Sam Hume, An Anthology of Aquatic Life, Dorling Kindersley, September 2022, 224 pp., RRP $39.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780241546321 This is a beautiful book to look at. From its gilt-edged pages to the gold-enhanced covers, its 244 pages are attractively designed and sumptuously illustrated. Most double-page spreads feature a large photograph of a particular water lifeform, be it animal, plant, algae or other. These are organised into chapters according to their habitat, labelled Deep ocean, Shallow seas, Wetlands and Rivers, lakes and ponds. Author Sam Hume displays a lifelong love of water worlds, and the illustrations are acknowledged from a variety…
Author: Admin
Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing (text) and David Hardy (illustrator), Back on Country, Allen & Unwin, November 2022, RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761065088 Back on Country is the third book in the successful Welcome to Our Country series. The first in the series, Somebody’s Land debuted at no.2 in the picture-book market and won the ABIA Children’s Book of the Year in 2022. Somebody’s Land was then followed by the second book, Ceremony which celebrated the rich traditions of indigenous dance, family, and community. In this the third of the series, writer and well-known sportsperson Adam Goodes, an Adnyamathanha and…
Katrina Germein (author) and Tom Jellett (illustrator), My Dad thinks he’s a Pirate, Walker Books Australia, August, 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760653460 Here’s another title in the popular ‘My Dad’ series. It is replete with dad jokes, puns, riddles, and knock-knock jokes. In particular, the author has a lot of fun with homophones: sail/sale, sea/see, shore/sure. The younger audience will not understand this humour, but older siblings probably will. The book begs to be read aloud, preferably with a ‘pirate’ voice! There is, of course, the ubiquitous fart joke. Jellett’s illustrations portray a traditional, nuclear family’s day out…
Lian Tanner (text) and Cheryl Orsini (illustrator), Rita’s Revenge, Allen & Unwin, July 2022, 352 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761066009 Clever animals abound here including a detective duck named Rita, and a ‘chook-napped’ Clara (a scruffy chicken). They are characters in a mystery story which will thoroughly entertain its readers from beginning to end. Themes of deceit, revenge, problem solving, and friendship resonate in this story. Not too dissimilar to school playground tensions, the ducks of the town of Little Dismal are on a revenge seeking path aimed at Clara the scruffy chicken. Rita’s initial goal is to restore…
Christopher Cheng (text) and Danny Snell (illustrator) Pollination: How Does my Garden Grow? CSIRO Publishing, February 2023, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781486313235 The unnamed narrator of this scientific picture book is spending the day with Gran and Pa in their garden. When picking some flowers for Gran, some bees start to buzz around and a discussion begins about the role they play in pollinating plants. This then progresses to other insects and animals which are useful pollinators and the role that smell and colour play in attracting them to the garden. As night falls, nocturnal creatures also help the…
Heidi Cooper Smith, Secrets of the Seasons, Windy Hollow Books, July 2022, 28 pp., RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780645323542 Secrets of the Seasons is both a sensual and informative story. As a reader it feels like the Australian bush is all encompassing. Sounds and sights, fragrances, and tastes – a complete immersion in a unique environment. Completely relatable to readers who have experienced the Australian seasons but for those who have not, Secrets of the Seasons promises a journey into a diverse land full of unexpected beauty. Heidi Cooper Smith has written this story in both rhyme and prose. The…
Melina Marchetta, Looking for Alibrandi, Penguin Australia, October 2022, 304 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761047206 In 1993, Looking For Alibrandi won the CBCA Book of the Year award for Older Readers. Thirty years later, this modern classic remains a timeless work of Australian literature. Seventeen year old Josie Alibrandi has one goal for her final year of high school- emancipation. What can possibly stand in her way, you ask? Perhaps just the expansive cultural expectations placed on her as a third generation Italian, or maybe even the ‘curse’ of her mother’s illegitimacy. Josie faces all too familiar challenges in…
Melanie La’Brooy , The Wintrish Girl, (Talismans of Fate #1), University of Queensland Press, August 2022, 448 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702265631 Penn is a servant and an outcast. The people of Arylia see her cursed white hair and know that she is a Wintrish girl from the Province of Midwinter, a useless ‘Slumweed’, there only to serve and do as they command. Penn’s life is mapped out for her, she is destined to take over mixing grotesque potions for the grumpy old Goody, who is the only other Wintrish person in Arylia Penn can talk to. But on…
Lauren Child, Clarice Bean, Scram!, HarperCollins Publishers, July 2022, 176 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780008541507 The opening of this fun middle grade novel gives the reader a great sense of the story to come. Nothing ever happens except for sometimes… And only on rare-ish occasions, which is hardly ever. With her best friend away on a holiday, her older sister furious with her, and jealous of her rabbit-sitting neighbour, Clarice Bean can’t think of anything to do. That is, until a stray dog follows her home. Clarice and her siblings team up to look after the dog – in…
Susannah Crispe, Under the Moonlight, Lothian Children’s Books, April 2022, 24 pp., RRP $2499 (hbk), ISBN 9780734421159 He felt so much better with somebody there. Moose is drifting off to sleep when he hears a frightening noise. He imagines fearsome creatures lurking in the dark and wants to know what awful thing disturbs his sleep. Off on a nighttime adventure he goes, encountering a screeching barn owl, thumping snow hares and a grumpy hibernating bear, becoming more fearful along the way. But it isn’t until Moose stops his search that he realises the noise doesn’t come from a fearsome creature…