Reviewed by Gail McDonald This book, The Brightest Christmas Star, is the first book by Laura Motherway and what a great story for families with children living in warmer climates during Christmas – a story that they will be able to relate to. The children will be able to see themselves on the beach, in
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Every single minute of every single day a child somewhere loses a tooth which is collected by the tooth fairy or tooth fairies – because there is more than just one. The book explains what is a tooth fairy. And what they eat and a very important question – what do
Reviewed by Gail McDonald This is an interesting story about Plum who is a panda trying to find something that she is good at, just like her brothers. She tried tree climbing and, oh no, she fell out of the tree. She tried painting but ended up getting paint all over herself. And then one
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The cover of All You Need to Know About Dogs says that the book is by A. Cat. Among the publishing details inside the book, in tiny font, is the sentence ‘Fred Blunt has asserted his right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work’. Turning the first
Reviewed by Gail McDonald This is a fabulous book for young children loaded with many opportunities for the reader to engage the child in discussion about the story and to be an active player in it as well. Lights Out, Little Dragon engages the child from the first page, inviting them to help as the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu is a beautifully illustrated hard-covered book which has much to share with the reader. Although it has been published as a book for Primary School children the detailed, vivid images and information it provides have much to share with young and old. Throughout the story
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Best to wear a jumper and a beanie when reading Mawson in Antarctica, Joanna Grochowicz really takes you there. At times during the narrative I did not want to be there – at all. This is scary stuff of the non-fiction kind. Joanna Grochowicz has written a well-researched account of Douglas
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend I love true stories and I love elephants, so though the target demographic for Kate Simpson’s How to Move a Zoo is for children four to eight years, this large hard cover book will remain on my coffee table for all my adult friends to appreciate a slice of Sydney history.
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Bren MacDibble’s middle grade novel, 9-13 years of age, imagines the aftermath of a world impacted by global warming and a pandemic that devastates mainly the male population. The story is centred in a village of women and children who subsist in a caring community living off the land in a
Reviewed by Gail McDonald This book is the first published book by Anton Clifford-Motopi although he wrote three other books while completing post-graduate studies in public health, working as a university lecturer and raising four children. The author’s stories explore themes of self-identity, family relationships and friendship drawing from his experiences growing up in a
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Amal Abou-Eid is a passionate educator, mother and author of multiple self-published books. Amal started writing children’s books when she couldn’t find books that depicted characters and stories that related to their Muslim Lebanese Australian identity. This is the third book by Amal. Cara King is a Melbourne based illustrator and
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Ian Hayward Robinson is a former teacher who worked for many years in curriculum development and teacher development for the Victorian Education Department. He has run courses on Story Structure and workshops at many writing conferences across Australia. The Most Amazing Thing is his first picture book. Matt Shanks is an
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Phil Cummings the author of this book is an Australian author who has written over 70 children’s books including picture books and novels. His work is published in the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and throughout Europe. Phil has received many awards including 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA)
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Claire Saxby, the author of this children’s book worked in Community Health while simultaneously writing for children. She has won several awards for her work. Jess Racklyeft is an illustrator who creates a variety of works either on paper or digitally. Her work with Claire Saxby on Iceberg, resulted in the
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend The author who presented the world with the first indestructible cardboard baby book should be awarded a Noble Prize for Literature. Saving parents from the inevitable task of rescuing baby’s first set of books from a torn and soggy death, while simultaneously, placing tiny feet on the path of literacy, is