IBBY 40th World Congress Ottawa, Canada 2026

IBBY Canada organised a fabulous four-day World Congress in August 2026 with keynotes, roundtables, panel sessions, workshops and poster sessions - this was my fourth IBBY Congress. I also attended two USBBY Conferences in the past. I always leave these events filled with admiration and awe of all the amazing work done by people from every corner of the world who work with children and reading and books. I so admire their passion and intelligence. (and their ability to switch between two or three or more languages).

Prior to the first day we were so privileged to hear about the IBBY Children in Crisis projects with: Patsy Aldana (former IBBY President, and former President of the IBBY Foundation and IBBY Trust),  Basarat Kazim (IBBY Pakistan), and Shereen Kreidieh  (IBBY Lebanon). I will talk about this session in more detail over the coming days.

Basarat Kazim (IBBY President) shared an inspirational short film - I asked her later if there might be a way to view and share this with a wider audience. This is not the film she shared but it is another showcasing her work in Pakistan. Basarat, in her role as president, delivered several inspirational speeches throughout the Congress especially around the theme "Listening to each other's voices".

OPENING CEREMONY 

During the opening ceremony we heard from Monica Ittusardjuat (Inuit) a Residential School survivor who grew up in a time when Inuit lived a subsistence way of life, moving camps and following animals where they were plentiful. Monica shared the story Lighting the Qulliq a wordless picture book showing a grandmother and granddaughter from long ago lighting a qulliq, an Inuit lamp that provides light and warmth to the Earth. It was a hugely emotional moment when she lit a qulliq on the podium.

In the second part of the Opening Ceremony we heard from Honourable Senator Kristopher Wells, PHD. Kristopher is an educator and champion of the 2SLGBTQI+ community who has used research and advocacy to help advance diversity, equity and human rights in his home province of Alberta, across Canada, and around the world. His focus was this year’s theme of Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in children’s literature. As part of the 40th IBBY World Congress, we were given the catalogue (included in our conference bags) and we were able to peruse the exhibition titled Reading with Pride: Stories for Everyone. Reading with Pride features over 300 2SLGBTQ+ children’s picture books, originally collected by Senator Wells and expanded through a call to Canadian publishers. I did spy some Australian titles in the book display such as 'Who's your real mum' by Bernadette Green and 'My shadow is Pink' by Scott Stuart. You can hear Kristopher talking about the collection here.

Here is the conference bag and its contents including the Reading with Pride catalogue

Extra sessions and Closing Ceremony:

Sydney Smith Hans Christian Andersen winner 2024

Jon Klassen winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2026

Michel Chikwanine 

David A Robertson

Here are the sessions I attended (I will share more details about many of these in further posts):

PP 02 INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS AND LIBRARIES: BEST PRACTICES

Discovering Lifesaving Books Elena Perikleous Commissioner for the Protection of Children’s Rights, IBBY Cyprus 

Developing a Critical Analysis Framework for Picture Books About Children on the Move Tess Prendergast University of British Columbia, Canada 

An Expansion to the APALA Rubric to Evaluate AAPI Youth Literature (Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature) Filipino Diasporic Texts in Focus Cheeno Marlo D. Sayuno University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines 

An Exploration of Classic Children’s Literature through the Lens of Humanistic Education Nasser Yousefi Independent, Canada (texts: Pippi Longstocking, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Little Prince).

 PP 04 LISTENING TO VOICES IN NON-FICTION

Listening to the Sea: Exploring the Fascinating World of Ocean Wildlife with Non-Fiction Picture Books Sabine Fuchs Independent Researcher, Austria 

Books Without Borders: Representing Migration in Non-Fiction for Young Readers Ana Margarida Ramos University of Aveiro, Portugal 

The Power of Voice: Analyzing Puerto Rican Representation in Children’s Biographies Aura E. Gonzalez Robles Universidad de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Ruth J. Saez Vega Universidad de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Adriana N. Sotomayor Pérez The Ohio State University, US

PP 06 IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES: BELONGING AND IDENTITY

 

Transnational Narrative and Poetic Justice in Children’s Novels by Asian Diaspora Authors in the West Fengxia Tan Nanjing Normal University, China 

Shaping Identity through Memory in Iranian Diaspora Children’s Picture books Maryam Mohammadkhani Independent Researcher/Writer, Canada 

From Looked-At to Heard: Voice, Power, and Immigration Narratives in YA Fiction Aleksandra Strelcova IBBY Lithuania

PP 12 LISTENING TO MIGRANT AND REFUGEE VOICES  

Lonesome Child Refugees – Too Uncomfortable Narratives? Jaana Pesonen University of Helsinki, Finland 

Forgotten Border Crossings: Rethinking Childhood, Belonging, and Unbelonging for North Korean Defectors Yoo Kyung Sung University of New Mexico, USA 

  

 PP 23 REIMAGINING CITIZENSHIP 

Voicing Citizenship: Children’s Civic Agency in Schools, Museums, and Literature Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak University of Wrocław. Poland

The Plural Identity of Brazilian Children’s Literature Maria Carolina Nunes Gobbo University of São Paulo, Brazil

  

Between Critical Hope and Moral Ambiguity: Picture books Mediating Cross-Conflict Youth Dialogue Chang Li University of Padova, Italy

DINNER

Hans Christian Andersen Award Dinner - Michael Rosen and Cia Gao.  Michael Rosen gave a fabulous speech - I do hope it is republished by IBBY either on their web page or in Bookbird. 

