Review: ABC Pop-Up

ABC Pop-Up is not like other alphabet pop-up books.

It’s a special kind of book that will wow and excite, and it’s for adults as much as it is for kids.

Courtney Watson McCarthy has designed a series of stunningly intricate paper pop-ups of recognisable objects that jump off the page. 

Review: Hairy Maclary and Friends Little Library

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy was first introduced to readers 34 years ago. Since then generations of kids have read and listened in rapture to his tales and those of his friends.

Now Hairy Maclary and three friends are presented in four miniature board books nestled in a delightful red slip case. This is an ideal selection aimed to introduce Lynley Dodd’s books and characters to another generation of preschoolers. 

The sturdy board books are the perfect size for tiny hands, and a feast for the eye in vivid colours of red, green, yellow and purple. (An opportunity to teach them colours as well.)Hairy Maclary, Slinky Malinki, Zachary Quack and Schnitzel von Krumm come crammed in joyous togetherness in this boxed set.

12 Curly Questions with author Steph Bowe

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you. 

When I was 12, I ran for primary school captain and painted my face blue to signify that I was a 'true blue' Aussie. (Sadly, I was not elected school captain, despite my clearly brilliant political mind. I delivered a speech that referenced Vincent Lingiari while the national anthem played in the background. I should probably be Prime Minister right now, I'm that good.)

2. What is your nickname?


It's just Steph. Which is what I go by as a professional writer. That's probably very Australian of me.

3. What is your greatest fear?
 

Cane toads. En masse. Like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, but with cane toads.

Terrific 10: Dogs

Yip! Snap! Yap! by Charles Fuge, Walker Books, $14.99, 9781582460970, 0-4

This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne, Oxford University Press, $17.95, 9780192737298, 3-7

Ted by Leila Rudge, Walker Books Australia, $27.99, 9781921977503, 3-7, KBR Review

September Young Adult Fiction New Releases

Choosing new releases to showcase this month was a tad challenging. There's so many wonderful new YA new releases out. Where to start? But... it's finally spring and there's nothing better than getting outside and reading a good book or two under the shade of a tree, so, weather gods...bring on the sunshine and happy reading!

 

Take Three Girls, by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell & Fiona Wood, $18.99, Macmillan, 9781742612744

Beautiful Mess, by Claire Christian, $19.99, Text Publishing, 9781925498547

Review: There is NO Dragon in This Story

Dragon has left his story book in quite a bit of a huff, thank you very much. He is sick of having to capture icky, frilly princesses and he is tired of having to fight with brave and shiny knights.

He has gone off in search of a story where he can be the hero for a change. On his travels, Dragon comes across a litany of fairy tale characters and seizes on each of these encounters as an opportunity to become a hero.

He offers to save the Gingerbread Man from a fox and a Little Pig from the Big Bad Wolf, he tries to give Hansel and Gretel a map, and he attempts to help Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood as well.

Review: The Dictionary of Dads

Dads can be funny, musical, sporty, embarassing, inspirational, and so many other things.

The Dictionary of Dads is a collection of poems about fathers by performance poet Justin Coe, who writes and performs all over England.

They're accompanied by illustrations from Steve Wells.

Justin has written about more than fifty different types of dads. There's even an Emperor Penguin Dad.

The dads are from all walks of life, and all organised into alphabetical order, starting with Abracadabra Dad and ending with Zzzz Dad.

Review: The Ice Sea Pirates

The Ice Sea Pirates is a junior version of the Iliad with mermaids, pirates and treacherous weather.

Siri and her little sister Miki have grown up with cautionary tales of Whitehead, the most fearsome pirate in all the Northern Ice Seas. He isn't interested in treasure. He seeks children, the smaller the better.

When Whitehead's pirates kidnap Miki, Siri is determined to track Whitehead and his pirate ship down.

But no one is prepared to help her. Everyone has grown up with the same terrifying tale. Some have even lost little brothers and sisters to the evil pirate.

Review: Dungzilla

Sally Tinker, world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, is back.

