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Unreal

Jul22
Unreal

Unreal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unreal: Can you tell the fact from the fake?

Kate Simpson

Leila Rudge

A & U Children’s, 2024

64pp., hbk. RRP $A29.99

9781761180347

There’s been a mix-up at the Museum – some of the displays from the Myths and Legends exhibit have snuck into the Natural History wing.
We have to sort it out, but how can we tell fact from fiction? Animal from apparition? Megafauna from monster?

Oh my goodness!  If ever there were a book written to go straight into the teacher librarian’s toolkit, this is it.  Right here, in these 64 pages with their intriguing illustrations and fascinating snippets of information is your information literacy program for a term, if not a year!  And it is one that is going to grab even the most reluctant readers who are yet to discover the magic between the covers of a book.  

Beginning with a brief introduction of how to identify fact from fake by answering these questions…

  • Who is providing me with this information?
  • Do they have evidence for their claims?
  • Why are they telling me this?
  • How recent is the information?
  • Do other sources agree?

the reader is presented with five or six samples with a picture accompanied by a smidgen of fact and they have to determine creature or plant which is real and belongs in the Natural History section and which need to be returned to Myths and Legends.  Topics covered include weird and wonderful  things like Into the Deep, Cryptids, Bioluminescence and Animal Mash-ups among many more, and all will send the reader to the shelves and/or the internet to discover the truth (or otherwise) of the claims made, all the while honing their information literacy skills, as well as employing their critical analysis as they interpret and evaluate what they are reading.  Because each double-page spread provides a new challenge, the same skills are applied in a new context each time so they become embedded in the reader’s thinking.  They will become naturally more critical of what they are seeing, hearing or being told so are more likely to handle this world of fake news. artificial intelligence, scams and phishing better.     What more could you want?

Well, IMO, it is the perfect model for each to create a similar page for their peers to investigate, drawing on a wide range of topics from the real world and marrying them to the gamut of people and creatures that populate the stories of the world’s peoples so there is a feast of learning going on, beyond practising their skills in context.  

Definitely one for the toolbox of every teacher librarian.  

The Garden at the End of the World

Jul16
The Garden at the End of the World

The Garden at the End of the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Garden at the End of the World

Cassy Polimeni

Briony Stewart

UQP, 2023

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

9780702265693

In the forest at the end of their garden, Isla and her mother hunt for herbs, forage for fungi and listen to the trees.  It is their peaceful and happy place. and they appreciate all that it gives them.  One day, when Isla finds a beautiful and strange seed which she wants to keep, her mother tells her about the garden at the end of the world… “At the end of the world is an island covered in ice. On the island is a mountain. Inside the mountain is a vault. And inside the vault are millions of seeds…” 

These are not magic seeds like those that grew Jack’s beanstalk, they are ordinary seeds collected from plants around the world but because of the cold of the environment, they are able to survive for hundreds of years ensuring that children of the future will be able to grown and eat the foods that already exist. There are seeds from all over the globe, from White Eagle corn from the Cherokee nation, to kangaroo grass from Australia, all being carefully stored and nurtured, safe from the impact and influence of the outside world.  The concept sparks Isla’s imagination and so she carefully wraps her seeds in foil and she and her mother begin a life-changing journey to the Global Seed Vault in Norway.

Today’s children have an awareness of the state of the planet. climate change and its environmental future like no previous generation, and so this story provides not only information about this remarkable facility but also a beacon of hope.  Despite the stories of doom and gloom that they hear every other day, and the discussions and investigations they have and do about climate change and conservation, here is proof that something significant is being done by those who can, and that is has potential for good for everyone.  While much of their focus might be on preserving the world’s wildlife, without food there is nothing and so this shines a spotlight on protecting the vegetation – perhaps even inspiring some future botanists. Embedding both the information and the message in a story about a mother and daughter, rather than a facts-and-figures non fiction book, opens this initiative to a wider, younger audience who can build on what they now know generating both practical and philosophical change. Maybe it will be their children who benefit from the special seeds Isla delivers.   Worthy of its status as a CBCA Notable Book of the Year, 2024.

 

 

 

 

Spiro

Jul7
Spiro

Spiro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiro

Anna McGregor

Scribble, 2024

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

9781761381010

Spiro is hungry and he’s not fussy whether it is a juicy fly, a scrumptious moth or a crunchy stink bug that he has for dinner.  But whatever it is, he has to spin a web to catch it.  Although Spiro is good at spinning webs, he is not so good at choosing things to anchor it to, and so time and time again, he sees his snack trapped but then escaping!  But Spiro is nothing if not persistent, and just tweaks his plans and tries again.  Will he get his much-needed meal or will  he himself in danger of becoming something else’s lunch?

