A guest post by Sarah, mum to Neve (10), Cissy (3) and Jemima (1).

I have had a difficult week, and it has led me to write what might seem a somewhat macabre list. In my bookselling days I have always said that it is so important to have a book about dying on the shelf because the moment that you need it is the one moment when you don’t want to be in the bookshop looking for it. Explaining death to very young children is difficult – and the real significance is often lost on them. I’m not sure that any books on my list are really for the under 4s, the subject is often dealt with in a very abstract way which is probably beyond them.  Having said that here are the few that I think are worth considering – depending on your circumstances.

1. Badger’s Parting Gifts (Susan Varley)
This is the one I like the very best.

Badger is friend, advisor and the wise old creature of the woodland – and he knows it is his time to die. Badger’s friends are extremely sad when he leaves them, but find hope and comfort in their memories and also the gifts that badger has wisely given them before he dies. Their memories let badger live on.
This book is a bit of a tear jerker for the grown ups (unfortunately one of the traps of these kinds of books) but it is poignant and gently told. Highly appropriate for explaining the death of an older person – may not be so relevant for a more sudden loss.

2. Old Pig (Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks)

This is an Australian title and an award winner by Margaret Wild with gorgeous illustrations by Ron Brooks (of Bunyip of Berkley Creek and John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat). With the backdrop of the passing seasons, the story of Old Pig and Granddaughter unfolds. They live together and share everything. As the winter approaches, so does the inevitable passing of Old Pig. It is subtle, tender, gentle and beautifully illustrated.  It is a book for the 4+ age group and its subtlety may be lost on some. Again it is more appropriate for explaining the loss of an older person – Old Pig has time to put her affairs in order and say goodbye to her life.

3. Lifetimes – or Beginnings and Endings with Lifetimes in Between (Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen)

With the decline of religion in many of our lives, it becomes harder to find solace in the loss of a loved one. How do we take away any meaning – and try to convey this to our children? Lifetimes by Bryan Mellonie with illustrations from the wonderful Robert Ingpen (mentioned here just recently) is a book that goes some way to finding a religion-free, yet meaningful pathway through the topic of life: beginning, middle and end. And the book does exactly that, it takes nature and explains that everything has a life, a beginning and an end, with a lifetime in between – from the shortest life of a butterfly to the long life of a tree.  Although abstract in nature, this book has a more general application and celebrates the lifetime – the living of life - which I think can be of some comfort to the grieving.

There are a host of other books out there for trying to explain death to children – inevitably it will be hard to find one that perfectly describes your situation at the time, but I hope one of the above might prove useful.

My last recommendation is for the grown ups – but it might help with the kids too.
4. Coping with Grief (Mal McKissock and Dianne McKissock)

This little book is really inexpensive ($11.95), written in Australia. It is a sensible, practical workbook to help you through the process of grieving. It has a section on Children and Grief and also has advice about how to cope with anniversaries, special dates and how to get support. A really good book to have on hand or to give to those grieving – it should be on all our bookshelves.

I hope this post doesn’t seem too much of a downer – I am taking comfort from the fact that the wonderful world of books has something for every moment in our lives, from the saddest to the most joyous and if we immerse ourselves in books the whole world is at our disposal!

[Editor's note... Sarah's post has reminded me that at the time Rowan's grandma died, we used a lovely book, which is perfectly pitched at the under 4 age-group. I'm adding it here as the final book in our Top 5 books on this topic.]

5. Ethan: What Happened to My Little Brother (Lisa White)

This little paperback has the look of a self-published edition, with simple line drawings and somewhat unconventional layout. But it is one of the best little books I’ve seen to help explain death to a toddler. It has been well-researched, adhering to the generally accepted advice available from early childhood and parenting experts. Toddlers are particularly prone to fears for their own death or the death of their mother or father after experiencing the death of a loved one, and this book helps to allay those feelings. It tells the story of the death of a little brother, who dies as a newborn in hospital. And although it depicts this particular scenario, we found it straightforward to adapt the story to our own situation of an older person dying after an illness. As part of the story, it includes a number of ideas for saying goodbye - such as letting off helium balloons and planting a tree - that younger children will be able to relate to. It might be a little hard to find a copy of this one, but it can be ordered direct from the publisher or via Seekbooks.

