Archive | January 4, 2014

Colour for Curlews

 

Colour for Curlews

Colour for Curlews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colour for Curlews

Renée Treml

Random House, 2013

hbk., RRP SA19.95

9781742759234

Ebook  978174759234

Two somewhat drab but curious curlews find an artist’s brush and some paint, and run off with yellow, red and blue.  It’s not long before they are no longer drab.  Then Bowerbird gets busy with the blue paint, and Brolga with the red and suddenly this trend has gone viral!  So many colours and so much fun, and off they go to show their friends.  Then along comes the very tired wombat from Renee’s first book and puts his body down for a nap, right where the paints have all merged into a brown puddle.  But those curious curlews that caused him so much grief in that first book come back … and they have paint brushes!!!

Ms Treml seems to have her finger on just what makes a great picture book for younger readers.  Rhythmic, rhyming text, colour, humour, fun, an ending that leaves room for the imagination and some tidbits about the birds is the bonus and could lead to an interesting investigation of why birds have colours, and how there were so many variations from just three tubes of paint.

Living where I do, I see a range of beautifully coloured birds every day – they have certainly dipped into a paint palette as rich as Ms Treml’s imagination!

 

One Very Tired Wombat

 

One Very Tired Wombat

One Very Tired Wombat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Very Tired Wombat

Renée Treml

Random House, 2012

hbk., RRP $A$19.95

9781742755786

Ebook 9781742749013

“1 very tired wombat, settles down to sleep.  The morning is calm and silent; wombat doesn’t hear a peep.”  Until … 2 curious curlews, 3 furtive frogmouths, and a host of other birds come by and disturb the peace.  Until there is one feather too many…

Written and illustrated by an artist with an amazing eye for detail and the ability to be accurate yet quirky at the same time, the unique illustrations are what set this book apart from others about creatures trying to sleep; from others about wombats; and from others that have a counting pattern embedded in them.  The illustrations are “created using a scratchboards covered in white clay. The shape of each animal is then blocked out in black ink and, when this is dry, Renée uses a craft knife to scratch in features such as faces, fur and feathers”.  It’s very much the grown-up version of scratching illustrations into a coloured card covered in thick, black wax crayon.

The result is a unique picture book that works on every level, including offering tidbits of information about all the native birds featured in the story.  Something different for your new year’s book display.