Review: Beautiful Mess

Life's hard enough for teenagers trying to navigate puberty, senior school pressures and friendship issues, amongst other things, without the added burden and trauma of losing someone they love.

Claire Christian delivers an honest and searing depiction of the flow-on effects of grief in her debut novel, Beautiful Mess, winner of the 2016 Text Prize.

Months after the suicide of her best friend, Ava's life continues to spiral in a fog of anger and bad choices resulting in being expelled for her public outburst with the principal.

The only thing in her life she can tolerate is her part-time job at Magic Kebab where she meets Gideon.

Meet The Illustrator : Ruth De Vos

Name: Ruth de Vos

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Colourful, layered and slightly quirky

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Good light, a cup of coffee, plenty of paper and room to spread it all out.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
It doesn’t get much better than pencil on paper, but when I’m not illustrating on paper I LOVE to make ‘illustrations’ with fabric and stitch. I do this by stitching together lots of little pieces of fabric, and incorporating some dyeing and screen-printing.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Shirley Hughes, Freya Blackwood and Leon Pericles.

Father's Day Picture Book Special - Part 3

Father's Day: Tribute to Grandad

Title: Adventures with Grandpa

Author/Illustrator: Rosemary Mastnak

Publisher: Hardie Grant, $24.95 RRP

Publication Date: 02/08/2010

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9781921690761

For ages: 2+

Type: Picture book

About: Oh, I sigh in envy when someone can do both pictures and words. Mastnak's beautiful book - Adventures with Grandpa - is just divinely saturated with watercolour bliss - the most fabulously detailed and whimsical illustrations - many of them double page spreads - that take the breath away. Children will be truly entranced by these pictures, and adults equally so.

When a little grandson asks his tinkering Grandpa where their adventures will take them today, Grandpa leaves his shed full of curiosities to go exploring with his grandson... climbing trees, swinging on old tyres, building racing cars, skimming the sparkling seas or visiting a shining star.

Although I love this book, the prose is a little awkward at times. It occasionally rhymes but often misses the ryhthmic beat needed to make reading a pleasure, and some words are oddly coupled. This small issue doesn't, however, take away from the overall beauty and magic of Adventures with Grandpa.

Imaginative, charming and totally eye-boggling, this is a book that needs a place on the shelves of grandparents everywhere.

-TM

This book is available online

Title: Grandad and Billy

Author: Julie Kingston

Publisher: Lothian, $16.99 RRP

Publication Date: July 2010

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780734411259

For ages: 3+

Type: Picture book

About: Billy’s Grandad is a very Important Man.

He’s done everything: he was school captain, won a gold medal, was voted most eligible bachelor, went to university, run companies, climbed Mt Everest, bought a private jet, met royalty and had a book written about him.

As Billy lists them all off to his Grandad, asking which was the most important, his grandfather laughs and says no to each. There is something even more important than everything on that very impressive list of achievements.

He eventually tells Billy what the most important thing in his life is, as the little boy falls asleep in his grandfather’s arms.

Set at bedtime, and with illustrations that feel warm and comforting by the light of the lamp by Grandad’s armchair, Grandad and Billy is a charming book for grandfathers to share with the children in their lives.

It is a lovely story, with humour and a gorgeous message of love, family and all the things we can learn from our grandparents.

More than that, it is a beautiful reminder of how special Grandads are, and how much they love their grandkids.

-MB

This book is available online

Title: Grandpa

Author: Lilith Norman

Illustrator: Noela Young

Publisher: Margaret Hamilton Books (Scholastic), $12.99 RRP

Publication Date: 1998

Format: Soft cover

ISBN: 9781865048093

For ages: 5+

Type: Picture book

About: We bought this book for our son when he was six weeks old - because that's the age his lost his beautiful grandfather, Tommy. This book, therefore, is an incredibly emotive one for me... my son never got to spend time with this amazing man and it's something my husband and are devastated over - even 7 years on.

This simple and beautiful storyline opens on a young lad who tells us his grandfather died last Saturday. Quite simply. That's what happened. Cue tissues.

The book then takes us back a while to when Grandpa was alive - and how he was a pain in the neck for our young hero. How he smoked and made bad jokes and made a mess and told boring stories and kicked the young lad out of his bedroom so he had to sleep in the sunroom. He also made mum cook nothing but chops and sausages when mum wanted to cook exotic Asian foods in a wok.

Then suddenly, Grandpa was gone. And mum could cook what she wanted now. And when she realised this, she broke down and cried.

