Through movies like Thor and Thor Ragnarok, and the television series Loki many of our emerging readers are familiar with and interested in the gods of Norse mythology (whose names are remembered in our days of the week). And while there are many online resources discussing and debating the similarities and differences between the legends and their screen interpretations - indeed between the modern and ancient stories themselves - nevertheless, interest is high and this book is the ideal way to capitalise on that.
The author of this collection, Kevin Crossley-Holland is viewed by the likes of Neil Gaiman as being an expert in translating and retelling these tales of old, having translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon and his stories of King Arthur have been translated into twenty-five languages.
These stories tell of Odin, with his one eye (the other in order to see everything that happens in the world), who is the god of both war and death and the ruler of Valhalla, a place of near-perpetual food, drink, pleasure, and battle where fallen warriors go in the afterlife; his son Thor who, with his mighty hammer Mjölnir is the god of thunder and lightning; and Loki the god of mischief, trickery, and deception.
With its dramatic illustrations, this is one for independent readers with an interest in the stories behind the stories, ancient myths and legends, the Vikings themselves, even those from the north of the UK whose past ties with Scandinavian countries are strong. A dip-and-delve book, it would be an excellent one to share in those odd moments when a good story that will captivate even the most rambunctious boys is required.
Themes Norse legends, Gods and goddesses, Icelandic myths.
Erin Gough, author of Into the mouth of the wolf, is a Sydney based writer, whose award-winning books The flywheel and Amelia Westlake have been published internationally. Into the mouth of the wolf is her third novel. Into the mouth of the wolf is a tightly structured, bingeable book that will keep the YA reader up late at night. It's murder mystery, queer romance, eco-lit., dystopian futures, parallel universes, family and friendship all wrapped up together and defying single genre categorisation. It is a strange and disturbing book. In bocca al lupa is the Italian way of wishing courage to a person. It translates as into... the mouth of the wolf. Courage is a constant requirement for characters throughout the storyline.
The setting of Into the mouth of the wolf evokes a mounting sense of unease; of threat of an unknown origin. The story opens with one of the central characters, Iris, and her mother, escaping Sydney in a Kombi and leading an on-the-run lifestyle set some time in the not too distant future. The sense of the Australian interior being one of ruined towns and infrastructure is evoked. The physical, social and cultural landscape, wracked by constant earthquakes, has undergone a terrible transformation with people leading vagrant, desperate lifestyles. Chillingly, every town features a 'Clean machine' billboard with a yellow circular logo and every citizen knows the ad... the 'Clean Machine takes your rubbish and disposes of it with care...using the everyday pressure of natural water... delivers the harmless side product into underused spaces far beneath the surface of the earth.' The earthquakes - why? Perhaps Gough is subliminally combining the Australian bushfire disasters with the recent Italian earthquakes as these environmental catastrophes figure largely in Into the mouth of the wolf. It is a dystopian landscape, somewhat reminiscent and just as harrowing as the shattered dystopian world of Bren MacDibble's Dogrunner. The town of Vardo however appears untouched. This is where Iris first meets Kazumi and where her mother disappears. There is another town - Glassy Bay. Are these towns mirror images of each other? Questions for the reader and the characters emerge around the strange parallel existences of these towns. Online maps that feature one town do not feature the other and vice versa. The once bush covered ridge behind Gough's Glassy Bay township and the streets once full of houses are now charred and bare. There is a beautiful bay with a hostel on one headland and a new 'packaging' factory eyesore on the other. A new addition is a watchtower on stilts and patrol boats in the bay. Why? This is just a town known for its oysters...
There is a growing sense of the wanton and greedy activities of small town players and their possible links to international corporations and their role in environmental destruction, with the earthquakes being one of the symptoms. Iris's mother is a marine biologist and geophysicist and she is on the run - there are earthquakes, people are after them, there are murders, there is hiding and a network of previously unknown allies over and against an emergent sense of a network of evil, linked perhaps with the clean machines and the earthquakes.
Characterisation is a strength of this novel. The parents, who have been forced to lead a life on the run with their children, pass on valuable survival tools to their children. Their values seem to have been inculcated well as subsequent actions of their children in their absence reveal. The children (young adults) are each well developed characters. The representation of the growing attractions that they have for one another represent examples of differing sexual orientations quite naturally. Kazumi, a 'they' plays a more ambiguous but nevertheless crucial role in the story.
