Video Review: Pink!

Join Yvonne Mes for a short and snappy video review of Pink! A picture book for children aged 2 - 5 years old. Written by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Judith Rossell.

Title: Pink!
Author: Margaret Wild
Illustrator: Judith Rossell
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Publication Date: 8 July 2020
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781460757499
For ages: 2 - 5
Type: Picture book

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Meet The Illustrator: Fruzsina Kuhari

Name: Fruzsina Kuhari

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Warm, whimsical, natural, traditional, detailed.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My digital drawing equipment. Colored pencils and pens with clean white papers, I always find this combination inspiring. A window for natural light to come in, and a cup of tea that always gets cold by the time I remember to drink it.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Simple graphite pencils and charcoals on good quality artist’s paper.  

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Neesha Hudson, Stacy Ebert, Rob Justus 

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I would stay here and now, or go to the future out of curiosity. I like seeing and browsing the big picture of the world of art built so far. I like art history and all the mystery that lingers around an art piece from the past. We could get answers by visiting these eras, but do we want to kill the magic? 

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I can’t remember any time in my life when arts and crafts weren’t the main drive of my being. Even when my grandmother read me picture books, I was focused on the art. She told me I can be someone who draws the pictures in the books, and from that point I feel like it was decided. My family took their little girl’s decision seriously and gave her all the support they could. That was and still is inspirational on its own.

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
I have my own room for work. Since I’m taking versatile commissions like graphic design and animation besides illustration, my work area needs to be versatile too. Here, it’s possible for me to work with many tools from traditional mediums to digital techniques.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
The middle - when you feel you made the right choices and you are on the right path. It’s exciting, your work is coming along but there’s still enough left to keep you curious and many decisions are left to be made. Like you are halfway through a riddle. This is also the most dangerous and scariest part.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
If you are just like me, then you always have an idea on what and how to improve. But do not forget to be satisfied and celebrate your success! Try to find balance. You need both mental states to keep things rolling!

Fruzsina is currently a Montreal-based illustrator, graphic designer, and animator from Budapest, Hungary. She has been in love with art from the first time she held a white crayon. Her most recent works include The Mighty Head of Moustafa and the Wisdom Stories. Apart from her art, she likes spending time on creative crafts such as baking, cooking, sewing, crocheting…

For more information, please visit Fruzsina's website or follow her on instagram

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Review: Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather

Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather is a new large format book written by Stephanie Owen Reeder and illustrated by Tania McCartney.

Australia, a continent of many climates, certainly does have wild, weird and wonderful weather.

There are fires and floods, dust storms and hail storms, along with scorching hot heat, and freezing snow.

Talking about the weather is something we've all done, and probably with regularity. Perhaps that's because the weather is always with us, around us. 

A quote about just that introduces a section of the book. Each section has its own relevant quote, taken from Australian newspapers, and they set the scene for what follows.

Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather is packed with snippets of trivia about the weather, covering everything from coud farming and the different kinds of clouds (like the vertebratus), to extreme weather (the wettest town in Australia is Tully in Queensland with more than 4,000 mm of rain each year).

Did you know that butterflies can't use their wings when it's too cold? Or that watching spiders could help you predict rain because they change the length of the threads in their webs? You'll learn that and more by reading this book.

The impact of climate change is explored, as are some of the ways you can research weather and resources to look for.

I discovered plenty I didn't know, and young meteorologists in training, and children who want to know more about weather, will find lots of trails to follow, including using the glossary of weather words, the index, and the list of useful books and websites. 

Illustrations in the book add a touch of humour with things like a hamburger (large raindrops look like hamburger buns), and a horse with a frizzy mane (showing how humidity can make curly hair change) likely to draw you in.

Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather is a great book for children young and old, and would make an excellent gift.

You can download teachers' notes for Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather from the National Library of Australia's website.

Title: Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather
Author: Stephanie Owen Reeder
Illustrator: Tania McCartney
Publisher: National Library of Australia, $ 24.99
Publication Date: October 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780642279637
For ages: 5+
Type: Junior Non-Fiction

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Review: Aster's Good Right Things

Eleven year-old Aster is different. She goes to a school for gifted children, something she denies being. She is small, unattractive in people’s eyes, and tends to become invisible in others’ presence. Aster believes her insignificance to be the reason her mother left.

