Megan Daley, Author at Children's Books Daily...

“Moving on, as a concept, is for stupid people, because any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project. I refuse to rush. Max Porter ‘Grief is the Thing With Feathers’ Crappy grief week but please no pity. The light and the dark co-exist and I think I do a good job of sharing both,…

Thanks to Twentieth Century Studios, I have *five* double movie passes + books of the classic tale, ‘The Call of the Wild’. To enter, just comment here on or Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with who you’d love to take along! It’s been SO MANY YEARS since I read the classic book by Jack London (below)…

Belinda Murrell is one of my favourites in the kidlit world. Am I even allowed to have favourites?! She is a completely wonderful person and a damn great writer to boot. One of her ‘Pippa’s Island’ novels is dedicated to PudStar, who reviewed the series here and here and who tells anyone who will stand…

When I grow up I think I’d like to be Lyn White. She’s a teacher librarian, editor, marketing guru – she’s all of the things I love rolled into one. I’m always saying to my students at school ‘when I grow up I’d like to be…’ (usually it’s the owner of an endpaper art gallery!)…

17 Goals for People, for Planet As part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Member states developed the Sustainable Development Goals as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. The Sustainable Development Goals, ‘provide a global blueprint for dignity, peace and…

Ursula Dubosarsky is one of the finest writers in the country. Her books are sophisticated yet still accessible and each one is utterly unique; she seems to flit between genres effortlessly and each new book is a delightful surprise. Yes I am fangirling. You would to if you’d read as many of her books as…

A kind heart shines brighter than gold… ‘The Happy Prince’ is one of my favourite Oscar Wilde classics remembered from childhood. It was first published in 1888 as a collection of stories which also included ‘The Selfish Giant’ – and I have to say that both stories made me cry. I don’t know how old…

Emily Conolan has used the ever-popular ‘choose your own adventure’ format to put young readers at the centre of stories of immigration; utter.darned.genius. Why was this not done sooner? I spend so much time speaking to students at school about the importance of reading the stories of others, as it is through books that we…

As I try and find a moment this week when my children are not glued (superglued) to my side, in order to simply wrap their Christmas presents, I remember what the lead up to Christmas used to look like. I tend not to look back at what used to be, because I have little interest…

Narrative non-fiction titles are one of the best ways I know to introduce young children to the joys of information books – they are a fabulous ‘smash up’ of story with true information. In my opinion the series that does this best is the ‘Nature Storybooks’ series from Walker Books Australia. The latest title in…

Each year I look forward to the borrowing stats and borrower stats at the conclusion of the school year. Possibly this is a librarian thing, but I find it fascinating and of course we incorporate all this ‘data’ and more into our Annual Report. The 2019 list doesn’t really have any surprises on it, these…

Adam France has a bulldog, he’s a primary school teacher, he’s in a successful band and now he has his first book for middle – upper primary readers…he’s clearly kicking life goals. ‘Paddy T and the Time-Travelling Trampoline’ is a darned good read aloud (or independent read) which took me back to my days of…

A book for one? A book for two? A book for different points of view. Recently I had the privilege of meeting a newcomer to the kidlit world, author/illustrator/designer Robert Henderson. Robert is a (self-proclaimed) prolific non-graduate from a range of prestigious Australian Universities, failing to complete courses in areas as diverse as Media Studies,…

The gift ideas in this post are a mash up of all the things I love and I think you will also love. They are not sponsored ideas, though some are affiliate links (which cost the buyer nothing) which support the running costs of the blog. Many of the businesses linked are small businesses and…

Raina Telgemeier has taken the kidlit world by storm and in my library her books actually never make it back to the shelves – EVER. They go from returns chute to next person on the reserves list or a gaggle of girls hang around waiting for Miss Olive to return the latest Telgemeier and grab…

The term ‘lyrical’ is not often used to describe books on the ever-popular topic of ‘rocks, gems and minerals’ and yet this is what I would say about ‘The Book of Stone’ by Mark Greenwood and Coral Tulloch if I was allowed just one word. The world over, children go through a ‘rocks, gems and…

Cooee mittigar. Tread softly on our lands. Know that this dreaming was here. Is still here. Will be forever. Jasmine Seymour is fast becoming known in the world of children’s literature and deservedly so. Her books, ‘Baby Business’ and ‘Cooee Mittigar’ are lyrical and gentle, but with an underlying strength and an appeal to respect…

Gosh I love this age group for reading. I was talking to some teacher librarian friends the other day and we were discussing our fav reading age for children’s literature. Mine is definitely this ‘upper primary/lower secondary/middle grade’ age – I love the way skilled middle grade authors explore *the big issues* in life but…

There has been some amazing YA books published this year and some of them are on this list – almost all are new titles so you can rest assured that they probably have not read them yet. It is so very hard to choose the perfect gift for a teen, and while a book may…

Lists! What is not to love? Lists make me feel calm and organised, especially at this time of year when chaos is more my daily reality! I’ve spent several weeks creating book gift lists for different age groups, which I hope will make your Christmas book shopping easier this year. Most titles on the lists…