In this non-fiction book for primary kids we are asked to read and look carefully to guess what we think is real and what we think is fake.
The exhibits in the museum are in a pickle. Some of the exhibits from the Myths and Legends section have been accidentally muddled up with the Natural History section! We need to sort which exhibit belongs where.
Learning what is true and not true is an important life skill. So, before we begin to look at the plants and animals in this book we are helped by tips on sorting fact from fiction. We need to look at who is giving us the information, what evidence is there to back it up, why are they giving us the information and how recent is it, and can we corroborate it?
As we move through each section we learn about megafauna, animals that live in the branches of trees or down in the deep water, to reptiles and more.
Each of the 14 sections featuring animals or plants begin with a double page spread. We see four different animals and plants. Can we pick the fake one?
Which is fake of these underground dwelling animals? The funnel-web spider, the turtle frog, the naked mole rat or the Mongolian death worm? We have to turn the page to find out where we also learn more about each creature including the fake animal which comes from myth and legend.
The animals and plants are terrific, being sufficiently fun, gross or just fascinating. The big illustrations perfectly complement the text which is just the right length so as to not overwhelm..
Unreal is a clever way to engage young readers to learn more about real plants and animals but also of mythological ones and their origins.
Reviewed by Emily Ross
Age Guide 7+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ate Simpson is a picture book author and bookworm who loves fact and fiction in equal measure. Raised on a diet of children’s fiction, it was Kate’s fascination with science that led her to her first career as a chemical engineer. Kate rediscovered her love of picture books after the birth of her children and now juggles a full-time job as an engineer with her writing work. Her books feature Australian history, science, curious kids and powerful women. Unreal is Kate’s sixth children’s book.
Leila Rudge is an award-winning illustrator and picture book writer living on Awabakal Country (Newcastle). After completing an Illustration Degree at Bath Spa University in England, Leila headed to Australia in search of sunshine. She has written and illustrated over 15 children’s books, including the CBCA Honour Book Gary and the CBCA short-listed Winston and the Indoor Cat. Leila’s work is a mixture of watercolour and pencil, all hand-rendered onto big sheets of watercolour paper ready to be scanned into picture book pages.
Birungi is definitely not in the mood for school today. Everything seems just too hard. And doing her hair? She hates her hair! ‘Why?’, ask her mum and dad. ‘Because it’s just NO GOOD!’, she says.
Dad pipes up. Does she want to know the secret to good hair? Well, of course she does.
As Birungi goes through her day she sees that hair comes in all sorts of colours, like black, brown, blonde, white and even blue. Or pink! It can grow up, down, round and round, pointing this way and that. It can be long or short, or even play hide and seek so you can see it at all! It twirls and quiffs, frizzes and flounces and you need to listen to it, as it will always tell you when it wants to be washed. There is a such a variety to see and everyone is different.
As the day comes to a close, Birungi has an epiphany. Hair is a wonderful thing. Good hair is actually whatever is on your head!
Freda Chiu’s illustrations make this book loads of fun. She obviously had a lot of joy creating the different faces and different hair styles. Great to read aloud and especially for those who struggle with morning hair.
Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 3+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yvonne Sewankambo is a Ugandan-Canadian-Australian writer and publicist based in Sydney, Australia. She has worked on campaigns across several industries, including publishing, film, television, travel and tourism, education, and the nonprofit sector.
Having lived on three different continents (and travelled to even more), Yvonne is passionate about telling stories that celebrate identity while transcending borders.
Good Hair (illustrated by Freda Chiu) is Yvonne’s first children’s book.
Freda Chiu is a Sydney-based freelance illustrator, author and educator at The University of Technology Sydney.
She is inspired by her love of children’s picture books, indie comics, horror movies and good stories. She was shortlisted for the 2022 The Children’s Book Council of Australia Award for New Illustrator and also the 2022 IBBY Australia Ena Noël Award.
Grace loves space. EVERYTHING to do with space. She even has 37 books about space. She knows her stars, her planets and everything about space travel.