This beautiful book is incredibly emotional. It touches on loss, on tolerance, on generation gaps and on the triumph of love over the tiny frustrations in life. It also celebrates the wonderful legacy our ancestors leave behind.

Beautiful.

-TM

This book is available online

Title: A Little Book for Grandfather

Author: Patrick Regan

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (Pan Macmillan) $8.95 RRP

Publication Date: 01/11/2007

Format: Hardcover with dustjacket

ISBN: 9780740764066

For ages: 5+

Type: Gift book

About: A gorgeous little gift book stuffed with adages on grandfathers and their ways. The best place to be when you're sad is - of course - in Grandpa's lap (Anonymous) and Being grandparents sufficiently removes us from the responsibilities so that we can be friends (Allan Frome).

Dotted with adorable illustrations, this would make a gorgeous gift from grandchild to Pop.

-TM

This book is available online

News: KBR CBCA 2018 Shortlist Predictions!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Forever curious to delve deeper into our book-loving psyches, we asked our intrepid KBR team to predict the 2018 CBCA Shortlist outcome based on the Notable Titles announced on the 27 February.

The Kids Book Review team is a mixed band of accomplished literary professionals, artists, educators, librarians and of course, reviewers so naturally, our responses were never going to be straightforward! Each team member was asked three questions:

·         Which title they thought WILL be shortlisted

·         Which title they thought SHOULD be shortlisted

·         Which title WOULD be shortlisted if they could choose, in other words, their favourite.

Here is what they had to say. Perhaps it will prompt you to make your own pre-announcement predictions. Whatever the outcome, KBR congratulate all those who made the Notables list this year. It is hugely gratifying to see the magnitude of quality, meaningful literature that Australia continues to create for children.

Author/Illustrator Interview: Teresa Culkin-Lawrence

Author and illustrator Teresa Culkin-Lawrence is our guest on Kids Book Review today. Teresa creates beautiful books for children, and her series for babies will soon be reviewed right here. You can see her work at teresaculkinlawrence.com.au and follow her blog at teresaculkinlawrence.blogspot.com.

Tell us a little about you: what’s your background, your story? As a child, I was always drawing and people seemed to always say that I was ‘such a good drawer!’ I saw it as something special in me. I started illustrating about 20 years ago after I studied Textile Design (trying to be practical) and discovered I really just loved drawing! I have since gone back to Uni and have a degree in English and Visual Art.

What genre do you write in? So far, I have written a series of board books for babies, a chapter book for 8+s about a greyhound racing dog and a few picture books.

What other genres have you written in? I wrote an academic article once about Nicole Kidman – published in Screen Education.

What do you love about writing and illustrating for children? I love that I can convey so much with a few simple lines. I’m so happy when those simple lines with a bit of colour add up to a whole story. I feel that I carry my childhood vividly inside me and can access it when I need to illustrate.

Which came first, the writing or the illustrating? Illustrating, but I remember writing stories in school and teachers always wanting to read them out loud which made me very proud. I did have a job as a copywriter once too, before I ever illustrated.

What types of things inspire your work? Other illustrators, artists, magazines and exhibitions inspire me. Sometimes just one little image will set me off.

What are the greatest blocks or obstacles you have experienced on your book-writing journey? Fear of not being good, cool, smart, edgy (feel free to add here) or funny enough.

What’s a typical writing and illustrating day? After brekky, get a latte at the local café and sit down at the desk. Turn on computer and tweet. After some procrastination, I finally get going on the drawing. I like to have the desk clear and neat but usually end up in a mess. I tend to get more productive as the day wears on and can end up working long into the night.

What advice do you have on writing and illustrating? None, I’m afraid (there’s that fear again!).

If you couldn’t be an illustrator and writer, what would you be? Perhaps I’d run a beautiful providore with local produce and great cake and coffee.

What books did you read as a child? A Friend is Someone Who Likes You, Angelo, Illustrated by Quentin Blake, anything illustrated by Edward Ardizzone, Madeline, Puppy Summer, A.A. Milne, Enid Blyton. When my dad took me to the library, it was always exciting.

What else do you like to do, other than write and illustrate books? I recently opened a shop. My studio’s in the shop – an old one in Main St, Beeac, Victoria. And I thought, well I’m sitting here drawing in the shop, why not open the shop too? So I’ve started putting together a range of books and artisan products. Also, I try to do the odd bit of yoga. And I’d really like to take up horse riding.

What would be your perfect day? Up early, yoga. Porridge followed by a perfect latte. Do two amazing illustrations by about 2pm. Then a leisurely nap from which I wake naturally. Then up for dinner with friends and family. And, after that a fabulous film and some chocolate.

