KBR's Top Picture Books of the Last 20 Years

KBR is celebrating 2020 with recommendations of our top titles from the last 20 years. There have been so many fabulous books published over this time, we could include many more than you see here. However, these are some of the KBR team's favourites (in no particular order). We hope you enjoy them, too.

Horrible Harriet by Leigh Hobbs

Bear and Chook by Emma Quay and Lisa Shanahan

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley (read our review here)

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (read our review here)

I’m a Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Brian and Ann James (read our review here)

The Rain Train By Elena De Roo and Brian Lovelock (read our review here)

Rudie Nudie by Emma Quay

The Memory Tree by Britta Teckentrup

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love (read our review here)

Woolvs in the Sitee by Margaret Wild and Anne Spudvilas

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury (read our review here)

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Home and Away by John Marsden and Matt Ottley

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (read our review here)

Mirror by Jeannie Baker (read our review here)

Grandmother Fish, A Child’s First Book of Evolution by Jonathan Tweet and Karen Lewis

Belonging by Jeannie Baker

Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill and Charles Fuge (read our review here)

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

At the End of Holyrood Lane by Dimity Powell and Nicky Johnston (read our review here)

Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett (read our review here)

Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks (read our review here)

Peggy by Anna Walker (read our review here)

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

The Day The Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers (read our review here)

The Duck and The Darklings by Glenda Miller and Stephen Michael King (read our review here)

The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc (read our review here)

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (read our review here)

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts (read our review here)

The Book of Trees by Piotr Socha and Wojciech Grajkowski

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Review: Lottie Luna And The Bloom Garden

Review: The Competition

The Competition is an enjoyable junior fiction novel about dancing, friendship and chasing dreams. The story focuses on a girl who is competing with the DanceStarz Squad at her very first national dance competition.

The author is American teenager, dancer and actor, Maddie Ziegler, who has been in the public eye since she was 8 years old, when she appeared in the television program Dance Moms, and has since appeared in music videos, movies and many other programs.

The narrative is told in first person by the protagonist, Harper, whose seems around twelve or thirteen years old. The themes of the book revolve around dancing and friendship, two significant interests for many tweens and teens.

Harper, who has recently moved from one part of the USA to another, returns to her old neighbourhood when her team qualifies for the national dance competition in New York City. Amidst all the excitement of seeing the amazing venue, meeting dancers from across the country, and performing to their very best, Harper also has to navigate some tricky friendship issues.

Harper's new friends, in her DanceStarz Squad, are confused and upset when Harper runs over and hugs one of their main competitors. But Harper is only happy to see her old best friend, Eliza, and spends a day travelling back to her old studio, only to discover that things have moved on since she left there.

Harper realises that she has not always been as good a friend as she could have been, and resolves the conflicts with both her old and new friends, on the backdrop of both teams and individual dancers all achieving different successes.

Other books in this series include The Audition and The Callback.

Title: The Competition
Author: Maddie Ziegler (with Julia De Villers)
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books, $16.99
Publication Date: 21 October 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781460753798
For ages: 8 - 12
Type: Junior Fiction




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Review: The Reptile Club

Rory wants to join a club at school, but none of the clubs he can choose from are really for him. 

He tries a few, but they just don’t fit his interests.

So Rory decides to create a new club.

The reptile club.

He makes signs and bakes cookies to tempt in new members, but none of his classmates seem interested, until… a snake, a crocodile and a gecko turn up, eager to join Rory’s reptile club. 

And once Rory’s classmates see who’s in his club, everyone wants to join.

The Reptile Club is a fun and joyful story about finding your place in the world. It’s filled with real facts about reptiles, masterfully woven into the narrative, and it explores life at school, friendships and fitting in.

This is a picture book that leaves you feeling deeply satisfied when you get to the end. There is no obvious lesson; there is no real agenda to the story. It’s just a lovely and entertaining tale about a young boy who gets to know the reptiles he loves when he starts a school club.

I am in complete awe of Elina Ellis’ illustrations. Detailed and engaging, they bring the characters to life and are filled with hidden treats and things for kids to spot. Honestly, I could stare at her illustrations for hours.

For the lovers of all things scaly, or for anyone looking for a fun and engaging picture book read, I highly recommend The Reptile Club. 

Title: The Reptile Club

Author: Maureen Fergus

Illustrator: Elina Ellis

Publisher: Affirm Press, $19.99

Publication Date: 31 December 2019

Format: Hard Cover

ISBN: 9781925972382

For ages: 3 - 6 

Type: Picture Book

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Review: The Grace Year

Review: The Problem with Problems

Problems are everywhere, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Each one is different, but they all love to make trouble.

In this delightful rhyming picture book by Rachel Rooney, a young protagonist likens problems to creatures and goes on to explain their tricky, sneaky behaviour.

They like to set traps. They’ll stand in your way.

They turn the sky cloudy and paint the grass grey. 

But our young protagonist also has some great advice for readers.

She explains how to deal with those pesky problems and maybe look at them from a different perspective. She has great ideas for how to get rid of them and not let them ruin your day.

This is a fun AND helpful picture book. The rhyme adds joyful pizzazz to a subject that impacts on everyone’s lives. 

