Muttonfish Magic by Aunty Ruth Simms, Lucy Robertson and Jasmine Seymour

"These are true stories from my lived memory in my mother's language, as well as the memories of my sisters and brothers ... They are stories from a different time, and from a place significant to all Australians." Aunty Ruth Simms

Publisher blurb: Aunty Ruth remembers going with her mother and brothers on a day out to the cove near their home, to learn traditional fishing and abalone hunting and cooking methods. After a day on the rocks watching mum work her magic, they return home with a feed for their family.

There are two text lines in this book that really resonated with me:

"We filled our pram with just enough muttonfish for a family meal ... "

This is the essence of sustainability surely. They only took what the family needed.

"No plaque marks our fishing spot or spills our secrets. We remember."

These simple words are a powerful way to talk to the children in your family and library about the importance of shared stories, shared culture, wisdom of the elders, and community memories. 

This book should be an essential addition to your school library.

Dharug woman and Prime Minister’s Literary Award winner Jasmine Seymour accentuates the family’s bond through illustrations that radiate warmth and connection. Her expressive depictions of family interactions, combined with luminous land and waterscapes and meticulous renderings of local flora, deepen the book’s sense of place and belonging. Primary school-aged readers familiar with Seymour’s Open Your Heart to Country and Lisa Kennedy’s books will appreciate Muttonfish Magic. It is an impressive picture book that should receive critical acclaim and wide educational use. Joy Lawn Books and Publishing

Thanks to Magabala Books for my advance copy of Muttonfish Magic which will be published this week.

When you share this book in your library, please talk about Aunty Ruth Simms and explain that this story comes from her lived experience. You could find a map of the La Perouse area and talk about the way the kids and their mother walked across a golf course. You will also need to look at pictures of muttonfish (abalone) and muckendy (rock cod). Other names for abalone are: Sea Ears, Ear Shells, Muttons Shells, Muttonfish, Pāua, and Ormer. Here is a video from the ABC you could share with your older students. 

Muttonfish (abalone)

Read more about Red Rock Cod here

You might compare this photo with the wonderful illustration by Jasmine Seymour

Better Read Kids are hosting an event for this book on 21st February 2026.

It would be good to also read Going Fishing with Nana. I would also share Going for Pippies and Three Dresses. 

Aunty Ruth Simms was born on The Reserve in La Perouse in 1941 as one of nine children. She grew up with a strong connection to both Larpa and Jerrinja cultures. From a young age she learnt about traditional bush foods, language and medicines and went to sleep on ‘goonjarn’ stories (ancient spirit stories). Today, Ruth lives in Nowra with her daughter Trudy and works as an Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO) in local primary schools. She has a Diploma of Education and is passionate about embedding Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. She is currently the longest serving AEO at the NSW Department of Education and remains a strong advocate for her people. In 2012, Aunty Ruth was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her contributions to education.

Lucy Robertson is a primary school Teacher Librarian and has always been passionate about good stories. She grew up on a vineyard and winery in Mudgee before studying journalism and creative writing, later completing an education degree after a move to the South Coast surfing village of Culburra Beach. When Lucy first started working with Aunty Ruth, she was struck by her beautiful stories of fishing, crabbing and shell work with her family in La Perouse and ‘The Dock’ in Orient Point, eventually convincing her to start writing them down for future generations.

Jasmine Seymour is a Dharug woman and descendant of Maria Lock, who was the daughter of Yarramundi, the Boorooberongal elder who had met Governor Phillip on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in 1791. Maria was the first Aboriginal woman to be educated by the Blacktown Native Institute. She was married to carpenter and convict, Robert Lock and their union resulted in thousands of descendants who can all trace their Dharug heritage back past Yarramundi. Jasmine is a member of the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation.

Baby Business

Here is an interview with Jasmine Seymour about this book

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden

The chapters in this book alternate between four voices and cover the time from April 30th to May 21st. 

Who are these kids?

Libby lives in Vermont. She sees the world through colours and creates her own equilibrium through art and using coloured pencils. Her school does not appreciate her art especially when she paints a whole wall at her Middle School. Libby lives with her mother and angry father. Her mother has no understanding of Libby and in one dreadful scene she confiscates all of Libby's pencils and art supplies. 

