Seriously, I’m always so in awe of creators who can do both the text and the illustrations – for someone who yearns to have even a smidgin of creativity it seems a little unfair -haha!
This is another title I shared with numerous classes over the closing weeks of Term 4 – again from Prep upwards to Year 3 and once again it was received with tumultous applause – even the older children loved the rollicking rhymes and the oh-so-cute illustrations.
We all had lots fun talking who had or had not seen meerkats yet (many in my neighbourhood have gone to Australia Zoo), where meerkats live, why does EVERYONE love them so much and imagining other funny antics they might get up to. They totally loved the reveal of the pups pyramid-ing their way to form a Christmas Tree and there was much laughter all round.
And what do I love? I absolutely adore the endpapers (as everyone knows, they are a passion of mine) and I love that the rhyming text flows naturally with rhythmic grace and ease and never sounds forced or discordant (which frankly, annoys me often in books by ‘award winning’ authors whose scansion leaves much to be desired) – this is just fabulous and the top reason for it being such a joy to read aloud!
This is truly an adorable addition to your Christmas bookshelf and for a little person in your circle particularly would make for a beautiful gift under the tree or in their wee stocking.
Highly recommended for small pups from around 4 years to 8 years old.
Zola and the Christmas Lights – Melina Marchetta/Deb Hudson
Penguin Australia
October 2022
ISBN: 9780143777649
Imprint: Puffin
RRP: $19.99
For the entirety of the delightful What Zola did On… series, Melina Marchetta consistently delivered such beautiful and meaningful messages to young readers around diversity, community, empathy, friendship and family, all without once becoming preachy or tedious. It truly was joyful to read each new instalment. Now Zola has her very first (and let’s hope, not last) picture book and once again Zola’s story embodies all that made the chapter books so special.
Before school finished up I had the pleasure of sharing this gorgeous book with at least five different classes from Prep to Year 3 and all not only loved it, but also keenly participated in predicting and postulating. It was a highlight of my last few weeks of casual teaching.
Best of all for the very diverse population of children with whom I shared this, there was not one who could not identify with some aspect of this Australian celebration, from my sweet girl who so excitedly told me ‘we have a lantern just like that for Ramadan and my mum wears [that]’ i.e.a hijab, to the ones who could talk earnestly about some people finding it hard to buy groceries, to the ones who had already put up Xmas decorations. We really did have such fun and such richness from it.
Of course the narrative is beautifully illustrated by Deb Hudson, whose work enhanced the chapter books so ably but now explodes into a perfect riot of colour and detail.
It’s not too late to pick up a copy and share with your own little people – and enjoy the talk about what our various celebrations mean to us all.
Highly recommended for readers from 4 years upwards.
Whatever, and however you celebrate I wish you all safe and happy holidays, from me and The Kid. Many thanks to all who follow and bother to read my reviews – which are haphazardly posted at best – and I’m thrilled to see that this year the blog has had well over 10 000 views!!!! Wow!! 2023 marks a decade since I decided to start collating the reviews I was doing in one place ,and began Just So Stories, and there have been many, many changes in my life since then. It looks like my full-time teaching days are over but will still need to keep earning somehow for a while to support The Kid so new adventures await.
Not only do I want to thank you all but also the wonderful authors, illustrators, creators and of course the publicists at various publishing houses who let me play in their world. I have a couple of Christmas reviews to write up and post today, and then about twenty more to catch up on (!!) after the festivities are done.
I do hope your own celebrations are filled with joy – The Kid and I will be in our happy place for three days (very like Kev in that illustration!) and ours will be slow and salty.
When I saw the little piece today that Netflix has announced that Heartstopper Season 2 has wrapped up, I just knew it was the day to share this one! The graphic series that started as a slow burn 2 years ago or soon, with many of us recommending i,t has steadily gained a huge following but the Netflix series not only clinched its popularity but saw it skyrocket like nothing I’ve seen since the frenzy of HP years ago.
This is going to make the ultimate stocking stuffer for any tween or teen in your circle, as Alice Oseman takes her readers through the whole journey of Heartstopper, with profiles on characters (and even pets!), the artwork including ‘how to draw’ activities for fans, backstories and more.
