Thank you for the Little Things is a delightful, brightly illustrated picture book that celebrates the happiness the little things in life bring. It is also the perfect introduction to the concept of time and what may occur during a day, from morning to night.
The young diverse child in the story goes through the day giving thanks and recognising the smallest of things that bring joy even when feeling down. A ladybird, daisies, a dog, playground swings, squelchy mud, puddles, and a strong stick, are little things to be appreciated. As the day draws to a close, quiet time drawing, eating noodles, drippy ice-cream, bubbles in a bath, story time and finally bed with a favourite toy are all special pleasures to be grateful for.
The bold and colourful crayon illustrations combined with the simple rhyming text will appeal to very young children:
Thank you lovely playground swings, you make me fly, like I have wings. I love the cool wind in my hair as I swoop upwards through the air.
A beautiful book to share and read aloud with Early Years children in a home, childcare setting, school or public library.
Flick (Felicity) Lions lives with a disability – she is an amputee. But for Flick this is not the worst thing. What distresses her the most is the disappearance of her father, a magician who has developed a reputedly amazing magic trick with The Great Fox. The Great Fox is the patron of a new reality television show to find a worthy young magician, so Flick enters the competition in the hope it will lead to the discovery of the truth about her father. She meets and works in a team alongside another kid with magical talents (Charlie), who has his own sadness motivating his entry in the competition. Will Flick and Charlie win the competition, or will they miss out on the big prize and solving their family concerns?
This book has magical qualities and intrigues from beginning to end as the conjurors ply their sleight-of-hand and entertaining talents. With some magic tricks explained as the competition proceeds, it also has mystery and subterfuge woven through the story. With short ‘snappy’ chapters, this book has a fast-paced style woven with the Reality TV challenges. The conclusion may disappoint some readers, but it is still worth recommending to readers aged 9-14. I enjoyed the conjuring world and the magical characters who were endeavouring to overcome some serious issues in their lives.
Themes Magic and Magicians, Reality TV, Disability.
Years of devastating storms have ravaged Mina's homeland, with her people believing that the Sea God who was once their protector has instead cursed them, even abandoned them. In order to appease him, each year a young maiden is selected to be thrown into the sea as an offering. They hope the Sea God will select his true bride and end the suffering. The next maiden to be selected is Shim Cheong, but she is in love with Mina's brother, Joon. The night of the sacrifice, Mina follows her brother, who has followed Shim Cheong, which is forbidden by the rules of the sacrifice. To save her brother, and Shim Cheong, Mina throws herself into the water in her place. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a city full of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina finds the Sea God trapped in an enchanted sleep.
This wonderfully written story is a feminist retelling of a classic Korean legend, and has been written descriptively and full of relatable characters. Told from Mina's perspective, following her journey to find a way to break the enchantment on the Sea God, as well as to recover her soul and determine her own fate, Mina proves to be a relatable and endearing character. The book moves seamlessly, moving between action, intrigue, twists and romance. The city beneath the sea has been envisioned clearly and readers will be able to picture themselves there, moving between the streets, Houses and the palace. Containing plenty of traditional practices for honouring ones elders, this novel demonstrates certain aspects of Korean philosophy in different ways. Perfect for fans of the Manga series 'The Water Dragon's Bride' by Rei Toma and for fans of the popular anime 'Spirited Away'.
Ross Montgomery, master storyteller, takes his readers into the realm of faeries, in this case, Hallowfall, in his latest page-turning fantasy novel for ages 8+. In The chime seekers, depths of horror, dangerous quests, wicked trickery and grotesque, evil creatures from the hinterland are faced down by the protagonists: Yanni, Amy and a changeling. Montgomery doesn't shrink from presenting the reader with vile characters and settings.Thankfully, humour and cleverness lightens the load.
Faeries spring from ancient folktales and myths of England and Ireland. They are otherworldly, unpredictable, evil, unfriendly and dangerous. From neolithic times, (Montgomery places a dolmen reeking with evil portent in the village) people have believed that faeries carry off children to worlds resembling pre-Christian abodes of the dead. Montgomery does not spare the reader the horror of such things as piles of bones, ghostly galleons, ghostly skeletons and rivers and oceans of blood. These worlds are made of all the nastiness and tears that fall from the human world. When Yanni, on All Hallow's Eve (when the veil is thin between the human and faerie world), says to his new baby sister, 'I hate you and I wish you were dead...' that's when everything changes. The room shifts, Lorde Renwin, the most powerful of all the evil faeries enters, takes baby Ari and substitutes her with a changeling. Yanni, the previously nasty, angry little boy who had been feeling unloved and unwanted is plummeted into a quest to enter Hallowfall and try to retrieve his sister before All Hallow's is over and the way back into the human world closes forever.
