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What fun we had at Magnolia Square Malvern last weekend! Our stand had another re-jig, this time with pegboard (thanks to my brilliant brother-in-law). My hands were still paint-splattered after some last-minute painting to get it all ready in time, but it worked a treat. Lots of our lovely customers were already picking up some Christmas presents, and we will have some of the new treasures we sold out of back in stock again soon…

Our hatbox of Moomin goodness…

A sneak peak of a few of our Christmas titles (although by the time I took this photo we’d already sold out of some!) as well as some truly gorgeous Christmas vintage book bunting made by Lou (please email us if you would like to order some).

For our next Magnolia Square we will be packing up the car and tootling across to Adelaide, Nov 25-27. Can’t wait to meet some South Australian friends! We’ll be back in Melbourne again at St Kilda Town Hall Dec 2-5.

This book is a little sweetie that we will have at Magnolia Square this week. It feature 26 of the most gorgeous craft projects that are of course all birds. I’m going to try the wreath created by Noor van Krimpen owner of the beautiful Holland Fabric House. I also LOVE the little yellow fella on the cover.

There are so many craft books available but Little Birds is just a little something different and unique – as well as being beginner friendly (very important for me).

If you are interested in a copy of this gorgeous book and can’t get to Magnolia Square just send us an email or leave a comment on this post and we can set one aside for you.

Magnolia Square was so much fun as always – could it have been the BEST EVER?! Nic and her team created such a gorgeous display – the stage was like a scene from Narnia, complete with silver birch trees, and the most breathtaking props. So many amazing retailers – having a stand next to Michel’s Fine Biscuits was way too tempting and opposite our stand was the gorgeous Ohme Ohmi – we LOVED their new vintage toy T-shirts.

We also went a bit vintage with a new look for our stand…

How stunning is this bedspread with Golden Book characters – can you spot the Saggy Baggy Elephant and the Tawny Scrawny Lion? It’s an original and belongs to a lovely friend of mine – how lucky is she?! Underneath is the most gorgeous Little Jack Horner lamp found by Lou – which also got lots of comments from our customers.

The Womble night light was from my childhood…

Lou makes some gorgeous vintage book bunting, which you can see up top, and I framed some of the Charley Harper Memory Game cards for the wall.  The furniture and some vintage hat boxes were thrifted and found in storage, a gorgeous handmade quilt, vintage suitcase, another lamp and toys were borrowed from another very lovely friend – once we got started it all came together…

Another Magnolia Square has been and gone – the good news is there’s just 11 weeks until the next one – we’re starting our countdown already!

Yes, we are having a sale…

20% off all stock currently online. Just use the code SALE20 when you checkout to receive the discount.

If you have been coveting something from our store or maybe you’d like to start some Christmas shopping then now is the time.

ALL stock is 20% off, only until Sunday the 18th of July at 7pm.

Here are some of my favourites currently 20% off …

The Humble Bee Hunterby Deborah Hopkinson and Jen Corace

The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss and Marc Simont

Baby Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo

All these and more 20% off until Sunday night.

I finally had a chance to do some baking with some of our fabulous Moomin Cookie Cutters. As usual, the batch got eaten before I had a chance to ice them, and while these two probably aren’t the finest specimens, but I was lucky to rescue them for the photo.

The characters of course come from this book. Magical, whimsical, philosophical – and universally acknowledged as a great read-aloud – Finn Family Moomintroll is perfect for snuggling up with to read together… I really love this production too – check out these beautiful endpapers and the exquisite drawings by Tove Jansson.

The We Heart Books store also has limited copies of this stunning Moomin picture book – the first published by Tove Jansson.

The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My has recently been re-released by uber-cool Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. Luxuriously thick pages have beautiful die-cut pictures, tantalisingly revealing a hint of what’s on the next page. This is one of those books that’s so gorgeous that you want to use as a display piece on a shelf or mantlepiece!

||All these treasures are available at the We Heart Books store.||

Congratulations Matt H, the winner of a copy of Only a Witch Can Fly. Matt’s comment about a favourite award winning book was…

‘Our family really love many classic illustrated books. But to pick one, it has to be We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury; classic poetry with vivid pictures.’

Thanks everyone for such wonderful comments, there were so many fabulous books mentioned. We really enjoy you all sharing your opinions with us.

I laughed when I first realised the meaning of the title of this book. ‘Good for you, good for me’ is what Dormouse says to his friend Bear when he’s making him a deal. It’s funny because in our household I’m known as the I-don’t-do-deals-Mama. From early in our relationship I established with my husband that I don’t do deals. I’m not sure why but it immediately raises my hackles as soon as someone utters “I’ll do you a deal…” Now Rowan too knows and has been known to say to someone “Mama doesn’t do deals”.

Dormouse is the ultimate deal-maker in Good for You, Good for Me:

‘You give me your flute and I’ll give you music. Good for you, good for me.’
‘If you carry me, I’ll show you the way. Good for you, good for me.’

Increasingly, the deals offered by Dormouse are perplexing for Bear – and scratching behind his ear he wonders if Dormouse is being fair… But all the deal-broking leads Bear to some significant and philosophical realisations – that possessions aren’t the most important things and that giving and sharing can be the things that make you happiest of all.

Sounds pretty heavy, but these huge messages are conveyed in a beautifully meandering style with a non-formulaic narrative. In a few words and together with beautiful soft illustrations, the distinctive characters of Bear and Dormouse are perfectly drawn. This is a treasure of a book that should prompt much reflection from a thinking preschooler and would be great for discussion with readers of any age. I’m sure a few adults could learn a thing or two from Bear…

||Good for You, Good for Me is available from the We Heart Books store||

One of the most important and popular picture books of all time now comes in a pop up version to celebrate it’s 20th Anniversary. This is so exciting!

