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How to Build a Home

Jun12
How to Build a Home

How to Build a Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Build a Home

George Clarke

Robert Sae-Heng

Farshore, 2024

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

9780008587895

At a time when some of our students are living in less-than-ideal conditions and the term “housing crisis” seems to be mentioned incessantly, houses and homes are receiving more attention than usual.  And it’s not just the lifestyle programs with their innovative construction techniques and fancy interior design that are featuring – it’s the provision of one of the basic needs of human beings -shelter. And because it is a basic human requirement there are homes all around the world, each different from each other is shape, size, construction and materials, yet all providing for that same purpose. 

In this new addition to the Little Experts series, architect George Clarke examines the who, what, and how of construction of a home in this modern time providing an introductory insight into the processes involved from design to the build to the completed product, demonstrating why it is a more complex task than it appears and why there is no magic wand to the problem of not enough for everyone. But there is hope as forward-thinkers  explore new materials like the fibre from mushrooms or the seed pods of the cacao tree and even consider new technologies that might automatically adjust the room temperature by measuring body heat. 

As well as the basic explanation of home building, readers are invited to “think like an architect” and redesign their own bedrooms, offering all sorts of scope to plan and design model homes using anything from old shoeboxes to Lego or letting the imagination go wild with dreams that may become reality.  Why not have a toilet that analyses the products it collects for potential illnesses? Or a window that changes the ‘view’ to whatever will calm and relax the viewer at the time? In the past, and even now for some, the size of the home was a status symbol that announced the owner’s level of prosperity to the world and the power they wielded – in the past some countries introduced chimney and window taxes as revenue raisers – and today fewer and fewer young people envisage owning their own homes because of the cost.  Perhaps, after reading this, our young people will consider the purpose of the home and  there will be a shift in thinking to value more environmentally friendly dwellings that just do their job of providing shelter and something more than a tent in winter won’t just be a pipedream. 

This is another in this excellent series which looks at the ordinary and discovers the extraordinary.  

Cranky

May21
Cranky

Cranky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cranky

Phuc Tran

Pete Oswald

HarperCollins US, 2024

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

9780063256286

It’s the last day at the construction site and Cranky the crane is feeling cranky. And he doesn’t want to talk about it. His friends Zippy, Wheezy, and Dump Chuck try to cheer him up. But you know what doesn’t help when you’re feeling cranky A lot of talking. Or people telling you to cheer up. 

So what will help? 

This book for young readers helps them understand and validate some of those big feelings that sometimes swamp them but which they can’t articulate yet, particularly those that seem to have negative connotations as though they are unnatural.  Being good friends, Zippy, Wheezy and Dump Chuck don’t like seeing their friend unhappy and try to change his mood, but when Cranky is happy, do they try to turn that emotion around?  It can be confusing for a little one and they soon learn that it’s apparently not OK to be angry or sad or whatever when, in fact, it is.  Such feelings are real, natural and valid and they will recognise them in Cranky and through talking with the adult they are sharing the book with, maybe be able to learn words to express their feelings and the reasons for them, as well as strategies to deal with them.

By using construction vehicles in this anthropomorphic manner, the author has enabled the young reader to examine and talk about emotions at arm’s length as well as start to realise the impact of their emotions on others around them and why friends want to help, even though they just want to be cranky for a while longer.  

There are any number of books in this vein available to our younger readers but given the levels of anxiety and depression that seem to be enveloping this age group, particularly as parents’ anxieties have an impact on them, it is a message that they cannot hear too many times, especially our boys who may believe that “real men” are bulletproof and not subject to such feelings.    Emotions are real, natural and valid and it’s normal to have them and healthy to express them, even if you’re a cranky crane on a construction site..  

Ultrawild: An Audacious Plan for Rewilding Every City on Earth

Nov10
Ultrawild

Ultrawild: An Audacious Plan for Rewilding Every City on Earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultrawild: An Audacious Plan for Rewilding Every City on Earth

Steve Mushin

A & U Children’s, 2023

80pp., hbk., RRP $A34.99

9781760292812

When the introduction to a book is entitled ” Ludicrous Ideas are Bootcamp for Brains” then you know you have something that is going to be out there and it’s going to appeal to your wild thinkers, your madcap inventors and all those other kids who dwell in the Land of What If?

