Boy by Phil Cummings

28 Sep 2018 2 Comments

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , ,

Published: 1st May 2017Goodreads badge
Publisher: Scholastic
Illustrator: Shane Devries
Pages: 32
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

The kings battles with the dragon were always mighty and loud… CLING CLANG CLONG! ROAR!

Boy lived in a silent world and couldn’t hear the fighting. But Boy could see the fear around him… and how everyone would be much happier.

Boy is deaf and he communicates through sign language Cummings calls “dancing hands”. Some of the villagers think he is strange but his parents love him and he tells stories by writing on the ground.

Cummings has written a very good book. This is not a book about Boy being deaf, his deafness does not help the problem, instead it acts as a means to get him in the situation where he can help the battle between the dragon and the king in his own way. I half expected the dragon to understand sign language to be honest and have Boy be the one to save the day by calming the dragon, but no. What Cummings has done is made a story where not only can anybody defeat a dragon regardless of who they are, but they can defeat it by being kind and understanding, and still be classed a hero.

This book was shortlisted for the 2018 CBCA awards and it didn’t win, but it could easily have come close. It’s a wonderfully sweet story with beautiful illustrations that bring out the heart and compassion to the story and mixes it with the fairy tale style of knights who battle dragons.

You can purchase Boy via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus & Robertson | Fishpond

QBD | Amazon Aust | Amazon

Image result for cbca shortlist logo

 

Rodney Loses It! by Michael Gerard Bauer

21 Sep 2018 2 Comments

by Amy in 5 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , ,

Published: 1st September 2017Goodreads badge
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Illustrator: Chrissie Krebs
Pages: 32
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

Rodney was a rabbit who loved nothing more than drawing. He never found it tiresome, tedious or boring. But then one day, disaster struck, the one thing Rodney feared, while working at his drawing desk his pen just…DISAPPEARED! 

I loved this book. The rhymes were clever and I easily got into the rhythm, and the story is excellent and funny. This is a book where the illustrations match perfectly to the story, it a story that relies on the pictures and the keen eye of the reader. This book can easily be enjoyed by adults and children; the children love it because it’s funny and Rodney is silly, the adults because it reflects situations they have probably had themselves which makes it even funnier.

Krebs’ illustrations are colourful and stand out either on a page to themselves or placed next to the text which is a format which works well to enhance Bauer’s story. Krebs brings Rodney’s world to life showing off his drawings and his love for his pen Penny, and his humorous distress when she goes missing.

This was on the CBCA 2018 Shortlist and ended up winning the Early Childhood category which is well deserved. The title works on two separate levels which is a joy, and Krebs’ illustrations are comedic and as I say, match perfectly with the words. You see Rodney’s frustrations and kids will delight in seeing his manic expressions and chaotic desk while he tries to find his missing things.

You can purchase Rodney Loses It! via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus & Robertson | Fishpond

QBD | Amazon Aust

A Walk in the Bush by Gwyn Perkins

14 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , ,

Published: 1st March 2017Goodreads badge
Publisher: Affirm Press
Illustrator: Gwyn Perkins
Pages: 32
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

Little Iggy doesn’t want to leave the house, but Grandad insists – they always have fun together. What follows is a wonderful journey in the great Australian outdoors with singing birds, wallaby surprises, secret caterpillar messages and oodles of grandad humour. Here is a story about the wonders of nature, the funny side of life and spending time with the ones we love.

This is a sweet book that has a beautiful story. I can see why this won the CBCA award; it’s an appreciation of the Australian environment and the possibilities to escape into nature. I will also admit is a bit adorable. Perkins’ illustrations reminded me at first of those in a comic strip, they are simple and the background is both simple and wonderfully colourful as the story goes on.

I have an affection for Iggy the cat though. His owner hunts around looking for him then dresses him up with a hat and sunscreen to go out on a walk. I love Iggy’s reluctance and shame at being made to wear a hat, and I love how interested he looks as his owner explains the surrounding bush to him.

This is definitely a book that is meant to be read slowly. There are few words on each page and the words invite you to study the pictures, to look at the images themselves and relate them back to the narrative. As the man stops and tells his cat about all about the different aspects of nature it invites the reader to study the picture and see what he is talking about.

