animals – Page 3 – Aussie Reviews

The Great and Wondrous Storyteller, by Michael Scott Parkinson

Oh, hello. I am the Great and Wondrous Storyteller!
I have read big books. I have read little books.
I have read short books, tall books,
thick books and thin books …
I have read every
type of book you can imagine!

Everybody knows that the Great and Wondrous Storyteller is, in fact, a great and wodndous storyteller. Everyone knows he has read all kinds of books, to all kinds of people. But everyone also knows that you don’t eat books, or hold them upside down, or start at the end. So why is the Great and Wondrous Storyteller doing all those things?
The Great and Wondrous Storyteller is a gorgeous celebration of books and reading, with a gently educative element – teaching youngeters about the magic of books, and encouraging them to take up reading. The digital illustrations are bright and colourful, with the main character, Norbert, an adorable green monster, and other characters being a range of cute, big-eyed animals.

This debut picture book also explores themes of honesty and learning.

The Great and Wondrous Storyteller, by Michael Scott Parkinson
Five Mile Press, 2015
ISBN 9781760066628

Available from good bookstores and online.

How the Sun Got to Coco's House, by Bob Graham

It had to start somewhere.
While Coco slept faraway, the sun crept up
slowly behind a hill, paused for a moment,
seemed to think twice…
before it plunged down the other side and skidded gently across the water.

This delightful homage to the sun and sunshine traces the sun as it rises in a farway land, seen only by polar bears, then travels around the globe, shining on children and animals in many countries, crossing beaches, mountains, forests and oceans, before finally shining through Coco’s window, waking her and her family, and spending the day shining on her and her friends.

From master Australian creator Bob Graham, How the Sun Got to Coco’s House has the simple yet expressive style that fans of his work have come to know and love. From polar bears to people, cityscapes to vast deserts, every pages ia delight created in simple lines, muted colours and text of just a setence or two.

A celebration of sunshine and of life everywhere, How the Sun Got to Coco’s House is beautiful.

How the Sun Got to Coco’s House, by Bob Graham
Walker Books, 2015
ISBN 9781406359008

Available from good bookstores and online.

Meet My Book: Awesome Animals, by Di Bates

It is truly awesome to welcome author Di Bates to the blog today, to introduce us to her new book series, Awesome Animals. Welcome Di. Over to you.

Please tell readers about your new books.

Awesome Animals (Big Sky Publishing) is an entertaining new non-fiction animal series for kids – a Guinness Book of Records meets Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Awesome Cats and Awesome Dogs, the first two books in the series, are each an entertaining new read — a Guinness Book of Records meets Ripley’s Believe It or Not! which features fascinating stories about animals from all over the world. As well, there are relevant book lists, jokes and even humorous animal verses. Each beautifully styled book contains true stories and amazing photographs and quirky, illustrated break-out boxes, introduced by funny cartoon animal characters. The book is best suited for children aged 8 to 11 years, but there’s no doubt older readers will love the books, too.

What are the books about?

Each of the books is a miscellany of fun facts and stories about real-life cats and dogs. As well, there are poems and jokes and a list of children’s books featuring cats and dogs.

Before writing these books I searched for something similar, but found nothing. Yes, there are books about cats and dogs, but the presentation of content in the awesome books is unique. Take cats, for example: in Awesome Cats there are hundreds of short stories about cats in history, cat adventures, famous cats and famous people’s cats, working cats, spoilt cats, and cats in fiction and in TV, on stage and in movies. Here’s just a little ‘teaser’ from the book: ‘In 1976 a mystery cat in Hong Kong killed more than 20 dogs. According to local people it was about four feet long and black or gray in color. It was never caught.’ Imagine that, a dog-killing cat; certainly not a lap cat!

How did the idea for this series come about?

As a full-time, professional children’s author, I am always searching for an idea which will result in a book that any child would love to read. The three books in the Awesome Animals series are dogs, cats and horses (Awesome Horses will be published in 2016): it would be impossible, I’m sure, to find one of these animals that any child didn’t love, much less cherish. I started researching stories about dogs, first as I’m a real dog lover. Before long, I was finding amazing dog stories everywhere! Here are just a few famous dogs, for example, whose stories are told in Awesome Dogs: Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Old Yeller, Bullet, Scooby Doo and Benji. I just love dogs and really miss our last beloved dog, Sassy; she has been irreplaceable since she died two years ago of old age.

