Anna May's Blue Cloak by Christiane Cicioli illustrated by Susan Pearson

When she was a young girl Anna May's Grandmother made her a beautiful blue cloak. The fabric on the cover makes it look so tactile - perhaps it is velvet. Anna May is young and so for now the cloak is a perfect fit over her dress. But over time Anna May grows.

"Soon the cloak, still beautiful, was too small. Her mother carefully folded it up and put it away in her wooden chest."

Years later Anna May became a mum to a baby girl. Anna May remembered the beautiful cloak. Now is the time for the cloak to be used for another garment. You can see her here using her grandmother's sewing machine - my own little Nan had one just like this.

Anna May uses the cloak fabric to make a dress for her daughter, but she also carefully puts the left-over pieces back into the wooden chest. Anna May's daughter loves her dress but over time it becomes too small. Many years later Anna May's daughter had a baby - a son. Luckily there was enough fabric left from the cloak to make him a handsome blue jacket. 

Have you worked out the pattern here. YES - and then Anna May's son becomes a father.

"Anna May wanted him to stay warm ... she remembered her blue cloak ... she took out the fabric that was left after making the dress and the jacket."

I wonder what she made? And what about the tiny fragments of fabric that are still left over?

I have a friend who is volunteering at one of our local charity shops. She mentioned the idea of following the journey of a piece of clothing could be a great idea for a picture book - she needs to see this book.

You could also use this book to talk about family relationships and the way we can show this using a family tree. If I was sharing this book with a class, I would bring in a collection of things made by my grandmother Amy - a set of beautiful doll clothes including silk pyjamas, casual shorts with a matching top, a lace dressing gown and brown corduroy trousers. 

Anna May's Cloak is a Canadian picture book. It was published in 2013 but it is still available. If you are reading this close to the time, I have penned this post I found one copy available from an online Australian book seller for a great price - but they only have one copy. 

Christiane Cicioli, born in Quebec, has lived both in Canada and the United States. One of the most enjoyable activities she has shared with her family and three now grown children has been to hear and recount the tales and customs of grandparents, great-grandparents, and other relatives of previous generations. Those inspirational moments have become the source of her writing. After working with children in elementary schools for many years, she is now a freelance writer and translator. Susan Pearson lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband Ed. She creates images for children's books and teaches watercolor painting classes.

Companion books:

The Copper Tin Cup

My forever dress

Kamishibai Man by Allen Say

One of the best shelves in many Primary school libraries are set aside for picture books for older readers. I spied this book in the library where I am volunteering. I have previously loved many books by Allen Say (see bottom of this post). You could use this book with a group of younger students who are exploring the topic - Life in the Past. And you will also want to explore the stories told by the old man - The Peach Boy and Little One Inch.

Here is the Kirkus description: Kamishibai means “paper theater” in Japanese, and when Caldecott artist Say was a boy in Japan in the 1940s, a “kamishibai man” on a bicycle used to sell sweets and tell serial tales of heroes and heroines, using picture cards and a wooden stage. This nostalgic story begins when Grandpa, once a kamishibai man, gets a hankering to resurrect his show. Unfortunately, it’s been so long he finds himself in an unrecognizable city with tall buildings and rude drivers. Dismayed, he parks his bike in a vacant lot and begins to recount not the beloved “Peach Boy,” but his own story of how his show was eventually replaced by television (initially referred to as denki, or electric kamishibai!). Soon enough, Grandpa’s surrounded by a crowd of adults who remember him from their childhood, and, ironically, he ends up on the evening news. Say effectively incorporates two illustration styles here—lovely soft watercolors and a more cartoonish style for flashbacks to the heyday of kamishibai. A fascinating window on a bygone art form.

Bookseller blurb: The Kamishibai man used to ride his bicycle into town where he would tell stories to the children and sell them candy, but gradually, fewer and fewer children came running at the sound of his clappers. They were all watching their new televisions instead. Finally, only one boy remained, and he had no money for candy. Years later, the Kamishibai man and his wife made another batch of candy, and he pedaled into town to tell one more story--his own. When he comes out of the reverie of his memories, he looks around to see he is surrounded by familiar faces--the children he used to entertain have returned, all grown up and more eager than ever to listen to his delightful tales. Using two very different yet remarkable styles of art, Allen Say tells a tale within a tale, transporting readers seamlessly to the Japan of his memories.

