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Peppa Loves Our Planet

Apr1
Peppa Loves Our Planet

Peppa Loves Our Planet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peppa Loves Our Planet

Ladybird Books, 2020

32pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9780241436721

Peppa and her friends are learning about caring for the planet at playgroup and Madame Gazelle asks them each to make a scrapbook that shows the everyday things they do at home to help the planet.  So from walking to school to recycling bottles to using scrap card for their scrapbooks, Peppa and George embrace the task enthusiastically learning that even little changes can make a difference.

This would be an excellent story to share with our youngest readers, particularly at this time when so many are not able to attend school because they, too, could create a Love Our Planet scrapbook and share photos and explanations of what they are doing each day.  Keeping students engaged in their learning could be tricky for parents who are not used to taking on the teacher’s role so having an authentic task such as this and featuring such well-known characters who are already role models will be most welcome.  And sharing new ideas can expand both the task and the learning.

Here’s today’s contribution to my scrapbook – providing our local crimson rosella population with water to drink and bathe in.

Goodnight Glow Worms

Mar25
Goodnight Glow Worms

Goodnight Glow Worms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodnight Glow Worms

Aura Parker

Puffin, 2020

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

9780143792918

Goodnight, Glow Worms shining bright,
Time to dim your Glow Worm light.
Glow Worms gleaming, beaming round,
Can’t switch off and can’t wind down.

It is glow worm bedtime but they are finding it very difficult to go to sleep.  Something is missing.  But even when that’s discovered, Yellow Glow Worm just can’t turn off his light.

This is another delightful story for littlies from the author of the equally delightful Meerkat Splash written in rhyme and repetitive text and accompanied by illustrations that encourage discussion and interactivity with its focus on helping little ones identify colours. But it could also lead to bigger things with the child’s curiosity about glow worms sparked and an investigation into why and how they glow.  Can they really turn off their lights?

Perfect for preschoolers.

Hattie

Mar24
Hattie

Hattie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hattie

Frida Nilsson

Gecko Press, 2020

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

9781776572717

Hattie is a street-smart country girl in her first year of school. She lives just outside of nowhere, right next to no one at all. Although she has a dog called Tacka and two outdoor cats, Havana and Stick, as well as ducks and chooks, she lives in a place so remote that she is lonely. Luckily she’s starting school and that brings new adventures.

There would be many Australian children who could relate to the isolation of Hattie and who long to go to school for the social contact that is so critical, and while her adventures at school are set in the Scandinavian world they are not so different from situations our children might find themselves in. However, this book is probably better as a read-aloud rather than a read-alone because its format is not as supportive for those reading about six-year-olds as other books are.  Perhaps that reflects the Scandinavian school experience where kindy kids can read independently with regular fonts and few illustrations. That aside, it is an engaging story that introduces young readers to a world that is very different from theirs yet remarkably similar. 

 

 

The Easter Bunnyroo

Mar23
The Easter Bunnyroo

The Easter Bunnyroo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Easter Bunnyroo

Susannah Chambers

Laura Wood

Allen & Unwin, 2020 

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

9781760635015

Last week my dad found an orphan who needs our help. She has LONG ears and BIG feet and a BUILT-IN BASKET. He says she’s a joey but I know who she really is – THE EASTER BUNNY! But Ruby is too little to hide the eggs and hop to all the houses in the world by herself and so begins a charming story that will appeal to our youngest readers. They can suggest all the skills that Easter Bunny would need to know to do his job well, including making a map so that all the eggs are delivered on time, and how Ruby could learn these.

Susannah Chambers, author of  The Snow Wombat, has created another appealing story, drawing on her knowledge of our native fauna and illustrator Laura Wood has packed a lot of detail into the pictures so there is much that can be talked about as the story is shared. The final twist is superb, and given the number of orphaned animals after the recent summer, the need for and role of carers is vital and this could also up other avenues for discussion and, perhaps, action. 

This is one Easter story that is not twee. 

 

We Catch the Bus

Mar18
We Catch the Bus

We Catch the Bus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Catch the Bus

Katie Abey 

Bloomsbury, 2020 

32pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9781526607195

A companion to We Eat Bananas and We Wear Pants this is another interactive picture book for young readers encouraging them to find their favourite characters driving or riding on all sorts of transport.  Monkeys flying planes, llamas riding scooters – whether it’s buses, planes, trucks, trains, diggers, cars, bikes, boats, emergency vehicles, tractors or rockets; little ones can hunt for their favourites and hone their visual perception skills as they search the highly detailed illustrations for all sorts of things, including Monkey who is the star of the earlier books. 

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

As with the others, each double-spread contains speech bubbles, many of them questions that readers can respond to such as counting the red vehicles or searching for the chameleon.  

This is a series of books that keeps on giving as there is so much on offer there is something new to look for and discover with each reading. Even without adult guidance, little ones can pore over the pictures and maybe imagine themselves as part of their favourite.  They learn to search for the details that offer clues to the meaning of the text in a very humorous setting, an important early reading behaviour. 

A great one for preschool or parent recommendations. 

 

Isla’s Family Tree

Mar17
Isla’s Family Tree

Isla’s Family Tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isla’s Family Tree

Katrina McKelvey

Prue Pittock

EK Books, 2020

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

9781925820379

Isla’s family is about to grow and she is not happy.  “This family is full”, she declares.

So her mother sits her down and explains how families are like trees -they have a trunk that is formed by the grandparents, branches formed by their children and then the leaves are the children of those children like Isla and her cousins.  Isla begins to understand but when she learns that her mum is to have two babies, then there is no room for any more leaves on her branch and the family is definitely full.