Where can people buy Awesome Cats and Awesome Dog?

The books retail for $14.99 each. Here’s where you can get Awesome Cats:

http://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/Children/Awesome-Animals-Cats/1123/productview.aspx

… and Awesome Dogs: http://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/Children/Awesome-Animals-Dogs/1124/productview.aspx

Silly Squid, by Janeen Brian & Cheryll Johns

Look at me! I’m quite divine,
a dancer of the sea.
I swim and glide and slip and hide
and grip my food with glee.

With the ability to colour-change, adapt and hide,the squid of this title poem is anything but silly. And, while there is plenty of fun and joy in this lively collection of poems, there is lots of evidence too of the wonders of the animal world, particularly those that live under and around the water.

From little jellyfish:
We come in different sizes
and people call us ‘jellies’
We have no bones, nor heart nor brain –
not even jelly bellies!
to the huge whale:
I swim high and low
and wherever I go
my water spout makes
such a wonderful show
Silly Squid! is a wonderful exploration of the diversity of the ocean, celebrated in playful rhymes. Each animal is given a double page spread including a poem and a realistic, yet still intimate acrylic illustration. The eyes of the animals look straight at readers, inviting them to get to know their subjects. Each page is finished off with brief facts about the animal in question. These facts, while useful, are on the edges of the page so as to not give them more emphasis than the poetry or art.

Readers may choose to read the book from cover to cover, or to read one poem at a time, dipping in and out of the book.

From the creators of Silly Galah, Silly Squid! is a wonderful poetry offering for younger readers.

Silly Squid!, by Janeen Brian & Cheryll Johns
Omnibus Books, 2015
ISBN 9781742990965

Available from good bookstores and online.

One Night, by Penny Matthews & Stephen Michael King

In any farmyard, on Christmas Eve, if you are very lucky, you can hear the animals talk.

It happens only on this most magical of nights.

And it happens only in that moment just before midnight

when the world is silent, waiting.

On Christmas Eve, at midnight, legend says that animals can talk. They speak to remember the part that animals played on the very first Christmas – where a donkey carried the baby’s mother, horses gave up their stall and other animals provided soft bedding. Even the mouse and the spider did their bit, and the rooster crowed to herald the news. Proud of the part their forbears played, the animals celebrate on Christmas Eve.

One Night is a delightful, gentle Christmas tale with the focus squarely on the animals, though two spreads show Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus, and the final spread shows all the animals gazing at the sleeping baby.

The text is not overdone, using the animals’ dialogue to show their pride, and the watercolour and pencil illustrations are a perfect complement with soft, expressive animals and night time hues.

A lovely Christmas offering.

One Night, by Penny Matthews & Stephen Michael King
Omnibus Books, 2014
ISBN 9781742990279

Available from good bookstores or online.

Snail and Turtle are Friends, by Stephen Michael King

Snail and Turtle…
are different.

Snail and Turtle are friends. They like to spend time together, walking and running and being quiet together. But they are also very different: Snail eats leaves, while Turtle eats flowers; Snail likes to climb while Turtle loves to dive. Difference, though, doesn’t mean they can’t be friends – they can do things together even when doing them differently.

Snail and Turtle are Friends is a divine celebration of friendship and difference and whimsy told with the simple brilliance we’ve come to expect from Stephen Michael King. There’s no need for overt explanation of what’s going on – the minimal text and the delightful illustrations work together to have the reader smiling and nodding throughout.

Visually, the characters of Snail and Turtle are created very simply, and complemented by a cast of other animals and insects who appear in the illustrations but not the text. Their landscape is green and lush with hints of seasons passing through rain, flowers and autumnal shades on different spreads (though the latter are attributed to the creative efforts of the pair). Young viewers will enjoy spotting embellishments and details throughout.

This a totally huggable book.

Snail and Turtle are Friends

Snail and Turtle are Friends, by Stephen Michael King
Scholastic, 2014
ISBN 9781743620236

Available from good bookstores and online.

4 Woolly Wombat Readers, by Kerry Argent

One Woolly Wombat sunning by the sea
Two cuddly koalas sipping gumnut tea….

