Events: Book Week at ACT Libraries, Canberra

Libraries ACT are hosting many activities and events to celebrate Children’s Book Week this year and bookings are now open for all events. The full program can be found at library.act.gov.au. 

Do you have Book Week events you'd like showcased on KBR? Email us now!

Monday 22 August 2011

4.30 pm - 5.30 pm, Woden Library

Steve Isham: An Interactive Introduction to his books
Nearly all Steve Isham's books are about Australian animals, including the Draw Aussie Animals series. There are riddles, puzzles and things to find along with the story. His new book, Penguin, is about Antarctica, where dad looks after the egg for ten freezing weeks. Hear Steve read the story, view original art work, find hidden objects and interact over riddles. Families with children aged 7 -10 are welcome to attend. Book now to secure your place: eventbrite.com/event/1971337323 

Tuesday 23 August 2011
6.30 pm - 7.30 pm, Belconnen Library 
Meet and Hear Judy Horacek: Cartoonist, artist, writer and children’s book creator
A special Children’s Book Week author visit just for grown up’s. This is a great opportunity to hear Judy talk about her experience writing and illustrating for children. Please note: This event is just for adults. Book now to secure your place: eventbrite.com/event/1971367413

Wednesday 24 August 2011
4.30 pm - 5.30 pm, Gungahlin Library
A fabulously fun time for kids with Tania McCartney - Inspiring kids to write and read
Join local author Tania McCartney at Gungahlin library for a fabulously fun reading of one of her picture books. She will also take you on a visual journey through the book making process. Families with children aged 6 - 8 are welcome to attend. Her visit to the library will include the secret to the best folded paper aeroplane ever invented! Book now to secure your place: eventbrite.com/event/1971389479

Thursday 25 August 2011
4 pm - 4.30 pm, Kippax Library 
Stephanie Owen Reeder shares her charming books for children
Meet local author Stephanie Owen Reeder as she reads from some of her internationally renowned books for children, and shares how she goes through the book making process. Families with children aged 5 - 7 are welcome to attend. Book now to secure your place: eventbrite.com/event/1971395497

Review: The Naughty Corner

No one wants to get sent to the naughty corner. It's the ultimate in humiliation, and of course, it's never any fun there.

Little George gets sent there for saying a naughty word (fifty-seven times in the savoury biscuits aisle). Older brother Peter gets sent there for teaching the word to George. Dad Brian is next because it's all his fault.

News: Ford Street Newsletters & Creative Net

Teachers and librarians, did you know? Ford Street Publishing have a wonderful newsletter, packed with information on their latest books ranging from children's picture book to YA. There are links to teachers' notes, book trailers, info on upcoming events and new releases... and much more. 

There's also - wait for it - the opportunity to snaffle free merchandise for your school or library! Check it out and subscribe here.

 

Ford Street also offers a fantastic speakers' service - Creative Net - which represents over 50 authors and illustrators. Unlike other agencies, Ford Street doen't charge a fee for their services. You only pay the presenter.

Some of Creative Net's presenters include Justin D'Ath, Mark Greenwood, George Ivanoff, Marc McBride, Frane Lessac, Isobelle Carmody, Meredith Costain, Krista Bell, Leigh Hobbs and KBR's own Tania McCartney.

Email Ford Street for more info.

Review: Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop

Goodness knows, it goes without saying that most modern day children have lost the plot when it comes to money and how it works. Instant credit, want it now, buy buy buy - our Western kids are living in a society where the spending of a penny waits for no man (nor layby).

Review: Nog and the Land of Noses

It's always a thrill to take a Bruce Whatley book into my hands - I know I'm in for an illustration sensation every time, and Nog and the Land of Noses doesn't disappoint.

From the ice cream parlor colours to the charming retro characters, this is a book anyone would bury their nose in and spend many a confuddled moment resisting the urge to lick the pages.

Review: Mr Pusskins: A Love Story

Devoted Emily adores her crabby little cat Mr Pusskins. She reads him bed-time stories, brushes his fur and generally dotes on him. However, Mr Pusskins feels bored and finds Emily’s attention annoying.

