Upper Primary
We are a nation with a long history of storytelling and we are incredibly fortunate to have so many talented First Nations Peoples writing and illustrating books for our young people. Books…
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Over the year that was 2022, we have featured MANY a book on the Your Kids Next Read podcast. So the obvious end of year activity was getting the Teen-Elf (aka Pudstar)…
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Since the very start, we have featured MANY a book on the Your Kids Next Read podcast. So I have collated some of the favourites, in age groups, because who doesn’t love…
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Guest post. Standing in front of the mirror, head tilted. She squints, focuses, dwells. She hones in on all the ‘flaws’ – and the tween girl looking back at her agrees with…
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Guest post. I don’t know about you, but I really haven’t the faintest idea of what happens in the six hours my kids are at school – five days a week. I…
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Guest post. When I envision the future, my sons all grown up and my face more lined than I’d like, I hope they have become men who are kind, gentle, respectful of…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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Kate Gordon’s writing in ‘Aster’s Good, Right Things’ is at times so authentic that it makes you wince with the pain and anguish of it all but ultimately wraps you up in…
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When I first read ‘Love Your Body’ by Jessica Saunders, I felt so very grateful to be living in an age where my girls had access to a book like this. This…
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Bedtime reading is something I feel incredibly passionate about, in fact I have pretty much a whole chapter in my book devoted to it and I still read to my 10 and…
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When the world feels like the grown ups aren’t in charge (on a global scale!) and everything feels a bit scary – sometimes comfort foods and comfort reads are what is called…
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The LGBTQI+ community across the world celebrate Pride month (June each year) in all manner of different ways. I celebrate most occasions with books (and cake), so I’m celebrating with 50+ books…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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