One of the things I used to love about working in bookstores was when new boxes arrived from publishers. It was like Christmas every month, the anticipation and the joy of finding out what was inside.

Now I get that feeling when I walk into a bookshop to see what is new on the shelves and also when I’m browsing the internet, checking out other peoples blogs for new and exciting books.

A couple of days a go I came across Suzy Lee on Amazon. The book is Wave and it is wordless.

Suzy Lee is amazing and I must now have Wave on my bookshelf; have a look at her website here to learn more about this very gorgeous artist.

Wordless picture books are of course an art because the whole story must be conveyed convincingly in the illustrations. They are very important in education for prompting children to learn how to interpret stories and also to recognise a beginning, middle and end in story telling. Wordless books are great at home as well; younger children can enjoy explaining what is happening in the illustrations and older children can take it further by imagining alternate endings and additional plot lines. Wordless picture books are rewarding.

weheartbooks top 5 wordless picture books

1. Up and Up (Shirley Hughes)

I love Shirley Hughes and one of my favorite books as a child was Dogger, or David and the Dog as it is known in the USA (I’ll post about that one another time). She is one of the best known children’s author/illustrators in the world. Set out in comic strip style Up and Up consists of black line drawings against a sepia background. The story of a little girl who longs to fly, it is purely magical as you follow her journey: she gets her wish and off she goes up and up. Her personality is infectious and she always makes me smile as she drifts along until she is finally rescued by a man in a hot air balloon. There is so much to look at in this book which makes it a great tool for encouraging children to make up their own stories. It doesn’t even have to be about the main character, you could make up different stories for the others she meets along the way. Ages 3+

2. The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

Well I just think this award winning book is incredible, in fact Shaun Tan is incredible. The Arrival depicts the journey of a man who leaves home for a strange, fantastical land in order to support his family. The hundreds of drawings Tan worked on for this stunning book are partly a reflection of his own father’s journey to Australia and his struggle to fit into an alien culture. More than a book The Arrival is an awe-inspiring artwork; every time I pick it up I find new and amazing elements that I had missed before. Ages 8+

3. The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

Regarded as a cult classic this picture book tells a story in pictures - 175 frames to be exact - of the one night friendship of a boy and his snowman. The boy lovingly creates the man out of snow and when he looks out of his window that night he discovers the snowman is alive. They take each other on a tour of their worlds, the boy of his house and the snowman of his wintery world. In the morning when the boy wakes up the snowman is gone, he has melted and all that is left are pieces of coal. This book is all about the joy of exploring and discovering new things, it is about new friendships and then the fond memories of those friendships. This book really does give children the opportunity to imagine their own ending to the story. 4+

4. Sunshine and Moonlight (Jan Omerod)

These are favorites of mine from childhood, I can remember borrowing them from the school library numerous times. In the last few years they have been re-published and are just as beautiful as I remember them way back in primary school. Sunshine follows the progression of a little girl’s day as she gets up out of bed and begins her daily routine. My favorite scenes are when she hops into bed with her parents while they read their morning papers; everyone in this house has a routine and they all fit into each other’s. Toddlers can compare their routine in the morning before childcare/preschool with this little girl’s. Jan includes so much detail that this is perfect for beginning discussion with children about their own routines. Sunshine won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1982. Moonlight is similar to Sunshine but of course follows the routine on the other end of the day; cleaning teeth, bathtime and bed. Ages 2+

5. Tuesday (David Wiesner)

Reading Tuesday is like watching an M. Night Shyamalan film; it is weird, quirky, funny and enthralling. On this particular Tuesday around 8 in the evening a strange thing begins to happen, suddenly frogs/toads start to invade the town levitating on lily pads and seemingly having a great time. The frogs eventually return to their rightful homes BUT the big surprise is what is going to happen on the following Tuesday? Tuesday won the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Wiesner’s amazing speech is here. I love this quote from that speech

Fortunately, kids know funny when they see it. If, after reading Tuesday one evening before bed, they look out the window and see frogs flying by—well, we should all be so lucky.

Wiesner’s art is incredible and I can guarantee that parents will love this as much as their children. Ages 4+

Although we have used some very classic choices here there is also room for a special mention for the fantastic wordless books by wonderful Australian illustrator Gregory Rogers, The Boy, the Bear, the Baron and the Bard and sequel Midsummer Knight. Ages 6+

Like Sarah I also have Alison Lester as one of my favourite author/illustrators.

Her stunning art as well as her very personal, funny and warm stories are pure magic. Before Ned was even born (he was in my tummy) I went to see Alison at a signing at Readings and she signed a copy of Are We There Yet? for him.

It says, “For Ned, happy travels and best wishes, from Alison Lester”. I’m sure that he is going to love Are We There Yet? when he is old enough and I really hope that one day he and his dad and I can take a trip around Australia just like in the story.

Books Illustrated in Middle Park have beautiful limited edition prints of Alison’s art for sale that would be perfect for a child’s room or a family room.

A guest post by Sarah, 38 year old mum to Neve (9 3/4), Cissy (3) and Jemima (10 months).

I think my favourite author would have to be Alison Lester. I love the Australian-ness of her books, the gentle stories and illustrations and the fact that the substantial nature of them kind of creeps up on you. These books are “worthy” without boasting about it. My kids love them too.

Alison Lester grew up on a farm near Wilson’s Prom in Victoria, riding horses, spending time at the beach and her stories really reflect this upbringing. Alison herself says that she thinks what is appealing about her books is that they are “filled with the spirit of the young”. I think she captures this so beautifully. Her characters are adventurous and not afraid to be who they are - great qualities!

