Review: Australian Animals: Mothers and Babies

In their usual leading style, Alphaprints presents another delightful board book for babies and early learners. Australian Animals: Mothers and Babies introduce tactile learning with painter fingertips and photographs.

The rhyming text sways and sings. Little ones will enjoy the voice sounds that accompany the ridged feel of the textured images.

Australian animals, birds and sea creatures make up the parade of entries.

Paper, fruit, keys, brushes, knitted hats, light globes, leaves, chocolates, and other daily items including food, have been added to create happy imaginative illustrations. A game of seek and find will entertain and educate, for this book can become a voyage of discovery while learning language.

With embossing on every page, kangaroos wombats, koalas, crocodiles, echidnas, Sugar gliders, yabbies, Great white sharks, quokkas, (such cute little ones) bilbies, turtles, kookaburras and lots more form the collection.

Vibrant colours fill the single and double spreads. The durable board promises a long life. Plasticised for easy wiping, food fingers don’t stand a chance.

This is an ideal learning tool that will work for older children too as an introduction to the concept of family and that of large and small. It can also be used as a starting point for teaching colours, and the various shapes that make up the animals.

Title: Alphaprints: Australian Animals: Mothers and Babies

Author/Illustrator: Roger Priddy

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, $12.99

Publication Date:

Format: Board Book

ISBN: 9781783419418

For ages: 1+

Type: Baby Book

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Review: Funny Kid: Peeking Duck

Meet The Illustrator: Ruha and Minaira Fifita

 

 

Name: 

Ruha Fifita & Minaira Fifita

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less. 

Abstract, Pacific, Celtic, Vibrant, Symbolic,  

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Good source to natural light, a nice fine-tip pen a paper for writing and drawing ideas that pop up while working on other projects. We also like to work in a space where others are doing things around us.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?

Yes, Natural dyes and barkcloth (used for ngatu-making)  

                              

Name three artists whose work inspires you. 

It is really hard to name just three – artists perhaps that inspire us on many levels are: Robin White, Akesa Fifita (our grandmother), and Meletonga Tukuafu.

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Perhaps, an artistic period in the Pacific during the 1700s because we both engage in tapa making practices and are curious about the role this had practiced in society and the way the practice has evolved overtime since then. 

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Drawing and painting have always been a natural part of our lives as we grew up in a family and community that really encouraged creativity as an important aspect of everyday life and avenue for learning and reflection. We painted and drew a lot with our siblings growing up and it has just continued to evolve as we seek out opportunities to collaborate with growing number of like-minded individuals.

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Our work is usually just a setup in our room or in the livening room or garage of our home depending on what stage we are at. We also like to work outside as much as possible. Public spaces provide quite a productive workspace for us when we are just doing small scale drawings. 

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
It is so exciting to see the end product, When all the different components come together as one coherent work. We are always in awe of the way that effective collaboration between the author, designers and illustrators can allows things to evolve and really get refined into something that far exceeds what you were able to imagine at the beginning. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Find opportunities to work with many different people and remain detached and open to learning and growing as much as possible through the process. The bonds of friendship and learning you gain from working closely with others can be the most valuable part of any collaboration.

Ruha Fifita has spent most of her life immersed in the culture and vibrancy of life in the Pacific. Her love for visual and performative forms of expression have been nurtured through the support and encouragement of her extended family and study of the writings of the Bahá’i Faith.

Minaira Fifita is an artist whose work aspires to reflect her love of creation and faith in the unity of humanity. Her style of creativity blends together her Polynesian and Celtic roots and experiences of vibrancy, balance and harmony within the Pacific and her spiritual beliefs as a Bahá’i.

For more information, please follow Ruha and Minaira on facebook

For more information on Illuminations please visit this website

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Review: Cities

Cities is a new, educational board book from Lonely Planet Kids which explores cities.

Filled with captivating visual details in 26 sturdy pages, Cities starts by welcoming readers then journeys through a big city while prompting conversation between readers and listeners with pictures, simple statements, questions and comments. 