The prospect of a new baby entering an already tight-knit family is very common and can be very confronting to a child who is used to being the only one so this approach to explaining the upcoming event is one that will appeal to many parents. Promoting it with your parent community would be a great way to promote the school library’s relationship with that community. 

However it would also have a valuable place in the early childhood classroom as children investigate their families and their structure.  Not all of Isla’s family have the traditional formation of mother, father and children so there is  scope for each child to make their own tree and show and share that families can have all sorts of shapes, just as trees and their leaves do, perhaps bringing comfort to those who might see themselves as being different. 

Investigating their own origins is always a surefire winner with young children because it deeply connects to their own lives and there are as many branches to explore as there are in the family tree. The concepts of birthdays, naming, physical appearance and genetics, development and maturation, vocabulary building… the list is almost endless with lots of other stories that can be shared as well.  There are teachers’ notes available.

It also helps children understand that their trepidation when faced with the same sort of news and change is normal, that sometimes we have to change a little ourselves so we can adapt to that change but that’s what people do and it can help us grow too. 

Another example of how what appears to be a simple picture book for young readers can open up a world of possibilities. 

Meet the Planets

Mar16
Meet the Planets

Meet the Planets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the Planets

Caryl Hart

Bethan Woollvin

Bloomsbury, 2020 

32pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9781408892985

Young readers are invited to join an aspiring young astronaut and her trusty dog to climb into a rocket and fly on a journey to meet the planets that they see in the night sky, beginning with the sun and going out to the dwarf planet Pluto in a series of informative rhymes and intriguing illustrations designed to make them appear friendly.

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

Useful as both an introduction to the solar system and perhaps to allay fears of the dark, this is a unique approach to help young readers learn about what’s out there in that night sky. Its bold palette and its humour (in both text and graphics) bring each planet to life –  Venus is the ‘goddess of beauty’; Jupiter the ‘king of the planets’,  Saturn is ‘your beautiful queen’ while the reader is called “lucky” to have Earth as there is no other like it – giving them a presence that makes them real rather than remote, and inspires an evening of sky-watching to see what can be seen.  Share this website to help inform their viewing.

 

 

I’m Ready… (series)

Mar15
I'm Ready for Easter

I’m Ready for Easter

I'm Ready for the New Baby

I’m Ready for the New Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m Ready for Easter

9781760891596

I’m Ready for the New Baby

 9781760891626

14pp., board book, RRP $A12.99

 The days are getting cooler and coloured leaves are falling so Easter must be on its way.  There are lots of things to do in preparation and Master Platypus is very busy choosing colourful treats, hot cross buns, painting eggs and making special hats. Meanwhile Miss Wombat is also very busy preparing for the arrival of a new baby reading stories to the bump and decorating the nursery…

These are the two latest in this charming series (the final two are due in November 2020) that feature young anthropomorphic Australian animals doing the everyday things that young readers resonate with. There is a feeling of anticipation as the big events arrive, just as there is in any family, and our youngest readers will be happy that any concerns they might have are echoed elsewhere – they’re not alone.  

Building on the new development of providing our very earliest readers with stories that engage rather than one-word concept books, in a format that is the right size and robust enough for little hands to manage themselves, these two new episodes will delight as well as encourage those early reading behaviours , particularly role-play reading, that are the foundation of reading success.

Peppa Pig Board Books

Mar14
Peppa the Easter Bunny

Peppa the Easter Bunny

Peppa's Play Date

Peppa’s Play Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peppa the Easter Bunny

9780241411827

Peppa’s Play Date

9780241412237

16pp., board book., RRP $A9.99

Two new stories featuring this popular character and her family, bringing to life recognisable activities that our youngest readers will relate to. 

Peppa decides to have an Easter egg hunt in the garden and surprise her friends when she and George dress up as the Easter Bunny and then has lots of fun when her friends come over for a play date.

Peppa Pig, described by one writer as one with “stick-figure limbs and head shaped like a travel hairdryer that’s been flattened by a steamroller”, and her family have been entertaining  little ones on screen and in print around the world since 2004 and thus  the characters are so familiar to most children that there is no need to explain relationships and so forth so the action can start right away in a predictable development of the storyline – there is an event happening, Peppa has a problem to solve, her family help her solve it and everyone has lots of fun enjoying themselves.  Simple but very effective for enticing littlies to print and reading and some mums have even been overheard asking, “What would Peppa do?” when a child has a problem that needs solving.  

Bumblebunnies (series)

Mar13
Bumblebunnies (series)

Bumblebunnies (series)

BumbleBunnies (series)

Graeme Base

Angus & Robertson, 2020

24pp., hbk., RRP $A16.99

The Pond

9781460753941

The Sock

9781460753972

The Gate 

9781460754009

The Balloon

9781460754030

This is a new series by the amazing Graeme Base, written for our earliest readers. Featuring some superhero bunnies , who generally reside in their hutch looking like ordinary white rabbits, and the Wuffle the dog, Lou the cat and Billington the duck, Base uses  simple text and his exquisite detailed artwork to bring everyday incidents to life in story. When Wuffle, Lou and Billington are confronted by situations they can’t handle, the superhero bunnies morph into bees and use their intelligence and unique skills to get the heroes out of potentially dangerous situations.

Apart from being entertaining stories in themselves, the nature of series means that even little ones can learn about each character and carry what they know of them over to the next book.  They will delight in helping the BumbleBunnies choose what is needed for each situation, giving them a sense of power over the words that most stories don’t have, and suggesting the ways that the BumbleBunnies can each use their skills to rescue the situation.

While this is quite a departure from his works for older children, nevertheless, Base’s attention to detail in the illustrations makes them so rich that they demand to be read over and over again with something new to discover each time.