The plot is structured into four parts; Fish don't cry, The volcano, The crossing and Into the mouth of the wolf. The Crossing is literal and symbolic too - the tear in the fabric of the world being reminiscent of Madeleine L'Engle's A wrinkle in time. Into the mouth of the wolf is neatly concluded. Almost all of the threads are tied up to the reader's satisfaction.
Into the mouth of the wolf is amongst other things a clever and funny queer coming of age story where 'going into the mouth of the wolf' is necessary in both romantic and life/death situations. It is a necessary process and living demands that you do it. Crucial perspectives are put forward about mankind and the world through Iris's pondering questions at the conclusion of the story... Will destruction continue unabated until nothing is left or... Will humanity 'limp on trying to stem the flow of greed, but almost always failing or...' Will somebody fix the world?
Into the mouth of the wolf is a strange and complex book which taps into important concerns of Young Adults. A riveting and thought provoking, 'genre-bending' book, it will stay with the reader's thoughts for some time.
Winterthorn Book Two. Lightning Source, 2023. ISBN: 9780645759532. (Age:14+) Recommended.
Immediately following on from the Aurealis Award nominated The Non-Magical Declan Moore by Nathan Taylor, A warlock in a cursed kingdom finds Declan Moore in the kingdom of Vedmark, where Ava has left him. It is a land of myths and legends, a land where eagles soar overhead and where a demon prowls in the forest. Declan is a warlock but has no notion of how to use his power and no one in the kingdom wants to know him or teach him. However, he is determined to stop the Fatesmiths and rescue his friends. His country Euryma needs him.
I picked this up at once after reading the first book as I wanted to find out what had happened to Declan and his friends. (It is important that the reader starts with the first in the series as it is a direct continuation of the action and characters from the first book.) The reader is taken on a thrilling ride as Declan finally finds someone to teach him his powers. Meanwhile Ava has much to do both in Vedmark and Euryma, and readers will learn about her background and magical abilities. Leading members of the Kings College are slow to realise the danger that their country is in and find that the countryside is being destroyed.
I enjoyed A Warlock in a Cursed Kingdom. Taylor builds a world that is complex and magic that is unique. There are many twists and turns in the book and a stunning surprise at the end which will have readers avidly waiting for the next in the series.
Themes Fantasy, Magic, Coming of age, Witches and wizards.
Pat Pledger
Lucy to the rescue by Carley Browne. Illus. by Kayla Lee
Little Steps, 2024. ISBN: 9781922833174. (Age:3-6 years)
Lucy to the rescue is a picture book about a little girl who tries to rescue her toy kangaroo from an imaginary fire by dressing as a firefighter and trying and failing with different methods before succeeding. The author, Carley Brown is an Australian children's author who enjoys writing bright and happy narratives for small children with the idea of sparking the imaginations of young readers. The illustrator, Kayla Lee, is an Adelaide based artist and designer who enjoys creating colourful illustrations for children. The three protagonists (Lucy and her parents) have disproportionately large heads and eyes, reminiscent of the Blythe dolls of the seventies and/or Japanese manga and anime characters.
Lucy to the rescue follows the rule of three for children's stories. Lucy tries three times to extinguish her imaginary fire before she succeeds on her fourth attempt. She tries by physical means: a hose, a spray bottle and then there is an odd attempt to ride a bike. It might have been more consistent for the reader if she had tried a third physical method for example using a fire blanket. After three failures, her father, an at-home Dad, comforts her and suggests that she creates her own fire engine. Lucy is re-energised. She creates her own cardboard fire engine and, with the help of a big pile of cushions, climbs up to rescue her toy. She runs into the arms of her firefighter mum who returns from work just in time for Lucy to tell her all about it.
The action occurs in the familiarity of Lucy's house. Lucy wakes from her safe slumber and is shocked to discover that Kanga is not there. This is the central problem. Lucy looks everywhere and finds her in a dangerous spot in need of rescue from the imaginary fire. The illustrations accompany the story well except for on page 4 where Lucy says, "Kanga! What are you doing up there?" and the illustration depicts Lucy looking underneath a pot plant stand.
This is a warm and engaging little story with an active little protagonist who is full of ideas, wants to help and has two loving parents in non-traditional career and family roles. The language is rich which is of VITAL importance for the vocabulary development of our young children. There is plenty of dialogue between Lucy and her Dad and a warm narrative voice. There are opportunites for this story to be read with LOTS of expression indicated by very large print and extra bolded words. The child could interact and have fun as the words Nee Nawww, nee Naww, etc. bounce out as part of the text design inviting interaction and the making of loud noises and exclamations etc. If read with the expression that this book invites and if children are encouraged to interact, there could be demands for this book to be read over and again. That is the test of a good picture book.