It sends a great message to kids that problems do exist, but there are simple ways to deal with them and there is humour to be found in every situation. Zehra Hick’s illustrations are bright and funky, and they add to the fun and whimsy of the story. 

This is a great book for kids. It’s a fun story that can be read simply for the funnies, but it can also be used to chat to kids about dealing with things that are troubling them. 

Loads of fun and very engaging, this is a great book for your home or classroom library.

Title: The Problem with Problems
Author: Rachel Rooney
Illustrator: Zehra Hicks
Publisher: Affirm Press, $17.99
Publication Date: 31 December 2019
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781925972269
For ages: 3 - 6
Type: Picture Book

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Meet The Illustrator: Mel Armstrong

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical, textured, a bit quirky and a little too detailed.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Coffee, bubbly water, podcasts & music, indoor plants, the cat in my in-tray and the birds outside my studio, all of which, make my space inviting, inspiring and creative.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium? 

I’m predominately a digital artist and at the moment I’m loving my iPad along with the Procreate App. I also love Gouache and try to mix some in with my digital artwork whenever I can. 

Name three artists whose work inspires you.

I love Benji Davis’s use of textures and colour. Katherine Quinn’s unique charming work always makes me smile. I love the simplistic and engaging characters of the incredible Oliver Jeffers.

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

Hmmm, great question! I think it would have to be the Expressionism Art Movement (1905 - 1925). I see art as a way of expressing our joy, our turmoil, our struggles and aspirations and this period really indicated to us now looking back how dark those times were. The distorted and exaggeration of the art added to the turmoil they were expressing. 

 
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Around 15 years ago, someone who was helping me through a tough time suggested I get into illustration, but I laughed and said, ‘are you kidding, I can’t draw!’. But to be honest, I’ve always loved drawing. As a kid, my school books were always covered in doodles. But I think my kids have inspired me the most. When my son was born and I stopped working as a software engineer I discovered surface pattern design when trying to find fabric. With a background in graphic design, I realised I could design the fabric myself. A career in surface pattern design grew and then developed into a Children’s book illustrator through my love of drawing characters.

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 relocated from Australia to Wellington, New Zealand (where I grew up) a couple of years ago and so my studio is still very much a work in progress. I‘m very fortunate to live in a house that has an incredible view of Wellington harbour. There is also an abundance of New Zealand birds outside my window, thanks to Zealandia - a fully-fenced urban eco-sanctuary that has reintroduced many species that were previously absent from New Zealand. So there is an abundance of inspiration.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?

I love watching a character grow from scribbles to detailed sketches to final artwork. When I first start a book I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead of me, but once I start, it all comes together so nicely.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?

Draw every day, don’t compare yourself to others, and know that not everyone will love your art, but there will always be some that do. 

Mel is a full-time illustrator based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is well known for her stunning surface pattern designs. With a great love for books, and inspired by children, Mel has ventured into the children’s book world. She has published a number of baby board books and in August 2019 she published her first picture book ‘A Home for Luna’ with author Stef Gemmill (New Frontier Publishing). Her second picture book by author Robert Vescio, also with New Frontier Publishing, will be published in 2020.

For more information, please visit Mel's website or follow her on instagram, twitter and facebook .

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Review: Ghost Bird

It took me a while to review this book — to unpack the genius and unfurl the powerful tendrils of fiction, nonfiction, truth and history.

To say this is a powerful story actually feels like an understatement.

Maybe powerful is not the right word. 

Consuming. 

That's a better word to describe Ghost Bird.

It’s a book that completely fills your mind and attention.

Ghost bird is the tale of Stacey Thomson: a twin, a girl from an outback town, an aboriginal girl who wants nothing more than to leave her world behind and escape to pursue her dreams.

But when her twin sister Laney goes missing, and she starts to dream of Laney in a bad, dark place, Stacey must find the strength to face the stories of her people, challenge her family’s ways and find her sister before it’s too late.

Make no mistake, Stacey loves and respects her family more than anything. She obeys the rules and she accepts the directions of her elders. But if she’s going to save Laney, she’s going to have to go where her family has warned her never to go. She’ll have to cross lines that should never be crossed.

Ghost Bird is a story of deep love — the kind of love that exists even when you almost hate the other person. It’s about family, tradition, history and a sisterly bond that can never be broken.

This is also a book about history and about being Aboriginal in a small outback town. It’s about a family that's lived on their lands for generations and what happened to them when the white men came.

I believe this makes Ghost Bird a book every Australian teenager should read. Have you ever thought what it means to live in a town divided? Even now, even today when things have apparently changed, what does living in a town with so much history mean, and how would it affect you?

Ghost Bird is a brilliant and gripping read. Filled with mystery and suspense, it's masterful storytelling. If you love YA that’s real and raw, mysterious and deep, Ghost Bird is for you.

I also suspect this is a novel lots of people are going to be talking about for a long time, so I’d get in early so you can be part of the conversation.

Title: Ghost Bird
Author: Lisa Fuller
Publisher: UQP, $19.95
Publication Date: 1 November 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 7022 6023 0
For ages: 13+
Type: Young Adult Fiction

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Review: Running With The Horses

Review: Myths and Legends of the World

Bold reader: open your mystical map and get ready.