Maybe things would be easier if I could do a better job of staying closed-up. Like if I didn’t wear my yellow polka-dot sweatshirt all the time. Maybe then Danielle wouldn’t have teased me, and I wouldn’t have lost my temper and punched her, and I’d still be on the softball team.

Vincent lives in Seattle with his mum. He is probably on the Autism spectrum. He loves quirky clothes, tucking in his shirt, triangles and puffins including a breakfast cereal called Puffins. Because he is different he is very badly bullied at school but the reasons or motivations for this are a deep puzzle for Vincent.

I take out the shirt and look at it closely. There’s a little embroidered emblem of a bird on the top right. It’s a puffin. Like the bird on the cereal box that my mom gets. And its beak has some fabulous triangle action going on. Katherine Johnson would approve. I pull on the shirt and button it up. I guess I’ve grown, because it’s super snug. But it feels good, ...

Jack also lives in Vermont. Spoiler alert - we don't know how but Jack's younger brother has died recently. Jack goes to a very small school which has just two teachers. A officious lade arrives at the school to inspect their compliance with rules such as bathroom facilities. Jack has been taught in this school to think and to act so he starts a petition to save his school and then he speaks at the local school board meeting. Unfortunately his message is interpreted completely wrongly and then social media takes over.

The school might have to close? It can’t. Next year is my eighth-grade year. How could I spend it somewhere else? And what would happen to all of us? Just farmed out to a bunch of different schools in the valley, where all the students think they’re better than hicks like us?

T is a homeless non binary youth living on the streets of Seattle with their dog. These chapters are brief and told in verse.

From these descriptions you can probably guess these kids need help and hope. Libby is given some small index cards. She writes "you are amazing" on the card with a picture of a dandelion. Decorating and writing on index cards is how it all starts. She hides her first card for a small boy who is crying outside the dentist. Then she makes more cards and even though she is grounded she sneaks out at night and puts her little cards in various places all over the town. 

I start to stick the index cards all over the place—in a window box outside the pharmacy; in the bike rack at the library; attached to an ATM; in the window of the art supply store; on the steps into the ice cream shops; on a bulletin board outside the senior center; and stuck into the hedge between the hardware store and the post office. Even if no one thinks to pick one up, at least they’re adding more flowers and sunshine to the world. That has to count for something.

Libby hears about a boy in Seattle who loves puffins but is having a hard time. She puts his address on the back of one of her index cards, adds a puffin stamp (I know this is a little contrived, but it made me smile) and she posts her card - it is going to Vincent. 

I talk (a lot) and think (a lot) about book covers. This book has a fabulous cover BUT it totally misled me. I assumed (wrongly) that this book would have a North American indigenous focus. I did not look closely enough - the wings of the puffin are filled with city buildings - US readers might recognise these places. You probably already know I am slightly obsessive about puffins so the title grabbed me right away. But this book is not really about puffins either although they are mentioned. 

You can hear the first chapters here. And you can read a chapter sample. You can see other books by Ann Braden here. If you need another viewpoint the Kirkus reviewer didn't like Flight of the Puffin. 

This is a story that is rich in truth, sadness, redemption, and possibilities. It is a wonderful book that I would recommend to teens, middle school and above, as it deals with bullying, gender issues, and family tragedy. Kathleen Palmieri

Vincent loves to eat this cereal - I wonder what it tastes like? The box has facts about puffins which Vincent reads over breakfast.

Flight of the Puffin is the March selection for an online Children's book group I follow on Facebook. I am fairly sure that without this group this book would have passed me by because I am not sure it ever arrived here in Australia and it was published in 2022 which means it will be hard to find. I read an ebook edition. I did find this copy from an Australian online bookseller. 

I love the idea of these index cards as a way to spread happiness. It made me think of Wishtree and also Stargirl.

Wishtree

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

She drops coins on the footpath (sidewalk) as a tiny way to give other kids moments of happiness

The Kindness Project

The Keeper of the Octopus by Neridah McMullin

"Every child in the village grew up hearing the tale. It was folklore. A long time ago a shark attacked a Portablow fishing boat as a it sailed up the river with its catch. A giant octopus who lived at the river mouth fought with the shark, saving the fisherfolk and their livelihood. And from then on, an octopus had always lived at the river mouth to protect the fisherfolk from sharks. At least that was the story."