At the beginning of this book is a message- “Perseverance weaves the web that catches the lucky break” – offering an indication of the author’s intention to demonstrate that determination and persistence are critical for success because not everything works on the first attempt, and young readers will certainly have plenty of stories to share about times when their plans have gone awry and they have either given up or tried again.  They will spot the faults in Spiro’s design, all of which add to the humour,  and will be not only hoping that he gets something to eat soon, but that he escapes the beady eye of Mrs Bird.

But it is also a useful springboard into an investigation of these creatures, and a quick scan of SCIS shows that apart from Jeannie Baker’s classic One Hungry Spider, Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider or the traditional tale of Little Miss Muffet, there are few picture books with spiders as the main protagonist that serve the purpose as well.  Because for all that these creatures might send shivers down the spine of some, they are one of Mother Nature’s marvels and there is much to learn about them.  Teachers’ notes offer some suggestions, and there could also be a lively discussion about why Anna McGregor has chosen to make Spiro hot pink! There are also a number of videos online that show spiders spinning their webs, an exercise in maths and precision that always fascinates.

As with Anemone is Not the Enemy, on the surface this seems like a picture book with much of the action in the stunning illustrations that will entertain for the length of time it takes to read it, but with some astute questions it can provide an insight into spiders, food chains, food-gathering techniques, and so  much more, spanning the entire curriculum.

 

How to Save the Whole Blinkin’ Planet

Jun13
How to Save the Whole Blinkin' Planet

How to Save the Whole Blinkin’ Planet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Save the Whole Blinkin’ Planet: A Renewable Energy Adventure!

Lee Constable

Aška

Puffin, 2024

256pp., pbk., RRP $A19.99

9781761340826

As once again the news is dominated by political parties sprouting their particular ideologies about which energy source – renewables or nuclear – is going to be the way forward to meet the target of Net Zero by 2050 if we are to save the planet, this book reaches out to those who will be most affected to show them what they can do now, in the here and now, to make a difference.  

Speaking directly to the young independent reader, it starts by explaining how dependent the world is on electricity and how the traditional ways of generating this are leading to pollution, greenhouse gases and climate change.  The reader is invited to be an imagineer – an engineer who “likes to use powers of imagination, creativity and problem-solving to come up with wild and wonderful ideas and inventions that [will] make the whole blinkin’ world run as smoothly and safely as possible” = and join Captain Kilowatt to learn more about the problem, its causes and possible solutions with a variety of interactive devices that not only get them directly involved but also give them the science so they can make informed decisions and choices. 

Its style and format make it an engaging read that emphasises the need for the reader to be an active participant in understanding and solving the issues, with questions, quizzes and QR codes to scan to develop and consolidate knowledge. It’s a companion to How to Save the Whole Stinkin’ Planet and like that, offers our kids practical ideas that will help them make a difference, perhaps even contribute to the discussions so that they are more than just political catchphrases with an underlying motive that has little to do with actually protecting the planet. 

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.  

Oceans at Night

Jun9
Oceans at Night

Oceans at Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceans at Night

Vanessa Pirotta 

Cindy Lane

CSIRO Publishing, 2024

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

9781486317233

For many young readers, when they pack up the buckets, spades and surfboards and head home after a day at the beach, that’s the last they think of the ocean until they visit it again.  But as the sun sets on their day, a new world starts to come alive beneath the waves and in this stunningly illustrated book the reader is introduced to just a fraction of the nightlife that emerges when dusk and darkness fall.

And believe me, it is a world that is very different from the daytime with creatures not normally seen coming to life.  How well I remember putting my brave on and with only a cyalume stick strapped to my wrist, stepping into the inky black waters off Heron Island for my first night dive.  But it was worth the fear because the world we went into was so different from that which we had dived a few hours before, even though it was the same location.  Not only was the resident moray of the bommie out and about but my enduring memory is that of the beauty of the Spanish Dancer nudibranch swimming along, skirts dancing like a flamenco dancer, brilliant colours brought to life by the light of our sticks.

11,100+ Sea Slug Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock | Blue dragon sea slug, Green sea slug, Blue sea slug

As the world celebrates World Ocean Day and we have a particular focus on the environment that makes up 70% of our planet, this is an outstanding first look at those creatures who prefer dark to light – even those who never see light so deep do they live – and even includes the strange collection of plankton that, in certain conditions, turns the foaming waves blue and attracts sightseers whenever it is spotted. 

