Wombat Jumped Over the Moon

Wombat Jumped Over the Moon illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Lothian/Hachette)
PB RRP $14.99
ISBN: 9780734415554
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

This great in-house picture book is bursting with lively Aussie bush animals having fun and games on a sunny day. With only one piece of delicious cake left over from their picnic, each of the animal friends decide to do tricks with the best one winning the cake.

Kookaburra does a triple somersault and twist; Echidna dances to Kangaroo's fiddle music; Emu does the hula hoop with three hoops and there are more tricks to follow. There is much applause each time and Wombat is worried. Will his trick stand a chance?

By the time it is Wombat's turn, night has fallen. Wombat's trick is based on the rhyme, Hey diddle diddle but instead of the cow jumping over the moon, Wombat launches himself off a rock to seem as if he is jumping over the rising moon. It is a wonderful trick which makes all the animals laugh, and they decide to share the cake, eating it with spoons.

Creagh's animal interpretations are always humorous and appealing; often dramatic. The background washes in eucalyptus grey-greens and vivid sunset colours; the dark brown of the rocks; the star studded velvety skies, all add a a touch of Aussie magic. The text flows in curves along each spread, with many words highlighted for emphasis. I found the front and end piece illustrations striking, with the animals shown as a line of silhouettes above a chocolate earth performing their tricks against fiery evening skies.

Wombat Jumped Over the Moon, Creagh's fourth title, will prove a popular choice for young readers.

Zippy Zoe

Zippy Zoe (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-884-7
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Zoe is zippy. This little Zebra Finch can zip from zero to a zillion in seconds. But all this zipping and zapping can tire out a small bird and when Zoe zonks, it can be really hard for her friends to wake her. What will they do?

Sadly, this entertaining little series is drawing to a close with Zoe and her friends. I have enjoyed the alliteration and the standard has been really consistent across the series. The illustrations have always been a fabulous part of the stories as well - uniquely Australian with humour, detail and many objects to find for each given letter.

The emphasis put on friendship, family and helping out has also been a great strength of these stories. It’s a lot to pack into a tiny book and this series manages it well. With so many titles to collect there are hours of fun to be had for littlies who are learning the alphabet - and for lovers of animals and words.

Yum Yum Yoshi

Yum Yum Yoshi (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-742-0
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Yoshi has many friends. He hangs out with Yolanda, Yuri, Yasmine and Yang. Of all these Yellow-bellied gliders it is Yoshi who loves food the most. He’ll eat anything from Yams to Yum Cha. One day, however, Yoshi wakes up feeling yicky. All his friends try to help suggesting many activities which may help him to feel better. Nothing seems to be helping. Then they remember his favourite food. Will that do the trick?

I have been enjoying this pocket-sized series of alphabet books. Featuring a great variety of Australian native animals these stories have such a great flavour of our bush, outback and other Aussie settings.
I love the tongue-twisting alliteration. And although this must be hard to construct for some of the curlier letters towards the end of the alphabet such as Y, the author does well.

‘And yummy yum cha whilst yachting?’ suggests Yasmine. 
‘Yum Yum!’ yells Yoshi.

With just one more to go, what does Z have in store for us?

Wombat's Birthday Surprise

Wombat's Birthday Surprise by Lachlan Creagh (Lothian/Hachette)
PB RRP $14.99ISBN: 9780734413932
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Picture books about birthday parties are a popular theme for young readers, and this fourth offering by Lachlan Creagh is a colourful romp from beginning to end.

Told in rhyming verse with plenty of humour and action, Wombat's Birthday Surprise buzzes with bold colours and lively illustrations. While Wombat's friends make preparations for the party, Wombat sleeps in his hollow log, and the recurring image of Wombat snoring away in all kinds of amusing sleep positions emphasises the question: Will Wombat wake up in time for his party?

Koala's berry pavlova, goanna's fairy bread, echidna's party pies are just a few of the items the familiar native animals and birds are making for Wombat's surprise birthday party in the bush. To see Echidna rolling out his dough on a rustic table, and old stoves parked under gum trees are other kinds of surprises waiting to be discovered. When all is ready, Wombat's friends can't wake him up. Fortunately, Kangaroo comes up with the solution, and the party begins to swing.