Pippy lives with her elderly great uncle. She desperately misses her mother who has died recently and also longs to talk to her father, but he has headed away to sea and has been gone for nine months. It is clear Uncle Isaac who is caring for her now, is suffering from memory loss. It has begun to feel dangerous to sail with him, but Pippy needs to do this because Uncle Isaac, like all the people in this village, rely on fishing for their income.

The village is near a cove and decades ago there was a problem with shark attacks. Pippy is sure this is not the fault of the sharks but rather a symptom of things being out of balance. There has always been the story about an octopus but surely this is just a folktale. Young Pippy discovers it is her own mother who has been the Keeper of the Octopus but now that her mother is gone destiny determines Pippy herself must now feed, care for, and learn to communicate with Octavia. Uncle Isaac gives Pippy a special talisman, a stone that she wears around her neck. It glows and helps her know when Octavia is near. She also has the diary written by generations of her ancestors which tells her how to care for and recognise the moods of the octopus. 

Then three brothers arrive in the village. They appear at first to be fishermen but then they bring back an enormous catch with all sorts of precious sea creatures - way more than the town could ever need. Pippy knows this is a wrong and dangerous practice and then she hears one of the men talking about Octavia and so she knows this will be a race against time to keep Octavia safe and to convince the town authorities that the Calamary brothers are dangerous. 

As with all great stories there were moments in this book when I gasped, when I cheered, and when I sighed. One special character, apart from young Pippy who is wise beyond her years, is her friend Wally.

"Wally had been born with a deformed foot, a foot that turned inwards and downwards, worsening as he grew older, which meant he couldn't walk very fast nor go very far. Teased at school because of his limp, Wally stuttered a little when he spoke. He never said much. But he was a child who noticed things, small things."

And there is an element of magical realism because Pippy and her uncle live with a family brownie named Ferg. He tends to the house and the cooking. I loved his way of talking he always addresses her by saying - Pippy Cocklebiddy, daughter of Claudine and he uses words like bairn, Mither, orright, and nowt. He reminded me a little of Dobbie from the Harry Potter series. 

Here are a couple of text quotes:

"There were masses of bluefin tuna, black bream, tommy ruff and kingfish; hundreds of snapper, flathead, silver perch, and graylings; and many smaller good eating fish such as garfish, whiting, salmon and trevally. There were even parrot fish, which Pippy thought was odd because everyone knew they were inedible. Portablow fishers always tossed them back into the sea. The brother hauled even more baskets onto the wharf, tipping out dozens of sharks, Bronze whalers, and even a huge basking shark ... It was beautiful but its bright blue eyes quickly faded to a dull grey, dead colour."

"Pippy felt heavy with sadness. Uncle Isaac's memory was getting worse. He'd just put both their lives in terrible danger. It was as if his brain was erasing everything he'd ever known, including her, and that was what hurt the most. She had to do more to help him, more to look after him, but she wasn't sure how much more she could do unless she was with him for every minute of every day."

This book is certain to be a 2026 CBCA Notable title in the Younger Readers category. Here is the web page for Neridah McMullin. Here is a link to some detailed Teachers Notes.  I have previously talked about Eat my Dust; Drover; Tearaway coach; Fabish the horse that braved a Bushfire; and Evie and Rhino. 

Publisher blurb for The Keeper of the Octopus: Since her father sailed away, Uncle Isaac is the only family Pippy has left. Together they spend their days fishing off the coast, until one day Pippy is knocked into the sea and rescued by a gentle, giant creature … Uncle Isaac knows it’s time to tell Pippy the truth. Pippy is the descendent of a long line of Keepers – the Keeper of the Octopus, responsible for the giant octopus who protects the fisherfolk of the village. At first, Pippy is hesitant to meet Octavia, but soon the octopus is sharing her dreams with Pippy and they recognise each other as kindred spirits. But when the Calamary Brothers come to Portablow, she learns of their search for a particular giant octopus. It's up to Pippy - and her rag-tag crew of a cat, a dog, a hobgoblin called Ferg and an albatross – to rescue Octavia from the Calamary’s clutches.

