What Happened To You?

By James Catchpole

Illustrated by Karen George

Story 📖

This book is all about Joe and children asking him “Why do you only have one leg?” and all the answers that Joe creates when people ask him what happened. Joe has decided that he does not want to answer that question and uses imaginative play to continually move the conversation away from having one leg. Joe demonstrates that someone that is different does not always want to answer the question and does not always want to feel like educating people.

Summary 📖

I loved this book and how it helped to educate children on how to ask these types of questions. It phrases show children should ask but also demonstrates that we are not always owed an explanation and to think about how we ask difficult questions.

Suggestion 📖

I think the inclusivity and education value of books like this cannot be undervalued. We all know that children are beautifully honest but also sometimes they need to be encouraged to think about questions in a different way. This book is perfect for young readers aged 3-8 years and I really loved reading about Joe and his story.

Before You Were Born

By Katrina Germein

Illustrated by Helene Magnusson

Story 📖

This was introduced into the classroom as a book for the children to read independently and it was one that they continuously came back to read.

This book beautifully illustrates all the events that occur before a baby is born including baby shower, buying baby clothes and setting up the nursery.

The children were fascinated to find out that there is often a party for a baby BEFORE they are born and how families prepare for the new baby arrival.

As the class is very diverse, it opened up great discussion about babies and we loved looking at all the lovely expectant mothers in the book and how they celebrated.

Summary 📖

At the preschool age, I find the children love anything baby related as they are often surrounded by younger siblings, friends, cousins etc. in their community and it helps them share their own experience.

Also the illustrations had great cross cultural representation which really resonated with the children and helped to create a lot of further engagement in dramatic play.

Suggestion 📖

Love this book, it captured the interest and had a great idea of showcasing how excited communities and families are prior to a little baby’s arrival. This is a beautiful baby gift and a must have in all early learning libraries. Recommended for young readers age 2-6 years.

One Last Stop

By Casey McQuinston

Story 📖

In this story, we meet our young protagonist August who is moving to New York City after growing up in the shadow of a missing family member. August appears to be moving to NYC to discover herself and ends up living in a share house with a range of interesting characters.

As we watch August discover New York through her eyes she meets Jane one night on the subway and her life changes. As their friendship develops, there is something about Jane that is very different and it seems as though time stands still when they are together. Through discovering herself, August helps Jane to discover who she really is.

As cynical as August is, she starts to think that maybe her and Jane were supposed to meet.

Summary 📖

I love anything with a twist and this story certainly had a few of those. I don’t want to give too many spoilers away but safe to say this book had a lot of twist and turns and really showed the importance of discovering and being who you really are.

Suggestion 📖

Great trope, great writing and kept the reader in the whole way. I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to others that like coming of age stories with a twist.

You and Me On Vacation

By Emily Henry

Story 📖

Poppy and Alex have been friends for the last 12 Summers. Best friends, in fact. They met in college and they are the perfect opposites in every way. Alex is quiet, steadfast and regimented. Poppy is outgoing, adventurous and flighty. One thing they have in common is how much they love being friends and spending their Summer vacations together.

Every year since they met, they have taken a trip together and discovered a new place as well as continue to develop and build their friendship.

This Summer is no different, except it is. Their friendship has struggled with the expectations of being adults in their early 30’s. It feels like time might be running out.

Summary 📖

I really loved this one. I loved the last book by this author and this one was no different. Poppy and Alex were really loveable protagonists and their relationship and individual points of view felt really relatable.

Suggestion 📖

For anyone that loves well written, contemporary fiction with great protagonists…what on earth are you waiting for?! Pick this one up!

Grumble Boats

By Susannah McFarlane

Illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie

Story 📖

Thank you to @affirmpress for sending me this fabulous book in exchange for an honest read and review . The children and I read this one last week and we loved it.

Emma is disappointed because she wanted to go to a party with her brother and he does not want her to come. Emma feels very grumbley even when she visits her grandmother.

As her grandmother tries to cheer Emma up, nothing is working. That is until Grandmother comes up with the idea of sending her grumbles on a boat out to sea.

Summary 📖

This book was the perfect length for preschool aged children and was very relatable with children feeling frustrated when they aren’t happy.

We enjoyed learning how to make grumble boats and we tested sailing them in a small trough in the absence of the sea.

Summary 📖

Loved the illustrations, loved the story and it kept the children engaged the whole way through.

We enjoyed this one a lot and it will be a return traveller in the library. Perfect for young readers aged 3-6 years with simple and effective illustrations. Great story!