Welcome to the world of myths and legends.

Myths and Legends of the World is a wonderful and powerful book filled with stories of old from across the world. 

Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Americas and the Arctic — there are myth stories included from them all. 

Like the story of the creation of the world from Africa, the legend of Maui and the tale of the rainbow serpent from Oceania, the story of Ganesh from Asia and the story of Niekija and the northern lights from the Arctic.

A lot of research has gone into this book to gather these stories and retell them. Of course, there are multiple variations of all these legends from different regions, but Alli Brydon has done a fantastic job in retelling the core elements of each.

Each legend is also accompanied by brilliant illustrations by Julia Iredale. Stunning colours engage the eye, and Iredale’s print-like style is awe-inspiring. 

This is a beautiful book for curious minds. It’s a lovely introduction to legend stories from across the globe and is sure to get the kids googling to find out more. 

A beautiful addition to your non-fiction library.

Title: Myths and Legends of the World
Author: Alli Brydon
Illustrator: Julia Iredale
Publisher: Lonely Planet Kids, $29.99
Publication Date: 8 November 2019
Format: Hard Cover
ISBN: 9781788683074
For ages: 9 -12
Type: Non Fiction

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12 Curly Questions with author Petra James

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I broke my right arm twice when I was a kid. Once, playing netball and, twice, nearly winning a sack race. I’d never nearly won a sack race before so excitement made me extra wobbly.

2. What is your nickname?
PJ.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Letting fear slow me down. But then I remember Elizabeth Gilbert says fear is the most boring thing about us because it says only one thing: STOP!

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
I hope it is funny, fresh and engaging, with heart.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Thoughtful, wordy, quirky, musical, dramatic.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
The Cat from The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss. As well as admiring the chaos Cat causes on that rainy day, I was also impressed by his ability to juggle a cup and a cake on top of his hat, a fish in a bowl on the tip of an umbrella, two books, some milk in a dish … And I’d love to have friends called Thing One and Thing Two.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
1922, when Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh, in the Valley of the Kings.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
You haven’t changed much.

9. Who is your greatest influence?
Kath, my sister. For her incredible passion and joy.

10. What/who made you start writing?
Watching Maddy, my niece, when she was four, exploring the backyard in the dark with a torch. Twenty Tangled Elephants – my first (and last) story in rhyme emerged.

11. What is your favourite word and why?
Nephology – the study of clouds. I love watching clouds, and I stumbled across this word in the dictionary serendipitously (another favourite word).

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Bleak House by Charles Dickens. It’s page-turning, full of fog and intrigue, and loud with character and plot.

Petra James is the author of several middle-grade novels, such as the Arkie Sparkle series and Hapless Hero Henrie. Originally from a small town in New Zealand, she spent three years in the United Kingdom before moving to Australia, where she has worked in publishing ever since. Unlike the Ungrateful Girls in her latest book, The Most Ungrateful Girl in the World, she is very polite and well mannered. See www.penguin.com.au for more information.

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Winner: Kate DiCamillo Signed Prize Pack

Review: Wolf Girl 1: Into the Wild; Wolf Girl 2: The Great Escape

An attack on Gwen’s town forces the family to pack what they can and set out in their car to escape the disaster. All the people of her town find themselves in the same situation. When a bomb falls, every one runs. Gwen finds herself separated from her family and alone in the forest of an unknown area. She is saved from drowning in a raging river by four dogs, who also are alone and homeless now. One of them is a wolf pup.

Although she finds her way back to the town, no one is there. Initially, whatever food she finds in the abandoned cars lined up on the main road, is used to keep herself and the dogs from starving. The family car becomes their shelter until she realises she must begin her search if she is to find her family.

She begins the greatest adventure of her life.

Knowing nothing about self- preservation, Gwen must draw on all her resources to stay alive. And there are the dogs that saved her. They depend on her for their survival.

Their food supply doesn’t last long. She is forced to hunt for food. She learns how to use the sling she found in their car as a tool and a weapon. They eat lizards and snakes that the dogs catch and which soon become their staple diet.

Gwen is now the pack leader. When she saves an eaglet abandoned in an eyrie. It too, becomes part of the gang and an additional protector.

In Wolf Girl2 - The Great Escape, Gwen, her pack and Eagle, have grown and changed. It has been four years since the disaster. Gwen is strong, courageous and resourceful; having survived every challenge and obstacle that life has put in her path. Together with the dogs, they are a powerful force.

The first human they see after all this time, is not the help Gwen believes him to be. She is kidnapped and driven to a hidden place. Her thoughts all the way, are with the dogs and Eagle. How will they find her? They can’t outrun the truck travelling at high speed. She tears out strands of her hair for the dogs to trace her scent. Eagle follows up high. The dogs are determined to find their leader. 

At this stage in the story, we see what the dogs are thinking. Their thoughts are presented in bold text.

Reaching their destination, Gwen sees countless children labouring at breaking stones. Refusing to tell her captors anything, and after trying to escape, she is imprisoned and deprived of food. At this point, the story takes on a specific shape and meaning. Its direction becomes clearer, where till now, it was a series of events leading up to something shadowy.

