Country, language, love, wonder: new picture books to enjoy.
This is another ‘picture book bounty’ post, with four picture book arrivals to share.
I have introduced Gumbaynggirr artist Melissa Greenwood’s work in earlier posts with her beautiful books in which her First Nations language sits side by side with English as she writes and paints about the world. Darruyay Yilaaming Marraala, Buwaarr (Welcome to the World, Little Baby) is just as lovely and also a little different: it is presented as a baby book, in which proud parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles or other important adults in a child’s life can record features of the birth, special memories, family, Country, relationships, and baby’s developmental milestones. It’s designed for First Nations families but not exclusively so. A very welcome addition to a tradition of baby books.
Published by ABC Books imprint of HarperCollins in March 2025.All the Ways Mum will be there for You by Sarah Ayoub is another celebration of love between parent and child. This one features an array of mums and kids going about busy days and evenings, sharing adventures, quiet times, special moments together. The vibrant colourful illustrations by Kate Moon add to the scenes and little ones can put their own imaginative minds to work as they turn the pages.
Published by HarperCollins Australia & NZ in February 2025.The World Needs the Wonder You See by Joanna Gaines is a reminder to us all, young and old alike, to slow down and take notice of the world around us – something we often forget to do in the busyness of the modern world. It’s a North American setting so Aussie kids will see bunnies, foxes and squirrels cavorting in meadows and forests, with a fair bit of anthropomorphism going on, but it makes for a magical world that young kids will relate to, perhaps akin to the world of Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood. Julianna Swaney’s illustrations provide detail and variety to engross small viewers.
Published by Tommy Nelson in the US, an imprint of HarperCollins, in January 2025.Finally, Learning Country: A First Nations Journey Around Australia’s Traditional Place Names by Ryhia Dank, takes small readers to some well-known places in Australia, describing them by their traditional names and the stories told by the Old People. We visit Boigu in the Torres Strait, Canberra, Meeanjin (Brisbane), Narrm (Melbourne), Boorloo (Perth), among others. Ryhia is a Gudanji/Wakaja artist from the Gulf of Carpentaria and has illustrated the book with vibrant contemporary artworks that bring to life the stories she has chosen to tell about the traditional names of Australia.
Published by HarperCollins Australia & NZ in June 2025.My thanks to the publishers for copies of these books to review.
Picture book bounty
One of the nicest ways to welcome a new baby into the world is to gift the start of a children’s book library. The four books mentioned in this post would all earn their place there.
Board books are perfect for babies and very young toddlers. Robust, able to stand up to chewing, throwing, and dribbling, they offer hours of tactile fun, colourful pictures and simple repetitive text.
That’s not my kitten, by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells, is the newest addition to the That’s not my… series, and includes all of these features. Babies can see the five different kittens, touch a furry tongue, a smooth kitten nose, a shiny bell, rough paws, and a fluffy tummy, while learning to turn pages and recite the repetitive text along with whoever is reading aloud.
Moving along in age, for older toddlers and pre-schoolers there is another in the Playschool series by Jan Stradling and Jenna Robaard, called Beginnings and Endings. The series helps littlies to explore feelings: in this case, sadness.
Little Ted’s friends want to help him feel better when his pet goldfish dies. A special scrapbook of Swish memories, a picnic in the garden, spotting baby birds in a nest and flowers blooming all help, as do a hug and talking about Swish and his memories. The soft illustrations reinforce the gentle theme of the story, that life challenges are best tackled with friends by your side.
One Little Duck by Katrina Germein brings memories of the children’s rhyme ‘Five Little Ducks’ but it’s a story with a twist. Instead of losing a duckling with each verse, in this story Mother Duck has forgotten how to quack, so each time she calls her duckling to her, she gains a new animal, until she has a menagerie following along. The rhyming verses invite youngsters to join in:
One little duck went out one day,
One Little Duck
over the hills and far away.
Mother Duck said…
Moo moo
moo moo,
and Cow said,
Wait! Now I’m coming tooDanny Snell’s illustrations are sweetly humorous and children will enjoy Mother Duck’s dilemma as she finds new friends, and at the end is reunited with her baby.
Two Sides to Every Story by Robin Feiner explores the many choices and dilemmas that life can present. Boiled or fried eggs? Meat or vegetables? Is a dog or a cat the best pet? History or science? Country or city? Jacket and tie or lucky T-shirt?
Oscar has to decide on these and other choices in his day to day life, and deals with each one with his skill of ‘mental gymnastics’.
Oscar had a special way of looking at things.
Two sides to every story
He took his subject, he twisted it this way
and that. He tumbled it all around…
inside out, and outside in, exploring it
every which way.The illustrations by Beck Feiner are in bold, block colours and bring to life Oscar’s tumbling, turning way of looking at his world.
If you are building a children’s library, these four books would make perfect additions.
They are published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in July and August 2023.
My thanks to the publishers for copies to review.Picture book love
Three new picture books from Harper Collins Children’s Books have hit the shelves in March, 2023. Two are perfect for reading around Mother’s Day (May, in Australia) and the third – well, it’s just perfect.
Amazing Mum by UK author and illustrator Alison Brown is a lovely celebration of mums, in all their beautiful diversity. There are applauding mums, never-let-you-down mums, double mums, bubble mums, sharing mums, repairing mums, and mums who drive a bus. And quite a few more.
The softly toned illustrations feature entirely cute animal mums and kids: mice, foxes, rabbits, even a dinosaur family. The pictures bring to life the message of the book: mums are amazing!
Well-known Aussie kid’s author and presenter, Andrew Daddo, has teamed up with illustrator Stephen Michael King to produce a sweet book all about the relationship between grandmas and kids. The grandma in the book is whimsical, arty, adventurous and fun. She and her grandchild share activities like dress ups, knitting, yoga, kite flying, painting…all the ‘old fashioned’ ways to have fun.
Whatever we do together, my grandma’s just happy.
Grandma’s Guide to Happiness
Grandma says that even with all the new things, old-fashioned happy still feels pretty fantastic.
It’s a bit like a hot choccie.
It warms you from the inside out.
A.B. (Banjo) Paterson’s classic poem Mulga Bill’s Bicycle was first published as a children’s picture book in 1973. To celebrate its 50th year, Harper Collins have published a new version, illustrated by Deborah Niland along with original illustrations by Kilmeny Niland.
I remember this poem from my childhood; along with Paterson’s Clancy of the Overflow and The Man from Snowy River, and Henry Lawson’s The Loaded Dog, it’s an Australian classic that is timeless, and brings to life the language, sights and sounds from a past era.Mulga Bill’s Bicycle pokes fun at a self-assured, pompous man with ambition greater than his skill – and don’t we all know people just like that? His antics as he attempts to ride a ‘new-fangled’ penny-farthing bicycle for the first time (while assuring everyone that he is an expert) are hilarious.
There’s a lot going on in each double-page spread as the bicycle gallops away, passing scenes from a bush and small-town landscape of yesteryear. The image of Bill himself, quite the dandy with his impressive handlebar moustaches, is perfect.
I’d recommend this one for all kids’ bookshelves and libraries.