Creagh's use of highlighted nouns and adverbs e.g. birthday, games, party, tizzy, snoring, yawning, adds strength and focus to the storyline and balance between text and pictures. An added bonus is a sheet of birthday wrapping featuring the balloon cluster illustrations of the inside cover pages. Wombat's Birthday Surprise is a fresh and happy little book which is sure to be read over and over again.

Vocal Violet

Vocal Violet (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-788-8
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Violet is an adorable vampire bat. But she is also the most vocal vampire bat in the whole of Victoria. Her volume causes problems among the other vampire bats. For example, when Vince takes his turn in a vaulting competition, Violets ‘veeeep!’ sends hem veering off into the veggie patch.

Everyone has ideas about how to fix Violet’s volume, but the vet suggests that rather than change, she go where her volume is valued. So Violet becomes a commentator at the V8 car racing.

Once again, the moral of Vocal Violet is incorporated well in a hilarious story with fabulous alliteration, great detailed illustrations, and an entertaining colony of vampire bats.

Lachlan Creagh is a very talented illustrator when it comes to Australian animals and his pictures are loaded with detail and humour. And the way the author manages to get so many V words into the story is extremely clever.

With only four letters in the alphabet to go, the series is getting close to the end. An while I am a little sad about this, I am looking forward to seeing how some of the harder letters at the end of the alphabet are approached!

Unique Una

Unique Una (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-739-0
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Unique Una is the next title in the Australian alphabet series by Susanna McFarlane. Una is a caterpillar who is unhappy about others criticising her unconventional behaviour.  But through her Uncle Umberto she learns to accept her uniqueness and love for the unusual. And then one day, after the great unzipping of her cacoon, Una becomes a beautiful Ulysses butterfly.

I love the message this story holds; everyone is special. Just be true to yourself. At the end the book we’re asked ‘What about you? Are you utterly unique too?’

As with the other books in this series, the alliteration is fabulous. And Una’s assortment of possessions, her ukulele, her unconventional umbrella and her collection of ugg books lend a real quirkiness to this tale. The humour and tongue twisting sentences make it fun to read and the Australian nature of the text and illustrations add to the originality of the series.

The illustrations are bright, fun and detailed with so much going on, making the book perfect for young children to explore by themselves without the text.

At under $5 a book, this is a fantastic series to collect. When all 26 are lined up on the shelf, an image forms along their spine.

Call of the Wild and Dino Champions

Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter - series by Jack Wells, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Random House Australia)
PB RRP $9.95 each
Book 5 – Call of the Wild
ISBN 9781742750934 – pbk.
ISBN 9781742749594 - ebook
Book 6 – Dino Champions
ISBN 9781742750941 – pbk.
ISBN 9781742749600 - ebook

Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

After many adventures in his previous books, Robert Irwin is back with his best friend Riley. With the aid of his lucky claw, Robert and Riley continue their adventures as they time travel back to the era of the dinosaurs. This series of single-plot storylines continues to excite new readers and is a winner for six to nine year old boys who dream of dinosaurs, adventure and time travel. Along with lots of action, there’s a handy dinosaur fact file at the end of each book (where I learnt that dinosaurs probably didn’t roar, except in the movies!) as well as plenty of illustrations to further enliven the boys’ adventures.

Book 5 – Call of the Wild – Robert and Riley are camping with their families in outback Queensland. They’re in Muttaburrasaurus country, where the first fossils of this dinosaur were found.

It’s night and raining and the boys need to go to the loo. In the dark they get disorientated. Robert’s magic dino claw whisks them back 100 million years where a storm is also raging. Reptiles fly overhead and in a lightning flash the boys see an abandoned baby dinosaur, with ‘it’s legs stuck in a deep pool of mud.’ They nickname him Barry and try to push him out of the swamp. Pterosaurs flap their skinned wings overhead and chase Riley, intending to make a meal of him.

Finally the boys free Barry. They try to find his mother by ‘honking’ through the bushes. In a spike of lightning the boys see ‘the figure of the adult Muttaburrasaurus.’ It ‘rose up on its back legs, stretched out its neck, maybe seven metres high, and gave an enormous honk.’ Robert and Riley watch as ‘the two ancient Australians walk away to rejoin their pack.’