This is a most unusual book in both format and content and yet it is also most intriguing.  The author himself says that he had been having “outlandish ideas” for as long as he can remember, some successful, some not-so, but he is on a mission to “crush climate change by transforming every city on Earth into a jungle (or whatever other type of ecosystem it was before humans trashed it)”.

So in a comic-like format that follows his thought processes, he designs habitat-printing robot birds and water-filtering sewer submarines, calculates how far compost cannons can blast seed bombs (over a kilometre), brainstorms biomaterials with scientists and engineers, studies ecosystems and develops a deadly serious plan to transform cities into jungles, rewilding them into carbon-sucking mega-habitats for all species, and as fast as possible. But, as a highly-respected industrial designer, artist and inventor these are not the random machinations of a child’s wildest dreams, but serious collaborations with scientists and others who are concerned about the planet and which incorporate futuristic materials and foods, bio reactors, soil, forest ecosystems, mechanical flight, solar thermal power and working out just how fast we could actually turn roads into jungles, absorb carbon and reverse climate change. Each project has been researched and while not yet necessarily put into practice, each is theoretically possible and some are already happening,

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

Underpinned by quotes from those who have gone before including 14th century philosopher William of Ockham who said that “the simplest solution is almost always the best” (Occam’s razor) this is one to inspire all those who are concerned about climate change but who want and need to do more than reduce their personal use of plastic and who can see that doing what has always been done might not work in time, let alone be successful. It validates the wacky and the wild ideas some students have and encourages them to go even further.

What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box?

Oct19
What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box?

What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box?

James Maclaine

Harriet Noble & Erin Wallace

Usborne, 2023

48pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781805310037

We have all had experiences where we have seen mega amounts of money spent on a gift for a young child yet their greatest enjoyment has come from the cardboard box it was packaged in.

This new release from Usborne takes that humble cardboard box to a new level, well beyond the imagination of the toddler and into the construction skills of the older child. Using all sorts of boxes, each type readily available, they are challenged and guided to building a mini village, turning tissue boxes into monsters and rolling up chunky beads from bold and bright packaging. Bridges and ramps are put to the stability and functionality test, and that knowledge is used to investigate how to make an empty box strong enough to sit on.  They can see what happens when a marble is rolled in the lid of a shoebox with some paint. And simple step-by-step instructions can turn any big cereal box can become an amazing 3D model of the Solar System.

Forget being thrilled about creating a cardboard version of Hogwarts – these projects will satisfy all of the requirements of the Design and Technologies curriculum while encouraging creative and critical thinking as models are designed, made and appraised as well as giving hours of enjoyment and fun. And there are even more ideas at the Usborne Quicklinks page. 

Perfect for the Christmas stocking for both child and teacher!  

A cardboard Hogwarts

A cardboard Hogwarts

The Gargoyle

Sep14
The Gargoyle

The Gargoyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gargoyle

Zana Fraillon

Lothian, 2023

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

9780734421241

Forced off his rooftop to make way for a new urban development in a barren cityscape, the old gargoyle packs a battered suitcase and boards a train going who knows where. But he is unseen to all those who are packed on it, except for a child  who has the time and the presence to ponder the gargoyle’s story…

He’s old, this gargoyle. Very old. Older than me. Older than anyone. He looks tired. If I had a seat, I would give it to him.

He shuffles past me and stands near the door and watches the city smushing past.

I think I hear him sigh. An echoey, achy, hollow sort of sigh, like the wind when it gusts down lanes and through tunnels and in and out of the big drains that stretch under the city.

Invisible to all who are so engrossed in what is to come that they don’t see the here and now, except for the ticket collector who forces him off the train when he cannot produce a ticket, the gargoyle is a forlorn sight, testament to the often unnoticed and ignored elderly, disabled and homeless among us.  But he leaves his suitcase behind and when the child, overcome by curiosity and compassion, opens the case he unleashes the gargoyle’s many memories of the city and its inhabitants. When the case crumbles, leaving nothing but a small seed, the child decides to find a place to bring the gargoyle, and the soul of the city, back.

This is a poignant picture book that works on many levels both for younger and older students as they explore it, each visit exposing something different.  For example, on a literal level, the meaning and history of “gargoyles” could be investigated  to build vocabulary and children could be encouraged to not only identify structures in their town that feature them but also learn architecturally related words such as buttress and belfry, perhaps even compare modern and bygone construction styles and methods.   