When she arrives at school one day, her teacher announces that ‘Tomorrow is our Book Week party! Please come dressed as something or someone from your favourite book.’
Grace can hardly sit still in her seat as ideas rush through her head. She could be the Moon, the Milky Way or the solar system! When she chats to her friends in the playground, they screw up their noses. Why not be a princess, or a spy or even a tiger! When she goes home, her parents tell her to go dressed up as who she wants to be. Her little brother says, ‘Please go as space! Space is the greatest place!’
This lovely gentle story is about being yourself, being true to who you are, and not conforming to what everyone else thinks you should like or be. Bartel’s soft yet joyful illustrations ooze Grace’s excitement of space and all that makes it up. A perfect book to read in the lead-up to Book Week or to celebrate just being you.
Very nicely done.
Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 4+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bec is a children’s author and, having spent twelve years supporting student learning and wellbeing, she is certain that the best way to teach anything is with a good story. Bec lives in the New England region of New South Wales with her husband and five children. She spends her days being inspired by ordinary, everyday pieces of life and her nights trying to weave that inspiration into picture book manuscripts.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Joanna Bartel is a designer and illustrator with experience in Arts education, design, teaching and creative marketing.
She particularly loves character design and creating imaginative and playful images to engage children and enhance imaginative learning.
It was 1883 when an eight-year-old elephant named Jessie arrived in Sydney to live at a new zoo in Moore Park in Sydney. She was a calm elephant, letting children ride on her back as she walked slowly around the zoo.
It was not long before the zoological society realised that they needed a larger and better zoo. They found a place across the harbour, at Bradley’s Head, and began to move the animals to their new home. Everyone had now left except our elephant, Jesse.
In 1916 there was no bridge to cross the water. So early one morning when all was quiet, Mr Miller and Jesse walked out of the gate and took the long journey through the streets of Sydney. The milkman and his horse got a fright seeing an elephant, and someone shouted at such a sight. Jesse was calm as she wandered along. They walked all the way to the harbour edge where a ferry waited to sail her to her new home. After she boarded, she stood still as a statue as she watched the sights on the water until she arrived at her new home, Taronga Zoological Park.
This tale of the journey of a most beautiful, calm, yet huge animal documents the beginning of Taronga Zoo which now runs elephant breeding programs and raises money for elephant conservation.
Owen Swan has drawn us a map to chart Jesses’ journey, which took many hours at an elephant’s pace. The beautiful soft illustrations help us experience the early dawn, to the bright of day. They show us the depth of Jesse’s calm nature and the trust she and Mr Miller had.
This is an important book, well told, and one which should be remain a classic. But also, one that tugs at the heart.
Kate Simpson was raised on a diet of children’s books, but it was her fascination with science that led her to her first career as a chemical engineer. Following the birth of her children, Kate re-discovered her love of picture books and soon decided to try her hand at writing them. She was quickly hooked. Kate now juggles a full-time job as an engineer with her writing work. Her books feature Australian history, science, curious kids and powerful women. How To Move a Zoo is Kate’s fifth picture book.
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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Owen Swan is an award-winning Australian illustrator whose work includes Outby Angela May George (Picture Book of The Year CBCA Shortlist & winner of the AAFT Book Award for Children’s Literature), My Friend Tertius by Corinne Fenton (a CBCA Notable); the bestselling picture book Anzac Biscuits, along with Newspaper Hats by Phil Cummings (winner of the Chronos Prize for Literature in France). As well as his picture book collaborations, Owen is also a musician and animator. He lives in Sydney, Australia
It is a night when everyone is snug and cosy inside. Brrr … it is a frosty night outside.
Suddenly, snap! The lights went out! It is very dark, but dad manages to light a match to shed some light. Candles are lit and the house comes back to life. Mama looks out the window to discover the whole street has lost power.
As they walk around the house all is quiet and shadows are thrown on the walls. They imagine themselves to be explorers, giving each other piggybacks, singing songs like brave explorers do.
