Review: Old MacDonald's Things That Go

Meet Old MacDonald. His farm doesn’t have things that go moo, neigh, baa or woof. Instead he’s surrounded by sounds like beep, zoom, chugga-chugga and rattle-swish.

If you have a child who prefers vehicles over farm animals, Old MacDonald’s Things That Go is the perfect solution. The focus in this version of the classic Old MacDonald nursery rhyme is all the vehicles on and around Old MacDonald’s Farm - a bike, car, combine harvester, plane, bus, tractor and more.

Review: Australia Illustrated

I’ve waited for the release of Australia Illustrated with great anticipation. It has been inspiring to watch from the sidelines as author/illustrator Tania McCartney focused her considerable creative energy and talent into developing her illustration skills and I knew that when this book was published it would be something special.

Beautifully presented with in a textured hard cover format, Australia Illustrated is a treasure trove of images of Australia. Travelling from state to state (and territories, of course), there are illustrations of iconic buildings, geographic features, foods, celebrities, activities, animals, plants, and a multitude of other items that represent the Australian lifestyle and culture.

Review: Imagining the Future

We live in a world where amazing new breakthroughs in science and technology are made every week. So many things that were considered fantastic and fanciful in science fiction decades ago are now an everyday reality and our scientists and innovators continue to develop new products, techniques and technologies that change the way we deal with a range of everyday challenges and activities.

In Imagining the Future, authors Simon Torok and Paul Holper to facilitate new innovations that might one day soon transform our favourite sci-fi, and even some fantasy, creations from fiction to reality.

Covering a range of inventions from robotics and computer technology to instant travel, invisibility and colonising other planets, Imagining the Future inspires readers to believe that it is possible to turn their dreams into reality by revealing what inventors and scientists are already achieving.

Review: Introducing Teddy

Errol and Thomas the Teddy are best friends. They do everything together - ride bikes, climb trees, have picnic lunches and play at the park. One day, even playing on the swings isn’t enough to make Thomas happy and Errol can tell his friend is sad.

“What’s wrong Thomas? Talk to me!”

“If I tell you,” said Thomas, “you might not be my friend any more.”

As important as the central theme of this book is, with Thomas the Teddy revealing that he would actually prefer to be called Tilly and wear his bowtie as a hairbow, there is so much more to this wonderful exploration of identity.

Review: Welcome to Country

Wominjeka Wurundjeri balluk

yearmenn koondee bik.

Welcome to Country.

Traditionally, each Aboriginal community has a special welcoming custom to invite travellers and neighbouring communities to their land. 

In this beautifully written and illustrated picture book, Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy welcome readers to the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of Victoria.

This book articulates the importance of Welcome to Country in a way both children and adults will appreciate, emphasising the connection to environment and community and the symbolism of inviting outsiders to connect with the land and people of a particular region.

Review: Captain Sneer the Buccaneer

I’m Captain Sneer, the buccaneer.

My crew salutes when I pass near. 

I’m rough and tough.

I’m brave and bold.

I sail the seas for gold, Gold, GOLD.

Meet Captain Sneer, the boastful buccaneer. He’s tough and mean, fearsome and daring. Or is he? As he faces challenges, we get hints that perhaps he isn’t quite as brave as he wants people to believe.

Review: When Michael Met Mina

When Michael and Mina meet, they are standing on opposite sides of the debate at a rally for refugees. Michael can’t believe it when the beautiful girl from the rally turns up as a new student at his school soon after the event. Unfortunately, as an Afghani refugee, Mina has no time for Michael’s views on closing Australia’s borders, especially when she discovers Michael’s father is the head of a new political party called ‘Aussie Values’ which promotes religious intolerance.

Can Michael and Mina overcome their differences to find some common ground?

I love books that start conversations and Randa Abdel-Fattah’s When Michael Met Mina certainly offers plenty of opportunities to springboard discussions about hot topics such as refugees, racism, islamophobia, religious intolerance, political activism, and social justice. Through the interactions of Michael and Mina, readers are given insight into the impact of racial and religious intolerance on everyday families and the various influences that can impact on how we view political and social issues.

