The Boy From Snowy River

The Boy From Snowy River by Edwina Howard, illustrated by Joe Bond (Omnibus Books)

PB RRP $12.99

ISBN 978-1-86291-997-6

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

George really wants to go to Big Spills Water World. But there's not much chance of that when you live in Mumblegum, just out of Dargan's Ridge in the middle of nowhere. But then Gran hatches a plan. All George has to do is win the Stockman's Cup at Dargan's Ridge Festival. Can he do it on Bandicoot, their old stock horse? And can Croak, Bandicoot's closest friend, be convinced to stay at home?

Soon George is in for the ride of his life, competing against Clancy (of the Overflow Plumbing Co.), Mr Harrison's runaway goats and the rules of the competition (he's not quite fourteen yet). It's not looking good for that trip to Big Spills Water World.

A new book in the Mates series, The Boy From Snowy River is another Great Australian Yarn, full of Aussie humour, language and identity. This story is written with tongue-in-cheek, nail-biting tension and really funny scenes.

The butterflies in my stomach turn to great galumphing caterpillars.

Bright, colourful and fun illustrations accompany the text and are as much a part of the story as the words. Varying font emphasises some words and this, along with short chapters and large text, make it a perfect story for junior readers.

This is a tale of a great race. We barrack for the underdog, a ‘stripling’ and his horse, a ‘small weedy beast’. We cheer their bravery, skill and drive to go where other stockmen fear to go, and celebrate the spirit of the classic Australian poem by Banjo Patterson The Man From Snowy River.

Easter Egg Express

Easter Egg Express (Little Mates) by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Caroline Keys (Scholastic Australia)

PB RRP $4.99

ISBN 978-1-74283-169-5

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

  

The Little Mates alphabet finished with Zippy Zoe but Eric and Ellie, Easter Bilbies from the Easter Egg Emporium, have arrived in time for Easter in a new title Easter Egg Express. These two cute bilbies have great fun making Easter special for everybody -    ‘Ellie has elegant handwriting and Eric is an exceptional egg wrapper’ – but can they get everything done in time? Perhaps they need to call on their friends for help through the Bush Telegraph.

Easter Egg Express has a different illustrator to the previous books in the series and although Keys does not include the same detail in every illustration as Creagh did, the endearing nature of the Aussie bush animals shines through in her vibrant and colourful pictures. The Australian bush flavour also is retained throughout.

This Easter edition of Little Mates is an entertaining addition to the well loved alphabet series. Have some fun, twist your tongue and read it aloud this Easter.

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?

Little Mates: Worrying Will; Xylophone Xavier

Little Mates: Worrying Will by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-740-6
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Little Mates: Xylophone Xavier by Susannah McFarlane, illustrated by Lachlan Creagh (Scholastic Australia)
PB RRP $4.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-741-3
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Little Mates, the fun alliterative Australian series, is getting close to the end of the alphabet. The two newest books feature Will, a worry wombat and Xavier, a swordfish who loves to explore.

In Worrying Will, this worrisome wombat worries about everything from water consumption, to wonky wheelbarrows, to what to wear. And when he worries, he wobbles and gets lots of wrinkles. And there is nothing more adorable than Creagh’s illustrations of a wombat with wrinkles. Unless it’s his illustration of Whitney working on Will’s wrinkles ... with a rolling pin. Once again, it’s friendship to the rescue as Will’s friends rally around to help him work through all his worries.



I was looking forward to seeing how the trickier letters at the end of the alphabet would be treated and Xylophone Xavier did not disappoint.

Xavier is a swordfish (xiphius gladius) who loves to explore and collect xylophones of all sizes, from XS to XXL. Join Xavier and his friends in this tongue twisting adventure – their most excellent and exciting one yet.


Little Mates are fun with clever wording and distinctively colourful and busy illustrations. This is a great series for young children, full of Australian animals with boundless curiosities and large personalities in a tiny book format.

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.

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.

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.

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.