Books for Older Readers (Yrs 5-6)

Narmer is Prince of Thinis, which seems to be an important town on the River Nile. He meets the Trader and his scarred assistant and translator, Nitho. Narmer’s older brother Hawk, whom Narmer has replaced as heir to the kingdom, tricks Narmer into being mauled by a crocodile. Despite horrific injuries, Narmer is partially healed and is able to leave with the Trader since Hawk is reinstated as heir. Narmer’s world expands and Nitho encourages him by saying that he can do anything. After many adventures, Narmer becomes the first pharaoh of Egypt.

 

 

 

 

Books for Younger Readers (Yrs 3-6)

Sixth grade style queen (not). Dawn is not a style queen. She is not impressed and feels intimidated by Melissa who is. Dawn has made friends (sort of) with Emily who then joins Melissa’s group. Dawn is finding the breakup of her parents’ marriage difficult but she discovers she has much in common with Paul. This interesting little book is written as a series of poems.

 

 

 

 

 A community of Australian animals is revealed in what appears to be a local newspaper.  Exotic zoo animals are ‘released’ from Mr Nasty’s prison like zoo and hidden in the Shaggy Gully community. This is another wonderfully creative book by Jackie French.

 

 

 

 

 

 Marco and local children play soccer in a paddock. They call it The World Cup because the children who play come from many different countries. When Marco kicks the ball over the fence, he meets Henry, a new boy who is too sad to play as his sister is very sick. When he does join in the game, a cow wanders into their space whom they name Mrs Ronaldo. Mrs Ronaldo leaves a deposit on the grass to add to the challenges of their game.

 

 

 

 

 

Amelia Dee lives with her creative parents, one an artist and the other an inventor. They live in a tall tonwhouse with many scuptures and a magnificent peacock lamp. Next door Mr Vishwanath teaches yoga but seems to have only one student. Amelia comes to know her as Princess Parvin and discovers that she is an exile of Irafia. In her palace there had been seven peacock lamps and Amelia is fascinated by her story and the intricate animals in the peacock lamp.

 

 

 

 

 

When Leo inherits a family heirloom in the form of a music box with intricate scenes and characters all over it, he is in for a big surprise. The rule is that he must only wind it up three times. However, when his most unfavourite cousin Mimi arrives, she winds it up more times! The beautiful but evil Blue Queen emerges from the music box, kidnaps Mutt, Mimi’s beloved little dog, and so entices the children into the world of Rondo. In their quest to find Mutt, their hair raising adventures include meeting many traditional characters they’ve only read about before.

 

 

 

 

 

Ping and Kai journey to fnd other dragons, eventually locating a whole colony of wild dragons. The meeting of dragons is not all it could or should be and the characters need to grow and mature even more. This is the thrid book in the trilogy after “Dragonkeeper” and “Garden of the purple dragon”.

 

 

 

 

Books for Early Childhood

“A little grey mouse lives in our house”. It creeps past the sleeping cat and feasts on biscuits, watermelon, cheese and much more. All is well until it tries to drink from a glass and the glass tips and smashes.

 

 

 

 

 

This book is about two friends who are different in every way. They are opposite personaliites but remain best friends. This book won the Award for the Best Book in the Early Childhood section.

 

 

 

 

 Have you ever wondered what your cat does during the day while you are at school? This book may answer that question. Cat engages with dog, bird, sprinkler and mouse, then spies the milk. The reader participates in Cat’s exciting and eventful day which ends with Cat safe and secure.

 

 

 

 

Lucy Goosey is written by Maragaret Wild and illustrated by Ann James. Lucy Goosey has grown up in her pond and is used to it. She has played in and around it for her whole life and doesn’t want anything to change. Her wings have grown and she is able to fly to another country with her mum but she doesn’t want to go. This book is about fear of the unknown, being alone and a Mother’s relationship with and love for her child.

