A Footy Tail
Alex Johnston
Gregg Dreise
A & U Children’s, 2023
32pp., hbk., RRP $A19.99
9781761180316
A fluffle of Bunnies play at the park.
A Footy Tail
Alex Johnston
Gregg Dreise
A & U Children’s, 2023
32pp., hbk., RRP $A19.99
9781761180316
A fluffle of Bunnies play at the park.
Listen
Duncan Smith & Nicole Godwin
Jandamarra Cadd
Wild Dog, 2023
32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99
9781742036731
Listen, and you will hear the voices of Ancestors.
At a time when there is such an important focus on Australia’s First Nations peoples, this is a timely release to help students better understand the need for the referendum, where it has come from and what it is based on.
Accompanied by the stunning artworks of Yorta Yorta man Jandamarra Cadd, each of which has its own story and significance, this is a book that has the minim um of text but the maximum of meaning. While our students may have some knowledge and awareness of the importance of Country to indigenous people, this book explains the weight behind the acknowledgement of the phrase “elders, past, present and emerging” that is expressed in any Welcome to Country address.
This is a book that should not be shared without also using the teachers’ notes because they provide critical background information…
The Uluru Statement from the Heart
Key elements from the Uluru Statement from the Heart underpins the text … The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to all Australians to walk together towards a better future. It provides a roadmap with three key pillars – Voice, Treaty and Truth.
It explains why and what The Voice is, why it requires a referendum to be put in place, and what it will achieve if the referendum is successful.
But beyond that, it also has a strong element of text-to-self as readers are encouraged to consider the hopes and dreams of the children on the front cover and relate that to their own, while also having them investigate the Country they live on, its indigenous languages and stories.
If the referendum is unsuccessful, it is unlikely to be the end of the narrative of the requests and rights of our First Nations people to be recognised, so this book, in conjunction with We are Australians should form the core of a modern indigenous library collection as well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures strand of the curriculum.
Together, they are a powerful and essential resource on which to base positive change for the future.
The Turtle and the Flood
Jackie French
Danny Snell
HarperCollins, 2023
34pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99
9781460762974
Myrtle the Turtle loves by the creek, swimming in the waterholes and eating the little creatures in summer, and sleeping in the dry leaves under a log in winter. If the creek dries up she buries herself in the silt and the sand to keep cool, and if it rains and the creek flows swiftly, she swims with her strong legs and claws.
However, every now and then she notices a slight change in the water level and the air pressure on the back of her neck, and she knows that that is the signal to move to higher ground. And so she begins to walk uphill… Like the Fire Wombat, her long-evolved instincts, “more accurate than the weather bureau” tell her disaster is coming and it is time to act. But Myrtle is not only saving herself from the impending flood – the other creatures of the bush know that if she is on the move then they must be too.
In a country of frequent fire and flood, our wildlife is often seen as the first and most frequent casualty as so many are estimated to perish. And the statistics can cause great distress to many, particularly our little ones, so as well as telling the story of Myrtle and how her instincts and actions are the triggers for others to act too, this is a story of reassurance that not all is doomed during disasters. While those who know Jackie’s stories for little people most commonly think “wombats”, her home in south-eastern NSW is a haven for all wildlife, including Myrtle and her companions who live in the creek that usually meanders through the space but which can become menacing…
But there is some peace of mind in knowing that many animals can sense rain, storms and floods well ahead of the event itself and do escape.
Once again, Jackie has used her knowledge, experience and observations of her surroundings to create a story of wonder and hope, and Danny’s illustrations bring that alive symbiotically. But while Myrtle’s story will offer comfort to younger readers, older readers might want to explore further… How do creatures like Myrtle sense the changes? Do humans have the same capacity? Is the Bureau of Meteorology our only warning system? How do our First Nations people predict the weather and what can we learn from them? Does the land need floods in a similar way to its need of fire? And then, on another tangent, how has the impact of humans on the environment increased or reduced the likelihood of the survival of native species during such events? Do structures like roads and fences impede their escape?