Themes Firefighters, People who help, Solving problems.
Intrigued by the cover depicting an exuberant Hippo, waving his arms and a sad little boy looking at him, I turned to the story of Billy, who, when feeling sad, wants someone to talk to. Hippo, however, is convinced that he knows just what Billy needs to overcome his sadness and takes him on extravagant adventures like sitting high in a wind-swept tree listening to the leaves rustling in the wind, or flying through the sky on a magic carpet, eating chocolate-chip cookies and then chasing other magic carpets in a wonderful magic carpet race. But what Billy really needs is someone who will listen to him and it is only when Hippo realises that, that Billy can talk and talk about how he feels.
Children will enjoy the wonderful pictures of the exciting activities that Hippo dreams up to help Billy overcome his sadness, but the illustrations of Billy who still looks depressed will remind them that Hippo may be mistaken about everything. A further perusal of the illustrations will show readers a collection of toys on the title page that Hippo uses to try and help Billy, while the use of black outline and yellow highlights to depict Billy and Hippo is very effective. The application of gorgeous watercolours to show the things that Hippo finds help him feel happy will engage children's imaginations. The final illustration of Billy lying on the couch, covered with a fluffy rug and hugging his toy is gorgeous.
Other than enjoying a lovely story, readers may learn about sadness and friendship from Listen, Hippo! Hippo comes up with lots of suggestions that help him when he is feeling sad, and children could come up with their own suggestions for lightening their moods. However, readers will realise that some people just want someone to listen to them talk about their feelings and it is the listening that helps them make the sadness ‘a distant echo’.
Pan Macmillan, 2024. ISBN: 9781035052233. (Age:Adult - 16+)
In her acknowledgement, Rebecca Thorne states that Can’t spell treason without tea is directly inspired by Travis Baldree’s Legends & and Lattes which was followed by Bookshops & bonedust. Fans of the cosy fantasy genre will be happy with this easy-to-read sapphic romance starring Reyna and Kianthe, who wish to leave their difficult lives and open a bookshop that serves tea. Reyna works as one of the Queen’s guards, and after an attack by an assassin, decides she doesn’t want to risk her life again for the vicious Queen. Meanwhile Kianthe, the Mage of Ages, wants nothing more than to run away with her girlfriend. Together they flee to the little town of Tawney, on the edge of dragon country, find an empty warehouse and set about realising their dreams. But of course, the Queen is determined to find Reyna, there are bandits in the area, and Kianthe still has duties to perform as Mage of Ages. Not to mention that dragons attack Tawney in search of precious eggs that have been stolen.
I enjoyed following the work that Reyna and Kianthe put into setting up their bookshop, sourcing tomes for the townspeople to read and making delicious tea and scones. The vivid description of a cosy fire, comfortable armchairs and beautiful plants made the shop feel very appealing, especially to book lovers who also enjoy tea! All of the characters were well described and the romance between Reyna and Kianthe felt authentic. And the danger of prowling dragons added to the atmosphere.
Readers who enjoyed Can’t spell treason without tea will be pleased to know that the next in the series A pirate’s life for tea will be available.
The dinosaur did it by R. M. McGurk. Illus. by Aleksandra Szmidt
Five Mile Press, 2024. ISBN: 9781922943743. (Age:3+) Recommended.
The planning for Imogen’s circus act gets a little beyond her as she practises making mud pies, and covers the walls with her paintings. When dad looks in, astonished, he asks for an explanation. Imogen blames a dinosaur. Dad asks how big this animal is, and Imogen answers, enormous. And its teeth he asks, the sharpest, she responds. Dad asks why it did not clean up. Because it ran away, says Imogen, as she walks out of the room. But walking down the corridor, she hears loud footsteps behind her.
The dinosaur wants to know why she blames him. Imogen ignores him. He interrupts her reading, then eats one of her puzzle pieces. And even tries to get into her blanket fort with her.
Finally she admits that the dinosaur did not do it, it was her. She owns up. She cleans up the mess she has made, helped by the dinosaur, but when he drops something and it smashes, he passes the blame onto someone else.
