Charlie

Charlie by Ronojoy Ghosh (PenguinRandomHouse Australia) HB RRP $24.99 ISBN 9780143785026

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Charlie is a lion with acquired tastes – he loves art, fancy restaurants and beaches. Unfortunately, people he meets on outings are fearful of him. Problem easily solved – he adopts a disguise (a moustache)! The freedom his disguise gives him allows him to visit an art gallery, join an art class and visit places such as an aquarium and a fancy restaurant. It has been the best day of his life, and by the end of it (and the end of the book), he knows there are ‘plenty of adventures waiting for him tomorrow.’

This is a simple and simply told tale with strong, bright full-page illustrations during day-time and dramatic night-time scenes. Small children will enjoy looking for recurring creatures (such as a monkey and dog). There are some humorous touches, such as the lion catching public transport, taking a bath in a fountain with a lion statue, and dancing around lamp-posts. It would have most appeal to children aged 3 to 5 years.

Wolf Espionage

Wolf Espionage by Elanor Parkinson, illustrated by Dave Atze (Redgum Book Club) PB RRP 

ISBN 9780995378322

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

In 2016, the Redgum Book Club ran an Australian-wide children’s writing competition to find a picture book text to publish. The winner was a 12 year old girl who always wanted to publish a book. This is it!

William the Wolf lives on Wellwood Farm, where, despite being surrounded by much livestock, he feels under-fed. Espionage – disguising himself as other animals -- is the way in which he seeks out food. However, in his sheep outfit, he fails with the sheep, and similarly with rabbits (‘they whacked him with their shovels’), and with the squirrels which (‘pummelled him with nuts’).

Having failed so far, the cunning wolf rethinks his strategy and subsequently goes undercover, disguising himself as an apple and a pea. Neither, of course, attack him as the animals did. Voila! William is transformed into a vegetarian wolf. The last double-page coloured illustration shows William with the other animals on a picnic rug eating fruit and vegetables.

Every one of the events which are documented take place on a specific day of the week, from Monday through the Saturday picnic – on Sunday the now confirmed vegetarian is ‘indeed a wolf in beet’s clothing’ -- a clever pun on a well-known saying.

This is a simple tale which might well have been written by an adult -- so full marks to young Elanor. The book is well-designed and the cartoon illustrations do full credit to the text.

The Mozzie with a Sharp Snozzie

The Mozzie with a Sharp Snozzie, written and illustrated by Irina Goundortseva  (Big Sky Publishing) RRP $24.99 HB & $14.99 PB

ISBN 978-1-925275-96-4 (PB) ISBN 978-1-925275-77-3 (HB)

Reviewed by Anita Howard

A mosquito admits that he didn’t always like being a mosquito.  There the story progresses to a time when Mosquito asks three beautiful butterflies, ‘Can I flutter around with you?’ The Butterflies respond: ‘You are not good enough for us. You are ugly and boring.’  Mosquito flies away. He soon comes across a beautiful flower. With the flower wrapped around his body he goes back to the butterflies, in the disguise as a beautiful butterfly and is accepted.

The butterflies and the mosquito are caught in a butterfly net and taken back to a room. Here Mosquito becomes a hero as he escapes from a holding jar and stings the thumb of the person who was about to stick a pin in one of the butterflies.

Finally, the butterflies are happy to fly with mosquito as a mosquito and mosquito is happy to be a mosquito.

Delightful depictions of the mosquito and creative use of different illustrative formats are evident in this excellent story, which is about looking at identity and encouraging children to find their strengths as individuals.