Kat Chadwick – Aussie Reviews

Today in my lunchbox

I happened to find …

A young boy opens his lunchbox to find an apple. He doesn’t like apples, but that’s just the beginning. Over the next days he finds increasingly unlikely things in his lunchbox, each of which he likes even less than the previous offering. His apprehension in opening the lunchbox grows. Font size is large and the text simple. Illustration backgrounds are in pastel colours with the main character, the lunchbox and the ‘contents’ of the lunchbox in more intense colours. Endpapers feature a range of lunchbox possibilities, only some of which are included in the story.

What’s in My Lunchbox is a timely story for new school children and younger children experiencing lunchbox offerings for the first time. The rhythm and repetition of the text will soon have young children ‘reading’ along. Illustrations provide offer extras for young readers to identify. Young readers will also be able to empathise with the growing apprehension illustrated. Plenty of opportunities to generate discussion about lunchbox choices. Love the grinning lunchbox! Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.

What’s in My LunchboxPeter Carnavas ill Kat Chadwick New Frontier Publishing 2015 ISBN: 9781925059038

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Dog.

Frog.

Frog on dog.

Frog on log.

Frog on dog and dog on log.

Dog and frog near hog in bog.

Dog on Log begins in a very Dr Seuss way with very simple cumulative rhyming text while the illustrations provide details of just what’s going on. There’s a birthday party in-the-making. With very few words, the tension rises as the time of the party nears. When the birthday girl wakes in surprise, chaos ensues. Though it’s not quite the triumph Dog and his helpers have planned, all turns out well. Illustrations are pen and ink as well as digital media. They are mostly in gentle watercolours set in white space. Spreads extend to full page bleeds when the action is at its most intense. Endpapers suggest the woodland setting of the party, and feature the animal guests.

Everyone loves a party and all the animals are keen to help. Unfortunately they don’t all have the same idea about what constitutes help. Young readers will enjoy discovering what’s happening in the illustrations as they listen to the rhythms in the text. Younger animals find the waiting a challenge, and even the balloons have personality. All ends well though and readers learn that even if things don’t go quite to plan, it doesn’t mean that the attempt is a disaster. A humourous offering for pre- and early-schoolers.

Dog on Log, Tania Ingram ill Kat Chadwick Omnibus Books 2013 ISBN: 9781862919648

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

Tag: Kat Chadwick

What’s In My Lunchbox? by Peter Carnavas ill Kat Chadwick

Dog On Log by Tania Ingram ill Kat Chadwick