Juniper’s Painting

Juniper’s Painting by Catherine Bauer, illustrated by Jennifer Horn (Wombat Books) HB RRP $26.99 ISBN 9781761112409

Reviewed by Kylie Buckley

Young Juniper stares out of the window at her beloved beach. She longs to play on the sand and discover washed up treasures. However, it is too cold, wet, and windy to play outside so she is forced to stay indoors. When Juniper runs out of things to do inside, her busy mum requests that she paint her a picture. Juniper uses her imagination and artistic talent to paint what she would like the beach to look like outside her window. When her artwork is complete, her mum points out a lovely surprise waiting for her.

The ink and watercolour illustrations complement the text well, and the changing colour palette beautifully reflects the changing moods throughout the story. The artwork appears as a combination of spot illustrations, vignettes, single pages, and double-page spreads. The contrasting endpapers are a great talking point for young readers.

Juniper’s Painting is a lovely picture book suitable for an early childhood audience. The narrative’s themes include disappointment, patience, independent play, imagination, and creativity.

Buzz Words Achievement

Good news is that Dreaming Soldiers, a picture book by Catherine Bauer, illustrated by Shane McGrath (Big Sky Publishing) has been included on the 2019 South Australian Premier's Reading Challenge list.

The book weaves tales of childhood adventures and battlefield challenges with gentle Dreaming themes. It is a touching friendship story about Jimmy and Johnno, two young Australian boys in the 1900s; mates who do everything together, sharing adventures and growing up side by side in the dusty cattle yards of an Outback South Australian station and later the dusty WWI battlefields of the Western Front. 

The simple story-telling combines with stunning images to honour the service of Australian veterans and highlight the important contribution of Indigenous soldiers.

Colourful Memories

Colourful Memories by Catherine Bauer, illustrated by Kathleen O’Hagan (Wombat Books) PB RRP $16.99  ISBN 9781925563429

Reviewed by Kylie Buckley

Colourful Memories is a beautiful picture book that highlights the life of a gentleman who migrated from Germany to Australia after World War II. Moments from his past were captured on film and are now revealed to his young grand-daughter, Charlie, in the black and white photographs they’ve found in an old box.

Charlie questions her opa about the lack of colour in his pictures. This prompts him to recall some of the colour in those past moments, revealing both good and bad memories. Snapshots of a happy childhood and loving family are remembered with fondness and warmth, and glimpses of poverty and war are described in a soft and tasteful way. The superb pencil illustrations complement the story well, displaying the colour Opa remembers. Throughout the story Charlie has questions and comments about Opa’s photos. Later Opa encourages Charlie to visualise colourful memories of her own.

Written in the third person, Colourful Memories is a lovely story embracing both the past and the present. It reminds people, young and old, that while photographs are great reminders of moments in time, colourful memories are made every day. These memories are kept inside you and can be shared with loved ones whenever you choose. This book is suitable for children aged 5+, especially those who are starting to ask questions about their parents and grandparents’ younger days. Colourful Memories would also be a great addition to the primary classroom and used as a conversation starter about war and immigration. 

A Toy Christmas

A Toy Christmas – a magical, illustrated anthology of original stories compiled by Sophie Masson (Christmas Press) PB RRP $24.99 ISBN 9780994234063

Reviewed by Catherine Bauer

With Christmas glittering on the near horizon, if it’s a little festive season magic you’re after, look no further than A Toy Christmas, the latest gem from Australian publisher Christmas Press. Compiled and edited by award-winning author Sophie Masson, the 13-story anthology features Christmas-themed tales by some of Australia’s most talented authors, both established and emerging.

Each beautifully crafted story is themed around toys that magically come to life at Christmas time. There are stories about toys that chase the nativity star, toys that realise Christmas is more about who we are with than where we spend it and truly touching tales about toys that help unite sad souls and help build friendships. There’s a story for just about every taste, whether it’s pure fantasy with dragons, adventure and pixies or more contemporary family scenarios featuring grandparents and annoying siblings. 