Yanni is set three tasks by Lord Renwin. Against all the odds, he and his increasingly close knit 2 friends achieve each task only to have Lord Renwin shift the goal posts. This most evil of all faeries has no moral compass and Yanni has to find all the courage that is within him plus practise a little trickery himself. On the way he learns how to discern what is worth fighting even to the death for and what has to be let go.
The chime seekers has the neat text structure of a quest. The cover and interior illustrations by David Dean (award-winning children's illustrator) perfectly match the timing, content and tone of the story. Detailed drawings of the gnarled trees, HallowFall, the twisted tower, the signpost, Gustiver, the raven, the toad, the faeries and goblins are beautifully depicted on the back and front cover together with the children and the changeling. Each major section of the quest is opened with a whole page illustration which cleverly signposts the coming events and, when viewed as a whole sequence, reveal the pattern of the story. Being a quest, the structure is circular and ultimately perfectly satisfactory.
Montgomery has given us, in The chime seekers, a contribution to children's literature beginning with a capital L. Perhaps the alert to that came right at the start with the quote from W. B Yeats 'The Stolen Child'...
Come away, O human child! To the water, and the wild With a faerie, hand in hand...
The chime seekers would work as a class novel as a highly engaging read aloud and as a springboard for delving into the ancient world of faery tales and mythology - an imaginative world that has been neglected for some time in the lives of our young people.
Daddy’s Rainbow is a beautifully written and illustrated book about love and loss. Erin’s Daddy is the person who saw colour all around. He and Erin explored their world along with Mum and the baby. They saw blues in summer, oranges and browns in autumn, greens in spring and whites in winter. They shared precious and happy memories in a scrapbook which they filled with colour, photographs and Erin’s pictures. Sadly Erin’s Daddy becomes ill and all the colours turn to greys. He passes away and Erin’s life is turned upside down. There is no joy or colour in her life and she and her Mum miss Daddy terribly. Erin remembers the scrapbook she and her Daddy made and she shares the memories with her mum. Colour begins to reappear as Erin and her Mum start to find joy in life again.
This is a sensitive and gentle story with gorgeous water colour images. A special book to share with children who may have suffered the loss of a parent in their family. The book acknowledges the deep sadness being felt but also promises a hope for happiness in the future with loving memories and the appearance of a beautiful rainbow.
Themes Family, Loss, Death, Seasons, Grief, Hope.
Kathryn Beilby
Rules for vampires by Alex Foulkes. Illus. by Sara Ogilvie
Simon & Schuster, 2021. ISBN: 9781471199554. (Age:9+) Highly recommended.
Rules for Vampires is a debut novel for Alex Foulkes. Filled with spooky and ghoulish adventure, it is sure to keep many readers entertained. Creatively illustrated by Sara Oglivie this story is full of suspense, and at times horridness. However, the underlying thread of friendship, determination and teamwork, leaves this story with a lot of merit. If you enjoyed Wizards of Once, by Cressida Cowell, and don’t mind some vampires, bats and ghosts, this book is sure winner for you!
Protagonist Leo is one hundred and eleven-years undead and is learning how to be a good vampire. Now being a vampire can be pretty cool, but it does come with strict rules. Leo is still coming to grips with the whole thing, and she hasn’t had the best of luck so far! So, she is a little nervous with the immense pressure she is put under by her mother, Lady Sieglinde Von Motteberg, a formidable and intimidating vampire. She must uphold the family name and complete her first successful mission; to hunt a human and complete her Waxing Moon on her birthnight.
Leo sets off with a great idea to target the local orphanage and find her victim. Unfortunately, all her carefully thought-out plans go off course when she runs into the Orphanmaster; the nastiest and most horrid man you will ever meet! Now everything is turned upside down. Not only has she broken so many vampire rules in one night, she has also created two very angry ghosts. A vampire’s true enemy!
