Maudie and Bear – Jan Ormond

This book reminds me of the picture books that I read when I was young and I found that unsatisfying.  I think that picture books have evolved since I was a child, they are brighter, more educational, more fun.  I love today's version of the picture book. Don't get me wrong there were some great picture books back in the day, such as Morris Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Perhaps I wasn't exposed to good picture books as a child. We did have a very large collection of Little Golden Books! Maudie and Bear reminds me of books such as 'Noddy'; and 'Frog and Toad' and I did enjoy these as a child but I think that my children have a much better selection of books to choose from.
Maudie and Bear is a collection of short stories about a little girl called Maudie and a bear that she lives with. Bear is an interesting character who is somewhere between a parental figure and a friend. Maudie takes bear a bit for granted (like children do they parents), she makes him do all the work, makes unrealistic demands of him, and has tantrums.  The book contains short stories of adventures and outings that Maudie and bear do together. Each little story could be a book in itself. It is a long book to read in one session for small children but it is targeted at them and their identification with Maudie.
The illustrations by Freya Blackwood are delightful with sketchy ink outlines filled with water colour. Although not sepia, it has a brown/orange tone to the illustrations that is reminiscent of an old fashion book but it still manages to be light and breezy.
Overall I found the book disappointing. My children have better than average attention spans but Maudie and Bear couldn't hold it for long.

Recommended for ages 5-7.                       6/10

Family Forest – Kim Kane

What a delightful book explaining the make up of modern families. The story is about a young boy who is explaining to his classmates who is in his family. He begins drawing a picture of himself on a piece of paper and then starts on the other members. He simply explains what half sisters are, that whole sisters aren't full of holes, funny dads, step mothers, mum which get called by their first name, what a partner is, and big brothers don't have to be giants. The boys picture has ended up quite complex but that is not how he sees it, he believes that instead of a family tree he has a family forest!
I love the way the words and illustrations connect so well in this story. The illustrations are by Lucia Mascuillo in ink and watercolours. The picture help explain the story and family relationships as well as adding humour to the book. For example half-sisters are originally drawn with only half a body, step-mothers are thin and shaped like steps or look like a wicked with. The boy is quick to explain that they are not like that. These illustrations resulted in lots of giggles in our family.
This book is a fantastic way to explore family relationships. Our immediate family is Mum, Dad, and three children but our extended family has half-cousins, foster cousins, and step-grandparents so these concepts that can applied to our family and the children had fun working these relationships out.
We loved this book and it was read again and again in our house! It is short-listed for the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the year and I think that it might be a winner. It is in the same category as Mirror by Jeannie Baker which is another fantastic book and I think there will be a real competition between these two books and Family Forest may come runner up.
Highly recommended for ages 5-10.        9/10

My Uncle's Donkey – Tohby Riddle

A very peculiar book about a donkey that belongs to the narrator's Uncle and is allows in the house. The donkey is allowed to do almost anything in the house but is largely ignored by the uncle as there is no interaction between the donkey and the uncle. Perhaps the uncle is oblivious to the donkey or maybe the donkey is a figment of the child narrator's imagination. The donkey is quite an exuberant character that has lots of fun in the house, doing everyday things but with a cheeky attitude.
The illustrations are drawn with ink, charcoal and pencil with some bold acrylic paints. They are mostly grey tones and some splashes of colour which as mostly red. The donkey is a cute character and reminds me of old cartoon donkeys with big wide eyes. Actually I loved the grey donkey wearing 4 red and white striped socks! Within the illustration the author has also included some famous (or not so famous) objects such as van Gogh's Sunflowers, a Charlie Chaplin movie image, and the Portland Vase (I hadn't heard of this one but apparently it is the world's most valuable vase).
The sunflowers get eaten and the vase is juggled and breaks. It is humour like this that makes this book appeal to both children and to the adults reading the book to them..
The book was inspired by a story Riddle told his 6 year old daughter about what a donkey could get up to when let inside. I don't think that this book will win the Children's Book Council of Australia's Picture Book of the Year but it is well worth reading and is a lot of fun.
Recommended for children 5-8 (and their parents)          7/10

The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies – Tom Niland Champion & Kilmeny Niland. Pictures by Deborah Niland

