This month I have a few awesome junior and teen novels as well as a stack of picture books that I will be reviewing. In the meantime I am reading a lot and loving what is coming out in Australia over July and August. There really is something for all ages, some I cannot share until nearly the end of the month but in the mean time I have a mixture of new and old books to share with you.
I have noticed there are a lot of children's books being written for children and teens about women who have contributed to society both in the past and presently that are due to be published or have recently been published. So, when I came across Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World at the Library in the form of a picture book I had to bring it home for a read and review. I am not a feminist as such, but I do think that both Women and Men should be celebrated.
When you open a book and before you even get to the first chapter you read a statement that says "No chickens were hurt during the course of writing this book, because chickens are good and we LIKE chickens" you know the book is going to be a little bit quirky and a lot of funny.
If you haven’t met Ruby Wishfingers before, you wouldn’t know that she gets 12 wishes a year, these make her fingers tingle and need to be used thoughtfully. You also wouldn't know that her parent's don't believe these wishes exist, that her brother Jellybean can make things appear and disappear, and that grandma has wishes too. These wishes were inherited from Ruby's great great great great grandfather Wishfingers.
Listen. What do you hear? The first words in the book are on a blank page and they instantly awakened my senses and curiosity saw me turning to the next page. "Today I woke up to the silence of a new morning." The next page, I literally had a small gasp and a large smile as the beautiful illustrations greeted me. From this moment I knew I was hooked, that beautiful beaming face that is Olivia, and the beautiful morning greeting the reader through the curtains.
If I were to meet Pelle No-Tail I would tell him that at times I loved him so much, other times I worried for his safety... but then I realised that he is just a curious little cat that just wanted to be everybody's friend.
Each time I do a Throwback Thursday post, I am always reminded how very blessed I am to have been exposed to the wonderful world of literacy from such an early age. I am sure most of us have grown up with the Little Golden Books, I know that they were a staple book in our house and we had many. I still have Heidi that was gifted to me from my nanny and poppy just before I turned 1.
I hope you are ready for a laugh and some mischievous bunnies, and a bear that CAN'T babysit...or so it is said. This delightful book sees Mr and Mrs Burrow needing a babysitter for Anna, Adelaide, Betsy, Bill, Caspar, Clive and little Dottie. They put out an ad and only one animal answers the call...Bear.
Andy Lee is not someone you think of as an author of a children's book, well I don't anyway, I usually associate him adult humour. Andy is quite adamant that the pages shouldn't be turned....but it is just too tempting of course and well read on to find out more...
Little Big Reads 