From quacking ducks to questions about people travelling, there’s plenty to discuss. Some places and topics explored include coffee shops, subways, stadiums, homes, buildings, parks, modes of transport, events and emergency services.

I love the modern illustration style with line drawings and use of flat solid colour; it suits the city theme and young audience perfectly. 

Cities is a great book for educating young children in groups or during one-on-one reading time. Lots of detailed illustrations mean new things can be found on repeat reads and the board pages are perfect for little hands.

Also available in this series are Airports and Trains. Other Lonely Planet Kids books include Dinosaur Atlas, First Words - French, Cardboard Box Creations and Sticker World - Airport.

Title: Cities
Author: Lonely Planet Books
Illustrator: James Gulliver Hancock
Publisher: Lonely Planet Kids, $12.99
Publication Date: 8 June 2020
Format: Board Book
ISBN:  9781838690526
For ages: 0 – 2
Type: Picture Book

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Review: Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur

Another charming bedtime tale from Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton, Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur follows a baby stegosaurus as he counts down to bed.

A jungle jaunt, splashes in mud and a sprint from a lava-flowing volcano — it’s all in an evening’s fun before the ten minutes before bed are up.

These are delighting rhyming stories just perfect for bedtime with little ones. 

With a repeated flow throughout, older youngsters will love joining in on the countdown, and the littlest of littlies will adore the vibrant colours and funky dinosaurs that romp through The Land of Nod.

There is a beautiful map that appears at the start and end of each of these books. Before the story, the map shows daytime, and after, night. Featuring a range of fun and mystical creatures (including those from the books), my children found much joy in exploring these maps and discovering the differences between the characters during day and night. It’s a lovely added engagement opportunity for kids to explore the story in a different way.

A beautiful bedtime story to get kids ready for bed, Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur is a lovely tale for sleepy (and maybe not so sleepy) kidlets.

And if the kidlets aren’t into dinosaurs, they might like Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn, Ten Minutes to Bed Little Monster or Ten Minutes to Bed Little Mermaid.

Title: Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur

Author: Rhiannon Fielding

Illustrator: Chris Chatterton

Publisher: Ladybird, $14.99

Publication Date: 21 July 2020

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780241386736

For ages: 1 - 5

Type: Picture Book

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Review: The Twin

I see this book as Lotte and Lisa’s (also known as The Parent Trap) evil twin. It starts with the identical premise of twin daughters of divorced parents reuniting – but diverges from then on.

Ivy lives with her dad and when her mother dies, her twin sister Iris returns to live in their house. Ivy is a straight-A student, star of the school’s swim team, with a nice bunch of friends and an adoring boyfriend. She works hard, hoping to make it to Stanford University.

When Iris comes to live with them and attend Ivy’s school, Ivy is welcoming but also strains to manage the grief of losing their mother and adjusting her life to accommodate Iris.

Everybody is super nice to Iris, of course, as the child who lived with the mother at the time of her death.

But Ivy gradually notices a few inconsistencies between what Iris says, and what she does. Such as not appearing to grieve. And gradually inveigling her way into Ivy’s friendship group, despite initially dismissing Ivy and her crowd as being too serious and instead wanting to party her way through school.

I generally enjoy psychological thrillers: the main character wonders if they’re going crazy – or whether somebody is out to get them by playing subtle mind games. Daphne du Maurier did it perfectly with My Cousin Rachel. And The Twin follows this pattern.

Ivy gets wrong footed and undermined. Cracks start to appear in her peer group. Her doubts and constant second guessing distract her from studying. She gets blamed for some serious misdeeds. Her perfect life starts to unravel. Is Iris behind it? And if so – why?

As a reader, my experience was that suppressing my analytical tendencies greatly enhanced my enjoyment of it, in a veging-out-in-front-of-a-telemovie type of way. There were a few 'it’s not what it looks like' moments. And Ivy’s friends incorporated (and eventually favoured) Iris into their social sphere a bit too quickly. I also rolled my eyes at how rapidly some brief angry outbursts altered Ivy’s reputation from 'reliable' to 'unstable' (has the author never seen the dramatics that happen daily in a typical high school?).