The Copper Tin Cup by Carole Lexa Scharfer illustrated by Stan Fellows

"My name, my cup,' she said. And she was right. 

But she knew that the cup had not always been hers."

The initials SC are carved into the cup - SC for Sammy Carl; SC for Samantha Caroline; SC for Sam Charles; SC for Serena Carlotta; SC for Samuel and Carla - the original owners and makes of the precious cup. And look closely at the illustration on the final page because a new baby is coming. I wonder what name will be given to the next person to inherit the copper tin cup?

Blurb: Through a treasured heirloom, a family's history is revealed. The copper tin cup belongs to Sammy Carl. His initials are carved below the rim. But it was made many many years ago in a different country for his great-aunt, Serena Carlotta, and has been handed down from generation to generation ever since to children bearing the same initials. In the story of the copper tin cup is a family's history.

I was so lucky to find this book at the Lifeline book fair. It's a title I often recommend because it is perfect for history topics in Grade Two. 

There is so much you could do with this book in your class. Ask the children to find an old object in their house and ask about the back story. In my house I have an antique fire engine that belonged to my father and before that another relative back in about 1915.

Here is another book by Carole Lexa Schaefer:

The Deadly Diamond by Mark Greenwood

"To this day the deadly diamond retains a spooky reputation as a stone with an ominous sparkle and the power to bring tragedy to anyone who touches it. But does its ownership bring death, dishonour, disgrace or financial ruin? Can the curse of the most famous jewel in the world be reconciled with reality when many of its owners have lived long and generally prosperous lives?"

Our story of this famous diamond - variously named the Blue Diamond, the French Blue, and the Hope Diamond - begins in India at a diamond mine in 1642. We are not told in detail, but it is very clear that conditions at this mine must have been utterly terrible. Mark Greenwood does mention snakes and overseers and the use of children in the mine. No one is exactly sure, but this diamond was part of a temple idol before it was stolen and then passed through the hands of thieves, con men, nobility, an extremely rich socialite, a famous jeweler and finally presented to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which is where you can see it today and from that link you can see many of the aspects and short videos of this story that are mentioned by The Deadly Diamond including the regular postal envelope that was used to send it to the museum - an amazing story. Take a look at these images. 

This is a slim book but such a page turner and readers are also supplied with a timeline, glossary and extra reading list so curious minds can explore this topic further. If I was sharing this book with a group of students (Grade 5 or 6) I think I would begin by showing the tiny diamond in a ring I wear every day using this as a way to talk about diamonds and their value and origins. You could share this ABC television series "Stuff the British stole" with a High school group. There is an episode about a diamond from South Africa and also one about the Koh I Noor diamond. Both are rated PG. I highly recommend The Deadly Diamond as a perfect addition to your school library or pop this title on your Christmas present list - it would be an especially great gift for a boy aged 10+. This book has big print and white pages and a few actual photographs/portraits of the famous people who were involved or who owned this diamond. 

Further reading:

• Diamond facts for kids
• Science Kids
• Science for kids club
• Only Natural Diamonds

Many of my reviewing colleagues receive advance copies of new Australian titles but up until this week I only received books from one Australian publisher. Now I can add two more to that list including the publisher of this book - Fremantle Press. I recently talked about their new verse novel Trapped by Julia Lawrinson.

Mark Greenwood has done an enormous amount of research for this book The Deadly Diamond. I simply gobbled up the whole book in one sitting - readers aged 10+ are going to love this book and I am sure the rest of the series are fabulous too. I have another one - The Wooden Horse - ready to read next. Here is the full series called History Hunter:

On the publisher page you can read an extract from The Deadly Diamond and find very detailed and useful teachers notes. There is one word missing from the glossary which your students may need to check - loupe.

I was so interested to read all the ways this stone was cut and changed and reduced in size. I also had no idea about the colours of diamonds - white, yellow, red, dark grey, orange, red, apple green, pink and most desirable of all, the blue.

"The diamonds that came from the fabled mines of Golconda were highly valued. Local rulers jealously guarded the source and kept the largest diamonds for themselves. The radiance of these diamonds was legendary. Many believed they contained a supernatural force. Prized for colour, clarity, size and beauty some were as pure as a drop of dew."

Try to find these two books as companion reads:

The Blood Stone

The Mona Lisa Vanishes

This is not about diamonds, but it has the same narrative nonfiction style 

and the same assortment of 'shady' characters.  Highly recommended. 

