The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

"Over the hills and along the blue sea, 'The lemons are ready!' shouts Farmer McPhee."

The farmer loves his lemons. The people love these lemons. They make sherbet, drinks, cookies, cakes, muffins and shakes. But one day a rogue lemon appears - it is red!

"Who'd squeeze this red thing in their afternoon tea? Who'd buy a red lemon from Farmer McPhee?"

Famer McPhee throws the red lemon over to a nearby island but as you your reading companion or library group might predict lemons (no matter what colour) contain seeds and so if the conditions are right then ...

Does this book have a deeper message about acceptance of difference; trust; risk taking; perfection, consumerism (look closely at all the advertising banners) - probably, but it will also just be a fun book to read to your young preschooler. You could also talk about the way something that was discarded turned into something special and there is a whole discussion you could have with older students about the fate of the original orchard or island. Here are a few discussion questions. It would be fantastic to copy the double page spread of the futuristic red lemon town to read all the advertising signs. The one that says McPhee Memorial Building might give you a slight chill. Hopefully if you can find this book you will agree it is one of those picture books that will work equally well with young children and your older primary group.

"The Red Lemon" tells the tale of jolly Farmer McPhee, a perfectionist who one day finds a red lemon, a freak of nature, in his pristine orchard. He hurls the offending fruit onto a nearby deserted island. Little does McPhee know that he has just planted the seed that, long after his own orchard has gone to weed, will be the foundation for the thriving tourist destination Red Lemon Island. We see the island 200 years in the future, complete with its own Air Red airline and Bitter End discothèque. Bob Staake

A quirky city has evolved with an economy based on these fabulously sweet red lemons, attracting people from all over the world. Kirkus

Here is the publisher blurb: In this thought-provoking tale reminiscent of Seuss, Farmer McPhee finds a red lemon in his orchard and cries, "It's red as a stop sign! It's red as a rose! I can't have red lemons where yellow fruit grows! Imagine a world where lemonade's red? Where once-yellow cupcakes are crimson instead?" As he tosses the red lemon across the water, he can't imagine that it will land on a small island, sprout a seed, and someday bring forth an orchard of lemon trees...where people will travel to from all over, to try the red lemons that are "six times as sweet!"

Here are some more books about lemons. 

Companion book:

And if you want to talk about planting things try to find this vintage book:

The Lollipop Tree

Here is another Bob Staake book I really loved:

The Book of Gold

I did a search for other books by Bob Staake and now I have added his name to my library borrowing list for next week.

General Waste by Michel Streich

When you pick up this book don't rush to open it. Spend a little time - stretch out the cover; touch the cover (it is embossed) and then stop and think about the meanings of the title. Now turn to the hectic end papers which are filled with - yes waste! Can you and your young reading companion or library group identify some of these objects - I see a toaster, clothing, toys, a hair dryer, plants, a stapler, a flower vase, a trombone, a bucket, several pots and pans, a toy dinosaur (at least I hope it's a toy), a arrow, a fish, chicken drumsticks, a spade, an electric toothbrush, a golf club, pliers, assorted cutlery, and so much more.

Turn the page to meet the man himself - General Waste. 

"He had a different toothbrush for every day of the week, six hairdryers, (and) his house was filled with a myriad of machines, power tools, widgets and contraptions. There were so many he could hardly remember what they were used for."

"Every day, General Waste took a very long shower, just for fun. He called it the 'hour of shower'."

General Waste lives on the top floor of the house - meanwhile on the bottom floor we meet Gram-Gram and she lives an opposite life.

"Gram-Gram saved every morsel of food, and she carefully stored leftovers in the fridge. She had a pantry ... filled with preserved vegetables, meats and fruits."

Gram-Gram rides her bicycle everywhere and she carefully mends her well worn clothes so they can last a lot longer.

An astute reader will know something has to happen - especially when we see the enormous pile of packaging in the yard and even more when General Waste himself is burried in all those boxes and packets. 

Luckily Gram-Gram is sensible, brave, and resourceful. She rescues the silly little man and then sets about showing him other ways of living. How to repair broken stuff, how to make new things from old stuff, how to cook, how to create, and how to grow a productive garden filled with food to share.

This book is didactic but it is also funny and wise and the illustrations are so lively. I think a class could find a lot to talk about on topics like consumerism, pollution, waste disposal, environmental action, packaging, and so on. 