I have often said that the best picture books operate on and across many levels, they are never an end in themselves. This is one of those.
The Littlest Penguin and the Phillip Island Penguin Parade
Jedda Robaard
Penguin Foundation
Puffin, 2023
144pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99
9781761341830
Before the Europeans came to Millowl (Phillip Island) there were at least ten little penguin colonies there, but these days there is only one. Protected by law now, it is the largest colony in the world, and, at the end of each day, hundreds of tourists come to watch some of those 40 000 adults gather together in “rafts” before they surf into the beach, waddle across it and head up the familiar tracks to their burrows, each looking for landmarks or listening for their partner’s voice to find their way.
And, just maybe in that daily trek there will be Little Penguin, Scruffy, Cheeky and Big Chick who are the stars of this absorbing, beautifully illustrated novel for younger readers as they begin their lives as downy chicks and grow into adults ready to have chicks themselves. Just 33cm tall and less than a kilo as adults, there are many dangers facing the little penguins, particularly as they can be at sea for up to a year on that first journey, and Little Penguin, Scruffy, Cheeky and Big Chick are exposed to all of them making for an engaging read as we hope for a happy ending for all of them.
As well as their story, there is also an extensive information section to tell the reader more including the usual facts and figures that add the background as well as what happens when they are affected by oil slicks, itself an intriguing, heart-warming story, as is the story of another colony at St Kilda..
Produced by the Penguin Foundation which “raises funds to enhance Phillip Island’s natural environment and protect native wildlife through research, conservation and education programs”, and published by Penguin random House (who else? and who provide funding for the organisation), this is the ideal read-aloud or read-together to inspire interest in and awareness of these little birds as well as giving all those who are likely to make the trip to Phillip Island over the upcoming Christmas break the knowledge and understanding of just what they are seeing. Maybe, as they learn more from both the Penguin Foundation and the Penguin Parade websites, they might even want to adopt a penguin for themselves.
I adored it.
Penguin chick born in Eden for the first time in 30 years holds hopes in re-establishing colony
Ash Barty: Champion
Young Readers Edition
Ash Barty
Harper Collins, 2023
288pp., pbk., RRP $A22.99
9781460762738
In these days of the unprecedented success and support from women’s sports, there are few who would not know the name Ash Barty, and in this young readers’ edition of her autobiography, independent readers can learn about her story. In her words, “It’s a tennis story. It’s a family story. It’s a teamwork story. It’s the story of how I got to where and who I am today. My story is about the power and joy of doing that thing you love and seeing where it can take you.
It reflects on my whole tennis journey – from the first time I picked up a racquet as a young girl in Queensland, to the night I packed up my tennis bag at Melbourne Park after winning the 2022 Australian Open. It explains how I worked through self-doubt, homesickness and a break from the sport to realise my tennis dreams, winning Wimbledon and ranking number 1 in the world.
Maybe my story will inspire you to follow your dreams – I really hope it does”
Often when our students fixate on real-life heroes, all they are seeing is the here-and-now, the success and the attention that comes with that and they don’t realise that that part of the journey is but the tip of the iceberg, that there have been years of hard slog and sacrifice that have gone into making that here-and-now what it is. One of the most powerful traits that we can teach our children is how to be resilient, how to pick themselves up and dust themselves off after unexpected knockbacks and knockdowns, and this story in which Ash Barty talks about the highs of her career she also is honest about the lows – her struggles with her mental health, body image, self-doubt, her fragmented schooling, the loneliness and the homesickness of being on tour – shows that it is not all about glory, fame and money and that for anyone determined to follow their dreams, there are times when that in-built resilience is all that is left.
Students also see those heroes as being special somehow, as though they had been touched by the magic fairy at birth like Sleeping Beauty, and do not see themselves as being the sort of person who could reach such heights, so that focus on her childhood and her struggles show that in the beginning, she was just as ordinary as they are, and it is the dedication and determination to succeed at her passion that is the driving force.
