Home in the rain by Bob Graham

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.

John Updike

I am so happy that Bob Graham has a book listed for our CBCA Awards.  Home in the Rain has been shortlisted in the Picture Book of the Year category.  I love exploring Bob Graham books with our classes and short listing gives me the perfect excuse to include all my favourite titles from his extensive book list.

I have talked about Bob Graham in previous posts

• Celebrating 100 books and Bob Graham
• Max by Bob Graham
• Silver Buttons by Bob Graham
• Pete and Roland by Bob Graham
• Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten by Bob Graham
• Humpty Dumpty

Take a minute to view this little film about Bob Graham.

In this new book Home in the Rain little Francie sets off with mum travelling home from Grandma's house in their old car and driving through torrential rain.  Here is a connection.  Frances was a name Bob used in his book First there was Frances (1985).  Bob also loves to include wild animals in his stories.  In this book you will find rabbits, ducks, a kestrel and a mouse. It reminded me of The Wild (1986). Bob Graham also enjoys exploring the minutiae of life and the things that happen in a short span of time - we saw this in his book How the sun got to Coco's house and also in Vanilla Ice-cream.  In this new book the whole action takes place over just a couple of hours - time it takes to drive home and stop for a little car picnic along the way.

I really like the way Bob Graham gives emotional qualities to the little red car.  My own little blue car has these qualities.

"The little red car seemed to muster all of its courage as it waited outside, ready for the road."
"The little car, now full of courage, bumped off down the road, the windows rolled down and wind rushing through."

Bob Graham has won so many important awards.  You can see a list here.  Click here for Walker teacher notes for Home in the Rain.

When we read this book next term we will explore condensation, oil rainbows and also read some picture books about rain including these below.  My friend at Kinderbooks also has some great suggestions for this topic in response to all the rain we have had here recently.

It will also be good to explore some of books about waiting for a new baby such as these :

The quote at the top of this post is taken from the dedication and comes from "A soft night in Shillington" taken from Self-consciousness: Memoirs by John Updike 1989.

Here are extracts reviews you might like to read :

• filled with radiance
• It has that special blend of everyday life and magic
• There is much love and joy conveyed through this story and I couldn’t help hugging my little ones a bit tighter after reading it.

Bob Graham has a magical touch with his books - both with the delicate illustrations, his use of changing perspectives and his beautiful, measured use of just the right words.  Here is the part of the text I love :

"Perhaps it was something unremarkable, not to be seen by strangers passing in the rain. For it was just a mum lost in thought and a small girl dancing."

This is just as special and the famous quote from Max which might be applied to Bob Graham himself :

 ‘Let’s call him a small hero doing quiet deeds. The world needs more of those.’

A Hatful of Dreams by Bob Graham

From this warm and loving house at the end of the street, dreams take flight and light the way to a brighter tomorrow. A heartfelt tale of hope and love, perfect for children and grandparents to share together, written and illustrated by master storyteller Bob Graham. Walker Books

From the front cover with that large, pink comfy chair, reminiscent of Let's get a Pup, to the title page which links so beautifully with Rose meets Mr Wintergarten and of course the little family who have surely stepped off the pages of Oscar's First Birthday - all fans of Bob Graham will be filled with happiness that we can once again enter his story world. Oh, and you will surely recognise grandad - yes, I am sure this is Bob Graham himself. 

Illustration from Oscar's Half Birthday

I collect books by Bob Graham so I went back and looked at these three books plus a couple of others. Have you noticed the way Bob Graham often highlights the cozy family home and his illustrations contrast this against the surrounding neighborhood for example the lightning bolt house in Max or the new house in Rose meets Mr Wintergarten. 

Houses from Max; Grandad's Magic and Rose Meet Mr Wintergarten

The title page of A Hatful of Dreams

Bob Graham is also a master of the interiors of homes. You need to take your time to notice little details such as a discarded teddy bear, washing up on the sink, slippers, the art on the walls, and the really comfortable furniture. Bob Graham is also a master of warm hugs.

