I was so proud of my three dresses. I took care of them so I'd always have  one to wash, one to wear and one spare.  This is a book that should be shared with children all over Australia (and beyond). For many children this story will be so thought provoking. Imagine if your Christmas present was a new dress - I am sure most little girls would be excited. And what if you were given three dresses - now that is sure to make you extra happy. But what if the three dresses were not new? These are second-hand dresses given to you by the Lutheran church. Have your emotions just been throu ..read more

It tells me on the cover this book contains 263 fun, fascinating and fact-filled lists.  Two hundred and sixty-three is an odd number - I guess their lists just evolved. They sure are random! I do enjoy books like this that are filled with trivia but my Teacher-Librarian brain would have liked the list to be arranged in some sort of order. On any one page there is an assortment of unrelated lists. Here are a few examples.  The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; Cures for Hiccups; Three really big spiders; African countries; and Ancient Olympic sports. Nobel Prize winners; Weird wa ..read more

A big brother is taking a basket of bananas to his Baba (grandfather), but he does not realise the baby has stowed away and is now riding on the back of his bike - no wonder the banana basket is so heavy. The baby peeks out from under the basket lid and sees a butterfly and a beautiful bird. A mischievous baboon takes her basket lid and as they ride past a heavily laden bus the baby passes a banana to one of the passengers. Meanwhile the boy, wearing headphones, has no idea that all of this is happening behind his back.  When he arrives, Baba reaches into the basket for a banana, and ..read more

Once again Bren MacDibble takes us to a dystopian future world - this time set in Queensland. We have wrecked the world. There is no electricity and no cars and worse there are now diseases. Blame comes from both sides - the sides in this book are women versus men. This disease seems to affect men more than women so in this divided world women live a subsistence life in make-shift villages and men have been sent into the mountains. If baby boys are born, they are dressed up as girls so they can stay in the community. Bastienne has been rescued by Lodyma. Her own son has been banished from th ..read more

A little boy has a puppy and some chickens. He asks his mum 'Will the chicks grow? Will the puppy grow? Will I grow too?' He watches the seasons change. The flowers grow, the trees grow, the corn grows in the field, the chicks become chickens and the puppy becomes an adult dog but what about the little boy? As Winter turns to Spring his mother packs his warm clothes into a box. Spring, Summer, Autumn and then it is Winter again.  "The little boy put on his warm trousers again and looked in the mirror. 'My trousers are too tight. The legs are too short.' .. 'My coat is too tight. The s ..read more

Image from the author web page Teachers of the preschool groups who visit the library I visit each week often ask for books about patterns. I am guessing this topic must be part of their curriculum.  My friend from kinderbookswitheverything has a fabulous collection of books about patterns. This one is very special.  What is a pattern? "Anything repeated in a regular way can form a pattern. A circular shape repeated again and again becomes a dotty pattern we call spots. .... This book is about patterns we can see in nature; some are big, some wild, some beautiful, in rivers and sno ..read more

Moving to her new house in an area that seems drab and grey a little girl notices a sign - Butterfly Park - but sadly there are no butterflies. I love that she takes a gift when she makes her first visit - "for it was always smart to make a good first impression." There are butterflies in the town but when a young boy helps her catch one and then release it in the Butterfly Park it just flutters away. What is missing? Have you guessed? YES butterflies need flowers for their nectar. But how can this one girl bring flowers to the park - the answer is she cannot do this alone - this is the time ..read more

"Norman was a porcupine. Norman's best friend was Mildred. Mildred was a tree." Norman has always done everything with Mildred - games, reading bedtime stories and talking. BUT one day another tree pops up out of the ground.  "Suddenly, it was no longer just Norman and Mildred. Now it was Norman and Mildred and the other tree. This did not sit well with Norman." Over time we watch as the other tree grows taller and seemingly closer until one day their leaves touch. For Norman this is the last straw! (Even though in this case there were no straws. Just branches.) Norman is desperate so h ..read more

I would be very tempted to read this book to a group without showing the illustrations. You could show them later after a discussion about the story and it's purpose. There is one page that is especially important. When the other birds discover Roy has arms they tease and bully him and use social media (Tweets) to spread their 'hate speech'. Roy could do several things to react to this - your group could list his possible responses. What actually happens shocked me. "The birds laughed. The mean laugh. The laugh that makes you sad and mad and bad with everyone. Roy started poking people. He p ..read more

Today I read a review of a new book which will be published later this year (September, 2024). It is by Polly Horvath and I am a HUGE fan of her writing.   Having read the review, I thought - now I need to add this book to my 'to buy/to read' list BUT then I saw the price of over AUS$48. This is a children's middle grade book, and it only has 256 pages, and this is not the first book I have checked with Australian suppliers that have such huge price tags. WHY?  Here is the bookseller blurb for Library Girl: After living in the public library for the last eleven years, Essie mu ..read more