KOBALD, Irena (text) Freya Blackwood (illus.) My Two Blankets Little Hare, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781921714764 SCIS 1641848 Colour is such a subtle way of conveying emotion, and it is used to good effect in My Two Blankets. Drab taupe, cool blue-greens and vibrant orange convey a child’s confusion about her geographic and cultural relocation and the two opposing cultures and languages which offer her different ways of being in the world. Cartwheel, the main character, is shown in an exuberant spiral of action in her home setting before war came. A transitional page shows the child with her aunt…
Author: Admin
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (Tasmanian Branch) Inc. conferred their latest Life Membership on Hugo McCann, on Sunday, 26 October 2014 at a convivial lunch event at a popular hotel in Battery Point. Hugo accepted the honour with this speech… Thank you for this kindness. Of course I am unaccustomed to life membership ceremonies or even life membership so I have been seeking a way into a more fulsome response. Some people may want to say life membership in any organisation is given for work that was memorable for some worthy reason. I fear that ‘work’ does not apply to my contribution begun over…
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (Tasmanian Branch) Inc. conferred their latest Life Membership on Hugo McCann, on Sunday, 26 October 2014 at a convivial lunch event at a popular hotel in Battery Point. Many of Hugo McCann’s ex-students, friends and former colleagues had pleasure in attending. The group included Rob Valentine, Tasmanian MLC, Angela Briant representing the CBCA National Board and Chris Topfer representing the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA), together with Charles Morgan, representing the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE). The event had a wonderfully warm, moving and celebratory atmosphere with immense good will towards the…
Walker Timmy Failure 3 We Meet Again Stephan Pastis ($17.95) Allen & Unwin #2 Cartboy Goes to Camp L. A. Campbell ($12.99 pbk) HarperCollins/ABC Truly Tan 4: Freaked! Jen Storer/Claire Robertson ($16.99 pbk) Hardie Grant Egmont All the Wrong Questions 3 Shouldn’t You Be In School? Lemony Snicket ($16.95)
HGE/Chirpy Bird Disney Vintage Collection Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Bambi (A$24.95/NZ$24.99) Allen & Unwin The Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomango (and Alberta) Book 6 The Talkative Tombstone Ursula Dubosarsky/Terry Denton ($9.99 pbk) Little Tiger Press Still in paperback by a CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winner is Augustus and his SMILE Catherine Rayner ($14.95 pbk) UQP Now in boardbook form is Squish Rabbit Katherine Battersby ($14.95)
Graphic novels of: The Power of Five #3 NightRise Anthony Horowitz/Tony Lee/Nigel Dobbyn plus War Brothers, the cruel & horrifying story of child soldiers that is still current, are available from Walker ($19.95 pbk) Text Jack Mason Adventure Book III The Broken Sun Darrell Pitt (A$16.99 NZ$21.00 pbk+e); HarperCollins #2 and conclusion Corruption Jessica Shirvington ($24.99 TPB); Random House Brotherband 5 Scorpion Mountain John Flanagan ($17.99 pbk); Allen & Unwin Twinmaker 2 Crash Sean Williams, and The Hidden Series 2 Sunker’s Deep Lian Tanner ($18.99 pbk)
FORSYTH, Kate (text) Fiona McDonald (illus.) Two Selkie Stories from Scotland Christmas Press, 2014 unpaged $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780992283827 SCIS 1660749 Beautifully retold folktales with Celtic style illustrations will appeal to all who love the magic of the faerie world. The first story is a well known tale of the laird who falls in love with a dancing seal woman and steals her skin to keep her from her true world of the sea. The second is of a seal hunter who must repay his debt for wounding a seal but is forgiven by the seal people and then is…
WILD, Margaret (text) Ritva Voutila (illus.) The Stone Lion Little Hare, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781921894855 SCIS 1657423 If you have ever been to London, you might remember the stone lion outside the British Museum. Margaret Wild, in this whimsical story, sets him outside the library instead. Here the lion tells the gargoyle that he would love to be alive and the gargoyle says that sometimes a great and generous heart will allow that. The lion is rewarded by rescuing two homeless children from the bleak winter cold. The story has something of the tone of Han Christian Andersen or…
The Dragonkeeper series by Carole Wilkinson has been awarded the Graham Davey Citation in the 2014 YABBA Awards. The Graham Davey Citation is presented in honour of Graham Davey who served as volunteer president of YABBA for 20 years. The citation, now in its second year, recognises a person and/or work that, through craft or contribution, has made an impact on children’s literature. The citation is awarded by the YABBA council.
DREISE, Gregg Silly Birds Magabala, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781922142993 SCIS 1661282 Maliyan is a young proud eagle who listens to his parents and elders and learns from them to look and listen and to speak little. He meets Wagun, a turkey and ‘wombah thigaraas’ or ‘silly bird’ who disregards the advice of the elders and who speaks far too much. Maliyan and Wagun form a friendship based on frivolity which other young birds soon join too. In their juvenile arrogance they pollute the billabong so there is no water to drink, and eat far too much so that food…