Tag Archives: Friends

May29

Backyard Footy – Carl Merrison. Illustrated by Samantha Campbell

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Hachette

Hardback MAY 31, 2023 | 9780734421517 | RRP $19.99

This is another fabulous footy book from Carl Merrison and the exuberance of the narrative leaps off the page like a specky.

In his own backyard, in the Kimberley, Jy is playing footy, because kicking the ball is fun! When he accidentally kicks the ball over the fence, his neighbour, Kitara, joins in and goes for the catch – but oops! over the next fence goes the ball. Kicking the ball IS fun, but playing with friends is better.

And so the story goes on, with another friend with a different skill joining in along the way, until there is one big happy mob having a game on the local oval. Readers will enjoy the game of footy but they will also take note of the setting from the rich red soil to the lush backyards and orchards, this is a virtual visit to a region that I’ve not yet seen in a picture book, and one which would provide much interest.

Take your kiddos on a Google maps tour of the Kimberley and research what the region is like, and where in Australia it is located. Children will be fascinated by the remote wilderness and likely find it hard to believe that people do live there, let alone kids playing football!

Carl’s writing is joyful and the glorious colours of the illustrations make this a knock-out. The footy-mad kids are depicted with bold colours and outlines,set against backdrops of muted pastel skies and mountain ranges. And the endpapers are just gorgeous!

Both author and illustrator are First Nations creators and this book is part of a new sporty series developed by SLQ’s black-and-write!, a program aimed at fostering First Nations creators and editors. You won’t want to miss this and neither will your young footy fans.

Highly recommended for kiddos from Prep upwards.

9780734421517-teachers-resourcesDownload
May5

Miss Penny Dreadful & the Malicious Maze – Allison Rushby

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Walker Books Australia

ISBN13:9781760654047

Australia RRP:$15.99

New Zealand RRP:$17.99

I love a great mystery, and I especially like that some of our authors will pitch this popular genre to our younger readers. This is the second Penny Dreadful from Allison Rushby and I can already see a growing fanbase for this series. We know Penny is living with her (somewhat eccentric) author Aunt Harriet, in the unexplained absence of her parents. We also know that Aunt Harriet’s so-called publisher is a very unscrupulous, slippery individual, aptly named Uriel Crowley. What we don’t exactly know just yet is the full extent of Crowley’s machinations behind both Penny’s absent parents and his perfidious dealings around Aunt Harriet’s livelihood. This newest episode sees Penny and her aunt visiting a relative named Sir Fotherfill, in order for Aunt Harriet to be fully inspired by his famous hedge. There is however, some strange stories circulating about the hedge – and disappearing servants. Penny is too canny to be taken in by nonsense about maze hedges that ‘eat’ people so goes about her investigations, in her own quiet way, with the help of some new friends to uncover the truth.

When I reviewed the first in this new series, I pointed out that this is very like Enola Holmes or Rose Ravensthorpe for a younger audience, and that is exactly the vibe of these stories.

Younger readers who are keen for a mystery and the chance of spotting the villain in the piece, will love these and the resilience and ingenuity of Penny is very engaging. How special is it that within the space of a week I am able to review two books from the talented Rushby family? – and rightly, we are very proud of this talent right here in Brisbane!! This is a series that is supremely suited to your readers who are moving beyond the really easy chapter books and looking for something with a little more ‘meat’. Highly recommended for readers from around 8 years upwards.

Sep25

The Tea Ladies of St Jude’s Hospital – Joanna Nell

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Hachette

September 2021

ISBN: 9780733642906

RRP: $32.99

When it’s the spring school holidays nothing quite beats sitting on the verandah with just enough sunshine and warmth to be pleasantly comfy, with a large cuppa, and a fabulous, fun book to read. Needless to say, Joanna Nell has cracked that again with this new one, again exploring the, sometimes surprising, bonds between women.

Hilary, Joy and Chloe could not, on first impressions, be any more different to each other and yet, as their friendship develops, they discover that each is trying desperately to hide a secret from the wider world.

Hilary has been the manager of St Jude’s cafeteria for years. What started as her token nod to philanthropy has gradually become her passion, and now, as she faces a future bereft of husband, assets and friends, it is the constancy of the café and her role within it that sustains her.

Joy is the recent newcomer volunteer. She is determined to get back into living a full life as well as giving back to the hospital, following her husband Len’s cancer journey. She may be habitually late but with her colorful clothes, hair and eyelashes, she certainly adds a much-needed pop of pizzazz to the Marjorie Marshall Memorial cafeteria. After all, after five decades, the establishment is looking a little frayed around the edges.

Chloe is the 18 year old Duke of Edinburgh student, daughter of two high-flyer surgeons, sister of two doctor brothers and on her way, supposedly, to her own medical career. Her inability to deal with the sight of blood, and needles, would appear to be a handicap to this, and with all her heart, she wishes she could pursue the career in creative arts she yearns for, and excels in.

When traditional St Jude’s undergoes a huge refurbishment, the much-loved café faces complete extinction in the wake of a health-food hipster super chain called ‘Platter’. How can these three set aside their initial differences and work together to create not only a solution but provide the emotional sustenance they each need?

This is another of Joanna’s delightful ‘feel good’ reads that is both a pleasant departure from our own reality but also a reminder of the healing qualities of friendships, the importance of solid values and the persuasive nature of people power. There is a lot of depth to this despite it’s surface appearance of humorous ‘chick lit’ novel and there will be many who can relate to at least one of the main characters, all of whom are extremely likeable – even when they are being a bit odd!

Recommended highly for your leisure reading – put the kettle on, sit back and enjoy!

