The Brightest Christmas Star

The Brightest Christmas Star by Laura Motherway and Deb Hudson (Lothian Children’s Books) HB RRP $19.99 ISBN9780734423085

A little star reflects on the different ways families celebrate being together in this bedtime story that captures the magic of Christmas. As the sun goes down on Christmas Eve, a little star rises, and watches over the celebrations below.

One family hangs a wreath on their door, another plays on the beach, another gives a present to someone who needs it more. The little star shines brighter as they share in the joy and magic of this special night.

 

This text is a heartwarming, contemporary lullaby for little ones to listen to as they snuggle up at bedtime, The Brightest Christmas Star gently acknowledges that Christmas means different things to different people, but at the heart of it all is love.

 

This is a perfect gift for baby's first Christmas, or for families seeking a book that reflects the Australian Christmas experience in an inclusive way that doesn't focus on Santa Claus or traditional family structures.

Six Summers of Tash and Leopold

Six Summers of Tash and Leopold by Danielle Binks (Lothian Children’s Books) PB RRP $17.99 ISBN

Here is a new middle-grade novel for fans of Binks’ bestselling The Year the Maps Changed and for anyone who enjoys a big, hopeful, coming-of-age book that features complicated families and life-changing summers.

Alytashi and Leopold – Tash and Leo – are neighbours who used to be best friends, but aren’t anymore, for reasons that Leo doesn’t entirely understand. But now it’s the last week of Year Six and Tash is standing in Leo’s front yards with a misdelivered letter – and a favour to ask.

It’s a request that will set off a chain of events in their little crescent in Noble Park, a suburb that is changing, and fast.

As they solve an unfolding neighbourhood mystery and help Ms Shepparson, a reclusive neighbour with a tragic past, Tash and Leo each must confront fault lines in their own recent histories and families. They will discover that relationships can grow and change, that bravery takes many forms, and that, most of all – whatever the future holds – friends and family are what matter.

A is for Ability

A is for Ability: An alphabet with a difference, because we are all different, (Lothian Children’s Books) Sarah Rose with Alley Pascoe & Beck Feiner PB HB RRP $24.99 9780734423023

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Sarah Rose is a three-time Paralympian swimmer, medal-winner, and disability advocate.

I was born with dwarfism and I’m proud to be a little person. It’s okay to say ‘dwarf’, ‘little person,’ and person of ‘short stature,’ but it is most respectful to use people’s names. You can call me Sarah, Sar or legend!

Alley Pascoe is a journalist, editor, and co-writer. She is the former Features Editor of Marie Claire magazine and has written for the Australian Women’s Weekly, Gourmet Traveller, Qantas magazine, Stellar, Body+Soul, Primer and Women’s Agenda.

Beck Feiner is an illustrator, designer, and author whose illustrations shine a spotlight on social issues. Her creative style has evolved from her graphic design and art director experience in the advertising industry. Her first book Aussie Legends Alphabet has received nation-wide recognition.

Sarah Rose and Alley Pascoe have created a big-hearted guide to disability with a touch of humour. The text gives insight into life for people with disabilities and the difficulties they encounter. The use of the alphabet is a brilliant way to learn about disability. The information is shared in a reader friendly voice. We can change the style of jeans we wear, but we can’t change the genes we are born with. Genetic disorders – such as cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and Downs Syndrome – are health conditions caused by a difference in someone’s DNA. Questioning is used to spark curiosity, which is followed by the facts that give an understanding. Did you know the human brain can generate enough power to run a lightbulb? Because Sarah has a disability, this book is both authentic and real. Creating understanding leads to more inclusivity and this book is a wonderful tool to use.

Beck Feiner has her own unique and recognisable award-winning illustration style. Her use of bright bold coloured artwork is eye-catching.. She has cleverly included the Auslan sign for each letter of the alphabet. Children love learning how to sign and this adds another layer of depth to the book. Bright blues, pinks, yellows, oranges, greens and blues sing out at you. The endpapers are joyful with butterflies, rainbows, hearts, stars, bubbles, watermelon, music notes, flowers, balloon dogs, bubbles, and triangles. The cover is bright and captivating. Each spread is full of detail and is a celebration of disability.

 

ABC Disability is a picture book that would make a perfect addition to any classroom. It is an interesting way to learn about disabilities or conditions. This thoughtful, informative book is suitable for 5- 9 years and is an ideal book for school libraries.

 

Grace Notes

Grace Notes by Karen Comer (Lothian Children’s Books) PB RRP $19.99 ISBN: 9780734421722

Reviewed by Kellie Nissen

If you thought the market was saturated with pandemic experiences and nothing new could be written in a fresh voice with a fresh perspective – think again.

In Grace Notes, Karen Comer explores the inner lives of adolescents during the Melbourne lockdowns, through the alternating perspectives of two teenagers, Grace, and Crux.

Grace lives for her music. A talented violinist, she also has a dominating mother who thinks music is not a career. Crux loves art – street art, to be precise. His dad allows him to practise his craft in their garage, but he’s forbidden to paint in public. Two very separate lives are brought together by circumstance and pandemic lockdown restrictions.

