We are very excited to again be supporting the Little Big Shots International Film Festival for Kids and giving away to our readers 10 double-passes to the festival!

We LOVE that there is a film festival especially for children and that some more of our favourite picture books have made their way to the big screen! This year the program includes the beloved classic The Gruffalo (we mentioned the trailer when it first screened on TV on our blog here) as well as Rob Scotton’s Splat the Cat and Mo Willem’s Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.

One of the films I would dearly love to see is Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, one of my favourite picture books and the film adapation recently won this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

Soooo…. we have 10 double passes to give away to Package 3 of this year’s festival (which includes The Gruffalo and Naked Mole Gets Dressed) to one of two sessions on Thursday 9 Jun 2011 at 9:50 am or Friday 10 Jun 2011 at 11:30 am.

If you would like to win, please leave a comment on this post (or on the competition post on our Facebook page) before Wednesday 1 June. In your comment, please let us know which film(s) from the Festival program you are most looking forward to seeing and which of the two sessions above you could attend. (We will draw the winners at random.) Good luck!

I really love it when Ned gets totally enamored with a book. It has been the case recently with an extraordinary picture book called Whatever by British author/illustrator William Bee.

We saw this book read on a great BBC/ABC  TV show called Bookaboo. There have been many tries at creating TV shows to promote reading, mostly all of them have been daggy or the stories lame but Bookaboo is different and Ned loves it.

Bookaboo is the name of the character, a puppet dog who is a drummer in a heavy metal band and his tag line is ‘a story a day or I just can’t play‘. A UK celebrity features in each episode, turning up with the book bag to read a story to Bookaboo so that he can later play his drums in the band.

Looking past the fact that when I say celebrity I didn’t know who many of them were (although I did see Meatloaf on one episode) the stories they read are fantastic and thoughtfully chosen. The pictures are animated slightly which makes for great television and Bookaboo, the puppet, asks questions throughout so there is plenty of interaction with the story.

Ned loved it and laughed and laughed and then made me promise to get him the book. Ned’s dad and I have now read this fantastic book sooo many times between us.

Everything about the book is funny and clever. The text is great fun to read aloud and the pictures are a psychedelic, retro delight.

Billy the central character in the book is a little boy who is difficult to please – a theme that is recurrent at our place.

Billy’s father tries everything to get him excited, showing him something really tall or very small, the speediest spaceship and the smokiest train but Billy’s answer is always a very off hand ‘whatever’. Ned loves yelling out the ‘whatever’!

That is until Billy’s dad gives Billy this just deserts. Billy is swallowed by a tiger and what does Billy’s dad say? Whatever!!

Although so simple the concept and the humour really grabs Ned and it is delightful to see him grasp the funny side of the story that as adults we can appreciate as well.

Here is a clip from the Bookaboo website explaining why they chose to use Whatever on the show…

Find more videos like this on Bookaboo Grown-Ups

The reviews on Amazon are mostly all absolutely glowing about this book but there are a couple that are critical of the fact that a child gets eaten and dad says ‘whatever’. What do you think? Is this type of humour damaging in a picture book? Do you have favourites at your house that are a bit crazy?

The beauty of the original picture book really shines through and teamed with the narration of the gorgeous Helena Bonham Carter it looks like they have done a perfect job.

I think it would take a very special picture book to translate well into an app and the only way to view it would be on an iPad or similar – you’d need a big, clear screen to get the full potential. The beauty of Oliver Jeffers illustrations is that they already have a beautiful movement on the page which allows the transformation into animation seamless and his poetic text is just made for a classic actress to narrate.

I think that it is because I have seen the physical book and love it that I am so excited about the app and I think that would be the same reaction of children – do you? I don’t think that the effect would be as great just owning the app without knowing what the original picture book was like.

Do you have an iPad? Do you have this app? What is it like? If you don’t have an iPad do you share my excitement after seeing this preview and would you like me, still buy the physical book as well as the app?

It was so exciting to hear today that our absolute favourite book of 2010 is the recipient of the 2011 Caledecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children! A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a first book by a young husband and wife team, Philip Stead and Erin Stead, and gee we can’t wait to see what else they come up with! Philip’s gentle words are exquisitely paced and partner perfectly with Erin’s stunning pencil and woodcut artwork in sepia tones and splashes of soft colour.