This form of narrative non fiction is not new but I have not seen any other books in this form for many years. In my previous school library I had other books like this on a range of topics but they are all now long out of print. One series were called True stories published by Allen and Unwin: Stoked! Real Life, Real Surf; Bog Bodies: Mummies and Curious Corpses; Wrecked: Mysteries and Disasters at Sea; Kimberley Warrior: The Story Of Jandamarra; and Soccer: Great Moments, Great Players in World Football. And we also had the It's True series.

Your students who enjoy books that use this form of narrative to tell a true story might find the "I Survived" series in a school or local library. I also had a series called Mega Bites published by Dorling Kindersley in my previous school. 

The Doll Box by Deborah Kelly illustrated by Joanna Bartel

Young Isla is afraid of the climbing frame at the park. 

"Her legs were too shaky. Her arms were too achy. She would never make it to the top."

Isla takes comfort at home by playing with an old small blue tin. Inside there are three dolls. Isla has played with them many times but today is the day her mother tells her the story of each one. Grand Great Grandma Sarah was so brave. She couldn't swim and had no idea what lay ahead but she got on a ship and sailed to a new country and a new life. Great Grandma Phyllis worked so hard during the war when all the men had gone away. She ran a farm and grew vegetables for the soldiers. And then there is her grandmother - Gaga. When she was a young woman girls did not go to university but she was so clever so after she finished school she did study engineering even though she was the only girl in the class.

Hearing these family stories gives Isla the courage to conquer the climbing frame and perhaps, I would like to think, knowing, albeit very briefly, these stories will also give the courage to try other difficult or scary things in the future. 

I wish this book had a timeline at the back or perhaps an expansion of the family tree that we anticipate from the cover. I do like the way the pages showing the grandmothers as younger women are presented in a sepia style. The end papers are filled with a sweet nostalgic pattern rather like old wall paper. 

If I was sharing this book with a group of young children I would bring along some of my own old dolls and use them to talk about my grandmother who raised four children on her own while living in the CBD of Sydney in Pitt Street as a building superintendent. I don't have any of her dolls and my own mum only had one doll which she had to share with her sister but I do have my doll and her beautiful set of hand stitched clothes made by my grandmother and I have the doll someone important and rich gave my mum when I was born - she is a walking doll called Rosemary. This is not her photo but she is similar:

You might be thinking this is a book that will appeal more to girls. Again if I was sharing this book with a group of children in my library I would also take along my antique toy fire engine - it belonged to a relative of my father, then my father, then my older cousin (a boy) and then finally it came to me! Talking about this toy links perfectly with a discussion about the 1930s depression here in Australia. 

Image source: Buddy L museum

There are also lots of picture books which use quilts as a way to talk about family history. 

Publisher blurb: Whenever Isla’s mother brings out her small blue doll box, Isla knows she will hear the stories of the women in her family’s past. Their incredible tales of immigration, war, and fighting for their rights show Isla the strength she has in herself and lead her on a journey of self-discovery. Inspired by the author’s own family, The Doll Box is a testament to the power of our personal histories, and the spirit of the many women who had to overcome incredible odds to achieve their dreams.

The Doll Box might be a 2025 CBCA Early Childhood notable title although this category is for readers aged 0-6. It was better when the CBCA set up this category for ages 3-8.

The Doll Box looks at who we are, how we came to be the way we are, and to understand courage, sometimes we must search for answers in the lives of the those who have gone before us. Kids' Book Review

There is so much we can learn by handing down stories, by listening to the stories of our grandparents, by asking questions, finding connections, discovering things about our predecessors, the grandparents who came before us, inside ourselves. NZ Poetry Box

Companion books:

This Old thing

Other books by Deborah Kelly:

The Thing about Oliver

Read more about The Mosaic

Other books illustrated by Joanna Bartel:

Violin and Cello

The Imagineer by Christopher Cheng illustrated by Lucia Masciullo

These objects of Grandpa’s—obsolete and out-of-fashion—are valued for the way they have fulfilled a need at a particular time and revered for the creativity of invention. Old things are interesting ...  Reading Time

Penny is an inventor. Penny is a maker. Penny loves to design interesting contraptions. She makes wonderful inventions but their apartment is very small. Then Penny is taken to visit her grandfather. His spacious house is filled with wonderful things from the past - things Penny has never seen. There is a wall mounted telephone; a pump organ; and a mechanical butter churn. Then Penny steps inside her grand father's shed and she is blown away. 