When orphan target, Minna turns up and demands Leo help her avenge the Orphanmaster, Leo doesn’t know what to do. How can she possibly work with a ghost? What will she tell her mum about the unsuccessful Hunt? And how can she possibly rid the town of the grisly ghosts she has created?
With more twists and turns than you can imagine, this book has great suspense and thrill. The chaotic and catastrophic ending will leave any reader gasping for breath. Undead vs Undead, how can they compete and who will be the winner?
Themes Adventure, Problem solving, Friendship, Gothic.
Michelle O'Connell
The witchling's wish by Lu Fraser and Sarah Massini
Little Witchling is all alone, she longs for a friend and searches her spell book for a solution. The only problem is she needs one special ingredient that means she has to leave her home and find it.
This beautiful story that is told in rhyme is an absolute delight and will become a childhood favourite. Little Witchling’s search for the fur from a one-eyed teddy bear and the kindness that Lilly, the owner of said bear shows, allows for conversations about friendship, kindness and how to make friends, but also the importance of our special things and sharing to be introduced.
The Witchling’s wish is a wonderful story with amazing illustrations that really brings the story to life and engages the reader no matter the age.
This is a book that is sure to become a class favourite as it is wonderful for reading aloud and has so many conversation points. It will also be a bedtime favourite as it is a true feel-good book. I absolutely loved this book and have read it to a large number of students since receiving it. I would highly recommend adding this to a school, classroom, and home library.
Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth.
These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: They've all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up -Valentine's Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they've all been stood up by the same man.
Once they've each forgiven him for standing them up, they let him back into their lives and are in serious danger of falling in love with a man who seems to have not just one or two but three women on the go....
Is there more to him than meets the eye? And will they each untangle the truth before they all get their hearts broken?
This book is a tale of love, friendship and heartache with an element of mystery. Each of our three leading ladies, Siobhan, Miranda and Jane are incredibly unique and I never felt myself wanting to hear from one character more than another. Each with their own quirks and individuality, I loved their journeys and how they evolved throughout the novel. My feelings about Joseph however were up in the air until the very end. Do I love him, or do I want to punch him? There is an answer to that question, but I cannot say without spoilers.
I will say the twist had me reaching for the tissues and my heart to the point of shattering. The plot was so perfectly written, I’ve never read anything like it. Many are saying this is Beth’s best work. Laughing, crying, utter shock, this book is a roller coaster of emotions and I cannot recommend it enough!
There is certainly nothing quite like a cat - all shapes and sizes, all personalities (usually big), a vast range of characteristics and always very self assured. In this engaging book Jacqueline Harvey takes a tongue in cheek look at a variety of cats. In rhyming lines she talks of fat cats, rat cats and bat cats. Then she offers a flat cat, a drat cat and a scat cat. Each cat is quite different and readers will delight in recalling the things which make that particular cat so definitive. Who has not seen a scat cat or a bat cat. Some will have sadly seen a flat cat and talk of their sorrow, while others will know the batman superhero well and relate to the bat cat. Some will have seen the destruction caused by a cat in their house and know all about the dreaded drat cat or scat cat. Rat cat gives readers the opportunity to retell the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, while mat cat parodies the popularity of exercise classes. All varieties of cat will cause smiles and laughter, sharing of stories and involving discussions, winning the audience over completely to this book of whimsy and playfulness.
Packing a punch the illustrations give a deeper level of humour to the spare words, allowing the readers to visualise the word used to describe each cat. Detail on every page will garb the reader as they laugh, recognising different cats’ traits. The detail pokes fun at the human parallels of each cat’s background. The cafe society for example shows a couple seated outside the cafe, check tablecloth, being offered fish and chips by the flamboyant waiter.
Working in the animation industry over the world, more can be found about Scott on her website. Harvey was Scott’s teacher at kindergarten a meeting which has resulted in this winning book, sure to please all kids young and old. Jacqueline Harvey wrote the Alice Miranda books amongst many others, That cat being her 49th publication.
The love that grew is a very gently written picture book about the love a mother has for her growing family. Each new addition is loved just as much as the other children who came before. The story begins with the following verse:
“Let me tell you of a power that can never be tamed, of how I promise to love you all the same. Something so special you must never forget, no matter how big our family may get…”
Each beautifully illustrated double page has four simple rhyming lines describing a mother’s love that will draw the reader in. Her love is “Protective like the toughest shield, with the kind of strength that will never yield.” Two of the final pages show diverse families floating in heart-shaped hot air balloons with the words:
“Like an expanding balloon that flies up high, powered by magic you cannot buy, that down the track might once more soar to love another, and maybe more!”
