Juliet Sampson (text) and Katrina Fisher (illustrator), Cato’s Can Can, Ford Street Publishing, August 2021, 32 pp., RRP $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781925804768 This romp of a picture book is about a bopping cocky in search of a dance partner. The text showcases all of Cato’s potential partners, in human and matching bird form, who strut their moves before mysteriously disappearing. While there’s lots to learn here – different dance styles, birds, and the days of the week – the movement in the watercolour illustrations matched with the bouncing text also make it delightful fun. I can imagine kids trying out…
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Davina Bell (text) and Karen Blair (illustrator), A Whole Lot of Lemonade Jones, Allen & Unwin, November 2021, 160 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760526375 A Whole Lot of Lemonade Jones combines three fun stories in one big book. Each story (Lemonade Jones and the First Day Back.., The Zoo That Comes To You and Lemonade Jones and the Great School Fete) have been previously published as stand-alone books in the Lemonade Jones series. Lemonade Jones is feisty and loud and likes her days to be filled with adventure sprinkled with drama. But she lives in a world of rules…
Anna McGregor, A Pair of Pears and an Orange, Scribble, June 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922310750 From the creator who brought us Anemone is not the Enemy comes another bright, retro-feel picture book about friendship. This time we meet two friends. Big Pear and Little Pear are playing together, and everything is fabulous until Orange joins in and then Big Pear begins to feel like a third wheel! This is a scenario with which many children may be able to make connections. Word play, humour and anthropomorphised fruit characters help to lighten the mood of some big…
Karen Blair, Train Party, Penguin Random House Australia, July 2021, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760899578 For the young boy in this delightful book, a family birthday celebration at the miniature steam engine track park is obviously a dream come true. This is a happy story from start to finish and will appeal to children from a very young age. The text uses rhyming couplets involving a repeated refrain clickety-clack which creates a lovely rhythm and will encourage participation, fully engaging young children. The first feature of this story is the map of the train tracks on the endpapers…
Helenka Stachera (text) and Marco Guadalupi (illustrator), The Ice Whisperers, Penguin Random House, November 2021, 368 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780241491287 The Ice Whisperers by Helenka Stachera is a story of two sisters born forty thousand years apart and living in two different worlds. Thirteen-year-old Bela has always felt an outsider in her Great-Aunt’s house where she is generally treated with contempt and aversion. After the news of her mother’s death, Bela is summoned to stay with her uncle in the deepest Siberia and with her father lost years before in an expedition gone wrong, Bela has no choice but…
Helen Milroy, Backyard Beasties, Fremantle Press, February 2022, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760991203 This compact and colourful hardback offers its young readers brilliantly designed images of Helen Milroy’s backyard ‘beasties’. There is a cocky chicken, a slinking possum, a beautifully patterned bobtail lizard, a fluffy dog, a mysterious turtle, a shy gecko, a hanging bat, a sleepy quenda, a songful frog, and a rather formidable cat. I am amazed at what can be found in Helen Milroy’s backyard, but glad too that she has so much to show us. Helen Milroy, a children’s psychiatrist, and a professor at…
Justin D’Ath, Banjo Tully, Ford Street Publishing, September 2021, 216 pp., RRP $17.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781925804904 Banjo Tully is a typical 15 year old Australian boy in Year 8. But his concerns about school assignments and boring classes are eclipsed by the worry he shares with his parents in relation to the relentless drought. Banjo lives on a remote farm with his family, 21 kilometres from Big River, the closest town. In these times of drought, the locals joke about changing the town’s name to Empty River. Water is a scarce commodity. His parents have sold their cattle, as they…
Roger Hargreaves, Mr. Men in Australia, Penguin Random House, November 2021, 32 pp., RRP $16.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761044342 The Mr Men and Little Miss gang are back to take a tour Down Under! Across 32 pages featuring some of our favourite Mr Men and Little Misses, young readers travel across Australia to visit all the sights and experiences a typical tourist could hope to encounter. Mr Men in Australia is one of several books released to celebrate the series’ 50th anniversary. This new Australian story takes many of the beloved characters on a colourful adventure throughout the vibrant Australian landscape,…
Nadia L. King (text) and Alisa Knatko (illustrator), Claire Malone Makes a Friend, Dixi Books, October 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.75 (pbk), ISBN 9781913680268 This moving tale reads like a fable and begins during the time when children stayed inside everyday. Set during one of the many COVID-19 lockdowns, it tells the story of Claire who watches people in their windows from her own window. The observant and caring Claire is concerned about the person who lives in one apartment where the curtains stay drawn and makes a sign which she displays in her own window Are you okay? From…
Alexandra Leigh Young, Idol Gossip, Walker Books, November 2021, 352 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781536225662 Idol Gossip is the debut novel by Alexandra Leigh Young, journalist. It depicts the story of 17 year old Alice Choy who is living in South Korea while her mother works as a diplomat in the American consulate. Alice loves to sing. One night while singing karaoke Alice is discovered by a K-Pop scout and invited to audition. At the open audition Alice is the only performer chosen for a spot at the Star Academy. She is chosen despite her disastorous dance audition and…