I was enthralled by this book, because it captured a timeless world with a touch of magic, coupled with a commentary on some of the issues we face today: grief, environmental issues, bullying and disability. Wally was such a cool character too, and I loved his friendship with Pippy, and that he believed her without question. This is the mark of a true friendship. It was one that I loved, and one that I think kids need to see more of in the books they read. And it’s another reason I love reading kids’ books, because they feel less judgmental and more accepting. The Book Muse

Companion books:

My Friend the Octopus

Song of a Thousand Seas

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van illustrated by April Chu

We talk about the magic that happens when you share a book with a child - thinking about the story and the possibilities of hearing rich lyrical language but the other really special part of a picture book can be the way it gives a child an experience of fabulous art and that is certainly the case with this book In a Village by the Sea. It would be wonderful to share this book with a group of children or as part of a library storytelling session and you could also share this book with an art class. You will want to talk about the famous painting: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

I discovered this book in the library where I work as a volunteer because we were gathering books about 'mini beasts'. I was curious about why this book appeared on their curated list. I guess because it contains a cricket but this book is SO much more. I hope you can find this book but it was published in 2015 so you will need to hunt in a library. (note: one online seller here in Australia does list this book but it is over AUS$40). 

The way the text works is similar to A Dark Dark Tale by Ruth Brown and also Zoom by Istvan Banyai. 

Zoom

Here is part of the text from In a Village by the Sea:

"In a fishing village by the sea there is a small house. In that house, high above the waves is a kitchen. In that kitchen is a bright glowing fire. In that fire is a pot of steaming noodle soup."

I would use the term cinematic to describe the way the illustrations in this book are presented - we start with a view of the village looking over the ocean from a small fishing boat. Come a little closer and you can see one house in the village with a dog looking in the window. 

Closer now we see the dog walking into the kitchen. Next page there is a steaming pot of noodles and then we see mother preparing the spices to flavour her soup. 

Closer still the baby is yawning in his basket by the fire. Now turn the page and the view completely changes - we are above the scene and can see the kitchen, the table and soup ingredients, the baby and his mother. But the dog has heard a noise under the floorboards so we zoom down again to a close view of the dog's nose and a cricket with several paint brushes - his image almost fills the page. What is he painting? And how does this relate to the mother, her child and their father who is fishing out at sea?

The intense illustrations, done in pencil and digitally colored, set human and animal characters into seascapes and interior scenes in an almost timeless Vietnam and extend the story far beyond the words. Kirkus Star review

Awards:

★ Northern California Book Awards Children’s Literature, Younger Readers Winner

★ Huffington Post Best Picture Books Best Surprise Winner

★ New York Public Library’s 100 Notable Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection

★ New York Public Library Best Books for Kids Selection

★ Junior Library Guild Selection

★ Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books Selection

★ Cybils Award Finalist

★ Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

★ Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Companion books:

The Baker by the Sea

Here are two other books by Muon Van:

If you were Night

Wishes

Flying Through Water by Mamle Wolo

We all grabbed bailing vessels. Thunder cracked, and lightning streaked across the sky like a celestial tree revealing its branches for a split second. I felt as though I were caught in a different dimension where death was as present as life, and everything was elemental and terrifying.

I thought about this world and the things we humans struggled for, and all the ways in which we imprisoned ourselves, and each other. It seemed to me that greed was just as much of a prison as poverty, only worse. Here I was alone on this island in the middle of nowhere, stripped of whatever meager possessions I had ever owned. And yet in nature’s heart I felt liberated and endowed with a splendor beyond anything humans could ever purchase. 

What greater wealth was there in this world than freedom?

This story is told in three parts. Sena describes his life in Ghana and his special relationship with is grandfather who tells him stories of his village life before the artificial creation of Volta Lake and the Akosombo Dam. Sena lives with his mother, sister and baby brother. They are very poor but he has been able to go to school. His education is not perfect and the teachers are often absent and they do beat the students but if he can sit the final exam there is the promise of further education and hopefully a better life for his family. But there is a young man who visits their village with promises to the young boys of work and money and perhaps even adventures. Sena is suspicious of this flashy man who they call 'Jack of Diamonds' and he has heard stories of boys sent to work with cattle - boys who are given little or no food and forced to work in dreadful conditions. Sena is determined not to follow this path but then his grandfather dies, his mother is gravely ill with malaria and his best friend declares he is heading away to work because he is sure the promises from 'Jack of Diamonds' are true. 

