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Like a Charm – Elle McNicoll
Walker Books Australia January 2024 ISBN13:9781913311278 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 Imprint: Knights of The first Elle McNicoll book I read was A Kind of Spark which I enthusiastically reviewed back in November. I was super happy to get this one fall into my lap, so to speak, and gobbled it up just as quickly.…
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The First Nöel – a Christmas pop-up – Jan Pienkowski
ISBN: 9781406383317ISBN-10: 1406383317 November 2018Walker Books Australia RRP: $14.99 Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration (twice), Jan is best known for Haunted House, his pop-ups and the MEG & MOG series, created with Helen Nicoll. His other work includes wonderfully evocative silhouette books such as Christmas and Easter, in the incomparable King James version. For the very young, he has written…
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Picture Book Month 2023 is a wrap!
November is Picture Book Month, a tribute to the enduring importance of the picture book form. Dianne de Las Casas (author & storyteller) and her team co-founded the month-long celebration to champion the power and beauty of picture books: In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And…
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Always Never Always – Meg McKinlay/Leila Rudge
Walker Books Australia October 2023 ISBN13:9781760655204 Australia RRP:$25.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 Always follow secret tracks –the paths that wind and wend through cracks.Never worry where they go.When you get there, then you’ll know. For everyone who could use some poetically pithy life-advice, this creative pairing has delivered a blueprint for quirky wanderings along the byways…
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Picture Book Month Bonus #7: Friendly Bee and Friends: Woe is for Worm! Sean E. Avery
Walker Books Australia October 2023 ISBN13:9781760654382 Australia RRP:$15.99 New Zealand RRP:$17.99 This is my first encounter with Friendly Bee and Friends, but hopefully not the last. As many or most know, I’m not a huge fan of graphics – they just don’t do it for me. But this is exactly the kind of absurdist humour…
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Madame Badobedah and the Old Bones – Sophie Dahl. Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara.
Walker Books Australia October 2023 Imprint: Walker Books Madame Badobedah Series ISBN13:9781406384420 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 In case you haven’t yet met Madame Badobedah and Mabel who live at the Mermaid Hotel, you are in for a fine treat. And, in case you didn’t know, author Sophie Dahl has quite the pedigree. She is the…
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Good Night, Good Beach – Joy Cowley & Hilary Jean Tapper
Walker Books AustraliaNovember 2023 Author: Joy Cowley Illustrator: Hilary Jean Tapper Imprint: Gecko Press RRP: $27.99 At almost 90 years of age, we might reasonably expect internationally acclaimed Queen of children’s stories and NZ national treasure, Joy Cowley, to be slowing down but no, her love of telling stories and writing for children remains undiminished. When I was small,…
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Mr Clownfish, Miss Anemone and the Hermit Crab – Sean E. Avery
Walker Books Australia ISBN13:9781760654344 Australia RRP:$25.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 Here is another quirky tale from Sean E. Avery, whose sense of humour and subtle inferences remind me so strongly of Jon Klassen. And I LOVE it! Most children will know about the symbiotic relationship that clown fish have with anemones, but I’ll guarantee they’ve never…
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