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It was so exciting to hear today that our absolute favourite book of 2010 is the recipient of the 2011 Caledecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children! A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a first book by a young husband and wife team, Philip Stead and Erin Stead, and gee we can’t wait to see what else they come up with! Philip’s gentle words are exquisitely paced and partner perfectly with Erin’s stunning pencil and woodcut artwork in sepia tones and splashes of soft colour.

This is a book we have recommended over and over to our friends at our markets, and it’s always an absolute joy when a book like that receives the highest level of recognition.

Here are some more beautiful images from this treasure of a book. There are a few copies currently available in our store.

A complete list of the American Library Association Youth Media awards with some interviews with the authors is available here.

||A Sick Day for Amos McGee is available from the We Heart Books store||

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||

This is Ned concentrating in the car on reading some catalogues he’d picked up.

He has always loved reading store catalogues and makes us laugh with the intensity at which he pours over them. When he was little he loved looking at the other children now he is unfortunately more concerned with looking at the brands  that he knows, i.e. The Wiggles and Dora.

Do you think this reading is bad?

I’m not sure who loves my iPhone more, Neddy or me (or daddy – surprisingly more and more apps just appear on MY phone)! We have found a few good apps for Ned to play with that are suitable for toddlers but none more gorgeous than Little Bella.

I have fallen in love with the adorable animation in this app and it’s just a beautiful story. It has the same lovely feel as Ponyo or Totoro.

Although we always have books wherever we go, in the car, in every bag we own. Ned and I do enjoy having a cuddle and watching Little Bella together in a cafe or in the park – technology can be a wonderful thing.

Aren’t these Jonathan Adler book ends gorgeous. Nothing like a long dog to hold up your books. 

Comical and cute; Dachshunds are great little characters for children’s literature. The quintessential Dachshund character being Pretzel by H. A. and Margaret Rey the creators of that other quintessential little animal character Curious George.

Pretzel is a love story that begins and ends with puppies (if you know what I mean!).  First published in 1944, the story is by no means out of date but still has that lovely innocence of books from that era. 

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…

As I have mentioned before in ‘When We Were Little’ posts (here and here) we lived for a time in England when I was little. Rupert the bear was another of the English characters that is indelibly linked to my memories of our time there. I still have a copy of a Daily Express Rupert Annual, which I think was given to me one Christmas.

Having now done some research into the Rupert story, I am blown away by the endurance of this ever-so-English little bear.

Rupert Bear first appeared in 1920 in the Daily Express comic strips by Mary Courtel. In an incredible feat of longevity for the world of the print media, the Rupert Bear strips continue to this day. The artist has changed several times, and one of the most significant storytellers and artists responsible for Rupert was Alfred Bestall, who held the reins from 1935 to 1974. Each year, a Rupert Annual is published, and my copy is the 1981 hardcover edition.

One of the most distinctive aspects of the Rupert stories is the story-telling format. This is not a regular cartoon comprising pictures and speech bubbles. A complete Rupert story is told over several pages of an Annual. Each page consists of a simple heading and four or five illustrations, and the illustrations are captioned by four pairs of verse. At the bottom of each page, a paragraph of prose repeats the story again, which means that the story can actually be read on four levels.

As a reader, it’s a slightly unnerving format, and the verse is often slightly ‘off’. But it is interesting - and means that children of different ages can enjoy the story. These days the first thing I think of is what a nightmare this must be to copywrite and edit - how restrictive must those word limits for each written element be…

Rupert himself is said to epitomise traditional British public school values. He lives in an idyllic English village and, with his friend Bill the Badger, has a series of unexpected  magical adventures. With their gorgeously distinctive outfits and occasionally their leather rucksacks, Rupert and Bill always get home safely to Mrs Bear, who never seems the slightest bit perturbed by their adventures.

Clearly, the character of a newspaper comic who has been around for nearly ninety years is iconic. Paul McCartney’s inspiration for the song ‘We All Stand Together’ (

Our Christmas tree this year is not a perfect specimen. It is asymmetrical, slightly bushier on one side, and has a decidedly wonky top. But I love it because it is an Eco Christmas Tree! It is a real living tree in a pot, and we have hired it for December. I though this concept was brilliant as soon as I heard about it - with tree delivery and collection included, you also get the satisfaction of knowing that a healthy tree continues to grow and thrive all year round.