Nevertheless, the reader is firmly allied with Ivy and the betrayals hit an emotional chord in the reader. Preston raises the stakes and maintains the intrigue and I was able to read it quickly. Plus there was a clever twist on the final page I did not see coming and that is to Preston’s credit.

This book will appeal to fans of teen soap operas.

Title: The Twin
Author: Natasha Preston
Publisher: Penguin Random House, $19.95  
Publication Date: 3 March 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780593124963
For ages: 12+
Type: Young Adult Fiction

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10 Quirky Questions with author Sue Whiting

1. What's your hidden talent? 

My daughter tells me I’m a party starter – whatever that means – and that was a talent that was hidden even from me!

2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why? 

The wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. He didn’t have to pose as Grandma to kill Little Red; he could have killed her in the woods. Oh no, he went for the more sinister option of 'removing' Grandma, dressing and posing as her, in order to lure Little Red closer and closer … what an evil dude.

3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead) 

Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, Kate diCamillo, Elizabeth Gilbert, Charles Dickens.

4. Which literary invention do you wish was real? 

Teleportation – who wouldn’t want to travel to another place in a blink? (Maybe not right now, but in 2021 …)

5. What are five words that describe your writing process? 

Varied. Circuitous. Slow. Doubt-filled. Disciplined. (Doesn’t that sound like fun?)

6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?

Inspiring. Thought-provoking. Versatile. Original. Page-turner.

7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there? 

Pillows. Doona. Bedside table. Book stack. Coffee cup.

8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!) 

'Heading' from Missing. Heading back home, she leant into the wind with a heavy heart, but steely resolve.

9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask? 

I would love to ask Agatha Christie what she actually did during those 10 days when she went missing in 1926.

10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'? 

Never write another story. (You can always tell yourself your own stories in your head, but the only way to reach the stories of others is through their books.) 

Sue Whiting is a children’s and young adult author and editor who lives and works in a small coastal village south of Sydney. She has written numerous books in a variety of genres: fiction and nonfiction, picture books through to YA, including the best-selling Missing, and the CBCA 2019 Notable Book, Beware the Deep Dark Forest. Sue is passionate about storytelling and the power of story to transform lives, and aims to write stories that are thought-provoking, page-turning and full of heart. The Book of Chance is her 68th published book, and her third novel for upper primary / lower secondary readers. Join her on her adventures in story at www.suewhiting.com.

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Review: Hilda and the Great Parade

Created by Luke Pearson and based on his Hildafolk series of graphic novels, we again meet the inventive and adventurous Hilda with her blue hair and an exploratory nature. She has moved to the new town of Trolberg with her mother from their magical wilderness after a giant crushed their cabin. She brings her pet deer-fox Twig, an invisible elf, plus adjustment problems.

In Trolberg she finds everything boring. Her mother wants her to make human friends, but she is ridiculed by the class bully Trevor.

The Great Parade is looming and Hilda’s class has been chosen to decorate a float. This includes scouring the countryside for plants for the Trolberg Exhibition.

Translated, this means that Hilda sets out on adventures that will fill her life with the magic that is missing.

She saves a wounded talking raven stoned by Trevor and his gang. The bird is added to her list of magic friends.

Hilda encounters Bartel Braga, elf and leader of the Lost Clan of the Northern Countries. To help Bartel, Hilda sets out on a quest to the dangerous and deadly Cauldron Island in search of the lindworm, the only thing that can resolve the conflict between Bartel’s and the Aldrics clans.

But the devious Trevor has taken the raven by stealth from its hiding place. Can Hilda and her two friends get it back from the bully’s deadly clutches in time for the parade? Will the black raven, symbol of a good harvest that everyone is waiting for, fly over the town of Trolberg again?

This magical adventure full of challenge, excitement and daring, is part of a Netflix TV Tie-in series. There are quite a few other books to be sought after about Hilda’s adventures.

The illustrations are superb and are likened to the style of Manga artists. Mustard-coloured pages separate the chapters. Brown, mustard, lemon and white are the only colours used throughout the artwork.

