When our little ones begin to show a curiosity for the world around them, this may include exploring nature; its particular features, elements of growth and change, as well as discovering their own individual attributes and the differences in one another. Understanding and appreciating these fascinating aspects can be facilitated through gentle and nurturing guidance, […]
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Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: margaret wild, Wendy Binks, Scholastic Press, New Book Releases, bond, affection, Working Title Press, Anna Pignataro, Scholastic Australia, P. Crumble, Karen Blair, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, How I Love You, Our Baby, Romi Sharp, Deborah Mailman, Hush Little Possum, Our Love Grows, love, child, mother, Add a tag
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book News, compassion, Freedom, nature, Environment, Seagull, Walker Books, humanity, Bob Graham, New Book Releases, Random House Australia, Working Title Press, danny snell, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Romi Sharp, How the Sun Got to Coco's House, Ollie and the Wind, Ronojoy Ghosh, Add a tag
The scent of Spring is in the air. But that’s not all that’s lifting us up. From the tiny details to the wider world, our environment has so much to offer. For different reasons, these following picture books discover beauty and how the elements of nature can capture our hearts and strengthen our human kindness. […]
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JacketFlap tags: World Dementia Month, Book News, picture book, Author Interviews, Kayleen West, elderly, Shortlist, Alzheimer's, Andrew McLean, dementia, New Book Releases, Ford Street Publishing, Working Title Press, Aaron Pocock, Wombat Books, ageing, Karen Tyrrell, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Debra Tidball, Leigh Hedstrom, When I see Grandma, Speech Pathology Australia, Ellie Royce, Lucas and Jack, Romi Sharp, Celia and Nonna, Victoria Lane, Digital Future Press, Harry Helps Grandpa Remember, Anna McNeil, Do You Remember?, Kelly O'Gara, Add a tag
Along with a staunch group of Australian literary professionals, Ellie Royce is a strong advocate for promoting encouragement for families to connect with older generations, share love and facilitate the power of memory. Her latest picture book is one in a line up, not only involved in initiatives to create awareness of ageing people and […]
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JacketFlap tags: Working Title Press, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, The Duck and the Darklings, Lesley Gibbes, Scary Night, Romi Sharp, Snail and Turtle are Friends, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Picture Book of the Year, Early Childhood Book of the Year, Book News, Australia, Scholastic, Allen and Unwin, Shortlist, Children's Book Council of Australia, Glenda Millard, nomination, Stephen Michael King, Add a tag
What is it about Stephen Michael King‘s illustrations that make his picture books so sublime? How can his drawings make us want to delve into those stories over and over again? Well, that’s just it! It’s the artwork that adds another dimension to those already meaningful stories, allowing us to dive right in with those […]
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JacketFlap tags: 100 years, Scholastic Australia, SCholastic NZ, Dimity Powell, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, historic picture book, Ruth Stark, EK Books, Romi Sharp, Phil Cummings, ANZAC Ted, Belinda Landsberry, ANZAC Centenary, The Last Anzac, Anzac Parade, Commerative picture books, My Gallopoli, Peter Millett, Ride Ricardo Ride, The ANZAC Puppy, Sally Murphy, ANZAC Day, New Frontier Publishing, World War One, Sophie Masson, New Book Releases, Working Title Press, Add a tag
A couple of months ago I revisited an iconic song by Eric Bogle, finding new breath in Bruce Whatley’s picture book, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Bogle found the words and Whatley the images that profoundly capture all the raw emotion, loss and resilience that epitomises the Great War of 100 years ago. This […]
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JacketFlap tags: multicultural, Book News, diversity, indigenous, flora, Claire Saxby, Australia Day, Walker Books, Frané Lessac, Donna Gynell, fauna, Trudie Trewin, New Book Releases, Jeremy, Windy Hollow Books, Tania McCartney, Calpepper's Place, Working Title Press, danny snell, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Big Red Kangaroo, Graham Byrne, Chris Faille, Tina Snerling, An Aussie Year, EK Books, Romi Sharp, A is for Australia, Add a tag
January 26th marks the date in which Australians reflect upon our cultural history and celebrate the accomplishments since the first fleet landed on Sydney’s shores in 1788. Here are a select few picture books aimed at providing children with some background knowledge of our beautiful land, flora, fauna and multicultural diversity. There is plenty of […]
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JacketFlap tags: Book News, halloween, picture book, Author Interviews, Stephen Michael King, Working Title Press, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Player Profiles, Lesley Gibbes, Scary Night, Bring a Duck!, Fizz and the Police Dog Tryouts, Little Bear's First Sleep, White Fin, Add a tag
With Halloween fast approaching, what book would be more fitting than the sensationally mysterious, Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Stephen Michael King?! Review: Scary Night Ready to be horrified? It’s time to hide! Let out a scream, it’s Scary Night! Lesley Gibbes and Stephen Michael King bring us a spooktacular tale of three brave […]
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JacketFlap tags: Book News, picture book, Environment, Conservation, sustainability, new release, craig smith, New Book Releases, wind farms, Working Title Press, Dimity Powell, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Doiug MacLeod, The Windy Farm, Add a tag
I’m not big on wind. Of all the meteorological marvels on offer, it’s the least appealing to me, perhaps because I endured a few too many tropical cyclones and missing roofs as a child.