When I was growing up we always had our Christmas tree in a pot. My mum and dad bought a small living Christmas tree for my first Christmas as a baby and every year for 20 years we continued to bring the same tree into the house. In the end it was so tall that it touched the ceiling. I really loved thinking of the tree and I growing alongside each other.

When Rowan was born, I intended to create a similar tradition for our household. But I soon learnt that my mum is a better gardener than I because I was unable to keep our little tree alive for the year… But Eco Christmas Trees provides the perfect service for someone like me. They even offer to deliver the same Christmas tree to you next year!

I do love Christmas tree traditions, and one of the Christmas stories Rowan and I are enjoying at the moment is Mr Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry.

The story starts with the delivery of a very tall Christmas tree to Mr Willowby’s grand house. The tree is the biggest he’s ever seen - so big that it can’t stand up straight in his parlour! Mr Willowby asks his butler to chop off the top of the tree so that it will fit better. The butler cuts the top, but instead of throwing it away, he decides to offer the cutting to Miss Adelaide, the upstairs maid. Miss Adelaide gratefully accepts her ‘tree’, but discovers the tree-top is too tall for her attic room, so she too trims off the top… And so the story continues, and the tree-top is gradually shortened and shared with smaller and smaller animals.

I love the idea that a tree can become lots of mini-trees, as well as the wonderful sense of sharing in this book. The final illustration of Mr Willowby with his tree in the foreground, with the detail of a tiny mouse-hole and the mice and their miniature tree is so lovely.

What about everyone else? What Christmas books are you enjoying at the moment?

||Mr Willowby’s Christmas Tree is available in the We Heart Books store||

My favourite book of 2008 is still a favourite.

A guest post by one of our favourite bloggers, Scribbler, founder and writer extraordinaire of the utterly fabulous blog called Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves. She is mum to a 4-year-old aficianado of vintage kids’ books.

I’ve loved books my whole life. Children’s picture books in particular, and if you read my blog, you know I sort of went nuts after I had my son… obsessively collecting books for him that I’d had as a child and ones I wished I’d had. I don’t remember exactly which Molly Brett title was my first… I just remember an American childhood filled with her books and illustrations. Wonderful little worlds inhabited by cuddly animals and fairies. Adorable wooded scenes with teddy bears and squirrel babies. A moss-covered wonderland where salamanders lead pet snails around on leashes. Owls wear top hats. Where children’s toys are in cahoots with sparrows. And frogs shop for sausage links. All the sorts of things little girls imagine to be happening right outside their bedroom windows when they are just out of ear shot.

A native of Surrey, England, Molly’s mother was a painter of animals, so although Molly had no training, she was a natural at creating the stories so many children around the world came to love. Under her publisher, The Medici Society of London, she produced 21 books and countless illustrations for greeting cards and prints before her death at 88 years old in 1990.

I spent hours and hours of my youth, poring over these intriguing tales, then would close my eyes at night and wish and pray they were real. Oh, what I would have given to be invited to an animal tea party! One of my favorite stories from this book in particular is called “The New Policeman” and involves a mess of sweet forest animals driving around in toy cars:

Fuzzy Hedgehog felt rather lonely as he scuttled through the wood, for the other animals found him too prickly to play with, although he longed for friends and to join in all that went on around him. Just then he saw a notice on an oak tree which said—‘Nest Builders and Hole Holders are asked to a Meeting to discuss the Dangers of Traffic on Winding Way.’

Well, one thing leads to another, and one can only imagine how proud Fuzzy must’ve felt when he received his policeman’s helmet and set to work making the traffic right. Delightful! If I remember correctly, most of her books were made up of a series of stories, each with one illustration in color and then sketches on the type-page in black and white.

There is lots of Beatrix Potter on these pages, and one has to assume Molly grew up studying her books. There’s just something about the English countryside that breeds this sort of enchantment. Brett… Potter… Milne. The landscapes and gardens are ripe for one’s imagination to pick. A medley of trickling brooks and sparkling skies. Shadows and toadstools and beds of leaves hidden beneath shady branches. Really, I could wax poetic for a lifetime about these amazing people who brought the magic of England all the way across the pond to my own little bewitching corner of the globe. South Carolina might be a world away from Surrey, but to my childish heart, we were all living in the same hundred-acre wood.

