Ariana is a kind, clever and always optimistic
problem-solver. Her mum trusts her implicitly.
Alex Baker and his mum are new in town. Mrs Treasure meets them and asks them to pop in and have a look around the store.
Ariana has a favourite book inscribed by her late Grandpa, which they read together constantly.
When mum inadvertently sells the book, Ariana is desperate to get it back.
But there must be an exchange for it. What can Ariana give to get her book back?
International award-winning children's book author, playwright and filmmaker, Maura Pierlot visits us today on the eve of her latest picture book release, Clutterbugs; a book that creates a nuanced look at creating vs consuming. Here's why she pursued this concept.
We live in an age where our self-worth is often built on what we have rather than who we are. The problem of plenty.
Monotremes, birds, reptiles, molluscs, crustaceans and amphibians – all produce babies by laying eggs.
Heidi
Cooper-Smith’s latest picture book release, Hatch is a gorgeous
foray into just how and where these (Australian) animals facilitate this egg
laying / hatching phenomena.
It is the next book in her Illustrated Encyclopaedia series: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals.
Some of Bayly’s other books include: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dangerous Animals and How We Came to Be: Surprising Sea Creatures.
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals is a beautifully produced book with debossed (indented) lettering on the cover, cloth quarter binding and in-built satin ribbon bookmark, all features that help to make it both durable and a book worthy of gifting. In addition, the cover and internal design as well as typesetting is by award-winning book designer, Astred Hicks.
Upon opening The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals, I scan the contents page which features a silhouette of each animal in the book and note a few entries for megafauna. I don’t know about you, but any book with megafauna draws me in straight away. Of course, I’m referring to animals such as the giant marsupial diprotodon, which was related to wombats and koalas. Did you know that the diprotodon is the largest marsupial to have ever walked the Earth and became extinct about 25,000 years ago? Amazingly, these animals lived at the same time as the First Nations people in Australia for more than 20,000 years. Hang on there’s also a giant monotreme! Hackett’s giant echidna was about 1 metre long and weighed around 30 kg (about the weight of a ten-year-old child). Mind-blowing!For each animal in the book, there is a double page spread and information under the subheadings: Description, Extinction Status, Location/Habitat, Diet and Fun Facts as well as illustrations. These illustrations are exquisitely good. Each animal is depicted in watercolour with precision and detail. One of my favourites is the Kangaroo Island assassin spider with its pelican-looking head. Bayly has created rich patterning on the spider’s abdomen and its long, spear-like legs are stunning.
There are not only extinct species in this volume but also near-extinct species, reminding us of human’s impact on other animals. The Kangaroo Island assassin spider is critically endangered so hopefully the curiosity and joy generated by this book helps encourage readers to make good choices regarding the beautiful wildlife that we have around us.
In terms of use in the classroom, on top of inspiring animal lovers, this book provides a great opportunity to model headings, subheadings and tier 2 and 3 vocabulary. There are also teachers’ notes with other ideas. Thank you Sami Bayly for another beautiful book filled with wonderment. My eleven-year-old son adores his collection of your work.
Title: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia Of Extinct Animals
Much of that recent SE QLD tropical cyclone turbulence resulted in storm surge, disastrous beach erosion and record-breaking massive wave heights (12.3 metres off the Gold Coast).
You don’t have to be an ex-sailor, like me, or even a storm chaser to appreciate the wonders of weather however; the pulse and rhythm of waves has a hypnotic pull that most of us find difficult to resist.
Which is why, Thames &
Hudson’s latest atlas-styled publication about the phenomena of waves rates
high on my barometer of brilliant reads.
Following
a similar format to Cloud
Atlas, Wave Atlas: Everything You Need To Know About Waves, takes young
readers (and old sea dogs like myself) through a fascinating journey around our
water dominated planet. We explore the hows and whys of our oceans’ existence
and the global currents, tidal pulls and meteorological conditions that induce
those great oceans to move.
Illustrated for maximum effect against a dark background, they fill the pages with their beauty and abilities between the Introduction and About the Artist.
This book is as much loved by the author as are the creatures featured inside.
There is passion and warmth in its creation, which is
reflected in each word and image that can be felt.
This is a reference and educational book,
Now, at fifteen, he is an inspiration to all those - young and older, who dare to dream even when they are a little different.
Angus loves Crocs and loves candy. But he finds reading and spelling hard.
He decides to do something that excites him and that he is interested in. Making Candy!
This is no easy feat. If at first you don’t succeed,
then try, try again!
We used to play games, guessing where items may have come from and who may have owned them before. I would get excited to see where the donation may end up, who would take it home next.
I loved the idea that an item could be treasured by one person and then treasured again by another.
Memories of these special moments with my mum were the inspiration behind my new junior fiction series, Ariana Treasure.
I like to write from experience and fortunately I loved keeping diaries growing up. To this day, I still journal. Reading records of my younger days (messy handwriting and all) always brings so much joy. It sparks ideas and ignites my imagination. I adore the curiosity and wonder we all innately have within us in those early years of life – something I hope we never lose but at times we waver from. My diaries help bring me back to those precious treasured moments.
The
Big Book of Rights
is the genius collaboration between Queensland author, Dannika
Patterson, illustrator Amanda Letcher, Children’s
Rights QLD and dozens and dozens of young people.
After
deep consultation and invitation to use the youngsters’ artistic and intellectual
input, this big book is a glorious, colourful creation aimed at evoking curiosity
and understanding of these rights in an age-appropriate way.
Kids who stood up, shook things up, and
never gave up. Young activists, artists, eco-warriors, entrepreneurs,
inventors, rock stars, and scientists.
We set out on a journey of adventure and discovery
through Australia’s landscapes to test our knowledge.
Every Rock Has a Story - An A to Z of Australian Geology,
goes through the alphabet, answering that question with a plethora of valuable information
encompassed between its stunning covers and end pages.
Beneath each letter has a subject title. A Fact
box at the bottom contains historical and educational information that will amaze.
My Language Rights offers young children information that they can use in daily life, and that may not be accessible to them by other means.
Drawing on
the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights from PEN International, the book
empowers children and their families to use and protect all languages - be they
big or small, strange or familiar, easy or difficult!
