Tag Archives: CBCA book of the year winner

Aug12

Jeremy by Chris Faille and Danny Snell

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IMG_1357Jeremy by Chris Faille and illustrated by Danny Snell, published by Working Title Press in 2013.

Jeremy is a baby kookaburra that has fallen out of his nest. The family cat brings him home when he is just a wrinkly little pink ball with closed eyes. The nest is too high to return the bird to, so the family look after him, keeping him warm and feeding him. Jeremy grows feathers, and gets bigger and stronger. All too soon he is ready to face the world on his own.

Jeremy is a heart warming tale of survival, that also serves to introduce the reader to the basics of how a kookaburra develops. The story itself is a simple narrative following Jeremy’s progress from ugly newborn to young adulthood, when he is ready to fend for himself.

Inside the front and back covers, lots of facts about kookaburras are presented, considerably increasing the depth of knowledge gained from this book. The illustrations in Jeremy are an asset to this book, as they are wonderfully life-like, and so detailed. They bring Jeremy to life as he grows and changes.

Several times as a child I found a poor baby bird that had fallen or been pushed from its nest, and tried to save it. None of mine were as lucky as Jeremy though. I was pleased that Jeremy grew into a healthy young kookaburra that could be released back into the wild, despite his shaky start. My preschooler was surprised, having never seen a newly hatched bird,  that baby birds have no feathers and are completely defenceless. She enjoyed the extra facts about kookaburras, and I’m pretty sure she learnt some things!  As this book is mostly non-fiction disguised as a picture book, I think it would be an excellent tool to help encourage children into reading more non-fiction. Good for curious kids in primary school and preschool, I enjoyed sharing Jeremy with my daughter very much.

 

* Jeremy was the winner of the 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books category.

Aug12

The Swap by Jan Ormerod and Andrew Joyner

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IMG_1358The Swap by Jan Ormerod and illustrated by Andrew Joyner, hardback picture book, published by Littler Hare Books in 2013.

Caroline Crocodile is very jealous of her baby brother. Mama Crocodile is always saying how wonderful he is, and giving him big smoochy kisses. Caroline thinks her brother is just a big smelly and drooly mess, and she really wants Mama Crocodile to herself. So when Mama Crocodile asks Caroline to look after her brother while she pops into the hat shop, Caroline decides to trade her brother for a new baby  at The Baby Shop. She tries a baby panda, twin tiger cubs and an elephant, but none of them are quite right. Perhaps her baby brother really is the best brother to have after all?

A beautiful picture book about the love of a sister for her brother, this story touched my heart. My preschooler chose this book to read before bed last night, and it was lovely to share it with her. She has a baby brother of her own, who she thinks is often smelly and dribbly just like Caroline’s little brother. I’m pretty sure my preschooler has considered swapping her brother on occasion (when he threw her toothbrush in the toilet, bit her tummy hard enough to draw blood, emptied a water bottle into her bed…), yet she loves him dearly, and knows that he is her perfect little brother. Baby brothers or sisters often get a lot of attention, but this doesn’t diminish an older sibling’s love or importance, it’s just that babies are so messy and dependent! It can take a while for an older sibling to realise this, just like Caroline. And just like Caroline, sometimes older siblings might be jealous of a baby in their family. My preschooler really related to Caroline Crocodile and laughed a lot when Caroline tried to trade her brother in. She also thought that the antics of the substitute brothers were hilarious. I liked the twin tigers that were “too tiring”, as they quickly destroyed a toy shop and menaced the other children, while my preschooler liked the baby elephant sitting in the fountain. The illustrations in The Swap are colourful and entertaining. There were plenty of things for my preschooler to spot, especially in the town scenes. We enjoyed looking carefully at all the pictures. Caroline Crocodile’s facial expressions are wonderfully realistic and it was easy to see how she was feeling.

Especially good to read to big brothers and sisters, The Swap is a great story for all preschoolers and lower primary school children.

 

* The Swap was the winner of the 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category.