Diane Jackson Hill (text) and Craig Smith (illustrator), Saving Seal: The Plastic Predicament, Museums Victoria, October 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781921833540 Saving Seal: the Plastic Predicament is a beautiful and heart-rending picture book that tells the story of Lizzie and Grandpa who live in a small coastal town in Australia. When exploring the bay in Grandpa’s boat, Lizzie discovers a seal entangled in plastic rubbish. What follows is a beautifully told and illustrated story demonstrating how small actions and interventions can make a big impact to transform a community and its environment. Craig Smith’s colourful…
Author: Admin
Byll and Beth Stephen (text) and Simon Howe (illustrator), Boss of Your Own Body, HarperCollins Publishers, December 2021, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733341724 This fun and insightful book about body autonomy is a spinoff from the song, Boss of My Own Body, written by the ARIA award winning Teeny Tiny Stevies, a popular musical duo who sing thoughtful songs for little people. It is a joyful romp through a child’s day with all the decisions that can come their way. Bright and colourful, we are greeted by a bevy of smiling grins on the cover. The delightful illustrations…
Jaclyn Crupi (text) and Cheryl Orsini (illustrator), The ABC Kids Guide to Loving the Planet, ABC Books, January 2022, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733341045 Our planet is precious. It’s where we live, learn, work and play. So begins this charming guide to appreciating and caring for the planet. Each spread explores ways to enjoy and protect the planet, along with instructions for specific activities to try. Some of the concepts and actions include caring for a garden, making seed balls, reducing food waste and re-wilding. Being an Australian book, it’s nice to see native flora and fauna represented…
Nova Weetman, The Edge of Thirteen, University of Queensland Press, March 2021, 256 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702263125 As the title suggests, The Edge of Thirteen, explores all the messy feelings and changes that occur with puberty. It’s the third book featuring main character Clem Timmins, following the award-winning The Secrets We Keep and The Secrets We Share. And while fans will enjoy spending more time with Clem, the book also works as a stand-alone for readers unfamiliar with the previous titles. In this book, Clem’s in Year 8 and she’s struggling with being a ‘late bloomer’. She’s also…
Amy McQuire (text) and Matt Chun (illustrator), Day Break, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, January 2021, 24 pp, RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760508159 Day Break is a poignant and timely story that obliquely, yet profoundly, contrasts non-Indigenous celebrations of Australia Day (beach, barbie, flag, merchandise) with Indigenous culture and truth-telling. The story is told from the perspective of a young girl living in two worlds: the indigenous world, where the day is one of remembering and mourning, and the world of her school, which teaches her otherwise: My teacher says January 26 is when we celebrate the settlement of Australia. She…
Leila Rudge, Winston and the Indoor Cat, Walker Books Australia, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760652609 Leila Rudge is an experienced children’s book illustrator and storyteller. In this tale her considerable talents are on display. Winston is an adventurous ‘outdoor’ cat, who manages to find such marvels as a (dead?) fish under a plant. I guess this sets up the book’s debate between the real thing and the canned thing, for Winston comes into contact with The Indoor Cat across a windowpane. Winston manages to ‘free’ the Indoor Cat and show him the exhilarating outside world,…
Sarah Allen, Jumping Joeys, Affirm Press, October 2021, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922626004 After a hugely successful debut with Busy Beaks, Sarah Allen has followed up with an equally delightful book. Jumping Joeys has a similar structure and similar brand to Busy Beaks, but instead of learning about birds, readers are shown the diversity and beauty of Australia’s marsupials. The minimal rhyming text walks children through the bushlands and trees that make up the habitats of these creatures. They get to see wombats in burrows, small hunters stalking micro prey, and joey gliders hanging on for a night-time ride. It’s wonderful that…
Felicity Castagna, Girls in Boys’ Cars, Pan Macmillan Australia, September 2021, 296 pp., RRP $18.99 (pbk), IBSN 9781760982980 Castagna writes a fast-paced and engaging novel. Narrowing in on that awkward and insecure stage of adolescence as well as the unstable, questioning beginnings of adulthood, she exposes an unglamorous yet very much relatable and realistic side to growing up. She also takes readers on a trip down memory lane with her numerous references to books, particularly childhood favourites including The Princess and the Pea and Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree. Girls in Boys’ Cars begins at the end. While it…
Ashleigh Barton (text) and Martina Heiduczek (illustrator), What Do You Call Your Grandma?, ABC: An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, March 2021, 32 pp., RRP $22.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733340840 Do you call your grandma Granny, Nanna or Nan? Or perhaps you call her Nonna, MeeMaw or Yia Yia? What Do You Call Your Grandma? is a multicultural celebration of grandmas around the world. From Hana’s Kui who loves walking in the wild to Aaliyah’s Teta who writes her letters from afar, each grandma is special. The book introduces readers to 13 different grandmas and ends by asking the reader what they…
Sandhya Parappukkaran (text), Michelle Pereira (illustrator), The Boy who Tried to Shrink His Name, Bright Light, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99, (hbk), ISBN 9781760509361 Starting at a new school can be daunting enough but when you have a long name that you are sure no one else has ever heard and will not be able to pronounce you try and think of all the ways you can to make it as simple as possible, to fit in. But it’s difficult when your name represents so much about you, the culture you came from and its history…