You're Too Little by Katie Stewart

You have big eyes to see in the dark.

You have strong paws to hold on.

And you have a super special tail.

You have want it takes. Why not give it a go?

Bookseller blurb: Pygmy Possum wants to climb far, far up into the trees to taste the sweet blossom nectar. But everyone keeps telling her the same thing- 'It's very high. You're too little. You might fall.' Are they right, or will she find a way? This is a gentle tale of believing in yourself in the face of others' doubt and recognising your own strengths.

The main character in this story of bravery and confidence is a Western Pygmy Possum. Here is a photo:

Image source: Australian Geographic

Books with a repeated refrain are perfect for preschoolers either to read beside your own child or with a group. I like the way the Australian animals in this book really look like real animals and also the choices of animals are perfect because many of these will be less well known to young readers and so might spark some curiosity. 

Image Source: WA Museum

Katie Stewart reads her book in this video. Here are the teaching notes from the publisher. As background reading for teachers or if you set a research task for older students you might like to read more about each of the Australian animals in this story:

• Western Pygmy Possum
• Numbat
• Brushtail Possum
• Gecko
• Weebill

This is a Weebill - I had not heard of this bird

Image Source: Birdlife

This is a gentle tale of believing in yourself in the face of others’ doubt and recognising your own strengths, to have faith in yourself regardless of others’ opinions and develop resilience, perseverance and that inner strength that allows risk-taking as well as dealing with success and failure. The Bottom Shelf

Thanks to Fremantle Press for sending me a copy of this book which was published on 29th July 2025. This book reminded me a little of Puffling. If you are talking about growing up, confidence, perseverance, self belief and 'the right time' you could read these two books side by side.

The story is set at night because these animals are nocturnal but that gives rise to my only tiny criticism of this book - I found myself wanting a break from the strong saturated blue of the night sky which is used on every page. 

This book is part of a series:

Katie Stewart is an author and illustrator. Born in the north of England, she came to Australia at the age of nine. She started her working life as an archaeologist and ethnohistorian, went on to teaching and then to being a mother. She later worked in a school library, but her lifelong dream was to be what she is now. She is married to a farmer, has three children, and her great love of animals means she has a lot of pets and takes lots of nature photos. In her spare time, she tries to play the harp or wanders the countryside with a metal detector amusing the neighbours and occasionally finding an interesting piece of history. Her books have been shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year (2020 and 2021) and shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards (2022).

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Tooth Fairy by Briony Stewart

The full title of this book is:

Everything you need to know about the tooth fairy 
(and somethings you didn't)

Begin with the cover. Briony Stewart is a master of movement. Go back and look at her book Gymnastica Fantastica. I love the way the magic is swirling around on this cover and you can almost hear those little sparkles. Now turn to the tooth filled end papers - these really set up the early statistics quoted by Briony:

"Every single minute of every single day, a child somewhere loses a baby tooth. In fact if you put all the children of the world together, they are losing more than 200 teeth a minute - that's 300,000 teeth every day!"

Each page in this book poses and answers an important tooth fairy question such as these (but there are more):

• What's a tooth fairy?
• What do they do with the teeth?
• Why do tooth fairies like children's teeth?
• How do they take your tooth?
• Where do tooth fairies live?
• What happens if I want to keep my tooth?
• Why does the tooth fairy leave different amounts of money? (or sometimes forget to come!)
• How do tooth fairies know when you've lost a tooth?

I am sure we will see this book listed as a 2025 CBCA Notable but will it be in Picture Book or Early Childhood or perhaps even Non Fiction? This book would be a terrific gift and I would also add it to a class mini unit about the tooth fairy. 

Here are some splendid teachers notes written by Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright and she has included a very extensive reading list with lots of picture books I certainly need to find and read.

Here are my own favourite tooth fairy books. All of these would be great to read alongside or after this new book by Briony Steward:

Oliver Sundew tooth fairy - 

this is long out of print but it is also one of my most favourite books to read aloud

The Tooth Fairy - this is wonderful wordless book

The tooth mouse

It's a Miroocool!

