Review: Willow Bright's Secret Plot

Twelve -year-old Willow is sent by her dad to stay with Aunt Cressida and cousin Fleur while he works to fulfill the promise of a home for the two of them.

Dad secretly realizes that she needs be taught girl things that he is unable to explain, as her mum died years ago but is still alive in Willow’s daily thoughts. 

There is no warm welcome at her aunt’s place. 

Fleur resents having to share a room with Willow, whom she views as a country bumpkin, so mostly ignores her.

At school, she must stand against the bully Miles, and his band of followers, that have the power to make her feel more alienated than Fleur does. 

Raised on a cattle farm, Willow is the total opposite to her cousin. She is vocal, active, intuitive and raw in her approach to city life and its expectations.

Guest Post: Vanessa Maiorano on What Cancer Taught Me About Being A Mum

Motherhood has always been portrayed as this messy, magical, all-consuming love story. 

You imagine the baby cuddles, the tired eyes, the giggles, the growth. You prepare for long nights, teething, tantrums, and heart-melting milestones. 

But what I never prepared for was parenting while battling cancer.

I was diagnosed just weeks after giving birth to my second child. At a time when I was meant to be soaking up the newborn phase, adjusting to life as a mum of two, and holding my toddler’s hand through her own big emotions, I found myself staring down a fight for my life.

Junior Review: Who Might You Be?

Who might you be today? Who might you be tomorrow?

Who Might You Be? Written and illustrated by Robert Henderson asks these questions. 

It makes me think I can be anyone I want to be. It makes me wonder what it would be like to be lots of different things and different personalities.

It’s about how you can be a different person tomorrow than the person you are today. 

You do not just have to be one person for your whole life. You can be different every day.

Review: Animals on Country

Animals on Country combines education and fun as Uncle Kuu takes us for a walk to learn about Australian animals.

If you look carefully, you can see fresh tracks on the ground where different animals have been roaming around.

Review: 11 Ruby Road 1950

The third book in the fantastic Our Australian Girl series, 11 Ruby Road 1950, throws open the doors of history on the post-war years. 

Light is shed on the lives of the people living on Ruby Road; lives well-lived with love and kindness shared, entwined with one another, regardless of their differences.

Mum Betty has not been herself since the birth of baby Maria. 

Gran arranges for her to spend some time in the country to recuperate from what she tells everybody, is a bout of influenza.

Twelve-year-old Patsy is sent for her summer holidays to Ruby Road where Uncle Alex and Aunt Mary own a Milk Bar. 

She hopes to keep busy to prevent becoming bored, while filling her sketchbook which is her constant companion, with whatever she sees. 

Meet The Illustrator: Dani G

Name: Dani G

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Quirky, fun, bold colours, colourful, Australiana, stark, different, organic.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My desktop computer with the Adobe Creative Suite, Ipad and Apple pencil. Walls printed with photographs of my inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium
Although I work digitally, I do love traditional media such as printmaking using lino tiles and ink. I also love working with paper and oil pastels and getting messy with a mixed media approach.

Review: The Enchantment of Golden Eagle

A whimsical tale of love and family, The Enchantment of  Golden Eagle is one of those books that flies into your heart and builds a nest there.

It will spark questions and deep thinking in young and old — the kind of picture book I truly adore!

In this Margaret Wild and Stephen Michael King gem, Ella and her brother Leif find a baby eagle. They care for the eagle as he grows older and stronger. 

Review: OceanForged - The Wicked Ship

It is a Dark Age for the Realm of Aquinta. Before the Prime Council, in the Age of Glory, the Champions ruled. The Radiant Palace belonged to those heroes who wore OceanForged armour - a set of magical artifices shaped with extreme heat and cooled by the salt water of their sea.

The Prime Council takes over the Radiant Palace.  New laws suppressing the citizens are enforced till they are unable to survive. The burrows become their home. 

Poverty prevails.