So as much as this is a story about Ash Barty the person, it is also a story about having that inner strength and that resilience to find and follow your own dreams and it is that intention to inspire that sets this one apart from so many of the other autobiographies and biographies that young readers pick up as they expand their reading horizons. You don’t have to be a tennis player to enjoy this.
Country Town
Isolde Martyn
Robyn Ridgeway
Louise Hogan
Ford Street, 2023
48pp., pbk., RRP $A19.99
9781922696359
Every country town has its own unique history shaped by its location, its settlers and the events that have come and gone over the years.
In this book, somewhat reminiscent of the seminal text My Place by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins, and Window by Jeannie Baker, the story of a fictitious town is traced from its earliest times as a camp for a First Nations clan, and then from the 1820s when European explorers arrive, one decides to stay and run sheep, displacing those earliest inhabitants, and beginning a new story that features significant events that might have occurred over the ensuing 200 years.
Beginning with a poem by Robyn Ridgeway that describes the life her ancestors led but foretelling the feeling that great change is to come, each significant event, both natural and not, is explored and its impact explained so this becomes an oral history rather than just a series of facts and figures. Each snapshot is accompanied by a detailed illustration that has much to investigate in itself as well as comparing it to the previous illustrations as the changes happen and the town evolves.
Extensive teachers’ notes are available inviting the students to explore this text in detail, compare it to Window and then look at the history of their own town. They also suggest ways to use it from a broader perspective offering an entire term’s history curriculum that covers other strands of the Australian Curriculum, including the cross-curricular priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures making it a valuable addition to a teacher’s personal toolbox as well as one that the teacher librarian can suggest with confidence. Take a peek inside here.
Eat My Dust!
Neridah McMullin
Lucia Masciullo
Walker Books, 2023
32pp., hbk., RRP $A26.99
9781760654191
It is 1928 and despite proving their capabilities during World War I, most men still believed a woman’s place to be “barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen”. Many who had stepped in to fulfil the roles and occupations traditionally taken by men had been relegated back to domestic duties, yet there were many who defied the prevailing practices and attitudes and chose to follow their dreams.
Among them were Kathleen Elizabeth Howell and Jean Ochiltree Robertson whose passion was driving and who, in 1927, had completed the perilous trip between Melbourne and Darwin mapping their journey and the mileages as they went from Melbourne to Mount Gambier and Adelaide before heading north through the Central Desert to Oodnadatta and Alice Springs and up through to Darwin, sending their research back to their sponsors, the Shell Oil Company, who used the information to produce their first map of the route to central Australia.
Even though they were well-known in the motoring circles of the time, were experienced in both motor mechanics and driving in the desert, in 1928 when they took on the the west-east speed record from Perth to Melbourne (having already driven from Melbourne to Perth) and beating it by five hours, it was the derision and discrimination of the men that proved to be a greater hurdle. Each place they stopped for fuel or food, they were met by those who felt that such a journey was not the realm of women. To which they tended to respond, “Eat my dust!” Thus, told as narrative non fiction, this new book provides both an introduction to two little-known heroines who paved the way for women to drive today, and highlights those attitudes offering an insight into how difficult it was to be female in a male environment and the opportunity to investigate the transition of women’s achievements and influence over the last century.
With the 2023 CBCA Book Week theme of Read. Grow. Inspire still fresh in our minds, this is another story that allows young readers to meet the pioneers who followed their dreams, inspired others and made something “abnormal” normal for today’s generations.
Scout and the Rescue Dogs
Dianne Wolfer
Tony Flowers
Walker Books, 2023
224pp., pbk., RRP $A15.99
9781760655860
As the school year comes to an end at the Arcadia Boarding School for Young Ladies, Scout has only two plans for the long summer holidays – to enjoy the time with her trucker dad and to persuade him that Arcadia is not the best fit for her and she shouldn’t have to go back there. She has only been there since her mother died from cancer and having kept that a secret from the other girls, she has found it hard to make friends. And now her teacher has set the class a summer project of reaching out to three others to establish stronger friendships… and , of course, two of her three assigned contacts are her greatest tormentors.
