Kayleen WEST Without Me? Wombat, 2013 unpaged $18.95 ISBN 9781921632532 SCIS 1632879 Despite the sunny skies and obvious clues of a happy family the young child in this picture book wants to run away from home using the familiar refrain ‘No one loves me. No one needs me’. After the ten minutes it takes to think through the issues one by one, including taking each family member and both pets because they can’t do without him, it appears he is indispensable after all. And as we know, well loved. I would have preferred the character to say ‘If I went without…
Author: Admin
DELANEY, Kaz Almost Dead Allen & Unwin, 2014 400pp $15.99+e ISBN 9781743313268 SCIS 1641267 Macey Pentecost sees dead people. However, that’s the least of her problems. Macey has recently been plagued by ghosts of dead people who hover around her at home in an annoying and distracting fashion. However new ‘guest’ Nick denies he is dead, and may in fact have been sent as a warning to the strident Macey who has been a little too negative in her post about local band Pashon on her blog. Nick, the lead singer of Pashon, is in fact in a coma in…
WAGNER, Michael (text) Terry Denton (illus.) Knockout! ISBN 9781922244802 SCIS 1657954; Shocker! ISBN 9781922244819 SCIS 1660824; Grand Final! ISBN 9781922244826 SCIS 1660822 Black Dog (Maxx Rumble Soccer), 2014 62pp $9.95 pbk One does not need to know anything about soccer or be a soccer fan to be caught up in this very enjoyable trio of stories. They will delight any reader, no matter what might be their sporting interests. For a good laugh they they are real winners. Maxx Rumble whose sporting prowess also covers Australian Rules and cricket in other series describes his valiant little Stone Valley Saints soccer…
KATZ, Danny (text) Mitch Vane (illus.) A Book About Scary Five Mile Press, 2013 unpaged $16.99 ISBN 9781743460443 SCIS 1619426 This is a clever book; not only does it identify many fears common to young children, the inclusion of humour lifts the reader’s reaction and enables a different perspective. The first endpaper identifies 18 fears, these include ‘monsters’ and ‘dentists’, but also ‘stripes’ and ‘the Easter bunny’! The final endpaper reassures us that ‘It’s OK to be scared, everyone’s scared of something’, and as well as the author’s and illustrator’s confessions there is room to draw one’s own fears. The…
JOHNSTON, Nicky Actually, I Can Rough Draft, 2013 unpaged $16.95 pbk ISBN 9780987092670 SCIS 1650948 Here is a brightly illustrated, well written picture book designed to help children whose negative feelings stop them having fun. The characters are Amelia, who is imaginative, confident, adventurous and brave, and Connor who is shy, timid, thoughtful and obedient. As a mother and teacher, I think Connor sounds like a great kid and Amelia sounds like she would need a lot of extra supervision. However, the story tells its readers how Connor didn’t like trying new things because he was worried about making mistakes…
JAMES, Ann Bird and Bear Five Mile Press, 2013 unpaged $14.95 ISBN 9781743463796 SCIS 1605300 This deceptively simple book pays a lovely tribute to friendship, and every aspect demonstrates Ann James’s deep understanding of writing, illustrating and designing books for the very young. Bird and Bear are best friends and it is Bear’s ‘bearthday’ so they decide to celebrate it together. Bird’s question (destined to become a family ritual) of ‘Is it a trolley day or a brolly day?’ is answered ‘a trolley day’, so a picnic it is. Packed into the trolley and off they go. The restricted palette…
HOUGH, Toni A Possum’s Nest Wild Eyed Press, 2013 unpaged $14.95 pbk ISBN 9780987505408 Told in rhyming verse, Lily finds a baby possum on the lawn in her garden. She sets out to try to help him find his home. Through her search, readers are introduced to a variety of native Australian birds and animals and the design of their nests. There is a repeated refrain, which young children will identify and join in with. The illustrations of Lily are rather static but the animals, birds and vegetation are appealing and will invite close examination to find hidden details. Young…
HOOKEY, Gordon The Sacred Hill Qld Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, 2013 unpaged $14.95 ISBN 9781921503597 SCIS 1623087 This is a colourful large format book. The artist, an indigenous Australian of Waanyi people, lives and works in Brisbane. His illustrations often cover both pages, so the book opens out on images that can be explored for their detail and enjoyed for their rich, dense colour. The story centres on a sacred hill populated by happy kangaroos. Their idyll was disturbed by flocks of myna birds that eventually drove out the kangaroos. After many years in exile, the kangaroos wondered what…
GRAINGER, Colin (text) Ben Jelfs (illus.) Mario & Tilly Take Flight Poeology, 2013 unpaged $24.90 pbk ISBN 9780987397966 SCIS 1651842 Colin Grainger spent a 40-year career working in transport and engineering but now self-publishes his writings. This is the first children’s title. Written in verse and set in historic Vaucluse House, it tells of the antics of two kittens, Mario and Tilly. There is no plot as such, more a description of all the mischief the pair gets up to and the ending leaves the reader hanging. The verse text occasionally sounds forced to make words rhyme or to maintain…
FRENCH, Jackie (text) Bruce Whatley (illus.) Fire Scholastic, 2014 unpaged $24.99 ISBN 9781742838175 SCIS 1641830 There have been many novels for children bringing to them the terrifying experience of bushfires. There have not been so many picture books, but here the cover illustration of flames reaching upward in an attempt to devour a terrified white cockatoo provides a vivid experience for the reader. Inside, the first picture is a gentle one in muted colour of the cockatoo perched peacefully on the branch of a gum tree, albeit the text points us to ‘Hills bleached gold, a baked blue sky’ and…