Illustration from Let's Get a Pup - a comfy lounge

Illustration from Grandad's Magic - another comfy lounge

Some other things to delight you in A Hatful of Dreams: 

• The end papers show Millie and Sonny playing tether tennis (I loved this game when I was young)
• Chickens, a dog and washing on the clothesline
• Look for the photo of Grandad with his wife - we can infer she has died but grandad still loves her deeply. I love that this is now an extended family and Grandad has moved in with his daughter and the three young grandchildren
• Grandad has a tattoo of a bluebird on his hand
• Here is a beautiful phrase "Maggie! Top of the pile, her tail wagging, with a puppy smell of fresh walnuts."
• You can link this book with the theme of urban renewal - we also saw this in the book A Bus Called Heaven
• "Wrappers off toffees" - go back and read Greetings from Sandy Beach - yes there are toffees there too

Blurb Penguin Random House Canada: The Mile End Road once sparkled in sunshine and children’s laughter, until hard times came and all the people left, taking with them the sun, moon, and stars. But one family stayed on this broken-down street: the Andersons, in their house with a warm little glow, where kids bounce happily on Dad’s back, and Grandad’s fingers squeak on guitar strings as he jokes about all the secrets and dreams he keeps under his hat. “Grandad, I’ve seen you without your hat,” insists Millie, “and nothing was there except your hair.” But what will the children see the next time he doffs his hat? As always with Bob Graham, the tenderness is in the details: strewn-about stuffies, tumbling children, a blue-jeaned grandad with one leg thrown over his chair arm. It’s a story where even a derelict neighborhood can spark back to life, and where the love of a playfully bantering grandad can conjure a whole universe of light.

By the tale’s end, something has changed, and the neighborhood becomes revitalized at last. The eclectic mix of realism and magic is what makes this tale work. Graham’s greatest talents lie in the day-to-day natural messiness of life in a family where Dad drops “pieces of tissue from a just-washed shirt like a soft fall of snow.” The author/illustrator’s signature spare watercolors bring to life the gloom of the abandoned street, the warmth of the home, and the magic that leaks from Grandad’s hat. ... True magic lies at the heart of this marvelous tale. Kirkus

Briony Stewart introduces the slogan here.

Today the CBCA announced the 2026 Book Week slogan or as some people call it the theme - A Symphony of Stories. There is plenty of time of course but I am sure you will want to gather a collection of picture books with musical references. In A Hatful of Dreams grandad has composed a little tune. He plays a fragment of it on his harmonica and mum joins in with her violin. Oh, I need to mention there is a harmonica (can you spy it) on the limited edition print Bob Graham did for IBBY Australia many years ago.

IBBY Australia limited edition print by Bob Graham

Notice the harmonica which links with his newest book A Hatful of Dreams

The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham

Amanda and her mum live on the fifteenth floor of an enormous apartment complex. Heaps of kids live in this building. Today is the day, after "a cold, hard winter", that the doors have been opened and so everyone jumps in the lift and travels down from their apartment homes to enjoy running and playing outside. It is true that their playground is just a large area of concrete but there is so much these kids can do there - ball games, bikes and scooters, and running and jumping with their dogs.

"Children spilled out like sweets from a box."

I love the image conjured by this phrase - happiness, surprises, colours, sweet times ahead.

Amanda is carrying a huge box. It is filled with chalks of every colour. She sets her box down on the ground and draws an interesting picture. If you share this image with a group of children I am sure they would have lots of ideas about Amanda's drawing and also creative ideas about how to add to this image to make it into something even more interesting or perhaps surprising. In fact that is exactly what Jack does. He picks up some green chalk and adds stem and instantly Amanda's picture is a dandelion.

Gradually the enormous picture grows. Every child has something to contribute. You can see some of the children's chalk ideas on the book cover. Bob Graham, as always, paces the page turns perfectly building up our anticipation until just past halfway when the full picture is revealed. 

"Someone drew butterflies, balloons, a caterpillar, and a bumblebee passing by. A beautiful exotic garden spread across the concrete."

From her balcony high up in the building Nasrin sees the wonderful picture. She snaps a picture on her mobile phone and sends it to her mother in Isfahan, Iran.

"With a tear in her eye, Nasrin's mother then sent it to everyone she knew."

The image travels across the world including to the apartments above the concrete plaza where the children have been drawing. The residents finally look out of their own windows, and everyone applauds - someone even throws down some flowers. The children have drawn the most amazing scene in the area below their huge, towering apartment building. It is a joyous moment. Days later though, (spoiler alert) it rains and the picture is washed away.  Once the rain stops, the children once again "burst from the building". Will the children draw another huge piece of art or are there other ways to play? 