Sena loves his family and he really wants to help them so after his final exam he leaves a letter under his sister's pillow and he heads off - what he does not know is that this will be a journey into hell. So begins part two. Sena is taken to work as a slave for a cruel master catching fish and diving deep into treatrous waters to untangle the fishing nets. He is given virtually no food, he is beaten and the group of about ten boys are forbidden to talk to each other except about their tasks. Yes this is illegal human trafficking. Can Sena escape? Where will he go? What will happen if he is caught? He does befriend one of the boys and then that boy is killed - possibly murdered by their master - so now Sena must leave. He arrived at this place terrified of water and unable to swim. After several months of this cruel work he can now swim but he is still terrified of the dark water and the waves and he has not learned how to float. Part 3 is all about survival because he does find his way to a small deserted island with only monkeys for company but of course he must also find a way to get back to his family. He also carries huge guilt about the boys he left behind and he has made a new wonderful discovery of a special and rare underwater animal - the lake Manatee. The book ends with a sense of hope for the future for Sena himself but also for other trafficked boys and hopefully also for this very special wild creature who is also trapped in the waters of this lake.

Here are a few text quotes from this book:

Treatment by teachers: The humiliation hurt almost more than the lashes, but I hardened myself to it even though it upset me that the teachers beat us when they knew how hard our lives were. They knew we weren’t late out of laziness or what they called I-don’t-care-ism. But I got used to that too—the callousness of powerful people and the way they didn’t care what was fair.

Kekeli - a description: She had a round face, and when she smiled it was as if the distance between her lips and chin had been measured with a protractor and traced with a compass, their curves were so perfectly parallel. Her laughter was like that of a baby discovering funniness for the first time and too little to contain it. She could spark off the whole class.

Grandfather the storyteller: He said stories took us where our legs couldn’t go and showed us what our eyes couldn’t see, and that the best thing about books was that they were still there when storytellers were gone. I could see what he meant when I thought that one day, he wouldn’t be here to tell us stories anymore—a prospect I quickly banished. I loved his stories more than any I’d read in books.

Jack of Diamonds: Everyone was excited and following his every move, but something in me held back. I wondered if I was the only one to whom his mannerisms seemed somehow familiar, as if he’d studied them on someone else, like Shatta Wale or Burna Boy. Perhaps I was just being silly, but it made me uneasy that we couldn’t see his eyes, because he never took off his sunglasses. And it was amazing how he kept that black jacket on in this heat.

Publisher blurb: Sena treasures his life in rural Ghana-playing soccer, working the family farm, striving to do his best at school-but he is increasingly aware of his family's precarious security in the face of poverty. When an alluring gentleman comes to town to befriend local teenagers, offering promises of a better future, it only takes one more unsettling turn of events to send Sena into the clutches of human traffickers. Sena's ordeal, escape, and remarkable survival makes for a page-turning adventure of self-discovery and empowerment.

Searing and eye-opening, readers will devour Sena’s story in a day. School Library Journal

Wolo skillfully sheds light on the horrific practice of the trafficking of children, and the grim situations many are forced to live and work in—but she also tells a story of hope and perseverance. The vividly described settings include imagery that paints the scenes for readers as the story unfolds. A powerful look at human suffering and the will to survive. Kirkus Star review

Jack of Diamonds turns out to be a pied piper for a human trafficking network and thus, Sena finds that he has been sold into indentured labour to a fisherman who employs a motley crew of children, some as young as three, in a bid to compete with foreign trawlers working the Volta Lake. Cold and brutish, Sena’s master is a formidable antagonist, the like of which populates Dickensian novels, but the real villain here is the systemic poverty that has left intergenerational scars and threatens the possibility of a future for its under aged victims, who are malnourished, overworked, and constantly exposed to the risk of drowning. The Lagos Review

Fans of Hatchet and A Long Walk to Water will find Flying Through water an engrossing book. Sadly I have no idea how I discovered this book - I must have seen it recommended somewhere.

Listen to an audio sample here. This book only in hardcover so far is too expensive here in Australia (AUS$32.50) but I read a copy on a Kindle.

I recommend this moving and atmospheric story for readers aged 12+ especially those with an interest in social justice. Your senior students could also investigate the work of our Australian organisation that assists victims of modern slavery - The Freedom Hub.