The dogs by now have picked up her scent. The strangest and most thrilling events take place. With the help of Tiny, the smallest dog, Gwen manages to escape, taking with her the boy Rupert, put in an adjoining cell for giving her bread.

The guards, although on full alert, are no match for the dogs and Eagle.

Gwen discovers that adults are being held in another compound. To return and free the other children is her main priority as she flees. Also, she must track down the whereabouts of the adults that have been driven away in trucks.

Title: Wolf Girl: Book 1- Into the Wild, Wolf Girl: Book 2 - The Great Escape
Author: Anh Do
Illustrator: Jeremy Ley
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, $ 14.99
Publication Date: July & December 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760525095, 9781760876357
For ages: 8 - 14
Type: Middle Grade Fiction



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Review: Our Planet: The One Place We All Call Home

Our Planet: The One Place We All Call Home is a gorgeous book about our world.

It's the official book to accompany a documentary series, and starts with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, who describes it as containing 'tales of travel, detective stories, domestic dramas and much else.'

Our Planet is a large, foolscap format hardcover book, which allows it to do as much justice as possible to the artwork, which is a combination of photographs and illustrations.

The photographs, in particular, are stunning, from the beautiful polar bear striding out on the ice, to the green turtle swimming above a coral reef.

Our Planet is divided into seven habitats: frozen worlds, jungles, coastal seas, deserts and grasslands, high seas, fresh eater, and forests.

Following a world map over a double-page spread, each of the habitats and some of their important creatures and features are explained.

The jungle habitat includes information about zombie ants. Yes, they are a real thing. Zombie ants are found in the Amazon and after being drawn to a plant and biting it, die and become consumed by the plant before it attracts another ant.

The forest habitat describes some of the special trees that live in them, such as the redwoods in North America and the baobab tres that hold many litres of water. There's also the special tropical forest in Madagascar, home to animals found nowhere else in the world.

Each habitat also has a special page explaining how they are under threat, and ways we can help protect them.

At the back of Our Planet, you'll find further information about the urgency of looking after our planet, behind the scenes photos from the filming of the documentary series, and a glossary and index.

Our Planet is a book that can mesmerise you with the wonder of our natural world and deserves a place in homes everywhere.

As Sir David Attenborough concluded in his foreword: '[Y]ou will be among the next characters who can, if they wish, tell the most extraordinary story of all -- how human beings in the twenty-first century came to their senses and started to protect Planet Earth and all the other wonderful forms of life with which we share it.'

Title: Our Planet: The One Place We All Call Home
Author: Matt Whyman
Illustrator: Richard Jones
Publisher: Harper Collins, $ 29.99
Publication Date: December 2019
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780008180317
For ages: 6+
Type: Junior non-fiction




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Review: Are You Watching?

Review: Windcatcher (Migration of the Short-tailed Shearwater)

Every April, thousands of short-tailed shearwaters, lift off from their colony on Griffiths Island, Victoria, to begin a 30 000 kilometre migration from Australia to the Arctic Circle. A month later, the young chicks also leave the colony and begin the same migration, facing many dangers to reach the Arctic Circle in June or July. By August, birds leave the northern feeding grounds and head for home, arriving back to the colony in September, where eggs are laid and the cycle continues.

In Windcatcher (Migration of the Short-tailed Shearwater), by author, Diane Jackson Hill, and illustrator, Craig Smith, we follow the journey of Hope, a shearwater chick given the banding label 888. While the narrative aspect of the story is fictional, the description of the events occurring during the annual migration of these birds is based on factual colonies and experiences. An outline of facts about short-tailed shearwaters is also presented in the final pages of the book, including information on their appearance, breeding, migration pattern, dangers and their protected status. Comprehensive Teachers' Notes are also available from the publisher.

The story begins with Hope's mother, returning from the north to locate her burrow in the colony. There she lays an egg, from which Hope later emerges. As Hope grows, she becomes stronger until one day she catches the wind and begins her migration, along with all the other fledglings. Through the story, we see some of the challenges faced by these birds every year, including hunger, storms and the harmful consumption of micro-plastics (masquerading as food) in the sea.

When Hope and the other fledglings are accidentally ensnared in fishermen's nets, while resting in a calm bay north of the Equator, their desperate attempts to free themselves are assisted by the fishermen, who identify the banded shearwaters and report their location to authorities.

By providing a perspective through Hope's eyes, the author and illustrator have created a story with emotion and tension where we care about Hope and the other fledgling chicks, as the wind lifts them and their instincts draw them onward.

From a tiny island in the Southern Ocean, a light house beams, and Hope flies home.

Title: Windcatcher (Migration of the Short-tailed Shearwater)
Author: Diane Jackson Hill
Illustrator: Craig Smith
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing, $24.99
Publication Date: 17 October 2019
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781486309870
For ages: 5 - 12
Type: Picture book




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Review: The Besties Show and Smell

The Besties are back!

Following The Besties to the Rescue, The Besties Show and Smell is a hilarious junior fiction novel about show and tell, outsmarting cranky teachers and armpit farts.

In this adventure, Ruby and Oliver are at school, and it’s Ruby’s turn for show and tell. 

She’s keen to sing a song and she’s looking forward to what classmate Zac will do, but when the relief teacher cancels show and tell, Ruby has to take things into her own hands (even if Oliver isn’t exactly happy about it).

