Marngrook The long-ago story of Aussie Rules By Titta Secombe and Grace Fielding, Magabala Books, 2012. ‘A wonderful kids’ story that shares the origins of our national game.’ The beginnings of how Aussie Rules football was invented is sometimes a controversial topic. Marngrook is a ball game that was played by first Australians in north-west Victoria over 150 years ago. This kids picture book is set in the traditional country of the Djab-Wurrung and Jardwadjali clans in the foothills of Duwul, the highest mountain in the Grampians. The opening pages give some factual content about the people and the region, as well as translations for some Jardwadjali language words. The main character, Jaara, a young Djab-Wurrung and Jardwadjali boy, is given a new toy from his father, Wawi. It is made from the skin of a banya, or ringtail possum. I found Marngrook a little bit gruesome, as the Elder grabs an innocent animal to kill and eat and make a ball from its skin. The story goes into the details of how the pieces of the animal are preserved to assist in the making of the marngrook ball. It is, however, educational, and would possibly appeal to young boys who…

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…

Magpie By Luke Davies and Inari Kiuru, ABC Books, 2010. A father and son embark on an epic journey, an intrepid adventure. Magpie attacks are a strong reality in Australia during the springtime. This story is based on a mostly true story of the author’s experience of being swooped by a magpie as a youth. Yes, another story about swooping magpies! In this adaptation, we follow the main character and his father (both dogs) down ‘Minnamurra Avenue. The bush. The creek. Looking for Magpie. It depicts a lovely relationship between a father and son, where the father will go to great lengths to show his son that he loves him and will protect him from bad things. Many pages occur without text, which allows your child to use their imagination to fill in the blanks.

Mum and Dad Glue By Kes Gray and Lee Wildish, Hodder Children’s Books, 2000. ‘A little boy searches for a pot of parent glue to stick his mum and dad’s marriage back together. But he soon realises that even though his parents may be broken, their love for him is not.’ Mum and Dad Glue is a clever rhyming story of the little boy’s journey to the realisation that, while he can’t put his parents back together, he can still be happy. In the early pages, the illustrations show cracks through everything; the car, the soccer ball, the skateboard, the house, and the brick wall. The words read, ‘Mum and dad are broken…’ The little boy engages on a mission to find a glue that he can use to fix his parents. You can feel the desperation of the child who is frantically trying to think of ways to mend his parent’s marriage. The gentle rhyme helps in softening an often difficult and painful subject for your child. A common thing that we see with children of broken marriages is that the child often blames themselves. This little boy is no different. He battles with wondering if he is the…

Hello Baby By Jenni Overend and Julie Vivas, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2008. ‘Hello baby,’ I say quietly. ‘Hello’ Delightfully drawn in a soft and scribbly fashion, Hello Baby takes us on the journey of a family and a home birth. My sister read this book to my niece for years when she was younger, and she still loves it now. She was so excited to see a copy of it on my desk, so we went and snuggled and read it together again. This is a great book for families who are expecting another child. It is sensitively written to explain to children some of the things they might expect to see and experience before, during and after the birth. In Hello Baby, the whole family is involved in the birthing process, with the other children helping as well. Originally published in 1999, this book has been reprinted many times, which just goes to show that it’s popular! Awards Shortlisted for Picture Book of the Year, Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2000.

Magpie’s Gift By Rebecca Johnson and Steve Parish, Pascal Press, 2006. Mr Magpie searches high and low for items that he can give to Mrs Magpie to help build a nest. Magpie’s Gift brings us a lovely magpie story. I really quite enjoyed this story, even though it is a bit twee, but it also quite sweet. Mr Magpie finds a piece of blue wool that he wants to give to Mrs Magpie as a gift for her nest, but a bowerbird gets to it first. A friendly numbat advises Mr Magpie that he should try asking the bowerbird for the wool, but says he should take something blue to exchange for the wool. Mr Magpie takes a blue clothes peg and manages to succeed in obtaining the blue wool for his wife. I think there is some gender confusion as sometimes on pages talking about Mrs Magpie, a male magpie is photographed. Overall a sweet story with great pictures of magpies.  

Australian Babies By Magabala Books, 2005. ‘Rich with the colours of the Kimberley landscape in Western Australia, the vibrant photographic images reflect Australia’s multicultural community.’ Australian Babies is a lovely little board book for babies and toddlers. It has ten pages with photographs of babies from diverse backgrounds who make up some of the heritage of babies in Australia today. There are things to look for and point out on each page, such as a dog, chickens, books, trees, rocks, shells, etc. It is small in size, 143 x 156 mm. It was a little bit difficult to rank this book based on the criteria we use to measure, as there were no words and the book was so small. We hope you like this book 🙂

The Outback By Annaliese Porter and Bronwyn Bancroft, Magabala Books, 2005. Dark, red earth surrounding flat, stony plains — gibbers lay on scorching sand, where seldom it rains. What a lovely little book, richly illustrated in the style of traditional Australian Aboriginal paintings. The illustrations depict recognisable Australian animals, like goannas, snakes, wallabies and cockatoos, and landscapes such as the desert plains and Uluru. The Outback tells the tale of the harshness of the land, the desert, and the desert animals. This is a bush ballad about the Australian outback that was written by Annaliese Porter when she was only eight years old! She is one of Australia’s youngest published writers. What a great example of a story to read to a young writer 🙂    

The Red Tree By Shaun Tan, Hachette Australia, 2001. ‘sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to’ The Red Tree is a beautifully illustrated story about depression. The story opens with a little girl sitting up in bed. She is sad and brown leaves fall in her room, and then so many dead leaves fill her room so that you can’t see her bed anymore. There is one bright red leaf in each picture though. A leaf of hope. She just can’t see the red, living leaf, but this leaf offers a good look-and-find element to the book. She is overwhelmed by her feelings of sadness and depression. She walks the streets with her head hung low and the weight of the world on her shoulders. The world appears to reflect her sadness and hopelessness. She is engulfed in turmoil, and she watches all the wonderful things passing her by. She feels so lost until suddenly she sees the red leaf, that glimmer of hope, and it grows and grows and grows. Download the Teacher Resource.

Memorial By Gary Crew and Shaun Tan, Lothian Books, 1999. A story to help us remember…a message we should never forget. On a backdrop of old photographs, scraps of torn fabric and exquisitely textured paintings, we hear the story of Old Pa’s first world war memories. Journey down memory lane with Old Pa as he reminisces about his wife who was a nurse during the war, the Memorial tree they planted in town, and  We then hear from Ma, who was in the second world war and also remembers coming home the big town tree back in 1946. The tree stands next to a statue of the unknown soldier. Audrey, their great-granddaughter, and her father listen intently to the stories of her great-grandparents after the wars they served in. Special focus is the memorial tree in town. Memorial introduces environmental concerns when we learn that the council want to remove either the tree or the statue of the unknown soldier. Teacher’s Notes are available for this book for free from the publisher. Awards Picture Book of the Year,  Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2000.