A guest post by Clare, auntie to Rowan, 2 years.

On my recent travels to Europe I spent a few days in some of Paris’s famous art galleries. Wandering through the gallery bookshop at the end of my tour I was surprised to find a huge collection of art books aimed at children. Many of these books were gallery-specific – but not always - and it struck me that they provided a great way to introduce children to art and to help foster an understanding and appreciation of artwork. It’s a tricky subject, mostly because many of us have mixed feelings about how we were introduced to art as children. Whilst I love art now, I still remember feeling bored in galleries and confused about some aspects of modern art – why would anyone bother painting “ugly” boxes in brown? (Picasso’s cubist series) and “why won’t my art teacher let me paint two stripes of red on the page and call it art?” But I don’t remember the type of books that I saw recently being available when I was little.

Here are my top 5 children’s art books, inspired by my recent art-infused travels:

1. I Spy series (Lucy Micklethwait)
This is a great series of books for toddlers and pre-school aged children, although parents will no doubt love the paintings as well.  Using familiar themes in I Spy Animals, I Spy Shapes, I Spy Transport, Lucy Micklethwait takes us on a journey through famous paintings from around the world and throughout the ages. These are great books for getting children used to looking in detail at paintings and could also be a starting point for ‘art’ conversations. Age 2+

2. Mon petit Orsay (Marie Sellier)
These books are really aimed at the European market but I have spent many hours looking through them in the last few weeks at museum bookstores in Paris. Translated into several European languages, they take children through the masterpieces of the Musee d’Orsay, Le Louvre, George Pompidou Centre and Versaille.  What is behind the walls of these great buildings?  Paintings and statues come alive.

3. Dog’s Night (Meredith Hooper)
Once a year the dogs at the National Museum in London are allowed out of their paintings for a party.  This year they descend from their paintings to discover the leftovers of a great feast.  As the clock strikes midnight the dogs are giddy from too much party food – they climb back into their paintings only to discover that some of them are in the wrong ones  Dog lovers of any age will love this book and its beautifully illustrated pooches.  The challenge toward the second half of the story is to work out which dog belongs where and how are they going to get back into the right painting? Ages 3-8 years.

3.    Roy and Matilda the Gallery Mice by Susan Venn
This series focuses on Australian galleries, and I first discovered the original book through my younger sisters. This beautifully illustrated and narrated story, introduces Roy the Mouse, who lives in the Australian collection of the Victorian National Gallery (now housed in the Ian Potter Gallery at Federation Square). Roy moves through paintings such as Tom Roberts’ Shearing the Rams and David Davies’ Moonrise, where he meets Matilda. They fall in love, marry and create a home in the walls of the gallery. This is a wonderful book to read as both an introduction to the gallery and as a bedtime story in its own right.  For me, one of the best parts about this book is that the Victorian Gallery created a “real” Roy and Matilda Mouse Door in a corner of one of the rooms. As a baby-sitter taking my younger sisters through the gallery one holidays, the quest to find Roy and Matilda’s house allowed us to walk through many rooms we might not have otherwise discovered. It also provided ample talking material – I will never forget the delight of my youngest sister when she turned a corner and discovered the painting where Roy and Matilda first met! Thanks to the success of this first book, Edwina Publishing has gone onto publish books with some of Roy and Matilda’s family for the NSW and Queensland museums. Age 2+

5.  How to talk to Children about Art by Francoise Barbe-Gall
Whilst this is really a reference book, rather than a children’s art book, I think it is a fantastic tool for helping people explore are with children. The first chapters of the book briefly, and simply, discuss cognitive development and broadly outline ways to introduce art and galleries to children. Although some of the advice is a little obvious “don’t spend too long, your children’s attention spans are not as long as yours”, there are some great gems. The rest of the book is devoted to approximately 30 different masterpieces from around the world.  Using three different age groups (6-7, 8-10, 12+) it suggests questions you might pose to children to help spark conversations about the paintings that are age appropriate.

With the usual mid-winter bugs in our midst, we have two sick boys on our hands. But fortunately a guest post from Lisa is filling a breach left by our current irregular posting… Thanks Lisa!

A guest post by Lisa, mum to Finnan aged 3 years, and Daisy, 9 months

After watching my other mum friends go back for a second swing at the parenting thing, it’s now our turn. It’s been a fascinating, challenging and surprising experience already. We are suddenly recalling the forgotten peculiarities of our first child at certain stages of his babyhood, whilst learning everything all over again with the preferences of our new baby.

