“Mum, how do you give a book a ‘like’?” “A ‘like’?” I asked my 6-year-old son. “Yeah, a ‘like’. Like for videos on YouTube. So other people know it’s really good. ‘Cause this book’s really good and I want to tell everyone.” Mr 6 waved The Flying Orchestra, by Clare McFadden at me. He loves this book. […]
books for kids
Book review: Morris the Mole, by Nicki Greenberg
‘Let’s read Morris the Mole again, Mum!’ shouts Mr 6 at bedtime, for the third night in a row. ‘Yes! Let’s read Morris the Mole!’ I agree, equally enthusiastically. It’s rare to find a book that both of us want to read over and over and over again. Nicki Greenberg, author of many books including […]
Not So Scary Bear: a picture book about being yourself
Not So Scary Bear, by the very talented Ruth Waters, is a gorgeously illustrated, funny and adorable picture book for young children about bravery, breaking stereotypes and being yourself. Every night Scary Bear roams the forest looking for other animals to terrify by roaring at them, as is expected of any self-respecting scary bear. Every day, […]
Reading aloud to children: 4 books for theatrically-inclined parents
I’ve read out loud to my kids since they were in utero. Starting with the Time magazine and moving up to… well, The Very Hungry Caterpillar mostly. Reading aloud has many amazing benefits for kids (literacy, vocabulary, imagination) but, given we have to do it every single day, it helps if you’re reading a book […]
Book review: D-Bot Squad Series (Mega Hatch & Dino Corp)
Usually I take photographs of each book that publishers send me as soon as they’re out of the box. It wasn’t possible with the latest D-Bot Squad books – my 5 and 7 year old boys wrenched away one each as soon as I opened up the latest book mail! The D-Bot Squad books have […]
5 things you probably didn’t know about May Gibbs
I grew up on stories of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the gumnut babies who went on the most fabulous adventures. When you’re a kid you don’t tend to think much about the writer of the book, or how it came to be published. You’re too interested in shoving your fists in your mouth, terrified that Cuddlepie will get […]