I recently read this book which also explores the topic of human trafficking:

Stitched up

A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by Thi Bui

"a powerful, multilayered story about family, memory, and the costs of becoming a refugee". Kirkus Star review

"Both my parents worked multiple jobs to survive and support us in a country whose people did not understand why we were here at best, and blamed us for the aftermath of the war at worst. My father would sometime take us fishing with him, before the sun came up - for food, not for sport." Bao Phi

A Different Pond won a Caldecott Honour in 2018. I would share this book with older readers aged 10+. 

Bookseller blurb: Acclaimed poet Bao Phi delivers a powerful, honest glimpse into a relationship between father and son and between cultures, old and new. A Different Pond is an unforgettable story about a simple event--a long-ago fishing trip. As a young boy, Bao Phi awoke early, hours before his father's long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam. The New York Times has said that Bao Phi's poetry "rhymes with the truth." Together with graphic novelist Thi Bui's striking, evocative art, Phi's expertly crafted prose reflects an immigrant family making its way in a new home while honoring its bonds to the past.

Image source: Let's Talk Picture Books

Spare and simple, a must-read for our times. Kirkus Star review

Can I recommend you read this book more than once. There are plot fragments in so many of the lines of text - small statements that belies huge issues or past stories.

Read these and in brackets I have added my interpretation:

"In the kitchen the bare bulb ... " (The family cannot afford to add decorations such as light covers and it may be that they are renting this very basic home).

"to me his English sounds like gentle rain". (This boy is proud of his dad and he intuitively understands his dad has had to learn a new language in this strange land. It is fantastic that this young boy can ignore the awful comments by the school bullies).

"I got a second job". (Dad is hard working and really wants to provide for his family. He is willing to work long hours and on weekends so their fishing expedition has to happen well before dawn. We also read that mum has to work all day on Saturday too).

"I feel the callouses on his hand when he squeezes mine". (Dad is hard worker - and his work is a form on manual labour. I wonder if, given different opportunities he might have been able to complete higher levels of education and perhaps have a 'better' or more highly paid job).

"One day, his brother didn't come home". (This is a fragment about the events of the Vietnam war and the devastating impact of this on his father).

"I wonder what the trees look like at that other pond in the country my dad comes from". (This sums up the power of this story).

Companion books:

Read more here.

CATastrophe! A story of patterns by Ann Marie Stephens illustrated by Jenn Harney

"Patterns are the foundation of which math is built. Catastrophe cleverly shows the importance of patterns as ten cats and two fish make a splash in this hilarious adventure story."

This book is a wonderful discovery and it would be perfect for your preschool collection. Catastrophe was published in 2021 and it is still available but here in Australia it is over AUS$32. I have talked about books that explore patterns in previous posts, but this book takes a very different approach. 

The cats line up to board their boat ready for their fishing expedition (after all cats love to eat fish). Their life vests form a pattern - orange green orange green orange green green green green orange. Oh no this pattern needs fixing. The cats quickly rearrange themselves and now everyone is standing in line and the pattern is perfect. In the canoe the kittens begin to row - row row meow row row row meow row meow meow. Oh no they are just going in circles. The captain tells his crew to find the core pattern - row row meow row row meow row row meow. And so their trip continues. Can they catch those fish or will their boat capsize? What a CATastrophe! Luckily they have a warm camp fire, s'mores and their cosy beds to return to - mmm purr purr mmm purr purr mmm purr purrr mmm purr purr.

Publisher blurb: Nine kittens go on an exciting boating adventure that’s a (funny) catastrophe in this playful picture book that demonstrates the key math concept of patterns. A crew of hungry kittens and their captain head to the lake to catch some dinner, but the fish have surprises in store for them. Even before the cats encounter the fish, they run into trouble. What happens when confused kitties paddle every which way? Or when they all lean in the same direction? A pattern is needed to avoid a catastrophe! Patterns are the foundation on which math is built. Using strong rhythm, clever wordplay, and countable characters, CATastrophe! is a fun read-aloud that also shows what patterns can do. Helpful backmatter will deepen readers’ understanding and challenge them to find more patterns in this book and in our world. There’s also much to find in the illustrations—including a dragonfly and worm that each appear twenty times.

