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What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do

Sep30
What to Do When You're Not Sure What to Do

What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do

Davina Bell

Hilary Jean Tapper

Lothian, 2023

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

9780734422088

Remember a time when you have had to attend a function or a meeting and everyone else seems to know someone, but you know no one?  Or you’ve built up the courage to do something new and different but you don’t know where or how to start?

Imagine what that might be like for our little ones as they navigate the big and not-so-big situations that they encounter for the first time as they have so little previous experience to draw on.

This is the companion to the highly-recommended What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say  and it is just as gentle, encouraging and positive as its predecessor. Whether it’s stepping on to an escalator for the first time or into the waves at the beach, these situations can be confronting but the constant message is to have a go, even if it means finding a “you-shaped space” to catch your breath and then reflect on your bravery.

As with the first,  the cover of the book depicts the idyllic freedom of childhood that we all imagine for our children, but the front endpage is more realistic. Getting on to a bus and there is only one seat left and that’s next to a stranger,  but then, the back endpage shows that a simple act of kindness can go a long way to making things feel safe and welcome. And so it is with the rest of the book, whether it is the child in the new circumstance or the one reaching out to make another feel safe.

Preparing our little ones with strategies for what they might encounter in a particular situation is essential if we are to help them build resilience and empathy, and have the courage to tackle the world beyond the family with confidence and this book goes a long way to help us as the adults as well as the children to do and be the best we can.

The Queen Next Door

Sep29
The Queen Next Door

The Queen Next Door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Queen Next Door

Marcela Ferreira

Sally Agar

Orchard, 2023

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781408366134 

In a faraway land, a happy queen rules over the happiest of kingdoms, bouncing around the town on her sparkly space hopper,. When a new queen moves in next door and starts showing off, beginning with her ginormous bedroom and her shiny new crown, the happy queen wasn’t bothered too much but when the new queen sends her a photo of her brand-new, super-duper throne, the happy queen can’t help feeling a little jealous and decides she MUST have a throne of her own . . . 

This is a charming story with an underlying message about valuing material objects and whether having the latest, the brightest, the biggest or the shiniest actually gets you what you want.   Are there more important things that will give you greater happiness and more fun?  Written for early childhood, it could spark a discussion about wants versus needs as children start to be impacted by advertising and current fads and learn the art of pester power. 

 

Flirtle the Turtle Finds a Friend

Sep27
Flirtle the Turtle Finds a Friend

Flirtle the Turtle Finds a Friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flirtle the Turtle Finds a Friend

S. Solo

Andrew Saltmarsh

Little Steps, 2023

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.95

9781922358486

Flirtle lives near a swamp. and while she seems happy enough she hides her sadness well because would dearly like to have a friend. But days pass and no friends come by, and  she realises that she will need to be proactive and seek one for herself.  Sadly, for all that she plucks up courage to speak to the cat, the bear, and the monkey , none was quite the right friends for her as they didn’t want to do the things she liked and they left.  Until…

This is a tried and true theme about making friends for young readers, showing them that they can’t just sit around and wait for friends to come to them – sometimes you have to help yourself.  But it also raises the issue of whether friends have to like and do the same things, or whether there is scope for differences while still building the relationship.  Some might even like to speculate on the things that the cat, bear and monkey might like that Flirtle can’t do thus developing an awareness of the wants and needs of others.  

Written in rhyme and accompanied by bold illustrations, this is one that little ones will enjoy and which offers possibilities for lots of talk about making and maintaining friendships.  

Beginnings and Endings

Sep24
Beginnings and Endings

Beginnings and Endings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginnings and Endings

Jan Stradling

Jedda Robaard

ABC Books, 2023

34pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780733342400

Swish the goldfish has died and Little Ted is sad.  But his friends are on the way to help him feel better and to remember that life is all about beginnings and endings.

This is a very gentle story about life and death featuring the familiar friends from the long-running Play School, which in itself will comfort those who are suffering a loss like Little Ted as they realise everyone,  even their favourite characters,  will encounter loss and feel sad.  It is entirely natural but Jemima, Humpty, Kiya and Big Ted have ways to help Little Ted feel a bit better and see that there is still wonder and beauty in the world.  And their advice is encapsulated in  the final page with ideas to help lessen the misery and look for the things that brighten our hearts.