Bob Graham gives the kids terrific names - Janet Fairly (it is so true some kids are always known by their full name); the Bradley twins; Lovejoy; Luke's dog Alfie; Indira; Cecilia; Arthur; Rosie and of course Amanda.

I really appreciate the way Bob Graham didn't give his story any hint of magical realism. Creating their chalk drawing has filled these kids with joy but Bob has not been tempted to recreate the famous scene from Mary Poppins and have the children jump into the picture to bring it to life. During Covid 19 lots of children drew games and pictures on sidewalks near their homes. You can see this idea on the cover a very old book by Bob Graham - Charlotte and Henry.

This sweet story - The Concrete Garden - celebrates simple things such as playing, having fun, cooperation and creativity. At no point does anyone ask Amanda if they can use her chalk - she has clearly bought it along to share. We are also left to guess how it is that mum had this huge box of chalk which is given to Amanda as she steps into the lift on the first day the children can all go outside to play. 

Take a look at other chalk books and a great idea for using this book with your classes from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything.

Bob Graham is quite famous for his wonderful end papers but he has kept them quite minimal in his newest book (due for release August 2023). He does, however, begin the story on the page before the title page and then continues with a wordless story right across the double spread of the imprint page and title page. We see the kids all bursting out of the lift with so much excitement you can almost hear their laughter. Bob Graham pulls out all the illustration tricks as you would expect - full page spreads, small framed images, a birds-eye view (complete with a huge bird), and lots of glorious white space. And of course there are lots of tiny details that require close inspection and revisiting.

Walker Books: After a cold, dark winter, doors opened. Children spilled out like sweets from a box. Amanda was last one out of the tower block. She brought some chalk with her. On every inch of the concrete outside, the children drew pictures of everything they could think of, from flowers and snails, to spaceships and queens. Before long, a beautiful and exotic garden spread out across the concrete. From master storyteller Bob Graham comes a charming, and gently post-pandemic story about finding optimism after a dark spell, and the nurturing power of community friendships in an urban setting. The Concrete Garden will resonate with anyone who has been apart from their loved ones, and will encourage us all to find the brightness and colour within ourselves.

Bookseller blurb: Bob Graham’s heartwarming tale, The Concrete Garden follows Amanda and the other children as they burst from their tower block, armed with chalk and brimming with creativity. With pictures of everything from flowers to spaceships adorning the once drab concrete surroundings, a beautiful garden springs to life. This gently post-pandemic story celebrates the power of community and friendship to nurture optimism in dark times, and inspires readers to find their own inner brightness and colour. It’s a must-read for anyone who has experienced separation from loved ones.

In this book, The Concrete Garden, Bob Graham revisits the themes of A Bus called Heaven where, in a similar way, the small actions of a child lead to wonderful community connections. 

Other connections: The urban scenes in The Concrete Garden also echo the family travelling in the lift in Oscar's Half Birthday. Bob Graham also celebrates imaginative play in his book Libby, Oscar and Me and gardens in his books The Wild, Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten and Pearl's Place.

I was lucky to borrow this book from the library where I volunteer at Westmead Children's Hospital here in Sydney. I will now need to buy my own copy as I have a plan to own 'every' book by Bob Graham.

Here are some other picture books about drawing with chalk.

Jigsaw: a Puzzle in the Post by Bob Graham

Why were the Kelly's sent this parcel in the post? We will never know nor do we know who sent it but it was a perfect gift. Bob Graham has given us a wise and thought-provoking book with appeal to a very wide range of ages. Inside the parcel is a jigsaw - many of us remember spending time during those lockdown years (2020-2022) completing and then swapping jigsaws. The father has a very special watch which shows the seasons. This can be interpreted as a reference to how we marked time during lockdown rather than day by day or minute by minute. How wonderful that Dad is the family member with the patience and perseverance to keep going with the puzzle all through Spring and Summer. But alas when the puzzle is finished one piece is missing. Mum has a flashback moment where she remembers the day the rubbish was collected. 

