children’s picture book | Lost in a Good Book

The Easter Bunny’s Helpers by Anne Mangan

19 Apr 2019 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: anne mangan, australian women writers challenge, children's picture book, easter, easter bunny, tamsin ainslie, three stars

Published: 1st March 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Illustrator: Tamsin Ainslie
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

From the author of TRUE BLUE SANTA and THE GREATEST MOTHER’S DAY OF ALL, comes a delightful Australian book for Easter.

The Easter Bunny needs help delivering the Easter eggs this year and who better to help him than some Australian animals?

This story puts an Australian touch to Easter and highlights all the wonderful things you can do during Easter time. The Easter Bunny is looking for helpers and each of the Australian animals do their best to try and impress.

The narrative is told in basic rhyme, easy to pick up the rhythm and keep it going, even if you pause to look at the fantastic illustrations from Ainslie. It is a bit wordy but nothing too complicated. I think the rhyme might have benefited from better formatting because some lines felt a bit long.

Each animal uses their skills to help the bunny. I found it so adorable than both koala and kangaroo use their pouches to carry eggs. It is expected of a kangaroo in pop culture but I was impressed Ainslie included koala’s as well.

The illustrations are lovely oil paintings, cute representations of our national animals. There is a lot of detail in the scenes but it’s also focused enough on the story that there are no extra, unnecessary distractions.

The story is sweet and the wonderful message about helping out is clear but not openly directed to the reader. It’s a cute book for the holiday with a great Australian focus that can show off our unique wildlife.

You can purchase The Easter Bunny’s Helpers via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

I Wanted a Giant Chocolate Egg but all I Got Was this Stupid Book by Merv Lamington

12 Apr 2019 2 Comments

by Amy in 3 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, easter, easter eggs, makoto koji, merv lamington, three stars

Published: February 2018
Publisher: Affirm Press
Illustrator: Makoto Koji
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

I wanted a giant chocolate egg but all I got was this stupid book. You too? I know just who’s to blame for this outrage. Come on, let’s go find the Easter Bunny…

Join an Easter egg hunt of a different kind in this journey from disappointment to elation. The perfect (non-edible*) gift for any kid who’s ever felt that the Easter Bunny could have done better.

*Note: this book is not made of chocolate. Sorry.

With an author named Merv Lamington I don’t know how much more Australian he could be. The story is good, funny, interactive, and a decent plot. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it was fun. It would certainly entertain children with the humour and antics, not to mention the hunt for the Easter Bunny.

The narrator addresses the reader originally, or some off page character who provides hints and clues for the search for the elusive bunny. The hunt then starts all over town looking at clues the Easter bunny has left behind, running into friends who are enjoying their chocolate eggs to varying degrees of success.

I enjoyed the inception Koji creates with his book within a book, the illustrations matching their larger counterparts. The colours are vibrant and the focus is on the key characters, the background getting generic attention if any. The thick bold outlines and humorous expressions bring the story to life and give the narrative an additional layer beyond childish complaints.

This is the ideal book for kids who are unable to have chocolate or who didn’t get any Easter eggs and feel hard done by. It also helps explain rules about chocolate and dogs and with a few punny jokes in there you can’t help but laugh at.

You can purchase I Wanted a Giant Chocolate Egg but all I Got Was this Stupid Book via the following

Booktopia | Dymocks | Fishpond

The Great Garden Mystery by Renee Treml

05 Apr 2019 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, renee treml, three stars

Published: 1st September 2014 by Random House Australia
Publisher: Random House Australia
Illustrator: Renee Treml
Pages: 32
Format: Paperback Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Someone is stealing the beetroots, who could that somebody be? Join us in the garden and we’ll unravel this mystery. A mix of clever Australian animals examine the clues, but can they catch the thief before he strikes again?

Filled with a great range of native Australian animals, as well as a few introduced ones, this story explores the great mystery that has come to the garden. The rabbit and the fox mingle with the koala and the possum over who has eaten all the beetroot. What I thought was creative was how Treml has made it entertaining as well as educational, each animal using their natural abilities or features as a means to exonerate themselves.

