Irma Gold (text) and Wayne Harris (illustrator), Seree’s Story, Walker Books, March 2022, 32 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925126990 Author Irma Gold shares a thought-provoking story about elephant conservation. Seree is a happy elephant who loves to play in the mud, eat bananas and spend time with her family. That is until poachers arrive, and she is sadly separated from her mother and the rest of her family. The years ahead for Seree are filled with being cruelly worked at a circus by day while longing for her family at night. While living her life in chains she dreams…
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Dimity Powell (text) and Nicky Johnston (illustrator), This is My Dad, EK Books, March 2022, 24 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922539076 A simple yet valuable story about the influential figures in a child’s life. The perfect dad isn’t always a father. Leo retreats when his teacher announces their latest Show and Tell task which is to introduce and celebrate their dads. How can Leo do that when he has never met his dad and doesn’t know anything about him? It had always been just Leo and his mum, that’s all he knows. His mum is a writer who creates…
Natala Graetz, Everyday Wonders, Everyday Wonders, March 2021, 32 pp, RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780645245004 You are an everyday wonder, this is true, Simply by being so wonderfully YOU! Everyday Wonders is a whimsical and vibrant picture book that celebrates the wonder that exists in everyday women who lead colourful, diverse and eclectic lives. Author and illustrator Natala Graetz invites young readers to not only meet an array of female characters in their professional lives but also to experience the everyday joys, hobbies, and passions of these characters too. It is so empowering to see such a realistic depiction of…
Jackie French, Ming and Flo Fight for the Future, HarperCollins Publishers, March 2022, 288 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781460760208 Twelve-year-old Ming Qong has noticed something alarming! According to the history books she’s been reading in school, girls haven’t really played a part in changing the future. But that can’t be right; girls must have changed the world! Ming, like most of us, would like to know why there are so few accounts of the women throughout history who changed the world. So, when Herstory appears and casts Ming back into 1898 rural NSW with the help of a few magical Time drops, Ming…
Katrina McKelvey (text) and Jasmine Berry (illustrator), Mila & Ivy, Wombat Books, March 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761110801 Mila and Ivy are sisters who enjoy playing together and creating fantastical designs out of boxes, but they have very different approaches. Mila is an organised Cardboard Design Engineer, while Ivy is a little more chaotic. When Ivy decides to help with building their amazing cupcake catapult, Mila is devastated when Ivy starts tearing things apart. Can they work out how to work together again? Obviously, this is a story about siblings working and playing together, and about appreciating…
The announcement of the Book of the Year Awards was made on Friday August 19 2022, and the entire ceremony can be viewed here. A list of the winners can be downloaded here as a pdf file, and there is a lot of other information available here about each book as well. The announcement was made via a video hosted by Claire Hooper and proudly produced in partnership with Story Box Library. *Each book is linked to its Reading Time review. Book of the Year: Older Readers Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in…
Sarah Ayoub (text) and Mimi Purnell (illustrator), The Love That Grew, HarperCollins Publishers, March 2022, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781460761113 I love the idea of giving a book in lieu of a card. Cards can be really sweet and have beautiful sentiments, but more often a book says more and is less likely to be binned after a month. The Love That Grew is a gentle, sweet, emotive book that would be a wonderful replacement for a card from a mother to a child. Motherhood and the work of mothers is something that at times is highly regarded and respected,…
Andy Griffiths (text) and Terry Denton (illustrator), Treehouse Tales, Pan Macmillan, March 2022, 208 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760987275 What would you say if your best friend wanted to flush you down the toilet just to see what would happen, and then did? What about inviting a friend to shrink down to such a small size they then could go for a walk in your brain to hunt down the rubber duck that’s causing your mental blockage? What is the right age for this kind of humour? I am seventy-two, and I am not yet too old for it.…
Susannah Crispe, Under the Moonlight, Hachette Australia, April 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780734421159 Moose is settling down for his nightly sleep in the forest but there are so many unknown sounds and shapes that keep him awake. Can he overcome his night-time fears and get a good night’s rest? This is Susannah Crispe’s first authored and illustrated book, having previously illustrated Where the Heart Is and Cookie. The text flows along in expressive rhyming couplets and provides much opportunity for a dramatic read-aloud. The story sensitively captures Moose’s feelings of both fear and courage, with physical and…
Linda Chapman, Fire Horse (Midnight Riders, #1), Hachette, March 2022, 192 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408366776 Linda Chapman, Storm Stallion (Midnight Riders, #2), Hachette, March 2022, 192 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408366790 Moonlight Riders is a new series by bestselling author Linda Chapman whose books about unicorns, fairies and magic are very popular. In Moonlight Riders, Chapman has created another appealing series about gracious, gentle, loving ponies that transform into magnificent, majestic horses with brilliantly coloured manes and magical powers over the elements. The first book in the series, Fire Horse,…