Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door

Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Hannah Shaw (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $9.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-710-9
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Granny is moving in with Elmo and his family and they need to find a bigger home. Mr Crocodile shows them many houses and Elmo and his sister fall in love with a rundown house surrounded by a large, scruffy jungle garden. But Mum and Dad fall for the house next door, neater, tidier and much more practical. Still, Elmo and his sister can play in the jungle garden and empty house next door. Until one day, a moving van arrives and mean old Mr Birdsnest moves in. The jungle garden becomes out of bounds. However, when granny goes missing and the children spy her through a window next door, they must risk everything to get her back.

Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door is full of lovely characters. Elmo’s nicknames for people are wonderfully descriptive and the children have fabulous curiosity, imagination and a love for exploration. Donaldson writes really well, with an intriguing plot and fun characters, including two cats, Tiger and Panther, which keeps a reader hooked.

The great black and white illustrations throughout the story break up the pages of words, easing the reading and populate the pages with birds, insects and animals creating the jungle atmosphere. There are instructions for drawing jungle birds inside the back cover and masses of birds and butterflies crowd the endpapers.

This is an entertaining story to read aloud to children of five plus and would also be perfect as a read alone for confident early readers.

The Snake Who Came to Stay

The Snake Who Came to Stay by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Hannah Shaw (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $9.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-709-3
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Polly doesn’t have any pets of her own but she does run a holiday home for pets. These holidays she has guinea pigs, a bird, and a snake. Mum is unhappy about the last pet but when Doris the snake arrives all is okay.

Then Doris goes missing. How will Polly tell the snakes owner Jack when he gets home? How will she tell Mum there’s a snake missing somewhere in the house?

The Snake Who Came To Stay is a fun story. It is written simply and well, with seven short chapters and not too many complicated words. The plot is complex enough to hold attention; it is realistic and relatable.

The black and white illustrations break up the text on each page making the chapters less daunting. These pictures add to the humour of the story. I especially love the guinea pigs who pop up throughout.

The Snake Who Came To Stay is a fabulous book for stretching beginner readers. It is a step towards longer chapter books and is an amusing, entertaining read.

PS Don’t overlook the snake jokes on the inside front cover.

Who Ate Auntie Iris

 Who Ate Auntie Iris? by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Hannah Shaw (Walker Books)

HC RRP $ 29.95

ISBN 9781847802194

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

What has happened to Auntie Iris?  Only her hat has been found.  Do the bears on the first floor, the crocodile on the second floor, or the wolves on the third floor have anything to do with her disappearance? She went down from her fifth floor apartment to put out the rubbish and didn’t come back. Could the new neighbours that have moved into the fourth floor know anything?

This delightful and funny book is written in rhyming verse. It is narrated by a chinchilla, the nameless niece of Auntie Iris who lives in an apartment block with lots of scary animals for neighbours, any of which could easily gobble her up as a snack at any time. This is foremost in the chinchilla’s mind whenever she visits with her mother, for they too, could become a tasty snack.

But Auntie Iris is also a female. We find the answer to the mystery after many imaginings and lots of searching.

This is a beautifully produced book, illustrated with pen and ink and scanned textures. The jacket is identical to the book cover. Its front end pages depict dark shadows of the animals that live in the apartments through window frames. They are all eating. The back end pages are full of colour and light, entertaining poses of the same animals in the same poses as the front.

The black text on the pages freely gives over the space to the vibrant, full page, full colour illustrations and sometimes sits relaxed upon the coloured background. This is a highly entertaining story about things and situations not always being what they first seem, to read or be read to.

The Great Rabbit Rescue

The Great Rabbit Rescue by Katie Davies and illustrated by Hannah Shaw (Simon and Schuster)

PB RRP $12.99

ISBN 978-184738596-3

Reviewed by Peta Biggin

Joe has gone to live with his dad and he’s had to leave behind his beloved pet rabbit.  His best friends, Anna and Suzanne, try to look after it for him but when the rabbit becomes ill they are convinced it’s because it is missing Joe.  Now that Joe has become sick as well, the girls are certain that both he and the rabbit are going to die.  So they decide to embark on a rescue mission, trying to get across town to Joe’s dad’s house to reunite the rabbit and its owner.  But, will they be in time?

The Great Rabbit Rescue is a very funny story told from the perspective of nine year old Anna.  Reading this book reminded me of many a conversation with children of the same age as our heroine.  There is a rambling quality to the narrative that brings an authenticity, without diluting the story.

Anna is a lovely character: curious, adventurous and loyal.  I found it difficult not to get caught up in her perspective of life and the world around her.  The overall tale is peppered with the little details that children find important and adults overlook: that rabbits need constant guarding from the neighbourhood cats; the finer points of walkie-talkie etiquette; whether a dictionary can be saved after it has been dropped in the toilet.

Apart from the humour, the thing about this book that really appealed to me was the wonderful sense of loyalty between the friends.  Despite their misguided motivations, the girls act out of a genuine desire to do the right thing for Joe.

Even though the main characters are girls, I would think that boys would find this just as enjoyable as girls.  Anna and Suzanne are quite tomboyish: they enjoy their secret club and bicycle stunts.  The book does appear quite long at over 200 pages, however the font is quite large and there are lots of wonderful black and white illustrations spread throughout to break up the pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Great Rabbit Rescue and would recommend it for any budding young rescuer.

Katie Davies has written for The Spectator and The Idler; and written and performed various sketches for the Radio 4 comedy show, One.  Her first children’s book The Great Hamster Massacre was published in 2010.  She lives in North London with her husband and baby daughter.  Hannah Shaw is a writer-illustrator who has created many picture and chapter books.  Some titles include: The Sleep Sheep, School for Bandits, How to Catch a Criminal (written by Dominic Barker) and Ghaddar the Ghoul (written by Sonia Nimr).  She currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.