EXHIBITIONS

The congress also presented an exhibition for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2026 by some of the most distinguished voices in contemporary children’s literature, whose contributions have made a lasting international impact. Works by winners, author Michael Rosen (United Kingdom) and illustrator Cai Gao (China). Alongside them, the exhibition highlighted books by shortlisted authors: Ahmad Akbarpour (Iran), María José Ferrada (Chile), Timothée de Fombelle (France), Lee Geum-yi (Republic of Korea), and Pam Muñoz Ryan (United States). Along with the illustrators Beatrice Alemagna (Italy), Linda Bondestam (Finland), Gundega Muzikante (Latvia), Walid Taher (Egypt), and María Wernicke (Argentina). 

Other exhibitions - 2025 IBBY Collection for Young People with Disabilities: IBBY-UNESCO Collection of Remarkable Books in Indigenous and Endangered Languages; The IBBY Collection of 

Children’s Books from and about Palestine (A map for Falasteen); and 25 years of the Governor General's Literary Award Winners (Canada). The exhibitions were staged over three venues and so I sadly missed a couple - The Panda Awards and Folktales reimagined from UAEBBY.

Honour titles I have talked about here: Picasso and the Greatest Show on earth by Anna Fienberg (Australia); Simon sort of says (Canada); The eyes and the Impossible (translation to Dutch); Then and Now by Datsun Tran (Australia); Frindle Files (translation to Turkish); Not Nothing (USA); and Medusa (Translation to Greek). I also spied Silverborn by Jessica Townsend translated into Norwegian. 

On the Canadian Governor General's award stand I spied: The Probability of Everything (one of my top books); Stand on the sky; The Crazy man; Sweep the story of a girl and her monster; and Airborn (Kenneth Oppel).

Sessions I missed that I wish I had attended:

PP 11 WAR AND TRAUMA 

Listening to the Whispers: Giving Voice to Young People in the Midst of War Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch Independent Author, Canada

Kan Yama Kan: Building Libraries, Bridging Voices, and Healing Through Books Marwa Al Aqroubi UAEBBY, UAE  

Stories of Hope: Literature Workshops for War-Witnessing Children amid Ongoing Instability in Tehran Hooria Rezaei Ruhr-University Bochum, German

PP 10 MIGRANTS: WORDLESS PICTUREBOOKS AND THE LAMPEDUSA PROJECT 

A Very Powerful Silence Deborah Soria Silent Books—Final Destination Lampedusa IBBY Project, Italy 

Listening to Silence: Building Bridges to Understanding with the IBBY Silent Books Collection Jared S. Crossley The Ohio State University, USA Lisa Pinkerton The Ohio State University, USA

The Narrative Aesthetics and Cross-Cultural Characteristics of Wordless Picture books Qingzhi Zhu Nanjing Normal University, China

I wrote heaps of notes but here are two quotes which resonated with me:

Small Stories Connect the Vast World. 

Delicious and Nutritious Children's books are Food for the Soul.

Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children by Mac Barnett

The author’s voice comes alive, as if he’s talking to you over coffee. Kirkus

"Children's books are widely read, deeply loved, highly profitable literature that receives almost no serious critical attention - a least not from adults. Children's books are often misunderstood, dismissed, and ignored."

"Kids' books merit grown-up conversation."  Kids "deserve entertaining stories and meaningful art."

"The children's writer must always respect the child. It is our job to approach the reader in a spirit of play and fellow feelings."

"Childhood is a long series of experiments - testing our hypotheses and making adjustments. It seems only right that so much of the best children's literature is experimental too."

There has been SO much controversy over this slim 90-page book/essay but in my reading I feel as though the anger and upset have come from people who just 'didn't get' the tone of this book. Sure this book is discussing a very serious topic or topics, but the commentary comes with a huge dose of the cheeky voice of Mac Barnett. By the end of page ten he had me totally hooked because even that early in the book, I had nodded and smiled and resoundingly agreed with his analysis several times.

Here are lots of quotes from this book that resonated deeply with me!

When will you write a real book (meaning an adult book): "After twenty years of writing children's books I have become so practiced at answering this question that sometimes I'm even able to appear not remotely annoyed when I recite some version of the same thing: Children's books are real books; kids are ideal readers, especially of literary fiction; and finally no, I do not plan on ever writing a book for adults."

My comment - people ask me what adult books I read. Why do I blog and read kids books? It also infuriates me. It totally valid to read kids books, to love reading kids books, to want to share kids books and to want to talk about (only) kids books.