Review: Noisy Nights

A farm is a noisy place to be at bedtime. All those animals make LOTS of noise. How will Farmer Hayden ever manage to get to sleep?

Well known for her best-selling rural romances, Fleur McDonald brings a rural setting to a younger audience with Noisy Nights, a delightful story about a sleepy farmer and the noisy animals that keep him awake.

With dogs, cows, sheep, horses, foxes, crickets and more filling the night with their sounds, it’s no wonder Farmer Hayden can’t get to sleep. The list of animals and their sounds grows gradually, with the repetition building to a peak where the animals are so noisy they can no longer hear Farmer Hayden’s shouted request that they all ‘Stop that noise!’

Review: Saving Jazz

How would you respond if your worst mistake became public knowledge? If your lowest moment was captured on film and shared with the world? What would you say if you hadn’t even known that moment existed until your mistake went viral?

15-year-old Jasmine Lovely is living the perfect life until a house party with friends spins out of control. A combination of alcohol and peer pressure results in Jasmine making choices that she will deeply regret - once she remembers what she did.

Looking at the modern issue of cyberbullying from the viewpoint of a perpetrator, Saving Jazz is a thought-provoking exploration of how a few minutes of stupidity can have lifelong consequences in a world where every moment, good and bad, can be captured and shared.

Review: Black

It’s her final year of high school and Ebony ‘Black’ Marshall is counting down the months, weeks and days until she can leave town. A string of unfortunate coincidences has resulted in suspicious locals deciding Black is cursed, and she can’t wait to put the small town gossips and their small town superstitions behind her.

Black is a loner at school and that’s just the way she likes it, until new guy Aiden surprises her by inviting her to the formal. When Aiden ends up in intensive care, some people take it as confirmation that Black is cursed and she goes from being an outcast to the target of a small group of religious fanatics who are determined to ‘save’ her from the cause of her misfortune.

As events spiral out of control, who can Black trust and can she work out what is going on before she becomes the next victim of the curse?

Review: Steve Goes to Carnival

Steve is a gorilla in a zoo in Brazil. In the evenings, Antonio the zookeeper sits with Steve to listen to their favourite jazz music. One evening after Antonio leaves, Steve feels lonely. He escapes from his enclosure and goes in search of Antonio. He puts on a hat as a clever disguise and wanders out into the city hoping to find his friend.

What he finds is the excitement of Carnival in Rio. The streets are filled with dancers and musicians wearing colourful costumes. There is music and laughter and many delicious treats to eat, but Steve is focused on finding his friend.

Review: Frankencrayon

Do you think the cover of this book looks intriguing? Perhaps the idea of a Frankenstein’s monster crayon has you itching to open the cover?

Well, sorry. Too bad. This book has been cancelled. You need to put the book down and find something else to read.

The crayons are annoyed. Plans were underway for a performance of Frankenstein. Everything was going smoothly. The costumes were coming along nicely and everyone knew their lines, then suddenly the lights went out and when they came back on there was... scribble! All across the page! Then more scribble and more. Clean up was impossible. The book was ruined!

Review: Desert Lake - The Story of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre

Desert Lake: The Story of Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre is the latest book in the award-winning Nature Storybook series from Walker Books.

Written by Pamela Freeman and illustrated by Liz Anelli, Desert Lake combines narrative and informative text to invite readers to explore the landscape and wildlife of Kata Thanda (Lake Eyre) in central Australia.

The text shares fascinating details about the landscape and weather patterns that control the appearance and disappearance of the Lake. It also introduces the diverse wildlife that calls the Lake home and explains adaptations that enable the animals and insects to survive in the desert environment.

Review: Meet Don Bradman (Meet... series)

Sporting legend Don Bradman is the latest famous Australian to feature in the fantastic Meet... narrative non-fiction series from Random House.

Author Coral Vass introduces a new generation to one of Australia’s most inspiring sportsmen, mapping Bradman’s cricketing career from his childhood enthusiasm for the game and brief foray into competitive tennis in high school to his early local success and eventual international acclaim.

Review: Mad Magpie

Guluu the magpie can’t help but feel mad. The butcher birds pick on him and bully him at every opportunity. The elder birds offer him advice to help him stay calm, but it is hard to ignore the hurtful words and actions of the butcher birds.

Eventually, Guluu discovers a way to find focus and calm even when the butcher birds are being mean. He finds strength in his own song, and inspires others to do the same, helping to create a more positive and supportive community for everyone.

Review: Smile Cry

Follow piglet, bunny and cat as they react to the different things that happen during the day. As they respond to accidents, events and thoughts, readers are encouraged to consider the many different reasons that we smile and cry. Smiles aren’t always happy (we can smile with trepidation) and crying isn’t always sad (we sometimes cry with happiness).

Children will enjoy reading through the different smile and cry responses of piglet, bunny and cat and will maybe recognise some of their own smile and cry moments. Have you ever had ‘an ate all the pies smile’ or ‘a tickle smile’. Maybe you’ve had ‘an ice-cream plopping down cry’ or ‘a tutu in the wash cry’.

Presented in a clever flip-the-book format, the two emotions meet in the centre pages with an illustration that matches the text from both stories – ‘or maybe, just maybe, it’s... a wrapped in a cuddle smile.’ and ‘or maybe, just maybe, it’s... a wrapped in a cuddle cry.’

Review: Reflection - Remembering Those Who Serve In War

A beautiful and poignant tribute to Australian soldiers, Reflection: Remembering Those Who Serve In War mirrors the experiences of a family attending a dawn service and Anzac March with moments on a variety of battlefields and peacekeeping missions throughout Australia’s military history. From the South African “Boer” War (1899 – 1902) to modern settings such as the second Gulf War in Iraq (2003 – 2009), East Timor (1999 – 2012) and Afghanistan (2001 – present), Reflection captures moments in time echoed in the symbolism present in our Anzac Day commemorative services.

Rebecka Sharpe Shelberg’s text is sparse but cleverly constructed as it connects the illustrations of the modern day commemorative service and the conflict or peacekeeper scenes. Robin Cowcher’s emotive pen, ink and watercolour wash illustrations cleverly find visual links between the two scenes. From feet moving in the dark and heads bowed in prayer, to groups silently watching the sunrise or listening to the last post, the illustrations emphasise both the differences and shared experiences for the two distinctly different settings shared on each double page spread.

Review: A Patch from Scratch

"Let’s go on a journey together. Let’s find a patch of dirt in a bright sunny spot. Let’s dig, plant, water and see if we can become friends with the earth under our feet. Let’s build A Patch from Scratch."

With an increasing number of home, school and community vegetable gardens springing up in our suburbs, A Patch from Scratch is a timely picture book offering children an insight into what is involved in planting and tending their own home fruit and vegetable patches.

Jesse and Lewis live in the suburbs on the edge of a big city, but their family wants to live more like a family on a farm. They work together to learn about sustainable gardening projects including what plants they should grow, how to make compost and how to care for their new chickens.

Review: Johnny Danger - Lie Another Day

Looking for some fast paced espionage action with James Bond-style gadgets, badder than bad evil genius villains trying to take over the world, secret spy codes, and lots of side-splitting humour? Of course you are, and Johnny Danger fits the bill perfectly.

Join Jonathan Dangerfield on his second undercover mission as Johnny Danger. Of course, he’s more school boy than super spy, but that doesn’t stop him trekking through remote Amazonian jungles to find Dr Disastrous and thwart his evil plans to threaten the world with a Weapon of Gas Destruction.

Review: Annabel's Dance

A mob of sheep lived on a farm high in the mountains. They all looked the same with neat, cream-coloured wool. They all stood together in the fields in cold weather to stay warm. They all lined up when they were supposed to when it was time to shear their wool.

Well, most of the sheep did those things. One sheep, Annabel, had wild and untamed wool the colour of mud. She didn’t seem to enjoy the same things as the other sheep and she definitely didn’t want to be shorn.

Annabel manages to avoid shearing time for several years, but eventually she can no longer hide. Will she be able to cope with the noisy, buzzing shears so that she can be wool-free and comfortable again?