MORGAN, Sally (text) Bronwyn Bancroft (illus.) The Amazing A to Z Thing Little Hare, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781921894190 SCIS 1657436 This deceptively simple A to Z book is extraordinarily brilliant. A book to enjoy, to encourage the love of reading, and provide the skills to read as well – what an amazing package! Anteater attempts to share an amazing ‘thing’ with an A to Z assortment of Australian critters, all of whom show disinterest until the twist at the end. In Morgan’s engaging story, children will identify with the desire to share something special, only to be met by…
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LOESSER, Frank (text) Nathaniel Eckstrom (illus.) Justine Clarke (performer) The Ugly Duckling Scholastic, unpaged $24.99+CD ISBN 9781742836447 SCIS This is obviously a book to accompany the CD that on the cover is advertised as a ‘Bonus’. The words, then, are supposed to be sung: ‘There once was an ugly duckling, With feathers all stubby and brown, And the other birds, in so many words, said, Get out of town! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out of town!’ This is very much a novelty production – the sort of thing that belongs to a television program for nursery tots. …
LEAN, Tarryn (text) Annie White (illus.) Baby Glue JoJo, 2014 unpaged $16.99 pbk IBSN 9780987587930 SCIS 1674020 Charlotte is SO excited at the prospect of a new baby which is currently inside mummy’s tummy. While she is waiting, observant Charlotte enumerates all the people who are also engaged in preparing for the forthcoming birth – family, friends, neighbours and professionals are all drawn together by that special baby glue into a community of shared happy expectation. The delightful text is accompanied by utterly enchanting and engaging illustrations – a perfect gift for any family to enthuse an older child into…
Christine Sharp shares with Reading Time the inspiration behind her enchanting picture book Sylvia. The idea of Sylvia came to me one morning, well before dawn. I awoke with an image in my mind — a gleaming snail trail curling and looping across the cover of a book with the title, A Succulent Tale of Sylvia Snail and Her Shimmering Trail (later shortened to Sylvia, much easier to say). Still lying in bed, I remembered my childhood fascination with the daily happenings and changes in our backyard garden; how I’d eagerly wake and venture outside to see dew cobwebs in…
In Picture Books…. Allen & Unwin Mouse Mansion: Sam & Julia at the Circus Karina Schaapman ($24.99) In Early Childhood Books… Allen & Unwin In one padded volume are four long standing favourite stories of/for small children Baby Days Alison Lester ($16.99) In Younger Reader Books…. Puffin Diary of a Wimpy Kid #9 The Long Haul Jeff Kinney ($14.99 pbk) In Older Reader Books… Allen & Unwin Starbound Trilogy #2 This Shattered World Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner ($18.99 pbk)
BAVATI, Robyn Pirouette Penguin, 2014 289pp $17.99 pbk ISBN 9780143569374 SCIS 1638937 Simone has been a dancer all her life, and can’t find a way to tell her mother that she just can’t do it anymore. All Hannah has ever wanted is to dance, but her parents don’t take it seriously. But when the two girls meet at a summer dance camp, they discover that they have more than just ballet in common. It doesn’t take more than one meeting to work out that their shared birthday, adopted backgrounds and eerily similar looks could only mean one thing. So Simone…
WELLS-SLOWGROVE, Jodie (text) Kerry Millard (illus.) Daisy’s Quest 111pp ISBN 9780143307464 SCIS 1651564; Daisy’s New Wings 115pp ISBN 9780143307471 SCIS 1651565 Puffin (Wilderness Fairies), 2014 $9.99 pbk Daisy is a spunky little fairy who loves spending time out in the bush with her beetle best friend, Vu. She can’t wait until the day she gets her fairy quest and has a chance to earn her wings, like the rest of her family. But when that day comes, Daisy learns that earning wings – and knowing what to do with them – is more difficult than it seems. In Daisy’s Quest,…
CRAWFORD, Shane & Adrian Beck (text) Heath McKenzie (illus.) The Cursed Cup Penguin (Crawf’s Kick it to Nick), 2014 96pp $9.99 pbk ISBN 9780143307846 SCIS 1656725 The first of a new sports-based series, this fast paced and readable story combines football lingo with humour and paranormal happenings. Protagonist Nick, his friend Bruiser, and talented new girl Ella have enough challenges ahead to win the game on a new oval without having to deal with a golden trophy cup that morphs into a monster. This story is told in short, sharp sentences with a simple vocabulary suited to sports-mad kids, and…
We received this lovely tribute to the wide reaching influence of Maurice Saxby from one of our readers, Jane Brummitt. With her permission, we’d like to share it with you here…. I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Maurice Saxby. Maurice Saxby’s decades of support for Nutcote the home of May Gibbs will be deeply missed. In supporting the saving of Nutcote he honoured May Gibbs’ contribution to Australian children’s literature, championing her as the most well known children’s author in Australia. He pointed out that before Snugglepot and Cuddlepie was published in 1918, little was…
SOKOLIC, Katie (text) Glenn Sokolic (illus.) The Magic Quilt Red Forest Creations, 2013 unpaged $19.25 ISBN 9780987572103 When Toby’s mum makes him a new quilt, he is shocked to learn that it has the power to take him away to magical places. From the highest clouds to the bottom of the ocean, it isn’t long before Toby is disappearing to have grand adventures any time he feels scared. Now if only he could remember how to get back home! While the concept behind this book is certainly solid if unoriginal, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Children may…