularly relevant in Australia, is captured evocatively in the opening pages: Dad pulls into the driveway. Sun dazzling on metal. Heat rising, steaming, shimmering, blinding. The birds too thirsty to sing. The cattle too hot…
Philip Bunting, Give me some space!, Scholastic Australia, December 2020, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760972356 Did you know that Philip Bunting’s Give me some space! has been announced as the official story chosen for ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime in 2021, to be celebrated across Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday 19 May 2021 at 11:00am? The Australian Library and Information Association, along with Scholastic Australia, the Australian Space Agency and the Office of the Chief Scientist, has arranged for the book to be read by the astronauts from the International Space Station. It is a story about Una,…
Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Listen, Layla, Penguin Random House Australia, February 2021, 304pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760896065 Clever Layla is fourteen, a member of a small group in her Brisbane school which is competing with young people around the world for the prize of a world tour given for the best invention. Just as the group is successful, Layla’s maternal grandmother falls seriously ill, and the family, Layla included, must go to her in Sudan. All Layla’s plans go astray, and despite her various surreptitious attempts to keep in touch with her school friends, she is thwarted. While she is in…
Grace Nolan (text) and Nancy Bevington (illustrator), Ten Bush Babies: One-to -Ten & Back Again (Book #2), Big Sky Publishing, April 2021, 32pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922265623 Grace Nolan has combined her experience as a teacher with her love of Australian wildlife to create a charming rhyming counting book that introduces numbers and addition to young children. Bush babies gradually get together to have a race until there are ten all told. They include iconic Australian animals such as the emu, kangaroo, cassowary, bilby, brolga, quoll, and quokka. Nancy Bevington has used soft colours, big eyes, and endearing expressions…
Corinne Fenton (text) and Owen Swan (illustrator), One Lone Swallow, New Frontier Publishing, November 2020, 32 pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922326195 A swallow flies across a twilight sky looking for her lost mate. Will she find him and get back to their nest in time? Corinne Fenton takes us on a mesmerising journey of a mother swallow who, fearing for her mate, takes flight to find him. Corinne’s text gently reveals the mother’s plight, with enough suspense to keep little minds guessing as to what might transpire for the lone swallow and her family. From piazzas and cathedrals, to the foot of Michelangelo’s…
Belinda Blecher (text), and Lisa Allen (illustrator), Magic Mistakes, IP Kidz, February 2020, 32 pp., RRP $36.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925231953 Seven-year-old Frankie has a long list of things she will not try, either because she may not like them (ripe bananas) or because she’s frightened (swimming and riding a bike). She is however a winner at drawing ducks – until disaster strikes and she thinks her drawing is ruined. Her friends show her that mistakes can be fun, and she vows to try all the things she has previously avoided and not to fear failure. Written by a child psychologist,…
Amy Raphael (text) & August Ro (illustrator), The Forest of Moon and Sword, Hachette Children’s Books, 12 January 2021, 288 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781510108356 Art has to watch as her mother and the women hiding with them are taken up by the witch hunters, betrayed by the people of their own village for a few coins and set to be hanged or carried off to an English prison and a probable death. As the Scottish village grows more hostile to the daughter of a known witch, Art bundles up her things and her mother’s herbal recipe book, disguises…
Herrick, Steven, Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus, University of Queensland Press, September 2020, 239 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702263002 Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus is a book told in verse. I’ve only read books in verse aimed at YA readers at the higher end of the teen-age range, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. In truth, I find verse to be intimidating, and sometimes veering towards the more complex end of things – more than it needs to be. Herrick, however, writes clearly, with easily relatable topics the young readers targeted will be…
Adrian Beck (text) and Scott Edgar (illustrations) Run for Your Life (Derek Dool Supercool #3), Puffin Books, January 2021, 256 pp, RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760892975 I haven’t contacted ancestry.com.au to confirm, but I’m nearly certain I’m related to Derek Dool. Five decades on, I’m still triggered by the sight of a volleyball (don’t ask) and the memory of pulling down the entire rope tow on my first visit to the ski slopes. We sports-challenged types need to rely on ingenuity to make our mark… like Derek Dool, who goes all out to win the school cross-country race and prove…