we are here….

The countdown is on for us for Magnolia Square – 11 more sleeps until we open at the brand new venue of St Kilda Town Hall.

One of the things we love about being part of Magnolia Square is running storytime. We’ve been thinking that we need some comfy floor cushions for these sessions. Buoyed by the successful completion of these beauties I’m attempting some more invisible zips, and may even try to extend my skills to something new in the design of these cushions… Stay tuned!

There’s lots of lovely new books in our store at the moment… Here are a few favourites… 

Il Sung Na’s stunning A Book of Sleep 

The quirky and cool Big Rabbit’s Bad Mood 

Gyo Fujikawa’s gorgeous board books 

We’re celebrating all these lovely new books with a giveaway. Spend $50 (excluding postage) in the We Heart Books store from now until the 14th of March and get a gorgeous Maisy apron free (value $16.95). Quote MAISY APRON in the comments to qualify. 

We’re very excited that We Heart Books was mentioned on Romona Koval’s The Book Show on Radio National on Monday…

Romona was discussing with Gideon Haigh and Andrew Wilkins (Director of Wilkins Farago Publishing) the standard of literary reviewing in Australia. Gideon Haigh has recently been published in the new journal Kill Your Darlings, which claims that the book pages of Australian newspapers and magazines have become ‘hodgepodges of conventional wisdom and middlebrow advertorial.’ They discussed the future of reviewing and the role that blogs may have…

Here’s what Andrew had to say:

The positive thing from my point of view is that there are now communities of people saying this isn’t enough and we can actually set up our own thing… The cost of setting up anything on the internet [means] you can actually produce a vibrant, interesting, blog – I’m thinking of Inside a Dog which does Young Adult fiction for example, We Heart Books, which does kids’ literature. These are people with no budgets, negative budgets, and yet they’re able to get good quality material out online and build a community of people who actually care about similar things.

We’re quite chuffed! You can listen to the whole interview with Gideon and Andrew here.

The beautiful 24 minute film based on the book Varmints by Helen Ward and Marc Caste was nominated for a BAFTA and shortlisted for an Oscar last year. You can buy the book from we heart books and find out more on the film at the studio aka website here.

This really is a very important book and film, it’s message is something special to share with our children as our environment continues to be something we all strive to protect.

Afternoon tea with a copy of the new edition of Shop 4 Kids, what could be better?

And this edition is even more super exciting because We Heart Books has been included as one of the sites that Shop 4 Kids LOVES – how cool is that!

There is also some of our most beautiful books included as well as all the best clothes, toys and essentials for babies and children and a really great feature on art for kids.

The brilliant Amy K has done it again. Thanks to Children’s Illustration for the clip.

Coming soon. If you would like to reserve a copy please email info@weheartbooks.com.

We are definitely in the midst of the ‘Why?’ phase with Rowan. Seems like it has already been going on for a while and friends tell me that it keeps going for a lot longer again… I know it’s healthy, but sometimes I just like to get through a page of a book at bedtime without five questions about the story and the illustrations.

So last night I could hardly believe it when Rowan sat absolutely absorbed and completely silent as I read him for the first time A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley and illustrated by Jim La Marche.

The book tells the story of a friendship between a bear and a woman who lives for a time in a woodland cabin. The bear stumbles upon the cabin and sees the woman reading. He is very curious about the square object that she holds, which at times makes her laugh, and at others afraid or pensive. Day by day the bear gathers courage until he is able to lie close to the woman. For the shortening days of summer, and until the leaves change colour, she reads to him. And although the bear can’t understand her words, he feels the emotions conveyed through her voice. Her words make a story: a story for her bear.

I’m not sure which aspect of the story was so captivating for Rowan – it could have been the idea of a wild bear meeting a human for the first time, or perhaps the bear’s perspective, learning about the existence of books and the power of storytelling. Whatever the reason, it was wonderful for me to share a book with him that is very special to me – it was Lou who gave me my copy and I think it is such a beautiful story about the wonders of reading.

I also love Jim La Marche’s illustrations – I reviewed another beautiful book of his, Albert, here. He has such a talent for illustrating light and shadow, and this is done so beautifully again for the woodland scenes in A Story for Bear.

||A Story for Bear is available in the We Heart Books store||

Jeremy Holmes’ gorgeously quirky version of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is now in stock in our store.

Such a macabre rhyme and beautifully executed by Holmes. Since we first saw the book in early December, we haven’t got tired of turning to the closing page to see the old lady’s eyes closing for the final line, ‘She died, of course.‘

You can purchase your copy here.

The trailer is mesmerising and sets the mood perfectly…

It’s a busy time of year but it’s always fun wrapping lovely parcels for people ordering gorgeous books for the special little (and big) people in their life.

Our cut offs for postage from We Heart Books  are – regular post orders by Monday 21 December.

Express Post orders may be placed by Wednesday 23 December for capital city customers.