Review: Weasels

Megalomania has never been so furry!

Some of you may be a tad deluded. Some of you may think weasels spend their days eating nuts and berries and frolicking in leaves.

Not so.

What weasel's REALLY get up to behind the closed doors of large, top-secret organisation headquarters is . . .

Review: How to Boost Your Profile (Girl v the World)

Anya needs some serious cheering up. She’s been dumped by a nerd (by text, no less), her parents are splitting up, her older sister never has time for her because of her boyfriend, and her mum’s idea of a first bra is going to ruin her life.

Feeling overlooked by her family, this very normal, everyday girl is about to make some very bad choices in an attempt to make herself feel special and significant. It might be bending the rules, but if no-one gets hurt, how wrong can it really be?

Review: Tomorrow

In the morning you will hear the birds, open your eyes, climb down from my knee, kiss me, tiptoe away and leave me far behind in a book, where we both fell asleep dreaming.

So begins this whimsical celebration of the importance of living in the moment so that we get to fully experience all that life has to offer.

Guest Post: In Other Words Project with 100 Story Building

KBR is delighted to welcome Jessica Tran from 100 Story Building with this enlightening and fascinating peek into the creative work they are doing with children and literacy. KBR loves.

Next to the towering figure of comic extraordinaire Bernard Caleo, the Prep to Grade 2 students of Dinjerra Primary School look impossibly small. But they’re not intimidated.

‘He looks like a chip-man!’ says one, referencing Bernard’s beanpole frame (not his colouring).

‘Are you a girl?’ asks another, obviously very taken with Bernard’s curly hair.

In 2012, Maribyrnong City Council invited 100 Story Building to develop a storytelling program in consultation with Dinjerra Primary School in Melbourne’s west. As part of the council’s ‘River of Words’ early years initiative, we worked with 60 children in Prep to Grade 2 and their families.

National Simultaneous Storytime Event Report - Canberra

If there's any opportunity to encourage a love of reading in children, you'll find me there. Along with Book Week and The Reading Hour, National Simultaneous Storytime is one of my very favourite bookish events for kids.

Today at Dickson Library in Canberra, it was a pleasure to read Nick Bland's The Wrong Book to a group of book-loving kiddles. At that every same moment (11am), libraries, schools and homes all over Australia were reading that very same book - how I wish I could have heard all voices in unison.

Review: Games Children Sing and Play

The benefits of movement, music and play for children have long been known, and this beautifully-designed book features games that combine singing with movement - ideal for kids aged 3 to 5.

Written by two women who are clearly passionate about early childhood development, the book also has a team of talented contributors, including Maureen Curren, an international movement educator with 30 years' experience.

Review: The Perplexing Pineapple (Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno #1)

Two crime solving guinea pigs – one the well-respected, if somewhat easily startled, Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, the other his sensible, puzzle-loving cousin. Together, Coco Carlomagno and Alberta examine all the clues until they can solve the mystery.

In the first The Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno and Alberta book, The Perplexing Pineapple, Alberta travels to visit her cousin who is distressed by the daily appearance of a floating pineapple outside his office window. The appearance of the pineapple is always accompanied by a terrible noise. What could it all mean?

12 Curly Questions with author Ursula Dubosarsky

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I was once a member of the Charlie Chuckles Club. It was a children’s club run by the Sunday Telegraph years ago. I still have my club badge! It’s a little silver laughing kookaburra. Club members were called “Chucklers”.

2. What is your nickname?
Urk or sometimes Urkula

3. What is your greatest fear?
Apart from the regular things like illness, death, falling out of the sky in a burning plane, sinking to the bottom of the ocean when your cruise ship is hit by an iceberg, being kidnapped by terrorists etc etc etc I am afraid of being cold and being hungry.

Review: Tuesdays at the Castle

Sometimes, when Castle Glower gets bored, it grows a new room. A new turret here, an extra dining hall there. Some people find the constantly changing castle confusing, but Princess Celie wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves to map out the unexpected twists and turns of her enchanted home.

When the King and Queen of Sleyne are ambushed by bandits, Princess Celie, her brother Rolf and sister Lilah must protect each other as they try to find out what happened to their parents. Who ambushed the King and Queen and who can the young royals trust? Can their beloved castle keep them safe until the truth is discovered?

WIN! Tuesdays at the Castle

Tuesday is Princess Celie’s favourite day. On Tuesdays, Castle Glower magically grows a new room, a turret or sometimes an entire wing. No one quite knows how, or why, but luckily, Princess Celie has mapped out the Castle’s many twists and turns.

When the King and Queen disappear and Councillors from neighbouring kingdoms arrive to advise Celie and her brother and sister, a new tower and a secret passageway appear just as Celie needs them. The Castle is definitely trying to tell her something. But it’s down to Celie to find her parents, hold on to the kingdom and protect her home before it’s too late.

Tuesdays at the Castle is the first book in a fantastic new adventure series for 9 – 12 year-olds written by Jessica Day George, the author of many popular books for young readers including Dragonskin Slippers, Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear.

A wonderful combination of adventure, humour, intrigue and adventure, Tuesdays at the Castle will keep young readers turning pages, eager to discover just how Castle Glower will protect Celie and her family and help them to thwart the attempt to take over their kingdom.

Thanks to the lovely people at Bloomsbury, we have five copies of Tuesdays at the Castle to giveaway. Each book is valued at $15.99.

To win, just tell us, in 25 words or less, what room you would like to appear if you had an enchanted castle, and why.

Type ‘Tuesdays at the Castle’ into the subject line and email your answer to susanATkids-bookreviewDOTcom. The most creative answers, as judged by KBR, will win. Be sure to include your full name and address - entries without will be ineligible.

Competition runs from 5am Monday 20 May 2013 to Sunday 26 May 2013, 9pm AEST, and the comp is open to residents of Australia, over the age of 18 (mum and dad can enter on behalf of kids). This is a game of skill, not chance. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Review: Zog

By the award-winning creators of The Gruffalo, this is another wonderfully funny story that is sure to become a bedtime favourite.

Zog is the keenest dragon in school, but he's also the most accident-prone. He is desperate to win a golden star in at least one of the tests Madam Dragon sets for him and his classmates, but each year sees him just fall short. In Year One, he learns to fly … but crashes into a tree. In Year Two, he learns to roar … but gives himself a sore throat. In Year Three, he learns to blow flames … but sets his wing on fire.

Shout-Out: The Little Fairy Sister

The Little Fairy Sister is a real fairy story of Bridget's adventures among the wee people. She meets the most delightful little creatures: the Dragon-fly, the Kookaburra, the Lizard, the Teddy Bears, the Pelican, as well as the Mannikins, the Merman, and of course the Fairies.

This facsimile of The Little Fairy Sister, popular with children of the 1920s, has been reproduced by the National Library of Australia from an early edition of the book.

Ida Rentoul Outhwaite's enchanting illustrations will appeal to children as much today as they did yesterday.

Title: The Little Fairy Sister
Author: Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
Illustrator: Grenbry Outhwaite
Publisher: National Library of Australia, $29.99 RRP
Publication Date: 1 May 2013
Format: Hard cover with dust jacket
ISBN: 9780642277725
For ages: 10+
Type: Junior Fiction/Picture Book