Title: Hilda and the Great Parade

Author: Stephan Davies

Illustrator: Seaerra Miller

Publisher: Penguin Random House, $19.99

Publication Date: April 2019

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9781912497799

For ages: 6+

Type: Illustrated Middle Grade Novel

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Winner: The Mummy Smugglers and The Promise Horse

Our lucky winner is...

Joseph Spagnolo, NSW

Congratulations!

You have won a copy each of The Mummy Smugglers by Pamela Rushby and The Pony Question by Jackie Merchant. We hope you enjoy it.

Thank you to ALL who entered.

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Review: When the Ground is Hard

In When the Ground is Hard, a novel set in Swaziland, author Malla Nunn draws on her understanding of life there, in the country where she was born and raised.

Adele attends boarding school, paid for by her mostly absent father. He's not married to her mother, who is of Zulu heritage, and lives in a different city with his white family.

Money and propriety talk, and often determines who is friends with whom, and who holds the most influence.

Sixteen-year-old Adele discovers this more than ever when she returns to school.

Having a 'sometimes' father, a part-time father, is not the same as an 'always' father, even if he does pay for everything, and particularly when there's a new girl.

Adele is dumped by those she thought were her friends, and forced into company with Lottie, who has only a mother who cannot pay the school fees in full.

She's not at all thrilled at sharing a room with Lottie, and retreats into the book her father gave her, a copy of Jane Eyre.

As the school term progresses, Adele and Lottie slowly, tentatively get to know each other.

And as unexpected events unfold, Adele and Lottie push the boundaries of the spoken and unspoken rules of their society, and Adele learns about herself, her family, and who her true friends are.

Although the setting is one that might be unfamiliar, this is a story that includes themes like relationships, identity, social class and systems, and race.

When the Ground is Hard will transport you to Swaziland, and it will make you think about those universal themes.

Highly recommended reading.

Shortlisted for the 2020 Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers. When the Ground is Hard won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, and the Josette Frank Award for Children's Literature. It was highly commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.

Title: When the Ground is Hard
Author: Malla Nunn  
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, $19.99
Publication Date: June 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760524814
For ages: 12+
Type: Young adult fiction




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Review: League of Llamas: Undercover Llamas (Book 3) & Rogue Llama (Book 4)

Review: Family

Family is the most important thing in my world, and I’d wager it’s the same in yours.

Yarning old people, endless sky, breeze through silky oak.

Family. Kinship that binds. Showing the way.

In this stunning picture book by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson, illustrated by Jasmine Seymour, explore phrases, places and emotions that radiate the heart of ‘family’ and everything it means.

Join the characters — the families — as they share love and life with each other — growing, playing and connecting.

Family is a stunning celebration of families being families, as well as being a celebration of culture — welcoming readers to learn about some of the things important to many First Nations people.

The words are few, but each has been carefully chosen for maximum impact. They are words with significant meaning, and they allow readers to think and reflect as well as giving audiences space and time to explore the illustrations in detail.

Which are truly stunning! Textured, layered and filled with the colours of the earth and the bush, Jasmine Seymour has made this book feel so warm and inviting. She also highlights several cool things throughout the illustrations to spark discussion about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.

Family is the second book in the Our Place picture book series, following on from Respect. The series introduces young readers to First Nations cultural philosophies and provides a brilliant way for families and classrooms to learn, share and celebrate culture.

Celebrate your family and families across Australia with this beautiful new picture book.

Title: Family

Author: Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson

Illustrator: Jasmine Seymour

Publisher: Magabala Books, $24.99 

Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9781925936285

For ages: 3 - 6

Type: Picture Book

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Review: Where's Spot 40th Birthday

In this special edition of Where’s Spot we revisit the original story of our beloved Spot for his 40^th birthday. To celebrate, a ruby red tinsel background gives the cover a festive look.

Here is Spot, opening his toy box again! After all these years, still loved by children and their parents; still an active part of toddlers’ lives.

It is dinner time. The search begins. Where is Spot?

We start to lift the flaps: open doors, check the clock door, look under the piano top, beneath the stairs, in the wardrobe, under the bed, in the toy box, under the rug.

