All Through the Year

By Jane Godwin and Anna Walker, Penguin Viking, 2010.

‘Open this book and travel your way all through the year and treasure each day.’

From this well-known author/illustrator duo comes All Through the Year. Reading like a collection of Shakespearean sonnets, All Through the Year invites the reader to share in this rhyming journey through the seasons and activities of a year in the life of an everyday Australian family. The different style Jane Godwin has used in this kids book is also great for teaching children about different styles of writing. I don’t think I’ve seen any other children’s book author us the same format, it’s quite unique to this author (she also applied the same format in Today We Have No Plans).

This is a great book to teach children about the months of the year, the seasons that accompany those months, and the different holidays or events that also coincide.

All Through the Year is another fine work of art by Anna Walker, beautifully illustrated, and if I am not mistaken, we are seeing the same family that met in Today We Have No Plans! We are certainly seeing the same tree in the kids’ backyard 🙂 I love the use of collage in the leaves on and from the tree in March. March also teaches kids that this is a month that bulbs can be planted, and in September we see a visual representation of the results of such a planting.

The book addresses some of the main holidays and other special days observed in Australia, such as Easter, Mother’s Day and Christmas. A great read for lower primary, but also an English teaching resource for upper primary students. This could even be used as a starting school book for preschoolers.

Awards

Highly commended: Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Children’s Fiction, 2011.
Notable Book: CBCA Book of the Year Awards, Early Childhood, 2011.