Rodney Loses It! By Michael Gerard Bauer and Chrissie Krebs, Scholastic Australia, 2017. ‘Rodney was a rabbit who loved nothing more than drawing. He never found it tiresome, tedious or boring. But then one day, disaster struck! The one thing Rodney feared, while working at his drawing desk his pen just… DISAPPEARED! ‘ Rodney Loses It! is by far and away one of my favourite reads in a long time. I LOVE THIS BOOK! Rodney loves to draw. He draws all day and all night. However, Rodney finds himself in all sorts of trouble when his favorite pen, Penny, goes missing. Follow Rodney’s journey as he searches high and low for Penny. I also love it when the illustrations show the reader something that the character in the story doesn’t know. Your child will know more than Rodney during this story, which is something that will delight children. A very clever read with a funny surprise ending! Download some teacher’s notes. View some literacy activities. Awards The Book of the Year: Early Childhood 2018 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.

All I Want for Christmas is Rain By Cori Brooke and Megan Forward, New Frontier Publishing, 2016. ‘For our Drought-affected Australian farmers, their children and families. Thank you for feeding Australia.’ – CB ‘For our farmers: we need you.’ – MF Jane lives on a farm, and her parent’s farm hasn’t seen rain for a long time. She wishes and hopes for rain and hatches a plan to ask ‘the great bearded man’ for help. Will her wish be granted? All I Want for Christmas is Rain portrays a real issue facing many Australian farmers and all Australians from time to time. Follow Jane on her quest to as Santa for help. If you’re looking for Australian kids books, then look no further than this little gem! It teaches our children about real issues that are being experienced by Australian farmers in different parts of the country at different times. Awards Shortlisted for The Book of the Year: Early Childhood 2017 by Children’s Book Council of Australia.

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

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…

Dotty and the Magpie By Jackie Wells and Dana Brown, Little Steps Publishing, 2015. Dotty the Dalmatian wishes she was brightly coloured! Dotty and the Magpie is a delightful little book about a dalmatian dog who wishes that her spots were many different brightly coloured spots. One day she meets a magpie who takes her out into the world to see all the different things around the town that are black and white. Together Dotty and the Magpie walk over a zebra crossing, visit a racetrack and attend an orchestral performance where the pianist plays on black and white keys. Finally, they visit the aquarium where Dotty meets a black and white killer whale. When they return home, Dotty is no longer full of sighs and is met by a huge surprise. This journey into the world helps Dotty appreciate the colours that she has, so that she is happy with who she is and what she has, and doesn’t want to be something else. I think this is a strong message to send to kids to help them accept themselves for who they are, because let’s face, you can’t be anyone you’re not!  

Day Dreamers By Emily Winfield Martin ‘How do you find day dreams? You don’t need to search for secret doors or magic words to speak. Your imaginings will carry you anywhere you seek…’ Day Dreamers is a journey of imagination. A lovely look at the magical possibilities of the imagination in everyday situations. I think this book encourages children to use their imaginations in everyday situations, for example, imagining the sound of turning pages in a book as though it were actually the sound of griffin wings. I actually preferred her book, The Wonderful Things You Will Be to this one.

Today We Have No Plans By Jane Godwin and Anna Walker, Penguin Viking, 2012. ‘A busy week, a slower day Brings time to dream and time to play.’ Wow! This book reminded me of a day in the life of my niece, my friends’ kids, my cousins’ kids, basically all kids today! Children these days are so busy with their extracurricular activities, that rest days are gold. Today We Have No Plans is like reading a child’s Google Calendar! As the week progresses, the kids get rattier, the mum gets crankier, and everyone is ready for a rest. ‘On Mondays as the sun comes up My clock gives me a fright…’ But then… …on Sunday morning, a little girl opens her curtains and looks at a solitary tree in her garden. There is a sense of calm when we reach this page. The ‘clocks seem to slow their hands’, and all the family sit around in their pjs, play games and relax. They’re not going out today! While kids love all of their extracurricular activities, they also enjoy their downtime. Sunday offers us the time to slow down and notice the little things, like glue and felt, and plants and…

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…

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…