Where can Spot be?

Delightful memories of beginnings with Spot will spring to mind. Another generation will lift flaps and search for Spot with the same joy and anticipation as the previous one experienced.

Eric Hill began his artistic life as an art studio messenger and graduated to cartoonist, then art director. It was 1978 when he wrote the story of a small puppy for his son as a bedtime story. Spot was born.

Success came with the book which in 1980, saw Hill become a full-time author. He was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to children’s literacy.  His books are sold all over the world.

Title: Where’s Spot 40th Birthday

Author/Illustrator: Eric Hill

Publisher: Penguin Random House, $16.99

Publication Date: 18 May 2020

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9780241446850

For ages: 1+

Type: Board Book

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Guest Post: Penny Harris on Helping Children to Learn Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Meet The Illustrator: Carina Povarchik

Name: Carina Povarchik (signs as Catru)

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
I’d go with eclectic, whimsical, happy, sweet, organic, and loose.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Natural light, complete silence or happy music, a clean and organized space or I’ll lose my focus. I do have tons of tools and materials though, but I need to organize them often so I can work.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love so many mediums that I sometimes feel a bit guilty I keep jumping from one to another haha. 

But, I’d say that ink, watercolours, pencil and digital are maybe my top favourite ones. Although when I work for children’s illustrations I tend to use all digital most of the time because it’s quite practical. 

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Only 3 is really tough! In children’s illustration now I’d say Beatrice Alemagna, Ati Forberg and Isabelle Arsenault. 

Beatrice because she really keeps the inner child out there in all her works, fun, whimsical, with all the heart in them. Ati has a sublime Asian style for me, I just love how simple and strong those illustrations are. And Isabelle, I adore her style, her palette choices even if I tend to go right into the opposite direction to those soft palettes. Love their works!

 

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?

I think that in terms of fine art, going back to the impressionism time period would be a dream (that’s about 1800) because I really love that style in painting. It has so much to do with intuition and feeling, and those great old masters achieved such big emotion with such a loose technique in comparison with a more realistic style. 

But besides that, I really don’t feel the need to go back as we are experiencing such an amazing variety of outstanding talents out there right now. So much to look at now. 

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
The first one that made me wish to express myself through drawings was Quino. As maybe all in my generation, I grew up reading Mafalda, and I was in awe with her. Not only the content but also Quino’s ink drawings had me hooked. 

The one, though, that made me actually end up working as an illustrator and pursuing it as more as a career was my dad actually. 

I first graduated in computer science, and I taught, well I still do, programming. But I had few years where my job changed and was no longer teaching programming (what I love about computers) so in that specific time my dad surprised me with a small drawing tablet. And one thing lead to another…

 
Well, the rest is history, I then started learning arts in the local school, got a private portraiture teacher, and did all kind of online courses. 

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Of course! I have about 2 main working spaces at home, a whole small room, that I call it my studio, a whole table in the living room. I have tons of different materials and tools, because I always get tempted to do something different in the week. Sometimes I want to draw with pencil, other times I want to paint a landscape in acrylics, then I want to do some ink work. Of course, if having deadlines things get adjusted accordingly. I’m lucky to have a nice natural light in my working spaces. And lots of birds coming to my backyard. I love that. 

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?

The moment I finish the piece and I can finally see it outside my head hahaha. But, no, to be honest my favourite part is coming up with the idea, even though sometimes it can be stressful, especially when it’s a commission and you have deadlines. But, that part of the process of sketching ideas is super fun and I end up laughing out loud often. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Take the time to learn it all, the best you can. Art foundations, and everything you can afford to learn in the specific area you may want to end up illustrating for.
Then, take the time to forget it all.

It may sound crazy, but learning it all will give you self-confidence when drawing and painting, you will develop a way of yours with the tools, materials, art concepts.
Some people can do their amazing thing without going to any art school, that’s true. But it may not be the case for everyone. So, learning can be a really useful thing to do.
Then, you need to forget it all and simply be yourself, so you can really give your something that’s unique to you, to the world. To others. You see, you need to know the rules of art well in order to break them in a brilliant way :) 

Have fun, draw what you love. Draw things just because you love those. Embrace your bad days and bad drawings, those also let you know what you don’t want to do again, what technique went wrong, what concept you want to study and improve, what happened, and so on. 