As often happens when children are banned from doing something they love, both Grace and Crux secretly defy their parents and sneak out to do what they love in the public arena. Grace agrees to perform in a pub, but it is her solo playing afterwards in a deserted tram outside her grandmother’s nursing home window that Crux witnesses.

Immediately captivated and inspired, Crux uses Grace as his subject when he’s invited by fellow street artists to paint a section of a commissioned wall. Grace later sees herself on the wall and is determined to find the artist behind it.

Grace Notes is a masterful exploration of two teens who are determined to make their own way in the most difficult of situations, residents in the world’s most locked down city. Karen Comer touches on many elements of the pandemic, including isolation, family, death, domestic violence, and mental health in the most sensitive and articulate way that is sure to allow the reader to make easy connections throughout the story.

This verse novel is beautifully written and hard to put down. There were sections I had to go back and read again for their simplicity but their depth of meaning. It’s the type of story you’ll be able to read over and over, each time noticing something new you didn’t previously see. Grace Notes is perfect for readers 12 years and older, in the Young Adult market.   

Amazing Animal Journeys

Amazing Animal Journeys written and illustrated by Jennifer Cossins, (Lothian Children’s Books) HB RRP $27.00 ISBN 9780734421432

Reviewed by Sarah Tegerdine

Amazing Animal Journeys by Jennifer Cossins is a non-fiction picture book that is a fascinating and informative dive into the world of twenty-five astonishing animal migrations across the planet.

With its striking illustrations and captivating animal facts, it attracts the enquiring and curious mind alike, or anyone with a lust for learning.

From birds, fish, and mammals to lesser-known insects. Many, if not all take arduous death-defying journeys to return to age old breeding grounds, and rejuvenated food sources.

As entire ecosystems are at risk by increasing human expansion and shifts in climate it reminds us to be mindful of our ever-present natural world. The smallest of changes, if done enough, has a ripple effect on the world around us.

Recommended for children aged 8 and upwards.

Charlie’s Whale

Charlie’s Whale by Libby Gleeson, illustrated by Hannah Sommerville (Lothian Children’s Books) HB ISBN9780734420886

Reviewed by Kathleen Grace

This is a highly imaginative book about a small boy, Charlie, who loves whales and goes in search of them. Charlie loves all things associated with the sea, from seashells to seahorses, sharks, and stingrays, but it’s whales that are his main love. He looks up about whales in books and on the internet and writes about them in his project book. While his brothers build towers of blocks, Charlie reads stories from his sea books and sings songs to his collection of sea toys. His brothers say he is dreaming when he expresses his interest in seeing a whale.

There are no whales at the aquarium when Charlie’s family goes to visit. When Mum says that whales will be too far out to sea, in the deep ocean, Charlie practises spotting things far away. Without success. It’s only on a visit to the seaside that one day there’s a whale…

Award-winning children’s author Gleeson uses language which stays in the reader’s mind (‘He closed his eyes tightly and saw the darkness of the deep, deep ocean. Huge whales moved with a gentle swish of their giant tales.’) Her poetic writing is accompanied by eye-catching, beautiful illustrations which capture the main character and his family as well as sea creatures. This is a picture book which is likely to interest children from ages 5+.

Boss Ladies of Science

Boss Ladies of Science, written and illustrated by Phillip Marsden (Lothian Children’s Books), HB RRP $19.99 ISBN 9780734421227

Reviewed by Kathleen Grace

Asked to identify world-renown women scientists, most people might, at a stretch, be able to name one or two. In this non-fiction picture book for children, author/illustrator Phillip Marsden, has highlighted 32, ranging from astronomists, quantum physics scientists, neuroscientists, vaccinologists, and more. He has found these women at the top of their fields in all the world’s continents, from the Americas (Canadian Ann Makosinski) to Europe (Swiss Dr Fabiola Gianotti), Australia (Dr Cathy Foley), Africa (South African Prof Tebello Nyokong), and Asia (Chinese Tu Youyou).

On each page is a coloured illustration in cartoon-style of a woman with some accoutrements of their science, with a few short sentences below saying where she is from and what her achievements are. Above the scientist is a speech balloon. For example, there is Prof Veena Sahajwalla, an inventor and materials scientist from Indian who is based in Australia. ‘She is passionate about recycling and creating value from waste. She has figured out ways to use old tyres to make steel and to use old clothes to make furniture and building materials.’ Above the professor, the speech balloon contains the words, ‘If you have something exciting to bring to the table, you don’t have to be afraid to speak up.’ If a child reader is interested in any one (or more) scientist in this book, there is no bibliography: one assumes that the reader could Google the scientist and make further discoveries.

Some of the speech balloons contain messages to child readers: for example, environmentalist and climate activist, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim from Chad in Central Africa, says, ‘Women are experts on many issues, not only women’s issues.’ And this is certainly demonstrated in the book about climate researchers (Dr Gina Mosely from England), physicists (Prof Franciska Nneka Okeke from Nigeria), nanotechnologists (Dr Michelle Dickinson from New Zealand), and more.

This book is a great way to introduce ‘Boss Scientists’ who happen to be women. One hopes that its readers – children aged from 9+ years – will research further. It would perhaps have been a good idea to include a glossary so that words such as ‘quantum physicist’, ‘neuroscientist’, ‘artificial intelligence’, and ‘DNA’ could have been explained.