Reading aloud is such a joy when you have the right book and recently I bought one that has even won an award for being ‘terrific’ to read aloud.

A Visitor For Bear won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award this year and deservedly so. Written by Bonnie Becker, the story is a whole lot of fun. Bear is comfortable being by himself, he has never had any visitors to his house and even has a sign to discourage any arriving in the future. Although bears feature quite heavily in children’s literature I think this bear is definitely one of my favorites.

No one ever came to Bear’s house.
It has always been that way,
and Bear was quite sure he didn’t like visitors.
He even had a sign.

There is so much comedy in this story and it is great fun to play up while reading it aloud. A very persistent little grey mouse turns up to visit bear - much to his disgust - and hilarity ensues as the mouse continues to pop up causing the bear great anguish.

‘…there was the mouse! (Small and grey and bright-eyed of course.) “BEGONE!” roared Bear.’

The illustrations match the text perfectly. Illustrator Kady MacDonald Denton captures the humour in the text by making the big brown bear exaggerated in his movements as he tries to make the mouse leave his house; he points to the door furiously, he jumps up and down and finally drops the floor with tears of frustration.

‘“I give up”, he blubbered. “You win, I am done”.’

Eventually they do a deal and the mouse agrees to leave after they have one cup of tea together.

The stunning format that the publisher Walker Books has used is a long paperback, with beautiful paper and MacDonald Denton makes use of all the space. The spreads are beautiful, one in particular as the mouse and bear kick back and have a cup of tea together, warming their feet by the fire.

It is then that bear realises that maybe having a friend is not so bad after all. Not preachy, this is a fantastic story about friendship and letting people in, themes that affect both children and adults.

We have a birthday party to attend on the weekend and I have bought this lovely book for the little fellow who is turning three. His parents have spent a bit of time in New York and adore it so I thought this picture book would be an apt choice for them to enjoy, as well as the birthday boy.

A Walk In New York is a gorgeous large format picture book that, as the title suggests, follows a boy and his father on a walk around Manhattan. Each page spread highlights a different part of the city and even the endpapers are a map so you can follow the journey the boy and his father take. Included, almost hidden, amongst the illustrations in a subtle font are little facts about the landmarks they visit; did you know? - ‘More hot dogs are eaten in New York  than anywhere else in the USA’ or that ‘The library lions (at the New York Public Library) are called Patience and Fortitude. They’re made of pink marble from Tennessee.’

I didn’t know either of those facts or many of the others that author Salvatore Rubbino includes in the book. His painting are gorgeous, colourful and funky - as illustrations of New York should be! He really gives the reader a sense of being on the ground with the boy aand his dad and conjurs up the smells and the sounds of the city. The scale he creates in his paintings is also wonderful with a fold out page of the Empire State Building a definite highlight.

Rubbino has created a book which captures the spirit, the history and the excitement of a beautiful city. I’m sure the little boy whom I have bought this book for will fall in love with the city and dream to visit it one day in the future.

One of our readers, Kayte, from Dallas, Texas, left a beautiful comment on a post we did earlier this month on Albert by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Jim LaMarche. She wrote:

I love your blog and have been following for a long time. As I do often with recommended titles, I checked Albert out from the library. My daughter (3.5 years old) ADORES this story and asks for me to read it over and over (and over). We finally returned it to the library and I was overjoyed to find it used at a local shop. My daughter has been walking around with a straw nest filled with wooden eggs and a felt cardinal for three days. Thank you so much for giving us Albert!

We always love hearing from our readers and especially when they get some joy from books we mention! I wrote to Kayte and asked if she would be willing to share a photo of the straw nest, wooden eggs and felt cardinal… And here is what she sent us -

Isn’t it beautiful? What an incredible interpretation of a book - and so lovely to think of it being carried into real life in this way.

Kayte also told me that the eggs in this photo had originally been handpainted by her and her daughter after they read An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long.

This is another beautiful book, one that celebrates eggs in all their shapes and sizes, and perfect for littlies interested in nature. I’m so impressed by Kayte’s efforts to creatively apply elements of these books!

Do other people create craft or activities based on picture books they read? We’d love to hear about them!

