Kathryn Apel (text) and Janet Turner (illustrations), Up and Down on a Rainy Day, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467003 Up and Down on a Rainy Day by Kathryn Apel and Janet Turner is one of the lovely new picture books produced by the State Library of Queensland as part of its First 5 Forever early literacy program. In this book, the activities of a Queensland farm family on a rainy day are cleverly conveyed through the use of two-word action idioms containing either the word “up” or “down”. The family’s day starts with sun…
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Samantha Wheeler (text) and Shannon Horsfall (illustrator), Once I Munched a Mango, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467249 Once, I Munched a Mango is a great bedtime book for very young children. It is mostly soft and quiet (except for the page with the snake) providing families with a space to wind down as covers get tucked in. The frequent depictions of fireflies and butterflies give the book a dreamlike feeling. The story is told by a young fruit bat who, along with the fruit it eats and the creatures it meets, become the focal points…
Ella Kris (text) and Emma Cracknell (illustrations), Is this your egg?, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467065 Is this my egg? is one of the picture books produced by the State Library of Queensland for theFirst 5 Forever early literacy programme. This book is set in a beach environment and tells the story of Henry the Hermit Crab who finds an egg and sets about trying to locate its parent. Each of the native Australian beach animals that Henry approaches explains that the features of their eggs do not match this orphaned egg. Finally, the…
Eunice Day, The Coloured Echidna, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32 pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467270 A simple and heart-warming quest-tale about wisdom and acceptance to be enjoyed with younger readers in the ‘Little Queenslander’ series. This specially commissioned set of stories encourages participation and fosters literacy in the first five years of a child’s life and is made exclusively for Queensland branch libraries. Blackwater Elder and great grandmother, Eunice Day shares her culture through gentle and rhythmic storytelling, introducing readers to local fauna. The reader follows an unusual little echidna on his journey to solve that age-old mystery, “why am…
Pamela Rushby (text) and Nicola Hopper (illustrator), The Cow that Swam Out to Sea, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467157 The book’s title invites curiosity from the beginning. Why did the cow swim out to sea? Well, as it turns out, Matilda the curious cow was swept down a river swollen by rain. Down the river and out to sea, all the way to the city. A little girl finds her stuck in the mud and with the help of her grandfather, takes her home. They call the number on Matilda’s ear tag, and to…
Alison McLennan (text) and Erin Dunne (illustrator), Hotel for Bees, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467096 I was thrilled to review three of the lovely new picture books produced by State Library of Queensland as part of its First 5 Forever early literacy program. One of these is Hotel for Bees by Queensland based author, Alison McLennan, and illustrator, Erin Dunne. It tells of a family project to build a bee hotel, and simultaneously help little Benji come to appreciate insects and fear them less. There is a strong sense of enthusiasm and pleasure in…
Shae Millward (text) and Brent Wilson (illustrator), Koalas Like To…, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32 pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467126 I laughed out loud reading this picture book about Queensland’s state emblem: “Koalas like to sing and dance, Koalas wear striped underpants.” The cartoon style creatures get up to all sorts of silly things in a pacey rhythm that hinges on the text’s rhyming couplets, reminiscent of the great Doctor Seuss. Verse that will have readers giggling and chanting along, this book offers teachers and librarians opportunity for dramatic interpretation of the two different and opposing ‘voices’, demarked by colour blocks.…
Sally Scudamore (text) and Sophie Beer (illustrator), The Little Queenslander’s Alphabet Book, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467218 Considering that it was designed for the 0–5-year demographic this book has really hit the target. With the cute little Aussie creatures and the fantastic colour palette I know kids will immediately be drawn to the front cover and want to explore further into the pages. The concept of this book is strong and straightforward: An A-Z of fauna and places in Queensland. Each page takes us to a geographic location in Queensland and we see native…
Reading Time is very pleased to showcase the First 5 Forever series of children’s picture books. Over the next seven days, reviews of the First 5 Forever series will be posted. Including a story about a cow’s hapless journey down a flooded Brisbane River and an alphabet book featuring echidnas exercising in Emerald, the First 5 Forever series of new children’s books will be available in all Queensland public libraries and Indigenous Knowledge Centres from early December. The Stories for Little Queenslanders series, published by the State Library of Queensland, has been created by 21 authors and illustrators as part…
Simon Farnaby (text) and Claire Powell (illustrator), The Wizard in my Shed, Hachette Children’s Books, October 2020, 376 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781444954388 The latest in celebrity writer offerings, this book will appeal to kids who like light fantasy with a bit of humour thrown in. Rose is an ‘ordinary’ girl. One of her main problems is her mother who is still grieving the loss of her husband, Rose’s father, some ten years previous. Rose’s other problem is fitting in at school. She thinks the solution to all her problems is to win a singing competition. The kids at…