Booking in February
Julia Donaldson
Early in the month, I saw that Julia Donaldson was going to be doing a few events in Australia, the one in Melbourne was at the Exhibition Centre on February 26th at 4:30 pm, so naturally, I bought the tickets immediately. On the day I picked my kids up early from school. There is nothing they could be doing at school that would be more beneficial than seeing Julia Donaldson perform some of our best-loved stories and then meeting her and telling her how much we enjoy her books.
The performance was very entertaining. The stories which were acted out were: The Gruffalo, What the Ladybird Heard, Zog, The Cook and the King, The Smeds and The Smoos, and Superworm. The props were all fairly simple so that the performers (including Julia herself) could change quickly, sometimes even onstage. Though having said that each costume must have been handmade as they were very recognisable from the books.
For some of the performances, kids could join in, by singing words put up on a screen, or by being chosen to go on stage and help act out the story. Jude managed to get up on stage and was a Smoo. The adult ‘chosen’ from the audience to be Bill the Smoo looked so familiar to me but I just couldn’t place him. Later, he and his family were getting Julia’s signature right after us and I still couldn’t think of his name. It turned out to be Neil Gaiman! I couldn’t believe it.
Overall, this was a very memorable and enriching experience for us. While it’s not easy getting 4 kids to the exhibition centre and home again on a school night (we had to have take-away for dinner) those are the days they will remember for the rest of their lives, I hope.
Click here for my first post about Julia Donaldson which contains reviews of all her books with Axel Scheffler that we had read at the time.
Ursula Dubosarsky
A new Australian Children’s Laureate was announced this past month; Morris Gleiztman has passed the reigns on to Ursula Dubosarsky. I had definitely heard of Ursula before, but when I heard the news, for the life of me I couldn’t think of a title for one of her books. Naturally, I opened up the library home page and reserved some of her books that I thought my kids and I would enjoy.
The day Toby and I brought home Ask Hercules Quick from the library he sat and listened to all of it in one sitting. No mean feat for an antsy boy to actively listen to what is a short chapter book. The story is about a young boy who lives in a world both like and unlike our own. He visits a toy shop and decides to do jobs for neighbours in order to earn money for a magic trick set. So far it sounds pretty normal, only he lives with his aunt, who is an alligator, in a building inhabited by other creatures. Hercules sets about completing the tasks but learns that there is more ‘magic’ than can be found in a toy store.
I have to say, Andrew Joyner’s illustrations are outstanding. His style is modern retro with bright colours and wispy lines. The book designers should also receive some credit for this one because it is truly seamless. Kids want to keep reading this book.
One Little Goat is another of Ursula’s books, again illustrated brilliantly by Andrew Joyner, which Toby is especially liking. It’s a book that builds on the story as each page is turned (think: The House that Jack Built or The Woman Who Swallowed a Fly). While there isn’t rhyme, there is a certain rhythm to the text which gives it a pleasantly predictable quality that children often enjoy.
Old Favourites
As I said in my previous post, I’ve realised that there are some books we have really enjoyed in the past that I now notice my younger kids have no memory of reading. With this in mind I re-borrowed a few old favourites from the library to re-enjoy.
The Book with No Pictures, by B.J. Novak – This goes to show that a great concept, executed well, will ensure success and fun at reading time. The Book With No Pictures falls into the category of books that break the 4th wall and talk to the reader, giving scripted responses to the nonsense they are required to read aloud. Kids absolutely love the silliness of the book and will want it again and again.
The Magical Life of Mr. Renny, by Leo Timmers – This is where my love for Leo Timmers’ work started. I could deprive my younger kids no longer. It has been read on repeat for 2 weeks now.
The Cook and the King, by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts – In our ‘Julia Donaldson month’, I felt it only right to borrow some of her books that we don’t yet own. With her signature rhyming style and David Roberts’ outstanding illustrations, this is brilliant fun.