Bookseller blurb: General Waste loves stuff! Wasting lots of stuff! He tosses away apples after one bite, he has hour-long showers, he must have the latest uniform fashion, and he rides around in a monster truck! He shares a house with Gram-Gram. She always saves her leftovers, does her own repairs and cycles everywhere! One day, when General Waste finds himself trapped under a mountain of his own stuff, Gram-Gram comes to the rescue ... General Waste is a hilarious tale about how to find joy in the simple things in life.

I picked up this book because I loved a precious book by Michel Streich. I also talked about The worst dog in the world.

Scary Bird

About Michel: I was born in the Westphalia region of Germany, where I grew up and studied visual communication and graphic design, specializing in illustration. After graduating, I moved to London and started my career as a freelance illustrator. Three years later, in 2000, I relocated to Australia, first basing myself in Sydney, and now in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney.

They Threw us Away by Daniel Kraus illustrated by Rovina Cai

Furrington Teddies DAMAGED MERCHANDISE

I am going to begin with some text quotes which might give you an idea about this story which some critics describe as a macabre fairy tale.

"Seeing a teddy move or talk might scare a person. That might make a teddy less likely to be chosen. And being chosen was all the teddies wanted."

"To a teddy, this was the meaning of free; being selected off the shelf, taken home and embraced by a child."

"Forever Sleep would make all scares float away. Teddy rumour had it that Forever Sleep felt like a child's hug that never ended."

"He peeked down at his body. It was strange to see himself outside his dark box. But all his parts were where they should be. He pudgy teddy limbs. His round tummy. His blue teddy fur. A tag was sewed to the seam at his side. MY NAME IS BUDDY, it read. Seeing his name printed like that made Buddy feel stronger."

"Buddy's clean feet passed across all sorts of revolting rubbish. Soiled, wadded napkins. Pastic bags inhaling and exhaling with the breeze. Fast-food wrappers wounded with ketchup. Cotton swabs yellowed with earwax. Baggies of dog poop. Apple cores, banana pees, bread crusts. And water bottles by the billions."

"The fifty gulls had turned into one hundred. ... They were so close, Buddy could make out ghastly details. Wings curling like cutlasses. Black beaks and talons extending like needles. Merciless eyes sparkling like stolen gems."

"They were still thaumaturgic Furrington Teddies with Real Silk Hearts and So-So-Soft fur. But it was also true they were lost in a harsh world. What it is took days for children to find them? Or weeks? How long could teddies last on their own?"

"Buddy widened his gaze. Scattered amid gutted packaging were the remains of dozens of Furrintgon Teddies. They'd been torn to pieces."

If you explore these review comments you can read more about the plot of They Threw us Away. 

Reflective children will revel in this thought-provoking world. Kirkus Star review

Someone, or something, is behind all that’s happened to the teddies and I have a feeling the identity of who, or what, that is will be an exciting one to learn. Thoroughly Modern Reviewer

I often ruminate over what “horror” for children really is. The media refer to it as “mystery”. Is it the gothic, dark old haunted house atmosphere? Is it confronting the fear of the loss of loved ones, abandonment, or persecution? Awake at Midnight

Publisher blurb: Welcome to The Teddies Saga, a gripping new middle grade trilogy from New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Kraus and illustrator Rovina Cai. Buddy wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump, filled with a certain awareness: he’s a teddy bear; he spent time at a Store waiting for his future to begin; and he is meant for the loving arms of a child. Now he knows one more thing: Something has gone terribly wrong. Soon he finds other discarded teddies—Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. Though they aren’t sure how their luck soured, they all agree that they need to get back to the Store if they’re ever to fulfill their destinies. So, they embark on a perilous trek across the dump and into the outer world. With ravenous rats, screeching gulls, and a menacing world in front of them, the teddies will need to overcome insurmountable challenges to find their way home.

I do need to give a warning - nothing is resolved at the end of this book. I am heading off to find book two and book three because I desperately need to know about the fate of Buddy and his friends and I even more desperately need that all important 'Happy Ending'!!

I am so glad I read this book as an ebook because then I could highlight all the moving, poignant, and even disturbing passages. And I could make note of delicious words such as cockamamie, squirmy-wormy, and colour names such as chartreuse, verdigris, azure, amaranth, sinopia, feldgrau and amaranth. 