And this time she’s invented the Resizenator, a magnificent machine capable of shrinking and enlarging things to outrageous sizes.

Along with her friend Charli, the world’s foremost biologist under the age of eleven, testing of the Resizenator doesn’t exactly go to plan.

A pizza, a malfunction and interference from Sally's curious baby brother Joe, and Charli’s dung beetle is accidentally turned into Dungzilla.

Review: History Mysteries: Lasseter's Gold

Mark Greenwood has brought to life the mystery of Lasseter’s Gold, another title from the exceptional series, History Mysteries. 

In 1897, Harold Lasseter claimed to have found a gold-bearing reef while searching for rubies in Central Australia. Although he kept a diary, detailed maps, and noted prominent landmarks, countless expeditions undertaken have failed to find the gold.

Whether truth or hoax, this story continues to puzzle and challenge through the years. Was he a liar and a conman as some people say? If he found gold, why would he create a complex weave of information impossible to untangle?

Review: Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery That Baffled All of France

Mesmerized is about hypnosis and the discovery of the placebo effect, the development of the 'blind testing' method still used in science today.

Until I read Mesmerized I didn't know that Benjamin Franklin had travelled to France in 1776 to ask for help in the American Revolution.

The French people knew of Benjamin Franklin because of his famous experiment flying a kite during a thunderstorm to prove that lightening was electricity.

Review: Eat Your People

A funny twist on the age-old frustrated chant that every parent knows - "Eat your dinner!".

This book introduces us to a little monster called Monty, who does NOT like to eat his people at dinner time.

He whinges that they are too sour, they are too chewy, they are too wriggly and too jiggly. Plus, they keep waving at him. Yuck!

Review: A Thousand Hugs from Daddy

Anna Pignataro's book A Thousand Hugs from Daddy is a gentle, loving and heart-warming story of a relationship between a father and their child. There is no question that this father is loved dearly by the child, as the story begins with 'In your arms it's safe and snug, you always give a thousand hugs.' Then the pair of polar bears go outside and play together.

The father and child play chasing, hide and seek and climb together. At one point the weather gets nasty, the fog rolls in and the father shelters his child from the storm, keeping the child safe and warm. Upon returning home the child is snuggled into a blanket and cuddled until they go to sleep.

Review: Reena's Rainbow

Reena can’t hear, but she notices every detail in everything around her.

Brown Dog belongs to no one. He’s alone and lonely until Reena sees him in the park and they begin to play together. Reena notices he’s smart and quick. She also notices the children playing hide and seek and their happy smiles.

Reena joins in their game. She looks for and discovers children hiding beneath butterfly bushes, up trees filled with cherry blossoms, within tall grasses, and behind tree trunks.

When Reena hides, she can’t hear the children calling her.  When she comes out, she is alone until her mother finds her. Brown Dog tags along.

Review: Chirri & Chirra In the Tall Grass

The delightful identical twins Chirri and Chirra, with their oh-so cute bob-cut hair and dring-dring bicycles, are back.

This time, the pair shrink down so they can enjoy a magical adventure in the tall grass with a variety of inventive and friendly creatures. Riding their bicycles, the girls discover a whimsical world where bumblebees share honey sponge cake balls wrapped in flower petals, flower chafers make mixed-leaf juice and a lizard invites them to help create colourful candies from shards of crystal.

Guest Post: Debra Tidball on the Scared Book

This week marks the release of Debra Tidball's new picture book, The Scared Book. Here she shares a few of their first times together in public.

I take my new book out of the packaging in trembling-with-excitement hands. It's a little part of me that I am about to share with the world. But how will it behave? And how will others respond to it?

Well, I'm relieved and thrilled to say that The Scared Book has behaved very well indeed!

A friend's child was the first to be introduced to The Scared Book, and it didn't have the child screaming in terror or (even worse) yawning with boredom, much to my relief. Rather, the child was rubbing and flicking and fanning the pages in a quest to help the poor book feel better. Turns out, the book has perfect manners, and a charming propensity to entertain and delight its young reader. The book may have had its tingling spine eased by the child but my spine was tingling with pure pleasure.