A guest post by Nicci D, mum to Nuwan aged 2.

Whenever I asked my dad to read me a bedtime story, he often chose Badjelly the Witch by Spike Milligan. I remember feeling delighted and anxious, both at once, at his choice: delighted because I knew Daddy would soon be chuckling once again at Milligan’s dark humour, and anxious because I found the story quite frightening – enough to give me nightmares.

Badjelly is a fairy story about Tim and Rose, who lived with their Mummy and Daddy in a big log cabin made from wood trees. When Lucy their cow went missing, Tim and Rose went looking for her, even though this meant heading into the dark forest, braving the trouser robbers and, ultimately, being captured by Badjelly the baddest witch in the world. In the end, they all lived happily ever after (except Badjelly, of course), but I was always relieved to hear this, no matter how many times I heard the story.

Milligan includes all the details that were important to the six-year-old me: what colour Rose’s hair was; how thick the trees were in the forest (as thick as Tim and Rose’s teacher’s legs at school); and what sort of wallpaper was in the bedrooms of Binkle-bonk the goblin’s house. At the same time, his pen-and-ink illustrations leave enough space for a child’s imagination to run wild – which mine did for several days and nights after each reading.

Milligan wrote Badjelly in 1973 (my lovely hardback copy still carries its price-tag of $3.20!) for his own children. Although quite long for a picture book, it is handwritten by the author, and I was as fascinated by the quirky lettering as by the illustrations. When the tin lion says ‘Roar! Roar!’ (then ‘Squeak!’ because he’s rusty from sleeping in the rain), Milligan’s lettering really seems to Rooarr. And when Dingle the mouse warns Tim and Rose to run away if they see Badjelly, even the word ‘her’, underlined and annotated, still sends chills down my spine.

Badjelly’s significance in my world seemed to be heightened by the fact that it mentioned God (‘just then God came along’). This occurred in such a different context to most ‘God’ references that I wasn’t sure what to think, but it provided the opportunity for some wide-ranging discussions with my dad! (When an audio version of Badjelly was made in 1975, the BBC removed God from the story because God appeared to have been placed on the same level as goblins.)

My childhood wouldn’t have been quite the same without Badjelly, and I’m planning on introducing it to my son once he’s at school. Perhaps we’ll read it first in the afternoon, before it gets ‘very dark-and-night-time’.

(By the way, for dedicated Playschool watchers like me, Spike Milligan also wrote the poem ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’…)

||Badjelly is still available from Amazon||

My mum has a fabulous games cupboard, where she keeps a lot of the toys and games we had when my sisters and I were little. Rowan is gradually discovering some of the 1970s and 80s gems to be found in there on his Fridays at Nanou’s.

When I went to pick up Rowan a couple of weeks ago, they had out some of the playing cards I remember from my childhood. I’d forgotten how many of these had a book-related theme to them. 

So, a bit of a tangential ‘When We Were Little’ post from me this week, here are some photos of a few cards from each of these gorgeous card sets.

Noddy Snap cards

Babar Happy Families (love how these connect to make a frieze scene)

Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five Adventures game

Little Grey Rabbit Counter game (see my previous post on Little Grey Rabbit)

Racey Helps Woodland Happy Families

The feeling you get when you revisit toys and games of your childhood is very special, and very hard to describe, but I’m really glad that these card games have been preserved for Rowan to love too.

We love amazingly talented artist and author Kylie Dunstan! Her stunning picture book Collecting Colour is nominated for the 2009 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award and the 2009 Crichton Award. We asked Kylie if she would answer a few of of our questions and she kindly agreed…. 

we ♥ books - Collecting Colour traces the story of the interaction between a young white Australian and a young Indigenous Australian? What inspired this story?

Collecting Colour was inspired during a year I spent working as an arts officer for Injalak Art Centre in Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), Arnhem Land in 2007/08. Injalak is a community owned and operated association, forming an important creative and social centre for the Gunbalanya community.

The artists from this area are known for their ‘x-ray’ paintings, done using natural ochres and fine ‘rarrk’ lines and their stunning woven pandanus baskets mats and bags.

Part of my job was to take the ladies who made the fibre art ‘out bush’ to collect the pandanus leaves and ‘colour’ – natural dyes used to make the baskets. The term ‘collecting colour’ was used by the weavers and it was from this phrase that the idea for the book grew.

