Review: Mad Cows

Kat Apel’s udder devotion to all things beautifully bovine takes yet another brilliant turn. Mad Cows, a term that is presumably alien to Gen Zers and Alphers but starts ringing the funny bell for this old cow, is a magnificent ode to cows and their various emotional dispositions.

Told in stupendously succinct rhyming couplets, we are introduced to glad cows, ostensibly the Holstein Friesians and their neighbours, the horned Herefords who unfortunately are the sad cows.

Review: Small Acts

It all starts in class with a video.

Josh is in Year 5. On Fridays, his teacher looks at World Affairs. The video is followed with an in-depth discussion on the subject with class participation. 

Josh is moved by what he sees, and the main theme of kindness, makes a strong impression on him.

 How can he help people who need help?

Due to his autism, Josh is a loner. He depends on his lists, which are methodically documented in his black notebook. 

His classmates don’t understand him and he is ridiculed by them. The one friend he had, has withdrawn from him.

Ollie, Josh’s classmate, is also on the spectrum. She is committed to her art, the only thing that makes sense to her. She also wants to help people but has learnt to keep to herself.

Giveaway: Nature Book Week Prize Pack!

In celebration of Nature Book Week, hosted by the Wilderness Society, we’re excited to offer a fantastic kids nature book prize pack!

• The World's Most Atrocious Animals - Philip Bunting
• Australian Animals: From Beach to Bush - Brentos
• Hope is the Thing - Johanna Bell & Erica Wagner 
• The Turtle and the Flood - Jackie French and Danny Snell 
• Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country - Violet Wadrill, Leah Leaman, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal

For your chance to win a copy of this outstanding nature inspired prize pack bundle of books, simply tell us in 25 words or less what is your favourite nature book and how has it inspired or influenced you?

Review: How to Draw a Dragon

How to Draw a Dragon is Kate Talbot’s celebration of creativity and imagination. Dragons are not real after all. 

With a two-way conversation between two mostly unseen characters, as you read you’ll learn what it is that makes a dragon. 

From wings so they can fly, to breathing fire, even if they are friendly. 

Baby dragons, underwater dragons, and firefighting dragons. They're pretend dragons, but they all must breathe fire. 

Real dragons do exist, though.

Review: Waiting for Santa

It’s Christmas time, and there’s an important job that must be done. If you’re going to get the presents you’ve been hoping for, you need to tell Santa what’s on your wish list!

Waiting for Santa is a joyful Christmas story about family, traditions and Christmas. Brother sister duo Ren and Harry prepare their letters before heading to the shops with the family to see Santa.

But in the busy, bustling shops they find a looong line of other families waiting. It’s hard for little feet to stand in line for so long. And it’s even harder for pet cat Moloko, who breaks free of the line and heads out in search of Santa herself.

Meet The Illustrator: Tanisha Tiwari

Name: Tanisha Tiwari

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.

My art style is detailed and interactive with a lot of texture and elements.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?

Sketchbooks, a ton of pens, my Ipad and some of my old work:)

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?

It changes from time to time. Right now it’s digital art because I really enjoy being able to move around and create. 

Review: Enter the Roo (Kung Fu Roo #1)

Kung Fu Roo is a new graphic novel series from the best-selling Anh Do and the first book is called Enter the Roo.

The stars of Kung Fu Roo are three friends: Kai, Harry and Charley. They love martial arts and are on the way to compete in a kung fu competition when the train they're travelling on is hijacked. 

Then the train is hit by a meteor. Yet stranger events are still ahead!

After awakening in hospital, Kai returns home to discover he has a new desire to eat salads, and even a sudden hankering for grass. What's happened?!

Kai, Harry and Charley work out that weird purple goo from the meteor had a special effect. 

People who were on the train when the meteor hit werehave taken on the characteristics of zoo animals and pets which were also on the train!