Just as they think they might as well go to bed they hear the sound of music. They rug up and head out into to the cold night air, their breath ‘white and cloudy in the air’. Here they find their neighbours, some of whom they have never met before. Mrs Martinez plays her guitar and together they sing all sorts of songs, some of which have them tapping and swaying. They all dance with happiness.
As the night comes to a close suddenly, snap! The lights come back on.
The illustrations in this book beautifully complement the story. Even though the night is chilly, they are full of warmth and exude the feelings of love. Although it is dark out, the little lights among the neighbours make this a place of safety and happiness.
Inspired by the times of COVID lockdowns, When the Lights Went Out celebrates the joy of our communities, the comfort of having a connection with those who live around us. It reminds us that an event like a little scary blackout, can become a moment of pure simplicity and joyful celebration of being together and safe. It will also bring back to life memories for adults of blackouts from childhood. Memorable and happy times can come of something, especially if we share it together.
Lian Tanner has worked as a teacher, a tourist bus driver, a freelance journalist, a juggler, an editor and a professional actor. She has been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. She once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left over from the Second World War. It took her a while to realise that this was all preparation for becoming a writer. Nowadays Lian lives by the sea in southern Tasmania. She is the author of the internationally bestselling The Keepers series, the award-winning junior fiction A Clue for Clara and the picture book Ella and the Ocean,which won the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
As a little boy, Jonathan Bentley liked football and drawing. When he was eight years old, he realised he wouldn’t be good enough to play football for Leeds United – so he concentrated on drawing instead. He is now one of Australia’s most treasured illustrators. Jonathan has worked with authors such as Margaret Wild and Andrew Daddo, as well as writing and illustrating many of his own titles. His award-winning picture books – including Windows, A House of Her Own, Pink, The Second Sky, Where is Bear? and Cat and Dog – have been published all over the world.
With its graphic descriptions of the wind, ice and snow on the edge of Antarctica, this non-fiction book for younger readers does not pull any punches. Neither does it sugar-coat the physical and mental damage sustained by the mostly young men keen to become polar explorers.
The members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-1914 were all incredibly young. The listing at the start of the book shows that the leader, Douglas Mawson, at 29, was one of the older members. Apart from three aged 40, 31 and 38, most of the 20 members were in their early to mid-20s, with one only 19.
Erecting prefabricated huts at Cape Denison … declared by the party to be the windiest place on Earth … the men hunkered down until the Antarctic spring, when they set out on sledging expeditions to explore.
Mawson, a geologist, had been to the Antarctic once before and had declared he would never return, but even after this expedition, when he barely survived, he did go back. Some episodes from the 1907 expedition with Shackleton are interspersed with the later accounts.
Grocowicz, a polar historian and author, has drawn on diaries, letters and expedition reports for this and her earlier series of books about Antarctic explorers such as Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. She brings to life the extreme conditions with which Mawson’s group had to contend: snowed-in huts, a good day for outdoor work was -17 degrees, gale force winds, and snow whipped to the height of their thighs.
The members of the group who did not survive are remembered in the names of two glaciers, and there are fascinating Frank Hurley photographs of life at Cape Denison.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
Age Guide 10+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanna Grochowicz is a polar historian and author based in London. Fast-paced and exquisitely written, her novels of early exploration reveal in fascinating detail the human aspirations and tragedies that have shaped our understanding of the polar regions. Drawing on diaries, letters and expedition narratives from archives and personal collections around the world, Grochowicz brings to light new and often overlooked elements of heroic age exploration.
Realistic portrayals of historical figures and the interplay of personalities lend her work a grittiness and authenticity that is not often present in historical writing for children and young adults.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Yvonne Sewankambo is a Ugandan-Canadian-Australian writer and publicist based in Sydney, Australia. She has worked on campaigns across several industries, including publishing, film, television, travel and tourism, education, and the nonprofit sector.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR