Review: The Big Book of Australian History

Australia has a big history. A long history. A rich and convoluted history. Making sense of this history for children can be challenging but if anyone can do it well, it's the National Library of Australia.

Award-winning author Peter Macinnis has covered myriad topics in this tome-like book--packed with priceless information on our country's past and its people.

Beginning in ancient Australia and the formation of our landscape, we are taken through the age of the dinosaurs to The Dreaming--a time of land, legend and arguably the oldest surviving culture on earth--that of our Aboriginal (or First) people.

Review: The Journey

In this unique and creative interactive adventure story, both the character and the reader participate in a journey together, but each in a different way.

The Journey starts out masked within stories of plum jams and crumpets, pickles, and travels underground in search of the Pole of Inaccessibility. Bernard the main character is the guide on these travels. But prepare for the unexpected.

Review: Escape from Mr Lemoncello's Library

Kyle Keeley is twelve years old and the youngest of three brothers. He loves games.

Mr Lemoncello creates games. All kinds of games - board games, computer games, puzzle games - you name it, he makes it.

When Alexandriaville (yes, it is a reference to the ancient library in Alexandria) opens a brand new, state-of-the-art library, it’s the first time in twelve years that the town has had a public library. To celebrate, twelve local twelve-year-olds will be the first to experience the library and all it has to offer, via a special ‘library lock-in’.

Review: Lizzy Bennet's Diary

Pride and Prejudice was first published 200 years ago, and this year there are celebrations of what is generally considered to be Jane Austen’s most well-known novel. The events are presented here in a hardcover book with gold foil detail on the cover, and the story retold in diary format from the perspective of Lizzy (Elizabeth) Bennet.

Lizzy Bennet’s Diary is a Christmas gift from her father, but she delays writing in it until she feels she has a good reason. That reason is excitement surrounding the arrival of new neighbours. From then on, Lizzy shares stories from her life, and records happenings big (like travelling to Derbyshire) and small (“We saw two hares today. They looked thin and cold”).

Review: The Nowhere Box

George has two little brothers and, as far as he's concerned, they're nothing but a nuisance. They wreck his toys, ruin his games and never leave him alone. He's had enough! So he gets hold of the empty washing machine box, converts it into a ship of discovery and heads off to Nowhere …

Review: Pan's Whisper

Pan Harper is rebellious, brash and damaged. Forced into foster care, she refuses to accept the kindness shown to her by her foster parents and resists the restrictions imposed by the teachers at her new school. Pan is sure she understands the events of her past and she is filled with anger directed at her family, especially her older sister and, to a lesser degree, her mother.

However some things aren’t as they seem. Pan’s memories aren’t always accurate and she has misunderstood some important aspects of her past. When she is fighting so hard to suppress those memories that don’t fit with all that she believes about her life, what will it take for her to open up to the possibility that the actions of her sister and mother aren’t what she believes them to be?

Review: Creatures of Magic

Anna lives with her parents and her eight-year-old sister Grace in an ordinary house in an ordinary suburb. She likes reading and she loves words — her favourite word is 'crevasse' — and she prefers apples to bananas. Yes, life is pretty ordinary for Anna, but all that changes when the new neighbours move in.

The Brown family seem normal enough on the surface: mum, dad, two daughters (named Violet and Tabitha) — but they seem to bring with them an extraordinary number of live mice and cats, as well as stuffed rodents … and, well, what was that growling under the blanket that covered that rather large cage?!

12 Curly Questions with author Maree Fenton-Smith

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I can make my tongue touch my nose.

2. What is your nickname? 
Rissy to my family and Mum to my children.

3. What is your greatest fear?
The thought of being trapped in a small dark tunnel that becomes smaller as you crawl along terrifies me.

4. Describe your writing style in ten words?
Adverb dominated, generally pacy, gently humourous, slightly dark with some surprises.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Dedicated, disciplined, imaginative, fun and empathic.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
Aslan because he is in charge.

Review: TinTin the Art of Hergé

The iconic artwork of Hergé has been captured in this stunning collectible book, featuring an eyeboggling collection from the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. With text written by Michel Daubert and translated from the French by Michael Farr, this is, in essence, a museum in a book.

There are seven chapters in this square, bricklike tome, which follows the sequence of the museum's rooms.

Showcase Festival: Views on Picture Book Apps at the National Library

 

Last night here in Canberra saw the wrap-up of a truly sensational Showcase Festival: the second annual Festival of Australian Children's Literature, created and run by Belle Alderman, Emeritus Professor of Children's Literature at the University odf Canberra and her sensational team, including Sara Rapp who curated the Bob Graham illustration exhibition at Civic Library.

The afternoon began with a book signing in the National Library Foyer with picture book superstar Nick Bland, seen here with Rosemary Thomas, entries coordinator for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards. Nick was VERY busy!

We then convened to a conference room for the View on Picture Book Apps event, introduced by Belle Alderman ...

And featuring Omnibus publisher Dyan Blacklock and Nick Bland ...

Along with Mark McLeod ... who opened proceedings and set the tone for the picture book app discussion with some fascinating statistics on reading, children's book sales and Australian purchasing/book devouring habits.

The trio then spoke of their own views and experiences with apps, with Nick revealing why he chose to move into the PB app arena with his company Wheelbarrow, and Dyan talking of the health concerns surrounding extended play on devices such as iPads, both in terms of inertia but also in regard to radiation exposure, particularly in the very young.

Dyan also said the picture book app section on iTunes was her equivalent of the slush pile, with endless badly-written, designed, edited and illustrated books cluttering the few productions that were even worth screen-swiping.

Nick then spoke about app creation processes, and the new Shaun Tan app for his book Rules of Summer, which has become the highest-selling book on the Australian app store.

Mark discussed the fact that we don't need to panic--hard copy books aren't going anywhere, that we are only just experimenting with electronic reading in its various forms, and that it's just the way we read that will change--not only in terms of what literal form we read in, but in terms of the way we visually scan, mentally process and emotionally harness written works.

Questions and comments from the audience included the 'delete' (ie; throw away) factor in regard to books read via electronic platforms, the repeat-read issue, what contributors are required for app creation, and one librarian mentioned a push by some librarians to digitisein favour of hard copy books.

This event was a fine ending to a superb Showcase Festival, featuring a truly impressive line up of presenters, facilitators and talent. Biggest congratulations to Belle and her team, who already have an exciting 2014 in the planning. I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeve. It's a thrill to see the children's book industry opening up, discussing and sharing its direction in our Nation's Capital. I hope you can join in the fun next year.

- Tania McCartney

Thanks to Leanne Barrett, CBCA President ACT, for providing some of these photos.

#showcasefest

Guest Post: Early Readers and Phonetic Chapter Books

KBR is delighted to welcome Shelley Davidow — teacher, author and passionate advocate for children's literacy.

A few years back, I was teaching primary school in the USA, and looking for easy, phonetic readers for my first graders. I’d been in the classroom teaching every age group from 4 up to university level on five continents for more than a decade by then, so I knew what I wanted for my kids … but I couldn’t find it. 

KBR Short Story: A Matter of Perspective

by Erica Eastick

This week was 'p-word' week. Kyle adjusted his glasses as he watched Miss Draper write on the yellow-board, and then turn to face the class.

"Who knows what precipitation is?" Miss Draper tugged at her yellow blouse and pointed at the raised hands.

"Rain," said Mary. She wore a pink dress dotted with yellow roses like snowflakes.

"Snowflakes," called out Kyle.

"Hail?" said Henry.

Miss Draper smiled, her yellow teeth flashing like corn kernels. "Excellent. And where does precipitation come from?"

"The sky," giggled Mary. Her face glowed a soft yellow. Her cheeks reminded Kyle of clouds.

"From clouds," said Kyle.

"From heaven?" said Henry.

Miss Draper laughed as she turned to the yellow-board, and squiggled lines and arrows to show the water cycle. "What happens when the clouds get heavy with water vapour?"

"They get big and fluffy," said Mary.

The rest of the class was silent.

"Kyle," asked Miss Draper, "how do we know to expect precipitation?"

"The clouds change from yellow to grey," said Kyle.

Miss Draper frowned. "You mean from white to grey?"

Kyle frowned. "No. They change from yellow, like your shirt, to grey, like Principal Kipper's hair."

Miss Draper glanced at her blouse, and then walked to Kyle's desk. "Kyle, how long have you worn those glasses?"

Kyle rolled and twisted and crossed his eyes. "I was born with them, Miss."

"Would you do something for me?" said Miss Draper smiling.

Kyle nodded. He liked Miss Draper.

"Go and ask Nurse Louise to look at your glasses. You may need new lenses."

"Now?"

“Yes, please."

Kyle slumped from the classroom, aware that the other kids watched him, and walked to the sickroom. Nurse Louise asked him to sit on the crisp, yellow sheets of the bed, and Kyle explained what Miss Draper had said about his lenses.

Nurse Louise withdrew a stack of cards from a drawer. "What's this, Kyle?"

"An egg?" replied Kyle, confused.

"And what colour is it?"

"Yellow."

"What colour is this?" Nurse Louise held up a picture of a zebra.

"Black and yellow."

"And what colour is snow?" asked Nurse Louise without a card.

"Yellow."

Nurse Louise kindly asked to borrow Kyle's glasses. He sat on the bed blinking, while Nurse Louise fiddled with the lenses. "You'll need to see an optician, but this might help in the meantime." She perched Kyle's glasses back on his nose and over his ears. "How does that look?"

Kyle gasped as he scanned the room. "Wow!"

"Better?"

"Absolutely! Thanks, Nurse Louise." He skipped out the door and back to his classroom, astounded at how the world really looked.

"Better?" asked Miss Draper when she saw the smile on Kyle's face.

"Absolutely!" Kyle settled behind his desk as Miss Draper wrote another p-word.

"Who knows what 'perspective' means?" She tugged on her rose blouse as she turned from the rose-board.

Kyle did not have a clue what 'perspective' meant, but he sure liked his new lenses.

Erica Eastick worked as an environmental manager in the Middle East before becoming a stay-at-home mum in 2009. She currently lives in Guam and writes short stories, YA fiction and creative non-fiction.


KBR Short Stories are a way to get your work ‘out there’ — and to delight our KBR readers. Stories are set to a monthly theme and entries are due in the 25th of each month. Find out more here.

Review: Hey Jack! That's a Big Book!

Sally Rippin’s popular Hey Jack! series gives us a big book to keep children absorbed during the Christmas holidays.

This collection deals with the varying emotions that children feel and struggle with daily. Although Jack has his moody days and each one (depending on how he’s feeling) seems to claim a moody title — moochy, bouncy, jittery etc. — he always finds a way to overcome. 

The ten stories are full of optimism and encouragement, and focus on children’s self-esteem and how they can conquer their fears and insecurities.

Review: Maia and What Matters

Maia and her grandma are two peas in a pod. They both like life to be fun and exciting. They are impatient and don’t like to wait for anything. Together, they have a wonderful time exploring and enjoying life.

One day, Grandma becomes ill and loses control over her words. The grown-ups fuss and bother, but they don’t seem to be able to understand what Grandma really wants. Maia knows that her Grandma is still strong and wonderful and she knows exactly what she means.

This touching and emotional story about a young girl and her grandmother celebrates the connection between the generations.

Meet Maia Blog Tour: Translator David Colmer

Photograph by Ronald Hoeben

KBR is delighted to welcome award-winning translator David Colmer as part of the Meet Maia Blog Tour. Australian-born, David now lives in Amsterdam and is one of the world's leading translators of Dutch literature to English. He recently translated the children's picture book Maia and What Matters.

1. How did you come to be a translator?

I grew up in a monolingual family and environment, but I read a lot and quite a few of the books I read were translations, and I remember seeing that as something mysterious and wonderful. Being able to read a book in one language and rewrite it in another struck me as very cool, even if I only had the flimsiest grasp of what a skill like that might involve.

As a young adult I was interested in writing and also travelled a lot, so when I picked up a smattering of a couple of languages, it was natural for me to try to experiment with translation, producing a naive version of a French chanson for instance, in collaboration with a French friend I met at a backpackers’ hostel in Taiwan.

Later still I learnt German and Dutch to a reasonable level and moved to the Netherlands where, shocked by my sudden ability to open my mouth and have something other than English come out of it, I realised that I could put my childish fantasy into practice and make a living out of it at the same time, which was good, because I really wasn’t getting anywhere as a casual labourer.

That was just over twenty years ago and since then I’ve translated millions of words, gradually increasing the literary component of my output until now, when I’m in the luxurious position of being able to more or less choose which authors and books I translate.

Review: The Tiny King

Once upon a time, there was a tiny king. Sadly for him everything around him was very, very big. He lived in a big big castle. His enormous table was laid with so much food that he could never eat it all. His horse was so big that he fell off every time he tried to ride it. And his bed was so big that he felt very, very lonely and couldn't sleep well.

But then, one day, he married a VERY big princess! And soon, the king and queen had lots — and lots! — of children.