My Mum is a Magician

My Mum is a Magician by Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas  (University of Queensland Press, 2018) HB RRP $24.95 ISBN 978 0 7022 5994 4

Reviewed by Sylvia Forbes

Some mums gulp green tea, with bitter barley blends.

But my mum is a magician ... her cup of coffee never ends.

This is a spellbinding picture book celebrating Mums everywhere. In My Mum is a Magician, you'll meet all kinds of Mums - each of them as wonderfully diverse as the next!  Pilot mums, superhero mums, chorus line mums and sword swinging mums. But nothing (it seems) tops magician mums!

Damon Young has created a highly entertaining, energetic and frivolous text using rhyme and alliteration. The rhythmic pacing is engaging and makes it a pleasure to read out loud.

Peter Carnavas's excellent illustrations cleverly add another layer of wit and vibrancy to the text. (Like the kid being sprung by magician mum with his hand in the cookie jar ... and the chorus line mum with a prosthetic leg!) While the various animals on every page are adorable, they add tiny narratives.

Some mums light lamps that hang low on weeping willows.

Some mums stick stars that sparkle over soft pillows.

After all the boisterousness and excitement of My Mum is a Magician, I love how the mood shifts and everything quietens down over its four final page turns. Here, the text and illustrations work seamlessly to create a soothing dreamscape where mums and their children are seen tucked closely together and the light becomes softly subdued in gentle sunset tones ... then, as the book comes to a restful close, the magician mum has the final say.

'Every day' mums may not be represented in this book (the lunch makers, the missing sock finders, and the mess cleaners). But when you think about it, alongside all the tireless, often thankless little things they do for us, they are our superheroes who will stop at nothing to nurture, protect and keep us safe. Even swing swords if necessary! They are extraordinary, and they show up for us every single day, regardless of how they might be feeling. So all mums are magicians in my eyes!

This award-winning author/illustrator duo has delightfully created My Mum is a Magician, a timeless celebration of mums and caregivers everywhere. The book is a joy to read and suitable for preschoolers.   

 

 

My Dad is a Dragon

My Dad is a Dragon by Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas

(University of Queensland Press) PB RRP $24.95

ISBN 9780702260490

Review by Wendy Haynes

My Dad is a Dragon is the sixth instalment of this series, a testament to the talent of this duo. The book bolsters the important role of fathers and how children thrive having a happy relationship with them.

The story tells of the many thing other dads can do, but the author Damon Young deliberately pulls the reader’s focus back to the relationship between father and child. My Dad is a Dragon is a representation, a celebration of fatherhood, and how fathers play a significant role throughout a child’s life.

The illustrator Peter Carnavas builds on the story with the characters having a togetherness throughout the pages. His illustrations are in pastel shades which gives a sense of calm.

The young girl is like an observer and a participator as the author moves the reader through the story. She can see what other dads do but her dad is a dragon!

                                                                     

My Mum is a Magician

My Mum is a Magician by Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas (UQP)

HB RRP $24.95  ISBN 9780702259944

Reviewed by Brook Tayla

This book is filled with fun and frivolity from beginning to end and is sure to delight pre-school children. It is full of amazing Mums in diverse and unusual roles who get up to all sorts of antics both in the workplace and at home. The main Mum is a magician and will keep children wondering how mothers just seem to know what’s going on – even when you think they’re not looking!

The rhyming text is well written, making the flow an easy out-loud read. The illustrations are funny and will have children laughing.  There are a lot of animal characters to discover on each page and they are placed in very comedic situations.

This is a light-hearted, fun book that is the latest release in the family series: My Sister is a Superhero, My Pop is a Pirate, My Brother is a Beast and My Nanna is a Ninja. I predict that Dad will be next and wonder what he will get up to !

This would be a great book to share with young children. I can imagine teachers using this for Mothers Day prompts or discussions about mothers.

Brook Tayla writes a picture book review blog at telltalestome@wordpress.com and would love you to drop by, read some reviews, leave a comment and subscribe.  Brook also offers editing services for beginning and emerging writers.

My Sister is a Superhero

My Sister is a Superhero by Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas (UQP) HB RRP $24.95 ISBN 978 070225398

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This picture book for young readers is the third book in what has proved to be a much-loved series celebrating the diversity of family. The bright cover and fly pages are filled with illustrations of a supergirl (wearing undies over tights) flying in all directions alongside a flying bunny. The unnamed narrator – a brother or sister – imaginatively tells how his quirky sister is totally different to other (ordinary) sisters insofar as his sister ‘races rockets around stars’, ‘punches robots in the nose’ and ‘bench presses burly trolls’. However, the little brother narrator says, the best thing about sister is ‘she reads me stories in the skies.’

Australian Damon Young, whose other books are for adults (about philosophy, exercise and martial arts) writes this fun-to-read book in rhyming verse with lots of alliteration (sisters dancing in denim booging with a band, for example) which is excellent for reading aloud to children from 3 years and up. 

The watercolour illustrations, also by an Australian, Peter Carnavas, who won the 2009 CBCA prestigious Crichton Award for emerging illustrators, are light and bright and full of joyous fun. The final illustration in the book shows a sleeping boy being held in the sky by sister who is urging the reader, with a finger to her mouth, to be quiet – a great way for a parent reading this book to a child in bed to go to sleep.

The two previous books by this talented author-illustrator team are My Nanna is a Ninja and My Pop is a Pirate.

My Nanna Is A Ninja

My Nanna Is A Ninja by Damon Young, illustrated by Peter Carnavas (University of Queensland Press)
HB RRP $24.95
ISBN 9780 7022 5009 5
Reviewed by Jo Antareau

This is a colourful, lively picture book celebrating the special bond children have with their nannas.  A great story to read aloud with its rhymes and rhythms, it describes the unique antics of the child’s own Ninja nanna, dressed in her black outfit and doing the cool things Ninjas do.

But other Nannas are not forgotten - the three non-Ninja nannas are anything but conventional and certainly do not suffer in comparison to the Ninja nanna. The Nannas’ various eccentric, adventurous and fun activities would resonate with preschool-aged children everywhere. The author was inspired by a book describing somewhat conventional grandparents which were utterly unlike those he knew. So he created a funky set of nannas instead that grandmothers everywhere will appreciate him for.

Carnavas’s illustrations burst with colour and movement, and feature cute details about each of the four nannas described such as their pets, which although are not mentioned in the text, add a level of humour and intrigue that a child will have lots of fun following.

This is the first picture book by Young. Let’s hope it’s not his last.