Emma Cary (text) and Emma Stuart (illustrations), Midnight Magpies, Brolly Books, April 2021, 24 pp., RRP $36.75 (hbk), ISBN 9781922418081 The beautiful and magical atmosphere created by singing magpies is celebrated in this lovely children’s book created by two talented Emmas. Emma Cary narrates, in a sweet rhyming verse, a night in a suburban neighbourhood that is filled with the sounds of magpie song. The rhyme has a gentle, soothing pace perfect for a calming bedtime story for children with the words formatted to roll gently across the page, reminiscent of the melodic sounds of carolling magpies. There are a few technical words…
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Brenda Gurr, The Super Spy (The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes #3), New Frontier Publishing, September 2021, 112 pp., RRP $33.25 (pbk), ISBN 9781922326157 In the third instalment of the Zinnia Jakes series, we follow secret-baker-extraordinaire Zoe, aka Zinnia Jakes, on a tricky new cake mission. Zoe —whose mother was a famous pastry chef, and father is a famous food critic — is excited to attend her class sleepover with her best friend Addie. But when Zinnia Jakes receives a cake order for the night of the sleepover, her secret identity is under threat. How will she pull off a…
Rebel Challenger, Food or Friend?, Larrikin House, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922503374 Food or Friends? is a bright and colourful celebration that gathers curious animals with food names, and foods with animal names. Rebel Challenger is an illustrator and wildlife carer. Each double page is filled with lushly coloured food and animals, with simple sentences of text in a large and bold format. Challenger’s wide-eyed animal illustration includes a lovable Lemon Shark and the curious Cabbage Butterfly who are named after foods, contrasted with foods that have animal names, like Crabapple and Dragonfruit. A brightly illustrated…
Jackie French (text) and Bruce Whatley (illustrator), Christmas Always Comes, HarperCollins Publishers, October 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781460757895 Christmas Always Comes is as beautifully told and illustrated as I expected, seeing as it is written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley, who are both highly acclaimed creators of Australian children’s literature, of many years standing. The background soft earthy ochres and tan colours of Whatley’s water colour illustrations set a context of outback Australia, with clothing styles suggesting a period around 1930s. It’s Christmas Eve and little Joey insists optimistically that there is always a…
Emma Allen (text) and Lisa Coutts (illustrator), The Great Book-Swapping Machine, National Library of Australia, September 2021, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780642279736 When a mysterious ‘thing’ lands in an outback paddock, no-one has any idea what it is, what it does or why it’s there! But Fabio, the little boy in whose family farm the thing has landed, knows it must be important. He finds his way inside and makes a marvellous discovery – a book, fittingly entitled A Daydreamer’s Guide to the Galaxy. After trying unsuccessfully to make the thing fly, Fabio finds a girl reading his…
Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes (text) and Peter William Popple (illustrator), Zoo Crew, Scholastic Australia, September 2021, 192 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760976569 Friends Princeton the pig, Mabel the mouse and Eddie the elephant are the nerds of Bazooglyville Primary School or Zoo Primary for short, and are desperate to star in this year’s athletics carnival after being total losers the year before. As a team they are extra keen to win the novelty relay as it comes with a year’s supply of super yummy gelato. The problem is they are up against the dastardly Echo the eagle and…
R. J. Palacio, Pony, Penguin Random House, September 2021, 304 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780141377056 If my debut children’s novel sold millions of copies (sigh), I suspect I’d stay firmly entrenched in my genre of choice. But R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder, a New York Times best seller for nearly a decade, has opted for a stunning change of pace. And thank goodness for that. Because Pony, a deft blend of historical fiction, fantasy, adventure, coming of age and more, is an extraordinary read that unfolds like all good mysteries. And truths. Young Silas Bird is left behind when…
Angelina Joile and Geraldine Van Bueren, Know Your Rights and Claim Them, A Guide for Youth, Walker Books, September 2021, 288 pp., RRP $18.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781839131196 Young people across the world are increasingly demanding that adults acknowledge that the world’s youth is entitled to a cleaner world and that serious and sustained action be taken to combat climate change. The right to a clean climate is one of the rights discussed in this book under the broader concept of life, dignity, and health. The book outlines some of the ‘rights of the child’ as laid down by the United…
Ashling Kwok (text) and Jasmine Berry (illustrator), Where’s My Dinosaur?, Yellow Brick Books, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $26.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780648492559 What a real treat this story is! A must have for any family preparing to bring home their newest member. There’s something growing in Mummy’s tummy… I hope it’s a dinosaur. It could be a chick, a rabbit or even a friendly bear. An elephant or better yet, a dinosaur would make the perfect playmate for this little excited sibling-to-be. As her Mummy’s tummy grows, she imagines all manner of adventurous playmates, but her imagination could never conjure…
Paul McCartney (text) and Kathryn Durst (illustrator), Grandude’s Green Submarine, Penguin Random House, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780241472934 On a boiling hot summer’s day, four children, referred to as ‘the Chillers’, explore Grandude’s top-secret Inventions Shed, which is filled with unusual cooling devices. When they spot a picture of Nandude, their adventurous grandmother, they decide to go on an adventure of their own to find her. Into Grandude’s bright green submarine they go to begin their search. Following Nandude’s special tune, they visit an old friend of Grandude, are chased by a storm, pass a parade…