Initially I thought it was too simple, too much of a pat on Australia’s back and that was why it won, but on my second read through a few days later I came to understand why it might have won. It is a beautiful story and one that does show off the Australian bush, but it is a lovely story and who doesn’t want to stop and just look at the wonderful scenery.

You can purchase A Walk in the Bush via the following

QBD | Book Depository

Booktopia | Angus and Robertson

Fishpond | Dymocks


I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon

07 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: August 2017Goodreads badge
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Illustrator: Heidi McKinnon
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

The search for a true friend is something everyone can relate to – from the very young to the very old.

“I just ate my friend. He was a good friend. But now he is gone. Would you be my friend?”

A hilarious story about the search for friendship and belonging… and maybe a little bit about the importance of impulse control… 

I was intrigued by the title and by the end of the book I was intrigued by the story as well. With no explanation for why or how the friend was eaten, the story follows the creature as he tries to find a new friend, not sure he will ever find another. What if he truly had eaten his only friend?

I liked the illustrations. The dark pages against the single large, colourful characters, it worked to its advantage and gave a sense of being in space or at least somewhere on another planet. This is unconfirmed, but it is logical based on the illustrations to think of the creature as an alien or space creature of some kind. McKinnon has done a great job with her illustrations. I found this book because it was on the 2018 CBCA Shortlist and shortlisted for the Crichton Award for New Illustrators. McKinnon didn’t win but for a new illustrator she has done a great job.

There is not a lot to unpack here. The creature goes around to everyone he can find and asks them if he will be his friend. Some of the responses are quite funny and the straightforwardness works to the story’s advantage. For a story that is not that complicated it managed to surprise me and delight me. It’s a little absurd and nothing makes sense and there is no reason but that is what makes it great. I don’t need an answer I just like a clever story and this is a clever story.

You can purchase I Just Ate My Friend via the following

QBD | Book Depository

Booktopia | Angus and Robertson | Fishpond

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Wordery

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A Boy, a Bear, a Balloon by Brittany Rubiano

31 Aug 2018 4 Comments

by Amy in 5 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , ,

Published: 3rd July 2018Goodreads badge
Publisher: Disney Press
Illustrator: Mike Wall
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

Retelling touching scenes from the upcoming Walt Disney Studios’ upcoming Christopher Robin film, this charming picture book finds Christopher reuniting with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and the rest of his old friends when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood for the first time since childhood. As he returns to the life he once new, Christopher sees the world through new eyes and discovers that even as everything around us seems to change, the most important things remain constant.

I have an intense love for Winnie the Pooh so of course I was eager to read this new picture book featuring my favourite bear. Rubiano does a good job mixing the old and the new, even putting in the dedication a quote from one of the best Winnie the Pooh films: Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

My heart did a small leap of joy as I recognised many of Milne’s quotes from the original books, reworked into this story which only brought the woods back to life and reminded me how much I adore these characters. The story also casually revisits some of the original Pooh adventures, seen now through the eyes of the older Christopher Robin which reminds us how much he has changed. He visits his old friends and they fail to see the young boy they knew in this man who has entered their woods.

Rubiano doesn’t quite catch the tone of Milne’s writing, it is very close, and you can see where it’s drawing from, but at the same time I don’t think it’s meant to mimic it exactly. This is her own story that is reflecting part of the upcoming film. With that in mind it is unfair to make it live up to the previous Winnie the Pooh books. Coming at these beloved characters from the mind of an adult like Christopher Robin, but still telling the story to children (or even those who left the woods a long time ago), it has a suitable tone and one that still manages to reignite that love and affection.

The illustrations are a beautiful mixture between Shepherds and the ever familiar Disney. I loved how Wall has brought his style to the characters while still keeping them familiar. The colours are beautiful and his designs are simplistic and elegant, showing just enough detail.

There is a lot of responsibility to writing and illustrating for Winnie the Pooh (in my view anyway), but this book does a beautiful job in presenting a story for those of us who are a little but more grown up and find ourselves wandering back to the Hundred Acre Woods.

Because of the popularity and endearing nature of Winnie the Pooh there is always going to be reminders about other adaptations and in those final pages. On that final page I found my mind immediately going to a quote from the masterpiece 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:

“Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in their enchanted place on top of the forest, a little bear will always be waiting”.

*cue Amy sobbing*

You can purchase A Boy, A Bear, A Balloon via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository |

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Wordery

 Fishpond | QBD

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