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Term Three is always a wonderful celebration of Australian children’s literature in schools, early education centres, libraries and bookstores around the country. The theme for CBCA Book Week 2019 is ‘Reading is my Secret Power’ and reading does indeed give us secret powers: the power to walk in the shoes…
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You will find my video review of Lisa Nicol’s latest book on my Youtube channel, but in a nutshell, ‘Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth’ is for readers 8-88 who want to escape into a fantastical world where pocket dogs are standard companions for all and where chocolate fountains,…
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I first came across the ‘Maxi the Lifeguard’ books when my dear friend Mel waved them under my nose, astonished at how they had totally engaged her 9 year old ‘reluctant’ reader. Mel then discovered he was coming to speak at a local library, whipped her kids off to see…
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The latest book collaboration between Tony Flowers and Nick Falk is ‘Vognox the Viking’ and readers from 7+ are so going to enjoy this funny, clever and rollicking tale of a Viking who really doesn’t want to be in a book! As an illustrator, Tony Flowers embeds so many visual…
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I have enjoyed running my Year Six ‘Girl Zone Book Club’ for many years now. The school I work at is all girls, hence ‘Girl Zone’, but I have run similar styles of book clubs at boys schools and co-ed schools. I even had a stint running a book club…
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A tale so tall you will pinch yourself. Get set for one shell of a story, as this crabby crustacean grabs life by the claws! I’ve always wanted to be minimalist. One of those people that shows restraint in all things, most especially in food, accessories and words. Not a…
READ MOREHigh quality contemporary picture books are works of art and the best way I know to teach visual literacy and dive deeply into critical thinking and discussion with both the very young, and with tweens and teens. The language in quality picture books is often complex and the storylines sophisticated…
READ MOREI have been reading Planning With Kids for a very long time now, since I had PudStar in 2008. Nicole Avery’s incredibly successful blog and website has always been one of my favourite online reads and even though I have very little time to read the writing of others these…
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All families are different and I try very hard to feature books here on my blog for all families. You will find children’s books about mothers and mother figures in this post here. Mothers’ Day can be a beautiful day of honouring your mum or mother figure, or it may be…
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Two years is such a very short time in #grieftown. When my brother died unexpectedly in 2012 I spoke about feeling like I was in a place, far from everyone else and I affectionately hashtagged it #grieftown. When my favourite aunt died unexpectedly in 2017 I remember posting online about…
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