Ann Marie Stephens specializes in books that explore maths concepts (see below).  At the back of this book, Catastrophe, she explains the patterns she has used in her crazy story. You can hear Ann Marie talking about her book here. 

Stephens deftly incorporates the concepts of patterns and pattern cores into her simple tale and includes an enjoyable explanatory page at the close as well as integrated seek-and-find challenges. Harney’s bright, energy-filled cartoons are a great match and maintain a fine balance of cute, color, comedy…and cats. Kirkus

Here is the website for the illustrator Jenn Harney.

Music and poetry contain examples of patterns. In poetry we can describe rhyming lines using pattern labels.

Images from: Family friendly poems

Here are some of the patterns in music:

Image source: Jooya

Other books by Ann Marie Stephens:

Bird and Sugar Boy by Sofie Laguna

"AP Davies was going to get a big surprise when Bird turned up at his place. I'd knock on the door and when he answered, I'd say 'Hello, AP Davies. My name's Bird - it really is!' Then I'd show him my drawing book and maybe we'd start making plans for the sanctuary as soon as I arrived."

James Burdell lives with his car mechanic dad. They have a good relationship but as you read this book you will wish James could talk more with his dad - he desperately needs to understand why his mother left when he was very small. James has a very active mind. He remembers overheard conversations and fragments of phrases uttered by the adults in his life, but he constantly misinterprets these. James lives in a small town called Denham - I think it might be in Victoria. He and his best friend Sugar Boy spend their time after school and on weekends mucking around on their bikes, chasing trains and fishing. At school James is always getting into trouble - he is either daydreaming about birds or causing trouble to get a laugh out of his classmates. The teachers know he is a bright boy but they are running out of patience with his bad behaviour. 

Birds are an obsession for James. Several years ago when he was with his dad in an op shop, he spied a book - Birds: A Field Guide. This book becomes his comfort. He almost memorizes the whole thing and when he is upset or confused or in trouble, he takes out his drawing book and sketches the birds from his book. In his mind the author is a hero and so James hatches a plan to meet AP Davies. The back cover says the author lives in The Blue Mountains. James has no idea where that is but when he is told his very best friend Sugar Boy is moving to Broome in Western Australia, James decides he needs to find AP Davies. He is sure leaving will make things easier for his dad who struggles to 'make ends meet.'

"I did know I was having big dreams, and big dreams aren't the way things actually are - but why was it better to stick with the way things actually are when big dreams felt so much better? Look what AP Davies did - he lived in mountains that glowed blue and spent all his time doing bird study."

Helping in a school library at the end of last year I spied Bird and Sugar Boy by Sofie Laguna. Parts of this story have lingered with me since I first read it in 2006. When I read My Brother Ben and also The Someday Birds I struggled to think of the title of Bird and Sugar Boy but I was certain it also contained a story about a boy who loved birds and who owned a precious bird guidebook.

My Brother Ben

The Someday Birds

But the blurb did not help me: Sugar boy gave me the name Bird, otherwise I'm James Burdell. I live with my dad who has a big tattoo that says Live to Ride. He is so strong he can lift up a car, but he can't tell me what he's thinking. Maybe he's thinking about my mother who shot through. Sugar Boy is my best friend. We hang around down at the river, in the bush tunnel, or beside the railway tracks riding our bikes fast enough to beat the train. There's only two of us, but we're the whole team. I don't know what would happen if I didn't have Sugar Boy.

This afternoon I re-read Bird and Sugar Boy from cover to cover. It is long out of print, but it might still be in a school library.  I was surprised by the scenes I had forgotten and delighted to find scenes I had remembered especially the ones near the end of the story when James (Bird) finds himself in the city at night with no money, no food and desperate to find the right train to the elusive "Blue Mountains." I was also surprised by the fairly strong language used in this story - I think perhaps I read with a different eye now. This book is almost a Young Adult title and so I would say 11+. I wish I had kept my old copies of Magpies magazine because this book was featured on the cover of May vol. 21 no. 2 2006; page 16 with a review by Agnes Nieuwenhuizen. Oh, and yes this was the book I struggled to think of featuring a bird guidebook and a journey of discovery by a young boy. 

