Oliver

Author and Illustrator: Birgitta Sif

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Recommended for Kindergarten to Year Two

Three different staff members independently picked this book out of a collection of books from a supplier. Oliver "felt a bit different". Exactly how or why he is different is not explained. He plays lots of games, but even in a room full of people he plays with his toys and puppets. He loves to read and has all sorts of adventures. As we get to the end of the book Oliver starts another adventure... he befriends a little girl who likes to play just the way he does. Charmingly the book has "The End" crossed out and replaced by "The Beginning".

The illustrations are delightful and much of the story is told through these pictures that combine an expressive free style with rich detail. Most pages have a single picture as a double spread, and they are full of things to notice, discuss and comment on. I thoroughly approve of books that can be pored over and explored.

The take home message is that we don't all have to like or do the same things (an important point in this age of globalism and advertising mediated conformity), but that relationships are a wonderful adventure. This book works well as a book to read out loud, but will also work as a visual story for little ones to read to themselves even without the words.

Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre

The Travelling Restaurant: Jasper’s Voyage in Three Parts

Author: Barbara Else

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This fantasy novel details the adventures of a young twelve year old boy, Jasper Ludlow. By all accounts he is an ordinary boy who is trying to cross Old Ocean and Lake Riversea. Readers can follow a map inside the book cover to help track Jasper’s quest to find his baby sister…  and to save the kingdom of Fontania from the Provisional Monarch, Lady Gall.

There are hungry pirates, troublesome monkeys and a whirlpool for Jasper and the crew of the Restaurant to negotiate. Mystery surrounds many of the characters and it is hard to know who to trust.

This is suitable for age nine and up.  

Helen Sillar

The Great Expedition

Author: Peter Carnavas

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This book is about a team of brave young explorers, a group of little kids who have been directed by their mum to deliver a parcel to their grandma. Some of the explorers don’t make it and in the end there are only two explorers left who have made it across the wild country.

This may sound serious but when you look inside the book you find the wild country is in fact a local playground. The inspiration for this story has come from the story of Burke and Wills, the two men who led an 1860-61 expedition to become the first Europeans to cross the Australian continent from south to north.

The illustrations are delightful and there is a great play between the words and pictures. A wordless double page illustration shows the land the children have crossed. This is suitable for young folk age four and up.

Helen Sillar

My Uncle's Donkey

Author: Tobhy Riddle

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I was quite surprised when I finally closed this book. I had thought this book was just for children because of the adorable illustrations. When children read this book, they will think the donkey is cute and funny, but I suspect they won't care about the existence of the uncle.
I read the title and thought that this book would be a delightful story about the uncle and the donkey. The donkey was acting like a human: watching TV, playing piano and eating food with a fork. However when I saw the uncle's face I was surprised because his face is so emotionless. The donkey doesn't look sad at all. It looks like it is used to having fun.

It is interesting that the narrator is a little kid. The book starts with the sentence "My uncle's donkey is allowed in the house!". The kid starts to enumerate how donkey acts, and the story ends with the question "I wonder if my uncle's donkey would be allowed in our house?". It seems that the kid envies the uncle very much for having a donkey in his house, and would like the donkey to be in his/her home, too. That is because the kid thinks that it will be great to be with the donkey which is very friendly and funny. But the uncle, it seems, never thinks like that. He looks bored.

We realise that we can't find the uncle in every pages of the book. We only can find him in the pages about eating, working and watching TV. His life is tedious compared to the donkey's life which includes cartwheels, hanging out with friends and staying up late reading a favorite book.. I think Riddle tried to describe a life of a contemporary man who is so busy so he can't enjoy his life at all and so starts to become emotionally flat.

This book is an adorable picture book however I don't think that it is only for children. The narrator is just talking about what the donkey does, but we can find the true meaning of this story through the illustrations. I love this kind of book. An author doesn't need to write a 500 page book to express his thoughts. Through pictures an author can make people understand his opinion just as effectively.

Noelle Lee (Year 10)

Me…Jane

Author: Patrick McDonnell

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This is a great information book about Dr Jane Goodall, who has recently visited Australia. She is a primatologist, environmentalist, humanitarian and United Nations Messenger of Peace.


Little Jane Goodall and Jubilee (her toy chimpanzee) ramble outside their English country home observing everyday animal miracles and dreaming of a life in Africa, "living with, / and helping, / all animals”. There are simple ink-and-watercolour illustrations . Included is a brief biography, additional photographs and a letter and drawing from Jane herself.


