Tag: Heath McKenzie

The Number One Aussie Counting Book, by Heath McKenzie

Australian animals push from the inside of this new counting book and jostle for space on the front cover. Numbers run down the other side of the front cover, and also spread out across the back cover. There is no doubt that what the reader is offered here is a counting book. But it’s also a public relations exercise for the animals being counted. Wombat, who can sometime suffers an image problem is presented as handsome, dashing, classy and more. As the pages fill with more and more animals, descriptions contract to well known Australianisms. There are ‘dinki-di’ Tasmanian devils and ‘fair dinkum’ fur seals. The final page, full of hatching crocodiles hints that there could more mischief afoot.

The numbers are large on each page. Text curls its way across the page. There is a sense of constant movement as kangaroos leapfrog, cockatoos call. Even the witchetty grubs have personality. The most well-known of Aussie animals are here but so too are bilbies, cuscus and lyrebirds. There is plenty of white space on the cover and on the pages. The Number One Aussie Counting Book is bright, colourful, zany. Young children will enjoy the counting and older children will enjoy reading the descriptions. All will enjoy the antics on each opening. Recommended for pre- and early school age children. Would also be a great gift to send overseas.

The Number One Aussie Counting Book, by Heath McKenzie
Black Dog Books 2007
ISBN: 9781742030098

Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast, by John Larkin

To most people Harry Highfield was just an ordinary boy. Okay he might have worn his pants a little higher than you would expect, but otherwise he seemed perfectly normal.
During the school holidays, however, Harry would put away his homework, get out his cape and become a superhero.

When Harry’s brother Wayne the Pain loses his favourite cricket ball over the fence, Harry has a chance to use all of his (non-existent) superhero powers to retrieve it. The first problem is how to get over the fence. Wayne solves this. He can make Harry fly, with a little help from a spinning clothesline. Then all Harry has to do is get the ball away from the salivating beast which is guarding it.

Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast is a fast paced and humorous junior novel which is also easy to read. Harry’s adventures are silly and the illustrations, by the talented Heath McKenzie, are filled with comic detail and sure to bring a smile to a young reader’s face.

Part of the new ABC Kids fiction series, Harry Highpants is lots of fun.

Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast (ABC Kids Fiction)

Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast, by John Larkin, illustrated by Heath McKenzie
ABC Books, 2007

This book can be purchased from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Aussie A to Z, by Heath McKenzie

D is for Dingo and dugong and drop bear and damper and dunny and dual flush toilet and Daddy Cool and dog on the tucker box…and a whole lot more.

This gorgeous alphabet book has as much to offer adults and older children as it does the prereaders it is apparently aimed at. With a page devoted to each letter of the alphabet, the text for each is minimal, highlighting just one or two things that begin with the specified letter (D is for Dingo, for example). The illustrations, however, feature a bevy of things beginning with the letter, many more readily identifiable by adults than children. John Farnham features on the W page – as Whispering Jack, of course, Daddy Cool on the aforementioned D page and the Seekers on the S page. A back of book guide identifies the various objects and people shown in each illustration.

The illustrations themselves are comic and colourful, with plenty of detail for youngsters (and oldsters, too) to discover things on repeated readings. The colours vary from spread to spread, as befits the changing subject matter.

This is a fun offering for any young Aussie.

An Aussie A to Z, by Heath McKenzie
black dog, 2007
ISBN 9781921167447

The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas, illustrated by Heath McKenzie

With shops full of tinsel and presents, it’s pretty obvious Christmas is on its way. But there’s a catch. Alongside the tinsel and lights, are scenes of snow, plum puddings and all the trappings of a Northern Hemisphere style Christmas. Here in Australia, Christmas usually entails cooling down and trying to escape the heat as we celebrate this special event in the midst of our summer.

The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas, puts an Aussie slant on the old song, with partridges and maids a milking replaced with a kookaburra up a gum tree, wombats, possums and, of course, flies.

Accompanying the humorous text are colourful, funny illustrations with illustrator Heath McKenzie interpreting them in a unique way. The seven possums playing are in front of the TV with Playstations, and the six sharks are swimming in paddle pools.

This is a fun Christmas offering which will appeal to Aussie kids, but would also make a novel gift for overseas friends and family.

The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas, illustrated by Heath McKenzie
Black Dog Books, 2006

It’s True! Sports Stinks, by Justin Kemp & Damian Farrow

There are sports facts galore in It’s True! Sport Stinks, written by two sports scientists. If you think that keeping your eye on a fast-moving ball is almost impossible, you’re right. If you think that putting a crocodile in a pool will make you swim faster, meet the coach who agrees with you. From tennis, football, cricket to car racing and pro wrestling, learn the secrets of moving faster, jumping higher and surviving your favourite sport.

The titleIt’s True! Sport Stinks, combined with the cover art featuring a prostrate tennis player surrounded by balls, set up the expectation that this book will be about sport failures/accidents, sport smells. While there are some elements of both in this book, there is a lot more as well. All the popular sports are here, as are less well known sports like Paralympic skiing. There’s information about increasing performance and the ways some athletes cheat. The content is varied, informative and entertaining. Recommended for mid- and upper-primary readers.

It’s True! Sports Stinks by Justin Kemp & Damian Farrow, with illustrations by Heath McKenzie
Allen & Unwin 2006
ISBN: 1741148545

Granny Adventurer, by Jan Dallimore

Our Granny needs supervision day and night. She is a walking catastrophe. Talk about little kids getting into regular trouble. Granny is a thousand times worse…

When Granny announces over breakfast that she’s off to the Amazon to search for the rare Tootle Bird, nobody is surprised. Granny loves adventures. So, with the kids in tow to help her carry, she jets off to the jungle to meet up with her old friend, Professor Crumble, and venture into the deep dark unknown.

But when they find the Tootle Bird, Professor Crumble finds himself trapped in its nest, waiting to become the tootle’s breakfast. Can Granny save him?

Back at home, Granny decides to take the family camping. But Granny’s idea of camping involves a huge motorhome, which leads to all kinds of chaos at home, on the road and at the camping ground.

Granny Adventurer is the third title in this quirky series of junior fiction from Black Dog Books. Containing two stories, and with loads of humorous illustrations by Heath McKenzie, these are suitable for boy and girl readers just making the transition to chapter books.

Kids will love the zaniness of Granny and the improbability of her adventures which see her always come out a hero.

Lots of fun.

Granny Adventurer, by Jan Dallimore, illustrated by Heath McKenzie
Black Dog Books, 2006

Granny Survivor and Granny Guru by Jan Dallimore

Our Granny needs supervision day and night. She is a walking catastrophe. Talk about little kids getting into regular trouble—Granny is a thousand times worse.

Granny may be old but she isn’t ready to retire quietly. When her family stops her from learning to surf she goes shopping instead – and gets flattened by a truck. This has unexpected consequences she lands herself a starring role in an action movie. Next, she joins a gym in a quest to win a triathlon, before turning her hand to inventing.

These two little books are packed full of laughs and action. Granny is a do-anything lady who gets into all sorts of scrapes which young readers will find hilarious. Each book contains two separate, but sequential stories with easily accessible text and loads of illustrations.

Suitable for readers aged 6-10 as they make the transition into junior novels.

Granny Survivor and Granny Guru by Jan Dallimore and Heath McKenzie (illus.)
Black Dog Books, 2006

This review first appeared in Reading Time Magazine.