For me, Collecting Colour is as much about friendship as it is about learning an Indigenous Australian cultural activity. Of course, the skeleton of the story is built around the process of making the fibre art but at the core of the book is a contemporary cross-cultural friendship between two little girls.

we ♥ books - Tell us about the work space where you wrote and illustrated Collecting Colour

After leaving Arnhem Land my partner and I traveled overseas. It was during this period that I wrote ‘Collecting Colour’.

After writing the first draft it was put aside for many years – and almost forgotten -until in 2004 (when living in Melbourne) I decided to apply for the ASA (Australian Society of Authors) mentorship program and needed a second manuscript to submit. After some reworking Collecting Colourwas submitted and I was offered a mentorship to work with Sally Rippin on its development.

The illustrations were completed in Adelaide, where for the first time I had a house that would fit my enormous drawing desk (salvaged many years ago from the drafting department of a Broken Hill mine). It would only fit in the living area but the light was great so I would illustrate the book while my youngest daughter, who was a baby at the time, slept or was with her Nana.

we ♥ books - What is the significance of the CBCA nomination for you? Where to from here for Collecting Colour?

The CBCA shortlist was such a high! As your typical insecure artistic type, getting a pat on the back from my peers was invaluable. It assured me that this career path was indeed the right choice for me. Hopefully for Collecting Colourit will mean increased exposure and more readers.

we ♥ books - Can you tell us about your work as an illustrator? When did you start illustrating and when did you know it would become your career? What formal or informal training did you have in collage techniques?

I have always wanted to write and illustrate picture books (yes, I am one of those people). However, somehow I ended up studying Visual Arts at University. After my degree I worked in Art Galleries and Museums until 2004 when I started to concentrate on my illustrations.

I don’t have any formal training in collage techniques, it’s just a style that has developed over the years. I like to use different techniques for different books and find I exhaust myself of one technique and develop a new one while working on a book.

we ♥ books - What’s your favourite colour?

My kids would probably say green as I seem to be quite drawn to it, but I like most colours – it’s the shades and tones of them that are important to me. 

we ♥ books - Are there any particular websites or blogs that you visit regularly? Can you share with us some of your favourites?

I discovered ‘blogland’ when we moved to Vietnam last year and it has become quite a lifeline for me. My favorites list is endless but I really like Jacky Winter for some very talented illustrators, Book By It’s Cover and too many illustrators websites to mention.

The Design Files to give me a Melbourne/Design fix, LMNOP, Bloesem and B-Kids for lovely design from around the world, Garance Dore and The Satorialist  for great street fashion… the list goes on.

we ♥ books - What were your favourite books when you were little?

The one that I still remember the words for is The Best Nest.

I think even at the age of five I related to Mrs Bird but probably even more so now (my partner will attest to this) – we move houses a lot!.

we ♥ books - We understand you have just finished your second picture book for Lothian. What can you tell us about it? Any chance of a sneak-peak?

Because You Are With Me, is in production now and due for release in early 2010. It’s quite different from Collecting Colouralthough I have used the lokta paper and a collage technique. The story revolves around a little girl, her dad and all she can achieve when they are together.

Some illustrations from the upcoming Because You Are With Me…

The selection of which vintage kids’ books are labelled as ‘collectables’ always seems a bit arbitrary to me, and I’m often surprised to discover how coveted some books are.

The gorgeous Ant and Bee series of 13 books by Angela Banner was published in the UK in the 60s, and republished in the late 80s and 90s. I love these books, but it seems incredible that even the newer editions are selling for extraordinary prices on Amazon and the secondhand book sites. Do people really pay hundreds of dollars for these?!

The books are some of the smallest you’d fine - and gorgeous hard backs editions. They are quite long - my one is 96 pages. Nevertheless - somewhat incongruously - they are intended for pre-schoolers and typically introduce basic concepts of the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colours. Key words are printed in red to help beginner readers associate the words with the illustrations, and sometimes pictograms are used.