The Big Dreaming by Michael Rosen illustrated by Daniel Egneus

Following the pattern of the classic story 'Are you my mother?' Little Bear goes in search of dreams. 

"The cold was coming, and it was time to get ready for the Sleep - for bears sleep all winter long and wake in the spring. Little Bear was worried. 'Will I dream during the Sleep, Big Bear?'"

Yes, Litte Bear will dream - it is the Big Dreaming. But Little Bear is worried - what if he runs out of dreams. He decides to ask for help. 

"Do you have any spare dreams, for when we sleep, deep, deep?"

The squirrel shares a dream about happiness; the rabbit shares a dream about coming home safe; and the wolf shares a dream about always having hope.

Little Bear heads home and these dream ideas help him on his journey. The final words in this book, which is sure to become a classic, will melt your heart:

"Big Dreaming, Little Bear.' said Big Bear.

"Big Dreaming, Big Bear.' said Little Bear curling up next to him.

And so, they slept. And they dreamed ... and dreamed ... 

and dreamed  ... 

All the way to spring."

You already know the classic and very famous book by Michael Rosen We're going on a Bear Hunt. This new title (he is such a talent) is sure to be just a big a hit with your young reading companion or in your preschool. This book needs a huge sticker on the front cover with the word CLASSIC!!

This heart-warming picture book from renowned children’s writer Michael Rosen has all the elements of a modern bedtime classic. The familiar caregiver relationship between the two bears and the gentle, lyrical text make this a lovely one to snuggle up and enjoy with little ones before their own sleep. Themes of hope, perseverance and homecoming will be comforting to sleepy young listeners whilst the stunning illustrations capture the mood of the passing seasons.   Book Trust

In quiet harmony, the images and words of The Big Dreaming will console, comfort and give hope to any young bear from 3 years upwards. Just Imagine

I would pair this book with the Little Bear series by Martin Waddell beginning with this one:

You might also look for Little Cub by Olivier Dunrea.

Daniel Egneus is originally from Sweden now living in Athens. Look at his Instagram post about The Big Dreaming. And in this post he shares his preparatory sketches. 

I have previously talked about these books:

Raven Child and the Snow Witch

Lubna and Pebble

The Thing

The Starting School list by Kitty Black illustrated by Cate James

You’ll learn where the loos are, and all about bugs.

You’ll learn a sad friend could do with a hug.

You’ll learn the best spot for sand that is slushy.

You’ll learn that tomato makes sandwiches mushy.

School begins in just over a week and so this is a PERFECT book to share TODAY. 

If you have a new child starting to Kindergarten (big school) please try to find this book. 

I especially enjoyed following the story of the different children in the class room - watch out for the little boy who sits alone and then you will smile when he finally makes a friend. 

Here is the website for Cate James. I have talked about her work in a previous post. Here is an interview with the author Kitty Black. 

I do hope this book has been entered into our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) awards - in Early Childhood and if it has I expect to see it listed as a Notable title when they are announced on 27th February. It could/should even make the short list!

I have a Pinterest collection of Starting School books. 

If you share The Starting School list with an older child (maybe Grade 2 and up) it would be fun to compare the kindness of the older brother with the advice given in this book (1988 so out of print but it might be in a library).

Read aloud to your child every day!

 

Seven very important words - Read aloud to your child every day!

#readaloudtoyourchildeveryday 

Yesterday I went to a baby shower, and I was thrilled to see that the new mum-to-be was gifted several children's books (a big pile from me too, of course) including Mem Fox Time for Bed; books from the That's not my series; and Magic Beach by Alison Lester. The sister of the mum-to-be organised a Nursery Rhyme quiz but only the older family members and friends had any idea about these famous rhymes. I was pleased that I also gifted the new baby a large Nursery Rhyme book, but I do hope the young friends also discover these and read them aloud when they start their own family. 

See the full list of 81 titles here

Last week I read about this wonderful promotion by the CBCA in Tasmania. I am in awe of this idea and huge initiative. I am sure the CBCA in Tasmania are just a small organisation but they have created an eye-catching banner (and added my logo WOW). They are aiming to raise awareness far and wide about the vital importance of reading to children every day. I hope other branches of the CBCA take up this idea too!