Thinking about this, I was wondering which books we’ve read to Finn will captivate Daisy? She already idolises her big brother – will she go so far as to want to sit and listen to readings from his extensive collection of digger books?! In honouring the wonder of sharing books with little people, I’ve compiled a list, in no particular order, of the books that have captivated my boy in the past year or so. I wonder which of these will make Daisy’s list in a few years’ time?

1.    Duck in the Truck (Jez Alborough – see Katie’s previous post)
Finnan is known among our family and friends for his fixation with ducks. Add rhymes, great illustrations and a truck to the mix and this one’s a no-brainer for a long-term favourite.

2.    The Big Busy Book of Richard Scarry
Even the most energetic toddler can be quelled into at least 10 minutes of quiet reflection when reading about the animal inhabitants of Busytown. This omnibus has had a hypnotic effect on Finn at very key times: on aeroplanes, long and short car rides and while waiting impatiently for Banana Milks and Ham Sangas in cafes. As a consequence, I will offer up thanks for the genius of Mr Scarry for many years to come…

3.    First 100 Machines (Bright Baby)
This sturdy hardback (from Priddy Books’ wonderful First 100 series) has every truck, emergency and earthmoving machine a vehicle-mad toddler needs to know about. It’s been carted EVERYWHERE by Finn and still looks great. It has saved my life and sanity on numerous occasions, diverting imminent tantrums, preventing boredom at cafes so I can finish my coffee, and proving a salve at teary times.

4.    Green Eggs and Ham (Dr Seuss)
This has edged out Seuss’ other classic, One Fish, Two Fish, as the night-time favourite for our rhyme-crazy toddler. Great fun to read, and endlessly amusing when Finn’s favourite trucks and cars repeat the rhymes to each other when he thinks no one’s listening.

5.    Anything Thomas
Before becoming a mum, I vowed I’d always be available to read my children any requested book (which puts me in mind of a fun book for mums I found recently, called I Was A Really Good Mom Until I Had Kids!). When Finnan became yet another Thomas the Tank Engine devotee, I quickly renounced my vow and refused to read more than one Thomas story a day. Cruel I know, but there’s really only so much I can take of these little paperbacks. They’re small and cheap ($2.95), but I find the text clunky and TOO LONG for repeated readings. The Thomas and Friends series from the latest TV episodes are shorter and much easier to read. They’re sturdier little hardbacks, only marginally dearer ($4.95), with less text and very clear photographs. Finn’s dad Aidan is happy to read more than one a day, but I just can’t bring myself to go there, despite my pre-motherhood vows…

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+

For our upcoming trip overseas, I’ve been preparing my goodie bag of distractions for Rowan on the plane. Rowan does have some experience of flying, as his grandparents live interstate. And perhaps more significantly, I do now have some experience of flying as a mum. Suffice to say, I’ve got a lot better at it over time. These tips on books for travelling with kids are gleaned from our own travels and advice from well-travelled friends…

Books are excellent for travelling because compared to other forms of distraction, they generally have no small parts, and are not messy. (With the best of intentions I took a tub of playdough on one plane flight - big mistake.) With some parent interaction, a good book can be strung out for an extended period of time, especially for the period when the seatbelt sign is on… I’ve found it’s a good idea to take a mix of old favourites and new books Rowan has never seen before. Hiding one of Rowan’s favourite books for a period before we leave also works well.

Here is a list of a few of the types of books we will be taking on this holiday…

1) Small books

A few small books are light and take up minimal space; they also provide variety and it’s not a disaster if you lose one. Golden Books, the Thomas Library books (at $3.95 a pop) and Mr Men books all fit in this category.

2) Busy books

When I say busy books I mean ones with lots of detail and things to look for on every page. A hit for us has been the Thomas’ Really Useful Word Book. This durable large format board book is also great value at $16.95. Each spread pictures Thomas in a different part of Sodor, and shows lots of different objects and animals - at the farm, at the station, at the seaside. Lots of things to find in every picture and there is a bit of a narrative too throughout the book. Unfortunately it is fairly heavy, which may rule it out for this trip…

Also highly recommended are the Richard Scarry books. Haven’t tried these with Rowan yet, but I suspect they would do the job perfectly.