When I was a kid it was a television show called Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges that sparked my desire and determination to become a scuba diver, perhaps these days it is the feats of James Cameron and his Deepsea Challenge or other movies that take viewers to depths that modern technology allows. but whatever the inspiration, it is books like this that ignite the thirst for knowledge.  Written to inform the young independent reader and encompassing creatures from little penguins returning to feed their youngsters to the almost-mythical giant squid, this is one that could begin a journey that will last a lifetime.  

Magic Counting

Jun7
Magic Counting

Magic Counting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magic Counting

Nabeel Khan

Tete Garcia

Scribble Books, 2024

22pp., board book, RRP $A24.99

9781922585400

For generations of kids, maths has been taught as discrete strands of number, space, and measurement with little or no connection between the strands, and more often than not it is taught at a certain time each day making it appear to be a standalone subject with little or no connection to the real world, and generations of kids, particularly girls, have grown up believing that apart from being able to count and perform basic operations, it is a subject that bears little relation to their everyday lives and that it lives in the “too-hard basket”. Whether these attitudes are because of the heavy reliance on textbooks to teach it, or the ease of writing curriculum documents based on those apparently separate areas (although the Australia Curriculum now has algebra, statistics and probability included) , or teachers having the same perceptions as their students, is debatable but the outcome seems to be the same – it is a subject set apart from all others even though it has been called “the queen of sciences”. 

Forty years ago when given a class who, at the age of just 8, perceived themselves as already failing at maths because they had been streamed into the bottom group, it was clear to me that there had to be a different approach than the typical traditional textbook they had been following, and so, having had so much success teaching littlies to read with a ‘whole language classroom’ I decided to try a whole-maths classroom, with the outcome being a complete turnaround in attitude and achievement, as well as the publication of many articles in the then-authoritative Classroom magazine, as well as Maths About Me, Maths About My Year and the Eureka Maths program (all for Longman Cheshire.) My basic premise was that maths was everywhere and if we could show students how it connected to and actually drove their lives so they could see its purpose and relevance, they would be more willing to embrace it and invest their time and energy in learning how to understand and use the concepts and processes.

Which is all a long-winded way of explaining why I was so excited to have this new book arrive for review.  In it, visual artist Nabeel Khan explores the connections between shapes and numbers and the world in a way that reaches out to both the beginner and the experienced learners. Beginning with the number one – One earth turning, where countless creatures live – the reader then opens the flap=page to discover the circle, its properties and its place in nature and  its connections the spiritual beliefs of the world’s peoples, continuing the exploration for each number to ten, Khan builds on his belief that children learn more effectively if we begin from “a place of playfulness, curiosity, and tangible connection to their environment” so that maths is seen as a connected whole from the get-go. “We can find numbers and shapes everywhere: in the natural world, in art and architecture, in symbolism, and in the sky above us.”

Back in those delightful days when we were allowed to use our imaginations to teach, one of the favourite activities was to explore a maths trail where students would investigate the shapes, numbers, measurements and all the other things in the environment, whether that was around the school, around the shopping centre or even a national institution like the Australian War Memorial. Sometimes they followed trails that others had set, but often they made up their own; sometimes that had to find the correct term for a pattern of bricks and sometimes they just had to add the numbers on their letterbox but either way it provided authentic fun learning across all aspects of the discipline and all ages of the student body. Maybe this book will inspire a similar way to discover the magic as they look more closely at the maths in the world around them.

Needless to say, this is a book that has captured my interest and one that I believe, should not only be in the library’s collection but in each teacher’s toolbox because it has the potential to have a profound impact on the way we teach and understand this vital topic.  

 

  

 

Plantabulous!

Jun6
Plantabulous!

Plantabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plantabulous! More A to Z of Australian Plants

Catherine Clowes

Rachel Gyan

CSIRO Publishing, 2024

64pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9781486317202

When it comes to native Australian flora, students can generally recognise those they see often like the wattle and the waratah, and even some of the eucalypts but with more than 24 000 species -some that survive fire; some that can combat air pollution and even some that are venomous – there is such a diversity that  even the Australian National Botanic Gardens, dedicated to maintaining  a scientific collection of Australia’s native plants, only has about 4,600 species which represents around a fifth of those known.  

