Jessica Sizeland, Not Just a Knot!, Austin Macauley Publishers, November 2020, 30 pp., RRP $11.13 (pbk), ISBN 9781528991919 Not Just a Knot! is Jessica Sizeland’s first picture book and is the realisation of her life-long dream after a career in early childhood education and bringing her own young children up. It tells the tale of a child with very messy hair who will not allow her exasperated mother to comb it out. Love, come here, there’s no need to wriggle, we will have those knots out in a jiggle!Thanks anyway, Mum, but I’m all right, it’d be better if I…
Author: Admin
Renée Watson, Love is a Revolution, Bloomsbury, February 2021, 400 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781526616821 Nala, a plus-sized black girl living in Harlem New York, is at the start of the summer holidays, still finding who and what she is but aiming to find love this summer. Having disagreed with her mother when she was thirteen, she now lives permanently with her aunt and uncle, and her cousin-sister-friend, Imani. When she goes to an open-mic night to celebrate Imani’s birthday, she falls in love with Tye, who also finds her attractive. But, to create the persona that she thinks…
Mem Fox (text) and Christine Davenier (illustrator), Early One Morning, Penguin Australia, March 2021, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761040030 From bestselling author Mem Fox (Possum Magic and Where is the Green Sheep) and acclaimed illustrator Christine Davenier (The First Thing My Mama Told Me) comes this joyful, new picture book: Early One Morning. Early one morning, a little boy went for a walk in search of a couple of things for his breakfast. Immediately the guessing game is on. What could the little boy be looking for as he sets out to find his breakfast, striding confidently away…
Wendy Orr, Cuckoo’s Flight, Allen & Unwin, March 2021, 288 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760524913 Cuckoo’s Flight, like its predecessors award-winning Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance, is set in Bronze Age Crete. Clio, the main protagonist, has a disability – she needs to walk with a crutch after a devastating fall from her horse. But she, like girls in the previous two books, is brave and a feisty hero. In this, she is joined by Mika, a fisher girl who has no real status in the town where Clio lives and that is ruled over by the Lady. The…
Maree Coote, When You Go To Melbourne, Melbournestyle Books, March 2021, 24 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780648568421 When You Go To Melbourne is an enthusiastic celebration of Melbourne’s unique sights and tourist attractions. It is written and illustrated by Maree Coote, who has produced several beautifully illustrated and unusual award-winning picture books, including some with fascinating letter art pictures. When You Go To Melbourne is another example of Coote’s extraordinary artistic talent. Each double-page spread represents a specific feature of Melbourne – ladies’ hats on Flemington Race day, outdoor sculptures, historic buildings, trams, street art and more. The pages…
Leigh Hardingham (text) and Patrick Shirvington (illustrator), Three Dancing Frogs, New Frontier Publishing, December 2020, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781921928819 The soft pastel and gilt cover of The Dancing Frogs makes this a picture book that young ballerinas are going to want to pick up and touch, and the story and illustrations inside deliver on exactly what the cover promises. This book is a sweet and gentle rhyming description of three frogs and an assorted orchestra of Australian animals giving a ballet performance around a pond, from the animals arriving to watch to the orchestra tuning up and…
Jo Kasch (text) and Jonathan Bentley (illustrator), Mo and Crow, Allen & Unwin, March 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760631758 From the illustrious team of Jo Kasch (award-winning children’s television writer/editor) and Jonathan Bentley (acclaimed illustrator of over forty picture books) comes Mo and Crow, a charming and insightful story whose power is steeped in its simple, universal message. Set-in-his-ways Mo lives alone in a small house and likes it that way. His sturdy stone wall keeps out everything he wants to keep out … until the Tap tap tap of a pesky crow opens up his world,…
Liz Ledden (text) and Gabriella Petruso (illustrator), Walking Your Human, Larrikin House, February 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780648894513 What a great picture book about different dogs taking their human for a walk. I love it. The reader learns why dogs pull their walkers’ arms off, what are the important things to see and do, how they protect their humans but sadly the dogs don’t talk about the need to pick up after their toileting. Both the simple verbal text and pictures are full of humour and will appeal to all age levels: whether it be the adult…
Lynette Noni, The Prison Healer, Penguin Random House, March 2021, 416 pp., RRP $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760897512 Trigger warnings: Kiva has scars on her thighs, which we learn are the result of self-inflicted cutting. [p. 246] It is sensitively handled, and her explanation of why she did it and how she stopped, is both moving and positive. There are also numerous references to female characters being attacked and molested by male guards – no details are given; it is left to the readers’ imagination. Older readers will understand that it is referring to rape, younger readers will be left with…
Neal Shusterman, Game Changer, Walker Books Australia, February 2021, 400 pp., RRP $18.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406398632 Game Changer by bestselling author of more than thirty award-winning books, Neal Shusterman, is an original, thoughtful, sci-fi tale. Ash is an all-American football loving teen, who cruises his way through life, in ignorance of the plights of others. This is until he finds himself thrust between a series of universes, not too different from his own. Ash discovers how it is to live as a Black American, as a woman and as a gay teenager. He begins to realise the extent of his…