The last 3 months…

Since my last blog post we have been living under serious restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid in Melbourne. Meaning school was taught remotely through the entire of term 3. We couldn’t travel outside of a 5km radius from our house, we had restrictions on grocery shopping, all other retail was click and collect only. So my time was very much taken up in teaching, entertaining, occupying and supervising my children.

One of the biggest challenges was getting our hands on enough reading material. The library was closed for the majority, only opening up for click and collect recently. We managed a book swap with some cousins who live nearby and use our local library too.

I also purchased a couple of sets of junior and middle-grade fiction to take advantage of a keen interest from my kids. These were: Kim Kane’s Ginger Green series, Kes Gray’s Daisy and the Trouble With... series and Matt Stanton’s Funny Kid series. I have trumpeted about these in the past so I won’t go into them again, only to say I love them and so do my kids. We read aloud 10 Daisy books and the majority of the Funny kid series with all 4 kids (and myself) getting plenty of laughs. My girls will read the Ginger Green books to themselves and will re-read them, which is great.

Just before the end of stage 4 restrictions and the kids returned to school and kinder I was thrilled to begin a part-time internship with Affirm Press. They are a relatively small and young Melbourne-based publisher with both a general and a children’s list. I have blogged about a few of their books before – Unicorn!, How to Be a Giraffe and Christmas Wonder. Fortunately, I am able to do the internship remotely (most office workers are still working from home) and in the evenings or whenever I get the chance. So far I have absolutely loved it as I get behind-the-scenes access to how books are made.

This is all to say that my blogging time over the last 3 months has been greatly reduced. However, hopefully, the libraries will reopen properly soon and I can get access to more exciting books to blog about. In the meantime here a few reviews for books we have been enjoying.

Dragon series, by Dav Pilkey – Jude has been getting online and reserving books for us to collect. I think he’s reserved everything our library has by Dav Pilkey. The kids have been enjoying his Dragon series, which is great junior fiction for newly independent readers, the short chapters and colourful pictures are right on for the demographic. Dragon is a rather stupid but kind character which makes for great laughs.

Narwhal and Jelly series, by Ben Clanton – Again a great option for kids who are able to read on their own, but who still need a quick, funny read to encourage them. Presented in a comic book style, Narwhal and Jelly are navigating the wide-open ocean and friendship together. The illustrations are simple enough that some budding illustrators might be inspired to try to copy them.

I’ll just spruik one brilliant new release from Affirm Press as it is the third in a series that I have adored. Dragon! is the next in the Unicorn! and Mermaid! set from Maggie Hutchings and Cheryl Orsini. We see the main characters, Lena and Luka, say good-bye to a friend, Sam, as he moves away. So how else are they going to see each if not for a friendly dragon? This would be a great one to consider for Christmas!