Years ago, when I spoke to groups of new parents in my school I always shared a tiny book by Rosemary Wells and now I quote part of her text on every baby card.

Read to your bunny often,

It's twenty minutes of fun. 

It's twenty minutes of moonlight, 

And twenty minutes of sun. 

Twenty old-favorite minutes, 

Twenty minutes brand-new, 

Read to your bunny often, 

And . . . 

Your bunny will read to you.

"The Tasmanian Branch, Children’s Book Council of Australia, partnering with Toast for Kids Charity Inc., are proud to launch the national campaign “Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day”, a simple message encouraging parents, grandparents, siblings and carers to read to their children for their literary growth and education; investing in their future.

Recently released NAPLAN data (see ABC News report) showed that one in three school students throughout Australia are not meeting minimum numeracy and literacy expectations, and one in ten are so far behind they need additional support. Furthermore, over decades Tasmania continues to suffer from an illiteracy rate of 50%. Informed by these facts, we are championing our cause to develop a culture of “Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day”, locally, state-wide and nationally.

We are commencing a national campaign, reaching out to institutes, governments, schools, parent groups, agencies, not for profits, speech pathologists, writers’ groups, book and reading advocates, presenting the opportunity to partner with the effort, adopting and promoting the one message: 

“Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day”."

I have talked about this issue of reading to children in previous posts:

Can you see the ducks Mummy?

In that post I said: I dream of creating an advertising campaign where I share the importance of reading to and with children and the importance of talking to children and the importance of putting that phone away so parents, and other adults can pay attention to their child. I deeply worry about the generation of children who have been ignored while their parents give all of their focus to small screens. 

Reading to Preschoolers - five blog posts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Take a look at the ten read aloud commandments from Mem Fox (author of Possum Magic and Koala Lou and heaps of other wonderful books). 

Here is my former library slogan (I saw it in a Canadian elementary school in 1994):

Now for some books for parents. Many of the really good ones are sadly long out of print - Babies need books by Dorothy Butler; and Reading Magic by Mem Fox. These three are worth finding:

Read more here

Read my blog post about Raising Readers

I am including this even though I have not read it myself but the authors are very well respected. 

Everybody! by Elise Gravel

When discussing picture books it is important to understand that while the best examples of this form do, of course, contain text and pictures the real magic comes from the way these two are combined - especially when the illustrations take the reader way beyond the text. In the best books the relationship between text and illustrations is a symbiotic one. The illustrations depend on the text and the text is enriched by the illustrations.  

In Everybody the text when viewed in isolation does contain deep ideas expressed in a simple way:

"Everybody is unique and different. But we are more similar than we think. Everybody has fears. Everybody has moments of joy and moments of sadness. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody can learn from them."

But when you open this book each page is filled with humour and pathos. 

The book serves to reassure children they are not alone and that what they might be experiencing is widely shared by others or rather, EVERYBODY. As well, an important element of Everybody!, while not overt, is reinforcing in children the need to respect others. From the opening page to the end, the book is uplifting, cheerful, and encouraging, but the subject matter has a serious intent. Canadian Review of Materials

Who is everybody? Elise Gravel gives her readers a huge range of the every bodies. Different sizes, shapes, colours and personalities. You can see some of them on the front cover above and in this illustration: 

Image Source: Scholastic Canada 

I dare you to share the book trailer for Everybody with your library group - it is very funny (and slightly rude). One of my favourite pages is when we see one of the characters reading a book (on the toilet) and then we discover it's a real book also by Elise Gravel:

The two covers above are the editions available here in Australia (top) and the US edition. 

 I do hope you are familiar with the unique and brilliant work of Canadian illustrator Elise Gravel. I highly recommend adding some of her books to your library or home book collection and you could also look for books by Elise Gravel in your local library. Read more about Elise here. 

Here is my post about The Worm

This is a new book due out later this year

These are some Board Books by Elise Gravel