In an attempt to shake things up, he decides to take a walk on the wild side. The curious cat roams the dark streets of the neighbourhood and sure enough runs into trouble, when faced with the dreaded Pesky Cat Gang!

ebook Review: This is My Story and I'm Sticking to It

Children adore sticker books and this new app from Company5 actually started life as a sticker book before being reformatted for the iPad, where I must admit, it really does work well.

Adorably colourful yet simple illustrations - or 'stickers' - allow kids to create their own stories with some basic formats. Kids can either make up their own story by clicking and dragging stickers into a story template or match stickers to preset sticker outlines within a story - perfect for practising shapes and words. Each sticker is read out by the narrator, enhancing word comprehension.

Art for Country: A Bid for Literacy

Join the Indigenous Literacy Foundation for the sale of original and limited edition artwork by indigenous and non-indigenous artists from remote and urban communities.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is holding a cocktail event at the Wheeler Centre on September 9th 2011 from 6.00pm – 8.30pm to raise funds through the sale of original and limited edition artwork.

Don't miss this exclusive event and amazing opportunity to own some incredible limited-edition art. Monies raised from the sale of the indigenous artwork will be used to purchase literacy resources for the communities from where it has come.

Date: Friday 9 September 2011
Time: 6.00pm – 8.30pm
Venue: The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000 [location]
Bookings: trybooking.com/11775
For all enquiries about this event, please contact kristin.gillATau.penguingroupDOTcom

For more, head to the ILP site.

Review: Paws, Claws and Frilly Drawers

Molly Potsome lives next door to the Von Volavon family. The decidedly sour Saffron and her tubby little brother Dylan are just back from an island vacation and Molly watches from her bedroom window as the family returns home.

When Saffron notices Molly watching her, she scowls and dobs to her mum that Molly is spying on her. And so begins the sticky relationship between cat-loving Molly and this prickly, attention-seeking neighbour.

ebook Review: Peekaboo Forest

In Peekaboo Forest, tots can explore a divinely illustrated collection of animals you might find hiding in trees, logs and leaves - during all four seasons of the year.

This is not a story book per se - but rather an interactive seek-and-find featuring single words and animal sound effects.

News: Text Prize Winner

Australian writer Myke Bartlett has won $10,000 and a publishing contract with Text Publishing. Bartlett first began his writing career online, publishing several highly successful podcasted novels. His prize-winning novel will be published in August 2011.

From his Melbourne home, Bartlett confessed, "I actually wrote The Relic specifically for the Text Prize. "A poster advertising the prize has been stuck on the wall above my desk for the past 12 months and I really can’t imagine better motivation for a first time novelist. That The Relic has now actually won the competition seems just a little bit incredible."

Michael Heyward, Publisher at Text, commented, "Text look for books that are different, that take risks, that will entertain readers who are spoiled for choice. Set in and around Perth, The Relic is a fantasy novel that will make its readers smile but may also scare them under the bed. At its heart is a quest to find the secret that will save the planet. Myke Bartlett has assembled a great cast of characters to tell his adventurous tale. We can’t wait to publish The Relic.’"

The Text Prize is awarded annually to the best manuscript written by an Australian or New Zealander for young adults or children. In its fourth year, Text attracted over 300 entries for the prize. As in previous years, Text also found other novels to publish among the many manuscripts.

Entries for the 2012 prize open in May 2012.

www.textpublishing.com.au

Guest Post: New Reading Approaches to Appeal to the 2.0 Generation

KBR warmly welcomes Sandra Arthur, author and literacy advocate, with this fascinating guest post on reading for an online generation.

With so much of our lives now being shared online, it is no surprise that the young children of today need to be technically savvy and adapt at using the web. We are all being bombarded with more information, in one week, let alone one year, than our forefathers would have perhaps been exposed to in their LIFETIME. For an average person on an ordinary day, it amounts to 34 gigabytes of data or 100,500 words.

Review: Lives of the Great Artists

I love a book that grabs you and pulls you headlong into its pages just by its front cover alone. And Lives of the Great Artists certainly does that.

Celebrating the lives of many of the world's great artists, this book is a joy to wander through. From Giotto to Turner and Vincent Van Gogh, from Rembrandt to Monet to Da Vinci and Goya, this is an art lover's dream, even if you're not a kid.