This book would be a perfect gift for a mother-to-be or family with a new baby as well as a great Mother’s Day present.
Pax : Journey Home is the sequel to Pax, a story about a boy and his fox who are torn apart by the circumstances and betrayal that come from living through a war. In Journey Home, a year has gone by, the war is over, but the impacts remain, not just to the environment but to the people who are still alive.
Peter is 13 and struggling with the loss of his father and his betrayal of Pax and is determined to not feel every again. In his quest to isolate himself from the world and those who are willing to support him, he joins a group of volunteers who are cleaning up the toxic mess created during the war. Meanwhile Pax and his mate Bristle are new parents with a litter of kits to protect. However, they need to find a new home that is safer for all of them, and Pax leaves his family behind to do this.
One of the kits follows Pax and ironically falls ill while playing and drinking the water that Peter is working so hard to clean. Pax realizes that he needs help and when his journey crosses the path of Peter, he knows what he must do.
This is the sequel that was never meant to be, Sara Pennypacker never intended for there to be a second book, but I am so glad that she did. This is a brilliant story about Peter and Pax and the characters that we first met in Pax. Peter is trying to isolate himself, but the world will not let him, Vola continues to support him and accept his need to be alone but still ensures a connection with his grandfather, the volunteers accept his solitary needs while still drawing him into their lives through their stories and shared environmental interest and Pax knows that the only human who can save his daughter is the one person who left him behind.
The broadest theme of this book is that love will always find a way in. However, the other themes of environmental responsibility and animal protection are also there along with survival and family. This is a fabulous series and one that I would recommend highly, however, Journey Home does need to be read after Pax for it to make sense and for the reader to get the full impact of the complexity and richness of the characters and the story.
The author has created a story that readers will want to revisit and engage with again and again as they discover the relationships that bind us to certain places and people and the impact that leaving can have, both through death and by choice. Pax has learnt to be a wild fox but still holds the memories of the love Peter gave him and this comforts and guides him through his struggles. Peter is trying to outrun his memories and the consequences of trying to isolate himself as an escape from the things he has seen and done during the years that the war raged.
I believe that this book could be used as a class novel or as a read aloud in class but also will be one that is passed around as people read and discover the beauty that Sara Pennypacker has created with her story that is enriched by Jon Klassen’s illustrations. I highly recommend adding this to your reading pile and library shelves.
Themes Environmental Issues, Animal-human relationships, Family, War, Loss, Death, Survival.
Mhairi Alcorn
Only a monster by Vanessa Len
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781760878313. (Age:Young adult) Recommended.
Joan Chang-Hunt is a self-confessed rule-following history nerd who spends every summer living with her deceased mother’s eclectic and eccentric family in London. This summer, she is volunteering at a local museum where she meets Nick, handsome, dreamy, and almost too good to be true. On her way to their first date, Joan falls and hits her head and when she wakes up, twelve hours have passed. Upset and confused, she rushes home to find her grandmother waiting for her, ready to tell Joan about her birthright…that she and her family are monsters and that they can travel through time by stealing the time left on the lives of the mortals around them. This revelation leads to a series of unexpected and tragic events that will pit Joan against her new crush and force her to work with those her family has always considered enemies.
Australian author Vanessa Len’s debut novel is a clever subversion of a typical young adult fantasy trope. Joan, a kind, caring and ethical teenager, is not some helpless heroine fighting for good. Although she does not want to admit or accept it, she is (technically) on the side of evil. Only a Monster is a very interesting take on what can often be a tired concept – Len manages to shake her audience’s view about what makes us good and what makes us bad.
The novel is an extremely fast-paced fantasy thriller, the first of a planned trilogy. Joan is a relatable and sympathetic protagonist, the worldbuilding is interesting and realistic and there is the requisite hint of a doomed love story – what’s not to love?
Themes Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Historical, Supernatural Beings, Time Travel, Family, Romance, Identity, Good vs Evil.