Being honest and taking the blame are wrapped around this cute story. Imogen is like most of the readers, wanting to blame someone else rather than take the blame for something that has gone wrong. Many children will identify with Imogen, and will be able to offer excuses they have used in the past. But being honest is the purpose of this tale which includes an imaginary friend who is made to take the blame.
Themes Imaginary friend, Honesty, Family.
Fran Knight
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu
Pan Macmillan, 2022. ISBN: 9781529039542. (Age:14+) Recommended.
I loved The library of the dead, an Alex Award winner 2022, and couldn’t resist picking up Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, the next in the Edinburgh Nights series. I wanted to see what Ropa, a tough ghostalker, her pet fox River, and her friends Jomo and Priyanka, would get up to next. She has attracted the attention of Sir Ian Callender, Scotland‘s leading magician and has been given the opportunity to be examined as his paid apprentice. Unfortunately, she doesn’t meet the requirements of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers examiners and becomes an unpaid intern instead, leaving her to find a way to fund her family, her grandmother Melsie and cheeky little sister Izwi. Her friend Priya is working as a healer at Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, an exclusive clinic, and offers her a job investigating a baffling illness that Max Wu, a student at the Edinburgh Ordinary School for Boys has contacted. She needs the money, but her investigation will reveal dangerous historical secrets, a lost fortune and an evil spirit.
Ropa is a feisty girl who always puts her family first, finishing school early to earn a living as a ghostalker to feed her family. It is easy to relate to her bravery and her cheeky outlook on life told with witty repartee and observations about other people and incidents had me chuckling out loud. The plot surrounding the mysterious ailment that some schoolboys have contacted is intriguing and keeps the reader absorbed as Ropa and her friends fend off danger.
A fabulous group of characters and wonderful setting in Edinburgh plus great humour ensure Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is just as good as the first in the series. Readers will want to follow Ropa in her next adventure in The mystery at Dunvegan Castle, the third in the series and may like The rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, and The sinister booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix, for their sense of place and fans of the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik will enjoy the dark academia.
A mum speaks to her baby as it develops within her. And her heart glows when she finds she is pregnant. When the child is born, her heart melts. And on it goes. A similar double page stays with the book till the last page. On the left hand page is a warm image of a mum and her child, showing the child at another stage of its life. A sentence gives a clue as to what stage the child is going through, then on the right hand side gives a line about how the mother’s heart feels. Her heart smiles as she gives her baby a bath, her heart giggles when baby makes a mess. Many milestones are shown as the book progresses. Her heart leaps when the child takes its first steps. Learning to swim makes her heart gasp at the child’s first attempts but then she grins as it masters the skill. But all is not positive, as the child falls off its bicycle, giving rise to the mother’s heart aching. Her heart beams as she sees her baby grow up and make friends. The relationship between a mother and her child is shown with all of its love and care, from birth to school. Each stage of its life reveals how much the mother cares for her child and the different ways her heart feels as the child progresses.
Charming colourful illustrations accompany the text, showcasing the strong relationship between the mother and her child.
Themes Mother, Love, Development.
Fran Knight
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Pan Macmillan, 2024. ISBN: 9781035014224. (Age:14+) Highly recommended.
After thoroughly enjoying My mechanical romance by Follmuth, who is also the author of the adult series The Atlas Six under the penname Olivie Blake, I couldn’t wait to read Twelfth Knight, another YA romantic comedy. I was not disappointed. Twelfth Knight is witty and the budding romance between two disparate characters is delightful.
Viola Reyes is frustrated with her group of friends when they reject her game and to make things worse school running back star Jack Orsino is the most annoying and lazy Student Body President who makes her job as Vice President difficult. The only outlet she has is the Massively Multiplayer Online Game Twelfth Knight where she plays under the male name of Cesario, after finding that competent girls are not exactly welcomed. When Jack Orsino is injured and his football career put on hold for a year his friend recommends that he plays Twelfth Knight and a whole new world is opened to him. Vi finds that Duke Orsino and Cesario get along in the online world, even though Jack does not know that Vi is masquerading as Cesario. In the real world of school politics, Jack and Vi gradually get to know each other as school activities need to be planned.
With many laugh-out-loud moments the sparkling dialogue will entertain as the grumpy Vi and easy-going Jack learn to work together, Jack's likeable nature smoothing the way for Vi to get things done. Vi is often frustrated by the overt sexism that prevails and has no hesitation in calling it out. Meanwhile Jack learns that there is more to life than football and he really enjoys the online world. As the pair grow to know each other in the real world, Vi is faced with a dilemma. She has not told Jack that she is Cesario. How will he take it?