Born and living in Argentina. Carina has illustrated 3 published books. Besides being an illustrator, she loves birds, running and chocolate. 

For more information, please vist Carina's website or follow her on twitter or instagram

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Review: Dogography: The Amazing World of Letter Art Dogs

Review: The Space We're In

It is twenty-six days before Max starts at his new school.

Max is five and has autism. He doesn’t speak, just hums and destroys. Frank, his brother, is ten. He wants to do normal things; be normal. He can’t because his house is a howling jungle and Max a hurricane.

Frank has his books on detectives and codes and space. And a lock on his bedroom door.  Before Max was born, he wanted to be like Tintin who solved puzzles and codes and crimes. He wanted to learn coding used in computers. But dad never had the time.

Mum was an artist until she gave it up when Max was born. Now her life is Max’s needs while Frank has become a glass child.

Mum tries to share special time with Frank; to create memorable activities to make up for the repetition of daily life required by Max. In particular, Mum’s tapping of Morse code in Frank’s palm is an invaluable resource to Frank; to his love of numbers and coding. It makes him forget the bully Noah who constantly makes fun of Max in an attempt to get Frank fired up. It helps him remember how life was before. Although he loves his brother deeply, he resents the demands on Mum’s time and his life.

But there is Mark next door and his dog Neil. Both are a healing balm to both boys.

There is a lightness of tone in the paragraphs describing the closeness shared by Mum and Frank. This lightness is juxtaposed with the heaviness contained in the paragraphs about Max and the family’s struggles, such as when raging hot screams inside Frank can only be expressed in words of red ink on as much wall as he can reach.

The feelings, experiences and emotions are given to us in chains of descriptive images, so beautifully constructed, that the eyes refuse to leave the page.

It is one hundred and nineteen days since Life gave Frank and his family a devastating blow from which they believed they will never recover, and Frank’s eleventh birthday. Can the family find the courage they need to survive the greatest tragedy of their life?

Katya Balen in her debut novel, gifts us an exquisite narrative voice in Frank in a unique style. The reader is drawn into the emotional turmoil of the family’s life, and shares their experiences and coping mechanisms. Laura Carlin’s fine lined, black and white child-like images, accompany the text.

Change occurs; hope is born and more than ever, it is love for one another that keeps the family from slipping into the chasm that has opened before them.

Title: The Space We’re In

Author: Katya Balen

Illustrator: Laura Carlin

Publisher: Bloomsbury, $16.99

Publication Date: November 2019

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781526610942

For ages: 9 - 12

Type: Teenage Fiction

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Look What I'm Reading! Zana Fraillon

Thanks for having me! I am an author of children’s and young adult books, and have had eleven books traditionally published so far, with another picture book due to be published next year. I have been lucky enough to win awards both in Australia and the UK. I love writing for young people. I love the way their minds are so open wide to possibilities and how ready they are to explore.

 Which children’s book are you currently reading?

This week has been a huge reading week for me! It started with Danielle Binks’s debut MG book The Year the Maps Changed, then to Nation by Terry Pratchett, followed by a Sonia Hartnett book – Thursday's Child. That was sold as YA, but I actually feel is it more of an adult book, and last night I started reading Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller.

Can you tell us in two sentences what the book is about?

Ghost Birdis about twin sisters living in a remote Australian community. When one of the sisters goes missing, the remaining twin starts dreaming of what has happened to her.

How much did you enjoy/are enjoying this title?

I have only just started reading, but I am hooked! I love the intertwining of real and possibly imaginary, the family and cultural stories handed down and how they are eeking into the everyday, and the voice of the character is wonderfully strong and appealing.

What made you choose this title? Was it a review, advertising, the cover, the blurb, the author/illustrator, or the subject/genre?