3) Books with stickers

Stickers are another great distraction for travelling. A while ago I picked up this great pad of stickers called ‘Vehicle Movement’ for the grand total of $2.25 from the Queenscliff Newsagency. Of course I’ve never seen them in a newsagent since, and I now wish I’d bought several of them… This one pad of stickers has taken us on several flights already and we’ve shared them with grateful fellow parents on the plane.

This time we will be trying one of Ladybird’s series of books with reusable stickers - we have Let’s get dressed. In this one the two sheets of stickers of clothes and accessories can be used to dress four children inside. Even if Rowan doesn’t like this one, I think I’ll have some fun!

I also found the Play Scene On The Construction Site which despite my best efforts, Rowan spotted and he has already had a tantrum over it. A board folds out and an assortment of diggers, tip trucks, workmen, witches hats and other goodies can be placed on the scene. There are lots more in this series, which you can view here at Mudpuppy. (Click on Sticker Set Play Scenes.)

But there is one more book with great current appeal for Rowan, which really took me by surprise. It is IDEAL for the plane. It’s called Point It, and I found it at Metropolis Books. A passport-sized book, it is a kind of visual dictionary, designed so you can show a picture of something you are trying to communicate to someone who doesn’t speak your language. It has retro 70s photos and illustrations of 1200 items, covering the topics of food, accommodation, transport and shopping. (The transport section guarantees the Rowan appeal…) I initially bought it for a bit of fun. But the more I look at it the more I think it will be useful, and the toddler appeal is a fabulous bonus!!!

I found myself emailing a friend the other day, and the subject line of the email was ‘Potty matters’.

What has life come to? I’m writing an email about potties??! So while I’m at it, what the heck, I’m going to write a post about toilet training children’s books.

There are lots of toilet training books for parents, of course, and most toddler parenting books have at least a chapter on toilet training, but what I’m interested in at the moment is children’s books about the potty, to get Rowan thinking about it. Peer-pressure of the positive variety is a wonderful thing in toddlers, I’m finding. And reading about appealing characters who are starting to use the potty seemed like a good part of the preparation for toilet training.

Once I started researching this topic further, I discovered just how many books there are, not to mention the contraversies! Getting the balance between showing enough detail, making it fun, and encouraging success without making the experience stressful and therefore off-putting…. Gee!

And so following my research I too now feel qualified to enter the fray. Why, oh why, do so many potty books picture the use of a potty as a hat? Isn’t this the last thing you want to show a toddler who hasn’t thought of it yet…? And how can you write a potty book without ever showing someone actually sitting on the thing? Many of the books out there are just too coy about the mechanics…

I have to say that the selection of books on the subject of toilet training do not inspire me as much as most of the other books I have reviewed on this site. But nevertheless, these books seem to me to strike the right balance, and they represent my top 5 books to encourage toilet training… We will be reading these books over the next few months. Any further suggestions gratefully received!

1. I Want My Potty (Tony Ross)

Tony Ross has written a great little series of ‘issues-based’ books for toddlers based on the character of the little princess. His illustrations are very witty, and I love the fact that mum and dad, the king and queen, wear normal clothes and do normal things around the house. In this book, the little princess decides that ‘Nappies are YUUECH!’ This is the type of peer pressure I’m looking for! Tony is a very prolific author/illustrator and apparently this book is his personal favourite. I like it too.

2 . Who’s in the Loo? (Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds)

There’s a very long queue for this loo, and we are taken on a zoological rollercoaster as we imagine which animal is taking so long in the loo. ‘A wandering wombat who wanted a widdle? A waddling penguin too frozen to piddle?’ No practicalities, mechanics or toddler issues in this one, but lots of fun, and I could imagine it might be a handy reference when you are stuck in a public toilet queue…

3. Time to Pee! (Mo Willems)

Written by the author of the popular Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo is refreshingly uncoy about showing pictures of the toilet, undies around the ankles and toilet paper. It covers lots of the practicalities without seeming heavy-handed. I love the toilet-covered endpapers!