"Didactisim, always the enemy of good storytelling, is rampant in children's books, thanks to our long-standing insistence on stories that teach kids lessons."

My comment Hooray - I am SO aware of this, especially in picture books and books like this generally make me cringe and certainly make discard them quickly.

"The children's book author is under no obligation to instruct or encourage or explain. Our only duty is to tell good stories. And the best stories for kids - like the best stories for adults, tell the truth about what it means to be human in the world. But it means some thing very different to be a child in this world than it does to be an adult. The best children's writers tell the truth in a way that is recognisable and authentic to children."

My comment YES YES authentic please. I won't share the title or author here but there is a book from a couple of years ago that featured a melting glacier and a child on a journey. Surely by the end of the book, in the warm sunshine, the little piece of ice would all be gone - but NO. An utterly ridiculous book and such a waste of resources to publish it but of course this is one of those dreadful celebrity titles. If you browse (sorry to name names) Scholastic Australia book club brochures you will discover lots more examples of this - bad stories, bad storytelling, books that in my view should never have been published.

" ... children's books must be as varied as the lives of the children who read them. When children cannot find their experiences and emotions - their fear, jealousy, sadness and anger - reflected in the stories they read, two things can happen ... kids may abandon reading (or) ... children may decide that there is something wrong with themselves, ... this outcome should be unbearable to us all."

"By treating the child's experiences with dignity and compassion, the children's writer can often get to the very essence of human experience."

My comment - thank goodness for book lists such as The Empathy Lab and three cheers for all the people who talk about representation in books for kids. This is a huge topic and one I am sure you are very familiar with.

94.7% is crud

The BIG arguments around this book, though, come on page 19 and that wild statistic of 94.7%! More on that in a minute BECAUSE previously on page 11 Mac Barnett says:

"A healthy children's literature will contain great works of art, but there will also be plenty of trash, because trash is a necessary by product of art making, and also because trash can be fun to read, and children as much a right to enjoy trash as adults do."

"There are so many bad kids' books and kids' books are bad in so many different ways. There are treacly ones, and preachy ones, and ones that don't make any sense; books that are supposed to rhyme but don't; books with amateurish writing, or amateurish illustrations, or both; bland books; boring books. But I would point out lots of adults books are bad too!"

I am tempted at this point to share with you the covers of a couple of books that are really bad especially ones by 'sports stars' and comedians.

"People get the idea that it's easy to write a children's book, when really it's just easy to write a bad one."

My comment - this has the same effect on me as the people who wonder when I am going to read 'grown-ups' books. It is not easy to write a fabulous book for children - the best evidence of this comes from the really top authors such as Kate DiCamillo who often talks about her own writing journey. I recently attended an author talk about a picture book and the creator said it took four years from the original idea through to its publication this year. And Anna Walker (an award-winning Australian author/illustrator) took seven years to create her latest book. When I worked as a national judge for our Children's Book Council annual awards I was utterly shocked by so many of the truly awful picture books that were submitted. I have kept a small collection of the worst ones which most certainly demonstrate 'it's really easy to write a bad one.'

Mac Barnett describes categories or buckets that we could use to sort kids' books - one is propaganda and another is books that are '"soul nourishing, entertaining, and well crafted - stories written for children as they actually are and not as adult would like them to be." I know which ones I want to read.

Paraphrasing he says 'many adults are often surprised by the meaning they find in the pages of kids' books'. I could cite so many fantastic examples.

"A children's writer must have the same talents that all writers, in varying amounts possess - control of language, a sense of rhythm and pace, appreciate of beauty, a knack for character, a strong point of view - an on top of all of that, the ability to connect with kids."

"Even a story with a lesson should always be judged by how effectively that lesson is conveyed, not how worthy its message or how important we think it is for kids to hear."

Mac Barnett suggests we look no further an Aesop for terrific examples of this. 

"when (kids) encounter a story that makes demands of the reader - a story that requires thought and feeling and imagination in order to be fully understood - kids do what they do so well, so many times each day. They bravely work to comprehend the new."

My comment - share this with the parents in your school - the ones who ask for easy books, the ones who ask for 'hard' books and the ones who settle for and even encourage their kids to read every book from a mediocre series.

I love his two examples on page 38 - garbage trucks and the moon - here are the wonderful books I thought of as my examples:

Every Monday Mabel

Happy Birthday Moon

A very large section of Make Believe is dedicated to an analysis of Goodnight Moon. This is not a book that really appeals to me, but Mac Barnett has made me revisit it with fresh eyes. One thing that does make sense is the way he explains its popularity with US families. When it was published this book was read to kids - they loved it. When they had kids of their own, they bought this book to share with their child. When those kids had kids, they bought this book and so on! If you are familiar with this book or you are curious about it take a look at pages 60-69 of Make Believe but try to do this with the actual picture book in your hands. Also read more about Bank Street on pages 44-47. Then take a look at my recent post about their top 100 titles. 

