It is a beautiful sunny day in Melbourne and Ned and I are getting ready to go and spend some time outdoors.

Last week Ohdeedoh featured a post on a lovely combination of the outdoors and reading. Have a look at the post here; it came to them via blog Sweet Fine Day. Bryant Park in New York has a dedicated space for tables and chairs and bookcases - in the middle of the park. They have even catered for kids, with little versions of the tables and chairs available, as well as a children’s book selection.

There are more pictures and information on the Bryant Park website and you should pop over to Sweet Fine Day for some great photos and a lovely description of time in the park. Actually Sweet Fine Day is a really gorgeous blog to visit especially if you want to daydream of New York and see some really spectacular photography and amazing food.

I think Ned and I will definately pack some books for our morning out in this glorious weather.

Is there anything better than lying on the couch with a bottle reading your favourite book?

This news is a week or so old now, but I’ve been walking a centimetre or so taller since hearing that Melbourne has been named the second Unesco City of Literature. You can read a journo’s perspective of the announcement here.

I’ve just skimmed through the very impressive application that was put together in the bid. Now I’m swelling with even more pride, as I read about Melbourne as a ‘leading centre for the writing of children’s literature’. Of course I knew we were, but it was so lovely to be reminded of all the names of great kids’ authors who hail from my hometown and some of whom I’ve been lucky to meet or work with: Ivan Southall, John Marsden, Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman, Andy Griffiths, Graeme Base, Sonya Hartnett, Elizabeth Honey, Alison Lester, Kirsty Murray, Martine Murray, and Wendy Orr. It is also home to many children’s book publishers, children’s book-related centres such as Dromkeen and Books Illustrated, and various hubs for writers/illustrators generally. The Melbourne Writers’ Festival, which is drawing to a close this weekend, also has an active schools’ program.

More generally, we can apparently boast that more than anywhere else in Australia, we have the highest number of books published and the highest number of bookshops (per head of population). One bookshop for every 307 Victorians! Phew, there you go! (You can find a statistic on almost everything can’t you?!)

Part of the bid included the promise by the State Government for funding to create a ‘Centre for Books and Ideas’ at the State Library, which sounds like it will help to continue and broaden the support for writers, publishing and reading. You can read more about the reaction to the news by members of the industry here.

Can’t help but thinking it’s appropriate that our little blog about children’s books should also hail from a Unesco City of Literature - yay!

Further to my post on wordless books, the publisher of Wave, Chronicle Books, have released a video of the book on the net.

Chronicle are really leading the way in discovering new ways to promote their beautiful books, you can see more of their book trailers on their website and also posted on Youtube. Their blog is also fantastic.

The lovely Natasha from Book Bonding has let us know that Hodder/Hachette Publishing in Australia may have some We are Wearing Out the Naughty Step available next month (July). Keep an eye out in your local independent for it or give Natasha a call at Book Bonding, in Victoria.

One blog I read regularly is Red Dog and Jude, written by Danielle McDonald talented artist and designer. Based in Melbourne she creates gorgeous and funky illustrations and designs for children’s toys, manchester, clothing, furniture and more.

Just in time for Mother’s Day she has teamed with Cathy Phelan on two books I’m Glad You’re My Mum and I’m Glad You’re My Gran, see her post here all about them. Published by local publisher Black Dog Books they are designed for children to fill in and so give mum or gran a very personal Mother’s Day gift.

We’ve been tagged in a blog-tagging game by Sara O’Leary.

The rules of the game are that the ‘taggee’ must do the following:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

The passage in question for me is the following:
“It’s not unusual for a child to peer into the toilet and watch the water swirl down the hole to the sound of the loud flush and become confused or fearful about the noise, the hole, or the unknown. Children get past this fear in time, but there are a number of ways to help your child overcome his apprehension. For a while, wait until he leaves the room and then flush for him.”

The book is, for those who are curious, The No-cry Potty Training Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. Yes, sad, I know, but more on that later.

Here are the blogs we are tagging (all blogs we love, so sorry if you aren’t a willing participant…).
Potty Mouth Mama
Write Mama Write
Annie’s Organic Baby Blog
Only Books All the Time
Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves

The draw for our inaugural competition is complete! Everyone who entered a comment between April 1 and April 15 qualified to enter, and 10 random entries were drawn.

Congratulations to the following winners:
Donna
Sonja
Anne-Laure
Cat
Sarah F
Steph (of Crooked House)
Sue H
Helena McAloon
Sue B
Beth (of Write, Mama. Write)

We will be contacting winners by email to arrange for postage of the prizes – each comprising three gorgeous picture books! Thanks to everyone who entered.

Our official launch competition closed yesterday, and thanks to everyone who entered by including a comment on the site. Lou and I really appreciated the feedback people left, with suggestions for new books and affirmation that the concept of this site is a good one.

Winners will be announced shortly… And stay tuned for other competitions and prizes over the coming months!

My favorite Easter book is Max’s Chocolate Chicken by the wonderful Rosemary Wells. There is a whole series of books about these bunnies, mischievous toddler Max and his bossy big sister Ruby and even a TV show which is adorable. Not your traditional Easter story this is about a rather competitive egg hunt. Max falls in love with a chocolate chicken that’s been left in the bird bath by the Easter Rabbit, and he simply wants to eat it. Ruby, however, insists that they hunt for eggs and the rabbit with the most eggs will get to keep the chicken. Easily distracted Max ends up with no eggs and so runs away and hides with the chocolate chicken much to Ruby’s annoyance. The moral of the story perhaps not to put all your eggs in one basket?

In Max and Ruby, Wells has created the perfect comic duo, in such simple text there is underlying hilarity that appeals to both children and adults alike. I laugh out loud when I read this one especially when you can really play up the dialogue between Max and Ruby; “Max” said Ruby “pull yourself together”.

The end papers are beautiful illustrations of the mysterious Easter bunny who has delivered the Chocolate Chicken in his divine purple waistcoat and flowing gold jacket.

Books have become great gifts for children at Easter time as parents become more conscious of how much chocolate the Easter Bunny delivers. In Australia the chocolate Bilby, an endangered marsupial, has become more a symbol of Easter than the chocolate rabbit. There are some lovely books about Bilbys including;

The Smallest Bilby and the Easter Games (Nette Hilton and Bruce Whatley)

This picture book features a very cute little Bilby with huge ears and a pink tipped nose. When the rabbits stop delivering eggs the bush animals hold the Easter Games to find the best animal for the job. Published by Working Title Press.

Bilby Moon (Margaret Spurling and Danny Snell)

Although it is not directly about Easter, Danny Snell’s soft illustrations of the Australian desert at night make this a very precious picture book. Bilby wonders why a piece of the moon is missing and so sets out to find the reason why meeting many other Aussie animals on the way. Perfect for bedtime. Published also by Working Title Press.

And of course there are many traditional religious books on the market, retelling the stories of the real Easter, crucifixion and resurrection. My favorite of these is Jan Pienkowski’s Easter, based on the King James version of the easter story. Illustrated like an illuminated manuscript with dramatic black silhouettes against backgrounds of vibrant colours this is a very special book and very rare, there are used editions available on Amazon and it has been published online on Pienkowski’s website. I have just bought a copy for myself off eBay.

The Pienkowski is fantastic for little kids and for older children there is the equally beautiful The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith. Wildsmith has illustrated many religious books for children and his easter version is rather spectacular, his use of gold fleck and metallic paint make it a gorgeously ornate keepsake.