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

When you employ someone do you go by their resume or by the feel of the interview and referee comments? I’m definitely on the ‘gut feeling’ side of things and when Lana came on board to replace Justine (on maternity leave) as my VA, she came highly recommended by someone I greatly respect and when…

Hi! This is ChickPea here. Taking over from mummy on this Book People interview because … well … I love the Sherlock Bones books and I knew I would do a better job of asking Renee Treml the questions. If you like graphic novels, laughing and taxidermy … you should really read Sherlock Bones. They…

This year has been the pits hasn’t it? I’ve felt like I’ve been sinking all year and my head is only just above water (and sometimes not even above to be honest!). I’ve absolutely lost my reading mojo and at times have been reduced to my ultimate comfort read – cook books heavy on story.…

Children’s book publisher Puffin is having a BIG birthday and YKNR members have the chance to win ALL the presents! From the publisher: This September, iconic children’s book publisher Puffin commemorates its milestone 80th anniversary. To celebrate, we’re offering a blockbuster giveaway including 17 books, from old favourites to new classics, as well as an exclusive…

Coles has this Treehouse book offer on just at the moment and usually I would not buy into large chain supermarket offerings but #books. If they really *must* offer something then I am super glad it is books! Clearly I am not being sponsored to say this as I’m not even being particularly warm about…

The latest book by Dannika Patterson and Megan Forward, ‘Scribbly Gum Secrets’ could not have come at a better time for my family and I as 2020 has seen us do a lot more bushwalking in our local area and this is one of the very few things I will take away as a positive…

Guest Article by Tracey Hand of Optimise Learning. Co-founder of Optimise Learning, Tracey Hand, is a former teaching colleague and she is one of the most outstanding teachers I have ever seen in a classroom. In fact I respect her wisdom on all things reading so very much that I asked her to write part…

Recently I was asked to be a part of The Groundswell Project Dying to Know Day 2020 campaign. Dying To Know Day (August 8th) is an annual day of action dedicated to activating conversations and community actions around death, dying and bereavement. The webinar Young people and Grief | Activating conversations around loss, grief and…

ChickPea is NINE! It seems like just yesterday we were having her first birthday party, a ‘Bad Tempered Ladybird Party’ because she screamed with reflux pain for the first year of her life! Then she had a Wild Things Party at two and a Stomping Dinosaur Party at three … see the theme emerging? She’s…

You’ll know, if you’ve been reading my musings for a while now, that I often talk about the wonders of audio books and podcasts – especially for car rides. For more on the power of audio books see Chapter 9 of my book ‘Raising Readers’. As an educator, I’m going to tell you that words…

A few short weeks ago, author Allison Rushby, a member of the Your Kid’s Next Read admin team, mentioned she was about to start reading Thomas Taylor’s ‘Gargantis’. Well. What a flurry of excitement there was! There were definitely a lot of people in the YKNR community who’d adored ‘Malamander’ as much as Allison had…

June is Pride month for the LGBTGI+ community and across the world the community celebrates in all manner of different ways. I celebrate most occasions with books (and cake), so I’m celebrating Pride month with 50+ books which I believe are important additions to your home and school libraries. Diverse texts play a crucial role…

Books are one of the best ways I know for children to learn about nature, issues of the environment, and sustainability in general. While there is much to be said about learning and exploring in nature, there is also much to be gained from exploring words, images and ideas in worthy non-fiction and fiction texts. The Environment Award…

Isn’t it lovely when you meet a ‘celebrity’ in real life and they are exactly as you imagined them? ChickPea and I were fortunate enough to meet Costa Georgiadis, host of ABC’s ‘Gardening Australia’ and the garden gnome on ‘Get Grubby TV’, when he came to my mum’s school recently. Costa Georgiadis is a landscape…

Books which inspire young people to dream big and aim high with sport are always going to capture attention, and so it is with ‘Victress’ – a truly beautiful collection of stories and images about 35 female sporting identities which will serve as inspiration for young readers and sporting fans from 8 – 80. I…

With the weather cooling, and with more time spent at home right now, it is the perfect time to get out in the garden and plant winter crops…or read a book in the sun! This week the girls and I have planted sunflowers, separated succulents, and placed and planted a beautiful native plant gifted to…

Each year, we have had Dr Tobias Smith from Bee Aware Kids come to school to talk all things native bees and split our native bee hives. Native stingless bee hives are a brilliant addition to the kindergarten or school environment and while the curriculum based learning that can take place is wonderful, for me…

One of PudStar’s (12 years old) favourite books of the last few years has been ‘The Mulberry Tree’ by Allison Rushby. She’s read it a few times now and went on to read (and love) Rushby’s Turnkey series set in WWII – which of course then sent her down path of reading all the WWII…

I think (hope!) that one of the thing readers of my appreciate about Children’s Books Daily is that I rarely recommend a product or service and I don’t do paid advertising. And so it is with Optimise Learning – individualised online tutoring for primary and secondary students. It’s a service I have used and have…

I’m well aware that mindfulness is a buzzword and I’m generally not a fan of such things. However, my dad (AKA Geoff Dean) has been espousing the virtues of being mindful and training your brain for as long as I can remember. While I’ve never successfully calmed because #WIRED, he’s helped me endlessly with my…