I love that Mac Barnett does not like the term "middle grade" and much prefers the words kids use - chapter books! Maybe I can find a way to change my lexicon. Mac Barnett also rails against the idea that picture books are for young kids and that all kids must move on to harder books and put away those childish ones! In my view (which your surely know from reading this blog if indeed you have ever read any of my posts) picture books are for everyone - even adults! And kids do not grow out of picture books and it is okay to revisit your collection of Board Books too.

I laughed out aloud several times reading Mac Barnett's thoughts. And one part that resonated with me, because it happens way too often, was when he described in a footnote on page 2 "people saying they always wanted to write a kids' book because it seems so easy." When people say this to ME it drives me crazy too - I am too polite to fire back with a resounding NO but in my head this comment always makes me rage.

One more idea that Mac Barnett discusses - kindness (pages 51-57). You might like to look at my post on a related idea - picture books with no narrative - I call them homily books. We do want kids to be kind and generous, and happy and mindful but many books that fall into this category will not be the ones kids ask to have 're-read and when a child says 'read it again' that is one of the highest forms of praise for the parent but more importantly for the author and illustrator.

"Four pages into this slim new volume of narrative theory, I began pumping my fists in the air like a roomful of elementary-schoolers when someone hits play on 'Golden.' A few pages later, I began texting quotes to friends and reading bits out loud to my family." New York Magazine

"A magnificent piece of writing—funny and sharp and true. Every adult should read it, whether or not they have a child. I loved it.” Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures (Make sure you read this book about kids and books and read by Katherine Rundell). 

Going back to the 94.7 comment. First off this is a crazy and therefore in my view rather silly statistic - it is not meant to be taken literally. I loathe the use of statistics in our modern world. To my eye this number is designed to jolt you, yes, but not mean only 5 books in one hundred are 'good'. The real impact/condemnation of this comment by Mac Barnett more appropriately comes from his use of the word 'crud'. That is indeed a strong word. It did jolt me but I actually agree with Mac about this - not the percentage. There are so many fantastic books but of course there are also too many that could/should be so much better. 

I was intrigued to read the review of Make Believe in our Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald last weekend.  First off children's books or books about children's books very rarely reach this newspaper column which is one of Mac Barnett's main reasons for writing Make Believe. I had already seen all the vitriol and commentary about that 94.7 comment so I expected the reviewer to add her 'five cents worth' to this debate but she didn't. She did focus on part of the book which explores Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown - meaning this book could have less interest to an Australian adult, who enjoys reading literary criticism of children's books, because Goodnight Moon is not a very high-profile book here. Mac Barnett talks about Goodnight Moon here if this topic interests you.

Make Believe has only just been released here in Australia (June 2026) - it arrived in the US a few months ago. I was pleased to see it in a local bookstore this morning but sadly it was hidden on a shelf filled full of other literary criticism titles - I do wish the shop had put this book over near the children's section so it might be found and read.

Now that you have read my rambling thoughts about Make Believe take a look at these posts if you want to better understand both sides of the debate and controversy:

Mac Barnett Is Right. Mac Barnett Is Also a Snob. Afoma Umesi

Mac Barnett Responds Amid Continued Backlash SLJ Kara Yorio

A New Manifesto for Children’s Literature New York Times by Gregory Maguire (DNYUZ)

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Mac Barnett talks about his new book NPR

A Beloved Children’s Book Author Said Most Children’s Literature Is “Crud.” It Has Not Gone Well. Laura Miller SLATE

The Kid Lit Ambassador Has No Diplomatic Immunity Kirkus

Sydney Morning Herald - School Libraries and inequality

Illustration by Craig Smith from Black Dog by Christobel Mattingley

"For some students, a school library 

will be their only access to books."

Here is the full headline from the Sydney Morning Herald 6th May 2026:

Young people are being let down by lack of school libraries 

SMH opinion piece by Cathie Warburton Chief executive of ALIA 
(The Australian Library and Information Association)

I worked in NSW Department of Education primary schools in their school libraries from 1985-2017 in various libraries from small rural schools, a larger country town and a huge metropolitan campus. I have visited school libraries in NSW and in Canada and I currently volunteer in two libraries for children. The topic of this piece in the newspaper today is a very important one and a personal one too.

It is very easy to spot a great school library - the ingredients are not mysterious - a current, well-organised and attractively displayed book collection in a warm welcoming space AND a Teacher-Librarian - not just someone with specialised qualifications (I have these) but also a Teacher-Librarian who is passionate about reading and about providing children (and their teachers) with the best books and other resources available.

The barriers are not mysterious either - disinterested or ignorant school executives, limited budgets, inappropriate staffing, inadequate spaces, and of course the saddest situation of all when a school has no library or a library but no appropriate library staff. 

Some points that resonated with me in this article:

• In every State and Territory in Australia there is currently no legal requirement for a school to have a library.

• The NSW Department of Education has a school library policy BUT it is not mandated in law (so) the existence of a school library is largely dependent on the school system followed by the school principal.