The family jump in their little red car (like the one in Home in the Rain) and head off to the paper recycling centre. But this task seems impossible. Luckily themes of optimism, small miracles and hope ooze out of this book – Katie says they WILL find the puzzle piece even though we, as readers, see the enormous pile of paper at the recycling plant. This task looks even more impossible from the way the illustration shows the tiny family dwarfed by the towering pile of papers. I love the way Katie misinterprets the phrase wishful thinking and says: ‘let’s wish’. 

There are three double pages where the family hunt for the missing piece. Over these spreads, readers are given an insight in to the lives and memories of other people through an inventory of their discarded photos, magazines, newspapers, letters and tickets. These pages are worth lingering over. I spied a very early book by Bob Graham - Pete and Roland. 

Sadly, the family head home - it seems they didn't find that tiny puzzle piece - or did they? Your young reading companion will exclaim with delight because they will know something utterly wonderful before the family make their discovery. 

This is a delightful, intimate and affirming family story. The end papers perfectly bookend the story when we see the jigsaw at the beginning with one missing piece and the finished puzzle at the end and this echoes the plot and the all-important happy and very satisfying ending. The jigsaw is an African sunrise - a morning scene filled with promise for a new day, and which will be enjoyed in the family's suburban lounge room with exotic animals. This puzzle itself is reminiscent of an early book by Bob Graham (Tales from the Waterhole) but there is no need for any familiarity with that book. 

There are so many tiny details to explore in the illustrations – fragments that reward close inspection and revisiting: the stamps on the parcel and the stamps on the envelope containing the thank you letter; the scattered papers as the family walk away from the recycling centre; and the scene on the title page where we can see the mail delivery truck and the postbox which the family then visit at the end of the book. Make sure you tilt the cover to see the laminated overlay of puzzle pieces. 

Notice the way the painting near their front door changes from a flying kangaroo to a lighthouse – I have no idea why, but I love the curiosity of this. This is one of many topics for speculation and discussion about this book. 

The children have alliterative names - Kitty Kelly and Katie Kelly perfect for reading aloud. The wordless pages are brilliant – I can imagine children giggling when they read this book and see the lost piece stuck to the dog and then ending up in the garbage truck. 

Notice also the repeated imagery of shoes and the soles of shoes all of which anticipate the ending when the piece comes home on Dad’s boot. My favourite page is the one where we see an image of legs as the family walk away empty handed – the body language in this illustration is so powerful. Also think about the way time is a character in this book. We have seen this idea before by Bob Graham in Silver Buttons.

Jigsaw: a puzzle in the post was an Early Childhood Children's Book Council of Australia Short listed book. I did hope with all my heart that it would WIN. This book, as with all Bob Graham books, should be added to every school and public library - here in Australia and beyond.

The CBCA judges said: The Kelly family embraces a mysterious puzzle anonymously sent to them in the post. The subplot narrates how a puzzle piece falls to the ground and goes missing while the family undertakes the long project of completing the puzzle. These parallel storylines continue throughout the book. Serendipitously, their threads do cross paths, and the reader is privy to this, while the characters are not. Themes of family, the generosity of strangers, persistence, hope, determination and serendipity are explored. Beautiful illustrations vary from small vignettes, time-lapse, and full-page double spreads. The use of framing and white backgrounds help to focus attention and are used to effect, while the language is simple and economical, yet magical. The mystery of time, and the slowness of its passage, are beautifully mirrored through the almost tragic journey that the puzzle piece takes to ‘the end of the world’, as it were. Without being didactic, Bob Graham shows that we may discover lost things, and enable things of value to return to consciousness when we have the courage to look into dark places and acknowledge our own flawed human nature.

Very strangely this book has a different title in the US:

Kirkus Star review: A celebration of small miracles and the hope that makes them happen.

Horn Book: "Graham's fan will know to expect a miracle. His squiggly, interrupted pen line can render even a pile of wastepaper dynamic, and the cadence of the text makes the ordinary grand."

Here is the publisher blurb: “Oh, let’s do it!” say Kitty and Katy and Mum when a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle mysteriously arrives in the post. “I have time on my hands,” agrees Dad. Starting in winter with the edges, by autumn they’re almost done, only to discover that one piece is missing. Mum is sure that it must have accidentally gone out with the rubbish, so the Kelly's pile into the car to comb through the local tip (“shouldn’t take long”). There they uncover forgotten letters, train tickets, discarded newspapers, and old photos yellow with age, but finding the missing piece is starting to seem like wishful thinking. “Let’s wish, then,” says Katy. As in all of Bob Graham’s work, the beauty here is in the details, with visual perspectives that offer a bird’s-eye view or take us underfoot, wordless sequences letting us in on a secret. Is it sheer luck – or perhaps the power of hope – that creates an ending to the story?