Bird and Sugar Boy was a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Younger Readers Honour book in 2007.  Here are the comments by the judges:

When his best friend Sugar Boy moves interstate with his family, Bird is devastated. The consequent feeling of rejection causes him to revisit the pain of his mother’s departure earlier in his life. The resulting intensity and struggle of his father’s devotion becomes apparent when he takes off to the Blue Mountains and is located by the network of biker friends. Bird’s obsession with Davis’s Field Guide to Birds of Australia, along with his skill in drawing and the positive support from his science teacher, offer great hope for him. Realistic depiction of male characters who are friends rather than mates is sympathetically done by this author.

The winner in 2007 was Being Bee by Catherine Bateson.  Just for interest the Picture Book winner that year was The Arrival by Shaun Tan. 

Here are some other books by Sofie Laguna:

When You're Older   The Song of Lewis Carmichael

Catching a Story Fish by Janice N Harrington

'You'd talk the whiskers off a catfish,'

Grandpa says, 'and the shine 

off a new penny.'

I like to talk.

I like to spin stories,

this-is-what-I-did stories,

this-is-what-I-saw stories,

stories to make my brother giggle-bouncy

and wiggly as a worm,

stories to make my Daddy lean in

and hold me octopus-tight,

stories to make Mama's eyes

shine birthday-candle bright.

My name is Katharen but my friends and family call me Keet - Keet Keet Parakeet.

"I used to be Keet-Keet Parakeet.
I used to talk to anyone.

I used to talk anywhere.

But now at school,

words are peanut-butter sticky

and tight was lids on pickle jars."

This seems like a perfect book to end my reading year. It is a verse novel and I adore this genre. It is a book that I knew nothing about, so it is a surprise discovery. This is a book that celebrates the power of storytelling and the importance of courage to use your voice. I love the new friendship between Keet and Allegra. And the paperback edition (2023) of this book has just been published so we can afford to buy it here in Australia. There is even a poem you could use from this book when you talk about our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) 2024 slogan - Reading is Magic. 

Ms Lindle is the school Teacher-Librarian:

"Ms Lindle won't mind.
She says getting lost in a book
is a magic trick
which means that I'm a wizard."

I love Ms Lindle.  When Keet enters a story competition I can hear her warm voice when she says:

"It's a good story, Katharen.'

'Really?' I ask,

'Absolutely-truly-ruly-

no-mistake-for-certain,' Ms Lindle says."

Moving house is hard for Keet and at school the other kids tease her southern accent:

"Grandpa, the kids say I talk funny.

They laugh at my words.

They're mean. Grandpa. And I don't like,

I don't like, I don't like school at all."

Blurb from the author webpage: Keet knows the only good thing about moving away from her Alabama home is that she'll live near her beloved grandfather. When Keet starts school, it's even worse than she expected, as the kids tease her about her southern accent. Now Keet, who can "talk the whiskers off a catfish," doesn't want to open her mouth. Slowly, though, while fishing with her grandfather, she learns the art of listening. Gradually, she makes her first new friend. But just as she's beginning to settle in, her grandfather has a stroke, and even though he's still nearby, he suddenly feels ever-so-far-away. Keet is determined to reel him back to her by telling him stories; in the process she finds her voice and her grandfather again. This lyrical and deeply emotional novel-in-verse celebrates the power of story and of finding one's individual voice.

Keet's is a simple and familiar-feeling story, but one that is understated, fully realized, deftly written, and utterly absorbing ... School Library Journal

Awards

• Winner of the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People
• Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor Award

Janice N Harrington includes ten different poetry forms in her story and these are listed at the back. 

"This lyrical novel in verse effortlessly weaves together multiple poetry forms to introduce readers to Katharen, called Keet, a young girl who loves to talk and spin stories.... The poems effectively convey conflicting emotions; different styles (haiku, concrete, blues, etc.,) express moods and nuances without being distracting."  Booklist

New Girl Blues

I got the New-Girl blues.

I got those back-to-school and don’t-want-to,

do-I-have-to-Mama? do-I-have-to? blues.

Blues in my thinking, blues

in my walk. Blue and lonely lonely

because of my New-Girl talk.

I got the New-Girl,

don’t-want-to-go,

don’t-make-me-go blues.

You could use this book with a class as a way to explore poetry forms plus there is a wonderful public speaking topic idea - The Dream Report.

I would pair this book with:

The One Thing You'd Save