Twelfth Knight is an engrossing feel good rom/com with Shakespearean overtones, a lively coming of age story and amusing repartee.
Themes Romance, Sexism, Online game playing, Football, Coming of age, Humour.
Written by an Agatha Christie devotee, this is a murder mystery woven together with many red herrings and classic mis-directions. The central character is a ghostwriter who has won the best commission – to write the memoir of Senator Dorothy Gibson, who has just lost Presidential selection. This impressive role lands her amidst Secret Service agents and the grief-like state of loss and withdrawal from a defeated campaign within days of the loss. This just places her in the same isolated place as a neighbourhood murder and gives her the opportunity to shadow the most recognisable woman in the United States as she exercises power and curiosity in attempting to solve a murder right on their doorstep. The writer is instantly a witness to the complexities of solving a murder (and sidestepping some incompetent police investigations) while watching a woman of power use her incredible intellect and influence to unravel truth and bring justice to the fore.
Kemper Donavan hides neatly behind the unidentified ghostwriter and inhabits the female writer with her own insecurities and life problems. (I wish I had not read his biography before reading the book, only because the gender identity of the ghostwriter was not instantly clear. This may be a strength for those who do not want gender to complicate the story, but initially there may be some insecurity for some readers.) The characterisation of Senator Dorothy Gibson seemed to take inspiration from Hilary Clinton, and as readers we instantly feel her power and presence. The ghostwriter seems to have found a different path into crime writing rather than memoir writing through the course of the story, but this is obviously an opportunity for a series. This book is told in the first-person reflections of the ghostwriter and her personal story, emotions, confusions and thoughts (and also sexual desires) provide insights into her role as crime solver and sidekick. This conversational style is quite endearing and revealing. The uncovering of motives as well as the revelation of the modus operandi of the murder is also worthy of an Agatha Christie-esque story.
This is a solid board book with a beautiful lullaby to help children wind down at the end of the day; 'Marringa' means sleeping in the Anindilyakwa language spoken by the people of Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.
The book shimmers with vast visions of the landscape, with various animals and birds headed to their place to sleep for the night. Yaraja the name for goanna is looking for somewhere to sleep, Yirrenda the turtle is headed of the shore, while the Duwedirra (white cockatoo) finds a place with others for the night. Children are reminded that the night is for sleeping and the day is for playing, as they all nestle down to sleep. Through the book is an undercurrent of why we are here, to be aware of the birds and animals of Australia, there to be marvelled at while being protected. Lullabies such as this have an assumption that children will care for the land they live on, and songs like this pass on information about their environment as well as encouraging a sense of belonging and custodianship.
Original artwork by Dylan Mooney fits well with the song written by Emily Wurramarra and Sylvia Wurramarrba Tkac.
The strong board book will have calls to be sung again, and like all good lullabies, is heard in your head for some time after. A Youtube clipperforms the song against the background of the book. Children will love learning the song and singing along with the video.
Picture an obesely overweight black girl and her skinny white mother walking beside a busy highway in the heat, and you have Diamond and her mother Anna. When Diamond’s fat legs won’t carry her any further, her mother commandeers a broken shopping trolley to load up the 16 year-old and push her along to the legal appointment she hopes will change their lives.
Diamond is the only black girl in the town of Swift River. Her father Rob has disappeared, his shoes and wallet found beside the river. Seven years after his disappearance her mother hopes to finally have him officially declared dead for the purposes of claiming his life insurance, despite both of them longing for his return.
The central character Diamond is an engaging one. Although she is an isolated, solitary figure she has gumption and drive. She determines to save up for driving lessons and then she is going to leave that town. Gradually through correspondence with a never-met relative she learns the history of her family and the town, and much of it is not good. Readers learn of the 'sundown towns', towns in America that excluded black people, often with road signs warning that people of colour had to leave by sundown or face harassment, threats, and violence including lynching.
Chambers’s story of Diamond shifts between current 1987 and her childhood in 1980, but letters from cousin Lena, and saved letters from her grandmother Clara from 1915, fill in the history. It is a technique that allows the reader to gradually piece together a picture of racial discrimination in America, and understand the ramifications that continue on to present day.
This is a very powerful novel that helps readers to understand inter-generational trauma and the long enduring barriers that persist across generations. It is a history that needs to be recognised and acknowledged. At the same time, we are offered the story of a strong-willed survivor who doesn’t magically become thin and socially acceptable at the end of the story, but is appreciated for her own self. An amazing debut novel, highly recommended.