This book is disturbing yet somehow also compulsive reading. Take a look at the trailer from the publisher.  It is NOT a book for a young child which might be implied by the image of a teddy bear on the cover but it is a book that readers 11+ will find engrossing even though it is quite a violent and sinister story. You might think of Toy Story; Lord of the Flies; and Coraline. They Threw us away made me think of  Ollie's Odyssey.  I also thought about The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate diCamillo which I found oddly disturbing. The theme of identity and self discovery are also explored in Boot and The Last Human. 

Here are the next two books in the series:

The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers

Deep under the city there is a sinister workshop where Perfect Pets are made. Sometimes the experiments go wrong and so, in a remote part of the laboratory, there are a series of bell jars holding the failures. Barbabus is one of the failures. 

"He was half mouse, half elephant, and he had lived in the lab as long as he could remember."

The failed pets are fed by huge scary creatures in green rubber suits. None of the "pets" have ever been outside the lab but a small cockroach tells them stories each evening of green spaces, mountains and stars. Barnabus longs to feel the grass under his feet. Barnabus lives by the credo:

"Nothing is impossible."

He is determined to escape and so he bashes into the side of his bell jar until in finally cracks under the pressure of his screams. Barnabus sets all the other Failed Projects free and they all set off to escape their underground prison. This process takes team work and hope but all twenty-two of them, plus one extra surprising friend, do find their freedom and that all important happy ending.

This is a story about identity, determination, teamwork, consumerism, and hopes and dreams.

This book was written for all the misfits, artists and dreamers out there. The Fan Brothers Facebook

Barnabus wonders:

"He wasn't fluffy enough, and his eyes were beady, but he liked himself just the way he was. And what if, after he was recycled, peanuts and cheese were no longer his favourite foods? What if his friends didn't recognise him after? What if he no longer cared about green trees and mountains lit with their own stars?"

When I first saw this in a local bookshop I knew I wanted to read it but the hardcover price was well above my book budget. Luckily this book is now available in paperback for well under AUS$20 which is wonderful for a larger format book with way more than 32 pages. This book should be added to every Primary school library - and shared widely with students and staff - it is fabulous!

The book design here is simply perfect. Take your time to linger over the front and back end papers, the title page and the final illustration on the author bio page. Think about the graph paper that is included and the paperclips. You can see inside this book here.  In this video (Moon Lane TV) you can see Eric drawing some of the characters. You could share this 19 minute video with an art class or a group of older students. And here is a video reading by Eric, Terry and Devin Fan. 

This epic tale of escape and liberation, set in a clandestine underground lab producing genetically engineered Perfect Pets, stars courageous Barnabus, half mouse, half elephant ...A heartfelt, timely allegory celebrating diversity, bravery, and solidarity.   Kirkus Star review

In the Fan brothers’ hands, the result feels like a happy amalgam of Jules Verne, Maurice Sendak, the Moomins, and Monsters, Inc. Quill and Quire

This book is a visual feast.  And the story? It is dream-like science fiction in picture book form. Jilanne Hoffmann

‘In a world built for Perfect Pets, half-mouse half-elephant Barnabus is a Failed Project who dreams of freedom. Shaun Tan meets “Toy Story”’ — The Bookseller

Awards:

• 2020 Governor General's Award for Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books.
• The 2021 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.
• Nominated for the 2022 Kate Greenaway Medal.
• The 2021 Le Prix Ficelle, category age 6-7.
• 2021 Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Awards, Shining Willow Award.
• 2020-2021 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award.
• 2021-2022 Vermont Red Clover Book Award.
• The 2022 Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award.
• The Surrey School’s Picture Book of the Year (for primary readers).
• A Kirkus “Best Books of 2020.”
• Chicago Public Library “Best Books of 2020.”
• 2021 Bologna Book Fair Finalist.

I just finished reading a novel for older readers -  They Threw us Away by Daniel Kraus. It was a harrowing book to read but it has a similar theme of rejected toys, identity, value and consumerism. Thankfully The Barnabus Project has a joyous happy ending. I need to read the two sequels to They Thew us Away in the hope this more complex senior novel also has a "they all lived happily ever after" conclusion. I will talk about They Threw us Away over the coming days. 

