South with the Seabirds by Jess McGeachin

The subtitle of this book says: Follow four remarkable scientists to the edge of the world.

By being one of the first female scientists to join an Antarctic research trip, fearlessly exploring the globe, actively striving to conserve wildlife and leading by example Mary Gillham became an inspiration to female scientists helping to normalise the sight of women in a traditionally male-dominated field.

In this book we meet four scientists. The year is 1959 and that is very significant because only men are considered able to do research in Antartica. The four women we meet here are Mary Gillham from the UK; and Isobel Bennett, Hope Macpherson and Susan Ingham from Australia. Hope and Isobel are marine biologists who plan to study the animals in the rock pools on the shores of Macquarie Island. Mary has been studying birds, animals and plants in a variety of environments from the arid desert to rocky islands. She has a plan to study the seabirds and unique plants and to report on the damage caused by introduced rabbits. Susan wants to check on the seals to make sure their populations are recovering now that hunting is banned. And all four scientists are fascinated by the variety of penguins - Royal, King, Gentoo and the Southern Rockhopper. 

Image Source Antartcia.gov.au

The whole expedition was just 15 days. You can read more and this expedition and about Mary Gillham (1921-2013) and see photos and newspaper articles here. The end papers in South with the Seabirds show four places on Macquarie Island that celebrate the achievements of these women scientists. This book also has a useful timeline and a brief biography of each of the four women. I was thrilled to read that Mary Gillham achieved her PhD. 

Some facts about Macquarie Island:

• Macquarie Island is located halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica and a station was established on the “green sponge” in 1948. The Island was used as a half way point to establish the first radio link between Australia and Antarctica during Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911 expedition.
• Throughout the year, the Macquarie Island teems with vast congregations of wildlife. Where the nutrient rich waters of the Southern Ocean meet warmer northern waters, rich feeding grounds are created and make the island an ideal haven for penguins, seals and seabirds to live and breed.
• Macquarie Island was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933. In 1997, World Heritage status was granted due to its outstanding geological and natural significance.
• Rabbits, rats and mice, brought to the island over nearly 200 years of visitation and occupation were finally eradicated in 2014, after a 7-year, eradication program. With grazing pressures removed, the island is returning to its former lush, green glory.

In my former school library our Grade 6 students completed a unit of work on Antartica. This book would be a perfect resource. Using this book you could also explore women in Antarctica - scientists, explorers and as people working in the various stations. The publisher webpage has a link to a set of teaching notes to use with South with the Seabirds. 

Here are some websites to explore:

Ten Pioneering Women of Antarctica and the Places Named for Them

The story of the first Australian women in Antarctica

Behind the News Macquarie Island (2023)

Behind the News Rabbit on Macquarie Island (2019) YouTube

When you introduce the topic of women in science you could also talk about Beatrix Potter. The children are sure to be familiar with her characters like Peter Rabbit and other animals characters who appear in her small books, but Beatrix Potter was also an amazing scientist especially in the area of mycoloy. I think your students will be amazed to learn that as a woman in 1897 she was not permitted to present her research to London’s Linnaean Society, the bastion of Victorian botany, which was exclusively male and barred women from membership, denied them access to the research library, and wouldn’t even allow them to attend the presentations of scientific papers.

We are so lucky to have a talent like Jess McGeachin producing books here in Australia.

Fly

The tree at Number 43

Deep

Kind

South with the Seabirds is a CBCA 2025 Eve Pownall (Non Fiction) Notable title. I am very hopeful it will be one of the six short listed titles which will be announced at the end of March. 

The 2025 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Eve Pownall Award Notables are…

• All About the Brain by Gabriel Dabscheck (Berbay)
• Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson (Magabala Books)
• Anti-Racism Kit by Sabina Patawaran & Jinyoung Kim, illustrated by Emma Ismawi (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
• Australia’s Baby Animals by Jess Racklyeft (Affirm Press)
• Before the Mountain had a Name by Fiona Levings (Forty South Publishing)
• Come Together Again by Isaiah Firebrace, illustrated by Jaelyn Biumaiwai (Hardie Grant Explore)
• Design & Building on Country by Alison Page & Paul Memmott, illustrated by Blak Douglas (Thames & Hudson Australia)
• Extreme Animal Facts by Jennifer Cossins (Lothian Children’s Books)
• Flora: Australia’s Most Curious Plants by Tania McCartney (NLA Publishing)
• Follow Your Gut by Ailsa Wild & Lisa Stinson, with Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti, illustrated by Ben Hutchings (Scribe Publications)
• I am a Magpie, I am a Currawong by Bridget Farmer (Black Cockatoo Books)
• The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals by Sami Bayly, illustrated by Sami Bayly (Lothian Children’s Books)
• Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica by Alison Lester & Coral Tulloch (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
• Making the Shrine: Stories From Victoria’s War Memorial by Laura J Carroll (The Crossley Press)
• Now for the Good News by Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, illustrated by Sarah Wiecek (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Plantabulous! More A to Z of Australian Plants by Catherine Clowes, illustrated by Rachel Gyan (CSIRO Publishing)
• Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree by Pamela Freeman, illustrated by Liz Anelli (Walker Books Australia)
• Sensational Australian Animals by Stephanie Owen Reeder, illustrated by Cher Hart (CSIRO Publishing)
• South With the Seabirds by Jess McGeachin (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
• Sunny Finds His Song by Catherine Storey & Penny Watson, illustrated by Sarah Matsuda (Wet Season Books)
• Too Many Tigers by Monica Reeve (Forty South Publishing, Tasmania)
• Unreal by Kate Simpson, illustrated by Leila Rudge (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
• Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu by Diane Lucas & Ben Tyler, illustrated by Emma Long (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
• Wedge-tailed Eagle by Claire Saxby, illustrated by Christina Booth (Walker Books Australia)
• When the World Was Soft by Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation, illustrated by Alex Mankiewicz (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)