What five words best sum you up? Enthusiatic, Pedantic, Kind, Chatty, Limber.

What’s next for Teresa Culkin-Lawrence? Another book about babies, an exhibition coming up and hopefully a holiday with some horse riding.

Guest Post: Allison Paterson on I Wonder

I Wonder was inspired by a visit to my local beach at daybreak. It’s a beautiful beach. The sun reaches across the rolling waves as it gently wakes the day. This long stretch of golden sand is my favourite place for a morning walk.

This day was different. I was dismayed to see rubbish lining the foreshore after a family event the night before. That’s right … a family event. It wasn’t malicious littering, it was careless … thoughtless, but it was littering. Resolute council workers were arriving to clean up the area, no doubt with the same sense of dismay.

I wondered why? Why would people leave behind such a mess which could ultimately find its way into the ocean? We are all aware of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the dangers of marine pollution. I was so very sad that no matter how much knowledge we have, we can still get it wrong, even unintentionally. That day I wrote the story of I Wonder. I’m thrilled for it to be the second book in Big Sky Publishing’s Caring for Our World series.

Author/Illustrator Interview: Andrew Joyner

Today we're joined by author/illustrator Andrew Joyner, whose new book series contains a gorgeous and loveable pig by the name of Boris. Who could resist that?

Tell us a little about you: what’s your background, your story? I grew up in Mannum, South Australia, a small town on the Murray River. I now live not too far from there, in a town called Strathalbyn on the edge of the Adelaide Hills, with my wonderful family and a continually expanding flock (sheep, ducks, chickens, guinea pigs, and so on).

I've always loved books and drawing, although I've taken the long way round to becoming a children's book illustrator. I went to uni and studied English Literature — for a little while I even thought of becoming an English academic. And by a little while I mean four (maybe even five!) years, which is how long I spent working on my still unfinished PhD.

Author/Illustrator Interview - Grahame Baker-Smith

Kids Book Review is all verklempt at featuring awesome talent Grahame Baker-Smith in this sensational interview. This incredibly talented illustrator recently released a beautiful book – Farther – which we reviewed right here on KBR, and he’s also just the loveliest man ever. Enjoy!

What’s your story? I was born in a small village in England near the town of Bicester surrounded by fields and farms. I remember being outside most of the time, playing in the woods and by the stream a half-mile away from our house.

Meet the Illustrator: Sandy Flett

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less. 
Sketchy
Squiggly
Sometimes Satirical
Cartoony and Colourful

What items are an essential part of your creative space? Multiple cups of tea. There must be at least a couple of cups gone cold on my desk, with the teabag still in the cup. Podcasts to listen to. Often, weirdly, True Crime podcasts. Artworks that I’m especially pleased with. And a massive pile of books by some of my favourite children’s authors and illustrators.

KBR Recommends: Picture Books - Mar 2011

Sometimes the picture book thing can get really overwhelming here at KBR. Both of us are great fans of the genre and we never fail to become mesmerised, astonished and entranced by the myriad talent on offer - not only within Australia - but worldwide.

Here, then, are some fabulous recent picture book titles for you to peruse through - enjoy every picture-y moment.

When Moreton and his parents Go-ma and Go-pa are forced to leave their beautiful home in Sydney′s Botanic Gardens, they decide they need to move somewhere that′s high above the ground, away from all the humans.

Review: The New Dog

They call me Babykins. They call me beautiful. They call me other names as well. But I am Kiddo. The new dog.

A complete breath of fresh air (not dog’s breath), this book told from the dog’s point of view, is a delight. 

Kiddo has replaced old Teddy in the household and has inherited all of his paraphernalia as well. A water bowl, couches to sleep on, a bed with the humans, numerous lobsters, two dolls, a duck, a leo the lion. But most of all, Kiddo inherits a lifestyle. And what a lifestyle it is. 

Warm patches of sunshine in the backyard depicted by splotches of bright yellow paint among the boring wiggly grass, along with smelly dirt to dig in, a kitchen pantry housing full loaves of bread and miniature packets of chips. What’s not to love.

12 Curly Questions with author Claire Christian

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I LOVE action movies. The daggier the better. I’m all about big explosions, car chases, epic stunts, bad dialogue – they make me unreasonably happy.

2. What is your nickname? 

Pearl. I’ve had the nickname since I was about five or six. My brother and I started calling each ‘Roy’ and ‘Pearl’ as a riff on ‘boy’ and ‘girl’. I wish I knew the story behind it, because it’s stuck for so long. My brother and I both have Roy and Pearl tattoos and my Mum called her two dogs Roy and Pearl as an ode to her kids who had left the nest. 'Claire and Pearl' is the name of my blog and social media handles now, too.

