Can You Find Me? By Gordon Winch and Shirvington Patrick, New Frontier Publishing, 2017. Can You Find Me? is a delightful story about Australian animals hiding in their natural habitat. Journey along with your child as he or she discovers the animals hiding in the pictures. Even I had to search for a few of them the first time around! There is a lovely repetition on the pages, creating a rhythm to the story. Can You Find Me? teaches children about camouflage and about how animals, insects, and other creatures are often designed to reflect their environment. Can you find all the creatures hiding within the pages of this book?

A Walk In The Bush By Gwyn Perkins, Affirm Press, 2017. A Walk In The Bush will take you and your child on a journey through the Australian bush. Grandad can’t find Iggy. He looks everywhere for him. When he finally finds him, he takes him on a journey into the Australian bush looking for wildlife. Together we meet many different native birds and learn their bird calls, and bump into the odd wallaby. There are also caterpillar messages on trees! This whole book is truly like the experience of walking through the Australian bush. Awards Winner: The Picture Book of the Year, Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2018.

The Great Rabbit Chase By Freya Blackwood, Scholastic Australia, 2017. ‘A story that celebrates what it means to live in a community and a reminder that life is full of surprises.’ Are you looking for a rabbit book for your kids? The Great Rabbit Chase tells the story of Gumboots, a much-loved rabbit who is an escape artist. An adventure ensues one day when Gumboots escapes from the yard. The whole neighbourhood becomes involved in the search for Gumboots. The story is told from the little girl’s perspective, and we never do find out what her name is. The Great Rabbit Chase is beautifully illustrated in soft watercolour and pencil. The endpapers include an innovative board game that will add to the experience your child will have with this lovely book. Awards Honours for The Picture Book of the Year 2018 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.

Wolf Espionage By Elanor Parkinson and Dave Atze, Redgum Book Club, 2015. ‘Wold Espionage is a rollicking story of an undercover wolf named Wiliam whose ill-fated approach to espionage leads him to vegetarianism.’ Reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote, Wolf Espionage tells the tale of a wolf called William that lived on Wellwood Farm. William was so hungry that he decided to go undercover and try and find some tucker! He dresses up as different animals he finds on the farm and tries to befriend them, but they all whack him and poke him, because they know he isn’t really one of them. Wolf Espionage follows a days-of-the-week format where William the Wolf approaches different animals on different days of the week. William discovers that if he disguises himself as an apple or a peapod, then he doesn’t get whacked or poked, and he discovers that it is easier to become vegetarian than try to eat the animals. Wolf Espionage is quite a delightful little story, and it was written by a young 12-year-old girl! Awards Winner: 2016 Young Writers’ Award Picture Book category The Young Writers Award is open to young authors aged between 9 and 13 years. Young writers have…

The Snow Wombat By Susannah Chambers and Mark Jackson, Allen & Unwin, 2016. ‘Snow on the stockman’s hut. Snow on the crows. Snow on the woollybutt. Snow on my…NOSE!’ Everywhere The Snow Wombat travels there is snow Snow SNOW! Wamble with the snow wombat as he discovers many things as he journeys towards his home. He passes the robin, the gums, the riverbank. He passes skiers and the possum’s tail until he reaches his burrow. You can also trace the wombat’s journey by following his path on the endpapers at the front and end of the book. I love how some books are now utilising the endpapers for added interest. Another book that has done this really well is The Great Rabbit Chase. The endpapers in that book form an actual board game! This is a really beautiful bedtime story, and at the end of the book, the wombat goes to… Awards Shortlisted for The Book of the Year: Early Childhood 2017 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.

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…

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 🙂

Possum in the House By Kiersten Jensen and Tony Oliver, Childerset, 1986. ‘There’s a possum in the house and he’s hiding in the pantry.’ Possum finds himself inside the house! Possum is making a terrible mess. No-one can catch possum! We follow Mum and Dad who are chasing a Possum in the House. The house is turned upside down as the possum wreaks havoc through every room of the house, and even finds himself inside the toilet bowl! While the house is destroyed, the possum, leaving behind a trail of destruction, finally comes to rest on the child’s bed. The whole family see him and think he’s cute and cuddly, and they leave him there to rest. This book has lyrical repetition with Mum’s ‘Shriek ‘Shriek’ and Dad’s ‘Oh Drat’. This is a Page-turner book right to the very end when we come to rest on the child’s bed.