Something Wonderful

Sam is a dreamer; a free spirit with a curious mind. He is interested in everything around him to the point where he forgets his chores. He tests things to discover how they work. He takes them apart and puts them together again to see how they are made. He invents things from bits and pieces of all shapes and sizes and scrap materials.

It is on a rainy day that he discovers the shed and all its magic contents. That’s the day that dad realizes that Sam has a special gift.

This meaningful picture book dwells on themes around children’s need to explore, understand, investigate and create. Curiosity about, and absorption in, their world and things around them, can be misconstrued as apathy, indifference, or some other mistaken emotion. Here those perceptions are addressed, from a child’s view.

I found the illustrations created with pencil and watercolour, stunning and detailed. They stretch the story to a greater proportion by showing what Sam thinks and feels. Karen Blair has done an exceptional job at translating this text.

This could be a valuable book to initiate discussion in the classroom or at home about the importance of dreams and making things with your hands. It will inspire children to create and believe they can.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Something Wonderful

Author: Raewyn Caisley

Illustrator: Karen Blair

Publisher: Penguin Random House, $24.99 RRP

Publication Date: February 2016

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9780670078455

For ages: 5+

Type: Children’s Picture Book

Musing From the Inner Duck

Michael Leunig’s new creation has 138 cartoons that illustrate the many forms of Man’s existential

angst, the cause of it, and the simple remedies which few people access. There are poems, reflections, recommendations, musings, mysteries, humour, thought-provoking issues, road rage, and so much more. Leunig touches on politics and politicians, the loss of humanity’s most valuable assets due to technology, Man’s obsession with power and material belongings, the lost art of moping, the loss of thought and creativity, and so many more personal, spiritual, philosophical and environmental issues.

 ‘How long will my life be? As long as a piece of string! Will my life have knots in it with loops and tangle-ing?’ When there are too many labyrinths to find a way through, Leunig’s captions and cartoons inspire. When forgetting who and what we are, where we began, and what our end is, Mister Curly and the man are always there to set you straight.

Leunig’s meaningful words and cartoons are profound, entertaining, and of great worth. There is comfort to be found in this book as with all his others. Reminders are logged to renew one’s self and recall what is important in life; that the world will keep on turning and the daily grind will go on regardless. There is visual reinforcement of these truths to be found in the reflection and silence promoted here.

There is no question that this is a valuable book for those who forget to soul search, turn inwards, examine, simply sit quietly, and persevere against the odds, and for those that do. When we lose our way, there is always the duck to give us direction.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Musings from the Inner Duck

Author: Michael Leunig

Publisher:  Penguin

Publication Date: May 20105    $24.99 RRP

 Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143573173

ISBN: 9780143573173

Type: Reflections/Gift Book

Hello From Nowhere

Eve has lived with her dad for some time in Nowhere, a place in the Nullarbor where they keep a roadside stop. The area has everything she needs to fill her life. People pop in all the time as they pass in buses, campers, and trucks, and share their stories and adventures.

Eve has bonded strongly with her environment; with nature and its creatures, the rocks and waterholes. There is really only one thing she misses and that’s her Nan. But Nan isn’t thrilled with the idea of travelling to the middle of Nowhere for a visit.

Eve’s letter of longing convinces Nan to come. Eve shares with Nan all the beauty and magic that fills her daily life. Will Eve’s bewitching surroundings draw Nan back again?

Beautifully translated illustrations give children, older readers, tourists and travellers a wonderful view of the stunning Australian outback. The illustrations reflect the wildness, silence, isolation, and grandeur that invades people’s psyche once they’ve been there.  The story also addresses the powerful relationship between children and grandparents.

 Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Hello From Nowhere

Author: Raewyn Caisley

Illustrator: Karen Blair

Publisher:  Penguin

Publication Date: 27 August 2014 $24.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780670075003

Type: Australian Picture Book

The Fault in Our Stars

I want to review this book but I can’t. None of my words will do its words any justice.

So I’ll give the prospective reader a quote:

“What-else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you. You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean, I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."

Or maybe two quotes:

“That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

a link to this wonderful collection of tagged #the fault in our stars quotes on Tumblr. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the-fault-in-our-stars-quotes  

You should click… now!

Reviewed by Sandy Fussell

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Publisher: Penguin Books Australia $19.95 RRP

Publication Date: November 2012

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780143567592

Type: Young Adult fiction