Review: Raven's Mountain

A girl runs towards shadowy peaks on the cover of Raven’s Mountain. It gave me the creeps, but I still wanted to know what happened.

Raven’s mother remarries and her new stepfather decides to take Raven and her older sister camping while their mum sets up the new home. He takes them to the mountain of his childhood: Raven’s Mountain, where they climb to the peak.

Sydney Children's Festival Tickets Now On Sale!

Review: Lazy Little Loafers

Why don't babies work? Fair enough question. There are millions of them around, after all, and they seem to sit around doing not much at all. Maybe they could contribute just a little more?

So says our narrator, who is determined to find out why babies are living la vida lazy. So one day, she loads up her backpack and heads out to suss out the baby scene. Pretty quickly she spots a baby in a pram, sitting around waving a teddy (you know what they're like).

Review: The Maximus Black Files: Mole Hunt

Maximus Black is the youngest recruit to ace all areas of training in the spy agency RIM (Regis Imperium Mentatis), the galactic law enforcement agency. He is single-minded in his quest to uncover the co-ordinates to the weapon caches belonging to the Old Empire that have been hidden away for ages.

At seventeen, the big plans for his life are supported by his exceptional intelligence and mastery of data collection and disguise. This will give him power and control over the Galaxy. Nothing and no one is getting in his way. A trail of dead bodies early in the book establishes his position and character in the story.

Review: Good Morning Mr Pancakes

What I love most about McKimmie's work is his exuberant use of childlike language. So effulgent, so 'unedited' - so free and warm and unfettered.

I love the utterly engaging kid-soaked quality - but not only in the text - the pictures, too. It really feels like you're opening a child's most precious diary and peeking inside at the childlike wonder.

Guest Post: New Author John Boman

KBR warmly welcomes new author John Boman with this guest post on why it took him so long to follow his writing dream.

When I was fourteen, I wanted to write. I wanted to write badly.

I loved English at school and revelled in any assignments that were to do with creative writing (or any English assignments really!). It gave me great pleasure to 'world build'; to create characters and stories that were so far removed from everyday life...what a feeling!

KBR Recommends: Fabulous Non-Fiction

We are so in love with non-fiction books at KBR. The style, the cleverness, the illustrations, the photos, the concepts - there are some truly brilliant information books out there - and kids just love them, too. Here we present some of our favourite non-fiction finds for your perusing pleasure, from cookbooks to art, fashion and monsters. Enjoy.

My Monster Notebook looks like one of those precious creations you did in high school with your mates. A wild collection of notes, scribbles, cartoons, comments, stickers and nutbag craziness kids just adore.

Looking through it is like stumbling across your best friend's deepest secrets - you want to peruse but feel almost guilty because you know you shouldn't be looking.

We've actually filed this book under non-fiction, despite much of the work being 'fiction'. The reason we did this is because My Monster Notebook is truly unique. Scrawling the notes and scribbles are two fictional characters - or are they? And given the fact the scribbles are throughout a book on Greek Mythology, doesn't this qualify as non-fiction?

Interview: Milk + Bookies

We love literacy here at KBR and so are delighted to have this very special visit from Meredith Alexander, founder of US-based literacy initiative Milk + Bookies. Enjoy this wonderful insight into a very special organisation.

Welcome Meredith! Tell us, what is Milk + Bookies?
Milk + Bookies is a national non-profit organization for service learning and literacy. We are two-fold, we expose children to how wonderful it feels to give by having them choose, inscribe and donate books to local kids in need. Then, of course, we are able to deliver these books to children who are in want and need of appropriate reading material.

Tell us your inspiration for creating this organisation.
It is very important for me to spend our family time in a meaningful way. I want my sons (ages 5 & 10) to know that we give all year long, not just at Christmas and Hanukah. Milk + Bookies felt like the perfect way to exercise this.

Have you always had a passion for children’s books?
Always! When my mother read me Pickle Chiffon Pie in the early 1970s, I was hooked. The images, the story, the hope, the fantasy! Since then, I pick up every picture book I can get my hands on.