[I have worked with every 'type' of Principal from the deeply committed to the apathetic and the openly hostile. At times, justifying my role and the importance of the school library felt like a daily battle]

• What is a modern school library? It is a physical and digital and wellbeing space with well-resourced collections and qualified staff who work with the school community to enhance all aspects of teaching and learning.

[This was one of the huge joys of my role - finding resources for teachers and encouraging new staff to read books and extend/develop their teaching repertoire]

• (Currently there is no data) on the number of schools with a library and qualified staff ... (in Australia).

• Wealthier independent schools are able to support well-resourced, often multi-campus school libraries and employ teams of qualified staff ...

• The lack of school libraries (in government schools) contributes to a widening gap in academic and wellbeing outcomes (for our students).

• The value of literacy initiatives focusing on reading for pleasure as a key driver of child and adult literacy have also become increasingly known ...

Tonight on the news the reporter named the "best" performing schools in Sydney as measured by a test called NAPLAN - I totally disagree with this testing of very young children BUT I would love to know about the library provisions in each of these 'top' schools - the news item named Beecroft PS; Lindfield East PS; and St Ives North PS among the 'top' three.

Cathie Warburton reinforces this measure when she says "Research by the ACER shows that students in schools with qualified teacher librarians achieve higher NAPLAN literacy outcomes and well-resourced, staff libraries are linked to higher student achievement overall."

If you are reading this AND you are a parent in Australia with a school aged child, make sure you check out the situation in YOUR school. Ask to see the library if you are touring a school, find out the name of the Teacher-Librarian, talk to your child - do they visit the school library every week? what happens when they visit? who works there? are books coming home? If you don't get 'great' answers to these questions ASK why.

I have talked about aspects of this issue previously:

Australian School Library Day

Library Snapshot Day 1st April

The Final Chapter SMH Good Weekend Magazine 

Reading is in the news they say we need a revolution - lets revolt!

"Children are forgetting the joy of reading books"

Libraries, books, time for reading, and more

The Picturebook Makers Part 2 edited by Sam McCullen

The Picturebook Makers series reveals the picturebook’s immense creative potential, celebrates outstanding international picturebooks and their creators, and constitutes an inspiring collection of picturebook knowledge for anyone interested in this unique 

and dynamic art form.

"When the words and the pictures communicate different things at the same time, a third reality is created in the mind of the reader."

"Picturebooks have the power to convey universal sentiments and challenging themes in deceptively simple ways, engaging with the hearts and minds of readers directly and concisely."

The editor of The Picturebook Makers says: 

"I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the all-too-common misconception that making picturebooks is an easy thing to do, and I wanted to show people the hard work, dedication, passion, skill and of course time it takes to make picturebooks of outstanding quality."

In 2014 dPICTUS launched their blog Picturebook Makers. "The artists who feature on the blog are not interviewed; they're just asked to tell the stories of how their picturebooks came to be."

In the first book from this series we meet these twelve illustrators: Jon Klassen, Kitty Crowther, Beatrice Alemagna, Shaun Tan, Eva Lindström, Blexbolex, Chris Haughton, Suzy Lee, Bernardo P. Carvalho, Isol, Manuel Marsol, and Johanna Schaible.

In the second book we meet: Carson Ellis, Axel Scheffler, Anna Höglund, Sydney Smith, Kristin Roskifte, André Letria, Issa Watanabe, Valerio Vidali & Violeta Lópiz, Anete Melece, Vincent Pianina, Marika Maijala, and Jimmy Liao.

Many of these names may be unfamiliar to you here in Australia but hopefully through this blog post you will make some new discoveries. 

See inside Part 2 here.

Valerio Vidali and Violeta Lopiz (Italy and Spain) The Forest.  I previously talked about Hundred illustrated by Valerio Vidali. 

This image is the front cover. The Forest has 70 pages. The bookseller notes say: A lyrical book about the adventure of life, The Forest is also a magnificent visual work, both painterly and a technical feat of paper engineering. Here, sensory experience and the textures of the material world are rendered through die-cuts, embossing, cutouts, and two gatefolds. A beautifully considered work. Riccardo Bozzi was born in Milan in 1966. He is a journalist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Violeta Lópiz is an illustrator from the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her beautifully textured work is filled with personality and playfulness. Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator based in Berlin. Vidali enjoys botanical gardens and spends his spare time building kites that rarely fly.

Leonard Marcus "The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books I've ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as bookmaking. It's a landmark."

Here is the Kirkus review. 

Marika Maijala (Finland) Rosie Runs (Ruusun Matka).

