Hush, Little Dragon – Boni Ashburn

I have been reading the cute book to Daniel this week just before he goes to bed and we are loving it. He is my little dragon and I am his Mama. It can be read or sung to the tune of “Hush, little baby” It begins....

Hush, Little dragon, don't make a sound,
Mama's gonna bring you a princess she found.
If that princess runs from you,
Mama's gonna bring you a knight or two”

Ashburn has included lots of traditional dragon delicacies such a princesses, knights, kings, queens and musketeers, added lots of fire breathing and clever rhymes such as magician/nutrition and queen/cuisine. Kelly Murphy's illustrations of the google-eyed dragons with blue and white striped horns are quirky and not at all scary for little ones.

Dragons are different from humans, but in the story Mama dragon does what any mother does....feeds her children, defends them, keeps them safe, and protects them through the night. A lovely book to be memorized and cherished.

Highly Recommended for ages 3-6.          8/10 

Yarning Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti - Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain

In the area where I live yarn bombing is becoming quite popular. Fences, bike racks, poles, parking meters and trees are all being decorated by yarn graffiti. It has even come to the attention of the local newspaper. Being an occasional knitter, and having some extra time up my sleeve the idea of beautifying the council with knitted handiwork is appealing.

Yarn Bombing by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain is just what I need to get some inspiration and get started. Like regular paint graffiti, yarn graffiti has different purposes from activism, to tagging and decoration and this book gives lots of examples of these purposes. The book includes interviews with prolific yarn bombers, their reasons for engaging in yarn art and their styles of graffiti.

For me the most important part is how to get a crew together and take my yarn into the street. There is a chapter on how to decide on patterns, measuring your tagging targets, attaching your yarn and what to do if you are caught! Although patterns and tags differ depending on your target the book gives loads of patterns. There are patterns for basic rectangular tags for those new to knitting/crocheting or new to yarn graffiti and they progress to master tagging patterns such as hanging shoes (as seen on the cover) to mushrooms and elf stockings.

The book is full of colourful photographic examples of yarn graffiti to inspire creativity and appreciation of this art form and I can't wait to get started.
8/10

There are cats in this book – Viviane Schwarz

This little treasure is my families favourite find so far, this year. It is of course about cats. Now I am not a cat person, I'm not a dog person either. If anything I am a chicken person. Chooks are so gorgeous and useful...they eat leftovers and make eggs for us to eat....however I digress. Cats!
Actually, now that I think about it, since Geelong, the (not so mighty) Cats won the Australian Football League (AFL) grand final this month it is probably quite a fitting book to blog about this month.
The three cats in this book are friendly and are looking for nice people to play with them and help them. There are lift the flaps and half pages to turn which bring surprises both to the cats and to the reader. The cats interact with the reader, getting the reader to help them to find wool, cardboard boxes, pillows and fish and to divert disaster.
Viviane Schwarz reads this book on her website so click here to preview the book. But it really is a book you need to hold and turn the pages, so look for it at your local library
Highly recommended for ages 2-8.        9/10  

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