This is a book we have recommended over and over to our friends at our markets, and it’s always an absolute joy when a book like that receives the highest level of recognition.

Here are some more beautiful images from this treasure of a book. There are a few copies currently available in our store.

A complete list of the American Library Association Youth Media awards with some interviews with the authors is available here.

||A Sick Day for Amos McGee is available from the We Heart Books store||

Lulu is definitely a character you fall in love with. She reminds me of all my nieces (I have 6!) rolled into one gorgeous spunky brunette ball of fun. The character of Ladybug Girl, or Lulu, was created by husband and wife team David Soman and Jacky Davis and based on their daughter who always wanted to wear dress ups.

This picture book is a beautiful production. Lulu’s wings glisten on the front cover and the end papers are a catwalk show of illustrations of Lulu wearing various costumes. The story begins on a day when Lulu’s parents have work to do and her elder brother is off playing his own games so Lulu and her faithful basset Bingo must make their own fun.

‘In the living room there’s a wall of books. Lulu can’t read yet, but she knows her letters. She finds a lot of L’s. More than 59, she thinks’.

Everything about this book is just right; the beautifully descriptive text, the illustrations that appear so deep that you could walk into them and the delightful way that Lulu leaps and skips through her day. This is a book about her day, a normal 4- or 5-year-old day, using her imagination and enjoying life and nature.

In each illustration Bingo is by her side and mirrors Lulu’s expressions. When she is cross he’s cross and when she leaps into the wind – so does Bingo.

‘From out of nowhere a gust of wind swirls the air with leaves. She jumps up to chase them. Ladybug Girl can catch leaves in mid air! “Ladybug Girl is definitely not little!” she yells into the wind.

This is the type of picture book that makes me want to cry with happiness. It is just perfect to read aloud, with just the right balance of description and dialogue. Lulu is a lovable character who is strong and self-assured – just like we want our young girls and boys to be! And believe me boys will love this book as much as girls.

In contrast to Lulu, Molly Lou Melon is a funny looking little girl. She is short, has buck teeth and a voice that sounds like a bull frog being squeezed by a boa constrictor. Despite all this she follows the advice she is given by her grandmother…

“Believe in yourself and the world will believe in you too.”

When Molly Lou moves to a new town and new school she encounters a horrible bully called Ronald Durkin. He tries with all his might to intimidate and put down Molly Lou in front of her classmates. However, following her granny’s advice Molly Lou remains true to herself and shows the other children the amazing talents she has, leaving the bully to look very silly.

On the fifth day of school he decides that he’d really like to be her friend.

With bullying such an issue in schools I love the premise of this book. I love that although Ronald tries to make her look foolish, little Molly Lou Melon believes in herself enough to keep showing the world who she really is. David Catrow’s illustrations of Molly Lou reflect perfectly her ’littleness’ compared to the world around her. Her big blue eyes are piercing and you fall into them the minute you lay eyes on the cover illustration.

The title of this book, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon really says it all. Molly Lou is truly inspiring and should be compulsory reading for all children in Kindergarten and Prep.

Reading these two lovely girls will leave both children and adults brimming with confidence and with assurance about their place in the world.

||Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon available from We Heart Books||

||Ladybug Girl available from We Heart Books||

I laughed when I first realised the meaning of the title of this book. ‘Good for you, good for me’ is what Dormouse says to his friend Bear when he’s making him a deal. It’s funny because in our household I’m known as the I-don’t-do-deals-Mama. From early in our relationship I established with my husband that I don’t do deals. I’m not sure why but it immediately raises my hackles as soon as someone utters “I’ll do you a deal…” Now Rowan too knows and has been known to say to someone “Mama doesn’t do deals”.

Dormouse is the ultimate deal-maker in Good for You, Good for Me:

‘You give me your flute and I’ll give you music. Good for you, good for me.’
‘If you carry me, I’ll show you the way. Good for you, good for me.’

Increasingly, the deals offered by Dormouse are perplexing for Bear – and scratching behind his ear he wonders if Dormouse is being fair… But all the deal-broking leads Bear to some significant and philosophical realisations – that possessions aren’t the most important things and that giving and sharing can be the things that make you happiest of all.