Review: Mookie Vs the Big Scary

Mooki is a cute, brave and adventurous alien from the Moon. He’s good friends with Cindy (a human girl) and Ralph (Cindy’s pet doggy who sometimes accidently wees on things).

In Mookie Vs The Big Scary, Mookie arrives on Earth in his spaceship, ready for action. 

He wants to climb an EPIC mountain, but Cindy’s not sure. She heard there’s a big scary on the mountain and doesn’t think they should go.

But Mookie is brave and daring. And with a little convincing, he persuades Cindy and Ralph to face the unknown.

Review: The Mosaic

When I was small, I was given clay turning tools and a mosaic kit. With them, I was able to create colourful landscapes that required no restricting boundaries. The results were unique yet beautiful.

The Mosaic take this one step further, depicting change not as the harbinger of disruption and upset but rather the catalyst for something altogether beautiful, comforting and … new.

The day Mama’s vase broke marks a distressing turning point for young Frankie. Like the vase, her world shatters. Dad leaves and with him a huge chunk of Frankie’s childhood memories and loves. Mama fades away. Nan assumes control. And although Nan rescues as many broken bits of the vase and the family as she can, nothing is quite as it was.

10 Quirky Questions with author Margaret Wild

1. What's your hidden talent?

I would like to say levitation or time-travelling, but, alas, I’ll have to settle for an endless capacity for playing Scrabble.

2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. She is clever, resourceful, selfish, remorseless, resilient and fascinating, I reread Vanity Fair every five years or so just for the pleasure of encountering Becky and her shenanigans yet again.

Review: Puppet

Two years after his Paper Boat, Paper Bird, Carnegie Medal winner for Skellig, David Almond, has produced a deeply moving and imaginative novel in Puppet.

Silvester is a puppet-maker, too old now to put on shows. 

Alone for a long time since his wife died, he is drawn one night to his work bench in the attic.

An array of mismatched puppet parts, covered in the dust of years, lay scattered there. 

He begins to put them together to form a new puppet.

Each show he'd put on came with a story. 

He wonders aloud what story could accompany this puppet. 

He seems to hear a sound in response to his thought, but he brushes it away thinking he is hearing things due to tiredness, and goes to bed.

Review: Design & Building on Country

Design & Building on Country is a fantastic book written by Alison Page, who is descended from the Walbanga and Wadi Wadi people of the Dharawal and Yuin Nations, and Paul Memmott, an anthropologist and architect who has worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for many years.

It's part of a First Knowledge series for younger readers, and based on award-winning adult books. 

Illustrations are by Blak Douglas, a Dhungutti man who is an illustrator and designer, and who has won the Archibald Prize. His work here showcases design fantastically, with lots of colour and a unique look and feel.

Guest Post: An Interview With Catherine Norton

Writer Catherine Norton’s interesting children's novels are full of magical adventures and characters that are bright stars on the page. 

Catherine's novel,  TheFortune Maker, is long-listed for the ARA Historical Fiction Prize 2024. 

Catherine generously shares information on what brought her to writing and when her writing journey started in this exclusive interview with KBR's, Anastasia Gonis.

Review: The Cheeky Toddler Alphabet

A stunning cover and end pages set the scene for this delightful picture book. Full of alliteration and clever rhyming verse, plus superb illustrations, The Cheeky Toddler Alphabet is not to be missed.

A divine publication, it reflects the good and otherwise of toddler years. 

Mothers will nod their heads in recognition as they associate the familiar issues displayed on the pages with their own experiences.

Each letter of the alphabet is represented in perfect, descriptive, carefully considered and selected wording.

Review: Flora: Australia's Most Curious Plants

Calling all junior botanists, plant enthusiasts and flower fans! This is the book you’ve been craving.

Award winning author and illustrator Tania McCartney brings us an in-depth exploration of Australia’s most interesting plants in this fantastic non-fiction book. 

From exploding gumnuts to the most painful plant on earth, this book is filled to the brim with intriguing and curious facts about plants in Australia.