Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth by Lisa Nicol

"It was as if the air around the hotel was the colour of honey. 

Some dream-like brew of sunshine and hope."

Vincent inherits a shoe shine kit from his grandfather. It seems to contain magic because on the first day, when Vincent sets up his shoe shine business at the market, he is spotted by Florence and his life changes forever. Florence invites Vincent to work at her hotel - the Grandest Hotel on Earth.

Florence is eleven, like Vincent, but she has an important and demanding job. She is in charge of the Grandest Hotel on Earth. When you read about this hotel I guarantee you will be desperate to stay there. Everything is utterly amazing and wonderful.

Here are some examples:
Rooms for guests as suggested by Rupert the concierge
The Inflatable Room
The Sparkles Room
Room of the Unexpected
Winter Wonderland Room
The African sky Room
The Anti-gravity Room
Le Pomme Frites Chambre - a small sliding door in the wall opens and you are presented with hot chips over and over again!

Transport
Tiny porter ponies "no bigger than medium-sized dogs - with spectacular feathered head-dresses and rainbow tails."
Jet Pack
Llama
Hot air balloon - the best way to arrive at the hotel

Extras
Every guest is given a pocket dog - Vincent names his Min.
There is an island with a colony of sloths. Guests can attend a "find you inner sloth class" at three pm.
Bowling alley, an ice rink and a roller ring
Enjoy a room full of pillows
Hot springs and slopes to Ski
Hang gliding and parachuting

In so many ways the Grandest Hotel feels just like the magic of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but there is also a poignancy to this story.  For Florence this is the burden of running the hotel and awaiting the return of her parents. She is lonely and longs for a friend. But it is Vincent who has the most serious problems. Life at home is terribly hard. His four year old brother cannot speak and seems to constantly scream. Vincent's mother and father spend all their time coping with Thom and it is difficult for Vincent not to feel resentful. The only way to calm Thom is to play classical music. If you read this book be prepared to find musical examples such as Bach's Cello suite No.1 in G Major and Eric Satie's Gymnopedie No1. 

Can you see some links between Florence and Vincent? Yes they both need friends. Yes they both are burdened with adult responsibilities. Then we discover Florence wears beautiful emerald boots that play classical music and there are plenty of fresh eggs at the Grandest Hotel. I am sure you can see these connections too but of course things do not run entirely smoothly for Vincent. He discovers there is a room in the hotel called Mirrors of the Future. Vincent is desperate to discover the future especially in relation to Thom and his parents. Zelda (the classical pianist who entertains people inside the hotel lift) warns Vincent "we can undo some things Vincent, but we can never unsee them. Remember that."

Vincent does look in to the future room. Not just once but several times. My heart almost broke for Vincent as I watched him struggle with the impossible task, he now sets himself, of changing the future.

I have read other books about hotels but this is one of the best. If you read the Heartwood Hotel series and are ready for more advanced story then this is the book for you!

Other stories set in hotels for older readers include:

Withering-by-sea by Judith Rossell
Floors by Patrick Carman
The Fish in Room 11 by Heather Dyer
The Big Bazoohley by Peter Carey
Moles by Andrew Strong
Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Huge thanks to Beachside bookshop for my Advanced Reader Copy of Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth. This book will be available from 2nd July, 2019.

I give this book five out of five stars - yes it is THAT GOOD!

"Vast and soaring, the lobby was the most magnificently beautiful room he had ever stepped foot in. It was a seamless blend of inside and outside, a treasure chest of man and Mother Nature's finest ..."

Q Pootle 5 by Nick Butterworth

Tuesday Treasure

The start of this book is very noisy.

SSSSSSSSSSCCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEE 

KARUPMMP!

Q Pootle 5 has landed. He has crash landed. This is a disaster. Q Pootle 5 was on his way to a birthday party for his friend Z Pootle 6 and now he might be late. He needs a new rocket booster. The creatures on Earth are friendly but the green frog has no idea about this and neither do the birds. Then along comes a cat called Colin eating a tin of cat food. That tin is the perfect rocket booster.

"Q Pootle 5 climbs into his spaceship.
He presses the starter button, but nothing happens.
'Oh, beeebotherbootle!' says Q Pootle 5."

Colin sees the problem. He takes a spoon and pulls out a bit of dinner which is stuck in the bottom of the rocket booster. When you turn to the last page be prepared for a surprise.

I was so sad when I realised the Q Pootle 5 series had been culled from my former library but the good news is they are still in print. The titles are Q Pootle 5 in Space and Q Pootle 5 The great Space Race.  I have now discovered there is also a television series. The youngest children in your school library or pre-school will love meeting Q Pootle 5. Try to find a copy on your next library visit.

Watch Q Pootle Five on ABC (Australia) television: https://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/q-pootle-5/

There are 52 episodes

I have also discovered there are Q Pootle 5 toys. I need to add one of these to my collection.

Here are some other books illustrated by Nick Butterworth:

Jingle Bells

Albert Le Blanc

Trixie the witch's cat

Jasper's Beanstalk

Squidge Dibley destroys the School by Mick Elliott

This is story is a huge romp. Here is a quote from the publisher web site:

Things are going downhill fast for class 6PU at Craglands South Primary School. They've changed teachers more times than most kids change their socks, and their latest one is so strict they aren't even allowed to sneeze. But just when it seems like the school term has been turned into a prison term, a new kid arrives.

• A kid unlike any other kid at Craglands South
• A kid named Squidge Dibley
• He's small, quiet and strangely ... squidgy
• And he's about to change everything

Squidge Dibley destroys the school is the perfect book for a reluctant reader. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments. Vice Principal Hoovesly is wonderfully despicable character. Padman is an excellent narrator and Squidge, even though we don't hear from him directly, is a kid you might not want in your class unless your class is as bad and unlucky with their teacher as 6PU. The things he can do will amaze you.

I would follow this book with a couple of old titles which might be in your school Why I hate School by Michael Fatarsky (Kris Stanhope) and Problem Child by James Roy. If you enjoy books by David Walliams you should look for the Squidge Dibley series.

Take a look at Mick's web site. I was excited to see he mentions The Mysterious Benedict Society.

This book will be available on 25th June.  Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advanced reader copy.

Where the river runs gold by Sita Brahmachari

Shifa - the one who heals ...

There are scenes near the beginning of this book that I found so horrifying I just had to stop reading and take a breath. In this world of the future, society is completely stratified. Citizens are divided into Paragons, Freedoms and Outlanders. The rich, called Paragons, live almost obscenely opulent lives while the poor live in fear of the authorities in Kairos City.  There are optical eye checking points all over the city. Someone is always watching you.

Shifa has decided to sell her hair so she can leave some money for her father when she, and her brother Themba, leave to work in long hot polytunnels at the pollination farm. The siblings will have no contact with Nabil for the next five years. Shifa goes to a shop called Agora Hairtakers. She has to remove all her clothing and take a shower. Her clothes are taken away and steam cleaned. When she emerges from the shower her daisy dress is returned to her and it is now sparkling clean. Shifa sits in a seat and the hairtaker:

"opened her sharp metal shears. Shifa held her breath and was unable to stop the flow of tears as Nita made a clean sheer cut at the nape of her neck. She caught the length of hair in a pouch-like contraption attached to the chair."

Shifa is paid four hundred and sixty groits. But later she sees hair just like hers for sale for 1,000 groits. "With the groits she had in her pocket she wouldn't even be able to buy a quarter of her own hair."

So much happens in this story and working at the Freedom Farm is every bit as horrible as I anticipated. When the children arrive their palms are tattooed with a unique sunflower, their finger nails are treated (but Shifa bites her nails so this procedure is wretched) and the children are taken to have their eyes changed. The machine is called an Eyequaliser.

"Shifa felt the spherical orb inside the Eyequaliser pincer her lids open, as a jelly like substance shot into her eyes. ... Sifa glanced down at the tattoo on her hand. How she could pick out every coded seed dot in the centre of the sunflower. She peered into the distance, but the survivor tree had grown fuzzy, shimmering like a mirage on the horizon."

The children's eyes are changed because they need to be able to see very find details when they work pollinating many different flowers. This procedure is especially terrible for Themba and while Shifa wants to help, she finds she can no longer protect her precious brother from the horrors that continue to unfold.

Where the River runs gold will be published in July 2019. I highly recommend this book for senior primary and junior high school students. I do hope this book reaches a wide audience. You can read more plot details on the publisher web site. On her web site Sita talks about the inspiration for her story. She other books by Sita on the Love Reading 4 kids site.

I would follow this book with How to Bee which also explores the idea of our future world without bees.  It would be interesting to compare the idea of children as pollinators and to consider which plants are considered important. In How to Bee it is fruit trees and in Where the river runs gold the children pollinate flowers for the rich people to enjoy. The idea of exploiting children for this unnecessary luxury adds to the power of this dystopian story.

What sort of day? by Sally Heinrich

Tuesday Treasure

It simply wasn't a spotty sort of day

It simply wasn't a white sort of day

It simply wasn't a green sort of day

In the past our Kindergarten classes used to begin their year with a colour theme. What sort of Day was a splendid text for this topic. What Sort of Day was published in 1997 and so is sadly out of print. Do you remember the success of Animalia? What Sort of Day follows this same format where you can hunt for objects on every page. The ideas in the illustrations made me smile and there are so many things with a truly Australian flavour.

Here are some highlights or things to look for:

White - flour, rice, white rabbit, Sydney Opera House and great white shark.
Black - ransom note (blackmail), black forest cake, Vegemite and four and twenty blackbirds in a pie.

Yellow - submarine, van Gogh Sunflowers, yellow pages phone book, Goldilocks, sulphur crested cockatoo, hibiscus and lemon meringue pie.
Green - St Patrick's Day, kiwi fruit, greenback (money), ten green bottles and a golf putting green.
Red - dynamite, poinsettia flower, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, a waratah and Uluru.
Purple - red and blue paint mixed, Purple People Eater record and pulling a plum out of the pie.
Blue - willow pattern plate, blue print plans, little boy blue, blue heeler dog and Bluebeard.
Pink - calamine lotion, pinking shears, iced vovo biscuit, musk sticks, and a pink galah.

You also need to keep your eye out for the chameleon who is hiding in every picture and the teddy bear who adapts his own costume to match with every clothing change.

Along with hunting for things that match each colour and pattern and talking about all the treasures in each illustration there are so many delightful words in this book:

White dress - it made her feel clean and fresh, and very well behaved
Black Jeans and T-shirt - they made her feel powerful and strong, ready for anything.
Green suit - it made her feel peaceful and secure, and full of life.
Red swirly skirt - it made her feel confident and excited, and just a little bit naughty.
Purple velvet pinafore - it made her feel dignified and wise, like a queen.
Long blue dress - it made her feel cool, calm and clever.
Pink overalls - they made her feel pretty and optimistic, and just a little rebellious.

When you read to a child you add to their vocabulary and this is so important. Read the research here. Look at the special words in the examples above - powerful, secure, dignified, wise, optimistic and rebellious.

Here is the yellow page from Sally Heinrich's web site.

If you want to explore more ideas around colours make sure you look for this famous poetry book Hailstones and Halibut bones. Here is the new cover:

Here is a more recent piece of art from Sally Heinrich. I think you can see her fascination with colours and objects has continued.

In 2019 Sally designed the South Australian Premier's Reading Challenge poster:

On her Facebook page Sally posted this memory collage of pages from What sort of day?

Other books by South Australian illustrator Sally Heinrich include Papa Sky (Jane Jolly), One Step at a time (Jane Jolly) and The Most Beautiful Lantern.  Another old book which you might find in a school library with a number focus is her book Cherry Stones.

Motor Bill and the Lovely Caroline by Jenny Wagner illustrated by Ron Brooks

Tuesday Treasure

"When they got to the country they found a place where the grass was short and soft, beside a creek where they could cool their feet. They ate currant buns, cinnamon tarts, pies, peanut brittle and oranges and plums, and drank ginger beer."

I love these words and the pastel scene that accompanies them. The marvel of this book, for me, comes from the artistic interpretation by Ron Brooks. I imagine Jenny Wagner sending her words on a simple piece of paper, perhaps in a letter:

Bill had a car.
He was the only person in his street who did.
And because he didn't go to work, and spent all day playing in his garden, and because he couldn't tie a bow, nobody believed his car was real.
That's why they called him Motor Bill.

How does Ron Brooks interpret these words?
In his book Drawn from the Heart Ron explains he loved this text by Jenny Wagner especially these first lines.
Bill is a donkey. Why?
There are more details about this below.
We see a human family walking beside his flowering hedge in a beautiful rural setting.
His car is a box with straps and Bill powers his car with his feet.

Ron says, in his book Drawn from the heart, "When you think about it, isn't it odd that some one (who) has a car, must surely be an adult, yet can't tie a bow?"

How did Ron come to think of a donkey. Jenny Wagner suggested Bill was a boy between sixteen and twenty-four. Ron's publisher thought Bill was a boy aged around six or seven.  These ideas didn't sit comfortably with Ron and nor did the idea that Bill was intellectually challenged. Then Ron saw this book by Emma Chichester Clark which features three young donkeys:

Ron also thought about the young donkey from the bible story and so it was settled Bill would be a donkey but what about Caroline. "Caroline is just a little more knowing, a little more worldly than Bill, and she has pluck, cheek and courage ... " He decided to make Caroline a goat.

"Motor Bill is not just a story about acceptance of 'difference' in another ... It is an extraordinarily tender story about openness and generosity, about love and trust; an exquisitely written text about recognition - about recognising genuine specialness of any kind in another, embracing, celebrating and sharing in it." Drawn from the Heart, page 175  Ron goes on to say this is a book about imagination "the making power, the creative power, of love and imagination."

You may have met the combination of Jenny Wagner and Ron Brooks in three of their previous (and famous) picture books:

Aranea : A story about a spider

The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek

Looking at these titles I hope you can see the importance of keeping an older book such as Motor Bill and the Lovely Caroline which was published in 1994. It is interesting to note that just one year later Ron's book Old Pig (Margaret Wild) was short-listed for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year award. When you place these two books, Old Pig and Motor Bill and the Lovely Caroline, side by side there are so many similarities to share with an older group of students who are exploring visual literacy.

The adventures of Harry Stevenson by Ali Pye

Do you remember the scene in Toy Story when Woody is left behind and the family drive off in their car? Woody and the other toys chase the car and find a way to leap aboard?  Something similar happens to Harry Stevenson.  Harry Stevenson is a guinea pig. He lives with Billy Smith and his parents.  Billy loves Harry Stevenson and he always makes sure Harry Stevenson has delicious food, fresh water and a comfortable home. Life is good but things are about to change. Billy and his parents are moving to a new house. Harry Stevenson is coming too but there is an accident and he is left behind. While the car is being packed Harry Stevenson is placed outside! Outside is a new world for Harry Stevenson. He spies a delicious dandelion. His cage is not locked. Harry Stevenson steps out of his cage and no one notices he is missing when the family pack his cage into the car. This is a disaster.

What follows is a wild and amazing adventure involving a bicycle basket, a shaggy dog and a pizza box. I am certain that the happy ending will surprise you!

In the second story Harry Stevenson gets tangled in some helium birthday party balloons. He lands in the middle of a stadium. It is the day of the soccer grand final and his favourite team, Sparky FC, are on the field. Can a little guinea pig assist with this important match? Of course he can.

If you need a laugh and a short book which you could read over a week or two The Adventures of Harry Stevenson is THE book for you! It contains two stories and each have ten chapters. This book will be available on 1st July and I highly recommend it. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy.

If you enjoy books about guinea pigs there are plenty I can recommend including The World According to Humphrey and sequels,  Tales of Olga da Polga and these books suggested by my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything.

Harry is a lovely and warm character, and we immediately get to like him. He has no superpowers beyond understanding Billy Smith his owner, and being able to read the sports pages that get left to line his cage. But the fun is to be had from the outstandingly unusual scrapes that he ends up in. And I think they're so fun that I've never enjoyed a book this highly unlikely and implausible this much before. The Book Bag

Margaret Power illustrator 1953-2019

Margaret was a wonderful draftsperson who worked with a gentle realism, depicting the humanness of people and the animalness of creatures with amazing accuracy and sensitivity - particularly horses and cats which she knew well and loved passionately. Books Illustrated

I well remember reading Creatures in the Beard (Margaret Wild) in 1987 when it was shortlisted for Picture Book of the Year by the CBCA. Then in 1988 we had another book illustrated by Margaret Power - The Long Red Scarf (Nette Hilton) and one of my wonderful class teachers volunteered to knit us a very very very long red scarf which everyone loved to drape around our school library.

Margaret Power was also the illustrator of several titles in the Aussie Bites/Nibbles series which you can see here. I just talked about Christobel Mattingley who also died this week. Here is an interview with Margaret from 2013 about Oliver's Egg.

Here are some other older titles and book covers illustrated by Margaret Power:

Here is some more recent work by Margaret Power:

I remember titles like Spider in the toilet by Edel Wignell, And Grandad sat on Friday by Val Marshall, Daisy Drew and elephant by Michael Dugan and The Ghost in Abigail Terrace by Robin Klein. Finally here is a PM reader which may look familiar.

The story of Chicken Licken by Jan Ormerod

Tuesday Treasure

When it was published (1985) this book was quite revolutionary (it was on the CBCA short list in 1986). There are three participants - the kids on stage performing a play of Chicken Licken, the audience of parents some of whom fall asleep and the reader who is observing everything.  It is a story within a story within a story. When you share this book with a child you need to read the book right through several times because there is so much to see. Initially there is the classic folk tale of Chicken Licken, the little hen who thinks the sky is falling. This story is also called Chicken Little or Henny Penny. Perhaps you could compare this version with some others:

Then there is the story of the audience of mums and dads and siblings who are watching the play. One story thread is shown here. You also get a glimpse of the layout - stage in full colour, audience in silhouette. There is a baby in a basket which is behind the seats. The baby is supposedly asleep but watch what happens as we turn each page:

If The Story of Chicken Licken is in your school library please treasure it and share it with a group of young children. Everyone will be richer for this shared experience.

I was surprised and delighted to discover The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsy is based on the Tibetan version of this folk tale.

Jan Ormerod (1946-2013) is the author of one of my most treasured books - Sunshine.

Here is a quote from Jan Omerod:

"My task as a visual storyteller is to observe, record and edit. Some images go straight from life into a book. Most need to be carefully sifted, reinvented, reorganized. Telling a story with words and pictures is a little like watching a movie, then selecting the evocative moment, like a still taken from a film. I need to capture the moment that has clarity and simplicity, invites empathy, and allows the reader to bring her own knowledge to that moment, to enrich it and develop it according to her own life experiences."