We Are Wearing Out the Naughty Step by Mick Inkpen has just been released in the UK to great reviews, unfortunately it doesn’t look like it will be released in Australia until November. You could order it in through your local independent bookshop or pop it on your list for later this year.

This is the gorgeous description of the book from the UK Hodder Children’s Publishing website….

‘We are wearing out the Naughty Step - I lost the school hamster, and Josh fed the elephant the wrong way and we made the dog into a panda… Mummy is not happy… but the day she makes Kevin a chocolate birthday cake is the day that ALL of us, including Mummy, end up on the Naughty Step!’

This reminds me of a 30 degree day earlier this year when I made four batches of Nigella’s Cupcakes before one turned out edible! I really needed a spell on the naughty step when I literally had a meltdown over blue and yellow cupcakes. So I definitely know how ‘Mummy’ in the book feels.

This gorgeous new book points out one of the great hypocrisies of childhood, should mummies and daddies be banished to the naughty step too? Because we can all lose our temper can’t we?

Mick Inkpen is one of the most popular picture book writers and illustrators in the world. His Kipper and Wibbly Pig stories have sold millions of copies worldwide. Kipper alone has sold over 6 million books and is this year turning 18 years old. Like Nick Butterworth, Mick Inkpen has a graphic design background so he also places his characters in the middle of crisp white pages which makes the books really enjoyable for toddlers because they can really focus on the character. All of Mick’s characters are irresistible and later this year he will launch a new series based on the enthusiastic Zebra that features in Kipper’s A to Z.

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.

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.

Design Mom has posted a lovely review of the picture book In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck and beautifully illustrated by Tricia Tusa. The books main character is little Alice, which has always been my most favorite girls name and doesn’t she just look like an Alice?

Tricia also illustrated the lovely picture book The Magic Hat by renowned Australian author Mem Fox and the stunning Fred Stays with me (written by Nancy Coffelt) about a little girl dividing her time between two divorced parents houses but whose dog, Fred, travels everywhere with her.

Check out the children’s lit posts on Design Mom as she chooses some really funky and interesting books to personally review.

Just discovered this gorgeous Eric Carle fabric via 123O’Leary. I HAVE TO have some!!

Imagine a patchwork quilt or pyjamas made from these?! Keep an eye on this Flickr group, where crafty people are invited to display their creations using the fabric. There is a 10% discount on the fabric available through the museum website if you order before April 30 and mention where you heard about the special. For Australian readers, I found out shipping will be $25 for 2-4 yards.The museum’s mission is “to inspire, especially in children and their families, an appreciation for and an understanding of the art of the picture book”. I like the sound of that. I’d love to go to one of their art workshops in their studio…Ned has the hungry caterpillar hand puppet – check it out at Lou’s post here.

I stumbled across a really interesting independent publisher in a bookshop the other day, Gecko Press.

I subsequently hopped on their website, and became a Friend of Gecko Press, receiving a lovely hand-written postcard in the mail!

With the mission to publish ‘curiously good children’s books from around the world’, Gecko was established by New Zealander Julia Marshall who returned home after living in Sweden for 12 years. Gecko Press aims to corner an underexplored niche of publishing international children’s authors for the first time in English. While in European countries, some 40 per cent of books are published in translation, only 3 per cent of books in the UK originated in another language. (And the percentage would be comparable in Australia and NZ…) There is a great sense of diversity that can come from reading books from other cultures, and I agree there is some room for more quality international authors to be published in English.

Gecko Press authors hale from Taiwan, Sweden, Germany and many other countries. A couple of my favourites are:

Donkeys (Adelheid Dahimene and Heide Stollinger)

This is the tale of two donkeys, Jack and Jenny, who are planning their silver wedding anniversary. They have exactly the personalities you’d imagine of donkeys – a bit cantankerous and very stubborn. But they are a perfect fit, right down to their bodies, worn from countless hugs – Jenny has a hollow on her neck and Jack has a bump in the very same place. When Jack forgets the anniversary, Jenny leaves in a huff, and both donkeys try to find another match. With illustrations in hues of gray and brown, this isn’t a picture book that would hold the attention of most littlies, but it would certainly amuse older kids, not to mention their mums and dads. Very quirky with lots of word-play (I take my hat off to the translator!). Age 4+