Book 6 – Dino Champions – Robert is training for his athletics carnival. He’s trying to run fast enough to catch up to the school champion, Lauren Johnson. Robert wonders which dinosaur would have run the fastest.

As Robert and Riley chase each other around Australia Zoo, Robert’s magic dinosaur claw jiggles around in his backpack. Before they know it, the boys are in Canada, 74 million years ago. They’re being chased by a dinosaur with ‘three claws on each foot to grip into the ground like running spikes.’ It’s a dromiceiomimus, meaning, ‘emu mimic.’ Robert makes notes of its running style to use in his athletics race.

The boys fall asleep and are transported to North Africa, where two spinosaurus are fighting; they’re even bigger than the T-rex, with spines as tall as an adult and a skull like a crocodile.

Robert’s magic claw transports them again to the lush forests of Argentina where ‘titanic sauropods’ with bodies like bridges and legs like supports, graze on the treetops.

But the boys need to head back to Australia and the present. They wade into the freezing water where the magic claw swirls them home. When it’s time for the athletics carnival, Robert races against Lauren. He imagines being chased by a terrifying spinosaurus. He comes second but looks forward to his next adventure with dinosaurs and wonders what else he is going to discover.

Ticklish Tom

Ticklish Tom (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-738-3
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Ticklish Tom is a new title in the sweet alliteration alphabet series Little Mates. Tom is a Tasmanian Devil who happens to be the most ticklish Devil across the whole of Tassie. His friends take advantage of this most of the time but when Tom gets himself into a tricky situation, they all team up to help.

As with other books in this series, friendship, teamwork and helping others feature strongly in Ticklish Tom. But it is the humour, fun and word play that shine brightest. The author manipulates all of the t words in the story with great skill and style. And the illustrator is extremely talented at depicting Australian animals and their surrounds.

This is a great read-aloud story for young children who are exploring the world of the alphabet.

Silly Sam

Silly Sam (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-737-6
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Sam is a sheep who loves to sing. More specifically, he loves to sing silly songs. But these songs are not always appreciated by his friends and Sam cannot find a place to sing until Sadie the sheepdog comes up with a perfect solution.

Young children will identify with Sam’s compulsion to make up silly words to songs, to singing them loudly and to wanting an audience. The illustrations are fun and there is plenty to discover in the detailed drawings including many things beginning with S which are not in the storyline. The text is amusing and there is much tongue twisting fun to be had when read aloud.

This is a great little set of books to collect. They are inexpensive, entertaining for littlies and have a nice Australian flavour which mostly avoids clichéd concepts and images. Silly Sam is the next book in the Little Mates Aussie alphabet series and is one of my favourites so far.

Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter

Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter - series by Jack Wells, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Random House Australia)
PB RRP $9.95 each
Book 1 - The Discovery
ISBN 9871864718454
Book 2 - Ambush at Cisco Swamp
ISBN 9871864718461
Book 3 - Armoured Defence
ISBN 9871742750910
Book 4 - The Dinosaur Feather
ISBN 9871742750927
Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

This new series featuring Robert Irwin, son of Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, is every boy’s dream. With the aid of a dinosaur claw fossil, 9-year-old Robert and his friend, Riley, time travel back 95 million years into the Cretaceous era where they witness first hand living with (and escaping from) dinosaurs.

Imagine being in the middle of a dinosaur stampede or crawling through a swamp, or camping in the Badlands of Canada or finding an abandoned dinosaur egg in prehistoric China.

Each book features a particular dinosaur. The font is large and clear and the chapters are scattered with black and white sketches heightening the action. The level of language is suitable for the readership of 6 – 9 year olds. Challenging words are used that will make readers feel more grown up, words like: carnivore, palaeontologist, Cretaceous as well as the Latin names of the various dinosaurs. Readers will love all the prehistoric facts and finding out how to use a fossicker’s took kit to find fossils.

At the back of each book is a field guide detailing the chosen dinosaur. Lots of interesting information is given about their discovery, physical characteristics and the origin of their names. Robert Irwin has also sketched each dinosaur.

Book 1 – The Discovery takes place in Winton, in outback Queensland. Robert and Riley are at the dinosaur digs. Robert is chipping away and discovers a dinosaur claw that becomes his portal. He is ‘dragged down a plughole really fast’ into the prehistoric world to a waterhole where the dinosaurs ‘don’t have good table manners.’ As he is about to be made into a prehistoric meal, he is whisked back to the dino lab in Winton.

