Lisa Tiffen (text) and Matt Ottley (illustrator), The Colour of Music, MidnightSun Publishing, June 2021, 32 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925227871 An interesting approach to listening to music by an author and illustrator who are both musicians who experience synaesthesia which they define as ‘a merging of the senses. People with synaesthesia may see colours when they hear, smell or taste something.’ Lying on a timber floor, young Molly feels the music vibrate through her fingers, then with her eyes closed she sees various colours as the music changes tempo and amplitude. These range from seeing blue and white…
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Nici Gregory, Where’s Speedy?, Berbay Publishing, May 2021, 40 pages, RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780648953395 George and his sister, Lotta, collect a slug from the garden and pop it into a jar to observe. But Speedy goes missing and, as the two children (who are pups) ask everyone in the family if they have seen their new slug friend, all kinds of mini-beasts are uncovered… but where’s Speedy? Anthropomorphic animals collecting minibeasts is a fun idea, and everyone in the family of dogs is interesting and humorous. They include a hard-of-hearing grandfather and a pretzel-baking father. And what’s not to…
Cameron Nunn, Echo in the Memory, Walker Books Australia, June 2021, 272 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760653088 Will is sent away to stay with his grandparents after his mother attempts suicide. They live on a remote farm and Will is not happy to go but needs to support his little sister, Rosie. When they are there, he finds he has some odd feelings of déjà vu, as though he has been at the property sometime in the past. He tries to discuss these feelings with his grandparents and their neighbour but the feelings are dismissed. It is eventually his…
Wenda Shurety (text) and Deb Hudson (illustrator), Pear of Hope, EK Books, May 2021, 32 pp., RRP $25.50 (hbk), ISBN 9781925820867 Pear of Hope is Wenda Shurety’s fifth picture book and tells the tale of Anna, a little girl whose recovery from serious illness is soulfully intertwined with the life cycle of her beloved pear tree. At the bottom of the garden grew an old pear tree.A home of buzzing and budding, scuttlers and flutterers, and tweets and squeaks.It was Anna’s secret hideout.A climbing frame of adventures.A giver of rough and crinkled hugs.A promise of whoops and whispers. A symbol…
Anna Ciddor, The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, Allen & Unwin, June 2021, 336 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760526443 This new historical novel from the experienced children’s writer, Anna Ciddor, is a lot of fun to read, and at the same time hugely informative about the details of what it might have been like to live in the fourth century CE Roman Empire. Perry, the boy at the heart of this story, is on holiday with his parents in France. His mother loves exploring historical sites and attending festivals where people dress as Romans. Somehow Perry manages to slip…
Rascal, Pablo, Gecko Press, June 2021, 32 pp., RRP $22.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781776573240 First published by the highly regarded children’s book publisher, l’ école des loisirs, this simple story describes the emergence of the chick, Pablo, from his protective shell. One peck at a time, he gradually sees a little more of the big world outside. The very simple black and white illustrations start with the oval of the egg, then one eye appears, then a second and little by little his legs and wings. The sights, sounds and smells of his new environment increase as he finally breaks free…
Lauren Tobia, Oscar’s Tower of Flowers, Walker Books, June 2021, 40 pp., RRP $27.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781406391879 The illustrations do the talking in Oscar’s Tower of Flowers, a wordless picture book for children 2 years and older. When Oscar’s mother goes away, he stays at Nana’s apartment. Oscar misses Mum and their home, so Nana helps Oscar plant some seeds to brighten up the apartment. The seeds take off and soon Nana’s home is overflowing with vibrant greenery, snaking vines and colourful blooms. Eventually, there are enough plants to brighten the whole neighbourhood. The illustrations, a combination of graphic panels…
Joanna Grochowicz, Shackleton’s Endurance: An Antarctic Survival Story, Allen & Unwin, May 2021, 304 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760526092 A thrilling true story about the incredible patience, courage, and endurance of twenty-seven men and their extraordinary leader Ernest Shackleton in the face of a most perilous journey. In 1914 famed polar explorer Shackleton set sail once again for the place he considered home to make the last great polar journey. They were to cross Antarctica by foot. An endeavour that was to take a mere one hundred and twenty days, or a short Antarctic summer. But they never even…
Kunyi June Anne McInerney, Kunyi, Magabala Books, June 2021, 60 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925936575 Kunyi was born in Todmorden Station near Oodnadatta in South Australia. Her grandmother, who could only speak her native language, Yankunytjatjara, was her teacher. When Kunyi was four years old, she was taken from her family to a nearby mission where she was given a white name, told to speak English, and forbidden to even go to the side of town closest to her real home. This book is an account of her memories. Many small details are remembered vividly. For instance, instead of…
Helen Scales (text) and Lisk Feng (illustrator), The Great Barrier Reef, Walker Books, June 2021, 88 pp., RRP $34.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781912497812 The aim of Flying Eye Books is to “take children on a journey of wonder”, and this browsable nonfiction book for readers 7+ years fulfils that promise. This is UK writer and marine biologist Helen Scales’ first book for children, and it largely succeeds in covering the complex topic of The Great Barrier Reef with balance and clarity. Lisk Feng’s dynamic illustrations in a palette of blue, orange, black and brown immerse the reader in the topic, ably…