When I first picked up my copy of Around the World with Ant and Bee (bought new, in the late 90s) it was a strangely familiar series. I still can’t quite put my finger on where I read this book when I was little, but it definitely left a strong impression. I had to buy the copy I found immediately…

The illustrations are very distinctive: it’s almost a naive style - flat, simple shapes, and Ant and Bee themselves have simple ’stick’ legs and faces. Yet, there are also instances where the illustrations have great detail: in Around the World, there are beautiful images of different landscapes and cultures. The colouring is impeccably done - in gorgeous contrasting limes, reds, yellows and oranges.

The text is unusual and also quite distinctive - very repetitive (I guess to reinforce the teaching theme) and at times the turn of phrase is almost awkward, but I think this is one of the very endearing aspects of the books.

In Around the World with Ant and Bee, Bee loses his treasured umbrella, which somehow gets blown away and ends up on a plane and taken overseas. Ant and Bee must travel the world to find the umbrella, and through their visits to different parts of the world, we learn the name and shape of different countries and some distinctive features of the culture there.

I love the excitement of the journey Ant and Bee take and all the details of how they travel. There is something magical about holding a small book in your hands, and imagining the existence of even smaller creatures and their adventures.

Spring has really arrived in Melbourne today and Ned and I have had a lovely day. It makes me happy and so does reading lots of lovely blogs this week talking about children’s books.

Jennifer from Minor Details, one of my very favourite blogs has today posted about one of her latest projects which is a room for Cookie mag using inspiration from The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers - one of the bestest picture books EVER. I can’t wait to see what she has created.  

Also check out these other wonderful blogs talking about their love of Irishman (he was born in Western Australia though) Oliver Jeffers work; here, and here and check out the handsome man himself here. His website is also very special.

Jeffers has a new book called The Great Paper Caper due this November in Australia, that will be on the Christmas list. I love the funny lumber jack bear on the jacket.

I love illustration and was very excited to find a blog called Artista, Irisz is an illustrator from Hungary who’s art is just pure joy.

Found via the stylish Tutus and Turtles also this week was a fabulous Thing One and Thing Two themed baby shower for a mother having twins. See pictures at Stem and Hostess with the Mostess.

And finally swissmiss wrote about gorgeous new bookshelves from Dwell Studio - love them.

It’s hard for me to imagine my childhood without books, and almost harder to imagine being a mum to Rowan without them. It’s a shameful fact that health and educational disadvantages prevent many Indigenous children in Australia from developing skills in literacy. Simply not having books and other educational resources at home is a factor linked to lower achievement at school. Combine this with isolation, poor nutrition and poor health, and the life opportunities of these Aboriginal children are severely compromised.

Indigenous Literacy Day is being held this Wednesday 3 September, put on in partnership between the Australian Book Industry and the Fred Hollows Foundation. Funds raised will help to support efforts to promote cultural, practical and English literacy of Indigenous children as well as improving the health and well-being of members of their community.

Individuals can participate in the day by donating directly to the project or by purchasing books on the day at participating booksellers. These booksellers (and participating publishers) will donate 5% (or more) of their takings on the day to the project. If you can’t make it to a bookshop, there are some online stores participating: Seekbooks and Boomerang.

On Wednesday I’m planning to buy a copy of When I Was Little Like You, which shares the story of Mary Malbunka’s childhood playing with friends, building cubby houses, collecting sugarbag, digging for honey ants, and learning about the seasons, animals and plants. It also interprets recurring symbols used in traditional Aboriginal painting.

See my previous post for some more favourite picture books by Aboriginal Australian authors.

One of the things I used to love about working in bookstores was when new boxes arrived from publishers. It was like Christmas every month, the anticipation and the joy of finding out what was inside.

Now I get that feeling when I walk into a bookshop to see what is new on the shelves and also when I’m browsing the internet, checking out other peoples blogs for new and exciting books.

A couple of days a go I came across Suzy Lee on Amazon. The book is Wave and it is wordless.

Suzy Lee is amazing and I must now have Wave on my bookshelf; have a look at her website here to learn more about this very gorgeous artist.