But, Dad has one last run to do before they can escape to their farm near Beechworth – a philanthropist has donated a load of dog food to be delivered to animal rescue shelters in anticipation of the increased numbers they experience over Christmas – and soon Scout’s school-based problems fade into perspective as she meets carers and dogs and even makes a new friend through Ms Lawler’s initiative, all the while facing the threat of bushfires sweeping the countryside.
Set against the backdrop of the unprecedented fire season of 2019-2020 and travelling through south-eastern Australia through country that is so familiar to me – I’ve been to every one of the towns mentioned so many times – this was a story that kept me reading well past my bedtime and into the early hours. Wolfer has created a character who tells the story of that dreadful time through a child’s eyes – the interminable days of smoke and ash, the concern for the native wildlife, the fear of ember attacks and worse – and while, as an adult who evacuated twice because of the imminent danger, I could cope with the memories, it may open wounds that are just beginning to have scar tissue for some readers. But, at the same time, it is a story of love, the importance and power of memories, friendship, the camaraderie amongst strangers as communities rally together as they do in dire times, and of hope as Scout comes to terms with her situation through her deepening relationship with her dad and her own philanthropic enterprises. And threaded through it to lighten the mood as the real-life issues are addressed, is the greatest collection of the WORST Dad Jokes ever!!!
Edward the Emu 35th Anniversary Edition
Sheena Knowles
Rod Clement
HarperCollins, 2023
32pp., hbk., RRP $A22.99
9781460764084
Edward the emu was sick of the zoo,
There was nowhere to go and nothing to do,
And compared to the seals that lived right next door,
Well being an emu was frankly, a bore.
And so Edward decides he is going to be someone else entirely – he tries swimming with the seals, he spends a day lounging with the lions, and even slithers with the snakes – before realising that perhaps the thing he is best at is being himself.
This is an Australian children’s classic, first published 35 years ago, and one shared with so many classes and children in my care ever since. The children always respond so well because apart from the storyline, its rhyme and rhythm and its glorious illustrations, it is one of the best stories ever for helping our young people understand that who they are and being that is enough. And their turn to shine will come, even if the spotlight is on someone else right now. Certainly, when I include a copy of it in a storybook cushion, parents buy it because they remember it as an integral part of their childhood story journey.
And there is even more fun if it is teamed with Edwina the Emu, the sequel which follows Edward’s journey but with a focus on his mate who is also trying to find her identity.
These two stories are classic Australian children’s literature at its best – there is a message of being comfortable and confident about who you are but it is subtle and embedded first and foremost in an entertaining engaging story which has to be the primary focus of any author. No wonder they have stood the test of time and are still around to delight yet another generation.
Parcel For Koala
Shelley Knoll-Miller
Puffin, 2023
24pp., hbk., RRP $A14.99
9781761046636
Koala and his other friends who like to sleep through the day are stuck in a tree full of squawking cockatoos who are keeping them awake. They are tired and frazzled and just want to sleep. But then, on the back of a bouncing kangaroo, Postman arrives with a parcel. Both Gorilla and Penguin have received parcels, so what could be in this one from Turtle?
Knowing that in this adventure in this fabulous series for little ones, all the creatures want to do is get some sleep, young readers can have fun predicting what it might be that will help them do that. Could it be a harp to play lullabies or a hammock to curl up in? Perhaps some earmuffs to blot out those raucous cockies! Or is it something completely unexpected but which can be used to solve the problem anyway?
As with its predecessors, the thread of the story is presented on the endpapers helping the child to focus their thoughts on what is to come and predict what might happen, essential skills in becoming a reader. As one who has taught littlies to read for over 50 years, to me this series is an absolute winner and should be in the hands of all those who want their children to become successful, independent readers. It just works in building those early skills on so many levels and in so many ways.