Dad and Aunt Noni are the only people who believe she is special and understand the monsters of anxiety, insecurity and self-doubt that plague her.

She always accommodates others in her life, never asking for what she really wants because it’s the good, right thing to do. This mantra dictates her daily rituals, which must include one good, right thing for someone or else her world will shatter, a situation with which Aster is intimately acquainted. 

A brown notebook, always with her, keeps record of all the things Aster does, wants and never gets.

School is a struggle each day due to the venomous Indigo, who projects her own internal anger, hatred and frustration onto Aster who refuses to retaliate.

It is at the bottom of the schoolground one solitary lunchtime, that Aster finds the rabbit and meets Xavier, a boy who wars against the black dog the controls his life. Different and home schooled, he enters her life bringing hope and friendship with him.

This new beginning heralds more unexpected and miraculous shifts in Aster’s life.

Through intriguing and expressive thoughts, Aster opens up her internal world to us. We come away humbled by the lessons learnt, but also bruised by the reminder that degrading words to children by children, can be as destructive a force as words by adults to children, if not more.

This emotive and person-centred novel has many layers. It addresses family breakups and its effect on children, the magic influence of friendship, that being different shouldn’t be a stigma, and the life-saving value of books.

Title: Aster's Good Right Things
Author: Kate Gordon
Publisher: Rivited Press, $ 14.99
Publication Date: 1 November 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780648492573
For ages: 11+
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Fearless Footsteps

In this crossover publication, thirty-six writers leave their footprints in true travel stories that capture the spirit of adventure. These are not travel guides in any form, but strong narratives that inspire and expose each story’s sense of daring verses independence, an overcoming of fear and challenge that travel has initiated, and the euphoria in executing a challenge.

The title of the book, Fearless Footsteps, perfectly portrays the journeys depicted in the collection. For me to choose a standout is impossible for every story is outstanding in content, presentation and tone.

The stories incorporate travel from and to, around the globe. They begin with helping boat people come ashore in Greece, to continue with hiking in North Wales to extinguish depression, sisters travelling through Europe – their fears and experiences,

as bartender in the Amsterdam underground culture, adventures on horseback or on foot, down river, and descending into a crater after an uphill trek.

These are merely examples of the variety contained in this brilliant collection that educates through the narrative without ever being didactic, informing about countries, traditions, customs, approaches to travellers, and difficulties and joys experienced.

Intrepid Times has succeeded in producing another spectacular compilation of personal experiences about travel. Readers will be impressed with the quality of the work which will send them to their computers to seek out their own next travel adventure.

Title: Fearless Footsteps
Author: Various
 Publisher: Exisle, $29.99
Publication Date: 23 November 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781925820577
For ages: 16+
Type: Young Adult Non Fiction

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Guest Post: Skye Huges on How We're All In This Together

12 Curly Questions with author Sharon Davey

1.Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I once dressed up as a clown for a week (for charity).

2. What is your nickname?
My family are very big on calling people things other than their name. My favourites are pickle, sunshine, blueberry and duckling.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Ladders. I really don’t like being up high on something wobbly.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Big characters, small sentences. Always leave people wanting more…

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Lively, jolly, inquisitive, creative, tenacious.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
That’s a tough question. I sometimes think the Mad Hatter for all thing crazy things I make and do.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2120, because I am super nosey, and I want to know how it all works out.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
Can you do a cartwheel yet? (No, no I can’t)

9. Who is your greatest influence?
Quentin Blake. I love him. The freedom and expression in his work wriggles off the page and I admire him so much.

10. What/who made you start writing?
My mum is a master storyteller. Even if she’s simply telling me about a trip to the post office there will be drama and tension, funny characters and a brilliant ending. I listened to so many stories before I started writing my own.

11. What is your favourite word and why?
Discombobulate. Which means to be confused. I am discombobulated most of the time.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl. It’s such a gorgeous story. Full of quotable positivity.

Sharon Davey is a children’s illustrator based in Surrey, England. She loves to draw grumpy kids and collecting plastic dinosaurs. Sharon has worked for a variety of clients, including David Fickling Books, Oxford University Press and Bloomsbury. Bears Don’t Wear Shoes is Sharon’s first ever author/illustrated book. For more information, see www.sharondaveyillustration.com.

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Review: Santa Jaws

Santa Jaws is a fishy, festive, rhyming story of a shark and a squid, set in the deep sea on Christmas eve.