Warnings are not circulated before the cyclone hits. The burrows flood. All those caught within, drown, including eight-year-old Cori’s parents. 

Life is preparing Cori for a great adventure when she discovers information about the artificers that created OceanForged Armour. 

Junior Review: Shmoof

Shmoof is shmoofy. Shmoof is VERY shmoofy. Shmoof might even be the SHMOOFIEST dog there ever was.

The story of Shmoof is a follow up to the well-known book Floof. 

Shmoof is just about to meet Floof and is ready to be friends with Floof. Floof is ready to never be friends with Shmoof.

But then comes the … vacuum cleaner!

Guest Post: Dr. Stephanie Gutnik on What Readers (of All Ages) Can Learn From Children's Books

The story goes that from the time I could carry a book, I would arrange a stack next to my mom or dad and read for hours. I enjoyed everything from the glimmering illustrations in The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister to the silly and soothing sounds of rhythm and rhymes by Robert Munsch.

My parents’ consistent efforts of reading to me led to a pastime of reading on my own. The return on their investment was never having to hear 'I’m bored' from their oldest child, whose nose was always in a book.

Review: One Koala One Hundred Trees

I could not love this book more if I tried. And it’s not just because koalas happen to be very, very cute.

Dad and I find an injured koala on our property …

Dad says keeping koalas safe will be a big job.

I need a plan and help from some friends …’

There is so much to digest and reflect upon in this book – for everyone, not just picture book aged readers.

12 Curly Questions with children's author Jess Horn

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I’m terrible at picking favourites and answering questions without context. Actually, that’s probably something people do know about me, but I felt the need to add it here to preface my answers to the remaining 11 questions. In more obscure news, I once created an incredibly long insult using my extensive Ghostbusters vocabulary to ward off bullies. Did it work? No. But it thoroughly baffled them
for a bit, which I consider a mild success. I can still recite it to this day, so if you ever end up in my bad books … consider yourself warned.

Review: Dragon Forged: Sword of the Champion

It is a century since the passing of the last Champion. The Day of Legend is drawing near when a new hero will arise, and Goddess Draela’s Champion will restore Draeland to the locals, after years of captivity by the Fiendlord.

Orin is courageous and modest. With his friends Beatrix and Pascal, he goes in search of a missing villager. They are well equipped for any attack by the goblins who have recently overrun the village, due to their their mentor Bruno, who has been training them for the Village Guard.

But life has other plans for them all.

When Orin and friends lead an attack on the fiends sent to destroy Draeland, a power is released in Orin. 

Review: Tiny Dancer

In the notes that accompany this book, author Patrick Guest mentions the ‘undying love only a mother can give,’ and I strongly, humbly beg to differ.

For it is this father’s undying love that has borne magic, mystery and wonder in abundance with the birth of picture book, Tiny Dancer.

‘Tiny Dancer is about making each moment count and living life to the full.’

A tortoise may live for over one hundred years. An olive tree, up to five thousand. But a mayfly lives for just one day.

Meet The Illustrator: Michèle Dodd

Name: Michèle Dodd

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Semi realistic, quirky, colourful and totally original

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A beautiful view, Lyra pencils, watercolours, scalpel, Lyra .25 lead pencil, a make-up brush to remove dust, paintbrushes and a Staedtler rubber.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Pencil and watercolour.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Van Gogh, Maurice Sendak and Julie Vivas

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Would have to be when The Heidelberg School artists were in full swing creating amazing Australian landscapes at their artist camps in the Heidelberg area - late 1880’s to early 1890’s.

Review: Luna's World Bk #2 - Friendship Fail

Friendship Fail is the second title in the excellent series, Luna’s World. 

Luna is a wonderful, relatable character.  

She is smart, loves books, writing and the diary she is encouraged to keep, helps to centre her when her mind is whirring. 

It has been five weeks since Luna’s last entry. So much has happened during that time.

Luna and her Mum have become dog walkers. 

Their persistence and lots of advertising found them customers.