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761067365. (Age:9-14) Recommended for advanced readers.
Australian children's author Lian Tanner's books are set in fantastical magical realms which are inhabited by charmingly sweet and quirky magical characters who have to combat wickedness. Loyalty, trust and bravery are qualities that are tested in the main characters as they battle to overcome evil. Tanner has a wild imagination which is in evidence in the characters and situations that she develops. Tanner is the author of the fantasy The Keepers trilogy, The Hidden series and The Rogues trilogy.
Fledgewitch is the second in Tanner's new series- Dragons of Hallow, following Book 1 Spellhound. Spellhound was shortlisted for the Australian Young Readers Book Award and won the 2024 Aurealis Award for Best Australian Children's fiction (fantasy and sf).
A delightful, warm narrative voice (much like a feisty, bossy and informative grandmother reading to a child from a comfortable armchair), invites active attention from the reader. Like a teacher, similarly, might prod the child for a reaction, the text is interlaced with direct narrator communication with the reader eg. 'Yes, you would,' and 'Don't argue.' This style, when used in a classroom read-aloud, motivates children to become more active participants in the reading process. However it is difficult for the reader of Fledgewitch to immediately understand to whom the narrative voice belongs. If Spellhound has not been read previously, the reader has no knowledge of who Uncle Edwin (also the regent) (also a green jellybean loving dragon) is and therefore the narrative voice is confusing.The action of the story is two years after Spellhound. Unless the reader is satisfied to live with gaps, Spellhound should be read first. Despite that, the narrative style and the lively active plots are surely the reason for Tanner's award winning status.
The good characters are very likeable. Brim seems a normal ten-year-old girl except for the fact that a few soft feathers are growing from her elbows and that she has been forcibly taken to the Quillian School for Prevention of Witches. Her family seem normal and nice. Likewise twelve -year-old Rose, Queen of Hallow, seems like a relatively normal girl. Snort, the Horned Globe, is not normal but a sweet fantasy creature. The children in the School for the Prevention of Witches are not normal but zombie-like and Countess Xantha and Count Zaccar are definitely evil. In fact, nothing is as it seems and here, along with keeping pace with the fast-paced action, the reader must keep pace with a cast of characters, almost all being shapeshifters and having at least two different forms. This concept of shapeshifting is an old concept found in mythology and folklore and in speculative fiction where characters transform themselves through unnatural means. In Fledgewitch there is transformation from animate to inanimate objects and human to magical, fantasy creatures and vice versa.
There is SO much shapeshifting in Fledgewitch that the reader could easily lose track of who and what is happening. There are perhaps too many characters in the cast. In any case, the book has to be read closely and steadily as, if it is left too long between reading sessions or if the reader is even a little bit inattentive, threads will be lost. Therefore Fledgewitch is recommended for more advanced readers or for a class reading with notes being kept so that the reader can keep track of the characters and their alter egos. There are gaps that the reader can't fill in in Fledgewitch as it is a sequel novel that can not fully stand alone.
Fledgewitch is an intriguing fantasy adventure story. Recommended for advanced readers and to be read as part of the Dragons of Hallow series.
Themes Magic, Fantasy, Good and evil, Bravery, Loyalty.
Wendy Jeffrey
The sea in me by Cody Simpson with Jess Black. Illus. by Amandine Thomas
Those that have spent a summer’s day at the beach when the crowds are huge will identify with the feelings of the boy in the story. With everyone on top of each other, towels touching, loud noises, crying children, squawking seagulls and exuberant teenagers, spending time on the hot sand under the burning sun is not for all.
But swimming in the ocean provides a tranquil place to leave the stress of the busy beach behind. Diving into the waves, treading water, ducking below, kicking down deeper and being mindful with the ocean and the sea creatures will provide a deep sense of calm.
Written by Australian swimmer, musician and writer, Cody Simpson, this beautifully illustrated picture book will be a joy to share with younger readers. The descriptive language used to describe swimming beneath the waves such as …'My body feels weightless. I zip and spin…' combined with the use of onomatopoeia and word repetition such as.. 'Ebb. Flow. Ebb. Flow…' add to the engagement for the reader. Complemented by delightful full-page illustrations in a myriad of sea colours, this book will be a wonderful addition to a school or public library’s picture book collection.