Wordless picture books are of course an art because the whole story must be conveyed convincingly in the illustrations. They are very important in education for prompting children to learn how to interpret stories and also to recognise a beginning, middle and end in story telling. Wordless books are great at home as well; younger children can enjoy explaining what is happening in the illustrations and older children can take it further by imagining alternate endings and additional plot lines. Wordless picture books are rewarding.

weheartbooks top 5 wordless picture books

1. Up and Up (Shirley Hughes)

I love Shirley Hughes and one of my favorite books as a child was Dogger, or David and the Dog as it is known in the USA (I’ll post about that one another time). She is one of the best known children’s author/illustrators in the world. Set out in comic strip style Up and Up consists of black line drawings against a sepia background. The story of a little girl who longs to fly, it is purely magical as you follow her journey: she gets her wish and off she goes up and up. Her personality is infectious and she always makes me smile as she drifts along until she is finally rescued by a man in a hot air balloon. There is so much to look at in this book which makes it a great tool for encouraging children to make up their own stories. It doesn’t even have to be about the main character, you could make up different stories for the others she meets along the way. Ages 3+

2. The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

Well I just think this award winning book is incredible, in fact Shaun Tan is incredible. The Arrival depicts the journey of a man who leaves home for a strange, fantastical land in order to support his family. The hundreds of drawings Tan worked on for this stunning book are partly a reflection of his own father’s journey to Australia and his struggle to fit into an alien culture. More than a book The Arrival is an awe-inspiring artwork; every time I pick it up I find new and amazing elements that I had missed before. Ages 8+

3. The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

Regarded as a cult classic this picture book tells a story in pictures - 175 frames to be exact - of the one night friendship of a boy and his snowman. The boy lovingly creates the man out of snow and when he looks out of his window that night he discovers the snowman is alive. They take each other on a tour of their worlds, the boy of his house and the snowman of his wintery world. In the morning when the boy wakes up the snowman is gone, he has melted and all that is left are pieces of coal. This book is all about the joy of exploring and discovering new things, it is about new friendships and then the fond memories of those friendships. This book really does give children the opportunity to imagine their own ending to the story. 4+

4. Sunshine and Moonlight (Jan Omerod)

These are favorites of mine from childhood, I can remember borrowing them from the school library numerous times. In the last few years they have been re-published and are just as beautiful as I remember them way back in primary school. Sunshine follows the progression of a little girl’s day as she gets up out of bed and begins her daily routine. My favorite scenes are when she hops into bed with her parents while they read their morning papers; everyone in this house has a routine and they all fit into each other’s. Toddlers can compare their routine in the morning before childcare/preschool with this little girl’s. Jan includes so much detail that this is perfect for beginning discussion with children about their own routines. Sunshine won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1982. Moonlight is similar to Sunshine but of course follows the routine on the other end of the day; cleaning teeth, bathtime and bed. Ages 2+

5. Tuesday (David Wiesner)

Reading Tuesday is like watching an M. Night Shyamalan film; it is weird, quirky, funny and enthralling. On this particular Tuesday around 8 in the evening a strange thing begins to happen, suddenly frogs/toads start to invade the town levitating on lily pads and seemingly having a great time. The frogs eventually return to their rightful homes BUT the big surprise is what is going to happen on the following Tuesday? Tuesday won the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Wiesner’s amazing speech is here. I love this quote from that speech

Fortunately, kids know funny when they see it. If, after reading Tuesday one evening before bed, they look out the window and see frogs flying by—well, we should all be so lucky.

Wiesner’s art is incredible and I can guarantee that parents will love this as much as their children. Ages 4+

Although we have used some very classic choices here there is also room for a special mention for the fantastic wordless books by wonderful Australian illustrator Gregory Rogers, The Boy, the Bear, the Baron and the Bard and sequel Midsummer Knight. Ages 6+

Zoo lovers check out this incredible website . It is the stunning companion to the book Bembo’s Zoo by Brazillian Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich.

I promise you it is amazing, especially for fans of graphic design and typography combined with children’s books.

Join host, Suzanne Lieurance, today at 2:00 CST when singer/songwriter Miss Amy will be her guest.

Listen to Book Bites for Kids LIVE on blogtalkradio.com or call in and ask Miss Amy a question or make a comment at 1-646-716-9239.

Here’s a cute video of Miss Amy singing with Happy Duck. Check it out:

Children’s singer, songwriter, Miss Amy is our guest today on Book Bites for Kids at blogtalkradio.com at 2:00 CST.

Here’s a cute video with Miss Amy singing to Happy Duck: