Spring is well and truly showing up with warmer weather, longer days and blossom making an appearance on the trees. Hopefully wherever you’re reading this from, you’re also enjoying the change of seasons. In the book world, September also sees the official start of the run-up to Christmas (yes, that is as terrifying as it sounds!), so we have many, MANY amazing books to share with you over the next few months.
Christmas in Australia is very different from the way much of the world experiences the festive season. As well as taking place in summer, Christmas also coincides with the end of the school year and many families’ annual holiday. Christmas Days in the Sunshine, the latest picture book from Teeny Tiny Stevies and Simon Howe, is a wonderful celebration of this time of year, with a uniquely Australian flavour. From footpaths that burn your feet and the cicadas’ distinctive call through to decorating pavlova and catching up with camping friends, both words and illustrations capture the joy and wonder of an Australian summer Christmas.
Many of you may be familiar with If the World Were 100 People and If the World Were 100 Animals and their interesting way of simplifying huge numbers so that children can visualise the world around them in a way they can comprehend. The next in this series is If Our World Were 100 Days, which takes the last 10,000 years – the portion of human history about which we have the most evidence and which has seen enormous change – and reimagines it as taking place over 100 days. Examining topics like population – the population has octupled (increased by a factor of 8) in the space of a day – communication – writing was invented 54 days ago – and music – invented more than 100 days ago – readers are encouraged not just to think about the phenomenal rate of human invention and advancement in the past, but also to speculate about the changes to come. A challenging and insightful text that is sure to keep children (and adults) entertained, and, more importantly, get them thinking.
While Skye Starling loves her life in Seagulls Nest, there are some things missing: excitement, adventure and her parents. In Copycat, Skye lives with her grandmother, the town librarian and self-appointed life of the party, after her parents disappeared three years ago. Longing for a bit of excitement, Skye has written a mystery novel, and after she leaves it on a library shelf one night – just to see what it would be like to have her very own book on the shelves – it disappears. At first Skye’s excited to have the chance to be a detective and solve a mystery. It’s not long, however, before it becomes apparent that someone is using her novel as a guide to committing crimes all over Seagulls Nest, and Skye is the only one who can stop them! Can Skye stop the criminal before they do real harm? And will she solve the biggest mystery of all: what really happened when her parents left town?