Review: Prank Lab

This book will blow your mind (perhaps quite literally!).

Exploding with prank potential, this is THE book to get your little loves if they are into whacky science fun. Prank Lab ticks all the boxes.

Let’s start with design.

A beautiful curved edge cover and curved edge paper. Glossy pages with a colour explosion on each. 

Colour coded sections that help divide up each part of the book. Picture based instructions for all the experiments and pranks, helping kids to do it themselves.

Meet The Illustrator: Jeanette Stampone

Name: Jeanette Stampone

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Digital with the traditional look of collage or charcoal sketch.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
All I need is my ipad, my Apple Pencil and a comfy chair.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love digital collage. It’s the beauty and texture of collage without all the mess! Perfect for for art on the go, or when you have limited time.

Name three artists whose work inspires you. 

Review: Sweet Damage

Tim Ellison is a cool, relaxed kid. He likes a good surf, appreciates a hot chick and is more than happy working a few nights a week in his dad's restaurant, waiting tables. He's a likeable character - both for his tousled good looks and relaxed attitude, but also because he has heart.

Author Rebecca James likes to write characters with heart.

Tim has been staying with his ex-girlfriend Lilla and her thug-like boyfriend Patrick. He needs a place of his own, and when a cheap, too-good-to-be-true room comes up at Fairview, one of Fairlight's most beautiful mansions, Tim is curious. He feels compelled to check it out. Surely, it must come with some kind of 'catch'.

He's right.

Guest Post: An Inconvenient Dog

KBR warmly welcomes author Charlotte Lance with this guest post on the adorable inspiration behind her new picture book I Have A Dog.

The very things in our lives that drive us truly nutty can sneak up on us as the very things we can’t live without. Strange, but it’s a beautiful thing to be surprised by how much we need something, don’t you think?

So I tell myself when I wake up each morning to my dog. My inconvenient dog.

Meet The Illustrator: Aśka

Name: Aśka 

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Fast, energetic, loud, cornucopia of emotions (both big and subtle).

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Most of my work is digital so a comfy set up is essential: a good chair, big non-reflective screen, and some reliable and well-loved retro tech. I also have copious amounts of one-sided/recycled paper for printing out countless samples and for biro-sketches.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Black ink. When I was younger, I worked with the nib pen but being left-handed and pretty messy, the ink would often take over the whole work space (and me!). 

Today I love using brush pens. Their contained nature means the mess usually only travels as far as my elbow. There is something wonderful about the unwieldiness of ink and how big the role of chance in an ink drawing is. It’s something I struggle to reproduce onscreen.

Meet The Illustrator: Helen Milroy

Name: Helen Milroy

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whatever works at the time, lots of colour and movement

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Mess. I do like a lot of things to look at like cards, books, paintings, photos. I also like a lot of stuff like toys, pencils, paints, material, craft, canvases. I also like drawing in the garden. When travelling all I need is my iPad. I also love it when my cat sits with me.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love acrylic paint on canvas but now I use the digital medium. It is great to be able to take your artwork with you wherever you go.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Shaun Tan
Shirley Purdie
Leonardo Da Vinci

Guest Post: Brenda Gurr on Creating Character Mood Boards

Are you a frustrated creative writer who struggles to create compelling characters? 

I completely understand! Three-dimensional characters who leap off the page are so tough to conjure up but are vital to every story. 

You need to know them inside out and back-to-front before you can commit them to the page. The standard method to create book characters is to write a profile, in which you list all their unique attributes, from their hair colour to their favourite childhood memories. 

You can also add a photo clipped from a magazine or found on the internet that approximates what your character looks like in your mind. A variation on this is the character interview, where you ask your characters questions about their lives and answer in their voices. 

These methods are supremely useful and, I think, necessary to help you understand the beings that populate your manuscripts. 

But whenever I used to finish one of these, I would feel a bit flat. So would the characters I was trying to create. Something was missing… that vital spark, that way into really getting my characters to LIVE.

12 Curly Questions with author Maryam Master

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I have a serious phobia of cats! I get heart palpitations whenever I see one. I cross the road to avoid them. And I’m especially scared of those hairless ones with the saggy, wrinkly skin. Terrifying!

2. What is your nickname?
Maz.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Besides cats? Losing my kids in a big crowd. They’re older now so I don’t worry as much but when they were little, I’d cling to them like glue when we were out and about.