Sounds pretty heavy, but these huge messages are conveyed in a beautifully meandering style with a non-formulaic narrative. In a few words and together with beautiful soft illustrations, the distinctive characters of Bear and Dormouse are perfectly drawn. This is a treasure of a book that should prompt much reflection from a thinking preschooler and would be great for discussion with readers of any age. I’m sure a few adults could learn a thing or two from Bear…

||Good for You, Good for Me is available from the We Heart Books store||

We have just received her latest most gorgeous offering, a picture book, with words, called Bunny Days.

She has again used the most amazing colour combinations to create a spectacular picture book of not one but three stories. The bear from Wonder Bear features in all three very quirky and funny stories about his Bunny Days. Firstly as you see in the trailer Bear sends the muddy bunnies for a spin in the washing machine and  then hangs them out to dry. Secondly Bear fixes Mrs. Goat’s bunny-clogged vacuum cleaner; and finally Bear uses a sewing machine to reattach the bunnies’ tails after an unfortunate garden-pruning accident.

The humour in this book is deliciously bizarre which is what many children will adore about it. The text is simple, with lots of great sound effects which makes it a really fun read aloud, perhaps not right for bedtime but more for those rollicking times on the couch or at a story time when you can whip them into a giggling frenzy. At the end of each chapter we are reminded that in this lovely world Nyeu has created “Everyone is happy”.

||Bunny Days and Wonder Bear are available from the We Heart Books store||

We are loving Dorothee de Monfreid’s Dark Night in our house at the moment. I have to admit I was tempted to censor a ‘scary’ book like this one, but Rowan’s adoration of it reminds me again how much kids can revel in stories about their fears. Some of the best stories in children’s literature have childhood fears at their centre – like Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are and many Roald Dahl books.

Dark Night begins with a single menacing line: “It was a dark night.” which immediately reminded me of a favourite of my childhood, Funnybones by Alan Ahlberg. (Stay tuned for a When We Were Little post…) On this dark night we find Felix and immediately emphathise with him – he is “very little and very scared”. Felix hears a noise and hides himself inside a hollow tree. It’s a wolf! But the adventures don’t stop there – the wolf is scared away by a second animal – a tiger! And then the tiger is scared away – by none other than… a crocodile!

De Monfreid is incredibly good at putting herself in the mind of a preschooler. The elements of this story are so appealing – Rowan’s top three scary animals are represented, and the story gets even better when Felix finds a door to a secret passage where he finds hot chocolate and a friendly bunny!

What I love most about this book is that without heavy handedness or a hint of moralising, it contains a beautiful message of empowerment. At the suggestion of his new friend the rabbit, Felix learns to conquer his fears in an unexpected way. In the words of School Library Journal: “the two small, peaceable beings turn the tables, not once, but twice on their terror-inspiring counterparts. A little cool-headedness, a dollop of ingenuity, and a big helping of friendship convert a hopeless situation into a gentle and downright funny triumph.”

Dorothee de Monfreid is a French author, and has published at least 12 books in France. So far she has one other book that has been translated and published in English, I’d Really Like to Eat a Child, which Rowan also loves. According to her bio, the subjects of her other books span cats, bunnies, elephants, stinky monsters, and cake. I can’t wait to read them all now – especially her series about Coco the elephant. Check out these illos of Coco who just wants to read quietly, while her friends all hassle her to find out the ending…

||Dark Night is available from the We Heart Books store||

This is Ned concentrating in the car on reading some catalogues he’d picked up.

He has always loved reading store catalogues and makes us laugh with the intensity at which he pours over them. When he was little he loved looking at the other children now he is unfortunately more concerned with looking at the brands  that he knows, i.e. The Wiggles and Dora.

Do you think this reading is bad?

I have fallen in love with the adorable animation in this app and it’s just a beautiful story. It has the same lovely feel as Ponyo or Totoro.

Although we always have books wherever we go, in the car, in every bag we own. Ned and I do enjoy having a cuddle and watching Little Bella together in a cafe or in the park – technology can be a wonderful thing.