Our Storybox Library made a video of this book - here is a preview. Here are teachers notes and ideas for discussion from the publisher Walker Books. If you click on the label Bob Graham at the bottom of this post you will find details of heaps of his other splendid books. I'm sure the dog in this new book is really Rosie from Let's Get a Pup - do you agree?

Graham infuses his characters with a universal humanity. Mum, Dad, the children and the dog could be any of us. His families are always inspiring as they work together on a problem, promoting hope, radiating love and a togetherness we all aspire to emulate. Fran Knight ReadPlus

Every book from Bob Graham is a celebration. This acclaimed, adored Australian picture book maker has empathy, warmth, humanity and insightfulness brimming from every stroke of his pens and ink. Bookwagon loves Jigsaw: A Puzzle in the Post and recommends it all the way Down Under and back again to every bedtime reader. Book Wagon

Max by Bob Graham

Our Year Two classes are reading some past CBC winners. This week we re-visited Max by Bob Graham. I love this author/illustrator. His books are such special treasures. My favourite is actually the first book he wrote – Pete and Roland. Bob Graham uses exquisite language to describe small but special moments. For example, Roland leaves little breath marks on the mirror with his budgie breath.

(Post update Bob Graham's first book is actually Jenny's Baby Brother by Peter Smith).

Back to Max - he learns to fly but he does not become a superhero like his mum and dad he is content to be a small hero doing quiet deeds. Look closely at the end papers before you begin this book - front of plane, back of plane, morning, evening, Max in a stroller, Max can fly - so much information from two pictures.

My other favourite Bob Graham titles are Greetings from Sandy beach (this one demands you read with a special book voice) and in Let’s get a Pup where “Kate briefly wore him like a hat”.

Bob Graham does not have a website, but I am sure you will find heaps of his very special books in any library or bookshop. If you see Oscar's half birthday look for the candles in the soap dish beside the bath. Bob Graham once saw this in a house he moved into.

Try to read a Bob Graham book to a special child in your life and enjoy all the tiny little details in his marvelous illustrations.

Ellie's Dragon by Bob Graham

His "little claws tickled in the palm of her hand. ... 

She called him Scratch."

Ellie is shopping at a large supermarket with her mum when she spies something on top of an egg carton. It is a newborn dragon.

"It was pale and luminous with shifting rainbow colours, like oil on water ... It was quite the sweetest thing she had ever seen."

Just pause for a moment and look at those words. Bob Graham is a master of illustration but he is also a wordsmith. These words let us really 'see' this egg and they are perfectly placed. Pale, luminous, like oil on water - when you pick up the book you can see an illustration of the shell on the title page and it does look luminous. Later in the story, when Scratch takes his night flight, the city and the moon also look luminous.

Ellie takes the tiny, newborn creature home and she makes him comfortable in her dolls house. She shows the dragon to her mum but mum cannot see him. Later we read the teacher cannot see him either.

"Her mum saw nothing but an empty matchbox and cotton wool."

The idea of an imaginary creature, like a dragon, that only children can see is a beautiful story device.  The child, listening to this story, will smile knowing they have this special ability to see something the adults can't. As Ellie grows, so does her dragon. By the time she goes to school he learns to fly but sadly Ellie misses his first flight from the dressing table down to the floor in Ellie's bedroom. He also outgrows his dolls house home which even contained a thoughtfully placed box of dragon litter.

Scratch the dragon comes along to nursery school and he joins in with birthday celebrations. He even eats the candles on her eighth birthday cake while they are still smoking! Then one night while Ellie is asleep, Scratch ventures outside into the night sky.

Ellie lives with her mum but on weekends her dad takes her for outings. Scratch comes along too even though dad cannot see him. Bob Graham tells this very simply by saying: "Ellie's dad came to call for outings on weekends."

Ellie keeps growing and things begin to change between Scratch and Ellie. When she turns eleven Scratch begins to fade and on her thirteenth birthday "Scratch's breath barely melted the icing on the cake. He didn't even eat the candles."