When a clever Christmas loving shark named Shelly sets out to share some cheerful fun with the other ocean animals, they steer clear, assuming it is a trick or a trap; after all Shelly is a shark. Then, a wide-eyed squid named Sid who also loves Christmas is lured into Shelly’s dark cave by the temptation to meet Santa Claus, many moments of anticipation prevail. 

It’s safe to say that this isn’t a Christmas disaster, and while there are a few pages of concern, everything works out jolly fine. The new and unlikely duo work together to give their fellow ocean creatures a very ‘Merry Fishmas!’ and a nice message about sharks not being as scary as they seem, stands strong.

Gorgeous artwork with Christmas colours and illustrations which show swift, floaty movement set the ocean environment wonderfully. I loved looking at all the gorgeous creatures and discussing what they are with my children. We were particularly interested in the cheerful-looking anglerfish and the cute shellfish, we even researched their species later.

Santa Jaws would be a splendid gift, and Christmas season read. Mark Sperring and Sophie Corrigan are also the creators of Mince Spies which is another fabulously fun Christmas story.

Title: Santa Jaws
Author: Mark Sperring
Illustrator: Sophie Corrigan
Publisher: Bloomsbury, $14.99  
Publication Date: 3 November 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781408897812
For ages: 0 – 5
Type: Picture Book

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Review: Tree Beings

Tree Beings are people who love trees. Photosynthesis – sunlight, air and water, is food that keeps trees alive and helps them grow new wood. 

This book leads us through the life of trees and the people that love and protect them, past and present. Trees have a language of their own that connects them to all living creatures.

This knowledge is made available to us.

A tree’s life is mapped out from how they breathe, fight climate change, help make rain, care for soil through their roots, clean the air and provide homes for wildlife. Their secret strength is made of a tough coat of bark, phloem, cambium, xylem, and heartwood.

This is a life-changing look at the power of trees. Its structure is four Big Ideas, held up by inspiring stories of people who fought and suffered for years, in many different ways, to protect trees. This spectacular production – for that is what it is, celebrates these people of all ages that warred against the destruction of forests.

The rare Foreword by Jane Goodall that covers her experience with forests and trees and her relationship to them, leads the parade of personalities and tree warriors. Her club, Roots and Shoots, inspires young people to care for our living planet.

Known and unknowns are profiled. Julia Butterfly spent 738 days up a giant redwood to stop it being chain-sawed. Professor Wangari Maathai became known as Mother of the Trees due to her life-long passion to protect and plant trees. Richard St Barber Baker travelled around the world for 70 years extolling the power of trees. There are many more warriors and their causes for trees.

Stories and myths extend to John Seed in Australia, who was one of those that fought to save the Daintree rainforest in Queensland. 180 million years old, it is the oldest rainforest on our planet.

Stunning illustrations full of light fill the pages. The cover is cloth-like and end pages are mazes of tree tops and roots spread into the earth feeding and protecting countless colonies of living things. There are lists of creatures to find hidden in countless puzzles and mazes, and much more.

For those looking for something extraordinary full of facts, figures, challenges, information and education that will change their view on living things, here it is!

Title: Tree Beings
Author: Raymond Huber
Illustrator: Sandra Severgnini
Publisher: EK Books, $ 34.99
Publication Date: October 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781925820539
For ages: 7 – 12
Type: Non Fiction

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Review: Grow: Secrets of Our DNA

What is DNA and how does it work?

Grow: Secrets of Our DNA is a simple explanation of this scientific concept which is responsible for the growth of all living things.

Written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Emily Sutton, it's pitched at early primary aged children (although also suitable for all ages) and explores size, speed and change, amongst other things.

For example, the speed of growth differs from species to species. Some plants and creatures grow fast, while others are super slow (Quahog clams can take up to 500 years!).

After starting with broad environmental examples, the book moves onto the growth of human beings, and how the instructions for our development (from the time we're as small as a tiny dot) are written in the code of our individual DNA.

DNA can be complex, and Grow offers a basic description of DNA and the four kinds of 'steps' that come in many and varied orders to create our spiral shaped DNA ladder.

Grow shows how our DNA creates our different looks, and connects us to our ancestors going back over many years.

An excellent book for children and adults, Grow: Secrets of Our DNA offers a great introduction that makes sense to those with or without scientific background. 