Will Ruby get to perform her show and tell song? Or will the cranky relief teacher ruin the day?

This is a fantastic junior series for young readers starting to read independently. 

With simple language, large text, short chapters and loads of black and white illustrations on every page, it really is a fantastic book for readers starting out. 

The books in the series are independent of each other, so you don’t need to have read the first one to follow this one. It’s fun and oh so funny — very relatable for kids. 

At the back of every book is a treasure trove of extras. This time round you’ll find how-to advice on making fart noises with your armpits (so funny!), another hilarious comic by Oliver, songs by Ruby and more jokes.

It can be quite a challenge to find books for emerging readers that are made with their reading skills in mind and are also entertaining, but this is a series that really ticks all the boxes. 

Highly recommended for junior readers. 

And don’t forget to look out for the next two instalments in the series coming soon: The Besties Make a Splash and The Besties Party On.

Title: The Besties Show and Smell

Author: Felice Arena

Illustrator: Tom Jellett

Publisher: Penguin, $9.99

Publication Date: 7 January 2020

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781760890988

For ages: 6 - 10

Type: Junior Fiction

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Guest Post: 5 Great Books for 10 Year Olds

Review: Thank You, Omu!

Review: The Year We Fell From Space

Review: Seek And Find Cities: A Globetrotting Adventure

Review: Waiting for Wolf

Waiting for Wolf is a visually stunning, heart touching story of friendship, loss and acceptance.

Two friends, Fox and Wolf spend a glorious day together filled with play, swimming, talking and laughter. That night in an open but metaphoric conversation, Wolf tells Fox he’ll be gone soon and asks her to remember this day forever, Fox agrees but doesn’t fully understand Wolf’s words; until the next night after a day of searching for her missing friend.

Through emotion, words and pictures that flow and entwine together beautifully merging metaphor and reality, Fox’s painful grief is felt. As the deep, dark and starry night sky ends, Fox recalls Wolf’s wise words, she stands tall again; a sense of revolution, a bright day and beautiful ending prevails.

This story touched my heart and took me to times I’d felt grief. The illustrations of wildlife and natural environment are striking, with gorgeous colours and textures.

A beautiful story for all, to be interpreted as deeply as the reader chooses, with a comforting perspective on death and grief, which could help children and even adults who are dealing with it.

Sandra Dieckmann’s other books include Leaf and The Dog that ate the World.

Title: Waiting for Wolf
Author/Illustrator: Sandra Dieckmann
Publisher: Hachette, $15.99
Publication Date: 14 January 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781444946598
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book




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Review: Roly Poly

12 Curly Questions with author/illustrator Sally Rippin

1. What's your hidden talent?
Hiding grated zucchini in muffins.

2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
Templeton the rat in Charlotte’s Web, because he’s so cantankerous it’s funny and he ends up reluctantly saving the day.

3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
Judy Blume, SE Hinton, Roald Dahl, Maurice Sendak and EB White – because these authors all had a profound impact on me as a reader and a writer growing up, and I would like to have the chance to thank them.

4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
The Magic Faraway Tree.

5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Exultant, despairing, hopeful, exhausting, grateful.

6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Empathetic, curious, dedicated, passionate, kind.

7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
Teapot, notebook, window looking out over trees, fireplace, dog.

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!)
Are there dogs out there who are good at typing? (Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, page 23 as page 22 is blank.)

9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask? 
 Maurice Sendak: writing or drawing?

10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
Never read another book. If I stopped writing, I would become very unpleasant to be around!

Sally Rippin was born in Darwin and grew up in South-East Asia. As a young adult she studied traditional Chinese painting for three years in Shanghai and Hangzhou, which inspired her first novel Chenxi and the Foreigner. Sally is the author of many books for children, including the popular Billie B Brown and Hey Jack! series, and the highly acclaimed children's novel Angel Creek. Currently, she lives in Melbourne with her partner and three sons, and writes and illustrates full time. For more information, see www.sallyrippin.com.

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Junior Review: Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent

Blue the Silkwing has always been a nervous, rule-following dragonet trying his best not to fall out of line. 

But his entire life changes at the time of his sister Luna’s metamorphosis (when they grow wings and are able to make silk). It turns out that he and Luna had some of the rarest silk a Silkwing could get.

When Luna is captured (inside her cocoon), Blue flees his home as a fugitive. 

When Queen Wasp sends the Hivewings to pursue him, Blue manages to find a secret entrance to a school library thanks to the help of his new friend, Cricket the Hivewing. 

 

Soon they are on the run going from hive to hive, making incredible discoveries and friends, like Sundew and Swordtail who help them discover Queen Wasp’s devilish plans and how she had deceived them their entire lives. They also discover that Leafwings still exist, despite what the Queen had said.

But suddenly Blue is captured by the Hivewings and has to wait helplessly to see if Cricket, Swordtail and Sundew can save him before his metamorphosis. Or will he stay in solitude and captivity forever?

I love this book because it shows how strong a person really can be despite other people’s beliefs as well as their own. At the start Blue is a really nervous dragonet and at the end he transformed into a strong, confident dragon.

