Margaret Hamilton remembers Marianne Yamaguchi… Marianne Illenberger Yamaguchi was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in 1936. She received a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and later worked as a high school art teacher in Australia where she came to live in 1973 with her family. Since her husband Tohr’s death she has lived in Tokyo, Japan. Marianne worked on the illustrations of several books for Angus & Robertson, particularly those written by Eric Rolls. She then illustrated a number of significant Australian children’s books, which include: SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, written by Eleanor Coerr (Hodder…
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Kristin Weidenbach (text) James Gulliver Hancock (illus.) Meet … Banjo Paterson Random House, 1 April 2015, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780857980083 There have been six previous titles in the Meet … series, including Meet …Captain Cook which was shortlisted for the 2014 Eve Pownall Award. This one is written by the author of Tom the Outback Mailman, which won the 2013 Eve Pownall Award. It relates the life of Andrew Barton Paterson from his country boyhood to his success as a poet. Although it mentions his career as a lawyer in Sydney, the text concentrates on his success as a poet…
Marie-Louise Gay, Any questions?, Allen & Unwin, April 2015, 60pp., $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 978 1 76011 317 9 Marie-Louise Gay is a well-known Canadian writer and illustrator who has been nominated for both the Astrid Lindgren award and the Hans Christian Andersen medal. This brilliant picture book has come about from all the author visits she has done in schools and libraries. The second double-page spread shows a gaggle of children all with speech bubbles containing a diverse range of questions from the personal (What is your favourite colour?) to the ones based on her previous books (Are you Stella?)…
Deborah Hart, Guarding Eden: champions of climate action, Allen and Unwin, June 2015, 256pp., $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760112356 This clearly and simply written book is about people who have decided to embark on peaceful action to save the planet. Each chapter is a glimpse into what a few individuals have done in the face of climate change. The facts are alarming, with some scientists believing we have already waited too long to act and catastrophic results are inevitable, but what I loved most about this book, is that these are ordinary people who focus not on what is wrong but…
Gina Inverarity and Celia Jellett (compiled by), Julie Vivas (illus.) The Possum Magic Cookbook, Omnibus/Scholastic, 1 July 2015, 32pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781742991214 One of the best-known and best selling picture books in Australia, Possum Magic, by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas was first published in 1983 and has since won numerous awards. A deceptively simple tale in which two possums, Grandma Poss and the invisible Hush, travel the countryside in search of the magic food that will make Hush visible once more, has undergone various incarnations over the years. It has been set to music, performed and is now a…
Prue Mason, Zafir (Through my Eyes), Allen and Unwin, March 2015, 203pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781743312544 The greeting commonly used by the characters in Prue Mason’s story Zafir is salaam aleiykum, peace be upon you. It is a standard Muslim form of greeting and creates a clever, ironic contrast to the story that unfolds, which is more about disintegration of a society and the advent of war, than of peace. Set in the Syrian city of Homs in 2011, Zafir is the story of a 13 year old boy who along with his family are swept up in the civil…
Catherynne M Valente, The Boy who Lost Fairyland, Corsair/Little Brown Book Group, 1 April 2015, 235pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781472112811 Have you ever felt that you don’t quite ‘fit in’ with the world around you? And although you’ve worked hard at reminding yourself that you are not ‘a troll’ or ‘a wombat’ or ‘a saber-toothed tiger’ and have learnt that ‘a grown-up is a person taller than yourself’ and that ‘Father’s office is off-limits’ and most important of all ‘there is no such thing as magic’ you still feel all wrong inside? Welcome to the world of Thomas Rood, the…
Geoff Havel, Dropping In, Fremantle Press, 25 March 2015, 128pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925162219 Who doesn’t like hanging out with a friend? Ranga and Sticks have been best mates for ever, just the two of them. Then James moves in across the road from Sticks and with it, challenges many elements of friendship. For James uses a wheelchair, as he is trapped in a body that disobeys directions from his brain – how can he be mates with two able bodied fellas? The answer is skateboarding! As their individual skills develop through boarding so does their respect for each other. Ranga is clearly…
Denise Kirby, The Way In (88 Lime Street #1), Scholastic, 1 May 2015, 272pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781742991009 Mischievous is not the first word you would use to describe a house is it? Yet it really seems the best word to describe 88 Lime Street with its ramshackle appearance and its whimsical and odd extensions. This is the new family home for the Brewster family and they soon learn that this property is like no other they have ever known. The house has two hexagonal towers three storeys in height attached to either end. But why does one have no door?…
Peter Macinnis, The Big Book of Australian History (revised and updated), National Library of Australia, 1 May 2015, 288pp., $39.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780642278722 A Notable in the 2014 CBCA awards, this big book is bold, glossy and filled with fascinating facts and images drawn from Australia’s history. Drawing on the impressive collection of the National Library of Australia, there are fascinating colour images, photos, newspaper articles and ephemera. We see soldiers hunkered in WWI trenches, Phar Lap and the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In exploring pre-history, The Dreamtime, Australia’s war efforts, sport, multiculturalism, natural disasters, this books looks at…