Storm by Jane Bunn illustrated by Dasha Riley

"The sky was menacing and dark. It looked like it could swallow anything and everything."

The television weather presenter advises everyone to say indoors. Jane's little dog Stampy is terrified. Jane is a problem solver and so she decides to research storms and write her discoveries in her journal which she then shares with her pup. To complete her research, she uses the library and talks with a meteorologist (her aunt). The result is a partially fiction book with full pages of weather facts. 

The author of this book is a television weather presenter from Channel Seven. Celebrity books do make me cringe - but I guess a television weather presenters would know her topic and also, she is perhaps a fairly minor celebrity - unless you live in Melbourne. She talks about her book here with Reading with a Chance of Tacos. (25 minutes) She might do further books and make a series. Hope she can take a look at this book set:

I had a little girl in my school a few years ago who was terrified of storms and especially upset of there was thunder and lightning. One day we had a very wild storm at school - actually this happened fairly often at home time. The little girl was with me in the library - I don't remember why - but I do remember comforting her during the storm and the kind reaction of her mum when she finally arrived. I would have loved to loan her this book once the storm had passed. 

I am not a massive fan of the illustrations in this book, but I do really like the combination of a fictional narrative about Jane and her dog linked with the fact pages about storms; lightning; wind; hail; storm safety; and predicting weather.

Publisher blurb: When a dark, menacing storm rumbles over Jane’s house, she has lots of questions ... Where do storms come from? What causes lightning? How does hail form? And most importantly, how do we stay safe? Discover all the wild-weather answers you need to know in this imaginative and informative story from weather presenter and meteorologist Jane Bunn.

Pair this with:

I am the Storm

Agatha May and the Angler Fish by Nora Morrison and Jessie Ann Foley illustrated by Mika Song

"Each of you scholars will research a creature that lives in the ocean. 

You'll learn all its features."

"Pick any sea-dweller from under the sun, but no two children 

may choose the same one!"

There is SO much to enjoy about this book. Agatha May is a clever child, but she is bouncing along to her own beat - I love her nonconformity. I also love her passion which in this case is for Anglerfish. Agatha waits in the line for her turn to select a fish to research:

"As Agatha listened, the tears gathered fast. She had no merit points! Her turn would be last! She was tardy and dreamy, her interests were odd, her fingers were charcoaled, her breath smelt like cod!"

I have listed this book as a picture book (fiction) but really it is both fiction and nonfiction. Agatha talks with so much authority about this fish and at the back of the book there are two pages of facts and further read. 

One of the brightest students I was ever lucky enough to work with in my Primary school was a little like young Agatha. Her schoolwork and desk were always completely messy (seemingly disorganised) but young Blair knew where everything was. I am sad to say her messy habits did infuriate her class teacher just as we see in this book with Mrs Marino. I wish I could wind back time and share this book with that teacher from my school. Blair was one of our school leaders and I know by the end of the year the teacher did come to appreciate her outstanding intelligence, but it did take a long while for him to understand this Grade Six girl. (She is now a senior associate in a legal firm).

Read more about the Anglerfish here. You might find a book in your school library about Anglerfish or a general fish book might have a chapter with details of this curious creature.

The satisfaction of seeing Agatha May rewarded for her fixation is rivaled only by Song’s marvelous watercolor embodiment of Agatha May’s untidy, obsessive self. Kirkus

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas by Kimberly Willis Holt

As I began to read The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas yesterday I realised I need to revisit the first book from this two book series - When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.  I re-read my blog post but it did not have enough information so yesterday I read both of these books from cover to cover in one sitting. That's 227 pages plus 311 pages. I am glad I did this because, while the second book could perhaps stand alone, you will have a far richer reading experience if you can read both of these books one after the other so that all the small plot details fit together. 