While there is some room for an owner-reader to personalise the book, I don’t believe this precludes it from a library shelf as these pages are few. For the most part this a celebration of the phenomenon that is Heartstopper along with some very pertinent commentary on the Pride movement, diversity and acceptance for all. The allure of this series is that it is genuinely sweet and wholesome, and every kiddo I know who has read it is not only instantly hooked but dragging in their friends to get hold of it next.
It is beautifully presented in this hardback edition, and would make a marvellous gift at any time but perhaps especially for a Christmas surprise. If, like me, you’ve needed four copies of each volume in the series in your collection, you won’t want to miss out on getting this one.
Highly recommended for readers from around 12 upwards.
Twenty years ago the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett won the Carnegie Medal for his 28th book in the Discworld series, the first written for children, so it is utterly fitting that finally this extraordinary, absurd fantasy should be brought to life – and brought to a new generation of readers in a filmed version.
Just in case anyone is unfamiliar with either Sir Terry’s work, Discworld or Maurice ….
…allow me to give you a little insight. This is a book that has everything I most prize in my reading: ridiculous humour and sparkling wit, twisted fairy-tales, quirky characters, talking animals, rats even more intelligent than their usual intellect and a happy ending. Maurice is a wily shyster of a cat, who is cannily manipulating a band of rats and a gormless youth to fleece villagers of ‘rat plagues’. Both cat and rats have intelligence out-ranking that of humans, can speak and even read and write (a little) following their consumption of mysterious magic rubbish from the university of wizardry. Just as they reach a more or less mutual decision to end their rather unscruplous con-game, they come upon a town in which a far nastier deception involving the manipulation of rats and the greed of individuals is taking place. Needless to say, after nail-biting adventures and narrow escapes, the unlikely comrades do indeed, rout the real ‘rats’ from the town and earn their place in its society in a wholly unprecedented rat-human symbiotic partnership.
It had been a long time since I had read it and I fell in love with it all over again. With the newly minted animated film due for release before Xmas, this is going to make a perfect stocking stuffer for youngsters from around 8 years upwards and definitely one to have on your shelves when school starts back in 2023.
Given my love of this series, Sir Terry Pratchett (whom we lost the day after my Jen. I used his quote at her farewell) and rats (I do miss my own ratty girls) this gets my highest recommendation. Hopefully it will spark a passion for Pratchett, that is shared by readers all over the world, in your kiddos.
BOHEMIAN RAT-SODY
Is this the rat life? Is this rat fantasy?
Bought from a feeder bin, escaped from reality
Open your eyes, look up to this guy and see
I’m just a poor floof, I need no sympathy
Because I’m squeezy tum, tiny toes, little ears, little nose
Anywhere the cheerios doesn’t really matter to me, to me
Mama, just bought a rat
Went to buy the cat a bed
To a snake, he would be fed
Mama, life has just begun
Cuz now I’ve gone and saved a floof today
Mama, ooh, didn’t mean to make you cry
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow
Call the vet, call the vet,
For I’ll be there with the ratters
Too late, what have I done?
To the pet store one last time, got 10 more and they’re all mine
Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the floof
Mama, ooh, I don’t want them to die
I sometimes wish they’d never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a rat
Boople snoot,
Boople snoot,
Will you watch his boggle eyes go
Chocolate chips and icing,
Very much enticing, Meep!
Can I free-roam? (Can I free-roam?)
Can I free-roam? (Can I free-roam?)
Can I free-roam, let me go, oh mumma no-oh-oh-oh!
No, no, NO NO!
I’m just a poor rat, nobody loves me,
He’s eating dinner, with his whole family,
Spare some roast beef for this baby rattie?
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Groomer! No, we will not let you go
(Let him go) Groomer! We will not let you go
(Let him go) Groomer! We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go) Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Oh power groomer, power groomer) Power groomer, let me go
Beaa-eaaaar-z-Bear has Calcifer on his side you see, you see, you see
So you think you can stop me cause I’m pink eyed?
So you think you can scritch me and leave me this high?
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