Winner Winner Bin Chicken Dinner

By Kate and Jol Temple

Illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

Story 📖

I love the bin chicken books. I love that we have this unique city dwelling bird that truly creeps adults and children alike out.

In this book, we revisit our friend ‘Bin Chicken’ who is just looking for his food. He runs into various other birds including pelicans, sparrows and seagulls are not willing to share with him – that is until he hits the mother load of food in a primary school.

Then our friend the Bin Chicken, is the most popular bird in the land.

Summary 📖

The children loved reading this during this morning. They loved how with every page we found the Bin Chicken meeting other birds and getting into trouble and we loved looking at the whimsical illustrations.

The length of the book is perfect for young readers to keep them engaged throughout story time.

Suggestion 📖

Loved this one and always enjoy these authors’ books. Would highly recommend this one for early learning libraries and is a great read for young readers aged 3-6 years.
Love it!

The March Of The Ants

By Ursula Dubosarsky

Illustrated by Tohby Riddle

Story 📖

So glad to be back everyone. Apologise the delay, I have had a busy start to term and are just settling down now. Hope you are all well, can’t wait to catch up on all I have missed!

I picked up this lovely book from @betterreadkids in Newtown and I am so glad I did. I am a huge Ursula fan and have been for such a long time but I found this book so delightful.

The ants are going on an adventure but what will they need along the way? The words and illustration were simple but it allowed for the children predict what happened next and the children enjoyed being able to use these predictions to continue discussing the story.

We used this story to find some ants in the yard for inspiration and created some puppets and we made stop motion videos of them with voiceovers telling the story. Was incredibly fun and helped really bring the story to life.

Summary 📖

This book was a firm favourite immediately and we enjoyed reading as a group and looking at the illustrations. Such a great simple story aimed perfectly for preschool aged children.

Suggestion 📖

This book is fantastic for young readers aged 3-7 years and this one is a firm favourite in our classroom.

Highly recommend from the Children’s Laureate author, Ursula. Just love her and her books.

The Big Book Of Festivals

By Marita Bullock and Joan-Maree Hargreaves

Illustrated by Liz Rowland

The Big Book Of Festivals
By Marita Bullock and Joan- Maree Hargreaves
Illustrated by Liz Rowland

Thank you so much to @hachetteaus for sending this book to me in exchange for an honest read and review

Story 📖

This book is another cracker to help introduce young children to the world around them. Living in such a multicultural country as Australia, I feel so lucky to be consistently introduced to cultures and customs that are sacred to different cultures but this book has helped introduce me to festivals I have never heard of.

I had never heard of the Gelede festival that is celebrated by the Yoruba communities in West Africa, where they celebrate all mothers and mother figures by singing, dancing, drumming and paying tribute.

I love learning about festivals and different cultures. It helps me feel more connected with the world around me.

Summary 📖

As a teacher of young children, books are the prime way that I can help introduce the children to the world around them and this book is perfect for this. Full of so many interesting festivals, beautiful illustrations and age appropriate information.

Suggestion 📖

This is perfect for young children aged 3-9 years and is a great way to introduce them to a diverse celebrations and cultures from around the world.

Before The Crown

By Flora Harding

Before The Crown
By Flora Harding

Story 📖

One of my goals for this year was trying to be more sustainable with my book buying. I’m pleased to say that 4 months into the year I rely on my library for a lot of my books that I read and this was one of them.

This book is all about Princess Elizabeth and when she meets a German Prince Phillip and the relationship and inevitable romance that commences after meeting many times throughout childhood.

I find the concept of Royal families and that they still exist fascinating and I enjoyed reading this book from both Elizabeth and Phillip’s point of view and it was the story before the story we all know well.

Summary 📖

Well written fictionalised account of real events. I liked reading what came before and thought the author did a great job of telling a little known story.

Suggestion 📖

If you like historical fiction or anything royals I am sure you will like this one just as I did.

Float Plan

By Trish Doller

Float Plan
By Trish Doller

Story 📖

I have not been listening to as many @audible books lately but I think I will need to change that as this book was fantastic.

When we meet Anna she is suffering heartbreak after a very sad loss and she decides to go sailing from Florida towards the Caribbean. As she sails, she realises that she will need a shipmate who comes in the form of Cian Sullivan, an experienced Irish sailor who has experienced his own loss.

Summary 📖

This book was so engaging and if you have not read, I encourage you to listen to it. It really came to life and I thought the narrators did a marvellous job.

Suggestion 📖

For anyone one that enjoys a read about life, loss and friendship this is the book for you. I loved it.