4. A Potty for Me! (Karen Katz)

Australian and other non-US readers will probably need to substitute some of the terminology in this one (lots of references to ‘diapers’ and ‘peeing’). The form of rhyming text in this one is not my favourite style, but this book does canvass many of the real-life issues, and the bright colours and flaps are appealing. It’s pitched at a young audience - so it’s a good one for the under-twos.

5. Everyone Poops! (Taro Gomi)

This book, and the others mentioned by Lou in her previous post, are a good way to bring some fun into the toilet training caper. The humour will appeal to kids as soon as they start to find excretion hilarious… So much too look forward to…

With so much awareness now of environmental issues here are our favorite green children’s books…

1. The Lorax (Dr. Seuss)

The original and the best children’s book about the perils of destroying your environment with greed and selfishness. “UNLESS someone like you…cares a whole awful lot…nothing is going to get better…It’s not.” Of course this picture book is typical Dr Seuss with wild tongue twisting rhymes and technicolour illustrations that almost require sunglasses to look at but it is also probably Seuss’ most important and prophetic work. The Once-ler describes how he has decimated the Loraxs’ habitat with deforestation and air and water pollution to set up his manufacturing plants, leading to the poor Loraxs’ extinction. Check out the Lorax Earth Day website- help the real Lorax forests.

2. Weslandia (Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hawkes)

This beautiful picture book is so very important in many ways. Protagonist Wesley is bullied at school because he doesn’t conform to what his peers consider normal, for example he doesn’t like pizza! While he is on school holidays and with no friends to play with he decides to create himself a self sustainable civilisation. He uses a plot of earth and grows a crop of ’swist’ a plant of his own creation that takes off soon towering above him and and bearing bizarre looking fruit. Soon Wesley discovers that he can use his strange crop as a multitude of things including clothing and shelter thus creating his ‘Weslandia’. Kevin Hawkes beautifully illustrates Wesley’s utopia giving little children a lavish landscape to admire while older children will grasp the themes of environment and social conscience.

3. We are the Weather Makers : The story of Global Warming (Tim Flannery)

This revised and updated version of Australian Tim Flannery’s best selling book on climate change is for a young adult audience, the children who it seems will inherit all these environmental issues from previous generations. This is science without all the jargon, in depth Flannery explains all the problems regarding the climate and also explores the solutions but all in a way that is easy to digest and understand. It is broken into chapters on each issue and has been printed in an excellent easy to read type. Marketed for an audience of 9 to 90 this is a great introduction to the world we live in today.

4. Scarlette Beane (Karen Wallace and Jon Berkeley)

The acrylic illustrations in this picture book are just so gorgeous. Scarlette is adorable with her face as red as a beet and little green fingers. On her fifth birthday she receives a small garden all of her own and begins to plant. Her vegies grow and grow until her whole neighborhood is enjoying the spoils. This is a beautiful sweet tale of ecology, friendship and sharing good food. Children love identifying objects and in this picture book there are plenty of vegetables to point at and name as well as showing them how plants grow.

5. Uno’s Garden (Graeme Base)

And of course funny little Uno! Winner of the The Wilderness Society Picture Book of the Year 2007, they described Uno’s Garden like this “Uno’s Garden is a lively and lavishly detailed picture book about environmental sustainability. A whimsical imaginary landscape demonstrates the importance of learning from past mistakes to ensure a balanced and liveable future“. See Katie’s fab post here about the Uno’s Garden Myer windows last Christmas.

And mummy is reading this!

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, it’s a fascinating imagining of what would happen to the planet if humans disappeared.

We love going to the Melbourne zoo! It makes a great outing for Rowan, gives me a much-needed walk, and we often meet up with friends there. And despite best intentions, we usually end up doing the same route every time; the elephants, butterflies and orangutans circuit is just too good to miss… Our books about zoo animals go down really well before or in between visits to the zoo. And as Rowan is mastering a growing vocabulary of first words, animals noises are also a big favourite at the moment.

Here are our Top 5 books about the zoo.

1. Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell)

What would happen if you wrote a letter to the zoo and asked them for a pet? Now celebrating 25 years (I remember reading this one to my 27 year old sister!!), this is a classic zoo book, with bright, bold pictures, predictable text and those ever-so-alluring lift-up flaps! Ideal for babies and toddlers. Age 0+

2. Bruno Munari’s Zoo (Bruno Munari)

From my favourite publisher, Chronicle Books, comes this classic. Bruno Munari was a contemporary of Leo Leonni (another of my all-time favourites) and his illustrations have the same beautiful retro quality. This and the distinctive humour communicated through the text and illustrations make it one to be enjoyed by toddlers and appreciated by adults and collectors. (As mentioned in a previous post, I bought my beautiful hardback copy at Mockingbird Books.) Age 2+

3. Good Night, Gorilla (Peggy Rathmann)

Rowan and I have been reading this one since he was a newborn. With minimal text, the story gets read slightly differently each time. It tells the delightful tale of a zookeeper saying goodnight to the animals in the zoo. Little does he know that he is being followed by the gorilla who has a hold of his keys. This one really gets your imagination working about the keepers who are behind the scenes at the zoo, and what the animals get up to after hours… With the bedtime theme, this is a great one for reading just before a sleep. Age 0+

4. Queenie: One Elephant’s Story (Corinne Fenton)
This book tells the true story of Queenie, an elephant who lived at the Melbourne Zoo for more than 40 years. At a time when elephant rides were an accepted part of a visit to the zoo, Queenie was a famous animal, and she received hundreds of letters from her fans. In describing her life, the book touches on events of the first half of the 20th century, from the long journey travelling by boat from India to Australia, to Melbourne’s Centenary Celebrations and sad repercussions of the Second World War for zoo animals. The illustrations compliment this theme by having a historical feel. It would make a great start to various discussion points with older kids. Age 3+

5. Zoo! (Lori Froeb)

As reviewed in Lou’s previous post, this is a magnificent fold-out counting book. I’ve witnessed Ned captivated by this one, and the lovely bright illustrations and larger than life fold-outs are fantastic. This would make a great present for a baby or a toddler. Age 0+

Rowan, Brad and I are now proud owners of a chook. Her name is Lottie. I named her after the first Australian pirate, Charlotte Badger, because she only has one eye. (And that’s how I imagine a successful pirate to be…)

We rescued Lottie. She was living at a primary school which has the wonderful Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden program. Lottie lived with five other chooks, cared for by the school’s environment captains and fed from a productive vegetable garden.

Unfortunately, due to chook pecking order disputes, Lottie was being victimised by the other chooks, which could have ended very badly… When we brought her home, her eye was very sore and she was very scared. She would barely come out of a corner of her pen.

Three weeks later, Lottie is a lot happier. She pecks around our garden free-range all day, and she runs to meet us at the back door whenever we go out. (I think she’d come inside if we let her.) She has even been as brave as to spend a recent barbecue pecking hairy toes under the table! AND, she is laying some beautiful eggs!

Rowan is very interested in Lottie, and I’ve started to introduce him to some gorgeous Australian books about chooks.

Here are four favourites:

1. Queenie the Bantam (Bob Graham)

The wonderful Bob Graham tells the story of Queenie, another hen who is rescued, this time from a lake. Graham’s inimitable illustration style is a joy, his simple style conveys so much expression in his characters, and such a strong sense of family. In this story, Queenie’s life becomes intertwined with that of Caitlin’s family; this is the tale of one determined chook, not afraid to assert her place in the world.

2. A Nest for Kora (Claire Saxby)

Kora is preparing to lay her first egg, but where? This is the story about striving for independence, but discovering that sometimes granny knows best. Bold illustrations in bright colours take us on a tour of the farmyard, as Kora looks for the perfect spot to lay. The rhythm and repetition in the text make this one ideal for toddlers.

3. Hattie and the Fox (Mem Fox and Patricia Mullins)

This story picks up the traditional story of the hen and the fox, rejuvenated by Mem Fox’s rhythmic text, which in this case lends itself to an exuberant read-aloud rendition: ‘Good grief!’ said the goose. ‘Well, well!’ said the pig. ‘Who cares?’ said the sheep… Hattie spots different body parts lurking in the bushes, which furthers the appeal to little ones. Beautiful tissue paper collage illustrations will be appreciated by the mums…
4. Bear and Chook (Lisa Shanahan & Emma Quay)

This is not the story of a farmyard or garden chook, so it’s not as relevant as the others, but I just love the relationship drawn in this story. When Bear grows up, he wants to be a builder, a sea captain, a pilot… he always has a new idea. When Chook grows up she wants to be… an old chook. Rowan doesn’t love this one, but I read it to Brad because I knew he would appreciate it. He said: ‘I’m more like Chook. You’re like Bear on steroids.’ Hmmm… Have to say I do feel a bit like a headless chook (bear) this week, must slow down a bit.