This book reminded me of The Adventures of Beekle. 

I guess you could link The Barnabus Project with the Toy Story movie series. I would also look for these:

Ruby and Little Joe

Who are you Stripy Horse?

Eight

Teddy & Co. 

If you are reading The Barbabus Project book with an older child try to find Boot which is also about a failed project - in this case a robot. 

Boot

Red and the City by Marie Voigt

Red sets off with her dog Woody to take a cake to grandmother. Her mother tells Red to 

"Follow the heart flowers; take care with crossing the road; stay on the path; and don't talk to strangers."

If you know the original story of Little Red Riding Hood you will anticipate that things will go wrong but this is a modern retelling with mobile phones and a city to cross not a forest but of course the big bad wolf is hovering over every scene.

As with all good fairy tales there is a happy ending but it is very different from the one you will remember from the traditional tale.

This would be a fabulous book to share with a group of older children because you could discuss consumerism. If you collect fractured fairy tales this book is a must add to your collection. The graphic black and white illustrations with spots of red are very appealing. This debut picture book was first published in 2018 and was short listed for the Klaus Flugge Prize in 2019. Here is the web site for Marie Voigt.

The colour palette of greys, black and white is so dystopian and the effect is stunning. It isn’t scary, but like a fairy-tale, there is a hint of darkness at the edges. Little Red, in her bright coat, is in danger of being lost to the enormity of the city.  Book Murmuration

The Callers by Kiah Thomas

"Everything I have ever known is a lie,' said Quin, finally admitting out loud the truth that had been building inside him since he'd arrived."

"His heart beat faster as they neared the field from earlier, and he quickened his pace. On one level he understood that his being Vine-touched was an impossibility, but on the other hand he seemed to have grown a plant simply by touching it."

I am going to begin here by restating the labels I have listed for this book - Science Fiction; Dystopian World; Control; Politics; Betrayal; Corruption; Thieves; Other Worlds; Consumerism; Exploitation.  Are you beginning to get a sense of this story. Some reviewers and book sellers list this book as a fantasy but I think Science Fiction is a better choice of genre. 

In the world of Quintus Octavius, a place called Elipsom, very special people have the gift of calling. If they want something they can "call" it into existence.  There are rules about this but everything they have comes from calling. In this society there are people who do not agree with this way of life. These people live as outcasts in the Spurges. Quin has read a little about this place because one day his friend Milo just disappeared from school. Quin now knows people who "move to the Spurges and willingly live a life without Called Provisions" have all their data removed from the Council's system. They give up access to the food supply and central medical services.

So we have a stratified society but there is another layer to discover. On the other side of this planet is a place called Evantra. This is the place where things actually "come" from and the people who live there are almost like slaves under control of Callers from Elipsom. 

Quin finds himself in Evantra and he discovers the truth but why is he so special? What can one young boy do to right this dreadful wrong? 

I read this book in one sitting - it is the perfect page turner. I absolutely guarantee you will be sitting on the edge of your seat and when the action takes a huge twist in Chapter 16 you will be gasping for breath hoping everything will be okay for Quin and Allie. (I confess I actually had to take a quick look at the last page just to reassure myself ... well I won't spoil the ending).

As a bonus Kiah Thomas (this is her debut novel) gives all her characters creative names which perfectly match the Science Fiction focus of this story. In Elipson we have Davina - Quin's sister; Adriana Octavius - Quins mother and Chief Councillor. Milo Valerious and his mother Cecelia live away from Elipson in the Spurges. And in Evantra we meet Allie; Marcus; and Demetrius. I am also very keen to see a rhinodrite but you will need to read The Callers to discover what they are.

The action will keep readers avidly turning pages ... Kirkus

This book will be published in May, 2022.  Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy. The ending hints at a possible sequel but I actually don't need this - it is just fun to imagine the new and much better future that awaits Quin and Allie. I have included the UK and US covers at the top of this post. Which one do you prefer?

This book reminded me a little of the Edsel Grizzler series by James Roy.  