I also like how Tui T Sutherland gives human qualities to my favourite creatures -DRAGONS!! The book also demonstrates how sometimes rules are worth breaking, despite what others say.

The only thing I did not like about this book – it ends with such a cliff hanger and I’m desperate to know what comes next.

Title: Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent
Author: Tui T Sutherland
Illustrator: Joy Ang
Publisher: Scholastic US
Publication Date: 1 July 2018
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 99781338214437
For ages: 8 - 12
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Beverly, Right Here

It is 1979. Beverly Tapinski leaves her home and a mother who cares only for herself. At fourteen, she is determined to venture off into the unknown and see what is out there.  She is grief-stricken after burying her dog Buddy under the orange trees in their yard; the dog she shared with her best friends Raymie and Louisianna.

She stops in a town and immediately finds a job in a smelly fish take-away shop. The elderly Lola, who lives in a mobile home that is no longer mobile, offers her a place to live until she wants to leave. These are two people in need – old and young – that come together and benefit by each others’ presence and existence.

For the first time in her life, Beverly is cared for.

With thoughtfulness and love, Lola shows Beverly what she has been looking for all her life.

Beverly makes friends with the strangest people and finds her perception of life changing as she evolves as a person. Everything that was ugly in her life becomes beautiful as she is shown how to see herself through others’ eyes.

All Kate Di Camillo’s books carry strong messages and are totally trimmed of fat. She is an observer of life, its surroundings and realities. Every sentence provokes thought.

Using tools of brevity, style and precision and perfect minimalistic prose, she leaves the reader changed.

This book is woven of many themes. Age and how it marginalises is a main thread, along with what defines family. Emotions and friendships and how constant change takes place in people’s lives, is beautifully portrayed by images created with words and the supreme way Di Camillo uses them.

Another scintillating offering to fans old and new, and not to be missed!

Title: Beverly, Right Here  
Author: Kate Di Camillo  
Publisher: Walker Books , $ 19.99  
Publication Date: September 2019  
Format: Hardcover  
ISBN: 9781406391633  
For ages: 9+  
Type: Junior Fiction




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Review: The Something

The Something is a story of wonder and imagination after a boy loses his ball down a mysterious hole.

Told from the view of the child, we follow his adventure to find out what could be down the hole under a cherry tree in his garden. Over time and seasons, he watches the hole and asks family and friends what they think could be down there; frogs, trolls, a knitting mole and badger doing crosswords are just the beginning.

Will the mystery prevail or will we continue to wonder? His unlimited imagination, determination and curiosity are admirable and leave the story open and thought provoking.

The playful, loose illustrations feel warm and lighthearted, they work perfectly with the text and with endearing characters including a pet dog; they deliver much of the story on their own.

This book has been a favourite of mine for a long time, I love how so much wonder and story surrounds the simple concept of a hole and I enjoy making new discoveries in the illustrations each time I read it. Inspiring creative thinking and discussion The Something would make a great gift or class room addition.

Rebecca Cobb is a UK based author and illustrator, other books she’s worked on include The Paper Dolls, Aunt Amelia and The Day War Came.

Title: The Something
Author/Illustrator: Rebecca Cobb
Publisher: Pan MacMillan, $24.99
Publication Date: 28 August 2014
Format: Hardback
ISBN:  0230764827
For ages: 0 – 5
Type: Picture Book




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Giveaway: Win a Signed Kate DiCamillo Prize Pack!

To springboard into a sensational summer of reading, the generous people of Walker Books Australia are giving away this awesome collection of Kate DiCamillo books including her latest release, Beverly, Right Here. 

We’re giving just one lucky reader the chance to win a set of signed Kate DiCamillo books! The winner will receive signed copies of:

· Raymie Nightingale

· Louisiana’s Way Home

· The Tale of Despereaux

· Because of Winn Dixie

· Flora and Ulysses

· The Magician’s Elephant

· The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

· The Tiger Rising

As well as an unsigned copy of Beverly, Right Here. You can read Anastasia Gonis' review of Beverly, Right Here Monday 13 January 2020. 

To win, just tell us in 25 words or less which of these books you're most excited to read, and why!

Email your answer along with your name and postal address to dimity. The three responses we like best will each win a book prize and rock box collection. Competition is open to anyone, worldwide, so long as they have an Australian postal address for delivery of the books. Please note, we cannot deliver to PO Boxes. Entries without a name and street address will be ineligible. Winners will be announced right here on our website on 20 January 2020.

Competition runs from 5 pm 11 January 2020 to 5 pm 18 January 2020. Adults can enter for those aged 17 and under. This is a game of skill, not chance. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

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Review: The Beach Wombat

The Beach Wombat is a captivating picture book about a wombat, and its young one, on an Australian beach.

The wombats run across sand, past kangaroos and picnics, explore around rocks and venture between the trees. Here the wombats encounter a thick blanket of smoke from a fire, an experience that many children in Australia (and other countries) will currently relate to.

The wombats escape the ominous smoke and the colours transform into rich blues and greens as rain sweeps over the pages, refreshing the wombats' world anew.

Susannah Chambers' rhyming narrative tells this story of the wombats' day utilising succinct, evocative language, with exciting page turns, encouraging children to eagerly anticipate the next word.