Apr16

Big Hug Little Mouse – Lisa Kerr

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1568589398936

Walker Books Australia

March 2020

ISBN: 9781760651107
Imprint: Walker Books Australia
Australian RRP: $24.99
New Zealand RRP: $26.99

It is certainly not an ideal time to launch new books but it is the perfect time to share a book about hugs especially for little people who are missing out on those special cuddles from grandparents, other family and friends.

Millie loves all the things that most little people do like jumping mud puddles, chasing butterflies and eating Grandma’s cookies but most of all she loves hugs. So when she wakes up one day feeling rather flat and sad (and how many of our kiddos would be feeling likewise right now?) she thinks she must have lost her hug.  So with her friend Harry she goes off to find it and of course, has many of her special friends are more than happy to share their love.

Lisa Kerr has done a spectacular job of creating such a simple but very touching story about the beauty of connection and in these parlous times this is such an important message to convey. So many kinds of hugs to share – whether for hello or goodbye, with one arm or when you are sleepy – all of these will delight the little people who have the pleasure of reading this.

What is your favourite type of hug? Naturally mine are the special ones from my girl – who even though she’s the too-cool teen still has that loving aspect to her nature.

HIghly recommended for little readers from around 3 years upwards.

 

Jan27

Evie and Pog (series)– Tania McCartney

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Evie and Pog Take Off FINAL COVER

Harper Collins Australia

January 2020

I’ve said before that Tania McCartney is uber-talented (as well as being one of the very nicest humans I know) and I for one am tremendously excited about this new series pitched at newly independent readers. It’s just fabulous to see a few new series to add to these collections!

 High in a tree house live two very best friends. One is a girl and one is a dog. And everyone knows them as Evie and Pog.

So starts each book and just like ‘Once upon a time..’ the pattern will signal to children that the fun and adventures are about to begin. These stories absolutely ooze exuberance with their characters and antics. Evie is six years old and lives with Pog in a slightly eccentric tree house alongside Granny Gladys who lives in a rather large, though no less eccentric, house. Evie loves crashing her cymbals, rolling in the daisy spot lawn, reading, cakes and knitting. Pog loves reading too but he prefers to sit at the table with a large cup of tea and his newspaper. He also loves vegetables – in any shape or form. Granny is a tidier and a rampant cleaner who is almost permanently attached to her dust buster. She also loves knitting and baking cakes (though not the mess that always seems to arise from cooking!).

They have some good friends like Noah and Mr Pooch and Miss Footlights and the adventures often include these characters.

Each book contains three separate stories and the uniform format with the double page spread of the tree house plan as the frontispiece and the cast of characters and the map of the village on the final pages gives readers that sense of continuity and familiarity they love.

Each is chockers with Tania’s humorous and always endearing  illustrations and loaded with onomatopoeia and a wonderful variety of fonts giving each an even more lively feel.

Evie and Pog: Take Off! [Evie and Pog #1]

y648

ISBN: 9781460757932

ISBN 10: 1460757939

Imprint: HarperCollins – AU

List Price: 12.99 AUD

  •  Puppy School Mess
  •  School Play Drama
  •  Cake Stall Chaos

 

I’m pretty sure you can surmise from the story titles that there is a continuing theme of incidents filled with rambunctiousness and hilarity which generally involve lots of  knitting yarn (usually in tangles), cakes and unexpected happenings.

For example, when Granny decides Pog must go to Puppy School with Mr Pooch it is not the dogs who win the Puppy Challenge  – and certainly not Pog who is completely and utterly against such demeaning activities – but Evie who aces the challenge course and becomes the first ‘girl’ winner.

 

 

Evie and Pog: Puppy Playtime! [Evie and Pog #2]

y648 (1)

ISBN: 9781460757949

ISBN 10: 1460757947

Imprint: HarperCollins – AU

List Price: 12.99 AUD

  • Reno Rumble
  • Classroom Contraption
  • Puppy Park

The tree house is freezing and Evie, Pog and Granny decide it’s time to renovate and what better way to do so than with knitting. They could really use some help though and when Noah comes to visit they know he will be the perfect person to assist – even only they can work out how to get him up into the tree house, Noah being too heavy for the basket which is the general method of entry.

Of course throughout each of these is again the signature knitting, cakes, often surprising accidental events which are always resolved happily (and with the aid of the aforementioned knitting and cakes).

These are truly hilarious and quirky almost to a point of outlandishly silly which little readers will absolutely love. The belly laughs will be plentiful I predict!

 

Highly recommended for younger readers from around six years upwards. What a joy they are!

9781460757932-2

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Jul6

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid – Jeff Kinney

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diarykid

Penguin Random House

9781760892517

April  2019

Puffin

RRP: $14.99

 

After 13 Wimpy Kid books the series shows no signs of losing any popularity – kids from 8 to 15 are still lapping them up voraciously.  However, if such an unlikely event were to occur, Jeff Kinney has come up with a superb new twist on his famous characters.

 

We all know Rowley, Greg’s best friend and faithful sidekick and now he’s writing his own diary. Well, that’s how it begins but as usual with Greg’s influence it becomes rather more. In fact, it morphs into a biography of Greg as told by Rowley – who is quite possibly not the best choice for a writer to immortalise one’s talented and exciting life.

 

Rowley’s rather innocent outlook on life and indeed, Greg, makes for hilarious entries in his diary and only rarely does he allow himself to be the tiniest bit critical of his life-long friend. Whether it’s recalling past pranks or troubles or dares, readers gain a whole new perspective on Greg and Rowley – well, ok that may be a bit of an exaggeration as we all know that Rowley is the nice one and Greg is really a bit of a pain as a friend.

 

No matter, fans will gobble this up as quickly as the others and no doubt re-read it as many times.

 

Probably no need to recommend it because it will fly off the shelves regardless but still – recommended for those who like a bit of silliness and a fun read from around 8 years upwards.