The Children of Rawa Community School with Alison Lester and Jane Godwin, Monster Party, Magabala Books, October 2018, 32 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925360554 A story immersed in rhyme, imagination and colour; developed from an amazing initiative in partnership with celebrated Australian authors; Alison Lester and Jane Goodwin. Lester and Goodwin visited Rawa Community School in Punmu, one of the most remote schools in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. The community’s love of story telling was used to engage children in developing their own stories, complete with their creative illustrations. This book is delightful; with its rhythmic text…
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Shelly Unwin (text) and Vivienne To (illustrator), There’s a Baddie Running through this Book, Allen & Unwin, September 26 2018, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760630614 Upon sighting the cover of this book I knew it was going to be a story that my boys and I would enjoy. We were transported to a world where the baddie raccoon terrorized the other animals across the pages; stealing their cakes, briefcases, guitars and hotdogs. Vivienne To cleverly represents the raccoons escapades with illustrations which look like tears in the pages. My 5 year old delighted in identifying and matching what was…
Tonya Bolden, Crossing Ebenezer Creek, Bloomsbury, August 2018, 230 pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781681196992 This is a most interesting book, dealing with an incident in America’s history of which I knew nothing before reading this novel. During General Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’, during the American Civil War, many freed slaves joined the Union soldiers on the trek south. When they came to Ebenezer Creek, just outside Savannah, Georgia, the soldiers crossed on a hastily made pontoon bridge which was, on the orders of General Jefferson Davis, removed before the freed slaves (who were, to all intents and purposes, refugees) had…
Kate Ritchie (text), and Jedda Robaard (illustrator), It’s Not Scribble to Me, Random House Australia, October 29 2018, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780143790136 Bear is obviously a serious artist in the making. She’s not satisfied with just paper and her art work, using pencils, paints, crayons and stencils, spreads over all the walls, into the bathroom and wherever there is blank space. Her parents are not amused, and one can see them trying to remove her ‘scribbles’ from the walls. But the narrator describes what each art work depicts, how the different colours have been used and by doing…
Fred Blunt, Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny, Allen & Unwin, October 24 2018, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760634698 I cringed a bit when I saw the title, realising who the two main characters were. Then a little intrigued as to how they could be combined because their important days were so far apart. Santa is bubbly and jolly. Bunny is completely different.Santa gets all the help needed for his important night. He has the elves, a production line, magical reindeer who fly through the night so that he gets around his whole delivery area AND he gets food…
Elise Hartley (Text), and Shannon Horsfall (illustrator), Dear Santa, Scholastic Australia, October 2018, RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781742993683 This book is made up of a series of letters to Santa, most of which can be removed from the book to read. It is clear that illustrator/designer Shannon Horsfall has tailored each letter to the specific animal, as each spread has a distinct look and feel that complements the letter. The inclusion of an email and a postcard from Australia are nice touches, and removing and reading the letters will be the main attraction for readers. This title could be more engaging…
Johnny Marks (text) and Louis O’Shea (illustrator), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Scholastic Australia, October 2018, 24 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781742993638 This new edition of the classic lyrics stands out for its striking illustrations. The personification of the reindeers is wonderful, with each reindeer given a clear identity. The lyrics are easily identifiable, even where incorporated into the illustrations, although they probably won’t be necessary once readers get going! Unlike some versions where the title character is depicted as a lonely outcast, Shea’s Rudolph appears to be a more standoffish character who is not fazed by his exclusion from the…
Danielle Clode, From Dinosaurs to Diprotodons: Australia’s Amazing Fossils, Museum Victoria Publishing, August 2018, 44 pp., RRP $24.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781921833472 Why are fossils so interesting? It was Charles Darwin who noted that giant prehistoric fossils were like living species and this helped him understand evolution. Fossils however can also give us important information on the movement of land masses and climate of the time as well as the impacted environmental change has had on plant and animal species in and out of the water. In her latest book published by Museum Victoria, Zoologist and science writer for children and adults…
Karen Tyrrell (text) and Trevor Salter (illustrator), Rainforest Rescue (Song Bird #3), Digital Future Press, August 2018, 198 pp., ISBN 9780648161721 The Gondwana Rainforest is dying and Rosella Ava Bird AKA Song Bird Superhero and her mates, Amy and Ben aim to find out why. Whilst on a grade 6 camp at the rainforest site strange things begin to happen; people are disappearing whilst Destructo, the villain of the piece, lurks menacingly in the background. It is time for Song Bird to gather her strength and find those missing as well as help save the environment. Along with her brave wheelchair-bound buddy…
Kelly Yang, Front Desk, Walker Books, August 2018, 320 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760650469 Mia’s uncle once told her that if a bowl is broken it can be put back together but it will never be the same. Water will always seep through the cracks. Was this to be a metaphor for her family’s story since immigrating from China to America? Were they now the broken bowl? Ten year old Mia and her family are recent emigrants to America in search of a better life. Although her parents were both highly educated in China, in America they are just poor…