Cocoon, by Aura Parker

The plan is to eat as many leaves as you can.
Then weave a cocoon.
Two weeks later…
TA-DA, you’re a moth!
With wings to fly! Easy peasy! I can’t wait.

Dawn and her caterpillar friends have known each other since they were larvae – and now they have a plan. They are eating every leaf they can find so they can get ready to build cocoons and, when their wings have grown, become moths. Dawn gets busy and soon she is snug in her cocoon. But inside, she waits impatiently, worrying whether her wings will develop, and how she will get out.

Cocoon is a sumptuous hard cover picturebook about the development of a moth from caterpillar to hatching, told through the voice of Dawn, with illustrations filled with whimsy and colour showing Dawn and her friends preparing for their metamorphosis. Once Dawn is in her cocoon, each spread shows just her, through a cross section of the cocoon, and illustrator Aura Parker cleverly uses a range of movements and some anthropomorphic props (books, a lantern, and even a teapot) to avoid repetition and add humour. The final images, showing Dawn and her friends emerging, are stunning, as are the endpapers.

Perfect to be enjoyed for the story alone, Cocoon would also have lots of classroom applicability.

Cocoon, by Aura Parker
Scholastic, 2019
ISBN 9781742765129

The Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Nick Bland

Trip, trap, trip trap,
TRIP TRAP

Three billy groats named gruff want to cross a bridge to eat the sweet grass on the other side – but first they must get past the grumpy troll who lives under the bridge and wants to eat them for his dinner.

While many adult readers will be familiar with this tale, many younger readers will not. author/illustrator Nick Bland brings it to life with his humorous style, which many will recognise from such favourites as the Very Hungry Bear. The text is simple, with visual features such as bold and larger font for key words, and the troll is rendered with humour making him more comic than fearsome to the reader.

Perfect for classroom or home reading.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Nick Bland
Scholastic Australia, 2019
ISBN 9781743815885

Say Something, by Peter H. Reynolds

If you are angry…   
Say something to help people understand.  

There are many ways to say the things that matter to you – through art, through actions and, of course, through speaking up – against wrongs, expressing needs, or voicing feelings. In this hardcover picture book, author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds uses simple text and cartoon-style images against colourful backgrounds to inspire readers to speak out, in whatever form they feel able, reminding readers that everyone has an opinion.

Using speech bubbles for both the narratorial voice, and for some of the depicted characters to speak to each other, the text speaks directly to readers of any age, and the accompanying illustration shows a diverse range of young people living out the message of the book – speaking, singing, painting, carrying protest signs and more.

Whether the reader is set to take part on a large scale demonstration, or simply needs encouragement to express themselves, Say Something will speak to them.

Say Something, by Peter H. Reynolds
Scholastic Australia, 2019
ISBN 9781760664992