Book 2 – Ambush at Cisco Swamp. Robert and Riley are on a research trip to the Cisco Swamp in Texas for the annual census of alligators, where they tag, measure and weigh each gator. Robert soon finds himself in the prehistoric swampland where he comes face to face with the largest prehistoric crocodile, four times bigger than its relative today. The croc is angry as it has a stick lodged in its massive jaw. Robert creatively thinks of a solution making sure he doesn’t become a ‘boy-sized meal’. A flock of pterosaurs wheel overhead as an enormous carnivore with ‘blood-stained teeth’ runs clumsily towards him. After a battle between the land dinos and the water dinos, Robert is back in the present, telling Riley of his adventures. Next time, Riley’s going with him!

Book 3 – Armoured Defence. The boys are camping in the Canadian Badlands, where the T-rex, Triceratops and Stegosaur roamed. At night, they are tumbled into the vortex of time travel to 70 million years ago, where instead of the desert they had left, they are in a swamp with quicksand and monster-sized mozzies. Vines have trapped a duck-billed dino and a meat-eating gorgosaurus is after it as an easy meal. Riley goes missing as Robert rescues the trapped dino only to become the target of the hungry predator.

Book 4 – The Dinosaur Feather. Back at Australia Zoo, where Robert lives with his family, he is making a video of the cassowary, the third largest bird in the world. There is a theme of evolution here as the boys are whisked to prehistoric China where they come in contact with an oviraptor, a dinosaur completely covered in colourful feathers. They find an abandoned egg and go in search of its nest only to be confronted by a giant dino, 9 metres long with a horn on its forehead. It is searching the trees for tasty birds and perhaps a couple of tasty humans!

What’s also exciting for lovers of all things prehistoric is that there are four more Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter books scheduled for release later in the year.

Quiet Queenie and Racing Ruby (Little Mates)

Quiet Queenie (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-331-6
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Racing Ruby (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-332-3
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Queenie has always been a quiet quokka, the quietest in Queensland. But one day she needs a loud voice to help out a quivering quoll.

Ruby the rainbow fish loves to race. But one day, racing ahead, she takes a wrong turn and gets lost. Can she retrace her route and rejoin her friends?

Quiet Queenie and Racing Ruby continue the Little Mates series, a set of small, fun alphabet books featuring Australian animals and friendships. The alliteration is fun to read aloud and the author does a great job, especially with Q, which would not, I would imagine, be an easy letter to work with.

The illustrations are energetic, humorous and fun to explore. The animals are drawn with individual character and there is often something a little unexpected among the wonderfully Australian settings. I love Queenie in the bush library. There a family of ducks check out their books at the reference desk decorated in Quixote and the windmills. And the shoreline Ruby that fails to notice, as she races past includes a rafting rhino - so out of place in the Australian setting that I almost failed to notice the dinosaur in the background myself!

These books can be enjoyed by children from a very young age, for the alphabet, for the joy of tongue twisting words and for the delight in the pictures.

Little Mates: Christmas is Coming

Little Mates: Christmas is Coming by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-168-8
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Christmas is coming to Crystal Creek. Chloe and Connor have much to do in preparation for the event. This story follows the delightful pair as they create Christmas cards, do the Christmas cooking, sing carols at the old chooks home, and then enjoy the day itself.

The alliteration is fun and although at first glance the verses appear to be a tongue twisters, clever construction makes the text playful, catchy and easy to read aloud. Both the language and the illustration create the happy atmosphere of a hot Aussie Christmas without the feeling of cliché.

There is so much to look at in the pictures. I love details such as floaties on the little wombat swimming in the creek. Make sure you look closely at Connor’s carefully composed wish list. As it is part of the Little Mates series, children may have encountered many of the characters which populate this Christmas addition. They will enjoy hearing about their new adventures.

It is a small book and would be perfect for popping in the post as a Christmas gift for pre-school aged friends and relatives overseas, as well as for those young children closer to home.

