YOUNG, Damon (text) Peter Carnavas (illus.) My Nanna is a Ninja UQP, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9780702250095 SCIS 1647193 My four-year-old co-reviewer loved this book and wanted it read every night. It details how different Nannas can be and the various things they do. But what is it like to have a Nanna for a ninja? Is she quieter? Does she only dress in black? This vividly illustrated laugh-aloud book is abundant with rich, descriptive language that allows the story to flow beautifully. My co-reviewer sat repeating the story to himself. This is one of those books that will entice…
Author: Admin
Jo Goodman 27 September 1940 – 24 July 2014 Jo Goodman’s death is deeply felt by the Australia’s children’s literature community. Friends and colleagues will attest to her extensive knowledge relating to children’s literature and to the children’s book world. This knowledge was invariably imbued with passion and a belief that Australian children’s literature is an essential part of our national heritage. Her contributions and achievements are impressive, but these are only reflections of the depth and breath of her life lived within children’s literature. The Children’s Book Council of Australia was an important…
WHITE, Leanne (text) Irene King (illus.) Dilly Dally All Day Long ISBN 9780987159793 SCIS 1639125 WHITE, Leanne She’s My Mum ISBN 9780987159786; William the Wild goes Camping ISBN 9780987505415 Wild Eyed Press, 2013 unpaged $14.95 pbk Of all the books in this collection, Dilly Dally All Day Long would be my recommendation. This story follows a group of indigenous children as they dilly dally on their way to the billabong. But if they dilly dally for too long will the crocodile be waiting for them? It is beautifully illustrated and details the wonderful Australian fauna and flora in Australia’s north. …
Freelance illustrator and designer Sinead Hanley tells Reading Time how cheeky Nepalese chickens helped bring her first published book, Chooky-doodle-doo, to life and lets slip a secret hiding in the feathers of the Chooky-doodle-doo rooster… As a child I was always making blobby animals out of clay scooped from the creek running through the backyard and telling stories of the adventures of goannas, bobtails, lizards and bandicoots. The bush and nature that encompassed the house which I grew up in the Perth foothills was the perfect foundation for creativity and folklore. After studying graphic design and printmaking, distant shores beckoned. While…
Jan Whiten, pictured here with Snowflake ‘a friendly ex-battery hen’, tells Reading Time how her love of reading children’s books led her into the exciting world of writing her own stories for children, and how Chooky-Doodle-Doo was inspired by the antics of Miss Milligan, one of her much-loved hens. Chooky-Doodle-Doo might never have been written if it wasn’t for my husband casually asking one day if I’d like to get a few chooks. As I love animals, I was never going to say no, and soon we had a handful of feathery friends in the garden. One day when I…
WHITEN, Jan (text) Sinéad Hanley (illus.) Chooky-doodle-doo Walker, 2014 unpaged A$24.95 NZ$27.99 ISBN 9781921977879 SCIS 1664257 Six vivid red, yellow and orange geometrically-depicted chickens run around on bold viridian grass as they struggle to pull up an especially tough worm, until the rooster adds his weight and the surprising ‘worm’ is revealed. Combining counting with entertaining verse and lots of visual humour, this short and funny story should entertain little kids for many repeat readings. reviewed by Chlöe Mauger Read an interview with the author of Chooky-doodle-doo, Jan Whiten Read an interview with the illustrator of Chooky-doodle-doo, Sinead Hanley
Sandi Harrold is an artist, children’s author and illustrator. She has worked as a kindergarten teacher, director and teacher at a C&K early childhood centre, and has also taught ESL (English as a Second Language). Sandi currently tutors children with special needs and spends every spare moment writing and painting at her home, a traditional old ‘Queenslander’ in the western suburbs of Brisbane. She spoke to Reading Time about her career and her art… We live in the bush and enjoy peace and tranquillity. Our garden is filled with King Parrots and our Jack Russell terrier Jack, who is featured…
Jane Fry, author of new picture book, Under The Rose Bush, which deals with the difficult topic of Alzheimer’s, dropped in to Reading Time to tell us about her writing process… I have heard it said that writing gives you the chance to sort out the fragments of your life and piece them together. Writing Under The Rose Bush has had great significance for me and has certainly been the case here. Telling you the background to the writing of the picture book, before discussing the writing process, certainly seems a good place to start. When my mother got Alzheimer’s…
FRY, Jane (text) Sandi Harrold (illus.) Under the Rose Bush Green Olive Press, 2013 unpaged $22.00 pbk ISBN 9780987599803 Zoe and her Grandmother have a wonderful relationship, sharing games, stories and enjoying each other’s company in Granny’s wonderful rose garden. One day, Granny’s keys refused to be found, and this began to happen over and over again, with Granny becoming more and more forgetful, agitated and distressed. Eventually it becomes apparent that Granny needs more help, company and understanding than even the most devoted family can provide, and eventually a nursing home has to be found where she gradually fades…
Tamsin Janu is inspired to write by all the things she sees and experiences. Here she shares with Reading Time how her experiences in Ghana shaped her debut novel Figgy in the World… In 2009 I spent three months in Ghana, a country in West Africa, working at a school and orphanage and staying with a local family. Having never been to a developing country before I was surprised by the poverty I saw daily, but also fell in love with the humour and resilience of the Ghanaian people. The kids I worked with were particularly interesting, as their world and…