Bookseller blurb: Rosie dreams of forests, meadows, hares, and freedom. Trapped at the racetrack, she sprints in endless circles - until one day, Rosie makes a fearless beeline to the enormous world beyond the track. Scared and a little excited too, Rosie runs through shadowy forests, a circus, a bustling train station, and even takes a quick dip alongside a ferry. She keeps running through small towns and whirling cities, observing the gentle, giddy moments of passersby. Readers will find peace in a private look at a man watering his plants, or a jolt of happiness at a long-snouted dog wearing a cap on a train. A book about taking in the wide world around you, Rosie Runs beckons young readers to rediscover their favorite hobbies and passions, and revel in the joy of playing and being among new friends.

Kirkus Star review.

Carson Ellis (USA) Home

Bookseller blurb: Home might be a house in the country, a flat in the city, or even a shoe. There are clean homes, messy homes, sea homes and bee homes. Home resides on the road or the sea, in the realm of myth, or in the artist's own studio. This loving look at the places where people live brims with intriguing characters and is a visual treat that demands many a return visit.

Here is the Kirkus review. Home is available here in Australia in paperback for a good price. 

Anete Melece (Latvia) The Kiosk

Bookseller blurb: For years, the kiosk has been Olga’s life. She spends her days inside reading travel magazines and dreaming of distant places. One day a chance occurrence turns her upside down—literally—and sets her off on an unexpected journey. The Kiosk is a warm and curious story about someone who is stuck finding a way to be free. The story was originally produced as a short animation which gained international recognition and was selected for over 100 festivals around the world.

Andre Letria (Portugal) War (A Guerra)

Here is the Kirkus Star review.

Issa Watanabe (Peru) Migrants

Bookseller blurb: A heart-stoppingly beautiful wordless picture book about migration and empathy. The migrants must leave the forest. Borders are crossed, sacrifices made, loved ones are lost. It takes such courage to reach the end. At last the journey is over and the migrants arrive. This is the new place. Through extraordinarily powerful images, Migrants narrates the journey of a group of animals that leaves behind a leafless forest. With forceful simplicity, Migrants shows us the courage, loss and underlying hope migration takes. And that arriving in a new land may mean burying a portion of the past. Children will empathise quickly with the elegantly illustrated animal characters, each of whom have their own identity with details like clothing, colour choices and expressions. The dark pages add weight to the silence of their journey and the individual animals help make the story a universal one. A perfect book to help teach children about refugees and migration, with humanity, inclusivity and empathy. Readers can’t fail to be moved by this deeply emotional and thought-provoking tale.

Read the Kirkus Star review. 

Sydney Smith (Canada) Do you remember?

Bookseller blurb: Tucked up in bed at their new flat, a boy and his mum share memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp when a rainstorm blew the power out. Now it’s just the two of them, and the house where all of those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favourite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined.

Here are all my previous posts about Sydney Smith winner of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. He will be a keynote speaker at the 40th IBBY Congress this year - 2026.

Axel Scheffler (Germany) The Gruffalo

Jimmy Liao (Taiwan) The Starry Starry Night

Jimmy Liao is the illustrator of a very important book - The Sound of Colours. I talked about his book When the Moon forgot here. I'm not sure that the book featured in The Picturebook Makers  (The Starry Starry Night) is available in Engish. I did have this glorious book in my former school library. 

Kristin Roskifte (Norway) Everybody Counts 

Book seller blurb: This fun book teaches you to count from 0 to 7.5 billion, but also to do so much more. Follow the characters' stories through the book and see how their lives collide with those of others. There are a lot of secrets to be discovered for the sharp-eyed! You'll see that everyone is different, everyone has their own life, and that - most importantly - everybody counts. At the end, a spotting section allows you to go back and have even more fun.

The sequel to Everybody Counts is Everybody Travels. 

Anna Hoglund (Sweden) There are three titles to explore - The Shadow; Didi and Gogo waiting for the bus; and Whereof one only speaks with Rabbits.

None of these titles are available in English. But you may have seen this one:

You can see Shaun Tan listed for Book One - I would like to suggest these Australian illustrators if Book Three is published in the future: Bob Graham; Freya Blackwood; Jeannie Baker; Zeno Sworder; Marc Martin; and Ann James.

"My kids had other plans" Sydney Morning Herald December 30th, 2025

An article from the Sydney Morning Herald caught my eye today - and in part it made me happy but then it also made me rage a little because this mother (Cherie Gilmour a freelance writer) has missed a fantastically easy way to be present with her kids which is the focus of this piece entitled 

"I was the mother of holiday invention. My kids had other plans."

Here are some quotes from the article (which is behind a paywall sorry):

"I set my intention: the summer holidays will be fun and relaxing - a chance to reconnect with my kids. After all I'd be off work as well. I would be the ringleader of fun."

This mum then discovers it is not really fun so she heads off to yoga retreat.  Then ...

"I set myself a challenge, a whole day with my kids, being utterly present. We walked to the park, and I watched them climbing, playing pirates, investigating slater bugs and tiny flowers. I realised that my kids' ability to transform boredom into imaginative play is something I have utterly lost the capacity for when my phone, or even my job, is infinitely more stimulating."

CAN YOU SEE THE WORD - PHONE!