Rose Tabeni
The Mountain by Rebecca Gugger Simon Rothlisberger
Walker Books, 2021. ISBN: 9780735844575. (Age:4+)
The bear knows exactly what the mountain looks like - a forest. The sheep, octopus, and ant also know the mountain. It’s a meadow! It’s surrounded by water! It’s a maze of tunnels! The chamois and snow hare have their opinions too. It seems the mountain looks different to every animal. How can that be? And whose point of view is right, particularly when bird challenges them by asking if any of them have actually been to the top of it to investigate...
Reminiscent of the parable of The Blind Men and the Elephant, this is a great story to demonstrate how we each see things through the lens of our own experience and form opinions based on our relationship to an object or situation. It's why witnesses to an incident can each have a different account because different things have different priorities for them or their personal experience throws something into sharper relief. It's why this Kiwi who grew up with the rugged, jagged Southern Alps as her stage setting now sees the current backdrop of the Snowy Mountains more as rolling hills, even though she knows and understands the geological differences.
Thus, it is a wonderful way to explore the concept of perception with even young students - read them The King's Breakfast by A. A. Milne and have them draw the king then compare and contrast the drawings so they begin to understand how their preconceived ideas influenced their drawing. Continue with either the description of the BFG (Dahl) or The hobbit (Tolkien) and discuss how, even when they were working with identical words, each drawing is different. Have them retell Little Miss Muffet from the spider's perspective and venture into the world of stereotypes and even "judging a book by its cover."
A simply told story of a boy for whom life has gone awry, getting back on his feet with the help of friends will appeal to younger readers, who sometimes become aware that unexpected things can happen in life upsetting its equilibrium.
Told by David’s best friend, the story focusses on the flowers in his hair. David is the best of friends and the two are inseparable, running, jumping in puddles, fleeing form the bees, washing David’s hair. But one day some petals fall out, and that afternoon, he is quiet and does not want to play. The next day David wears a hat and when he takes it off his hair is spiky and the petals have all gone. The other children hold back, careful of the spiky branches and even his best friend finds that the branches have scratched him. But he does not mind, it is not David’s fault. Then he has an idea. He begins to make paper flowers to replace the ones fallen from David’s hair. The other children join in, cutting them out and attaching them until David’s head is covered in paper flowers. After a while a new flower grows and eventually all the flowers on his head are renewed. He is back to his old self and the best friends are doing what they have always done together.
This beguiling story reflects the changes that occur in children’s lives when something happens outside their control. David may be ill, there may be changes in his home circumstances, a friend may have died, or he may be feeling depressed. Whatever the reason for his flowers falling from his head, change occurs in all of our lives, and this charming story allows children to see that change does happen but things can be set right again. The help of friends is paramount in setting him back to his old self.
A tale reflecting the kindness of friends, the support given by them all, facilitates David’s renewal, his overcoming the hardship that has caused his distress. Children will welcome his improvement noting that we can all recover from the changes that upsets us all.
Jarvis is an author illustrator living in Manchester, UK and a little more can be read about him on his website.
The illustrations are amazing: seemingly simple, but with a complexity that stares out at the reader, as the flowers wilt and die, then are regenerated by his friends’ compassion. Each page bears a closer look: I loved the make up of the class, the broken train line, the energy of the class making the flowers and finally the storage of the spares just in case. David is safe and secure with his friends watching out for his welfare.
The Voyage of Whale and Calf is a beautifully written story by Vanessa Pirotta of the birth, the growth and migration of Whale and Calf. Born in warm Australian waters, Calf’s journey to adulthood is gently told in simple language that shares many facts about the characteristics and life cycle of Humpback Whales.
Through the story telling young readers will learn many interesting facts such as the whales eat krill, how their baleen plates push out the water once they have swallowed the krill, that they poo and feed in different areas and that poo feeds marine creatures that are eaten by the krill. The story tells of the dangers to Whale and Calf of nets, boats, and party balloons as well as the threat of Killer Whales further south. As Calf grows and the season changes, he is ready to begin his own journey back to warmer waters to begin a new cycle of life.
The full page soft, pastel illustrations by Samantha Metcalf are simply stunning and complement the text perfectly. Unfamiliar words are highlighted and their meaning accessed from the glossary in the final pages. Also provided after the story are Humpback Whale facts including a map of their migration.
This highly engaging book will provide children with easily accessible information about this magnificent marine animal. A wonderful resource for classroom teachers when looking at collecting information for report writing.