Others might like to consider what memories are contained in the gargoyle’s case, and if he were a gargoyle from one of their town’s structures, what changes and events might he have seen and packed into that case.

Older readers who can dig deeper into the messages that lie beyond the words might look more at the humanitarian issues that are addressed- the trials and tribulation of ageing and how those who are in their senior years become invisible and often ignored as though they no longer have anything  to contribute; the way buildings and structures are often valued and preserved more than those who constructed them; the destruction of those buildings in the ever-growing need for quick-fix housing; the knowledge and memories of people and places past that could be drawn on to build a better future so the same mistakes are not repeated; society’s attitudes towards and treatment of the homeless… And having examined those issues, consider and plan what might grow from the seed that the boy plants.

Teachers’ notes offer discussion points about these as well as ideas for exploring its language, literary devices and visual literacy – both the author’s and illustrator’s notes add much – but the lingering emotion for the reader is one of empathy and compassion, of a desire to acknowledge and celebrate the legacies of those who have gone before us and consider the legacy that we, ourselves, might leave. 

I do expect to see this among the award winners of the upcoming year. 

Bored: Evie Dreams Big

Apr15
Bored: Evie Dreams Big

Bored: Evie Dreams Big

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bored: Evie Dreams Big

Matt Stanton

ABC Books, 2023 

240pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9780733342066

“My name is Evie and I’m making plans. Actual plans. I’m going to build my own house. I’m not talking about some silly treehouse either. I’m going to build a real house.

Only it seems everyone else who lives in Turtle Place has an opinion they’d like to share. Frog and Milo want to build something totally different, Mr Santos is grumpy, Mrs Katz is spying on us, my sister is the most annoying person on earth and my parents don’t believe in me at all. But I have a plan!

I have big dreams when I’m bored …”

This is the third in this series featuring the kids from Turtle Place who are very ordinary and do ordinary things and yet the creativity of Matt Stanton turns them into engaging reads for independent readers. We’ve already met Milo  and Frog and now it’s Evie’s turn who lives in a very nice two-storey house with her parents and two little sisters, so immediately you wonder why it is that she wants to build a new house just for herself…

Being bored is a common catch-cry in families just a few days into school holidays when the excitement of free time is worn off and the reality of the importance of the routine of school is realised, but it is often when we have the best ideas – or what seem like the best ideas.  So while Evie’s situation may not be the same, it is familiar and readers will relate well to her and her friends, which is always a must-have in any story for this age. Kids like to place themselves as active participants in the plot and this is one of Stanton’s strengths, and in this story, there is plenty of scope for opening up discussions about how they would deal with Evie’s situation, which so many will be experiencing. Is there a more practical solution than building a house so you can move out? At the same time, Stanton acknowledges the need for more independence as you mature, the need to have a space of your own, the need to have your concerns heard and acknowledged and your ideas and dreams supported, articulating them in a way that might help the reader speak to their own family. 

This might be just the book to rekindle the bedtime story ritual, so often abandoned when the child learns to read independently – certainly the parent won’t be bored and mat just learn something. 

 

 

 

 

Need a House? Call Ms Mouse!

Nov1
Need a House? Call Ms Mouse!

Need a House? Call Ms Mouse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need a House? Call Ms Mouse!

George Mendoza

Doris Susan Smith

A & U Children’s, 2022

40pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781761066016

The sign outside her home says that Ms Mouse & Co are “builders, designers and decorators” and certainly she has a portfolio to back her claims.  All the animals want to live in a house designed by Ms Henrietta Mouse, because she is the only mouse in the world who understands exactly what makes a squirrel or a rabbit, a caterpillar or a frog feel at home.

With her faithful mouse helpers she has built just the right home for so many of her forest friends and each is shown in beautiful detail on each double spread from the spaceship for Squirrel to the underwater Atlantis for Trout to the highly tuned web for Spider. Fourteen homes in all, so what does her own home look like?