And one final one to add, Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins. This one’s not Australian, but it takes me right back to my childhood. Published in 1968, it has such gorgeous retro 70s illos. Rosie the chook goes for a walk, unaware that she is being followed by a fox. A book of few words, the illustrations are all that’s needed to show the mishaps of the fox. Kids love to see what happens to the baddie!

I adore Christmas; I love the warmth of the weather, the smell of a live tree, blinking bud lights and Carols by Candlelight. My partner Brant thinks I’m silly and I do agree with him that the lead up to the day can be hectic but I still get excited every year and this year will be even better with Ned who will be 11 months and my gorgeous little niece Charlotte who will be 14 months. One thing I do guiltily enjoy is catalogues at this time of year especially book catalogues. I do promise that I recycle them all!!! I really enjoy seeing what bookshops have chosen as the best of the best in the biggest publishing months of the year, I like reading about things I haven’t seen yet and circling all the one’s I want to buy. Not only children’s there are always lot’s of beautiful things released, for example have a look at Maggie’s Harvest by chef Maggie Beer it is an absolutely amazing piece of publishing.

One thing that I remember my little brother and I doing as children was digging out all of our Christmas story books to read by the tree on stinking hot nights as the cicadas deafened us.

Top 5 CHRISTMAS BOOKS….

1. It’s Christmas (Tina Burke) – This beautiful simple Christmas story is perfect for toddlers. It invokes all the lovely feelings and senses of a hot Aussie Christmas without all the kangaroos and koalas of other books. There is a real magic in this book, Burke is the most delightful illustrator whose little characters are just full of life and joy. 3 years +

2. The Nativity (Julie Vivas) – Based on the King James version of the Bible story Vivas has created the most warm, comforting and human illustrations to accompany the text. In her paintings she brings gentleness to the story of the miracle birth of Christ which is so lovely that even if you are not religious you will appreciate. Simply divine! 4 years +

3. The Christmas Book (Dick Bruna) – This is a very simple rendition of the Christmas story by Dick Bruna the author and illustrator most famous for the Miffy books. His style of illustration is instantly recognisable and gorgeous. Perfect for toddlers because of the simplicity it even has the most beautiful little pop out nativity scene in the back of the book which I use every year. 2 years +

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Dr. Seuss) – I love the Grinch and the moral behind this Seuss story. The Grinch is like Scrooge he hates Christmas and he hates that the Who’s of Who-Ville have such a great time doing Christmassy things each year. Grinch plots to make sure that Christmas doesn’t come so he dresses up as Santa and steals all the presents from Who-Ville. But Christmas still comes doesn’t it and the Grinch learns that maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store that maybe it means a bit more! A fantastic lesson in the true meaning of Christmas, if you can make it past the crazy Seuss rhyme – it’s hard to read aloud. There is a movie of the Grinch that stars Jim Carrey that received mixed reviews but I think it’s great; the sets and costumes are incredible and Carrey suitably adds enough grossness to the Grinch character. It is even a Broadway musical. 4 years +

5. The Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg) – Van Allsburg’s illustrations are incredible, they invoke such magnificent dreamy feelings as you read the story and are the reason why this has become a Christmas classic. Only available in hardcover in Australia it is a perfect keepsake for a family and would make a beautiful gift. The little boy in the story has doubts that Santa Claus is real. On Christmas Eve he is picked up by the steam train The Polar Express and transported with other doubtful children to the North Pole where he is introduced to the real Santa. The boy gets to choose a present, the first of Christmas and chooses a bell of Santa’s sleigh. This story is not twee or slushy it is award winning literature and a truly magical tale. This book has been made into a film animated by DreamWorks, it’s not my favourite adaptation the book and Van Allsburg’s paintings are far and away the best. 5 years +

I haven’t included Clement C. Moore’s poem, A Night Before Christmas in my list. It is a beautiful poem and is very traditionally Christmas. There are so many versions of the poem illustrated by different artists. If you are looking for a copy my favourite has to be illustrated by Christian Birmingham because his art is so soft and gentle and fits so perfectly with the poem.