The story is told in rhyme, but not such intense rhyme that you sing it, it reads like a regular story with casual rhymes to finish off the page. Treml’s illustrations are vibrant on different coloured backgrounds with beautifully realistic sketches of the animals in and around the garden.

In the end I found it a bit harsh that the suspect is chosen because she ran away. This doesn’t get resolved so I’m hoping there is an unwritten sequel where the poor creature isn’t accused anymore, forced to flee her home at being accused of a crime she didn’t commit. The true culprit is revealed only to the reader and it does make for a cheeky ending I’ll admit.

You can purchase The Great Garden Mystery via the following

QBD

My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen

29 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, james foley, one star, sigi cohen

Published: 1st October 2015
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Illustrator: James Foley
Pages: 32
Format: Paperback Picture Book
★ – 1 Star

“My dead bunny’s name is Brad;
his odour is extremely bad.
He visits me when I’m in bed,
but Bradley wasn’t always dead …”

A hilarious rhyming tale about a zombie bunny who comes back to visit his owner.

I hated myself for liking the end of the book. It does get funny at the end, but I kinda hated the rest of it. I could not fathom how and why this book had ever been allowed to be made because it is gross and creepy and weird. I don’t understand who would like this book and while I will admit to appreciating the rhyme, and the casual morbidity, I also read it as quickly as possibly because I didn’t want to look at the pictures or read the story for longer than necessary.

The story didn’t have a funny tone to it that could make light of anything that was happening, and certainly the dark black pages and eerie green colours didn’t help in the slightest. You certainly wouldn’t read it to a child who had actually lost their rabbit because who would want to deal with those nightmares? But maybe, knowing how kids love the gross and creepy stuff it might have appeal to some of them…I guess.

I just can’t stop being perplexed by this book. Why does it exist and why would any one write this, or publish it? I know many people enjoy this, and maybe you need the right tone or humour injected into reading it, but I couldn’t muster up that humour because my own confusion about its existence blocked everything else.

I picked it up because I needed to know what it was about, but my goodness, I have no desire to pick it up again.

You can purchase My Dead Bunny via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus and Robinson | Dymocks | Wordery

Fishpond | Amazon Aust | Amazon

Naughty Kitty by Adam Stower

22 Mar 2019 2 Comments

by Amy in 5 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: adam stower, children's picture book, five stars

Published: 1st July 2012
Publisher: Templar Books
Illustrator: Adam Stower
Pages: 33
Format: Paperback Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Star

Lily’s mum finally agrees to buy her a new pet – but it’s not a doggy, it’s a kitten. When things start to go wrong around the house, Lily is quick to blame her new furry friend.

One. Kitty is the cutest kitten ever. Stower’s illustrations are the best. I love how he has managed to convey a confused kitty, a perplexed kitty, and a kitty looking innocent in the face of accusation.

Two. The actual story is wonderful as well. Reading this story is fun on numerous levels, not only are the pictures fun to look at, but each page gives us a chance to see what “Kitty” actually did, and seeing poor Lily become exasperated at her poor disobedient cat is delightful.

Genuinely I could stare at the illustrations all day. Combined with Lily’s desire to punish her kitten, the cat itself looks bewildered and the true culprit lurking adds to the humour and certainly my delight.

Stower’s captured the tone and voice of a small child and I could hear Lily’s voice as she scolded her kitten and I pictured this child berating her cat as she tried to stop its destructive behaviours. The story is adorable, especially when the dramatic irony comes into play. Who doesn’t love it when picture books contain dramatic irony?

This would be a great book to read aloud because with such wonderful and detailed illustrations, there is a lot to unpack as you read and it becomes interactive as kids see who really caused the messes.

I discovered this is a sequel when I’d finished, I may have to track down the first one because if it’s anything as good as this, I’ll be quite happy.

You can purchase Naughty Kitty via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus and Robinson | Wordery

Fishpond | Amazon