One Woolly Wombat - First Reader

Since 1982 Aussie children have been learning to count with One Woolly Wombat. Now they can learn to read with him, too, in this cute new series of readers from Scholastic, suitable for school or home use.

Aimed at beginning readers, these four small format books each feature the woolly wombat, with his friend Bandicoot, and other friends, also recurring. The first in the series is a special edition of the classic One Woolly Wombat, with other titles being At the Beach, Hide and Seek and Best of Friends.

With the beautiful illustrations of Kerry Argent, and high-interest stories, coupled with text which is accessible and a format suitable for little hands to easily hold and turn pages, these are a treat for beginner readers, and will withstand repeated readings.

One Woolly Wombat
At the Beach
Hide and Seek
Best of Friends
All by Kerry Argent
Omnibus Books, 2014

Hootie the Cutie by Michelle Worthington ill Giuseppe Poli

Hootie the owl lived in enchanted wood.

She had big brown eyes as wide as saucers.

Her friends called her Hootie the Cutie because

she was the smallest owl in the wood.

Hootie the owl lived in enchanted wood.

She had big brown eyes as wide as saucers.

Her friends called her Hootie the Cutie because

she was the smallest owl in the wood.

Hootie the Cutie is the smallest owl in the wood and her wise owl father is determined to keep her safe. Hootie would love to join in some of the fun things happening in her magical forest. But comes a day when even Papa Owl is stumped. Something surprising and a little worrying is happening deep in the cave. Hootie is the only one brave enough, and small enough to investigate. She finds another small magical creature who needs help. Illustrations are full warm colour with loose drawn pencil characters, while Hootie herself is prominent in pink.

Being small, and possibly also because she is female, everyone seems to think that Hootie needs protection from the rough and tumble of everyday life in a magical wood. Certainly her father does. And while his protection is well motivated, it doesn’t allow her to develop her own skills or to take her own place in her community. Hootie is determined too and when her chance come, it is Hootie who shows great bravery in face of the unknown. Recommended for young readers and those who need to know that size doesn’t necessarily preclude bravery.

Hootie the Cutie, Michelle Worthington ill Giuseppe Poli New Frontier Publishing 2014 ISBN: 9781921928000

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Hey Mum, I Love You, by Corinne Fenton

Hey Mum,
I love you…
more than the prickliest tickle…

This delightful offering for the very young, and their mothers, is an absolute delight. The text is simple, only a few sentences in total, with a list of ways the child narrator loves his/her mum, and how affirming that is:
Because I know
with you beside me
I can do anything.
The illustrations are large photographs of various animals, chiefly of an adult with one or more young, showing affection (such as a giraffe kissing another), or in action. The text and illustrations are on white backgrounds, adding to the simplicity and making the overall product a gentle whole perfect for cuddle time or bedtime reading.

Hey Mum, I Love You is a lovely complement to Hey Baby, but each stands alone.

Delightful.

Hey Mum, I Love You

Hey Mum, I Love You, by Corinne Fenton
Black Dog, 2014
ISBN 9781922244581

Available from good bookstores or online.

I Spy Pets by Edward Gibbs

I spy with my little eye …

Something with silky feathers.

I like to peck seeds.

I spy with my little eye …

Something with silky feathers.

I like to peck seeds.

I Spy Pets features a puppy on the cover. That puppy is peeking through an ‘I spy’ window on ‘something with silky feathers.’ The ‘something’ is partly revealed through the peep hole and offers the reader a clue so they can guess the pet before they turn the page. There is also some hint in the images about what pet they will find once the page is turned. Once guessed, that pet offers ‘I spy …’ to another pet. And so on, each opening reveals a new pet. The final opening returns to the first pet, and then another of the pets invites the reader to look through the peep hole and ‘spy’ something else.

‘I Spy …’ has been a perennial favourite game of many generations and is often one of the early games played on car journeys. Teamed with (mostly) common household pets, young children will soon have answers to these ‘I spy …’ questions. The final opening shows all the pets in silhouette for a young reader to identify. The images are uncrowded and have just enough information to engage and encourage page-turning. Recommended for babies and pre-schoolers.

I Spy Pets, Edward Gibbs Koala Books 2013 ISBN: 9781742760704

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores and online.