Title: Grow: Secrets of Our DNA
Author: Nicola Davies
Illustrator: Emily Sutton
Publisher: Walker Books, $24.99
Publication Date: April 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781406382778
For ages: 5+
Type: Junior Non-Fiction

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Giveaway: Awesome Aussie Kids on Holiday Prize Picnic Pack!

Video Review: All in a Drop

Join Yvonne Mes for a short and snappy video review of All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World. A non fiction chapter book for children aged 8 to 12 years old. Written by Lori Alexander and illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger.

Title: All in a Drop
Author: Lori Alexander
Illustrator: Vivien Mildenberger
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 6 August 2019
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781328884206
For ages: 8 - 12
Type: Non Fiction Chapter Book

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Review: Who is at the Zoo?

A delight to look at and to read, this highly entertaining book turns daily situations on their head. Imaginative, humorous and creative, and with charismatic characters, everyone who opens this book will discover a magical world whose reality is limited only by their imagination.

Rhyme and rhythm make it the perfect book for reading out aloud, for laughs and entertainment. The stunning, expressive illustrations by Suzanne Houghton, fill the pages with unexpected situations appearing like everyday occurrences. 

A young girl wakes to a house full of animals.

She goes in search of answers. She finds a tiger on the toilet; another animal in the tub. In fact, a parade of animals has invaded their house. But that’s not all.

A Zebra cooks in the kitchen while a leopard watches sport on the television. A bear is in the laundry doing its washing. The squatters feel like the new residents!

Outside a deer mows the lawn as a squirrel tries driving the owner’s car.

They have taken over not only the house but all the street. A turtle is the lollipop person at the school crossing; penguins are seen painting a front door.

The further into town the girl goes the more animals she discovers in roles that humans held. The baker, the marketplace, the timber yard, the library, the café and in all the other businesses, positions have been replaced by animals.

A voyage of discovery begins. If the animals are everywhere now, what has become of the town’s occupants?

This is a brilliant picture book overflowing with hilarious situations and questions without answers. A curious challenge for children is to ask and find out why animals have replaced humans and where are the humans?

Title: Who is at the Zoo?
Author: J Boyce
Illustrator: Suzanne Houghton
Publisher: Larrikin House, $24.99
Publication Date: 1 October 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780648804963
For ages: 3 – 8
Type: Picture Book

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Junior Review: Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero

Review: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dangerous Animals

Deadly and dangerous these animals may be, but each one contributes in some significant way to the natural environment.

Award-winning author and illustrator, Samy Bayly, has created a unique and stunning encyclopedia in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dangerous Animals, from its impressive covers with indented title and pen and ink end pages, to everything in between.

It’s a fantastic collection of more than sixty animals from all over the world, from tiny insects to huge and heavy animals and things that crawl, fly and swim.

The Contents page is a detailed introduction of what to expect, presented in tiny grey, shadows. It’s when you come to the main attractions, that you discover gold. Each exquisite poster-like image is better than the last. 

The Alligator Snapping turtle, Australian magpie, Bibron’s Stiletto Snake – Atractaspis bibronii, the Black-legged tick, and the Bloomslang are just a few of the portraits and their biographies.

Life-like and pulsing on the page, they are accompanied by their scientific name, with layouts in blocks that inform and instruct about description, diet, danger factor, location/habitat, conservation status and lots of fun facts such as those for the Ostrich.

The Ostrich’s eyes are bigger than its brains. They can live for fifty years. One Ostrich egg is equal to twenty-four chicken eggs.

Included is the length of time each animal/insect lives and its collective noun name.

There are lethal and non-lethal subjects and invasive and toxic species which prove very interesting. It explains how each one collects or activates its toxins such as the Hooded Pitohui, Pitohui dichrous.

Found in Australia are: The Coffin Ray, Australian magpie, Crown-of-thorns starfish Irukanjdi jellyfish, Red-headed Mouse spider, Red kangaroo, Southern Blue-ringed octopus and Tasmanian Devil and Cane toad. 

An ideal reference book for lovers of the unusual in facts and figures. It surprises with the amount of creative work that has gone into it and the learning that is offers. An ideal gift for the curious and animal lovers, and an absolute essential for home and school libraries.

Title: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of  Dangerous Animals
Author/Illustrator: Sami Bayly
Publisher: Hachette, $ 32.99
Publication Date: 29 September 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780734420015
For ages: 8+
Type: Non Fiction

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