scholastic nz – Aussie Reviews

My Dinosaur Dad by Ruth Paul

This dad is TALL,

this dad is SQUAT.

This dad is HUGE,

This dad is NOT.

This dad is TALL,

this dad is SQUAT.

This dad is HUGE,

This dad is NOT.

‘My Dinosaur Dad’ introduces a range of dinosaur dads, describing both their physical attributes and also their behaviours. The narrator’s dad is the final dad to appear and his arrival sends most of the others packing. But despite his reputation and apparent behaviour, to the young dinosaur, this is merely Dad. ‘My Dinosaur Dad’ is a large format, heavy paper, paper back, suitable for very young children. Images are simple and clear although there are also other animals flitting about each opening. Some of these other animals are there to provide scale and interest. Foliage is often stylised but provides an introduction to ancient flora. Dinosaurs appear in a wide range of gentle colours and patterns.

My Dinosaur Dad is a perfect introduction to dinosaurs, so beloved of young children. But rather than offer too much information, it presents them as loving and attentive fathers. There are dinosaur fathers of all shapes and sizes, likes and behaviours. Most readers will recognise aspects of their fathers in these pages. Ruth Paul has had fun with her patterning and colouring of the dinosaurs. In addition to introducing dinosaurs, ‘My Dinosaur Dad’ offers opposites (tall/squat, chunky/thinner) and words (spiky/prickly, knobbly/tickly) that are fun to say and explore. There are plenty of extra details for young readers to enjoy, including young dinosaurs mimicking their fathers with varying degrees of success. Ideal for pre-schoolers.

My Dinosaur Dad, Ruth Paul Scholastic NZ 2013 ISBN: 9781775431749

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

The Red Poppy, by David Hill &Fifi Colston

The two soldiers come from opposite sides of the conflict but, in spite of language difficulties, realise they have more in common than they could have imagined, and help each other to stay alive.

The night before the battle,
Jim McLeod wrote to his mother and his sister Edith.
He said nothign about the day to come, nor the mud’and the rats> he didn’t mention the piles of stretchers
waiting for the dead and wounded…

Jim McLeod waits in the trenches waiting for the order to attack the enemy. As he waits, he spies a patch of red poppies that the battle has left untouched. Later, as he scurries across no-man’s land, he takes refuge in a crater right where the poppies were. As he lies wounded he realises he is sharing his hole with an enemy soldier, also wounded. Forging an unlikely alliance, the pair figure a way to seek help, with the aid of a rescue dog and one of those red poppies.

The Red Poppy is a beautiful picture book offering about war and humanity. The two soldiers come from opposite sides of the conflict but, in spite of language difficulties, realise they have more in common than they could have imagined, and help each other to stay alive. The story doesn’t hold back on the horrors of war and its impact. The sepia toned illustrations, brightened with the reds of the poppies, reflect the time period and the serious nature of the subject matter, as well as helping readers to understand why the red poppy is used as a symbol of remembrance. At the back of the books are the lyrics for a song, ‘Little Red Poppy’, by Rob Kennedy, and a CD recording of the song is included.

Released in plenty of time for Anzac Day, this is an excellent educational resource which is also suitable for private reading.

The Red Poppy, by David Hill, illustrated by Fifi Colston
Scholastic NZ
ISBN 9781869439989

This book is available in good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

There's a Hole in my Bucket

There’s a Hole in My Bucket! reprises the well-known circular rhyme, and gives characters to the song. Liza is a duck and Henry a goat. The pair dance and sing their way through the rhyme. Liza’s mood changes are very clear, but at the end, where the bucket remains unfixed and a solution seems unfindable, the pair are to be found dancing together good-humouredly. The illustrations are full of colour and fun. A CD is included to introduce a new generation to an old favourite.

There’s a Hole in My Bucket! accurately details the steps that can be taken to fix a wooden bucket, but it’s charm lies in the repartee between the two characters, Henry and Liza. It’s an easy rhyme to learn and will appeal to children who enjoy hearing as well as reading the words. The illustrations, particularly Liza’s changing demeanour, will have them giggling and the music will have them up and dancing. A classroom could be divided into Henrys and Lizas, each singing their part. Great fun. Recommended for pre- and early-school age children.

There’s a Hole in My Bucket!, sung by The Topp Twins ill Jenny Cooper
Scholastic NZ
ISBN: 9781775430469

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Fidgety Itch, by Lucy Davey & Katz Cowley

Down beneath the fru-fru trees
Timpkin was gleefully
gobbling his cheese,
when something began to bother his knees.