Review: Our Granny

Oh how we love our granny. But what we love most about her is how she comes in all shapes and sizes. How she likes to wear sneakers or baggy underpants or comfy slippers.

We like how she babysits, drives trucks, writes books, plays in a band.

Review: The Waterhole

This counting book brings together animals from across the world, sharing their common threads: the need for water, and their dependence upon the environment around them.

The animals of Africa, India, South America, the Himalayas, North America, China, Europe, Galapagos Islands and Australia come together in this unique book of one to ten, drought to flood.

Review: The Legend of the Golden Snail

"The Legend of the Golden Snail was Wilbur's favourite story. He imagined the Golden Snail sailing through the Magical Realm to its home in the Spiral Isles, and he listened with wide eyes to the part where the Grand Enchanter banished it to the Ends of the Earth. There it was doomed to remain, so the legend went, until a new master came to claim it."

If you're not familiar with the magical story-telling and stunning illustrations of Graeme Base, then be prepared to fall under his spell instantly. Base creates stories that children want to read. And read again. Base is that wonder among chidren's authors - he doesn't churn out books at a headspinning rate, but when he does bring out a new book, you know you will just have to have it.

Review: My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch

You know the feeling of a book transporting you back to your childhood? That sense of being right back in your old room, looking through the familiar pages and reading through a book for the zillionth time?

That’s the sense I have when I pick up My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch.

This was one of my favourite books as a kid – and to see it again now, I realise it’s still one of my favourites of all time.

Gooligulch, a town deep in the Australian bush, is alive with animals great and small, but not much else – except for Grandma. Grandma lives in a shack by a billabong, a mile down from the pub, and nestled in the scrub. She’s the life, and the talk, of the town.

Review: The Eleventh Hour

It is Horace the elephant’s eleventh birthday, and he prepares a great feast for his friends. Eleven types of food and a day of fun planned with so much care.

As the guests arrive, including the pig, the rhino, the mouse and the giraffes, they are shown the feast of cakes and treats and lemonade. But, alas, they cannot partake in it until The Eleventh Hour: the moment Horace turns eleven.

Instead, they play games first. Eleven of them, to be precise. Sack races, snakes and ladders, cricket, tennis and tug o’ war, amongst others, are enjoyed by all.

Review: The Sign of the Seahorse

In this story, Graeme Base takes us under the sea in a tale of love, disaster, evil, greed and ultimate happiness.

When poison spreads through the reef, all the seahorses are destroyed overnight. Evil takes hold, with plans to destroy the whole reef and the café, all for money. Battles are being fought and fish being sent away to fight.

Meanwhile, there is a romance budding – an old-fashioned war romance, carried out by way of letters and much pining.

Review: Jungle Drums

This book must have been lots of fun to create, with animals changing at the blink of an eye. Or the beat of a drum, as it were.

Ngiri Mdogo is the smallest warthog in Africa. The bigger warthogs always tease him about his size, but really that’s only to detract from their own jealousy of all the other animals who live across the river.

The other animals are colourful and special; some are graceful, others are stripy or spotty or with curly trunks. They’re not plain brown and living in mud like the warthogs.

When Ngiri decides he wants to join the other animals for their annual Grand Parade, where the most beautiful animal is decided, he is laughed at. But when Old Ngumbu the Wildebeest gives him a set of bongo drums with magical powers, Ngiri thinks he might have the last laugh.

Review: The Worst Band in the Universe

On the planet of Blipp, “To write a tune was heresy, to play it even worse, and anyone who improvised was scowled upon and cursed”.

But Sprocc has music inside him, he knows he must play, and to him music is more that just prescribed notes on a page. He wants to play from his heart, despite his world not being ready to hear it. He knows he has to leave to follow his dreams.

Review: Animalia

I just about squealed out loud with pure delight when I saw this gem sitting alone in my local second-hand bookstore. Even the booksellers oohhed and ahhhed as I passed it over the counter.

Graeme Base’s perennial classic was first released in 1986 and was one of my absolute favourites when I was a child. Actually, reading it again after all these years … it still is.

