Archive | September 2016

The ABC Book of Food

The ABC Book of Food

The ABC Book of Food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ABC Book of Food

Helen Martin

Judith Simpson

Cheryl Orsini

ABC Books, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780733334269

Just as cars and trains and boats and planes need fuel to keep them going, so do our bodies.  But while vehicles need only one sort of fuel, our bodies operate best on a variety of foods from a variety of sources so that all its myriad parts can operate with maximum efficiency.  Many young children, particularly those who live in the cities, go to the supermarket with their parents and carers and see their food being bought but they don’t often realise how it has got to be on the shelves in the first place.

This story-in-rhyme helps to explain the process and the journey from paddock to plate of some of the more common foods the children eat.  Starting with breakfast where eggs and milk are tracked, different staples for each meal are investigated in a series of clear vignettes that helps the very young child understand the connection between what they eat and where it comes from.

Using familiar scenes such as the breakfast table, a picnic and a family dinner there are many foods on display and while only a couple are featured in the explanations, there is plenty of scope to consider where others might come from.  If the bananas start on plants, what other foods in the pictures might come from plants?  Would they have a similar journey?  What about the cupcakes or the sausages?

There is also a page devoted to the common foods that some people cannot eat which makes food intolerances more ‘mainstream’ and perhaps better understood.

This book is an opportunity to start the children thinking about what they eat, what the best choices might be, sorting them into food groups, identifying and graphing not only their favourites but also mapping what they eat each day and maybe changing the proportions if their pie graph is a bit skewed.  It might even be the beginning of the child’s desire to produce their own food either in a home or school garden as well as introducing plant life cycles and the notion of seasonal produce.

This is the latest in this series of excellent titles which helps our very young children begin to understand the world around them as well as helping them understand the differences between fiction and non fiction.  

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

 

A Dog Called Bear

A Dog Called Bear

A Dog Called Bear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Dog Called Bear

Diane & Christyan Fox

Faber, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780571329434

Lucy has always wanted a dog and has red all the books about them and saved her pocket money to buy all the stuff that a dog needs.  And so she begins her search … not at a pet shop but in her neighbourhood.  First she encounters a frog who pleads his case but he does not meet Lucy’s requirements.  Neither does the fox.  But Bear seems to and because it’s late she decides he will be fine.  

It’s an unlikely partnership but it works until Bear did what bears do in winter – hibernate.  Lucy was not pleased.  She not only wanted a full-time dog but also one that lived up to her expectations. not one that was messy, dug a lot and and ate so much porridge.  Bear wasn’t happy either – carrying sticks, repeatedly fetching a ball and being woken up were not his ideals.   And so he runs away…

This is  a charming story about what it means to have a pet and what our expectations of them are.  It would be ideal for starting a discussion with very young children about the sorts of creatures that make a suitable pet and what is required to take care of them – it’s more than lots of cuddles and snuggles.

One for the little ones in our lives.

 

 

Be A Friend

Be A Friend

Be A Friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be A Friend

Salina Yoon

Bloomsbury, 2016

40pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9781408869093

Dennis was an ordinary who liked doing ordinary boy things – BUT instead of talking about them like other boys he expressed himself differently. His hero was the great mime artist Marcel Marceau  and like his hero with his white face and top hat, Dennis would mime what he wanted to say.  While other children climbed trees, Dennis was happy to be a tree.   But trees get lonely and as the other children played happily, Dennis looked on wistfully, feeling invisible, as though he were standing behind a wall t . .. until the day he kicked an imaginary ball and a little girl called Joy caught it.

The blurb on the back of the book says it is “a heart-warming celebration of individuality, imagination and the power of friendship” and that is spot on.  This is a subtle but powerful exploration of children who are different from the “norm”, who literally and figuratively don’t have a voice and who feel invisible because of that difference.  It’s not that the other children are cruel or unkind but they are busy being children and don’t always see beyond their own horizons, let alone have time to understand Dennis and his special needs.  Even though Joy is like Dennis in that she, too, does not speak, the power of friendship that exists between two children can open new worlds for not just them but others around them too.

Yoon’s illustrations are exquisite – a dotted red line captures Dennis’s actions so the reader knows what is happening and the final illustration using the imaginary skipping rope and all the other children running to join in the game is perfect.

While the storyline focuses on Dennis who doesn’t speak, it could apply to anyone who feels different such as a child new to the country with no English or someone with a physical disability or an emotional need – it will resonate with anyone who feels marginalised and who would just like a friend. But just as it is their story, so it can be a story for one of those “ordinary” children.  As educators we must never under-estimate the value of teaching children how to make friends and be friends – it is a skill that will take them far beyond the first few days of Kindergarten.