"And Penny was sure that these thingamajigs and whatchamacallits and fandanged contraptions ... would be useful."

The final fold out page will make you gasp when you see the way Penny has combined so many wonderful things found in her grandfathers shed into her new travelling machine. This is a page that you will want to explore very closely. 

I am not sure if I am correct but I think The National Library of Australia commission our well known Australian children's authors and illustrators to produce books which explore parts of their extensive collection. In the book I talked about yesterday Jane Jolly explored the history of Sikh's in Australia. In this book all of the objects from the National Library are carefully referenced with their catalogue number so you can explore further.  This makes for a rich resource which is sure to be very useful for Primary school classes who study history.

Taking a close look at the cover. Readers can anticipate the design and make or STEM aspect of this story but it is also clear the character is a child as evidenced by the letter ‘m’ in crayon. 

Reading this book is a rich experience. There are themes of perseverance; imagination; problem solving; curiosity; and inter-generational relationships.  I really appreciated the rich vocabulary - words such as massive; miniscule; flabbergasted; phantasmagorical; and pondered. And there are also delicious invented words such as incredibleacous; stupendorific; and whatchamacallits. The illustrations are carefully positioned on each page use a consistent and aesthetically pleasing colour palette. The end papers invite careful study. 

It is fun to explore the eclectic collection of treasures on the final pages such as 1907 wine and jelly press; the house fire engine from 1890; and the sad iron from 1907.

Chris Cheng has a trailer with terrific sound effects on his web site.  Here is a set of detailed teachers notes. 

Thinking about the theme of this book as an exploration of history through objects I also found this wonderful resource from the UK - Teaching History with 100 Objects. 

This book reminded me of a very old book - The Weird things in Nana's house.

You might also explore Bamboozled and Australian Kids Through the Years:

Bamboozled

Australian Kids Through the Years

If you are using The Imagineer with a group of older students try to find this picture book:

I think the history themes are the main focus of this book but you might think of The Imagineer as a book about STEM and inventors and so you could hunt for these:

The Imagineer is a 2022 CBCA Notable Picture Book.

Australian kids through the years by Tania McCartney illustrated by Andrew Joyner

If you have been reading this blog you will know I very rarely discuss non fiction.   Today, though,  I simply have to talk about Australian Kids though the Years.

As a part of my job in a school library I read many, many books but if you were to look at percentages I read around 90% fiction.  With non fiction there are obvious features which make one text better than another.  We look for the usual library devices such as index, contents, captions, large photographs, accuracy, and information presented in a variety of ways especially visual.  We have thousands of non fiction books in our school library but only a handful really stand out in my opinion.

Australian Kids through the Years is a standout book!  It does not have an index or contents but this is not important. This is a book which can be used right across a Primary school. The youngest children can look at their parents and grandparents clothes, toys and hair.  Middle primary students could make timelines showing each theme and the oldest students could use the final illustrations list at the back of the book as part of a discussion about copyright. Older students could also compare the way information is presented in this book with more conventional timeline series such as Australia in the Twentieth century.  I would also pair this book up with My Place by Nadia Wheatley which is one of the very best books ever written about Australian history from the point of view of a child.

The design of Australian Kids through the years is chronological.  Beginning with First Children and then moving through time - 1800-1840s, 1850s, 1900-1909, 1910-1940s, 1950s, 1960s and so on up to 2000-today.

I love the way Tania McCartney resisted the need to present the dates in a pattern. Instead these dates match major events in Australian history such as the Gold Rush of 1850.

For each time period in this book we meet two children - a boy and a girl. On the next page we see all the "things in their world" such as clothes, food, hairstyles and my favourite part - the books they read.  This book has obviously been very carefully researched but all these facts are presented in such an appealing way.

The books are such a 'blast from the past' for me.  Here are a few (I have my own old copies of these books) :

1910-1940 Blinky Bill and Winnie the Pooh
1950s Charlotte's web and The cat in the hat
197s0 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
1980s Possum Magic


Here are the web sites for the author and illustrator.  I am once again going to predict that this book will be short listed for our CBCA awards 2016.  You might like to read this review.

I am including one page from the book and the photo page which appears at the end.  This is a book which should be part of every school library collection and every home library too.