Dinosaur Rocks

Dinosaur Rocks by Lachlan Creagh (Lothian/Hachette)
PB RRP $14.99
ISBN:9780734412898
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Picture books on dinosaurs are always a magnet for young children and this one, written and illustrated by Creagh, is no exception. Tim is spending the holidays with his grandparents on their property which includes a large formation of rocks - Dinosaur Rocks. With no technology to amuse him, Tim takes up his grandparents' invitation to explore the outcrop with Belle, the dog.

He is soon distracted when he finds a strange stripey chicken and, in trying to return it to its mother, Tim jumps down onto a bed of golden feathers. The feathers leap up and Tim is carried away on the back of Goldie, the dinosaur. Goldie gallops into a cave and when they emerge into a forest, Tim hears many weird rumblings and noises. The forest gives way to a valley inhabited by many different dinosaurs, big and small, land and air inhabitants. They all seem to have the one purpose - to get to the sea and find fish to eat. Goldie joins the rush and Tim spies in the ocean other prehistoric creatures ready to feast. Goldie gets her share of fish and they head back, having many an adventure on the way.

Creagh's two-page spread illustrations are full of life and fascinating detail. The spreads encourage both child and reader to hold the pages together as there is so much to see. I was only disappointed in two illustrations - one where the dog is balanced on a chair across the room from Tim and his grandfather when it seems more natural to me to place the dog in close proximity to its owner; the other shows the grandparents waving to Tim as he sets out to explore, but the grandparents appear to be focussing past him. The action words in the text are highlighted in colours and placed in waves to emphasise movement which knits the book into an exciting whole.

The dinosaurs' distinctive Australian names, e.g., a titanosaurus called Wintonotitan Wottsi and a kronosaurus: Kronosaurus Queenslandicus add a sense of wonder that dinosaurs actually walked around in Australia.

A bonus for kids is a separate spread of the dinosaurs-with-comments which can be hung as a poster. I liked this particular spread as it encourages the reader to believe that the writer actually witnessed these prehistoric creatures.

Dinosaur Rocks, published in both paperback and hardback, is a picture book that will provide endless pleasure for young dinosaur-lovers.  

My Fantastic Father

 My Fantastic Father (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Press)
PB RRP $16.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-032-2
                                          Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

My Fantastic Father is fun! Felix and Freya have fantastic fathers and this Little Mates celebrates all they can do from fixing footballs to frying flapjacks on Fridays. The story describes how two friends decide to do something for their Dads at the Father’s Day festival.

This story is a delight to read aloud as each page is like a tongue twister. Young children will love the alliteration and laugh at the antics of Felix, Freya and their fathers and possibly think up more “F” activities that their own fathers can do.

The illustrations are charming and they bring the personalities of Felix, a kangaroo, and Freya, a crocodile, across in an interesting and light hearted way.

Little Mates is a series of alphabet books featuring Australian animals and friendships. My Fantastic Father is a stand-alone companion to this series and is out as a special for Father’s Day.

Lazy Lou Lou

Lazy Lou Lou by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)

PB RRP $4.99 

ISBN 9781741698367

recommended for children 3 yrs+, readers 9 years+

Reviewed by Dawn Meredith

This terrific series, Little Mates is quality. McFarlane’s text is alliteration heaven and Lachlan Creagh’s illustrations are whimsical and imaginative.

Late one day, Lou Lou was languishing on her li-lo at the lake. Little Lenny was leaning over a ledge to look at larvae…

Lo and behold! Lou Lou learned it was lovely to be lively and loyal.

 Lou Lou is a lizard with attitude. At first her attitude is frowned upon – laziness was her thing. Various animal friends tried to interest her in exciting activities to no avail. But when little Lenny falls into the lake, Lou Lou dashes in and saves him, discovering to her own surprise a talent for lifesaving. Now she wears the red cap and everyone dotes on her. What a gal!

In soft back, full gloss wrap-around covers, these little sized books are cute and highly collectible. Although touted as ‘helping children learn to read,’ the actual reading age is a little higher due to the phonemic complexity of some words, ie: lethargically, laconically, laborious, languishing, which is why I have put the independent reading age at 9 years+. The meanings of some words would need explaining. However, the content could easily please a younger child when an adult reads aloud.

Dawn Meredith writes from the Blue Mountains and is a May Gibbs Fellow 2011. Her new book, The Anything Shop will be launched October 15^th. See here for details: www.dawnmeredithauthor.blogspot.com