Mark Jackson's illustrations evoke the scampering movements of the wombats, beautifully capture the sandy, wind-swept coastal Australian habitat and bring the soothing coolness of cleansing rain and night sky.

This title complements The Snow Wombat, also by Susannah Chambers and Mark Jackson.

Title: The Beach Wombat
Author: Susannah Chambers
Illustrator: Mark Jackson
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, $24.99
Publication Date: 3 December 2019
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781760631857
For ages: 3 - 6
Type: Picture Book




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Review: The Besties to the Rescue

Ruby and Oliver are best friends. They’re Besties! They live next door to each other and they love hanging out together.

But when they find a baby bird that’s fallen from its nest, they know there’s no time for play.

They need to help the bird — keep it safe and help it get back to its nest.

The Besties to the Rescue is book one in a brilliant new junior fiction series from dynamic duo Felice Arena and Tom Jellett.

It’s a fun, light-hearted read, packed with funnies and delivered in an easy-to-read format with large text, short chapters and Jellett’s funky illustrations on every page. 

This is a perfect book and series for kids starting to read independently. 

The characters are real and relatable for kids, as is the plot. It’s a fun and simple story, easy for kids to follow as they focus on reading the words. 

The back of the book is also filled with awesome extras, including how-to advice (for book one it’s about looking after baby birds), a copy of Jurassic Yard, a hilarious comic penned by Oliver, the musical chords and lyrics of Ruby’s song, Little Bird, and the Besties’ best jokes about dinosaurs. 

If you’re looking for a new series for your junior reader to get stuck into or you want to provide an easy first book for them to try reading independently, I highly recommend The Besties to the Rescue.

Title: The Besties to the Rescue

Author: Felice Arena

Illustrator: Tom Jellett

Publisher: Penguin, $9.99

Publication Date: 7 January 2020

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781760890971

For ages: 6 - 10 

Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: The Mouse Mansion: Sam and Julia

The Mouse Mansion is a storytelling concept that is built around dioramas created by Karina Schaapman.

She wanted to write the story of the mice, and to illustrate their story, decided to build and photograph the dioramas, which are made from cardboard boxes, papier-mache, fabric, and recycled materials.

In The Mouse Mansion: Sam and Julia, readers can enjoy a collection of 17 anecdotes about Sam, a shy young mouse, and Julia, who loves exploring.

Sam and Julia are great friends who complement each other.

They love discovering new things about where they live, like the perfect hiding spot for their box of treasures.

They help Sam's grandma make pancakes and his mum to do the laundry. Only child Julia learns what it's like to have baby brothers and sisters.

Sam and Julia have many adventures together, and it's the incredible dioramas of their home that really make this book and bring them to life. There is so much detail in the setting and lots to prompt young imaginations.

It took Karina Schaapman, who lives in The Netherlands, four years to finish building the first Mouse Mansion, which has 100 rooms, and she's since built another.

Visit The Mouse Mansion online to learn more (including how you can make your own). If you're in Europe, you can also see The Mouse Mansion in person on display in the Amsterdam public library and via The Mouse Mansion Shop and Studio.

The second Mouse Mansion (image credit: www.themousemansion.com/blog/)

Title: The Mouse Mansion: Sam and Julia
Author/illustrator: Karina Schaapman
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, $ 29.99
Publication Date: December 2019
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781760876760
For ages: 4--8
Type: Picture book




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Review: Nevertell

There are stories about magic, and then there are stories about magic. 

Old magic. 

Deep, dark forest magic. 

Magic with a kernel of truth that comes from the old stories — myths and legends that can be neither proved nor completely refuted.

This is Nevertell. 

Eleven-year-old Lina lives in a prison camp in the cold Russian wilderness. Her mother was taken there as a child with her brother and Lina's grandfather. Lina was born there and has known no other life.

But when an opportunity arises to break free, Lina and her best friend Bogdan escape into the cold night. 

They set out towards Moscow, hoping to find Lina’s grandmother, but what they find instead is a powerful magic that fills the wilderness and hunts them at every turn. 

Ghosts, spirits and other-worlds that try to capture them. Hidden fortresses, hungry wolves and dark magic. 

If Lina and Bogdan are going to make it to Moscow, they will need to be braver than they’ve ever had to be before. And as strange things begin to happen, all seemingly connected to Lina, they’ll have to keep their wits about them or risk being captured by the evil that inhabits the wilds.

Nevertell is a brilliant and addictive middle grade novel. It’s an action-packed and mysterious read that pulls you in from page one. It’s the kind of book that infiltrates your mind and leaves a strange and mystic feeling in your belly — a questioning feeling that makes you wonder if the myths and legends you’ve heard of might be real.

This is a story for kids who love mystery, adventure and fantasy. It’s for the kids who love listening to tales of Bigfoot, Baba Yaga, the Loch Ness monster and Stonehenge. 

Katherine Orton is a master storyteller. This is her first novel, and I’m excited to see what she pens next.

Title: Nevertell

Author: Katherine Orton

Publisher: Walker Books, $16.99

Publication Date: 1 November 2019

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781406385182

For ages: 10+

Type: Middle Grade Fiction

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Meet The Illustrator: Fiona Halliday

Name: Fiona Halliday

Describe your illustration style in 10 or less words:

a mix of traditional and digital techniques

What items are an essential part of your creative work space: honestly, just peace and quiet!

