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Factual and informative reads to blow little minds

By Lana Hallowes | Apr 8, 2021
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The other day in an attempt to coax my kids out of Kmart’s toy aisle, I offered them a bribe. I told them they could each pick something SMALL but then we had to go. The deal was it had to be $5 or less and not be made of…

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Secrets of the Honey Bee

By Megan Daley | Mar 25, 2021
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Many of you will know that I have long loved bees – one of my very first posts on this blog was ‘Books About Bees’ and I have done a plethora of posts and reviews since. I have an entire shelf dedicated to books about bees, I am ‘the beekeeper’…

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Picture Books for All

By Megan Daley | Mar 24, 2021
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The other day I received an email from a reader, expressing her disappointment that her Year Three daughter had been told that she can no longer borrow picture books from the school library, only novels. Clearly, this sent me off the deep end as there is no age limit on…

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Confession time: Helping my child learn to read is doing my head in!

By Lana Hallowes | Mar 17, 2021
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Thanks Lana Hallowes for this guest post: I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’m really struggling to help my little guy learn to read. Reading feels like the biggest, most insurmountable mountain to him – one he has little interest in trying to climb. To be perfectly honest, I’m also…

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Books to Support Earth Hour

By Megan Daley | Mar 4, 2021
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For some years now, the girls and I have taken part in WWF’s Earth Hour. Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney and has become a global movement to protect our planet. It is the responsibility of us all to care for our planet and while I know I could…

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Everyone belongs: Books to read for Harmony Week

By Lana Hallowes | Mar 4, 2021
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School playgrounds across the nation will soon turn orange, as little ones celebrate what it means to be inclusive with Harmony Week. In 2023 Harmony Week runs from March 20 – 26 and there are a huge amount of resources online for celebrating Harmony Week in your school here. As…

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Tristan Bancks Young Writers’ StorySchool

By Megan Daley | Feb 4, 2021
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Tristan Bancks has written some of my favourite books for middle primary students, tweens and teens, including ‘Two Wolves’ , ‘The Fall’ , ‘Detention’, the ‘Tom Weekly’ series and ‘Nit Boy’. His author visits are some of the most memorable I have hosted and they are always followed by a…

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Theatre People: Nelle Lee

By Megan Daley | Dec 15, 2020
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Shake & stir is one of the country’s leading contemporary theatre companies touring Australia and New Zealand since 2006. They tour as in-school and mainstage productions and are well known for their book to stage adaptions, making them one of my favourite theatre companies, because clearly, I love seeing books…

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Book People: Kirli Saunders

By Megan Daley | Dec 3, 2020
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I interviewed Kirli Saunders in 2018 when her first book, ‘The Incredible Freedom Machines‘ was released (see here for that interview) and I have followed her work with interest ever since. Her latest book is ‘Bindi’ (illustrated by the incomparable Dub Leffler) and was the winner of the Daisy Utemorrah…

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And then there was six…

By Megan Daley | Nov 26, 2020
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Since Dan’s death, the girls and I have been a team of three. A team of three surrounded by family and a village of people who have supported us online and offline in ways that continue to astound me – we have truly experienced the best of people. And now…

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