Blog Target 4000 - nearly there

Hello, I had a plan to reach 4000 blog posts by the end of 2024. Sadly, I did not quite make it. As I write this it is 30th December 2024, and I have 3600+ posts in total and 1,840,192 hits! It will be exciting to reach 2 million hits and 4000 posts. Perhaps I will have a party. I have also posted 890 times on Instagram and have over 500 followers there so that feels like an achievement. 

I did give five stars to lots of books this year, but I thought for this post I should just focus on Australian children's titles. I'm not lucky enough to be sent review copies except for titles from UQP so I can only talk about books on this blog that I either buy from book shops or borrow from a library. This means I did miss some great titles this year especially in Middle Grade but I do have a big pile of these to read in January that I have borrowed from a local school library. These books are the focus on my previous post. In past years I had the wonderful privilege of reading for one of local bookstores - they were a terrific source of advance copies and new releases. Sadly the store has now closed. Any independent bookshop people in Sydney reading this post I would love to read for you (for free)! (Gleebooks Kids; Three Sparrows; The Constant Reader). 

Favourite Australian Middle Grade Books published in 2024:

The Midwatch

A small collection of happiness

All the beautiful things

The 113th Assistant Librarian

Bravepaw

Leo and Ralph

Blog post coming - this is a five star book but you need to look beyond the uninspiring cover.

Favourite Australian Picture Books published in 2024:

Listen Hippo

What stars are for

The Wobbly Bike

The Truck Cat

The Hidden Hat

Over or Under?

Bowerbird Brood

Tearaway Coach

I have a few more picture book titles on my 'to read' Australian Picture book list: Boots by Elizabeth Pulsford; A leaf called Greaf by Kelly Canby; The Welcome Cookies by Kaye Ballie; and Words that taste like home by Sandhya Parappukkaran.

If the World were 100 Animals by Miranda Smith illustrated by Aaron Cushley

Here we go again - another groundbreaking fantastic nonfiction book with an idea that is fresh and original and so appealing. This is a book that is certainly going to spark the curiosity of your young reading companion or class of students. AND as a bonus, if you work with a group of older students, do take time to look at the very extensive reference list included at the beginning of this book - this could be such a brilliant way to talk about referencing and using websites with the right level of authority and also the importance of deep research. You will see websites such as CSIRO, Save the Koala, UNESCO, National Geographic and World Wildlife Fund.

There are 20,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 20 quintillion or 20 billion billion individual animals on earth but if you think of this as just 100 then ... 

6 are vertebrates; 94 are invertebrates = 100

Let's look at the vertebrates 23 are birds; 11 are amphibians; 9 are mammals; 14 are reptiles; and 43 are fish = 100

Drill down further to the Mammals 94 are placental; 5 are marsupials; 1 is a monotreme = 100

YES, those Monotremes are ours - one platypus and four species of echidna.

And what about pets? 33 are dogs; 6 are birds; 23 are cats; 12 are fish; 26 are other animals = 100

Image source: Bookwagon

Other topics explored in this book are deadly animals (81 are mosquitoes); extinct animals (90 are extinct); animals in danger (54 are fish) and the final double spread explores the big questions.

Big Questions:

• What can we do to stop the animals' habitats and ecosystems being destroyed?
• What can we do to reduce our use of plastic and recycle plastic that already exists?
• How do we make people think about the connections between animals and the food on their plates?

Now for the really amazing news - this book from 2022 is only AUS$20. It is a book that should be added to every school and public library. If the World were 100 Animals is also a NSW Premier's Reading challenge title Years 3-4 (903350). Make sure you spend time exploring all the animals on the end papers. 

Other books by Miranda Smith and books illustrated by Aaron Cushley (he is from Belfast) from this series:

Due for publication in November, 2023

Series - The World in Infographics by Jon Richards and Ed Simkins

I don't talk about Non Fiction very often but this series has really caught my eye.  I must be a visual learner because I enjoy pouring over the infographic format as a way to present statistics and other general knowledge.

There are 12 books in this series. Topics include Planet Earth, Natural resources, Countries and Machines/Vehicles.  Each book has an index and a comprehensive glossary.  At a time when students and teachers make extensive use of 'Google' style searches I think books like this are especially useful.  Information is presented as graphs and comparisons.  In each book students can make sense of statistics and percentages and some of the content could be used for further research.

Here are a few facts from the Human World :

The Digital World
In 2010 107,000,000,000,00 emails were sent!

Staying in touch
The first call made from a mobile phone was made on 3rd April, 1973

Work Rest and Play
Annual Public Holidays - China 16, India 15, Australia 8

Dwindling resources
Years remaining of mineral reserves measured from 2011
Copper 61 years, Gold 45 Years, Tin 40 years, Phosphorus 345 Years

What a waste
New York produces 11,000 tones of trash a day or enough to cover the USA with a layer 2.5cm deep.

This page is from the Animal Kingdom.