After a year of digital learning and virtual teaching, let's hear it for the joy of real books! Says Kathryn MacCallum. We know COVID-19 and its associated changes to our work and learning habits caused a marked increase in the use of technology. More surprising, perhaps,...
The Shortlist for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards was announced Tuesday 30 March, celebrating a wild year of storytelling about everything from lost souls to a party-crashing cockroach. CBCA Chair Wendy Rapee said authors and illustrators worked in physical...
Let’s start by putting aside the bugbear that it is even possible to “cancel” children’s author Dr Seuss, writes Kate Cantrell and Sharon Bickle As Philip Bump wrote recently in The Washington Post, No one is ‘cancelling’ Dr Seuss. The author, himself, is dead for one thing,...
A world of children’s books is dominated by white authors. Children develop bias from an early age, report Helen Joanne Adam, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Libby Jackson-Barrett, and Robert Stanly Somerville. Global support for the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t only about standing up against the injustice done...
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) kicked off its quest for Book of the Year by announcing the Notables List. CBCA National Chair Wendy Rapee said it was a year when we needed stories more than ever, and our storytellers came through with a record-breaking...
Some fun books this month for the littlies with plenty of favourites to choose from. What Do You Call Your Grandma? by Ashleigh Barton and Martina Heiduczek (HarperCollins publishers H/b RRP $19.99) Every Grandma has a special name and that’s part of the fun when you become a...
Arriving across our desk over summer have been quite a few new books for the 0-5+ age group of which our favourites are reviewed. Reading to preschoolers is always very revealing, and the genre of ‘picture books’ really does rely on the talent of the...
These recently released books are perfect for reading to children under 4 when you need them to understand new concepts. Siblings! written & illustrated by Rocko Bonella. (pub by Quirky Kid. Available online. RRP$19.99) This book is cleverly divided into two sections starting at either end and illustrating...
An exhibition, Miffy & Friends, is soon to open at the QUT Art Museum Gallery (Brisbane). As its director Vanessa Van Ooyen has noted, Bruna’s illustrations have a deceptive simplicity, which belies the artistry behind them, writes Margot Hillel. She couldn’t get much simpler in visual...
Children who love being read to are more likely to find learning to read easier. That's why I always get picture books for Christmas gifts! writes Kym Simoncini Christmas is just around the corner. If you’re wondering what to get your child, your friends’ children, your...