A wonderfully ridiculous story that grabbed me from the start. Why would a tall man have 12 babies? All the girl babies are identical and called Charlene. All the boy babies are identical and called Alister. (Perhaps here I start to read too much into this story but I can imagine that there are only 2 babies Charlene and Alister but to the Tall Man it seems like 12!)
As for all parents, there are good days where everyone is happy and bad days where everyone yells, even the Tall Man. After one particularly difficult day the Tall Man scoops up all the Charlene's and goes outside, only to have the door slam shut! Fortunately there is a cat-flap in the door. However, as the tall man cannot get the Alisters attention to get the keys inside, he tries to fit though the door-flap (after all he is tall and lanky). But not lanky enough as he gets stuck in the middle. This is a delightful thing for the children where the Charlenes slide on his legs and the Alisters played with his curly hair. It is up to the tall man to co-ordinate his children to help him out of this tight situation.
This book is a family affair written by Tom and his mother Kilmeny and illustrated by Kilmeny's twin sister Deborah. Deborah has done bold ink and water colour illustrations. We all laughed at the illustration of all the babies almost pulling the Tall Man in two. And we all loved the Tall Man's curly psychedelic hair which contrasts to the bold colours used in the rest of the pictures.
This was a hit on our house, had us all giggling at the Charlenes and Alisters who are full of baby cuteness.
This book has been short listed for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Early Childhood category and I think that this book has a great chance of winning along with Look See, Look at Me! It is hard comparing books when it comes to awards as this book appeals to an older reading age than Look See, Look at Me! I am glad I am not on the judging panel!
Highly recommend this book for ages 4-9.             8/10

It's Bedtime William! – Deborah Niland

Another book that is based on children's behaviour that parents are every familiar with and children can relate to. William always has an excuse for why he can't go to bed – he is not tired, he's thirsty, he wants another story, and so the excuses go on. His parents are firm, and need to be, to make sure that William goes to bed. But one day William really has an excuse for not wanting to go to bed....there is already someone in his bed. His parents send him back to his room believing it is just another excuse so William has to deal with the LION by himself. Initially they have lots of fun playing but when it is time for bed, Lion is not tired as he has already had a little nap in Williams bed. William learns what it is like for his parents when Lion tries all the excuses that William has used in the past.
The text is supported by ink and water colour illustrations and I like the way that the Lion and William's similarities are emphasised not only in their behaviour but in their style of hair.
This is not one of those books where they similarities between William and the Lion are missed by younger children as my 5 year old son's comment was “Now William has to be the Mum and Dad”
We all had lots of fun reading this book where we would make up lots of excuses and copy some of Lion's and William's excuses of why we couldn't go to bed.
This books is short-listed for The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year:Early Childhood award. Although it is a fun book, I think that there are others in the list that will win the award.
Recommended for children aged 4-7.              7/10

Look See, Look at Me – Leonie Norrington and Dee Huxley

Ask any parent and they'll tell you that their children grow up too fast. You just have to blink and they have moved from baby to toddler and before you know it they are at school. For toddlers it can't happen soon enough especially if they have big sisters or brothers. All they want to do is to grow up and be able to do the things that their older siblings can do. Leonie Norrington has captured this desire perfectly in her new book.
The little boy in the story has just turned three and there are so many things he can do now that he is bigger, such as running, hopping, and climbing trees. The story has minimal words on each page and there is a lovely gentle rhyming to the little boys actions. The pride that the boy has at being able to do all these things speaks loudly from the page. This is due in part to the soft pastel illustrations by Dee Huxley. They are presented on coloured card with a lovely red earthy colours that is reminiscent of the northern Australian outback. The boy in the story lives in an indigenous community and the background illustrations, to his amazing abilities now he is bigger, show the richness of community life.
One great thing what we did after a few reads was acting out the story. My five year old son would jump, bump, wiggle giggle, hop and flop with the main character just to show me that he too could do all these things. “Mum! Look see, Look at me!”
This book has been short listed for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Early Childhood and I think has a great chance at winning.
An absolutely beautiful book that I would highly recommend for children aged 2-5.      8/10

Mirror – Jeannie Baker

Mirror is a collage picture book, the type that Jeannie Baker is renown for. It mirrors the lives of two boys and their families one who lives in a city in Australia and one that lives in Morocco. Their lives are very different but there are some things that connect them.....some things are the same for all families no matter where they live.
The book is a visual feast! So many things too look at, marvel and compare. There are pages on mealtimes, travel, and shopping, baking, and home routines. Linking the two stories together is a carpet that is woven by the family in Morocco, is sold, and makes its way to a shop in Australia where it is bought by the other family.
The collages are constructed layer by layers using a combination of natural and artificial materials such as sand, dirt, plant material, fabric, wool, tin and plastic. They are then photographed to collate into the finished book.
The book is wonderfully presented. Both sides of the book open out. The left side of the book opens like all English books and shows the pictures of the Australian family. The pages on the right hand side of the book depict the Moroccan family and opens how most Arabic books are read, from back to front from right to left. This allows both sides to be opened simultaneously so that the families can be compared.
This book was always out of the book box and my children would keep returning to it to look at the pictures and to find something new. It was my 9 year old how pointed out that the carpet appears in both sides of the story.
A fantastic book for all ages that is short listed for the Australian Children's Book Association's: Picture Book of the Year and I think it is almost a certainty to win. 10/10

Noni the Pony – Alison Lester

“Noni the Pony is friendly and funny. Her shimmering tail is the colour of honey.” And so we are introduced to Noni the Pony with strong and simple rhyming text. She lives on a farm on Waratah Bay with her friends Coco the Cat and Dave Dog who she plays with most of the day. The book draws of the experience of the author, Alison Lester who grew up on a farm by the sea and had early experiences with horses.
The story line uses very clean rhyming words so the children will be able to guess what the last word of the second line is. The illustrations of the characters are bold and bright and are stuck on to a softer toned background. I especially like the twilight backgrounds that Lester has used in the later pages.
However I found Noni the Pony uninspiring. Perhaps I am judging this book a little too harshly because it is up for an Children's Book Council of Australian award. It is a lovely presented book and there is a lot of poor quality children's book in print and I would not but this book in that category. Perhaps the story is too straight forward but nothing really seems to happen. But I am also not a horse person and neither are the little ones in my family.
It was read only once in our household and although it sat in our book box for a few weeks it wasn't pull out and requested to be read again.     6/10

This book is  short listed Book of the Year: Early Childhood by the Children's Book Council of Australia.
To view the book being read click here.

House of night series – P.C Cast and Kristin Cast

For the best part of the last two weeks I have immersed myself in the dramas of the House of Night. And I do mean the best part in terms of time and in terms of it been the highlight of the last few weeks. When I haven't been reading them, I have been thinking of the characters and what was going to happen and what I would do it the situation. I haven't experienced that about a series for a while, but perhaps it is also because I have been flooded by the story. I have read the eight books in the series and the last one with bated breath as I thought the story was coming to a conclusion. Wrong! These is still more to go and the next book “Destined” is due our at the end of October!
So.....why do I like the books so much
I really related to the heroine of the story, Zoey Redbird, is strong, loyal and far from perfect She makes mistakes, she keeps secrets she probably shouldn't, she is confused about love and the boys in her life, and when she cries she snots a lot. She is a 16 year old who becomes marked – that is chosen out of the human race because she will, in time, become a vampyre. It is a literal mark - the outline of a blue crescent moon that appears of her forehead. She must leave her present life and live at a school for fledglings (vampyres in the making). A fledgling needs to be strong to survive the change or they may die and being close to other vampyres makes fledglings stronger.  Before Zoey arrives at the school however she is visited by the goddess Nix (a sort of good Gaian mother nature type being) and her blue crescent moon tattoo becomes filled in – something that doesn't usually happen until a fledgling becomes a vampyre. So from the start Zoey is marked as special and she is also given unique gifts not seen in a fledgling before.
Like most heroines Zoey is supported by a group of friends who become known as the nerd herd. These friends are also specially blessed by the goddess Nix. There is her BFF Stevie Rae, studious Damien, fashionista 'twins' Shaunee and Erin, rich and bitchy Aphrodite, exuberant Jack, boyfriend Erik, and human ex-boyfriend Heath. I loved the interactions between these characters and how they develop (with some very unexpected developments) though the series.
The plot follows the age old idea of good verses evil, Light verses Darkness. However evil isn't devoid of Light and good can also be touched by Darkness. The authors are not afraid to kill off characters or allow characters to have a change of heart. And this plays out in the unexpected twists and turns in the plot. I did have one point of issue about the portrayal and treatment of one of Zoey's boyfriends who had become my favourite, however as the plot progressed in made sense, much to my dismay. As for the uncontrollable urge to continue reading book after book, the authors delight in leaving the reader hanging at the end of the novel (thus my long reading sessions into the wee hours of the morning).
I can't say too much about the books or the characters without revealing spoilers but if you love vampire fiction you will LOVE this series. 8/10

The books in the series can be found on the House of Night website