So, this mum has worked out she needs to be with her kids and NOT on her screen. You might think that is why I am raging (and yes I do rage about this regularly) but actually my rage today is because this mum (as far as this opinion piece presents) has not yet discovered the joy of reading to her kids. She can see them enjoying imaginative play - that's fantastic but at the end of the long day she just turns on a movie. That's okay too but what about also grabbing a book or two? This piece mentions a 'new' phenomenon called #corememories. Sharing book after book after book should be one part of this process. Cherie Gilmour explains the idea of #corememories is not only about the kids themselves it is also about giving parents those beautiful memories of their child during those fleeting years of childhood.

"If I lose the ability to be present with my children, when it's easier to park them in front of a screen, I miss the opportunity to create my own core memories of their precious childhood, which is dripping away like a melting glacier, one day at a time. The days are long but the years are short."

I spent some time with a few 35-year-olds this week over Christmas. It was wonderful to see them talking about the books they (as adults) read this year and to hear them also remember books we had shared when they were tiny such as There's a Hippopotamus on the Roof Eating Cake. I gifted a selection of picture books at their family Christmas event for the next generation of young children aged 2-9 and then loved seeing every adult picking up a picture book to read to one of these children. This happened over and over again. My heart sang! I do hope Cherie Gilmour has discovered the joy of reading to her own children and that her home is filled with fabulous books - that is one easy way she can be present with her kids, create memories and share the fun of exploring their imaginations. 

Thinking about reading with children from Grade 3 and 4

On a social media platform this week a university lecturer posed this important question. She is involved with a course for trainee teachers. I really took this question to heart, BUT I have to say SO many of the 'answers' left me in despair.

Here is the question:

If you were choosing one Australian middle-grade novel (around Grades 3–4 level) to share with a group of young adults who are preparing to be primary teachers—many of whom haven’t read children’s novels for a while—what book would you pick that they simply won’t be able to put down? We’ll be reading part of the book aloud together each week, and they’ll read the rest between classes. I’d love a story that reminds them of the joy and magic of reading and shows the power of a great book in the classroom. What Australian page-turner would you choose?

Before I share my 'long' reply let's just look at some key aspects of this question - things we know and things that lead to more questions:

• The question comes from someone involved in tertiary education here in Australia so that explains the emphasis on 'Australian' - this is okay but I hope the lecturer will also expose these adult students to other books. We speak English here in Australia and so have access to some of the best books from UK, Canada, USA, New Zealand and South Africa.
• Grade 3 and 4 - Is this for a book to read at the beginning of the year when the Grade 3 kids have just moved out of an infants grade. These readers could be aged between 7 and 10 depending on when this project happens. I would argue there is a huge difference between books I would share with a Grade 3 reader aged 7 turning 8 and a Grade 4 reader aged 9 turning 10.
• "Won't be able to put down" - that is actually impossible to predict but it is a worthy goal. These University students may not be 'readers' or they may be avid adult readers, they may have preferred genres, and I have to say finding ONE book feels like a huge responsibility. Perhaps it might be better to use one text for this 'book club' model but also give the students a wide reading list and set a requirement to read a set number of these too.
• "I’d love a story that reminds them of the joy and magic of reading and shows the power of a great book in the classroom" - this is a lofty goal - I do hope a book that fulfils this can be found. If we weren't limited to Australian I would have suggested Wishtree by Katherine Applegate or One Dog and his Boy by Eva Ibbotson.

POST UPDATE - here is a reply from the author of this question. (I would prefer not to name the Facebook group):

• Thank you for your thoughtful post and for sharing it with me. Since I’m the lecturer who posed the original question, I thought it might be helpful to offer a little context.
• Teaching future primary teachers about thoughtful, intentional book selection is just one small part of what they explore in this subject with the teaching team. Over the semester, students look closely at a range of considerations—developmental suitability, reader experience, literary quality, diversity of texts, and how we support children to engage with longer works of fiction in purposeful ways.
• For many pre-service teachers, it has been quite a long time since they’ve read junior–middle fiction, and for some, a long time since they’ve read any long-form fiction at all. Before they can meaningfully evaluate and select texts for children, they need structured opportunities to re-engage with children’s literature as readers.
• As experienced teachers, we know that you cannot “teach” a book unless you have lived with it—read it multiple times, considered it from different angles, and explored its possibilities. Asking the cohort to read one shared text over time allows us to model this process deliberately and to help rebuild reading stamina in a manageable, supportive way.
• I also asked specifically for Australian titles—not because I’m opposed to international literature (far from it), but because we have such exceptional Australian authors and I enjoy highlighting their work. It’s important for future teachers to be familiar with a strong range of local stories as part of their wider reading diet.
• And as for choosing the Year 3–4 range—there was no special reason beyond instinct. I imagined the books might be shorter, and my experience is that while they may be shorter, they are certainly not less mighty or less worth reading. It also meant there was a good chance we would get through the book in the time we have scheduled.

