TARLAU, Amanda (text) Jane Chapman (illus.) Conga Dance Koala, 2014 unpaged $14.99 pbk ISBN 9781742761107 What a happy, enticing story to share with (or for the advanced to read alone) receptive pre-schoolers and young children. It literally dances along after the initial invitation to ‘Join the line, the conga line’, of bush creatures headed by Emu. One by one come Wallaby, who ‘bounds in to the beat’, followed by Wombat, then Koala, Ring-tailed possum, Cockatoo and finally Spiky Echidna. The text literally dances along so that littlies can join in; maybe singing, each to their own tune. The rollicking text…
Author: Admin
TARLAU, Amanda (text) Mark Osberg (illus.) Dinosaurs on the Loose! Koala, 2014 unpaged $14.99 pbk ISBN 9781742761114 The opening page ‘There’s a dinosaur loose in the grocery store! He’s rolling down aisles and shaking the floor.’ is followed by other dinosaurs loose in the hardware shop, town café, clothing store, lollipop shop and more. They are all over the town creating havoc until they ‘stumble and bumble back home to bed.’ The rhyming and rhythm are consistent and unforced which helps the text flow smoothly and naturally. The naughty dinosaurs are cheeky and colourful and the cartoon like illustrations have…
TAN, Ciara Molloy (text) Michaela Blassnig (illus.) Hermione Anemone and the Enormous Storm Lothian, 2014 unpaged $14.99 pbk+e ISBN 9780734415479 SCIS 1671958 I’ll admit to enjoying books with rhyming language and this book uses rhyme to create a wonderful rhythm. Every day is the same for Hermione Anemone who usually sits in a pool near the rocks knitting some socks. When a storm comes along Hermione finds a curious cast of characters joining her in her rock pool: Tony Abalone, Russell the Mussel, Pam Clam, and Sean the Prawn. The colourful illustrations, font and layout of the book combine to…
SUTTON, Sally (text) Sylvie Currin Korankova (illus.) Catch That Plane! Walker, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781921720680 SCIS 1671874 A young boy is rushing with his family to the airport because they are late. They make their way through check-in and departures, past sniffer dogs and through security, along the travelator and aerobridge until at last they are on board and racing down the runway. This rhyming text is fun to read aloud. The rhythm builds tension and excitement. Short phrases, the use of lots of action verbs and the repetition of a- at the beginning of words as in a-zooming…
SUTTON, Sally (text) Brian Lovelock (illus.) Construction Walker, 2014 unpaged A$27.95 NZ$29.99 ISBN 9781922077301 SCIS 1672308 Colourful illustrations of men, cranes, hoses, concrete mixers, trucks and half-built frames show how a library is built. The text is slightly rhyming: ‘Build the frame. Build the frame./ Hammer all day long./ Make the stairs and floors and walls./ Bing! Bang! Bong!’ or ‘Hoist the wood. Hoist the wood./ Chain and hook and strap./ Swing it round, then lower it down. / Thonk! Clonk! Clap!’ It’s not Shakespeare – or even Dr Seuss, but the action-filled pictures help, and it might intrigue the…
SKINNER, Tom (text) Janet Wolf (illus.) Bus Fuss New Frontier, 2014 unpaged $24.99 ISBN 9781921928031 SCIS 1674361 Bus Fuss is a strongly bound and brightly illustrated cumulative counting book. It begins: ‘One day, in a wide brown land girt by sea, a wide, brown wombat stopped a bus’. He appears beside an empty road in a bare Australian landscape wearing a shirt with purple flowers and blue and purple striped shorts. The bright red bus stops. Then we see the wombat head along the purple corridor and finally squeeze into one of the lime green seats at the back. He…
SHARP, Christine Sylvia UQP, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9780702253140 SCIS 1681155 A joyous book about the potentially damaging effect Sylvia snail has on the vegetable crop of Simon Green and how ultimately her silver trail of destruction is turned into the ultimate advertisement for his proven organic vegetables. Vibrant illustrations and a variety of script for the text make every page an adventure. A little bit of whimsy that makes many re-reads a pleasure. Recommended. reviewed by Chris Dayman Read an interview with author/illustrator Christine Sharp
ROYCE, Ellie (text) Andrew McLean (illus.) Lucas and Jack Working Title Press, 2014 unpaged $24.99 ISBN 9781921504662 SCIS 1666630 Lucas is bored waiting while his mother visits his great grandfather in the nursing home. He makes friends with another old resident, Jack and through talking with him, Lucas becomes interested in the lives lived by the residents and learns to view old people with more respect and understanding. Carefully composed pictures in a muted colour palette highlight the contrasts between the past and the present, the young and the old. This gentle story will possibly be useful in the classroom…
ROMEO, Nata Alphabet Wildlife A to Z Self Published, 2014 unpaged $24.99 pbk ISBN 9781496172174 A simple abecedary themed around animals. Contrary to what the title suggests, the animals represented are a mix of wildlife and some agricultural animals such as cows, horses and yaks. They are selected from across various animal groups including mammals, reptiles and birds. Some are specific species such as P is for Peacock while others are generic such as B is for Bird. The illustration is mostly black and white pen drawing, some pictures have one or two other coloured inks highlighting particular parts. Backgrounds…
ODGERS, Sally (text) Heath McKenzie (illus.) Goodnight Truck Scholastic, 2014 unpaged $19.99 ISBN 9781743620267 SCIS 1676983 This colourful fun book has arrived as a stapled softback uncorrected proof copy, so this reviewer cannot comment on the quality of the final production. The illustrations are joyous and energetic, with a computer-graphic feel. Each double page spread features a vehicle (truck, digger, rocket, boat) doing its typical work or making its way through its typical environment. The rhyming text describes this work and greets each vehicle, until in the second half of the book we say goodnight to each of them for,…