I saw Ghost Bird recommended on Twitter by a friend whose reading advice hasn’t yet led me wrong. And as soon as I looked up the blurb, I phoned my local bookshop to set a copy aside for me. It promises excitement, mystery, and hinted at magical realism which is a genre I love. I was also excited to read a new YA voice on the scene.

What other titles are on your bedside table /To Read Pile?

It is a very large pile at the moment! I have just started a PhD, so a lot of the books are non-fiction – The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben; The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane; and A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit. Then I have the fiction pile! Everything Under by Daisy Johnston, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, The Way We Roll by Scott Gardner and Night Waking by Sarah Moss are a few of the ones on the top of the pile, along with a handful more by Terry Pratchett (I am a relatively new fan...). And then there is my writing craft pile! I have a couple of books on writing by Urusula La Guin, and two more by Terry Pratchett, as well as my old favourite by Margaret Atwood called Negotiating with the Dead, which has to be one of the greatest titles for a writing craft book that has ever been written.

How did you come by these titles: personal choice/request, publisher’s review copy, or other?

All of the titles mentioned there are personal choice, or were books recommended to me by someone (although I do have a couple of ARCs waiting to be read too!). A few I heard mentioned on podcasts with authors I admire, or after hearing an interview with the author themselves.

Do you have a favourite genre? If so, what is it, and why do you prefer it?

I love magical realism, and always have. The way the lines between what we know and what we don’t know blur, the surprising direction stories can take, the fantastical and the real overlapping – all of it! I find it a very exciting genre to read, and it has definitely influenced my own writing. The first author I read in this genre was Isabelle Allende, and she was writing about serious issues and politics, and what struck me was that the same seriousness was given to the magical elements. She took the magic seriously, and that is what makes it work.

Do you read from printed books or some other medium? Please expand a little on the why of your choice.

If I could choose, I would always go printed. I love the tactile sense of holding a book in my hands, the smell of the pages, the heaviness of the book in my bag. Also, when I read I am often book-marking pages for myself – when there is a particularly beautiful turn of phrase, or a subject that I want to investigate further, I will dog ear the bottom corner of the page so I can go back to it and think about it a bit more. And although there is the bookmark function on a kindle/ipad/etc I find it not nearly as easily accessible to go back and find again. (Having said that, I am sure that is probably in all likelihood, much easier on a device...)

However! The wonderful thing about using a device to read on, is how quickly you can have the text in front of you. I use a kindle a lot for my PhD, purely because otherwise I would have to wait days or weeks to have the book in my hand.

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12 Curly Questions with author Sharon Giltrow

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I am the youngest of eight children so, I was an aunty before I was even born. My mum and two sisters all had babies in the same year. That was a great year in our family. My first niece was born three months before me. Needless to say, she never, ever called me aunty.

2. What is your nickname?
Shaz, or Shazza, which is a great Aussie nickname for Sharon.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Being on a boat, falling off a boat and having to swim to shore. I only learnt how to swim freestyle as an adult. Now I’m not so afraid of boats. I do love swimming in the ocean but only if I can touch the bottom. So perhaps it is deep water that I am truly afraid of.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Humourous, slice of life, entertaining, heartfelt, how-to…, role reversal.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Funny, persistent, thoughtful, caring, fantastic.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
The pigeon from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Because he is funny, cheeky and very motivated.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2035, so I could read my book to my grandchildren. My own children were a little bit too old for picture books when Bedtime Daddy came out.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
‘Well done you followed you dream’ and ‘See you don’t have to be a good speller to be a writer.’ My spelling as a child was atrocious. This is how I spelt library in Year 3: ‘lubrey’. I know because it is in front of one of my childhood books that I had in my home: ‘lubrey’.

9. Who is your greatest influence?
I would say Mo Willems. I love his style of writing. It is simple and very, very funny. I love how his writing breaks the fourth wall. Jon Klassen would be a close second.

10. What/who made you start writing?
I loved writing as a child. I never let bad spelling stop me. But then I stopped writing as an adult, until my first child was born and I wanted to start writing children’s books. I wrote one story and then stopped writing again, until my second child was born. I formed a short story writers' group and after a great year writing short stories, I realised that I really wanted to write children’s books. So, I guess my childhood started my writing, my children fuelled my desire to write and my monthly writers' group got me writing consistently.