This is another in this collection of stories designed to help our youngest reader navigate some of the trickier paths to growing up and with illustrations as soft as the text, it is one for all parents to have in the home library. 

The Cubby House Kitchen

Sep22
The Cubby House Kitchen

The Cubby House Kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cubby House Kitchen

Amy Medley

Little Steps, 2023

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.95

9781922833303

Emma collects apples to make an apple pie in her cubby house kitchen and invites Carlo and Sachi to help her. While they go to get the other ingredients, Emma places her four apples on the windowsill of the cubby and starts to get her utensils ready. But each time she turns around, an apple is missing.  Where are they going? Who or what is leaving the cores with teeth marks in them?  And when there are none left at all, how will she be able to make an apple pie?

Written for early learners, this book is an opportunity for young readers to predict who might be eating the apples while practising their counting skills as they count with Emma. It’s also a chance to introduce the concept of a recipe and its special format, maybe even finding a recipe for an apple pie and making it together with all the talk and measuring and anticipation that that brings, including sharing favourite foods. Something a little different with a lot of potential. 

 

Country Town

Sep21
Country Town

Country Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Gigantic

Sep20
Gigantic

Gigantic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gigantic

Rob Biddulph

HarperCollins, 2023

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

9780008413439

A mulberry sky full of flashes and rumbles

An ocean alive as it flashes and tumbles

And there, ‘neath the waves of a sunny Atlantic,

There lives a blue whale and his name is Gigantic.

But Gigantic is the smallest whale in the pod, constantly taunted and tormented by his big brother Titan and his friends,. But  when Titan finds himself in trouble after another bout of teasing Gigantic and his best friend Myrtle the Turtle, he learns that sometimes you don’t have to be big to be mighty. 

The message in this story is quite clear – you can be tiny and tough – and young readers will probably have stories of their own to share about when being a kid really has its advantages. But it also reminiscent of the fable The Lion and the Mouse, so this could be an opportunity to introduce them to that and other fables by Aesop to show how stories have been used to teach such lessons for centuries. Investigating the stories and their meanings, and even extending  that to fairy tales which were also essentially didactic tales of good versus evil, can help young students start to develop their critical thinking skills as they learn to read between and beyond the lines, rather than just along them. Asking themselves about the key purpose of the author’s writing – to persuade, inform, entertain or reflect – and then unpacking the underlying intent helps them interpret and assess information sources as they mature. 

So, even though this is an entertaining and engaging story just as it stands, it has the potential to broaden the reader’s horizons far beyond the depths of the Atlantic. 

Just Because

Sep19
Just Because

Just Because

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Because

Matthew McConaughey

Renée Kurilla

Puffin, 2023

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

9781761343582

Just because I’m in the race,
doesn’t mean I’m fully ready.
Just because I’m shaking,
doesn’t mean that I’m not steady.

Using a series of rhyming couplets accompanying compelling vignettes, this new book could be your mindfulness program for the term as it explores “the contradictions and complexities that exist in each of us” as we try to navigate what we believe and  what we confront, what we expect and what we experience. By focusing on each situation and unpacking it, young readers begin to understand that their world is not black and white, that there are those fifty shades of grey and there are layers to both their feelings and their relationships as they learn about finding common ground and compromise without betraying their own beliefs and needs. 

“Just because I forgive you, doesn’t mean that I still trust.

There’s what you do, there’s what I do, and yours is not my must.”

As our little ones mature, they are able to move beyond their hands-on, here-and-now view of the world and begin to think on a more abstract level where they can see things from the perspective or others, understand cause and effect, consider what-ifs and maybes, be more flexible and able to delve into underlying meanings. This book offers a wide range of readily recognisable situations that offer lots of opportunities to discuss what the words mean and what the child might do in a similar situation as well as beginning to understand metaphorical language. For example, Just because they threw the dart doesn’t mean it stuck not only lends itself to considering when we should take notice of criticism but also whether a dart was physically thrown.  

