Category Archives: Animals

Aug5

Hand Shadow Show

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One night last week we had a blackout after dinner. The kids were a little frightened to start with, but then we pulled out torches and candles. This led to the kids putting on a shadow puppet show to pass the time.

A shadow bunny.

A shadow bunny.

We set up one of the big torches aimed at a clear space on the lounge room wall. The kids stood off to one side and used their hands and arms to make different shadow shapes on the wall. They mostly made animals, adding sound effects, and telling some short stories. Big L made some shadows too. They had lots of fun performing their shadow show, and sooner than they would have liked the lights came back on.

A making a shadow dog.

A making a shadow dog.

L making a shadow animal.

L making a shadow animal.

Jul31

Yoo-Hoo, Ladybird! by Mem Fox and Laura Ljungkvist

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IMG_1189Yoo-Hoo, Ladybird! by Mem Fox and illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist, hardback picture book, published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2013.

This cute little ladybird just loves to hide. She is hiding somewhere in each picture, can you spot her?

An engaging book for young readers, it involves the child by encouraging them to find the ladybird in each picture. I like that the pages aren’t so packed with items that the ladybird is too hard to find, which makes it perfect for preschoolers. The illustrations are simple, yet unique, with the ladybird hiding among an interesting array of objects. These objects were also fun to spot and name. The story is simple with rhyming text, and my preschooler loved joining in to call ‘Yoo-hoo, Ladybird!’ We really enjoyed this book, and I think it will quickly become a favourite with my preschooler.

Jul25

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

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IMG_1171Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley, boardboard picture book, first published by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Ltd, this edition published in 2007.

This is a delightful children’s book about the life of a pet wombat. She sleeps, she eats, she digs holes, she sleeps, and she causes all sorts of destruction and mayhem, she sleeps again. Her human family continue to love her, as she digs up the flowers, chews the doormat and demands lots of carrots.

My children love this book, it is definitely a favourite. They love all the trouble that the wombat gets into, they think it is very funny! The story is written in a diary format, with short, yet descriptive entries for each part of each day. The illustrations are very distinctive, perfectly capturing the wombat’s mood. This is a wonderful book to share with preschoolers and lower primary school children, it will entertain them and it will make them laugh. You’ll probably find yourself chuckling too and wondering why you don’t have a pet wombat to liven up your days!

Jul6

King Pig by Nick Bland

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IMG_0509King Pig by Nick Bland, hardback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

King Pig has a kingdom full of sheep that don’t seem to like him, and he doesn’t understand why. He desperately wants them to adore him, but nothing seems to work, and this is the one thing that he can’t command them to do. One night he has an idea, and he wakes up all the sheep to make him some new fancy clothes, but it doesn’t impress the sheep. What can he do to remedy the situation?

In this book we see that being powerful doesn’t automatically make one likable. It is much better to be nice and considerate of others, and being bossy all the time only leads to resentment and discontent. This is a hard lesson for King Pig to learn, and a good message for our children. My kids enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the other Nick Bland books we have. It wasn’t as funny, though we still liked the story and the illustrations are lovely. I liked the way that the sheep had their wool dyed and removed, while my kids liked it when King Pig used one of the sheep strapped to a wooden handle to clean his castle. This is a good book for preschoolers and kids in lower primary school.

 

* King Pig was an honours book for the 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Picture Book category.

 

Jul2

Little Lost Unicorn by Lorna Hussey

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IMG_0832Little Lost Unicorn by Lorna Hussey, hardback picture book, published by Hinkler Books in 2009.

Little Unicorn goes exploring in the forest and gets lost. Some little forest animals befriend him and they have a lovely time playing together until baby rabbit falls into the stream. Little Unicorn must be brave to help baby rabbit.

This is a magical story of friendship and courage with beautiful illustrations on embossed pages. There are unicorns hiding on every page, which my preschooler loved! She spent a lot of time poring over the pages looking for them, and running her hands over the embossing. She is a big fan of unicorns and this is the best unicorn story book we have read so far. It was very engaging for my preschooler, and I enjoyed her enthusiasm for the book. Perfect for every little unicorn lover, this is a great book for sharing with your preschooler, or for lower primary school students.  Personally, I liked this story, and I was very impressed with the lovely illustrations, and ingenuity of the hidden unicorns.

Jun29

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

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IMG_0794The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley, boardbook (and CD), first published in the boardbook format by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2013.

This is an hilarious tale of a very interesting donkey. He only has three legs, one eye and he likes country music! And as the story progresses, a new quirk is added to the previous ones, making this a donkey like no other.

The illustrations are just as humorous as the story, and a great asset to the book. The donkey really is a very cheeky fellow, and is drawn as such. The Wonky Donkey is a cumulative story, repeating all of the previous attributes before adding the new one. This repetition is fantastic for preschoolers and lower primary school children alike. Older children and adults will also laugh out loud while reading this book! Both my preschooler and my second grader love it, they think it is side-splittingly funny. My preschooler loves to make the Hee Haw sound when we see the donkey on each page. Both of my kids really like the illustration of the donkey releasing such foul gas that it knocks out a bird (he is a stinky-winky as well as a wonky donkey!) Read it aloud, or follow along with the CD, for even greater enjoyment of this very funny story.

