A Little Bookshelf

Kids Can Press, Ontario, 2013

Hardcover, 32 pages

ISBN: 978-1-554-5378-15

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: *****

This book is about Martin who lives on a street where nothing changes. That is until the astonishing Mr Flux moves into the street. Mr Flux is an artist who doesn't paint pictures or create sculptures and yet he creates art and celebrates change.

A wonderful story about the inevitability and wonder of change. Everything changes, a dewdrop, a bubble, a cloud. Even Martin and his street change under the influence of Mr Flux. Mr Flux is based on the founder of the 60s Fluxus movement, George Maciunas.

Berbay Publishing, Vic, 2013

Hardback, 40 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9806-7-1155

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: ****

I seem to be on a bit of an Australian history kick with the picture books lately.  Not sure if it's luck or by choice but I am enjoying these books that bring Australian history to younger readers.  This one especially with it's theme of everyone having a story and the explanation that even countries have stories.

What's Your Story? introduces young readers to the idea and importance of story and retells the story of Leonard, an orphaned English boy and a young girl, Milba, from the Eora tribe.  I really liked Bern Emmerich's illustrations.  I'm not sure what the style is called but they were fresh and appealing.  My only complaint about this book is that there wasn't a page at the end telling us more about the two main characters and their lives.

Putnam Publishing Group, US, 2006

Hardback, 32 pages

ISBN: 978-0-6984-0036-8

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: *****

Robert Ingpen is a supremely talented Australian illustrator.  The Dreamkeeper is a tale he has written especially for his granddaughter, Alice Elisabeth.  Luckily for those of us without artistic grandfathers, the story has been published for everyone to read!

Nobody has seen the Dreamkeeper but we do know that he wears old fashioned clothes hung with charms and lures for catching mischievous creatures that have escaped from The Great Dreamtree.  Once he captures the creatures, he returns them to the tree so they can't do any harm in the space between what is really happening and what you imagine might happen.  Gorgeous!

Walker Books, Place, Year

Hardback, 108 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4063-0491-6

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: *****

I have to admit, it was the cute squirrel on the cover that got me to pick up this book.  And the collage style in which it is illustrated.  When I opened the book I wasn't disappointed. (see, you can judge a book by its cover!).  The gorgeous illustrations of Mark Herald are accompanied by beautiful prose from author Nicola Davies.  This is a book to dip into for inspiration and connection to the seasons.

Complete with recipes and activities based around each of the seasons this is a great book to have on your shelves at home.  Especially for those readers in the northern hemisphere.  Now if only there was a similar book for us antipodeans!  Leave me a comment if you know of one.

Albert Whitman & Company, 1997

Hardback

ISBN: 978-0-8075-5178-3

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: ****

A cute story within a story, Mr Pak Buys a Story is a historical tale from Korea.  At that time, wandering storytellers would travel through the land, telling stories and entertaining audiences.  In this tale, Mr and Mrs Kim live deep in the heart of the country and they send their servant to the city to buy a story.  A theif swindles the hapless Mr Pak but in the end it is Mr Pak who has the last laugh as you will discover when you read this book.

Orchard Books, London, 2012

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4083-1480-7

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: ****

Lauren Child is a very popular author in my house.  When my oldest daughter was three, she went through a HUGE Charlie and Lola phase. Miss Child has a great sense of humour and terrific knack for capturing little children and their foibles.  She also knows how to write a ripping yarn and Beware the Storybook Wolves is no exception.

Beware the Storybook Wolves is a tale of what happens when the wolves in a little boy's favourite bedtime book creep out in the night to eat him.  It has a few tense moments which my five year old found scary (sometimes we have to skip to the end to show her that it turns out okay!) but my nine year old loved it.  So did I!

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2013

Hardcover, 56 pages

ISBN: 978-0-8118-7235-5

Suggested reading age: 6+

Reviewed by: Indrani Perera

Rating: ****

This is a beautifully written and illustrated story about Albert Einstein's life and work.  In this picture book, Jennifer Berne and Vladimar Radunsky make Einstein come alive.  They share moments from his childhood, his search to do the work that he loved and his legacy.  Einstein was a curious child who was always asking questions and wondering. He got into trouble at school for always asking questions.  Something I am sure that a lot of children can relate to.  Their thirst and quest for knowledge seems at times to be unquenchable!

The book is a lovely way to introduce your children to one of the greatest scientists of our time.  It gives them encouragement to wonder, think and imagine as well as telling them that to be different is okay.  Einstein wore shoes without socks and said that now he was grown up, no-one could tell him to put on his socks!  The book includes an author's note at the end with more information about Einstein's life and work plus further reading.  Younger readers may not understand all the science references but they will enjoy the story of Einstein's life.