Making and being friends is the theme of so many stories for young children that you wonder if there could ever be a new slant on it.  Be A Friend has found it.

Grandma Wombat

Grandma Wombat

Grandma Wombat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Wombat

Jackie French

Bruce Whatley

HarperCollins, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780732299590

 

Grandma Wombat is like most wombats – and a lot of grandmas!  She likes to spend her day relaxing – scratching, eating, sleeping and occasionally baby-sitting. She solves problems like there being no carrots and thinks that, unlike the kangaroos who bounce around her, her grandson is polite, well-mannered and even, better behaved.  

But while she is sleeping, Grandson Wombat is NOT!  Oh no!  He’s off having his own adventures because, to him, kangaroos are playmates and their wombat-size pouches and their big bouncy legs are perfect for taking a wombat to places where a wombat has never before ventured.  Grandson Wombat is a master at hitching a ride wherever he sees one but on the back of a skydiver might be a jump too far!

Once again, Jackie French and Bruce Whatley have created a wonderful adventure for little people that is just bursting with the joy of life and the fun of the perfect marriage of text and illustrations that will make them want to read it over and over and over again.  And perhaps think up their own adventures for next time they go to visit their grandma…

 

Did You Take the B from My _ook?

Did You Take the B from My _ook?

Did You Take the B from My _ook?

Did You Take the B from My _ook?

Beck & Matt Stanton

ABC Books, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A19.99

9780733334832

Did you take the B from my _ook, or my _ed, _ull, or even my _utterfly???

Following on from the hilarity of This is a Ball, Beck and Matt Stanton have created another delightful romp for preschoolers focusing on what happens when their favourite letter ‘B” is removed from some of their favourite words.

Starting by introducing the sound and the noise it makes, it continues with some single words which are then combined into a series of hilarious sentences that just beg for the child to interact and supply the missing letter.  Look! The _eetle is wearing the _lue _oots, jumping on the _ed and _ouncing the _all with the _ulls!”  Someone has stolen the “b’ and only the child can fix it! At the bottom of each page there is a commentary between the writer and the reader, openly inviting them to join in so there is even more fun to be had.

Like its counterpart This is a Ball, this book has a much wider audience than a first glance would suggest and a much wider application than fun between parent and child as a bedtime read. With such an emphasis, rightly or wrongly, on phonics in early reading instruction these days this is a perfect way to introduce this sound and all the others, in a  way that plays with language and makes it fun so the desire to be a reader is enhanced.  It could spark a host of class books based on favourite letters or those that start the children’s names so they explore its sound, the words that start with it and then put them together in crazy sentences that can then be illustrated.  There might even be a discussion about how those letters not chosen might feel and a joint construction made as a model prior to their creating their own.  The Bruna-esque illustrations are perfect with their entire focus being the particular word or sentence in focus and provide an easy-to-emulate model.

Those learning our language for the first time would delight in it, particularly those who are a bit older and who want something more than a traditional alphabet book and posters of words starting with a particular phoneme. There would be so much engagement that the learning would be natural and meaningful and go deeper than other more traditional strategies.

Both this and This is a Ball seem such simple concepts for a book that you wonder why they haven’t been done before – but it takes creators who have a real understanding of just what it takes to engage a child in reading so they are bouncing about and demanding more to pull it off so successfully.

Look forward to many more…

Have a look for yourself!


 

 

 

The Everything Princess Book

The Everything Princess Book

The Everything Princess Book

The Everything Princess Book

Barbara Beery

Brooke Jorden

Michele Robbins

David Miles

Rebecca Sorge

Bloomsbury, 2016

160pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9781942934653

This book is exactly what the title says – it is all to do with princesses and royalty from stories to recipes, games and activities, things to make and how to be a princess. Richly illustrated,  it begins with half a dozen traditional stories of princesses from around the world and then moves on to a section bursting with all sorts of recipes fir for a secret garden tea party, a cottage picnic and a pink princess party .  There are tips for serving the food, correct table manners and etiquette including how to wave and curtsey and even a guide to the members of the Royal household.  In fact there is little about being a princess that is not covered.

Going through a ‘princess stage’ is almost a rite of passage for little girls, enhanced by Disney’s adaptations of many of the traditional fairy tales, and there was always a big demand for anything of this nature in the school I was in last year, particularly with those girls who were learning English as another language and who saw this as a way into the language of the playground.  This would be like a bible for them as the stories and concepts are already familiar so as well as speaking the ‘same language’ they can now read it too.

With is lavish hardcover protecting its spiral bound contents, it is attractive and would be one to recommend to grandparents looking for something special for the Christmas stocking.

The Arty Book

The Arty Book

The Arty Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arty Book

Nikalas Catlow & David Sinden

Bloomsbury, 2016

160pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781408870662

 

Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a major study following the development of 10,000 children and families from all parts of Australia. The study commenced in 2004 with two cohorts – families with 4-5 year old children and families with 0-1 year old infants. Among its findings is that many children under 12 are spending a third of their waking hours in front of a screen of some sort and this is having, and will continue to have, ramifications on their physical, social and emotional well-being.  Experts say that there are two keys ways of reducing this amount – being a role model so not being on a screen all the time ourselves, and making sure that other activities have priority so that screen time is restricted to what little time might be left over in the day.

With the school holidays happening or fast approaching in Australia, The Arty Book could be part of the solution to providing alternatives to endless television or computer gaming. 

While it is somewhat similar to the activity books of old that we remember, this one is much more upmarket, interactive and appealing to an older audience.  It’s key character is a cartoon-like character called Arty with quirky curly hair and distinctive red glasses and users are invited to participate in all sorts of activities to make Arty unique so their own creativity is to the fore.  This is not a colour-in-the-lines or connect-the-dots book.  They can change Arty to what they want him to look like as they are presented with just his trademark glasses; make Arty badges; even use their feet to make  Footprint Arty.  Each page has a new suggestion that encourages them to customise the Arty artworks so they are imaginative and personal . They also take the child into new areas of art they might not have explored before so there is scope for new explorations like collage and spatter painting, 

Parents and grandparents who are looking for something engaging that will be more appealing than a screen would love to know about this book – especially if the school library were to host an after-holidays display of Arty drawings seeking the most imaginative, original and unique as the centrepiece of a collection of art-technique books and a Makerspace challenge to create a 3D Arty. There might even be a storyfest with Arty, based on one of the drawings, as the central character!  A great opportunity to embrace so many areas of the curriculum.  

From little things…

Spark

Spark

Spark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spark

Adam Wallace

Andrew Plant

Ford Street, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.95

9781925272406

“I began as a tiny spark in the dry grass.  All I wanted was a friend.”

And soon enough a friend comes along. Wind. Together they play and as Wind whistles and picks him up, Spark begins to grow and fly.  Skipping and sprinting through the bush, chasing animals and tickling trees, Spark is enjoying the power and wants to go faster, be bigger – and Wind is happy to oblige, So Spark grows ever larger feeding on the bush until…it is not fun anymore.  But Wind will not stop and together they tear through forests, fly over rivers, raze homes and the clouds’ tears just sizzle on their back.  Then, eventually, Wind hears Spark’s pleas and stops.  Turns.  And together they slink home through the destruction and devastation and end as they began.

Every Australian summer fire dragons race out of the bushland and across the grasslands consuming all in their path with their insatiable appetites. Not content with destroying the vegetation and the creatures that live within it, the dragons devour everything in their paths, totally indiscriminate of their diet and vanquished only when they meet a greater force of water or an opposing wind. They leave behind a smoking, desolate landscape and  lives that will be forever shaped by their hungry tongues and never-full stomachs.

And as summer approaches every year, the one certainty that embraces this vast country is that somewhere, someone’s life will be affected by fire and that will include our children. Whether they and their homes are directly impacted or it’s the ominous curl of smoke or an orange glow on a distant horizon or a six-o’clock news report; whether it’s a local blaze or one that makes international news like those that raced through the Canberra region in 2003 or the Victorian Black Saturday fires of 2009, the tentacles of a fire reach far beyond its jaws.

Like those children, the author’s life has been touched and tinged by the dragon and from that experience in 1983 when the Ash Wednesday fires devoured so much of south-eastern Australia has come this remarkable picture book that tells the story from the fire’s point of view. Through personification, a first-person perspective and superb illustrations that give life to the text as Wind did to Spark, Wallace and Plant bring the fire to life – something that has no control over its journey or its destiny, focusing on the here and now rather than reflecting on the aftermath and the afterwards as most stories with such a focus do.

What we, as educators can do, is to take a step backwards rather than forwards and get our students to consider where did Spark come from.  Was it born of lightning?  Or an accident?  Or deliberate?

Since the 1970s the risk of bushfires in Australia has increased and while ABS statistics suggest that lightning is the predominant cause particularly in remote areas, other sources say “Human-caused ignitions are by far the most prevalent” in more populous areas. Therefore as the bushfire season rapidly approaches and there is a greater fuel load as there has been above-average rainfall, this book would be the perfect springboard for a fire-awareness program with our students – how to prevent fires from starting and what to do if they threaten. Encourage them to bring up the need for a bushfire survival plan at the family dinner table, even for those who live in the city because as Canberra children can attest, being in a suburb is not necessarily a safety blanket.

This is a powerful book that will not only resonate with many readers but which can also play an important role in keeping those in our care safe.

Teachers’ notes are available.

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots

The Tale of Miss Kitty-in-Boots

The Tale of  Kitty-in-Boots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots

Beatrix Potter

Quentin Blake

Frederick Warne, 2016

72pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780241247594

By day, Miss Catherine St Quintin appeared to be a very serious, well-behaved black cat who answered to “Kitty” whenever the kind old lady who owned her called her.  The old lady saw a “Kitty” with all the pleasant connotations that that name brings to mind but Miss Catherine St Quintin led a double life.

Becaue by night, when she was supposedly locked in the wash-house, Kitty was not curled up in her basket dreaming sweet dreams until morning. For she was not the purring, nuzzling, gentle cat her owner believed her to be.  Known to her more common cat friends as “Q” and “Squintums”, she would leap out the laundry window to be replaced by Winkiepeeps, another black cat who would wait inside until Kitty came home just in case the old lady checked her, while she went hunting dressed in her coat and boots and carrying an air rifle.  A female lookalike of Puss-in-Boots.

This particular night she collects her gun from her friend Cheesebox, determined to join Slimmy Jimmy and John Stoat-Ferret as they hunt for rabbits.  However, she decides to hunt for mice instead, but being a rather unreliable and careless shooter, that is not is not very fruitful only managing to shoot Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s bundle of washing and some sticks and stones that weren’t mice at all.  Sheep and crows seem a better target until they send her scurrying behind a wall in fright and she gets a big surprise when she fires at something coming out of a hole.  Unexpectedly she has met up with Slimmy Jimmy and John Stoat-Ferret who take her gun off her.  But she refuses to hand over the pellets and so a rather adventurous night involving the ferrets, Peter Rabbit, Mr Tod the Fox and Mrs Tiggy-Winkles begins.  Suffice to say, it’s enough to put  Miss Catherine St Quintin off hunting for ever.

The story of this story is as interesting as the tale itself.  Potter completed the text in 1914 and created just one illustration but the outbreak of World War I and other events meant she never completed the rest.  Thus the story went unpublished in her lifetime.  Undiscovered until Penguin Random House editor Jo Hanks found it in the Potter archive at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2013 and with  Quentin Blake accepting the invitation to illustrate it, it has just been published to coincide with what would have been Potter’s 150th birthday.

Fans of her works will be thrilled to share just one more adventure from this prolific creator and delight in the appearance of an older, more portly Peter Rabbit who has lost none of his smarts and wily ways as well as other favourite characters from her other books.

The only illustration that Potter completed for the book,

The only illustration for the book that Potter completed

To honour Beatrix Potter’s 150th birthday the UK has released a commemorative stamp collection.

Animalia

Animalia

Animalia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animalia

Graeme Base

Penguin, 2016

32pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780670079131

Thirty years ago in 1986 an armoured armadillo avoiding an angry alligator appeared from the pen of one of Australia’s most iconic illustrators.  It was followed by beautiful blue butterflies basking by a babbling brook and a host of other creatures including eight enormous elephants expertly eating Easter eggs; horrible hairy hogs hurrying homeward on heavily harnessed horses; meticulous mice monitoring mysterious mathematical messages; and even zany zebras zigzagging in zinc zeppelins.  

For this was the magical, mystical, marvellous Animalia – an alliterative alphabet book  and which, after selling more than three million copies worldwide and spawning a television series, is now celebrating its 30th birthday and a whole new audience is set to wonder at its creativity, its detail, its colour and try to spot the tiny Graeme on each page.  It is indeed a feast of vivid visual literacy. And underneath the familiar dust cover which so cleverly hints at what is inside is a glamorous golden cover AND a fabulous poster of the lazy lions lounging in the local library.  (Great role models for reading!!!)

Since Animalia’s  original publication we have come to associate Graeme Base with intriguing stories woven around the most scintillating illustrations  and if this is your first introduction to his work, you will be on the lookout for his other works.

Congratulations Graeme – thank you for bringing us these superb creatures and creating such riches for our young readers.