This second book, published in 2021, is set about 25 years after the first. Back in 1971 a trailer pulled up in the Dairy Maid parking lot. Inside is a young boy - he is being used as a circus curiosity - billed as the "Fattest Boy in the World". Over the next few weeks Toby Wilson and his best friend Cal make friends with Zachary. His owner/manager/guardian has left him behind in the trailer. Paulie Rankin has headed away to find more circus acts. Zachary has some food and books to read but it does feel as though he has been abandoned. The local police Sheriff Levi arrives after a window is broken on the trailer. the sheriff tells Toby and Cal that Zachary will have to placed in foster care if Paulie doesn't return by the end of the week.

Now moving onto the second book. Toby has married Tara (she's the younger sister of Scarlett. Toby had a huge crush on Scarlett). Toby and Tara have two daughters - Rylee and Mayzee. Mayzee is six years old and little like Tara was in the first book - loud, brave and a born performer. Rylee, aged 12 is more reserved. She is starting Grade 7 and her dad will be her history teacher. Rylee has one true friend - a girl named Twig. Sadly Twig has just returned from a trip to Spain. Now she no longer talks to Rylee and worse she seems to want to hang out with the class bully. 

After 9-11, a young boy and his mum have moved from New York to Antler in the Texas panhandle. Joe and Rylee slowly become friends and Joe opens up about his grief and past life. When Joe hears about Zachary Beaver he tells Rylee they should try to find him. Rylee is worried Zachary might now be dead but Joe encourages her and together, using the brilliant services of the local reference librarian, they piece together the life of Zachary from 1971 to 2021. I imagine you are guessing there will be a happy ending but SO much happens before we reach the end of this engrossing story of small town life and the colourful characters who live there.

Read more plot details in the Kirkus review. Ms Yingling comments on both stories here. Listen to an audio sample which begins on page 4. Kimberly Willis Holt explains the inspiration for her story. 

This is the first middle grade novel that I have read that deals with the events of September 11th, 2001. I am sure there are tons of others, just as there lots of books coming through now dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic, but so far this is my first book that touched on 9-11. 

I fell in love with a whole town. Becky's book Reviews - me too especially Miss Myrtie Mae Pruitt; Miss Earline the real estate agent; Ferris from the Bowl-a-Rama cafe; and Opalina Wilson (Rylee's grandmother and Toby's mum).  Oh and I'm keen to try a Snow Cone especially a Bahama Mam flavour. I'd also love to have seen the hundreds of ladybirds that were released over the cotton fields (from the first book).

You should also read this book by Kimberly Willis Holt:

Blooming at the Sunrise Motel

Little Nelly's Big Book by Pippa Goodhart illustrated by Andy Rowland

Have you read the folk tale about the six blind men and the elephant? Little Nelly's Big Book is a variation on that theme. Nelly is reading a book. She makes an amazing discovery:

Mice can be grey
Mice have big ears
Mice have skinny tails

It is so obvious Nelly is mouse! The book she is reading is a big book of words but with no pictures. Of course as a reader you can see Nelly herself reading the Big Book. Nelly is not a mouse she is a small elephant. Nelly does not know this. The book explains mice live in holes in skirting boards. Nellie lifts up a skirting board and finds the mice are at home.

"Er, you're rather a big mouse,' said Micky.
'I'm not!' said Little Nelly. 'If I'm a big mouse, why am I called little Nelly?"

Micky is not convinced but Granny mouse invites Little Nellie to join them. Things go well but Little Nellie doesn't feel entirely comfortable. Granny uses her laptop computer to do some research. The mice decide Nelly should visit the zoo and meet other 'mice' just like her.

The zoo is the perfect place for Nelly so Micky decides to take a look at the Big Book himself. He makes an amazing discovery:

Elephants can be grey
Elephants have big ears
Elephants have skinny tails

It all makes sense - Micky is an elephant!

The images in this picture book remind us that your outward appearance is not really important. What is really important in life is who you are and how you relate to the people who love you. Blog Curled up with a Good Book

This book celebrates being different and relishes the difficulty a large creature has in adapting to a small way of life. Books for Keeps

Take a look here to see all the books by Pippa Goodhart.  Sadly Little Nelly's Big Book was published in 2012 so it is now out of print but you might be lucky and find a copy in a library.

Here is another book I love about little elephants:

I would also pair Little Nelly's Big Book book with Fey Mouse by Hazel Edwards. Sadly this book is also out of print but I think many Australian Primary school libraries would have a copy.

The thing about jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Surrounded by the cruelty of adolescence, Zu is awkward, smart, methodical, and driven by sadness. 

As humans we constantly seek answers.  When someone dies, especially a younger person, we want to know why and how and most importantly was there something we should have done to prevent this.

