Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Starting School’
Title: Starting School
Author: Jane Godwin
Illustrator: Anna Walker
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Themes: starting school, friendships, school, diversity, families, teachers, classrooms, schools, playgrounds, new experiences.
Click on title links or cover image to purchase.
Tim, Hannah, Sunita, Joe and Polly are all off...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush: A Musical Show’
Title: Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush: A Musical Show
Author: Zanni Louise
Illustrator: Gillian Flint
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Age Range: early childhood; lower primary; independent readers
Themes: music, painting, art, The Arts, imagination, creativity, friendship, feelings, nerves, resilience.
Author Zanni Louise adds a touch of...
Books and ALL of the Things for Back to School
Congratulations! You've made it through Christmas and New Year celebrations and now we're heading right on into 'Back to School Season'. The girls' book packs for this year arrived just a few days before...
Five on Friday: Five Fav Reads of the Week
I’ll be talking about these books on Facebook live at 4pm Brisbane time this Friday 11 January. Come and say hello - you'll find my on my Children's Books Daily Facebook page. If you...
Five on Friday: Five Fav Reads of the Week
I'll be talking about these books on Facebook live at 5:30pm Brisbane time on the 14/12/18. Come and say hello!
To purchase any of these titles or read more about them – click on title...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Puffin the Architect’
Title: Puffin the Architect
Author/Illustrator: Kimberly Andrews
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Themes: animals, homes, animal homes, architecture, professions, STEAM, STEM, design, family
Click on title links or cover image to purchase.
There is so much to love about this picture book by Kimberly...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Dinosaur Day Out’
Title: Dinosaur Day Out
Author/Illustrator: Sara Acton
Publisher: Walker Books
Age Range: early childhood
Themes: dinosaurs, museums, books, family, Sydney
Click on title links or cover image to purchase.
Siblings Sally and Max are off to see the dinosaurs at the museum with...
Best Book Gifts for Newly-Independent Readers
This list of must-have books is for little readers who are just starting their independent reading journey and can read a text with minimal assistance. Age range varies here as reading progression happens at...
Five on Friday: Five Fav Reads of the Week
This will be my last 'Five on Friday' for two weeks as the girls and I are off to Bali - this is the REPLAY of last years botched attempt to avoid our first...
Five on Friday: Favourite Reads This Week
Quite literally, this post is as the title suggests, my five favourite reads of the week! I'll be presenting these on Facebook Live each week through the Your Kid's Next Read group or my...
Your Kid’s Next Read Book Lists: Best Books for 3-8 Year Olds
One of my fav places to hang out on Facebook is the Your Kid's Next Read (YKNR) group, started in 2016 by author Allison Tait and moderated by Al, along with author Allison Rushby...
Five on Friday: Favourite Reads This Week
'My Sunbeam Baby' by Emma Quay
'Another Book About Bears' by Laura and Philip Bunting
'Help Around the House' by Morris Gleitzman
'Limelight' by Solli Raphael
'The Things That Will Not Stand' by Michael Gerard Bauer
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘There’s a Bug on My Arm That Won’t Let Go’
Title: There's a Bug on My Arm That Won't Let Go
Author/illustrator: David Mackintosh (see interview here)
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Age Range: early childhood and adults who need a laugh
Themes: bugs, childhood worries, insects, visual literacy
Click on title...
Book People: Susannah McFarlane
There would be few parents of small people out there who did not know the EJ Girl Hero and EJ Spy School books - we've even had an EJ Disco Party. Author Susannah McFarlane...
Christmas Books: New and Old Favourites
Can we just take a moment to admire my Christmas library mice? I'm rather chuffed with them and I also rather enjoyed making teeny books for them to hold! I find cutting and glueing...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Puddle Hunters’
Title: 'Puddle Hunters'
Author: Kirsty Murray
Illustrator: Karen Blair
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Age Range: early childhood
Themes: puddles, weather, rain, sunshine, families, siblings, play.
Ruby and her brother Banjo wait for the rain to stop and the fun to...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘The Flying Optometrist’
Title: 'The Flying Optometrist'
Author: Joanne Anderton
Illustrator: Karen Erasmus
Publisher: National Library of Australia Publishing
Age Range: early childhood - middle primary
Themes: optometry, eye-health, glasses, remote communities, outback, flying, aviation, medical professionals.
Click on title links or cover image to...
Ten *NEW* Must Have Information Books
I'm a big fan of encouraging the reading of non-fiction texts, it's an entirely different reading experience and skill set and one that I don't think we encourage enough in our young people. Of...
Review of ‘Zobi and the Zoox: A Story of Coral Bleaching’
Reviewer: Dr Sam Lloyd
Title: Zobi and the Zoox: A Story of Coral Bleaching
Author/Illustrator/Creators: Ailsa Wild, Aviva Reed, Briony Barr and Gregory Crocetti
Publisher/Production: CSIRO Publishing (2018) in partnership with Small Friends Books, an art-science collaborative...
Review + Teachers’ Notes: ‘Want to Play Trucks?’
Title: 'Want to Play Trucks?'
Author: Ann Stott
Illustrator: Bob Graham
Publisher: Walker Books
Themes: gender stereotypes, ethnicity, play, free play, social skills, toddlers, trucks, sandpits, family, society.
Click on title links or cover image to purchase.
Jack likes trucks. Alex...