New Series for Freya
We all know about Geronimo Stilton and the huge amount of books there are in that series and the spin-off series. Obviously they aren’t at the apex of children’s literature, but they are plentiful and fairly short and thus are great for building reading fluency as kids can get into the world and read many stories with similar characters and storylines. Freya discovered the Thea Stilton books at school this month and jumped on to the public library site and reserved what turned out to be a good dozen or so books. She has read next to none of them. Either they are too difficult (which I think the graphic novels are) or they just don’t pull her in. Maybe we’ll try them again in a few months, but now I have to haul a few kilos of Thea Stilton books back to the library.
Fortunately, Freya has had some success with there series:
The Besties, by Felice Arena and Tom Jellett – Currently a 4 book series of which Freya has now read 2. It was great that she could quite easily read a book in one sitting and get that sense of accomplishment from doing it all herself. I need to remember that success it such an important part of the learning to read journey and sometimes that means reading books that are on the easy side of the spectrum.
Evie and Pog, by Tania McCartney – We will always trust Tania McCartney and read everything she produces because it’s always executed to such a high standard. I’ve known these were coming out for a while and hoped they might be just right for Odette as she learns to read this year. But once I got my hands on them I knew it would be Freya who would benefit most right now.
Sitting comfortably in the emerging independent reader category each book contains 3 short stories about Evie and her pet pug, Pog. While the illustrations are terrific, as one would expect, I am devasted they are black and white (as per Ella and Olivia or Billie B Brown) not in colour (as per Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush). Knowing how spectacular Tania’s other works are, surely someone at the publishing house could have ensured that readers got the full benefit of her genius.
Ghoulia and the Mysterious Visitor, by Barbra Cantini – after reading the first in the series last month and enjoying it, Freya was keen to give this one a go and she enjoyed it just as much. I think she must be a visual learner, when I read with her she is slow because she looks at all the pictures and this book has so much to look at and that increases her enjoyment. Again I would highly recommend these for reluctant readers who are fine with a spooky (but very safe) theme.
Booking for Jude
Jude has been very easy to please this last month thanks to JK Rowling. He got through books 1-3 of Harry Potter pretty quickly late last year and has been going at a steady pace recently and finished the main series yesterday. He’s now moved onto Harry Potter and the Cursed Child screenplay. Looks like we’re going to have to take him to the theatre soon, it’s still playing in Melbourne.
Booking for Mum
Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport – I came across this on the library catalogue while searching for Cal Newport’s Deep Work, which has been on my TBR list for a while now. After reading this, I’m glad my library had it and not Deep Work, this was written after and, I think, references points in Deep Work that would be most applicable to me.
I have been a wannabe minimalist for a few years now. I really try to be purposeful when purchasing and resist the temptation to fill our home and lives with things that add very little value. Of course, I live with 5 other people who have different ideas about what is valuable, nevertheless, I try. So a book about minimising the negative impact of digital tools was hugely interesting to me.
I would highly recommend this book to almost any adult or teenager. The suggested practices Newport recommends seem common sense after you read the supporting material that underpins them.
I don’t really consider myself to be an extreme user of social media, and to be honest, Newport is probably not speaking to those people so much. His ideas are more aimed at people who use social media more than they should. Those of us who use it as a go-to when we’re bored or feeling like we need to ‘zone out’. He is really trying to help people reclaim the hour or two a day that is wasted scrolling. By giving readers an insight into the background of social media companies he is helping us see how the ‘social media sausage’ is made and that really makes you reevaluate if you want to eat it any longer (or at least as often).
So, as a result of reading this book, I have deleted Facebook from my phone (again) and am noticing that this one simple act is changing my habits.
The Sentence is Death, by Anthony Horowitz – After loving the first in this series (reviewed last post) I devoured this, listening to it all in one day. It was so good. The story was interesting, the main characters continued seamlessly, the writing techniques were fun to notice. For some reason I felt like this book was funny, though I don’t think I ever laughed out loud. I think what I was feeling was the sensation you feel when you ‘get’ a joke, only this time I was ‘getting’ the clues and how the author disguised them. I absolutely loved it.
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