Maggie Hutchings (text) and Felicita Sala (illustrator), Your Holiday was the Best!, Affirm Press, February 2024, 32pp ., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922863683 It’s holiday time and the camping ground by the beach is full of tents in all shapes and sizes, a few caravans and lots of families ready to enjoy in the great outdoors. Some have even brought their pets with them. Everyone is intent on enjoyment – running, chasing, playing games, reading, digging ditches in the sand, swimming, surfing, chatting with neighbours and having BBQs. It was the best holiday ever. It is also the best holiday…
Author: Admin
Mel Amon (text) and Sophie Beer (illustrator), Good morning my Deer!, Scribble Books, August 2023, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761380358 The English language is downright tricky to learn, but it can also be a lot of fun to play with! As the title suggests, Good morning my Deer! engages in wordplay around homonyms – words that have different meanings but are pronounced or spelled the same way. The story follows Banjo the deer on a very busy Sundae. Beginning the day with pan cakes and plane toast, Banjo brushes their hare and puts on a pear of shoes before setting…
Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, Outlaw Girls, Text Publishing, February 2024, 320 pp, RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922790231 Like many teens who defy authority as a hobby, rebellious Ruby has fallen in with a troublesome crowd. When her latest prank goes awry, she is sent to her Uncle Harry’s farm, soon finding freedom on the back of her beloved horse, Queenie. Missing her friends and home life, Ruby’s days are uneventful until a horseback Katie Kelly, Ned’s sister, turns up in 2022, courtesy of a time portal. Privy to history, but unable to reveal the Kelly family’s fate, Ruby follows Katie…
Sue DeGennaro, Bear & Duck are Friends, Little Hare, March 2023, 24 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761210327 Shortlisted in the 2024 CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year Awards, Bear & Duck are Friends by author/illustrator Sue deGennaro is the perfect story for little people who are nervous about giving new experiences a go for the first time. While Duck is enthusiastic about new things, Bear is more cautious, preferring to avoid activities that sometimes do not go as planned. However, Duck is a very good best friend, inviting Bear to his dance class, where Bear slowly realises that…
Mick Elliott, Mums and Mogs, Walker Books Australia, April 2024, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 978176065501 Love the end papers of Mums and Mogs. Love the huge variety of cats in every shape and size. The mums are in every shape and size too. I suspect readers should be a cat-lover to be in the Mums and Mogs readership team. Luckily, the happy companion book is Mick Elliot’s Dads and Dogs. Dog lovers are in this team, even if you do not have a dog. Mums and Mogs is a cavalcade of fun with rascally, annoying, funny, adventurous, playful,…
Leanne Yong, Two Can Play that Game, Allen & Unwin, January 2023, 365 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 978-1761063374 This is a sweet and incredibly entertaining story of rivalry set in the world of computer game design. Sam Khoo and Jay Chua meet by complete accident – both intent on securing a highly desirable ticket to a game design workshop which, for Sam, is the key to her dream career in game design, and for Jay is a secret gift for his younger brother, Ansen. With only one ticket, and both of them laying claim, they come up with the…
Sue Whiting (text) and Rebecca Crane (illustrator), Pearly and Pig and the Island of Secrets (Pearly and Pig #3), Walker Books Australia, March 2024, 190 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760657697 Firstly, a big congratulations to Sue Whiting, Rebecca Crane and Walker Books for Pearly and Pig and the Lost City of Mu Savan (book #2) which was named a notable in the Younger Reader category for the 2024 CBCA Book of the Year awards. Pearly and Pig and the Island of Secrets is the third Pearly and Pig story, and this series is only getting stronger in my opinion.…
Andrea Rowe (text) and Hannah Sommerville (illustrator), In the Rockpool, Hardie Grant Children’s Books, November 2023, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (board), ISBN 9781761213014 One little rockpool. Two little eyes. Three little urchins, bobbing with the tide… In the Rockpool is an exquisite counting board book for little readers to dive into. Andrea Rowe’s clear, simple text explores the creatures in a seaside rockpool, paired with Hannah Sommerville’s beautiful and translucent artwork. There is a lovely sense of light and colour on every page that make this book feel like a perfect summer’s day, and the diverse array of little ones…
Jenny Davis OAM, Courage be My Friend: The Vivian Bullwinkel Story, Fremantle Press, April 2024, 208 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760993726 Courage Be My Friend is a semi-autobiographical account of the story of nurse Vivian Bullwinkel during World War II revealing the sacrifices of the courageous women who served in war. Sister Bullwinkel enlisted in the Australian Army Nurse Service at the outbreak of World War II and was posted to Singapore. In February 1942, Singapore was evacuated and hundreds of people tried to escape the advancing Japanese army. Vivian was captured. From Vivian’s group of nurses 24 survived,…
Sophie Blackall, If I was a horse, Lothian Children’s Books, Sept 2023, 26 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780734422712 Shortlisted for the 2024 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award This joyous picture book celebrates a child’s imagination and the desire to escape from the expectations and constraints of childhood. I read somewhere that the inspiration for this book came from a comment made by Blackall’s ten year old son who said, ‘If I was a horse, I would gallop all day’. Blackall’s books are all full of whimsy and eye-catching details, and this is no exception. Have fun looking for…