I Am the King (Leo Timmers)

I love Leo Timmer’s illustrations, they have such a bold, clean, graphic quality. In this book the animals of the jungle each vie to be king as they take it in turns to try on the crown. But it turns out, of course, that there is more to being king than wearing a hat… The colours in this book jump off the page. Age 1+

Recent successes of the likes of Nicholas bode well for Gecko. Originally published in France in 1956, Nicholas was re-issued in translation to great success by the uber-cool art publisher Phaidon Press in 2005. Written by the well-known Goscinny (author of the Asterix series) and illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist, Jean-Jacques Sempé, the Phaidon translation edition is gorgeous with hardback linen jacket.(I remember reading a small format orange paperback edition of Nicolas as part of our Year 9 French classes…) The story goes that the re-issue by Phaidon happened almost by accident, when the company’s owner, Richard Schlagman, attended the Frankfurt Book Fair with the intention of acquiring some rights to a book about English artists from a French publisher Denoël. But apparently his eye kept wandering to some images at the back of the booth. They were Sempé drawings, and though Mr. Schlagman barely knew who the artist was, he wound up making an offer for virtually his life’s work.

Phaidon have also published the gorgeous Martin Pebble, also by Sempé, about a childhood friendship between a boy who can’t stop blushing and a boy who can’t stop sneezing… Very cute.
This post is reminding me of all my favourite classic children’s books published in translation. Will post about these shortly…

We spent a lovely morning in the park this morning in Carlton with Ned’s mate Oscar and his mummy. It was a little windy!

After our play and a lovely coffee from Tre Bicchieri, Ned and I went to visit my favorite shop Belki in Rathdowne Street. It’s a gorgeous gift shop that is just filled with the most beautiful collection of goodies; bags, jewelery, ceramics, baby things and more.

I couldn’t go past buying this little beauty for myself…

It’s a lined notebook made by Library+, designed and printed in Australia. They have created some gorgeous characters to decorate their stationary range that includes notepads, book marks and even library bags (I need one of those also). I fell in love with the jacket because of the parliament of owls on the jacket. I have always been fascinated by collective nouns and I quite love owls. Not sure why but I think they are pretty cute, maybe it’s because they are wise and bookish.

What I wasn’t aware of was that inside the cover of the book is a little library card in it’s own little pocket. Irresistible.

Then in their children’s section I found another gem. A picture book called Little Hoot about, yes, owls. I just had to buy it for Ned as an Easter present. The illustrations in this book are just divine, I’m just so glad I have discovered illustrator Jen Corace. It is published by Chronicle who design the most beautiful books perfectly.

The author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has created a story that is a twist on the usual getting children to bed routine. Little Hoot goes to school, plays with his friends and then wants to go to bed at a normal time like his non owl friends. However his mum and dad have different plans for him, of course he must stay up late and play like a good owl. Poor little Hoot is very grumpy indeed and counts down his play time until he can go to bed. It is such a fun take on reverse psychology I’m sure it is going to be read in our house many times.

My favourite author Sonya Hartnett was yesterday awarded the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. One of the richest literary prizes in the world Sonya joins amazing children’s literature authors like Maurice Sendak, Philip Pullman and Katherine Paterson on the honours list. Sonya’s work is incredible, as the jury of the ALMA award states “her works are a source of strength”; they are not for the faint-hearted but are so lyrically beautiful, her writing is like poetry. Sonya can conjure up the most amazing pictures of landscape as you read, she can bring your emotions from great joy to deep sadness within paragraphs. I have never read any other novels as powerful as hers.

Although some may criticise her work for being too angst-ridden, her protagonists are always incredibly strong and wilful giving the reader a chance to develop compassion for them or sometimes a deep dislike. It’s impossible not to become enveloped in the story. Often her subject matter is gruelling and the novels are not easy reads but I think good literature is meant to challenge and perhaps even make us feel a little uncomfortable.

Generally considered a young adult writer Sonya’s novels definitely sit in the huge gap that exists between teenage and adult fiction, she should be read and discussed in both.

On the ALMA website Sonya is quoted as saying “A young person who reads a book; today takes that book into tomorrow, is shaped and influenced by the work; learns from it, remembers it, holds it inside.” I have felt this way about her writing since I first read Sleeping Dogs in 1989, I still very much hold that book inside me!