 

 

Jun28

Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee

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IMG_0759Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee, paperback picture book, first published by Andersen Press Ltd. in 2007, this edition published by Andersen Press Ltd. in 2009.

Elmer is a rainbow patchwork elephant living in the jungle with his elephant friends. They are sheltering in a cave during a storm, and Elmer is excited about the possibility of a rainbow emerging once the rain stops. However, when the rain is over, instead of the beautifully coloured rainbow that Elmer imagines, there is a pale arch across the sky. Elmer thinks he could share his own colours with the rainbow. The birds tell him that to restore the colours, he must find the end of the rainbow, so with help from the other animals in the jungle, Elmer goes searching.

This is a nice story about helping and sharing, with the lovable and well known character, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. My kids are quite fond of Elmer, and this book was no exception. The story is simple, and the text is in a biggish, black, basic typeset, which is easy to read. The illustrations are interesting and unique. I particularly like the expressions on the animals’ faces throughout the story. We enjoyed reading this story together, and my second grader has read it several times on her own since we brought it home. My preschooler likes it when Elmer shares his colours with the rainbow, along with the picture of the rainbow as it would be if it had become patchwork like Elmer. Elmer and the Rainbow is most suitable for lower primary school and preschool children.

Jun26

Princess Evie’s Ponies: Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony by Sarah KilBride and Sophie Tilley

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IMG_0754Princess Evie’s Ponies: Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony by Sarah KilBride and illustrated by Sophie Tilley, paperback picture book, published by Simon and Schuster in 2012.

Princess Evie and her pet cat, Sparkles, have a stable full of magic ponies who take them on adventures. In Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony, when they ride through the tunnel of trees they emerge into a world of colours. Evie’s clothes have changed to rainbow colours, and so has Indigo’s coat and mane, and there are beautiful butterflies everywhere. Yet, as they ride on they encounter a drab, grey garden, drained of colour. Evie discovers a map that tells her to find the magic girls and collect their coloured stones to return the colours. So Evie, Indigo and Sparkles set out to do just that.

A fun story with magic, adventure, new friendships, sharing and colour. The illustrations are particularly nice, with lots of detail and lovely colours. My preschooler was immediately drawn to this book because it had silver sparkles and a pony on the front cover. She also liked the shiny pink hearts and lettering of the title. The story containing a princess, magic and rainbows were bonuses. My daughter is very pink and princessy and this is the sort of book that she will ask for repeatedly, until I can’t stand reading it any more. And when I have had enough, she will continue to peruse it herself. With two daughters, I’m working on building my tolerance for magic ponies, fairies, princesses, animals…. I prefer a good giggle book to share, but I have to run with what the kids like, though it will be nice when A can read these types of books herself! This is not a bad book however, it just isn’t my cuppa, and my four year old loved it! This book would particularly appeal to girly girls in the preschooler to lower primary age groups.

Jun23

Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett and Vanessa Cabban

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IMG_0749Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated by Vanessa Cabban, boardbook, first published by Walker Books Ltd in 2001, this edition published by Walker Books Ltd in 2004.

One night Mole burrows up through the dirt and sees the moon for the first time. He doesn’t know what it is, but it is so pretty, he wants to catch it. He tries jumping and reaching it with a stick and climbing a tree to get closer to it, but nothing works, and he disturbs all his friends along the way. But when he thinks he has broken the moon, his friends are there to console and reassure him.

Bringing Down the Moon is one of my pre-schooler’s favourite board books, and we enjoy reading it together before bed. She loves it when Mole yells “hot-diggerty!”, she thinks that is a very funny phrase! I also like this story of discovery and friendship. It is a lovely story with beautiful illustrations. Mole is a curious little fellow, and his friends are compassionate and understanding. Mole learns that the moon isn’t near enough to touch, but it is beautiful up there in the night sky. And it’s beautiful that he shares that moment with his friends.

 

Jun11

Underpants, Thunderpants by Peter Bently and Deborah Melmon

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IMG_0508Underpants, Thunderpants by Peter Bently and illustrated by Deborah Melmon, paperback picture book, published by Parragon in 2011.

On a fine and sunny day, Dog hangs out his underpants to dry on the line. Then a thunderstorm whips up the wind, blowing the underpants right off the line and spreads them all around. They land in some interesting places, including in the jungle and the ocean, and one pair even gets blown right out into space.

At a time when my children are obsessed with toilet humour, this book was a good find. They think any story about underpants is funny, and this rhyming tale definitely tickled their funny bones! A perfect book for preschoolers, with a short story, large text and clear, colourful pictures. I like the octopus that gets four pairs of the undies, and no surprises,  my kids like it best when the hunter goes splat in the poop. I wasn’t quite ready for the book to end actually, it just felt like there should have been more, but maybe that was because my kids were laughing and I wanted to extend the experience! Underpants, Thunderpants is a fun book.