Many publishers are producing information books that are in the picture book style so they can reach children who are visual learners. Expect to see more like this. This is suitable for students from Year Four up.


Helen Sillar

That’s not a daffodil!

Author Elizabeth Honey

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This is a lovely picture book with bright illustrations.

It is about a boy named Tom who receives a daffodil bulb from his elderly neighbour Mr Yilmaz to plant. They plant the bulb together and Mr Yilmaz comes in regularly asking “How’s the daffodil?”and Tom replies each time with “That’s not a daffodil!.” During the process Tom imagines the daffodil and its pot in all sorts of ways. Initially he thinks the bulb is like an onion, and then after the bulb was planted he thought of a desert. When the bulb sprouts he then goes on to describe it as a “green beak” which he proceeds to measure as it grows. It becomes like “Grandpa’s hairs in the wind” and “wet rocket” before it finally becomes a “Trumpet of gold”. The daffodil does have a tumble during the story due to an encounter by Mr Yilmaz’ grandchildren’s dog but Mr Yilmaz shows Tom how to fix it up so it can keep growing.

This is a funny and playful book which has a lovely story about the relationship between an elderly man and a young boy. The friendship between the two and the great imagination of a young child is priceless. As a parent I would enjoy sharing this good-humoured book with children over and over again.

By Kellie Geoghegan

The Legend of the Golden Snail

Graeme Base
It is hard not to have a great sense of anticipation when you open a new Graeme Base book. His books are full of engaging, wonderfully detailed illustrations designed to be pored over by older and younger readers. The Legend of the Golden Snail is equally attractive, but there are some new approaches as well. Some of the illustrations seek to capture the experience of sailing through vast and lonely oceans, so he has exchange crowded details for subtly shaded panoramas.


The story is quirky, and structured in a way that will please younger readers. Young Wilbur hears the story of the giant snail, converted to a sailing ship by an enchanter. The opening pictures suggest the rest of the story is Wilbur’s imagination, but that can be left to the young reader to decide. I confess that I was hoping for a more emotionally engaging tale but still enjoyed the many pages of illustration.


There are a number of extra features that add appeal. You are greeted by a miniature book inside the front cover (the one that Wilbur’s mother reads to him), which has a lift up flap showing another (older) book inside it, with another lift up flap inside that! At the end we are told to go back and look for the “snail and cross bones” to be found on every page, and then there is the official Graeme Base web page. This is a beautifully constructed site (well worth a look). When children have found all the “snail and cross bone” symbols they can log in, answer some questions then get access to special features on the website, including activities you can play by holding the book up to a web camera!


This is a lovely book with much to commend it, though in some ways I would prefer less cuteness and more story. It will suit younger readers (and is also good for “read to me” moments). I like the idea of the online extension.


Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre

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Now

By Morris Gleitzman

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If you are only familiar with Gleitzman’s Misery Guts or his other tongue in cheek stories for younger readers, this book will come as a shock. It is a serious, layered, complex and completely engaging story. It is certainly designed for the younger teen reader, though it needs to be understood by parents that some serious topics are under examination, including the terror of a massive firestorm and the harsh reality of its victims.


This is the third in his series of books that touch on the life of Felix, a ten year old boy growing up in Nazi Germany. In Now, Felix is a grandfather, and the story is told by his granddaughter who he is caring for. Part of the drama is in the question of why young Zelda’s parents are not around. As she says at one point “In our family... the parents always leave the kids... I think we should stop it”.


Zelda does her best to cope in a new school, but for some reason an older student Tonya starts to bully her. Things get more and more difficult, but Felix quickly senses what is going on... after all he is an expert in what it is like to live with bullies.


I was in tears by the end of this relatively short novel: Gleitzman shows that he can explore complex “adult” topics of the sort our growing children often encounter, while staying within the confines of the age he chosen to write for. You will want to find out more about the characters, and re-read the tale to savour the details. Suitable for Year Five and up, though parent co-reading would be sensible for those who may not be comfortable with the intense drama in parts of this.

Australian Backyard Explorer

by Peter Macinnis

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Australian Backyard Exlorer is on the Children’s Book Council of Australia 2010 non-fiction shortlist.


The book looks at the science that confronted the early explorers of Australia. It provides projects and activities that help the reader investigate the problems early explorers faced. It is suitable for age eight and upwards. There are many ways to browse the information. For instance you can focus on the highlighted paragraphs. I hope it will inspire students to become Backyard Explorers themselves! The book has a helpful and positive environmental theme.


review by Helen Sillar