Franny and Suzy had been friends since elementary school.  One day her mum calls her inside and says "Franny Jackson drowned."  Suzy is obsessed by numbers.  These are just three words but these words begin a tumultuous internal dialogue which sees Suzy trying to make peace with her childhood 'friend' and her own mistakes of the past.

"None of it made sense. Not then, and not later that night when the Earth dipped toward the stars. Not the next morning when it rolled back around to sunlight again."

Suzy needs answers so she turns to science she also decides to become silent.  Her self imposed silence means finding the answer to this tragedy become very one sided.  There is no one to collaborate with - no other view points.  Suzy is utterly convinced the culprit is the Irukandji jellyfish and so her scientific mind sets about intensive research to find everything she can about this mysterious creature - hence the title 'The thing about jellyfish.'

The class have to present a science talk on a topic of their own choice.  Each chapter of The thing about Jellyfish begins with an aspect of the scientific method their teacher Mrs Turton expects them to use.  One day she shows the class a set of pictures of earth seen from space.

"Here I was, just one out of seven billion people, and people were just one species out of ten million and those ten million were just a tiny fraction of all the species that ever existed, and somehow all of fit onto that fleck of brown dust on the screen. And we were surrounded by nothingness."

There are three narratives in this story shown with different fonts. The present action where we read about Suzy, her family and her jellyfish research, childhood scenes in happier times when Suzy and Franny were best friends and the recent past when pressures of the peer group and feelings of alienation wrecked everything for Suzy.  The scenes where Franny's new friends reject Suzy and Suzy's own social confusions are quite confronting.

One of the bloggers I follow is Mrs Yingling and the part of her reviews I really appreciate is her final comment "What I really think".

So what do I really think about The thing about Jellyfish.   I knew I would cry in this book but really the tears were not a result of my deep emotional connection with Suzy and her terrible experience of the death of a close friend.  I admire her drive, her attention to detail and her deep research but I remain a little confused about Suzy.  I felt she may be on the autism spectrum because she was so obsessive about numbers and details and so confused by social situations but the final scenes made me revise this idea.  I am sure this is a book that readers over 12 will enjoy and perhaps relate to especially as they navigate their confusion with identity and peer expectations.

My big problem with this book, though,  is with the suggested readership. The New York Times says 9-12.  I totally disagree.  I think this is for very mature senior primary students but really it is even more suitable for junior High School students.  There are references in this book to same sex relationships and after an especially awful scene Suzy, who is twelve, finds her period has started. In contrast Kirkus say 12+ and I agree with this.

Here is an interview with the author.  You might also enjoy Counting by 7s and True (sort of).

The Doldrums : A badly planned adventure by Nicholas Gannon

"Out of the thousands of children born every single day, at least one of them will turn out to be a dreamer."

This is book is utterly scrumptious.  Start here with a dip into the very impressive author web site.  You can see the wonderful illustrations, meet the characters, view videos and generally get a feeling for the look, tone and feel of this book.

Archer B Helmsley must be destined to follow in the footsteps of his adventurous explorer grandparents but his mother, and to a lesser extent his father, are determined to prevent this.  Archer has become a prisoner in his own home.  And what a home it is.  Every room is filled with artefacts and taxidermy gathered by Grandpa and Grandma Helmsley.  When news reaches the family that the grandparents have been lost while exploring an iceberg Antarctica things become even worse for Archer.  Luckily he has a wonderful friend living next door.  Oliver Glub has a very different temperament but he is a loyal friend.  A new girl moves into their neighbourhood - Adelaide L Belmont.  She has had her own life tragedy but she is a strong, fearless and wonderful friend.  Now the three of them must find a way to travel to Antarctica and rescue the Helmsley elders.

The adults are determined to prevent this. They range from despicable to indifferent except for the wonderful school librarian!

Things become especially difficult for our friends when the new teacher - Mrs Murkley - arrives.

"Mrs Murkley, a rather bulbous woman with little neck to spare ..."

Read this Canadian review.

You might also enjoy Secret Letters from 0-10, Withering by Sea, Rooftoppers and The Danger Box by Blue Balliett

Edward and the great discovery by Rebecca McRitchie and Celeste Hulme

Start with the end paper please when you pick up Edward and the great discovery.  At the front of this book you can see a pattern of spades or trowels.  At the back you can see the full range of Edwards archaeological kit - maps, rope, strong, brushes, a new, explorer hat and sandwich.

"Edward's mother is an archaeologist.
Edward's father is an archaeologist.
Edward's grandmother and grandfather are archaeologists.
And all of them have made very important DISCOVERIES."

The stage is set.  Edward needs a discovery of his own. After a long search Edward finds an egg. No it is not a dinosaur as you might expect.  It is a bird.  A very special bird.  A bird that cannot fly. Have you guessed - it is a dodo.

You might like to read this review.  Here is an activity you could try when you read this book.  You can see inside this book at the illustrator web site.