As the 2022 season of The Block draws to a close, the interest in home design and décor is rising, and I am always amazed at the number of children who not only turn up to view the open houses but who can speak quite knowledgeably about the contestants and what they have achieved.  Some even aspire to be on the show themselves.  So this picture book  will inspire their imaginations as they think about what their own house might look like, taking into account their personal preferences and foibles, or perhaps inspire an activity that involves designing a home for an Australian animal, also considering their unique needs.  Combine it with books like Puffin the Architect, and Built by Animals and there is the basis for a range of skills and strengths to come into play combining STEM and art that might even kickstart a career choice… 

Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination

Oct7
Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination

Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination

Coral Vass

Nicky Johnston

EK Books, 2022

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

It is the backdrop to the lives of so many, draws millions of visitors from around the world, and yet is so familiar now that many don’t even see it.

Who would have thought that such a magnificent structure could grow from a little boy playing with sailboats, watching swans land on water, collecting seashells and flowers, even playing with his breakfast orange peel?  And yet it did and in this beautiful retelling of the young life of  Jørn Utzon, the reader learns not only of the beginnings of one of the world’s most recognisable buildings but the power of the imagination, and the importance of letting dreams lead us into amazing places.

Where might today’s discovery take a young person in years to come? Even if it is a wet, indoors day, what might they build from “rubbish” that could become the start of something magnificent?  In 50 years, will a nation be celebrating their dreams as they are about to celebrate Jørn’s?  

Sensitively written and illustrated in a way that doesn’t reveal the mystery to the end, this is a book that not only celebrates a little life that has big dreams that come true, but inspires the reader to drift away and imagine… If Jørn could begin a building with orange peels, could they make a city floodproof by playing in their porridge and milk?

Tatty Mouse Rockstar

Sep16
Tatty Mouse Rockstar

Tatty Mouse Rockstar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tatty Mouse Rockstar

Hilary Robinson

Mandy Stanley

Catch A Star, 2022

16pp., board book., RRP $A14.99

 9781922326553

Tatty Mouse wants to play in her brother’s band, but given they already have a guitarist, a saxophonist and a singer, she has to find a place.  Known as the ‘mend-it, make-it mouse”, and so, after consulting a book she decides on maracas and drums and sets to, using everyday objects from her home to make her own musical instruments.

The board book format lends itself perfectly to a lift-the-flap experience for our youngest readers as they follow Tatty Mouse’s instructions, perhaps making their own versions as they do because everything she uses is readily available.  

Catch A Star continues to recognise the need for even our youngest readers to have engaging stories that are sturdy enough in their own hands so they can mimic the reading of those who read to them, a critical step in becoming a reader, and this is no exception. The text is simple but the story can be followed without being able to read it because the pictures are colourful and clearly amplify what the words say, while the lift-the-flap and the invitation to do so adds to the engagement.  Above all, this format shows little ones the value of the constancy of print – rather than being a fleeting image on a screen, it is one they can return to again and again, not just to enjoy Tatty’s inventiveness but also to explore their own. 

 

Let’s Build a Backyard

May12
Let's Build a Backyard

Let’s Build a Backyard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Build a Backyard

Mike Lucas

Daron Parton

Lothian, 2022

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

9780734421289 

Chug! Chug! Chug! That’s the sound of the tipper truck.

Bang! Bang! Bang!  That’s the sound of the nails being hammered into the fence.

Sing! Sing! Sing! That’s the sound of the birds in the big tree that offers shelter and shade to countless living things and which must be protected.

In this charming companion to Let’s Build A House, Dad and his daughter are back again, this time building the backyard from bringing in quality topsoil to building a bee motel to planting the vege patch, installing a frog pond and planting bright flowers that feed on stinky chicken poo.  Using simple rhyming sequences and repetitive text, Mike Lucas and Daron Parton have once again combined to bring the complex task of creating a backyard haven for the family and wildlife alike into the realm of our youngest readers.  The bond between father and daughter is just as strong as she helps him with all the tasks – imagine the fun of being allowed to control the bobcat – with the final spread showing them sharing the joy of their labour together, suggesting that there is no mother in the story, a situation many will relate to.

As well as introducing young readers to all the tasks involved in creating a backyard and the order in which they must be done, the story opens up the opportunity for students to dream with their eyes open and plan their own backyard.  What features should it have so that it is perfect for playing and relaxing while still being a safe haven for the local wildlife and environmentally sustainable?  Teach them about bird’s-eye-view maps and drawing to scale so things fit. Big concepts for little children but made thoroughly accessible through this must-have book. (And if the prospect of a backyard is not feasible, how could the school playground be improved in a similar way? )