The Chatty Kidz and Indigenous Literary Foundation have teamed up to launch a simple, yet powerful app for reading with children. The first book featured on the app is a compelling story, Bangs 2 Jurrukuk. Written by senior girls from Tiwi Island, it is a captivating tale which shares traditional Tiwi culture and values of love, courage and ‘One People’. The customised app is available free nationally and is a fun, enjoyable way for children and adults of all ages to engage in and share the joy of reading, no matter where they are located. The app works by combining content…
Author: Admin
Look what we saw today – Children’s Book Week posters rolling off the presses! This year’s merchandise features the stunning artwork of Ron Brooks, and will be sold in our all new online shop. Check out all the details – the items available and the designs – on our website. The shop will open for sales on 15 May. Children’s Book Week is 16-22 August.
SAXBY, Claire (text) Max Berry (illus.) Meet the ANZACS Random House, 2014 unpaged $24.99 ISBN 9780857981929 SCIS 1642294 Part of the series designed to celebrate Australian history by relating stories of extraordinary men and women who have shaped our nation, this book cannot be overlooked. ANZAC (as we all should know by now) stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It is the name given to the Australian and New Zealand troops who landed at Gallipoli in World War I (25 April 1915) and is now a symbol of bravery and mateship. Here is told the story of how the ANZAC…
ALEXANDER, Goldie Gallipoli Medals ADCC Pub, 2013 28pp $10.95 ISBN 9780980448054 If previous generations have fought, can two boys of the current generation be friends – in Australia? Beginning with a lost and found medal, then three more medals plus an extra, the story traces not only their history but the ups and downs of friendship between two mates at school and home. The history of Gallipoli and the ANZACS and how war had after effects on family are explored as well as the fact the past can influence the present, hopefully for the best. A story with much relevance…
DANDO-COLLINS, Stephen Tank Boys Random House, 2014 290pp $17.99 pbk +e ISBN 9780857981301 SCIS 1647135 Based on true stories of the world’s first tank-versus-tank battle, this book is also a story of friendship and courage under very adverse conditions and in very difficult circumstances. (For fans of history based fiction the development and use of tanks by Britain in World War I was written by Ronald Welch, as part of his Carey family battle books, in Tank Commander OUP 1972 Puffin pbk 1980) However this particular story, featuring three underage soldiers who take part in what will become one of…
HILL, David Brave Company. Penguin, 2013 216pp NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9780143307570 SCIS 1625387 This story explores what it is (and is not) to be a hero. Young Russell has joined the Navy as soon as his age allowed in order to be someone different from his Uncle Trevor. His Uncle was generally known to be a hero, having received a Military Cross for his efforts in the Second World War. Yet, Russell recalls finding a secret official letter that seemed to indicate that his Uncle was being investigated as a deserter. The thought of his uncle being a coward deeply…
SIERS, Robyn Devotion: Stories of Australia’s wartime nurses Aust Govt/Aust War Memorial, 2013 52pp $19.95 pbk ISBN 9781877007835 SCIS 1602136 At the Australian War Memorial in Canberra there is a stained-glass window of a military nurse bearing the single word ‘Devotion.’ This text traces the history of that devotion from its origin in the Boer War, through the two World Wars, then Korea and Vietnam and continuing on to the contemporary conflict in Afghanistan. Humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, such as the Tsunami relief at Banda Aceh, are also included. Using the extensive resources of the War Memorial, the text abounds…
TUCKER, Alan Kokoda Scholastic (My Australian Story), 2014 232pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9781743622056 SCIS 1649002 Archie’s two brothers are fighting in the battlefields of World War II. Des has been sent with the militia to fight in the treacherous landscape of the jungles of New Guinea against the Japanese and his brother Harold is about to join him, after surviving the campaign in the Middle East. There is nothing between Australian and a Japanese invasion, except a small band of brave soldiers fighting rain, mud, malaria and the machine guns. In his diary Archie records his own battles at home against…
WERRY, Philippa Lighthouse Family. Coastal New Zealand 1941-42 Scholastic (NZ), 2013 240pp NZ$18.50 pbk ISBN 9781775431473 SCIS 1620582 Part of the My New Zealand Story series, this book gives readers insight into life on a coastal New Zealand island during the Japanese invasions of Singapore and the bombing of Darwin. Frances is the second youngest daughter of a large family whose father is a lighthouse keeper. Scattered around the coastline of NZ as well as on island spaces, lighthouses were once occupied spaces with families responsible for this essential feature of maritime safety. Often found in stark and difficult places…
BACKGROUND Anybody who knows me knows that I have been involved with and passionate about children’s books all my working life—as a children’s librarian, a bookseller, a publisher and a parent, and most recently as a published picture book author of B is for Bedtime, illustrated by Anna Pignataro (Little Hare Books). When I ran Margaret Hamilton Books with my husband Max our philosophy was: Children have a right to the best of everything, especially books. We were one of the few independent Australian publishers specialising in children’s books, especially picture books and we enjoyed considerable success both here and…