Some of our favourites include:

Imagine (for ages 2-5)

“Imagine if we were….” and be transported to other worlds. Every second page opens up to a double spread of other places. Filled with animals of every variety (listed around the outside so you can play an animal version of Where’s Wally).

“Imagine if we were surrounded by monsters where pteradons swoop and triceratops smash where stegosaurs stomp and tyrannosaurs gnash”. Turn the page and you are there. You can also go to the jungle, savannah, Antarctic, a farm, under the sea and the Australian Bush. This book converted me and I’ve been a fan ever since.

My Farm (for ages 4-7)

Inscribed at the front, “to Mum and Dad for a wonderful childhood”.

This book is told in seasons - and includes all the happenings on the farm. Alison takes us to the local show; she rescues a baby wombat, feeds the cows, and musters cattle along the beach. I imagine these events to be highlights of Alison’s own childhood and I end up feeling quite nostalgic for a more innocent time and place. The children in this story have such great adventures - it really is a window into quite a different life than the one of our urban children.

“In September it was time to bring the cattle home from the bush run. That year, Jake and I were finally old enough to go along. It took a day to ride down and muster, and a day to drive them home along the beach. We splashed through the shallows and jumped the waves. I decided to be a drover when I grow up.”

There is a bit more text in this one, so you probably need to be a bit bigger to appreciate it fully.

Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo (for ages 3-7)

“Ernie is going to live in Arnhem Land for a year. His parents are working in a hospital there.”

It’s a new take on the other Tessa, Clive, Frank, Rosie books, with Ernie in Arnhem Land. I think this book is so delightful because in pointing out the cultural differences between us it manages to reinforce the fact that children are the same no matter what their culture.

I absolutely love the pages about the school play.

This book came about following Alison Lester’s own journey to Arnhem Land.

Are We There Yet? (for ages 4-7)

This book follows the travels of a family in a caravan travelling around Australia. Every second page has a map showing where they are and how far they have gone. They visit all the places you expect but it is not just a tourist guide. The book is filled with little vignettes of the experience - caravan park showers, where they sat in the car, playing monopoly in the caravan when it rained and the catch cry of younger brother Billy…. “Are we there yet?”

I’m Green and I’m Grumpy (for ages 18 months - 4)

In this story everyone hides in the cupboard, and there is a rhyming clue to guess what each character is dressed up as. “I’m green and I’m grumpy, I’m huge and I roar. I’m a thundering, rumbling…. (open the flap) DINOSAUR!“, finishing up with Rosie - a bit younger than we see her in Rosie Sips Spiders - asleep in the cupboard. Very sweet.

So if you haven’t visited Alison Lester’s books before, check them out at the library when you next visit - I’m sure you will love them as much as I do.

A fabulous day for me today. It was a recipe for success: a day in the city (of Melbourne) including a visit to Metropolis (more on that later), a coffee at Degraves, a little bit of shopping and people-watching, a kids’ book illustration exhibition and a stop on the way home at a friend’s house, filled with talk of kids’ books… I. Heart. Melbourne.

It’s amazing how many ideas can be generated from one day on the town when you don’t get out as much as you used to. But I will stay focused, and the topic of this post is the aforementioned kids’ book illustration exhibition. It was called Hooked on Books, exhibited at Artplay, as posted here by Lou. The exhibition runs til 13 June, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in children’s book illustration.

The exhibition is of original illustrations from a range of Australian picture books, collected by Albert Ullin. Ullin is most famous for establishing the specialist children’s bookshop, The Little Bookroom, here in Melbourne. Ullin’s collection of original illustrations from Australian children’s books was initially driven by his desire to support young illustrators of picture books who were struggling to make a living. In 1973, he started by buying the works of Ron Brooks (illustrator of John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat – reviewed by Lou here – and of one of my favourites, Fox, by Margaret Wild). Later, he was approached by Peter Pavey, a friend of Brooks, who had not yet found a publisher for his illustrations. (Pavey later went on to publish One Dragon’s Dream which became a Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year.)

Part of the joy of the exhibition was seeing the original artworks for illustrations of books I know well - books by Graeme Base, Bob Graham, Alison Lester, Shaun Tan and Kerry Argent. Seeing the vibrancy of colour in the originals was amazing, as well as the three-dimensional aspect to works which included media such as fabric or paper sculpture. The other part of the joy for me was discovering many books I had not heard of. I took furious notes and have a new long list of books to search for in the library and in second-hand shops… Plenty of inspiration for future posts!

The children’s TV series Lochie Leonard last night won Most Outstanding Children’s Program at the TV Week Logie Awards. This gorgeous series based on the award winning Tim Winton books for intermediate readers is a more than deserving winner, with perfect casting, wonderful scripting and stunning Western Australian scenery. This was the best Australian children’s series that I have seen in years and I instantly fell in love with it. The charm like Winton’s books is that it is natural and funny, sometimes a little sad, I did have a little cry in one episode, and always exquisitely Australian without being cliched. The books and the TV series are perfect for boys from about 10 years and up, especially reluctant readers but girls will love Lochie also.

Lochie is a surf mad 12 year old who moves to a new town with his father, ‘Sarge’, the town cop, mum who is beautifully understanding but fighting depression, little brother Phillip who is older than his years and is still wetting the bed and baby sister ‘Blob’ who likes to eat lino.

Season 1 is available on DVD.

Today I have bought myself a copy of Breath, Winton’s newest adult novel the first in seven years. I can’t wait to go on holidays next week, find a nice sunny spot and devour Breath. It also has one on the most gorgeous jackets on a novel I have seen, it makes me want to jump in.