Illustrated in full color, the anthology is the perfect book to tap into the gathering Christmas cheer, not just for this year, but for many Christmases to come. So gather the family for a story from A Toy Christmas and let the celebrations begin.

Two Troll Tales from Norway

Two Troll Tales from Norway retold by Margrete Lamond, illustrated by Ingrid Kallick (Christmas Press) PB RRP $19.99

ISBN 9780994234056

Reviewed by Catherine Bauer

This authentic retelling of two traditional Norwegian folk tales does nothing to make me like trolls or forest witches any more than I did before. Not that this was Norwegian-Australian author Lamond’s intention, I’m sure.

The first tale, The Little Old Lady from around the Bend is the story of a poverty-stricken old woman who, in her younger days, makes the mistake of bargaining with and deceiving a family of trolls. She helps a mother troll give birth and as instructed, smears some balm on the baby’s eyes.  However, she ignores the instruction not to get any in her own eyes. Her reward for helping the trolls is an endless delivery of silver coins. The catch is that she is not to spend, give away or speak of her new wealth and so she continues to live in abject poverty.

When the girl sees the troll wife stealing from a local bakery, the trolls learn she had stolen some of the magic eye balm and the troll wife spitefully blinds her in one eye. The girl then gives one of her coins to a beggar, causing her stock of silver to immediately turn to a pile of dry leaves. The moral is not to disregard instructions.

The second story, The Golden Ball of Yarn, is the tale of a woodcutter who works in the forests and one day is bewitched by a forest witch, a Huldra, who attracts his attention with a golden ball of yarn. From time to time the Huldra would spirit the man away. The man later marries, but still the Huldra tries to trick him and steal him away. In order to escape, the man sails to another land. The moral is not to be tempted by seemingly attractive offerings.

Each of these stories is aptly complemented by Kallick’s rich and detailed drawings that invite the eye to linger on the page. Here is another classic offering from Christmas Press that will leave young readers wanting to explore more enchanting international folktales.

Eleanor, Elizabeth

Eleanor, Elizabeth by Libby Gleeson, illustrated by Beattie Alvarez (Christmas Press) PB RRP $18.99

ISBN 9780994234070

Reviewed by Catherine Bauer

This touching, evocative and thrilling tale of family, belonging, growing up and the Australian bush is as enjoyable today as when first published 32 years ago. With a new forward by the author and simply rendered black and white line drawings by Alvarez, Eleanor, Elizabeth is set in 1959/60.

It’s the story of 12-year-old Elizabeth and her family, who relocate to a remote farm that was home to her grandmother, Elizabeth. 

Eleanor struggles with the new situation, including unwelcoming classmates and an equally harsh climate. An abandoned schoolhouse sits among the farm’s old outbuildings. It’s full of webs, old junk and dark corners and when Eleanor decides to explore one day, she discovers her grandmother’s diary, written when she was just 13.

Through the diary, not only does Eleanor get to know her grandmother and the commonalities they share, but she learns about Elizabeth's special haven - a cave. It’s a spot that becomes a refuge for Eleanor, her brothers, and a new friend when a deadly firestorm sweeps the area. The fire is a dramatic high point and one that’s vividly conveyed as we follow Eleanor as she leads her small band to safety against many odds. The story ends with a gift from Eleanor's mother - a diary. It’s a fittingly touching gesture and one that brings the story to a satisfying end. 

In Gleeson’s new foreward, the now acclaimed author describes that she was suffering homesickness in northern Italy when writing her first draft of what was to be the first of her many awarded children’s books and novels.  It’s a fact that clearly influenced her vivid rendering of the Australian environment, as does Gleeson’s  revelation in the forward that she was impacted by her mother’s retelling of old family stories of regional settlement.

Eleanor, Elizabeth is more than a first novel; Gleeson says that its acceptance and success gave her the confidence to continue as a writer.

Christmas Press is to be congratulated for reissuing this Australian children’s classic under its Second Look imprint. Just as it did when first published in 1984, the story is sure to delight and resonate with a whole new generation of young readers.