Somehow, the author of this book has managed to select 26 to explore in detail in this new book designed to build awareness not only of the diversity but also the role that each plays in the environment.  Each has true-to-life illustrations,  fascinating facts and other information as well as a pronunciation guide so readers can dip and delve as they choose.  There’s a glossary that is tremendous for getting both the tongue and the brain around some of the common words associated with plant life like “germinate”, “photosynthesis”  and the differences between “petals” “sepals” and “tepals”, as well as a map of the various ecoregions found across the continent.  

More for the older, independent reader seeking more detailed information, rather than a beginners’ guide, nevertheless, it is easily readable and definitely has a place of the shelf for any burgeoning botanist, and worth seeking out the first in the series. Plantastic. 

Plantastic!

Plantastic!

 

 

The Miracle of the Grey Swans

Jun5
The Miracle of the Grey Swans

The Miracle of the Grey Swans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Miracle of the Grey Swans

Zhao Lihong

Wang Keqiao

Little Steps, 2024

106pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781922833211

Each year the swans come to spend six months on the lake near Weiwei’s home and then fly off to who knows where.  Weiwei’s family feels a special connection with these magnificent birds and so when a male is heard making a great fuss, Weiwei investigates, only to find the female who is obviously its mate, is injured and unable to fly.

Despite the male’s protestations as he tries to defend his mate, Weiwei and his father are able to move the swan to their shed to care for it, as well as the two eggs they discover she is sitting on.  They leave the door and gate open so the male is free to come and go, as he eventually does, but when it is time for the flock to leave he is torn between staying with his injured-but-recovering mate and the call of nature and the wild.  Over the winter the babies hatch and the mother takes care of them but will her partner return in the Spring with the rest of the group.

Like the author’s other story, Snow White’s Escape, this is another original plot, simply told with no other purpose than to entertain young readers.  Despite its length, it is more like an extended picture book than a novel with a linear story devoid of complex twists and turns. 

There is a reference to The Ugly Duckling that might lead the reader to exploring that or perhaps even Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, but it is also an opportunity to introduce the concept of animal migration.  Where do the swans go when they leave the farm near the lake?  Why do they go? How do they find their way back? are they the only creatures that do this?  Perhaps a good stepping stone from Weiwei’s story would be A Shorebird Flying Adventure  which tells the story of some remarkable Australian birds, and then a search of this blog for “migration” will bring up a number of non fiction texts perfect for investigating further. It might even inspire a class activity observing and tallying the different birds seen in the school playground over the course of the year to determine which are permanent residents and which are transitory but regular visitors.  

Sometimes the most unlikely story can lead the reader down any number of pathways to new discoveries – this is one of those and that is truly the magic of reading.  

 

How Families Are Made

Jun2
How Families Are Made

How Families Are Made

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Families Are Made

Dr Amir Khan

Donough O’Malley

Farshore, 2024

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

9780008520885

No matter what the size or shape of your family – mum, dad and siblings; two mums; two dads; foster parents; single parent; several  generations – each person in the family started out the same way – “a group of special cells, and these were created when an egg was fertilised by a sperm.” 

Not so long ago when a parent was asked the inevitable “Where did I come from?”, the answer was to do with a stork or the cabbage patch; more recently seminal texts like Where Did I Come From? and What’s Happening to Me? caused outrage when they appeared on library shelves in primary schools, and just weeks ago a Sydney council tried to ban a book about same-sex parents from its shelves. So while the question remains as old as humanity, responses to it are gradually veering more and more towards the truth and reality, and in this new addition to the Little Experts series, the facts about reproduction, gestation and birth are given in both accessible text and clear illustrations while acknowledging that diversity in family structure and that “family” is much more than a coupling of male and female.  It includes a glossary that explains terms like “foster parents”, “gender identity” and “transitioning” in the same way it does “embryo” and “zygote”, thus normalising their meaning and use for all children.  

Despite the world, in general, having come a long way in acknowledging and accepting different family structures and the right for children to know the truth of their origins, including their biological beginnings, there are still those who find such topics too sensitive to discuss and so books like these must be in any school library collection.  Yes, there will be those who giggle or blush but that, in itself, is part of their maturing and IMO, the more information young people have the more likely they are to develop respectful relationships with those around them.  

Written by a qualified GP, well-known on television in the UK, and presented in such an objective manner amongst a collection of books that covers everything from vehicles powered by humans to superhero animals, it presents this topic as as natural and ordinary and everyday as it should be.  However, there will be those for whom the matter-of-factness may clash with their school’s beliefs or ethics about the provision of such information, so, for them, a preview may be wise.