Bibliography: Graeme Base

For the next two days, we will be featuring Australian author and illustrator, Graeme Base. As always we start this special Behind the Books feature with a look at the author's published work - check out this amazing catalogue of original and stunning picture books:

My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch, 1983

Animalia, 1986

The Eleventh Hour, 1988

KBR Recommends: Picture Books, July 2011

Can picture books get any better? Here are our recommended picks for July - some new, some not so new. Enjoy!

Crows of Pearblossom by Aldous Huxley (Abrams, $12.95, 9780810998735, May 2011)

The Crows of Pearblossom tells the story of Mr and Mrs Crow who live in a cotton-wood tree at Pearblossom, California.

Due to a hungry Rattlesnake living at the bottom of the tree, Mrs Crow's eggs disappear before they hatch. After catching the snake eating her 297th egg that year (she does not work on Sundays), Mrs Crow tells Mr Crow go and kill the snake.

Thinking better of it, Mr Crow confers with his wise friend, Old Man Owl. Owl bakes mud into two stone eggs and paints them to resemble Mrs Crow's eggs. These dummy eggs are left in the nest to trick the Rattlesnake, who unwisely eats them the next day, causing the Rattlesnake such pain, that he thrashes about, tying himself in knots around the branches.

Mrs Crow goes on to hatch four families of seventeen children each and uses the snake as a clothesline on which to hang the little crows' diapers.

Quick, Slow, Mango! by Anik McGrory
(Bloomsbury, $14.99, 9781408815618, April 2011)

Baby elephant Kidogo is off with his mama to find breakfast. She's always telling him to hurry, but Kidogo loves to take his time and wants to do everything slowly. 

Meanwhile, up in the trees, a mischievous monkey named PolePole is always in a rush, trying to grab all the mangoes he can! 

Fast and slow, these two adorable critters meet up in the luckiest way - and it's mangoes for breakfast for everyone!

Erik & Nipper Investigate by Lajka Books (Lajka Books, 9789638928610, April 2011)

Panni Kövecses’s debut book is a kids’ detective story, which takes place in a small seaside town during summer vacation.

Let's join Erik and Nipper in their hunt for the stolen canary, photo camera and horn-rimmed glasses to discover who is the unexpected thief behind all these mysterious disappearances.

Review: A Place to Call Home

I love it when you read a book and all you can wonder is how the author came up with the concept. Some books just smack of some real-life link, and a Place to Call Home is one of those books. Not only is it an utterly adorable book, it's one you want to know more about.

Review: Doodleday

Harvey wants to draw today but Mum says no. Why? Because it's Doodleday, of course.

Before Harvey can find out exactly what Doodleday is, Mum dashes out to the shops, leaving the young lad simply unable to resist sketching up a big, fat, hairy fly. But horror of horrors! the very same fly suddenly appears in the kitchen!

Events: High Tea with Alice-Miranda!

click to enlarge

Review: This is Lulu

I just adore lift-the-flap books - can't get enough of them, and have noticed in the past few years they aren't being done as well as they used to. Most seem far too generic and tend to rely on the interactive action rather than the storyline or images.

Not so any more. This is Lulu may be lift-the-flap but it's far from generic and ticks all the right boxes when it comes to narrative style and beauty, too.

Review: Don’t Lick the Dog

What is the best way to make friends with a dog?

Let it come to you. Let it sniff you. Don’t stick out your fingers, in case of a bite. When offering food, make you hand into a plate. They don’t like being whacked on the head, no they don’t. A little scratch here, a little scritch there – under the chin is nice.

It's all here. Everything you need to know, as a kid, to get dogs on side. Did you know that dogs have personalities, too? Yes they do. Some are shy, some more exuberant… but under no circumstance should you let them slobber on you too much.

Review: Astonishing Animal ABC

Charles Fuge would have to be one of our finest Australian book illustrators - his iconic style sets the heart totally thumping and never so much as this truly gorgeous new book.

We may have lost Charles to England, but his work is ours - all ours, I tells ya!

Review: Go the F**k to Sleep

I must admit, I'm the last one to be sucked in by a 'controversial' book because they're often just an attention-seeking grasp at a slice of the book market pie. I'm also over irreverence for the sake of irreverence - sorry, but it's so passé.