People who enjoyed The Giver by Lois Lowry will want to read The Callers and you could also look for this older book by Monica Hughes:

And this book could also be linked with:

And if topics like control, stratified societies and dystopian worlds interest you try to find:

Where the River runs Gold

When the Moon forgot by Jimmy Lao translated by Sarah L Thomson

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the definition of a Picture Book (I am working as a judge for our CBCA Book of the Year awards - Picture Book of the Year). In essence a picture book should be a marriage of words and illustrations. Some people might say the length of the book could be a criteria but I disagree. This book - When the Moon forgot has 80 pages - and yes it most certainly is a picture book. So length is not a relevant criteria.

Here are the Caldecott criteria which define a picture book (Horn Book Magazine)

A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.

A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen and picture books for this entire age range are to be considered.

The visual text is essential to the understanding of the message: it clarifies, complements, extends or sometimes even takes the place of the verbal text. Pepelt

I think when the Moon forgot is a simply perfect picture book. The first six pages are wordless. We see something in a small pond. The young boy scoops it out with his butterfly net and he rushes home. Meanwhile people are beginning to see the effect of the missing moon - the tides don't change and the night sky is dark.  A rocket that was heading to the moon is now lost in space. 

People everywhere are worried so someone (could it be the government or an opportunistic manufacturer?) decide to make replacement moons - hundreds of them. Everyone buys one and now no one is afraid. Including a replacement moon into daily life and into children's games becomes the norm. 

But what of the boy who found the real moon? The boy and his new friend also play together and enjoy amazing adventures but it is clear one day the moon must return to his home in the sky. Meanwhile those substitute moons are now being discarded and other fads take over. 

"People don't seem to love their moons anymore. They toss them away. The weather gets stranger and stranger. One warm day, the sky fills with snow. Old moons pile up on street corners. The boy dreams that monsters are lurking down alleys and hiding in sewers. It feels like everything in the world has been abandoned. Is there anyone who can help?"

We follow the events over eight wordless pages until something magical happens and we reach a sweet and very satisfying ending. Now you need to go back and read this book again because there are messages here about consumerism, absent parents, friendship, imagination, care and responsibility, courage and persistence. 

This is a translated picture book from Taiwan. Here is the original title 月亮忘記了  Sadly this book from 2009 is now out of print. 

Jimmy Liao (Chinese: 廖福彬; pinyin: Liào Fúbīn, born November 15, 1958) is a Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. The name Jimmy is his English first name which brought about his (phonetic) Chinese pen name, 幾米.

I would pair this book with:

The Bear and the Moon

The Moon Keeper

The Boy who Loved the Moon

Here are two other truly special books by Jimmy Liao:

More by I.C. Springman illustrated by Brian Lies

When is more more than enough?

This book has 45 words! Read it and then count the words. Now marvel that this is a powerful story. In just 45 words IC Springman and Brian Lies present a message for our times. Do we really need 'more'? Can we get by with 'less'? If we had 'less' would we be happier?

Magpie is given a marble by Mouse. He places it in his nest and while it looks good perhaps more things would make the nest look even better so he sets out to collect more things - a coin, a lego block, keys, sunglasses ... more and more and more.

As you can see the illustrations are stunning but perhaps by this picture (below) Magpie really has too much stuff!

Magpie puts all of his treasures into his nest. Eventually it all comes crashing down to earth. Luckily a team of mice are close by and they assist the magpie with the important decision about which things he might keep.  In the end he only takes the shiny marble and a castle chess piece along with his new friend, the wise mouse.

Young readers not overwhelmed by the visual intensity will chant the minimal text; older ones will note questions about accumulation,materialism, friendship—and how to decide what’s meaningful. Kirkus

Lies' magnificent illustrations keep listeners glued to the page, and he includes just enough familiar items among the junk (a lego brick, a binky, a Tinker Toy, a toothbrush) that More almost reads like a seek-and-find book at times. Books4yourkids


You can read a series of review quotes about More on Brian Lies own web site. Take a look at Seven Impossibe Things where you can see some preliminary drawings for More.

The hardcover edition of this book was published in 2012 but I am happy to report there is a new paperback copy which has just been published - December 2019. I was interested to read scientists don't think Magpies actually do collect objects. If you want to read about a bird that really does collect things you might research our Australian Satin Bower Bird.

Image Source Birdwatching Daily, 4th October 2018

More was nominated for the 2013 Bull Bransom Award.  Here are the other contenders from that year. The winner was Oh, No! If you are looking for books to add to a school library collection I highly recommend the purchase of books that are nominated for this award - they are always treasures.