11. What is your favourite word and why?
‘Lubrey’. I mean ‘library’ because that is where all the free books are kept. ‘Bookshop’ would be my second favourtie word for the same reason, except you have to pay for those books.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Well that’s easy — my book, Bedtime Daddy!

Sharon Giltrow grew up in South Australia, the youngest of eight children, surrounded by pet sheep and fields of barley. She now lives in Perth, WA, with her husband, two children and a tiny dog. When not writing, Sharon works with children with Developmental Language Disorder. Sharon was awarded the Paper Bird Fellowship in 2019. Her debut picture book is Bedtime Daddy (EK Books). For more information, see www.facebook.com/sharongiltrowwriter/.

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Review: The Daddy Animal Book

The Daddy Animal Book is the partner to The Mummy Animal Book, released earlier this year. The depiction of father and baby penguin on the light blue and teal cover, introduces the colourful contents.

Design and layout are identical to The Mummy Animal Book with the left page defining what the daddy animal is called and beneath, what the baby animal is called.

A daddy polar bear a called a boar.

A baby polar bear is called a cub.

Interesting factual information on each animal follows in brief.  A boar can be as heavy as a car but its cubs are born no heavier than a jar of honey.

The right page shows the daddy with the little ones in fine line illustrations. Each double spread is individually presented in full colour with eye-catching images. The naming text matches a specific shade used in the illustrations.  Tender pictures of baby animals with their dads encourage discovery at the turn of a page.

The book is produced in a compact format to match the content and is ideal for little hands and children’s bookshelves. It can be delved into at any time, at any place.

Highly educational and informative for adults as well as children, Jennifer Cossins creates books for inquiring minds that improve language and literacy. She focuses on resuscitating valuable infrequently used words and showcasing them in a unique way. This is reflected in all her publications.

Dedicated to nature, animals and all living things, Tasmanian-born and bred Cossins, is a CBCA award-winning artist and writer whose creativity extends to homeware design, textiles and stationery.

Other books by Jennifer Cossins are 101 Collective Nouns, A-Z of Endangered animals, A-Z of Australian Animals, and amongst others, A Flamboyance of Flamingos. Her newest offering, The Ultimate Animal Alphabet Book, with over 400 species of animals and facts about them, will be released in early November.

Title: The Daddy Animal Book

Author/Illustrator: Jennifer Cossins

Publisher: Hachette, $9.99

Publication Date: 30 June 2020

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9780734419873

For ages: 4+

Type: Non Fiction

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Review: How Cities Work

This fresh addition to the growing list of educational resources from Lonely Planet Kids is a city themed activity book, which will keep kids busy for hours.

How Cities Work Activity book explores the ins and outs of cities, it includes fascinating facts, over 200 stickers and an abundance of captivating activities. Some activities include spot the difference, search and find, sticker puzzles, drawing, designing, and that’s just a small portion of what’s inside!

Some city themes explored include buildings, homes, gardens, forms of transport, sports stadiums, street art, constructions, tourist locations, hospital, jail, emergency services and even future cities. My kids and I most enjoyed exploring the hospital and trying to find all the hidden bones; there was both laughing and learning all the way.

I like how this book uses clear instructions, has answers to activities in the back and the stickers grouped and labeled to show which pages they can be used on. Everything rolls together to create a magnificent learning experience.

How Cities Work Activity book would be perfect to bust boredom and keep kids learning during the school holidays, or at any time. It has over 40 pages of high quality, thick, large pages. How Airports Work Activity Book is also available in this series and board books Cities, Trains and Airports are available for a younger audience. 

Some of the many other wonderful educational Lonely Planet Kids books include Dinosaur Atlas, First Words - French, Cardboard Box Creations and Sticker World - Airport.

Title: How Cities Work Activity Book
Author: Lonely Planet Kids
Illustrator: James Gulliver Hancock
Publisher: , $12.99
Publication Date: 8 June 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN:  9781838691035
For ages: 6 – 8
Type: Picture Book

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