So, I was understandably skeptical about this in-your-face picture book for adults on the interminable joys of getting kids to sleep. Would it be eye-rollingly offensive? Try-hard? Shocking for the sake of being most woefully shocking?

ebook Review: Human Body Detectives: Battle with the Bugs

Education and fun and 'ick' all in one place? Gotta love that. This wonderful series of books by Dr Heather Manley follows the adventures of Merrin and Pearl who magically enter the human body to solve health mysteries.

KBR Recommends... Jandamarra & the Bunuba Resistance

It seems to be the year of Jandamarra with the Mitch Torres ABC doco-drama and the greatly anticipated Black Swan stage play coming to the Kimberley (the tradition homeland of Jandamarra) at the end of this month.

What perfect timing for the greatly anticipated new edition of the 1998 WA Premier's Book Award winner to be released.

Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance is the thrilling true story of the great Aboriginal resistance fighter, Jandamarra. Jandamarra is a legend, forever etched into the history of the Australian landscape.

Set in the magnificent Kimberley outback during the late nineteenth century, the last stage of Australia’s invasion is about to be played out in the lands of the Bunuba people. Leases are marked across Aboriginal country covering huge areas and vast herds of cattle and sheep. Amidst the chaos and turmoil that develops, extraordinary and sometimes contradictory relationships develop.

Review: Museum of Thieves (The Keepers #1)

Move over Harry Potter, The Keepers have arrived and they are more than your equal. Goldie lives in a world where children are kept ‘safe’ at all costs. ‘Safe’ from kidnappers, deadly diseases and animals, but most of all, they are prevented from having any form of fun.

Curiosity is not allowed and questioning is a punishable offence. Unfortunately for Goldie, she is curious about everything, so she gets into trouble a lot.

Review: The Fly

Meet the common house fly. He's a sweet little creature who is just trying to eke out a life in the war zone that is the typical family home.

SWAT! Phew, that was close. Poor fly. All he wants to do is eat, get some exercise by flying around and around the kitchen light. He means no harm.

Animals don't like him either. Birds try to eat him, frogs, too. The cows shush him away with their swishing tails. Why? He just doesn't understand. He's innocuous. He means no harm.

KBR Recommends: Junior Fiction for Boys, July 2011

We love great junior fiction here at KBR and we heartily recommend these fabulous books for boys  - although girls would have a load of fun with them, too! Recommended ages are included.

Galactic Adventures by Tristan Bancks
(UQP, $16.95, 9780702238697, 31 May 2011)
Ages: 8 - 14

Dash Campbell has only ever had one dream. To go to space.

Now he and four others have been given the chance to become the first kids ever to leave our planet. From building rockets behind his family’s laundromat in Australia to attending a hardcore Space School in the US, Dash is a long way from home. And he still has an intense month of training ahead before he can even think about that glorious moment of blasting out of Earth’s atmosphere and living his dream.

But does Dash have what it takes to survive Space School? Gruelling physicals, fierce competition, media attention, medicals, the Vomit Comet, a skydive from 4000 metres and an instructor who despises him. Can he push through his deepest fears and make history? Does he have the right stuff to go to space?

Loving the concept of this book plus the additional addendum - a must-read handbook on how to become a space kid. This is not only a lot of fun but a priceless way to engage kids in the story post-read.

Review: Designed for Kids

Design-lovers rejoice! Here is a book solely dedicated to items created for the little people in our lives - from prams and cots to hyper-modern seating and über cool toys.

This beautifully-designed compendium features 754 photographs of some seriously covetable items. Divided into sections covering Mobility, Nursery, Mealtimes, Furniture, Decoration & Textiles, Toys, Travel, Electronics & Lighting, and Accessories, readers are first treated to a little history before being plumeted into a series of It brands.

ebook Review: It's Not What You've Got

Dr Wayne Dyer has made a pretty solid living out of his philosophical and spiritually-driven belief that life is essentially abundant - and it's how we view the world and interact with it that determines our happiness. Even if his philosophies are not your thing, there's no doubt an ebook for kids on the perils of more more more is kind of timely.

Layby? Waiting in line? Walking? A five second delay on the telephone line? God forbid our kids should ever have anything less than now now now, instant and convenient and comfortable and the 'latest thing'.