This pop up looks amazing because it has been created by one of the best paper engineers in the world, David A. Carter. We will have some stock in our store in a little over a week.

If you would like a copy reserved please let us know via email – [email protected]

we are here….

The countdown is on for us for Magnolia Square – 11 more sleeps until we open at the brand new venue of St Kilda Town Hall.

One of the things we love about being part of Magnolia Square is running storytime. We’ve been thinking that we need some comfy floor cushions for these sessions. Buoyed by the successful completion of these beauties I’m attempting some more invisible zips, and may even try to extend my skills to something new in the design of these cushions… Stay tuned!

There’s lots of lovely new books in our store at the moment… Here are a few favourites… 

Il Sung Na’s stunning A Book of Sleep 

The quirky and cool Big Rabbit’s Bad Mood 

Gyo Fujikawa’s gorgeous board books 

We’re celebrating all these lovely new books with a giveaway. Spend $50 (excluding postage) in the We Heart Books store from now until the 14th of March and get a gorgeous Maisy apron free (value $16.95). Quote MAISY APRON in the comments to qualify. 

We’re very excited that We Heart Books was mentioned on Romona Koval’s The Book Show on Radio National on Monday…

Romona was discussing with Gideon Haigh and Andrew Wilkins (Director of Wilkins Farago Publishing) the standard of literary reviewing in Australia. Gideon Haigh has recently been published in the new journal Kill Your Darlings, which claims that the book pages of Australian newspapers and magazines have become ‘hodgepodges of conventional wisdom and middlebrow advertorial.’ They discussed the future of reviewing and the role that blogs may have…

Here’s what Andrew had to say:

The positive thing from my point of view is that there are now communities of people saying this isn’t enough and we can actually set up our own thing… The cost of setting up anything on the internet [means] you can actually produce a vibrant, interesting, blog – I’m thinking of Inside a Dog which does Young Adult fiction for example, We Heart Books, which does kids’ literature. These are people with no budgets, negative budgets, and yet they’re able to get good quality material out online and build a community of people who actually care about similar things.

We’re quite chuffed! You can listen to the whole interview with Gideon and Andrew here.

The beautiful 24 minute film based on the book Varmints by Helen Ward and Marc Caste was nominated for a BAFTA and shortlisted for an Oscar last year. You can buy the book from we heart books and find out more on the film at the studio aka website here.

This really is a very important book and film, it’s message is something special to share with our children as our environment continues to be something we all strive to protect.

Afternoon tea with a copy of the new edition of Shop 4 Kids, what could be better?

And this edition is even more super exciting because We Heart Books has been included as one of the sites that Shop 4 Kids LOVES – how cool is that!

There is also some of our most beautiful books included as well as all the best clothes, toys and essentials for babies and children and a really great feature on art for kids.

We are definitely in the midst of the ‘Why?’ phase with Rowan. Seems like it has already been going on for a while and friends tell me that it keeps going for a lot longer again… I know it’s healthy, but sometimes I just like to get through a page of a book at bedtime without five questions about the story and the illustrations.

So last night I could hardly believe it when Rowan sat absolutely absorbed and completely silent as I read him for the first time A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley and illustrated by Jim La Marche.

The book tells the story of a friendship between a bear and a woman who lives for a time in a woodland cabin. The bear stumbles upon the cabin and sees the woman reading. He is very curious about the square object that she holds, which at times makes her laugh, and at others afraid or pensive. Day by day the bear gathers courage until he is able to lie close to the woman. For the shortening days of summer, and until the leaves change colour, she reads to him. And although the bear can’t understand her words, he feels the emotions conveyed through her voice. Her words make a story: a story for her bear.

I’m not sure which aspect of the story was so captivating for Rowan - it could have been the idea of a wild bear meeting a human for the first time, or perhaps the bear’s perspective, learning about the existence of books and the power of storytelling. Whatever the reason, it was wonderful for me to share a book with him that is very special to me - it was Lou who gave me my copy and I think it is such a beautiful story about the wonders of reading.

I also love Jim La Marche’s illustrations - I reviewed another beautiful book of his, Albert, here. He has such a talent for illustrating light and shadow, and this is done so beautifully again for the woodland scenes in A Story for Bear.

||A Story for Bear is available in the We Heart Books store||

Jeremy Holmes’ gorgeously quirky version of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is now in stock in our store.

Such a macabre rhyme and beautifully executed by Holmes. Since we first saw the book in early December, we haven’t got tired of turning to the closing page to see the old lady’s eyes closing for the final line, ‘She died, of course.‘

You can purchase your copy here.

The trailer is mesmerising and sets the mood perfectly…

It’s a busy time of year but it’s always fun wrapping lovely parcels for people ordering gorgeous books for the special little (and big) people in their life.

Our cut offs for postage from We Heart Books  are - regular post orders by Monday 21 December.

Express Post orders may be placed by Wednesday 23 December for capital city customers.

Please excuse my poor photography but I had to include a photo today of my little ladybird friend (just near the bears ear!)  who loved touring around the pile of Mouk books I had at the No Vacancy Art and Design Market on the weekend. The ladybird seemed to love the explosion of colour that is Marc Boutavant’s Mouk as much as I do.

Mouk is an absolute bestseller for our store and will be under the tree for Ned this year as when he was helping Katie and I pack for Magnolia Square he told us with conviction that this was a ‘beautiful book’.

Phew - a busy three days at Magnolia Square. It was great fun - we had lots of beautiful new books to share and had so many lovely chats with customers. And we always love catching up with fellow Magnolia retailers who have become firm friends.

Four days off and we’ll be doing it again at Brighton Town Hall - we’d love to see anyone who is in the neighbourhood!