Poor Timpkin! When a mouse finds some cheese, he doesn’t want to put it down, not even to scratch the most fidgety itch. So he calls for help. Feather McDoo flies in to help. Now Timpkin is feeling better, but not poor Feather. She has an itch that ‘jiggles and tickles like porcupine prickles’. Next comes Possum. And…you guessed it…he develops an itch too! But when Fuzzy O’Hare arrives and develops an itch of his own, who will scratch it? Illustrations are in ‘watercolour and mosquito sweat’! The animals have very expressive faces and body language, reflecting the irritation and the relief of terrible itches.

There’s nothing worse than an itch that’s inconvenient to reach to scratch. And there’s nothing like the relief of having that itch scratched. The Fidgety Itch grows a chain of cooperative scratchers all happy to be helping out. Readers will enjoy finding the itch-maker on each opening. The text is in rhyme and cumulative, and full of interesting words, just made for repeating. As well as the rhyme, there’s repetition and alliteration. Recommended for pre-schoolers and early primary readers.

The Fidgety Itch, Lucy Davey, ill Katz Cowley
Scholastic NZ
2010 ISBN: 9781869439675

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

The 4 Powers of Daren Saner, by Michael Oehley

‘Well, here we are, I suppose.’
‘I guess this is it.’
‘Should we even be doing this?’ My heart was thumping in my chest as I approached the silver door on corridor 12K. My two friends were trembling beside me. In Sela’s case, it was from excitement, while Boron was just plain nervous. we were on a forbidden corridor, about to break into a forbidden room. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but it didn’t feel as if we had a choice.

Daren lives on a spaceship which left the home planet, Osheanus, over 900 years earlier in search of another inhabitable planet. The spaceship has a definable caste system and Daren is the product of a union that should never have happened. This makes him something of an outcast. He has one friend, Sela who is also an outcast and a hanger-on called Boron. They accept a dare to venture into a forbidden part of the ship, and set in motion events that may be the end of their world. As if that’s not enough for Daren to comprehend, it seems his actions have connected him with the past, with Periapoli, an ancient city back on Osheanus. But he is not without resources. If only he can learn to marshal and control his powers in time.

What do you do if you really want to write about the future, but you also love the past? Put them both in the same novel! That’s what Michael Oehley has done in The Four Powers of Daren Saner. The past and future are at once very different and very similar. There are good people and there are foolish people. There are impossible situations and outlandish beliefs. Daren’s navigation through both worlds is also a journey of self-discovery as he grows beyond the labels he has been given. Daren speaks in his own voice, first person, in chapters where he is Daren Saner of the future, and also when he is Daren Saredes, living in Periapoli. There are themes of friendship, self-belief, belief systems, trust, growth, all wrapped in a inter-era adventure. Recommended for upper-primary, early-secondary readers.

The Four Powers of Daren Saner, Michael Oehley,
Scholastic NZ 2010
ISBN: 9781869439453

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com.

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Little Yellow Digger and The Bones, by Betty & Alan Gilderdale

It started to rain on the Monday,
it rained on Tuesday as well,
it bucketed down on the Wednesday,
and rivers were starting to swell.

‘The Little Yellow Digger’ series originated in New Zealand and includes titles such as ‘The Little Yellow Digger’, ‘The Little Yellow Digger and the Whale’ and more. In this instalment, the little yellow digger is called in to help clear the roads after heavy and protracted rainfall has caused a landslide. The landslide has also revealed a cave and some bones. The bones are sent off to the museum for identification and the road clearing continues. While the road is soon clear, the identification of the bones takes a little longer but the little yellow digger’s driver finally is invited to a celebration and unveiling of a new museum exhibit.

The Little Yellow Digger and the Bones uses the digger as a main character, considering the driver and the machine are working as a unit, rather than anthropomorphising the machine. This allows the story to remain realistic while allowing the reader to identify with the ‘character’. The little yellow digger can do things bigger diggers can’t and this leads to the particular adventure in this story where the machine reveals the existence of the cave and the driver investigates. There’s also a brown dog appearing on every opening. The use of the machine as a character also allows an adult to sit in the driving seat while still making the machine-plus-driver a child-like unit. It’s easy to imagine little boys using their model diggers in the back yard and inventing their own adventures. Recommended for preschool and early primary readers.

The Little Yellow Digger and the Bones, Betty and Alan Gilderdale
Scholastic NZ
ISBN: 9781869438999

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

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