Now back to my response to the original question. This particular forum/Facebook Group does not allow contributors to link to personal blog posts but all of the books I offered as choices (see image below) are discussed here on my blog of course. Here is my reply:

I think it would be good to have a book (if you’re in NSW) that’s not one of the “set” English texts. It would be good to “expand their knowledge. Also grade 3 and 4 kids are very different. If this is now, late in the year, then the grade 3 kids are aged 9 and grade 4 kids are ten but if it’s for term one next year the grade 3 kids are still quite young. 

Also, if I was doing this, I’d seek out a book that doesn’t have existing teachers notes or discussion questions, so these trainee teachers have to think deeply about the text. I also think a shorter book would be good, so the task is not too daunting. And perhaps you could use a verse novel because some of these students may not have encountered that form and they often have very powerful stories. Someone already suggested The Little wave for example. 

Here’s some novels to investigate. 

Pop each title into my search bar for me details

Hopefully you’re able to read a few for yourself so you can give these lucky students a fabulous reading experience. I’ll post a few verse novels too. 

Verse Novels - Pop each title into my search bar for more details

I’m also guessing as well as Australian it needs to be in print. My most favourite book for a project like this would be The Big Bazoohley by Peter Carey but it’s long out of print. I also love another very old book Angie’s ankles by Gary Hurle but that disappeared a long time ago. Can you let the group know which book you do use? Thanks. (Sorry for this long answer but I think this is a very very important topic). AND I would add that the best books we share with students are books we have loved reading ourselves - not texts imposed by curriculum experts or even grade requirements etc. 

Of course, I have no way of knowing about the expertise of the people who shared their own answers to the question I quoted. 

I have organised the books that were listed under my own headings - 

The Good

Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas

The Little Wave by Pip Harry

The Kindness Project by Deb Abela

Katrina Nannestad - I would say yes to some of her books but not the World War II titles. The Travelling Bookshop

Polly and Buster by Sally Rippin

The Book of Wondrous possibilities by Deb Abela

The Midwatch by Judith Rossell (but this one is very long)

Wandi by Favel Parrett

Mina and the whole wide world by Sherryl Clark (might be out of print)

Song of a Thousand Seas by Zana Fraillon

Brindabella by Ursula Dubosarsky

Too mainstream - I would love these students to be exposed to 'other books' not the latest 'top of the pops books' even though I did enjoy some of these:

Runt by Craig Silvey (I have four other posts about this book and the sequel)

Blueback by Tim Winton - here in NSW this is a prescribed text

How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five by Carla Fitzgerald

Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda (1993)

The Naming of Tishkin silk by Glenda Millard (I am a huge fan of this series of seven titles, and I own the whole set but in the first one the baby has died - younger readers might find this distressing). 

Childish by Morris Gleitzman (Take a look at one his less well known titles that I loved)

The Strange choices (in my view) 
YES, these are great books, but I wouldn't suggest them for this project

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend (this has 450 pages)

The extremely inconvenient adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty (494 pages)

Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead illustrated by Nicholas Gannon - this is a fantastic book with an Australian setting BUT the authors are from the US. 

Books I would not read with or to children aged 7-10

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park (distressing scenes and the main character is a teenager)

Once by Morris Gleitzman (Holocaust setting)

August and Jones by Pip Harry

Books by Tristan Bancks - I love his work - Scar Town; Two Wolves; Detention; and Cop and Robber

The Shop at Hoopers Bend by Emily Rodda

Sick Bay by Nova Weetman

Laugher is the best ending by Mariam Master

A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr

Harp in the South by Ruth Park (adult title)

His name was Walter Emily Rodda (the characters in this book are teenagers)

Dragon Skin Karen Foxlee (contains domestic violence)

Lenny's book of Everything by Karen Foxlee

Any of the James Aldridge (he died in 2015 and his books are Young Adult titles) I loved The Story of Lilli Stubeck from 1984.

Childstone Cycle by Kerry Greenwood (adult title)

Jackie French Matilda series (Young Adult/Adult series)

Queenie in Seven Moves by Zanni Louise

Does my head look big in this by Randa Abdel Fattah

Out of Print

45 and 47 Stella Street by Elizabeth Honey

The Cabbage Patch Fib by Paul Jennings

The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling bee by Deborah Abela

Benjamin in Blink Beyond by Oona Roach (1983) 

Not Australian

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein

The Miraculous journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster

Books I need to find and read:

Big Magic by Sarah Armstrong

This Camp is Doomed by Anna Zobel

Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole by Annaleise Byrd

A Clue for Clara by Lian Tanner

The sugarcane kids and the red-bottom boat by Charlie Archbold

The last Ember by Lily Berlin Dodd (not Australian)

Kip of the Karoo and Kip of the Mountain by Emma Gourlay

SOS: Big Splash: School of Scallywags (SOS) by Cameron Stelzer (there are ten titles in this series)

Samantha Wheeler titles - Turtle Trackers; Wombat Warriors; Devils in Danger

This would be SO perfect - I wish it was still in print.