Do you have a favourite artistic medium: 

I start off with sketches which are invariably dreadful. I wring my hands for a while about that and then crawl into Photoshop - I like the perfect lines you can make.

Name 3 artists whose work inspires you: 

currently Errol Le Cain, Eyvind Earle, Beatrice Alemagna 

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

I would love to have the opportunity to follow Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi around for a while through the late 15 – 1600s – just to watch them harness all the dark, traumatic energy! And then I’d skip forward in time to dally with Joan Eardley in the late 1950s-60. She lived and worked latterly just up the road from where I grew up, and she put such strange, dear magic into our wild Scottish seas and skies.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?

My family are all very artistic, but I never started dabbling until my early thirties. I had just moved to Austria and couldn’t speak German, I think maybe that was the impetus. I really like creating characters and watching them move across the page. I don’t think I’d be an illustrator if it wasn’t centred around telling stories about characters. 

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.

My studio is just a desk in the spare room, but my husband painted a wall in our kitchen with iron filings so it is magnetised, and it is great for doing dummy layout and just sticking up bits of artwork to see how it all looks together.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?

I find beginning a project really, really tough! I love the moment when I get the character right and they kind of look back at you from the screen and say ‘hello! Are we going on an adventure?’ I also love when I just know where a picture is going. Sometimes I scrabble around for weeks trying to get the balance right and it doesn’t work at all, and then something suddenly clicks, and you get this sudden surge of elation.  

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?

Find out what it is you love about illustrating and make that the fulcrum of what you do. For me I need to be in love with my character and the story. I can’t really draw a good picture without first knowing who my character is and what he/she is going through. Then the rest (kind of) falls into place. My only other advice is work hard, be steadfast and be true to yourself. 

Fiona Halliday is a Scottish Author- Illustrator with a passion for children’s books. She lives and works in Upper Austria. ‘Numenia and the Hurricane’ is her debut picture book. She has just wrapped up the illustrations for Zeena Pliska’s ‘Hello Little One,’ and is currently working on illustrations for ‘The Storm Goose,’ which she wrote. (All with Page Street Kids.) She is represented by Essie White of Storm Literary Agency.

For more information please visit Fiona's website and instagram or check out her wonderful book trailer here.

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Review: Wayward Son

Review: Bluey: The Beach, Fruit Bat & Time to Play!

Review: No Place for an Octopus

No Place for an Octopus is a whimsical and gentle picture book about a young boy’s encounter with an octopus. 

On the beach, exploring the rock pools at low tide, a young boy discovers an octopus. 

He wonders if it’s happy, if it’s lonely, if maybe he should take it home.

He wonders what it would be like to be friends with an octopus and all the things they could do. But is the boy’s home the right place for a sea creature?

This is a lovely and quiet tale about curiosity and wonderings. It has a lovely slow pace that forces you to read it slowly in a gentle voice. There are places to pause and explore the pictures and lots of questions to ask your audience as you read.

With a splendid die cut cover design that invites you to look in, this is a story about exploration and curiosity. It’s about having time to think about the possibilities and enjoying a moment of quiet reflection as the busy world rolls by.

It’s also about caring for others and respecting animals and where they come from. Expertly camouflaged within the story, there is a message there about leaving creatures be. Sometimes we think it would be lovely to take creatures home with us, but it’s important to put their needs before our own desires.

Known for her young adult novels The Sky is so Heavy and The Protected, No Place for an Octopus is Claire Zorn’s first picture book (as both the author and the illustrator). It is a loving and warm story, perfect for bedtime snuggles or quiet reading corners in classrooms. 

Don't forget to check out Claire's guest post on the necessity of nonsense.

Title: No Place for an Octopus

Author/Illustrator: Claire Zorn

Publisher: UQP, $24.99 

Publication Date: 5 November 2019

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 978 0 7022 6260 9

For ages: 3 - 6

Type: Picture Book

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10 Quirky Questions with author John Flanagan

1. What's your hidden talent? 
I’m an expert shot with a bow, But I keep it so well hidden that I usually miss.

2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
Erich von Stalhein from the Biggles series of books by Captain WE Johns. He was a Gestapo officer who was always trying to force information out of Biggles by cruel interrogation methods. I just think it’s a great name for a villain.

3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
 My two daughters, Katy and Penny, Kate McClymont, Michael Connelly, Kenneth Grahame.

4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
Excalibur. 

5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Always putting off getting started.

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

7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
My desk is so cluttered that it’d be hard to find anything there.

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!)
Fernando was a mule – pig headed and stubborn like most of his kind. From Two Kinds of Truth, by Michael Connelly.

9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
I’d ask Shakespeare did he really expect to be remembered for hundreds of years.

10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'? 
Since I love doing both, neither. (Figure that out)

John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice and Brotherband adventure series have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. His books are available in more than one hundred countries, are regularly on the New York Times bestseller list, and have had multiple award shortlistings and wins in Australia and overseas. John, a former television and advertising writer, lives with his wife in a Sydney beachside suburb. For more information, see www.worldofjohnflanagan.com.

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