Review: Bitza

Dog-lover Andrew Daddo’s latest contribution, Bitza is the first in a four-book series. 

This heart-warming story draws attention to the evolving forms longings take before they are realized, plaiting them through the humorous situations that occur in the process.  

Jas has wanted a dog for a long time. She has filled her bedroom wall with prints of possible pets until the real thing comes along. 

She walks Freddy, the neighbour’s dog. This temporarily fills her yearning for her own pet, something which her single parent dad fights against with all his will, but in a loving way.

Love is the pivotal point of this story.

On a special day when Freddy and Jas are on their customary walk around the neighbourhood, another dog joins them. 

Guest Post: Shannon Stevens on Knowing When To Talk About It

When do you talk about it? I mean, when do you explain to your child that differences are treasures?

I work with little ones and their families every day. I am an Occupational Therapist that provides home and community-based services to the birth to three population. I join them in every moment of life for sometimes a period of 36 months.

I am welcomed into their homes, I sit on their floor, I sometimes join them in a cup of coffee and I kiss their babies. I am so comfortable in this element that I now cannot understand or even see colour, creed, or sexual differences.

My job is to NOT see differences, but to see POSSIBILITIES. My values are to promote the inherent good in people and the capabilities we all share. 

Farewell, Dimity

After a whopping nine years of dedication to Kids’ Book Review, our Managing Editor, Dimity Powell, is moving on from KBR. 

We want to thank her for the time, energy and passion she has contributed to the site over the years. 

Her commitment has helped shape KBR into the vibrant community it is today—and her efforts have been appreciated by readers, book creators, publishers and the entire team. 

We wish Dimity all the very best in her authorly creative pursuits, and we hope this next chapter brings exciting new opportunities. 

Tania McCartney 

Founder, Kids’ Book Review

Review: Mr McGee

The newest edition of the first Mr McGee book is now in board book form. 

Originally published in 1987, Pamela Allen again brings to life her most popular character of eight titles, the adventurous McGee. Someone who is always ready for anything. 

He is unusual, full of life and misadventure, a performer and attention seeker.  

The sprawling apple tree which covers McGee’s table and chairs, and his bed where the cat also sleeps, accommodates his life amidst nature. 

Guest Post: Miranda Sheppard On Turning Kids' Everyday Worries Into Wins

Children face everyday worries long before they have the language or confidence to name them, and how those moments are met can shape the way they learn to navigate challenges over time.

Every worry explored in The Blooms is one my daughter and I have moved through together. They’re the small, everyday worries that surface in early childhood — the kind that can feel overwhelming to a young person, yet are often difficult for adults to address without brushing them aside or unintentionally making them feel bigger than they are. 

As I began speaking with other parents, I realised just how common these moments were, and how many of us were quietly unsure how best to respond.

Review: A Light on the Rocks

The SS Admella was shipwrecked off the coast of South Australia in1859. 

It is one of the worst disasters in Australian maritime history.

Building on the facts of this disaster, Helen Edwards presents two brilliant stories, a  century apart,  in two voices and alternate chapters.

Daisy is fourteen years old at the beginning of August 1859, when she travels on the SS Admella.

She is studying her much-loved Botany, intending that to become her future. 

With her parents and little sister Marigold, the family plans a journey to Melbourne by ship.

Daisy is initially reluctant to board another ship as her journey from England to Australia at three years old, was a terrible experience which remains a beacon of fear in her mind.

Reviews: The First Easter

With it’s happy yellow cover adorned with primary colours, embossed stars, people, animals, doves and little floaty things, this book is impossible not to pick up!

‘A beautiful book for every family who celebrates the Easter holiday.’

The First Easter, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, is indeed a beautiful and accessible narrative, depicting the events and special symbols of Easter in a child-centric and compassionate way. 

Review: My Brother Otto

Everything changes for Quinn from the moment she is told her mum is having baby Otto. Ultrasound photos and baby talk irritate her. 

Her stepfather Alex has set up the cot in her room. Now it is hers no longer. Mum is always tired and going to appointments. All the things they use to do, they can’t do anymore. 

Quinn doesn’t want a baby brother. Experiencing the behaviour of her friend Mem’s baby brother, has her believing babies are destructive and bothersome. 

Quinn’s only interest now is her determination to win the Grade Five story competition consisting of three rounds.

When Mum goes to hospital to give birth prematurely, Quinn mulls over the changes that have occurred in her life, and the ones that will  come with Otto’s entrance into the family. 

Junior Review: My Wild Garden Zoo

My Wild Garden Zoo is a rhyming picture book that invites children to view a garden as a shared habitat rather than a controlled space. 

Through playful language and detailed watercolor illustrations, the book follows a day in which wild animals wander through a family garden, interacting with vegetables, berries, and flowers in humorous ways. 

The story concludes with an evening calm that reinforces themes of observation, coexistence, and respect for nature. 

Review: Our Marvelous Memory

No memory is an exact copy of the original event. It is always slightly distorted. 

What is memory? It is a storage place for all the things which form an individual – memory, body and genes.

This informative book about the brain and memory will excite readers as it answers questions that may have been a floating fog in their mind. 

Suitable for all ages, it consists of animated illustrations, and  entertaining prose in a light-hearted tone.

Where do memories go? In Our Marvelous Memory, we can solve these complex queries surrounding the brain and its functions.

Junior Review: Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale

Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale is a fiercely insightful coming-of-age novel by Allayne L Webster. It delves into the judgement teens face and the price tag labelled upon their worth.

Maisy Hayes feels like the background character of her life. Never the prettiest, the smartest, or the coolest in the room. Never with the newest phone, most expensive shoes, or designer bag. Her special treat only ever came in the form of a dollar slushie from the mall.

Maisy faces a situation no teen, let alone adult, wants to encounter. The Hayes family is deep in financial trouble, struggling to make ends meet. 

With Maisy’s absent father lurking in the back of her mind, she is determined to make a future for herself. She’s not sure what yet — though she is positive she wants anything but a life like her mum's.

She dreams of having enough money not to live paycheck to paycheck. To buy things without thinking of the cost. 

Review: Up, Up and Away: The History of Aviation

Those interested in the history, mythology and legends surrounding aviation will be impressed by this publication; this journey through aviation. 

 Presented in immense detail, the contents will delight and fascinate both children and older people. 

Stunning front, end papers depict the sizes of the flying machines, featured together with their length and wingspan, beginning from the largest to the smallest.

Review: This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds

‘Oooooo … doo-doo-doo-whipp!’

‘Pew pew.’

That's the call of an eastern whipbird, one of the many wonderful birds I hear living in the Blue Mountains in NSW. 

Also full of vibrant native birds is a new book called, This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds, created to help identify and celebrate birds in our backyards, local parks and streets. 

This Bird is written and illustrated by Astred Hicks in collaboration with Dr Holly Parsons, an ecologist and community educator. The book is a stunning way to connect with nature and be in the present moment.

Review: The Observologist

Observology: the process of carefully watching and analysing the world around you. 

This is a Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions. That means, setting out to find hidden creatures in places not previously thought of, and learning how to identify them. 

Boring is a word often repeated by children. But it is one that can be silenced simply by looking down to discover a fascinating, alive world at one’s feet.  

Observology encourages children to explore the natural world through short excursions to find not only what is above

Review: The AR in Sydney Harbour

The AR in Sydney Harbour is a new book from Judith Barker and Janie Frith who won a Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award in 2019.

It takes “the various spelling patterns of the bossy 'r' (ar) sound in the different and various words”, and spotlights them on a journey around Sydney Harbour.

There’s lots to see on this exploration. Ferries are the main form of transport, joining other vehicles – tour boats going whale spotting, and seaplanes travelling overhead.

Review: Lottie Brooks Vs The Ultra Mean Girls

This book is one of those middle grade reads that this (ahem) middle-aged reviewer could not put down.

Just when Lottie thought life might be going back to normal, everything goes wrong again!

All the things that could possibly go wrong in a tween girls’ life, do go wrong in this book. And it’s a hoot. 

Written in diary form, with literal stick figure pictures and a tween vernacular to die for, the book’s main character Lottie Brooks is the type of kid that every tween or teen who reads this book wants to be like. Or at the very least, wants to have as a BFF.

Lottie is flawed and a little bit slow to catch on to things that her squad know instantly. 

She’s naïve and funny, clever and endearing, unashamedly herself, and embarrassed at things that other kids don’t give a rip about.