My Brother By Dee Huxley, Oliver Huxley and Tiffany Huxley, Working Title Press, 2016. ‘When a gentle creature sets out to search for a lost brother, we are taken on an ethereal journey across land and sea to strange, beautiful and faraway places.’ The black and white illustrations are reminiscent of the artist, Escher. They are soft and sensitive, and on the last page, we end with a full-colour illustration of the gentle creature and his brother in a boat together. My Brother is a sad story, but the subject is handled with such care and attempts to present a positive side to a devastating reality. Teacher notes are available. Awards Shortlisted for The Picture Book of the Year 2017 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.

Out By Angela May George and Owen Swan, Scholastic Press, 2016. I’m called an asylum seeker, but that’s not my name. Out is the moving story of a little girl and her mother who have fled from danger in their homeland. They travel by boat on a long and perilous journey to seek asylum in a new and safe land. This story is timely and celebrates how the human spirit can triumph even through the darkest times. The little girl and her mother build a new life and await the arrival of the little girl’s father at the end of the story. Awards Shortlisted: The Picture Book of the Year by Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2017.

Mad Magpie By Gregg Dreise, Magabala Books, 2016. ‘Stay calm like the surface of the water, yet strong like its current.’ This beautiful masterpiece is both written and illustrated by a descendant of the Kamilaroi and Yuwalayaay people of the north-west New South Wales and the south-west Queensland areas, and published by Magabala, the oldest independent Indigenous publishing house in Australia. Mad Magpie is a richly illustrated artistic masterpiece that integrates the author’s indigenous Gamilaraay language in the names of the animals that we meet throughout the book! Guluu is an angry magpie who has been teased by a group of butcher birds. In turn, Guluu has been swooping down and attacking other animals. We learn about why Guluu is so angry and what has been happening to him. The Elders teach Guluu how to deal with the mean butcher birds and not become angry when they tease him. Mad Magpie is a story about overcoming adversity and standing strong in the face of difficulty. I hope that if you are from a country other than Australia, that you would still consider buying this book. You and your child will learn a little about Australia’s ancient past, as well as…

There’s a Magpie in my Soup By Sean Farrar and Pat Kan, Big Spy Publishing, 2016. There’s a Magpie in my Soup takes a very different look at Australian animals. Some little creatures great and small, all over your house they will crawl! Into your soup, into your cake, even into your loo! There are animals everywhere, what do we do? I loved the cover and title of this book, but I felt that the text and subsequent illustrations left me wanting. My 12-year-old niece really enjoyed this book and gave it 10/10 for text, later changing her opinion to 7.5/10. She thinks it is a very smart story, but said, ‘it is smart while not very smart’. Some parts are good but some are boring. She didn’t like it as much as Rodney Loses It! But then again, I think she changed her mind after I shared what I thought of the book. Her first impression was that she loved it. So, there you go…maybe this is a book only the young mind appreciates! Download colouring in sheets for this title. Other titles by this author: There’s a Koala in my Kitchen

Chip By Kylie Howarth, Five Mile Press, 2016. Chip would do anything for fish and chips, but has he gone too far with his newly hatched plan? With a secret plan up his sleeve, Chip gathers his friends and they begin to practice and perfect their moves. The book has some interesting approaches in that there is one fold-out page, and one page that converts from landscape to portrait. Any child who has eaten fish and chips on the beach will relate to this story. The author/illustrator has also created teacher’s notes and a colouring sheet. Awards Shortlisted for The Picture Book of the Year 2017 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.  

Hattie Helps Out By Jane Godwin, Davina Bell and Freya Blackwood, Allen and Unwin, 2016. ‘It’s a busy day at Hattie’s house. There’s a lot to do before Dad’s birthday party. Hattie is being very helpful, until it’s time for her afternoon nap. Hattie’s not even sleepy! But Mama looks tired. Very tired…’ Hattie has some very big ideas about helping Mama out with the party preparations. One day Hattie Helps Out at home. She is a great helper around the house until it is time for a nap. Hattie says she is too old to sleep in the daytime, but Mama insists. Who falls asleep, do you think? Mama falls asleep, and Hattie watches her for a while before deciding that she will help out greatly by ticking off the list of things Mama had said she needed to do before the party. Meanwhile, baby Lottie, Hattie’s younger sibling, has been sleeping in the washing basket while Hattie and Mama were having their rest in bed. Hattie slips seamlessly into the roleplay of mother of the house as she tidies and arranges, and even complains of not having ‘time for a crying baby today’. The authors have perfectly captured…