So when The Windy Farm blew onto my shelves, I instinctively hunched my shoulders and wondered what on earth could be so appealing about the latest offering by well-liked picture book team, Doug MacLeod and Craig Smith. Turns out a whole Beaufort Scales worth.
Our plucky young narrator lives with her family on the windiest farm on Windy Hill because it’s all they can afford. Their home is buffeted and bullied by incessant katabatic winds. The kind of wind that permanently bends trees into weird angles; the kind powerful enough to blow away young pigs and little girls. No one is safe from its force, no one except Grandpa who, as the illustrations subtly suggest, is so immense and heavy that he will never budge just like his favourite pig, Big Betty.
The family survive undeterred and, as is often the case, necessity becomes the mother of invention. And indeed this is the case; Mum cannily invents heavy metal shoes to anchor them all to the ground. However, in spite of their best efforts, one day they lose half their home to nature’s tempest.
Rich Uncle Jeff is no help, pointedly refusing to lend them any of his oil-amassed fortune to help fix the house. They resort to good old fashioned ingenuity and Grandpa’s power tools instead but the ensuing crippling power bill plunges them into despair (who hasn’t felt like this after receiving their electricity bill?)
Not easily defeated, Mum comes up with a wily plan; to convert the farm into a sustainable wind farm. Pretty soon things are on the up and up. The farm road is paved in tarmac and truckloads of money from all the electricity they’ve enterprisingly ‘farmed’. Big Betty, the prized pig, returns to a wind-proof sty (she was sold to pay the electricity bills) and although the need to wear heavy metal boots remains, their money worries have been swept away, just like Uncle Jeff who ‘became poor’ after the ill winds of fate blew his way. ‘Never mind,’ Grandpa sanguinely observes; no one really liked him anyway.
Doug MacLeod’s contemporary message about the power of wind and its significance in environmental sustainability drifts delightfully zephyr-like throughout this picture book. Told in a concise, witty style, The Windy Farm exposes young readers to a range of fascinating topics including the harnessing of energy, inventions, problem-solving, sustainability and endurance.
No stranger to children’s book illustrating, Craig Smith’s flamboyant, comic-book style pictures and characters are hysterical; from the very top of Windy Hill all the way down to the chooks’ little metal boots. He uses heavier gauche paint to create a deeply detailed yet fluid almost dreamy visual effect that sweeps from page to page. Movement (of the omnipresent wind), is represented magnificently with the use of acrylics. One can see and feel the air swirling through each scene. I found it astounding even though I’m not that big on wind.
Smith and MacLeod include lots of witty references to the use of nuclear power and the need to adopt a clean energy philosophy if we are to enjoy a longer, better existence than poor old Uncle Jeff.
The Windy Farm is not however a heavy prescriptive lesson in world conservation. Rather, it is a light-hearted, fanciful look at ingenuity and tenacity in their purest and funniest forms. My Miss 7 just thinks it’s very cool. Well it would be with all that wind about wouldn’t it?
Breezy, good fun, imaginative with plenty of room for thought. Plus 5s will love it even if they are not big on wind (but most are).
Available now.
Working Title Press February 2013
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