Sally tries to change her garden by tracing it in the fog on her window. After bed. a ‘queer night wind’ blows and the moon shines oddly through Sally’s window, inviting Sally and her cat Strange, out into a garden which has been magically altered. They climb up a tree bridge towards the moon, then slide down the moon and back into bed.

 

 

 

 

The trouble with dogs by Bob Graham. This book is a sequel to “Let’s get a pup” which contrasts two pet dogs. The family has chosen two very different dogs. Rosie is older and Dave is young and exuberant. The trouble with Dave is that he is a little too playful  and rather naughty but when they enlist the help of the “Pup breakers”, they end up with a different sort of problem.

Picture Book of the Year

Li Cunxin and his six brothers are always hungry. When Li is eleven he is chosen to go to the Beijing Dance Academy to learn to be a dancer. This is his chance to escape and follow his dreams. He hopes he can help his family by doing this but he is the worst dancer. However, he is encouraged by stories of success and achievement that one teacher tells and so he works very hard. By the time he is eighteen he is one of China’s best dancers. He is invited to study in America and by the age of twentyone travels the world as a world famous dancer. This true story is available in other versiosn for adults and young people.

 

 

 

 

 

Ziba is a refugee on a boat which her mother hopes will take them to freedom. As the sea surges up and down, Ziba is washed by thoughts of home. She remembers the good times and the bad times when the ’shadow cast by the mountains in the east seemed to creep closer than before. The darkness spread. Angry voices surrounded her’. This may be a warning of what lies ahead.

 

 

 

 

This book begins optimistically but with hints of problems. A white Australian boy and an Aboriginal boy go fishing with Uncle Tobias. They shelter under a bridge when it rains and there are implications of homelessness because of their ragged clothing.

 

 

 

 

 

The island by Armin greder. A man arrives on an island but is imprisoned rather than welcomed. The themes in this book are many: refugees and slavery, mob mentality and intolerance, prejudice and individual difference. This is very definitely a picture book for older readers.

 

 

 

 

 

The text in this book is sparse and the dramatic pictures are a collection by fourteen different illustrators. It draws the world’s attention to the plight of children in African countries where food is scarce and many children die because they do not have enough to eat. Sales of this book benefit the Save the Children Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

Requiem for a beast. A young man who has experienced trauma in recent years, seems to see an Aboriginal boy threatened by a creature that is part beast and part human. This book won the Picture Book of the Year Award but is definitely for older readers.

 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

This is an excellent non fiction book that gives a great deal of information about venomous creatures that live in Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

This book is written as an information report. It includes side bars of useful visual and textual information about predators and has lots of photographs of creatures that live in Antarctica.

 

 

 

 

 

This wonderfully interactive book teaches young people about books in a fun and very creative way.

 

 

 

 

 

Ned Kelly’s Jerilderee letter. Carole Wilkinson has rewritten Ned Kelly’s famous letter into an easy to read format.

 

 

 

 

 

Girl stuff. There are four parts to this book: body, head, heart and info to go. The sections include information about just about everything girls – and boys too – want to know.

Kokoda track. 101 days. This is an excellent ‘warts and all’ account of Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guniea during World War 2. It provides information about what really happened and just how tough this track is to walk.

Crichton Award for New Illustrators

 Ock von Fiend is a vampire and this delightful story is short, scarey and fun.

The world according to Warren is about Warren who knows he is born to great responsibility but is easily distracted by many things. When he meets Eleanor this changes and he becomes a much loved, reliable guide dog.

Santa’s Aussie holiday takes Santa, and the reader, to many landmarks around Australia. Santa has come to Oz on a well earned holiday and has a wonderful time.

The empty city is about a little boy who goes shopping with his mother. What happens to him while he is there? Does he go to sleep or does he get lost? Follow the delightfully geometric illustrations and you may find out.

 Crow and the waterhole. In this brillinatly illustrated story, Crow sees her own reflection in the water but fails to recognise that she’s looking at her own reflection. She flies off to find another Crow that is a beautiful as the one she has seen onyl to eventually discover that to fidn her destiny, she simply needs to look inside herself.