There are many books that are released with a celebrity’s name on the front cover automatically giving them publicity but then the hype doesn’t live up to the reality, but this one deserves all it gets.  Whether it’s in a family library or the teacher’s toolkit to pull out at opportune moments, it provides possibilities for all sorts of learning as we guide our little ones to be the sorts of adults we want them to be. 

The Concrete Garden

Sep18
The Concrete Garden

The Concrete Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Concrete Garden

Bob Graham

Walker Books, 2023

32pp., hbk., RRP $A27.99

9781529512649

At last, winter is over, lockdown is lifted and the children spill out of the large apartment block ” like sweets from a box”.  Last out is Amanda and she is carrying a large box of chalks because she has an idea. Choosing green first, she draws a large circle with some smaller circles radiating from it – and from there the fun begins… Firstly, Jackson made a dandelion from Amanda’s circle, and then Janet added a mushroom and then the twins added flowers and then…

This is Bob Graham at his best offering the reader so many ideas to explore as the book is read and re-read.

Firstly, there has to be that glorious feeling of being free to connect with others, including those whom you have never met, when isolation has been imposed on you. The reader can hear the shouts of delight of the children and the babble of busyness as they get to be kids again, and imagine that their new and renewed friendships will spread to those of the adults in their lives too, meaning that there will be a greater sense of community in the apartments once inside beckons again.  But what if that isolation isn’t COVID related?  What if there is a child confined to a hospital bed, or isolated by language or being new to the area or… How might the reader reach out to them?

And while many will resonate with living in an apartment building where there is no opportunity to have the sort of gardens that feature in In My Garden , that doesn’t mean the children are oblivious to Mother Nature and the colour and magic and togetherness that she brings.  As so many of the young artists add natural elements to the drawing, there is an unspoken acknowledgement of what is missing from this hemmed-in concrete jungle, perhaps inspiring something more than a transient chalk drawing to be done. And, as with In My Garden, there is much to explore about the connectivity of gardens, real and imagined, in “The picture crossed deserts and mountains and oceans and cities.  It bounced around the world, returning to fill the screens in all the dark rooms over the concrete garden”. 

Others might like to explore why it is the seemingly simple activity of drawing a picture with chalk that brings so much imagination, friendship, co-operation, optimism and joy rather than the more formal, organised, prescriptive activities that seem to be such a part of children’s lives.  They might be let loose with chalk in their playground, or start a chain picture to which everyone contributes in the classroom, or even work together on a physical project to beautify their school or local community.  The possibilities are endless.

This is not only Bob Graham at his best but also the picture book at its best.  The links between text and illustration are woven so tightly together, one can’t stand without the other and each thread of the tapestry offers something to explore and ponder.  Expect to see this one up there in all the awards in the coming year.   

If Our World Were 100 Days

Sep16
If Our World Were 100 Days

If Our World Were 100 Days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Our World Were 100 Days

Jackie McCann

Aaron Cushley

Farshore, 2023

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

9780008599287

If the last 10 000 years of human development were condensed into 100 days, it is hard to realise that it would be only 54 days ago that the first formal writing system was created and only six hours ago that the first text message was sent!

Time, particularly history, is one of the hardest concepts for little people to grasp because their lack of maturity keeps them in the here and now, and thus the concept of 10 000 years is impossible to understand.  But in this new book that uses the format of condensing things in 100 elements such as animal species or  groups of people, the numbers, proportions and statistics become more manageable.

Like its predecessors, it uses double-page spreads, clever illustrations and graphic design elements to chart the timeline of significant developments in humankind such as population growth, the evolution of the wheel, even the creation of cures for a headache. It includes a timeline that summarises the major events and discoveries included as well as inviting the reader to contemplate whether the progress has been entirely beneficial and where the world might be in 100 days from now, offering scope for the science fiction fans to let their imaginations loose.  Older readers might like to investigate the Doomsday Clock, its meaning and implications.

As well as offering students the opportunity to explore and explain the development of something that they, themselves,  are interested in and presenting their findings in a similar format, it is also an excellent way to talk about data collection, interpretation and presentation, and the use of visuals to convey complex ideas, all important aspects of being information literate, while, at the same time, helping them understand that elusive concept of time.