P. Crumble (text), Wendy Binks (illus), Deborah Mailman (performer), Hush Little Possum: an Australian lullaby. Scholastic, 1 July 2015, 24pp., $19.99 (pbk + CD), ISBN 9781743626436 This is a delightfully Australian reworking of the old lullaby Hush Little Baby. The book is accompanied by a CD performance of the song by well known Australian Indigenous entertainer Deborah Mailman, who earlier in her life was a much loved presenter of Playschool. The standout feature of this tale about a baby sugar glider possum and its mum is, however, Binks’ art work which absolutely captures the quintessential nature of the Australia landscape in…
Author: Admin
We were recently given the opportunity to send Ros Moriarty questions, so we asked her a range of topics, from the very general to the specific, involving her new picture books, soon to be reviewed here. We hope you enjoy her thoughtful and insightful answers. Thanks Ros for your time and your words. Tell us about your latest books. “Splosh for the Billabong” and “Summer Rain” are a pair of picture books that blend words and Aboriginal designs to explore the magic of the natural world in remote Australia. “Splosh for the Billabong” is about making art. I wrote it…
Deborah Hart, Guarding Eden: champions of climate action, Allen and Unwin, June 2015, 256pp., $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760112356 This book showcases the stories of 12 climate activists – ordinary people holding a range of viewpoints and coming from diverse backgrounds. Their determination for action on climate change takes many forms from protests to court action, awareness campaigns to hunger strikes. Some activists have had personal consequences as a result of their passionate beliefs – marriage breakdowns and physical effects – but they remain focused. This book demonstrates that it isn’t easy fighting to save the planet but also stresses how…
Tracy Alexander, Hacked. Scholastic, 1 April 2015. 288pp. $16.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781760152895 People are clever in different ways. The fruit and veg shop man can add up prices in his heads, Joe can scale the wall like a gecko. Dan Langley has a talent for writing computer code. At first, he gets free competition points for his sister, then he gets free credit for his girlfriend’s phone. Later he hacks surveillance cameras to see who ran over his best friend. Finally, he hacks into a US military surveillance drone. This doesn’t cause him immediate problems until he gives the code to an…
Pamela Rushby, Sing a Rebel Song, Omnibus/Scholastic Australia, 1 Oct 2015, 240pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781742991344 It has been claimed that the nearest Australia came to civil war was during the shearers’ strike of 1891. Thousands of men from all over Australia gathered in Queensland to support the Shearers’ Union’s rejection of the attempt by the squatters to reduce wages and conditions. Scab labour was transported to pastoral districts, and the army was brought in to quell any protest by unionists. Both sides primed their weapons. The fiery revolutionary, William Lane, urged the shearers to stay firm, but starvation and…
Holly Goldberg Sloan, I’ll be There, Scholastic, 1 April 2015, 312pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 97817601252888 Compelling and original, this novel for Young Adults explores the clash of suburban stability with the turmoil of marginalised and violent homelessness. Seventeen year old Sam is the quintessential boy from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ who blunders into the life and heart of Emily Bell, a middle class girl from a good family and neighbourhood but who places faith in destiny and the connectedness of the world. The order of Emily’s world is thrown into chaos by Sam’s nomadic lifestyle with his twelve…
Kelly O’Gara (text), Anna McNeil (text), Kelly O’Gara (illus.) Do You Remember ? Wombat Books, 28 April 2015, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk) ISBN 9781925139242 Do You Remember? is a soothing and comforting exploration of advancing dementia that gives children information and tools to understand and cope with the problems dementia can cause. Using two mice as characters, the young mouse recalls the activities such as reading and walking that can no longer be shared with the grandparent mouse. The disease progresses and the grandparent must go into care and, though the relationship changes, the love between child and grandparent remains. The…
Amanda Tarlau (text) Karen Mounsey-Smith (illus) Ten Tricky Dinosaurs, Koala Books, 1 May 2015, 24pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-74276-133-6 The difficult task of learning to count is made enjoyable when combined with the fun of colourful dinosaurs. Starting at the number 10, a dinosaur disappears with each double page opening until there are none left by the final page. A rhyme explains the reduction in number and hints at the next number to follow, allowing the child to feel the success of being able to predict the pattern of the numbers. The use of rhyme in conjunction with clear bold…
Heath Mc Kenzie, I Wanna Be a Great Big Dinosaur, Scholastic, 1 May 2015, 28pp., $16.99, (hbk), ISBN 978 1 74362 600 9 What does it take to be a great big dinosaur? This book has everything young readers needs to know about it. To start with they need to roar and stomp their feet and this is only the beginning. The lessons commence when one small boy who is the focus of the text has a big wish to be a dinosaur. Luckily one appears to takes him through his paces and before long the boy knows exactly what…
Nick Earls, New Boy, Puffin Books, 25 March 2015, 170pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780143308 393 It’s hard to fit in to One Mile Creek State School in Queensland when you’re a South African boy from Cape Town. Herschelle van der Merwe discovers that he speaks a very different English to the language spoken in Australia. Simple things such as sandshoes, thongs and barbeques all have different names in South Africa and who knew that robots were called traffic lights in Australia? There are many amusing incidents for Herschelle including when his own mother also makes an embarrassing blunder due to…