Amanda Wood (text) and Bec Winnel & Vikki Chu (illustrators), Goodnight, Little Panda, Walker Books, February 2021, 24 pp., RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781913520113 Little Panda is sick and tired of eating bamboo for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and decides to go and explore what her animal friends are eating. Lichen, seeds, and worms galore! Will Little Panda try new foods, or will she discover that bamboo is not so bad after all? From the series Baby Animal Tales, Goodnight, Little Panda is an adorable read aloud book for toddlers and pre-schoolers. Author Amanda Wood is passionate about natural history and animals, and…
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Amanda Wood (text) and Bec Winnel & Vikki Chu (illustrators), Goodnight, Little Monkey, Walker Books, February 2021, 24 pp., RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781913520120 Once upon a bedtime, there was a little monkey… Little Monkey wants to be the best at everything, but eventually discovers that there are some things more important than being the best. What could that be? Goodnight, Little Monkey is a charming story about a monkey determined to prove his worth in the jungle. Combining observational skills along with fun and simple language, author Amanda Wood creates a recipe for a great read aloud experience, leaving…
Kylie Howarth, Fish Kid and the Turtle Torpedo (Book #3), Walker Books, March 2021, 160 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760652548 On a small island in the Maldives, Fish Kid and best friend Emely explore their new environment while their parents are at work. Things soon hot up however when they come across a sick sea turtle and must get it back to shore quickly. A new world of marine rescue soon opens up to the pair as well as many amazing marine animals and habitats. Fish Kid couldn’t be happier but then Emely starts behaving strangely. Why has she…
Matt Stanton, The Odds, ABC Books, October 2020, 208pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780733340635 The Odds is the first of a series of illustrated chapter books, written and illustrated by the author of the ‘Funny Kid’ series, Matt Stanton. We’re introduced to Kip who clearly likes keeping to herself. This becomes tricky for her when her bedroom is invaded by the Odds. These odd bod creatures also look very familiar. Kip soon realises her Dad’s cartoon drawings have come to life and she needs to find a way to get them back onto the page. But how? Things get interesting…
Sandra Morris, North & South: A Tale of Two Hemispheres, Walker Books, February 2021, 40 pp., RRP $27.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925381801 North and South: A Tale of Two Hemispheres by Sandra Morris is a non-fiction picture book tribute to the diversity of animals on Earth. Achingly beautiful, it reveals a story about how our imaginary perception of the globe divided into separate hemispheres influences our understanding of life on earth. Each double page layout of this hardback picture book represents one calendar month. Within each month, two animals are featured, with the split layout representing the Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere and…
Kate Knapp, Ruby Red Shoes: My Wonderful Grandmother, HarperCollins Children’s Books, March 2020, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781460758885 Ruby Red Shoes is the creation of author and illustrator Kate Knapp. Ruby is a hare who lives with her wise and wonderful grandmother Babushka Galina Galushka. Throughout the pages of this book Ruby shares with readers what’s wonderful about her grandmother. The words used by Knapp feel warm and honest as they highlight just how truly wonderful Ruby’s Grandma is. Paired with the cream-coloured pages and delicate watercolour illustrations this book provides an overall sense of love and kindness…
Georgina Young, Loner, Text Publishing, August 2020, 256 pp., RRP $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922330130 Lona is in limbo. Struggling to find any purpose in life she has dropped out of art school and moved out of home. She spends her days wrangling supermarket trolleys and her nights DJ-ing at a roller disco. Her cool, confident exterior is far removed from her introverted, socially awkward self. Tab is her one close friend. They share a common world view – anti-patriarchal, anti-conformist, feminist. She joins Tab in the belief that taste is just another name for internalised misogyny. Lona often second guesses…
Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World, Affirm Press, March 2020, 304 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922419347 After reading The Grandest Bookshop in the World, I am deeply envious of anyone who ever got to set foot in the Coles Book Arcade in Melbourne. The books! The toys and lollies and mechanical curiosities! The Tea Room and the band and the monkeys! The books! Even without the actual magic that Amelia Mellior has written into this story, the Book Arcade sounds like the most magical place on earth, and I delighted in the descriptions of it. The Arcade…
Sean Williams, Her Perilous Mansion, Allen and Unwin, April 2020, 336 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760877361 The whimsical accents of green foil on the cover of Her Perilous Mansion allude to the ensuring mystery and magic that lie within the pages of Sean William’s suspense-filled middle grade novel. Almanac, an instinctively helpful orphan, is eager to impress in his new role as an apprentice second footman at an imposing and disturbingly empty manor. Etta, an impatient and ambitious twelfth child in her family, is also there at the manor to start a new role as a chambermaid. The manor…
Frané Lessac, Australia Under the Sea 1, 2, 3, Walker Books, November 2020, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760652272 Australia Under the Sea 1, 2, 3 is a delight from start to finish; indeed, it’s a twice-read experience on its first opening to catch all the beauty of the illustrations and the secret lives of some of Australia’s remarkable sea creatures. Best-selling author of Australian Baby Animals, Frané Lassac knows exactly what a young audience needs. In Australia Under the Sea 1,2,3, the reader is whisked into the book with quick paced rhyme then launched into the counting aspect…