T-Veg The story of a carrot-crunching dinosaur By Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Katherina Manolessou, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2015. A laugh-out-loud tale of a dinosaur who dares to be different. When I first picked this book up off the shelf I wasn’t too sure what I was going to find in the pages; however, I was very smartly entertained by what I found! I absolutely LOVE this book! The rhyme is effortless, the illustrations are childlike and fun, and the story is action-packed and entertaining. T-Veg takes you on a journey through the life of Reginald, a young Tyrannosaurus Rex, who unlike the rest of his T-Rex dinosaur family and friends who are known carnivores, is vegetarian. Reginald ate BROCCOLI, Reginald at BEANS. Reginald ate bowls and bowls of GARLIC, GRAPES and GREENS. Reg grows tired of the other T-Rexes making fun of him, so he packs his dino-sack and leaves home in search of some herbivorous dinosaurs who he believes will make better friends. However, when he finds the ‘herbies’ he runs excitedly towards them, which scares them all off and they run away from him. His family and friends were missing him, so they went in search of Reg….

The Wonderful Things You Will Be By Emily Winfield Martin, Random House New York, 2015. ‘This is the first time There’s ever been you, So I wonder what wonderful things You will do…’ The Wonderful Things You Will Be is a New York Times #1 Best Seller and is the sort of message every parent would want to give their child! This delightful book is full of hope and wonder at the thought of who your child will grow up to be. There is a great mystery in the very question of the future and how it will unfold in anyone’s life, but especially in the future of one so young and unmolded. The illustrations in The Wonderful Things You Will Be are beautifully painted using soft colours, with an almost antique feel to them. The endpapers are really cute, showing lots of different looking babies, while in the pages of the book itself, those babies can be recognised as older versions of themselves doing wonderful things. There is a big double-page spread offering many different types of whimsical and magical things that your child could grow up to be. This book can help generate conversations about what your child…

The Toast Tree By Corina Martin and Fren Martins, Magabala Books, 2015. Ella and Mia live in a small dusty town surrounded by the sea. When their grandfather brings home squares of delicious toast picked from a magical tree growing int he sand dunes, they set off to look for the very special tree. Grandpa has access to a magic toast tree and he surprises Ella and Mia with delicious honey toast when he returns from work every afternoon. The toast is delicious and tastes better than any toast they’ve ever tasted. They love it when Grandpa brings home the toast and they want to know where he gets it from. ‘The toast tree grows in the sand dunes,’ he tells them. The girls decide to search for the toast tree themselves, but instead of finding the toast tree, they discover a flower that tastes like honey. Grandpa sees them and scolds them, and tells them the magic sill stop if they find the tree. Because the girls don’t want the magic to stop, they leave the flowers alone. If your child has ever dreamed of a magic tree that bears their favourite food, they will enjoy this story. The Toast…

The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade By Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys, Scribe Publications, 2015. Sometimes it’s hard to be brave. Sometimes you get that feeling. Sometimes you’re just not ready… until, one day, you are. What do you do when you don’t want to do something? On the first page, we meet Alfie. Alfie looks sad and down, and his head and shoulders are slumped. His toy rabbit is slumped on the shelf. Even his sweater hangs mournfully from the chest of drawers. Alfie’s got that feeling. He knows that feeling, that familiar feeling, that not nice feeling. He’s even had bad dreams about feeling trapped and carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders again. Too shy for friends, Alfie confides in the cowboys on his wallpaper. To help Alfie become brave about going to an oceanic fancy-dress party, his mother takes him on a special day out to the aquarium. There Alfie meets a little clownfish. Perhaps because the clownfish was hiding when Alfie spotted him, it reminded him of how he feels sometimes. His mum explains to him that sometimes fish just hide away too. I think this makes it ok for Alfie to feel this way too. The…