Then comes the saddest lines in the book -

"And then he slipped quietly away into the night."

BUT, in a beautiful story moment, we discover that is not the end. You need to grab this book because I promise the ending will give you the biggest possible smile.

There are so many tiny and special details in the illustrations - if you know Bob Graham then you will know he is a master of this. I suggest you grab your copy of the book and follow along as I attempt to share some of the delights I have found inside:

Dedication "For Eleanor seven pounds, one ounce".  I am guessing this is Bob's granddaughter?

Opening end paper:
Bob Graham loves to include story details in his end papers. I think my favourites are the ones in Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten and also in Max.

A man is buying a box of dog food - he looks exactly like Bob Graham himself - we know Bob loves dogs (Let's get a pup)

The lady in the pink top - I'm sure she is the mum from Home in the Rain

I spied a man who has just moved over from the checkout. I am sure he is from A bus called Heaven 

On the pages:
Egg carton complete with barcode! Look for the egg carton in Dimity Dumpty

Missing the dragon's first flight - In Silver Buttons we see Jonathan take his first step and in Queenie the Bantam, the hen is the only one who sees Caitlin's first step.

Pigeons - How to Heal a Broken Wing and the row of birds on the power pole wires in Pete and Roland

Going to the movies with dad. Fans of Bob Graham will laugh to see the movie is Max. Grab your copy of Max and have fun comparing the movie screen scene with the end papers in Max.

Imaginary friends invisible to adults - we have seen these in Jethro Byrde Fairy Child

The inclusion of a sad moment followed by a very special ending - this reminds me of Pete and Roland

On the night Scratch takes his flight outside Rosie has been reading a book - it lies on the floor beside her bed - it's The Poesy Ring. Bob Graham has done this in previous books. One example is in Queenie the Bantam where we see the family reading Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten.

When I shared with book with Dr Robin Morrow (former President of IBBY Australia) this week she saw another special connection. Ellie asks her mum for some matches because Scratch "wants to eat the tops off."  Robin connected this with the famous Margaret Mahy book A Lion in the Meadow.

You might also think about the concept of time in Bob Graham's books.  Ellie's Dragon takes place over ten years you could compare this with Silver Buttons, for example, which takes place over just one minute. Here are a set of teaching notes from Lamont Books for Ellie's Dragon. In a class discussion you might like to talk about the mobile phones we see Ellie and her friend's using and the link between this and the 'disappearance' of Scratch. Also, it is fun to imagine the other eggs in that carton - perhaps someone else took a dragon home from the supermarket.

I have one more tiny detail to share - it is a bit of a mystery to me. On the page near the end where we see the huge 'Super Saver' Supermarket you need to look carefully at the cars parked outside. Something very odd has happened to one of the cars.

There can be no doubt this gentle story of imagination, growing up and hope will be listed by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2021 both as a notable book and as a short-listed title for the Picture Book of the Year award.

I would pair this book with:

And with these junior novels:

Yin's Magic Dragon

Falcon's Egg

One more book from me. This one is very old (1962) and I only have a vague memory of the story but it is one that might link with Ellie's Dragon:

How the Sun got to Coco's House by Bob Graham

"It had to start somewhere. While Coco slept faraway, the sun crept up slowly behind a hill, paused for a moment, seemed to think twice ... before it plunged down the other side and skidded giddy across the water."

Take a closer look at this wonderful sentence. The word choice is perfect with expressive words such as paused, plunged, faraway, giddy.  Now look at the length of the second sentence and the use of commas. This is a complex sentence. Bob Graham never writes down to his audience.

Here is a quote I read this week from Lauren Child - author the Charlie and Lola books.

"There’s not enough understanding of how sophisticated picture books can be,” said Child, ...“If we don’t understand that, then we don’t understand how amazingly sophisticated children are and that they think very deeply and powerfully about things. And we do them a disservice if we don’t see this.” Lauren Child (The Guardian)

The sun rises and, as a reader, Bob Graham takes us on the journey. We watch as the soft yellow of the sun's rays touch magical things and everyday things. It is caught in the eye of a whale and in the snowy footsteps of a young Jung Su. The delightfully named Lovejoy sees the sun outside the window of the plane as he flies through the skies to visit his grandmother. An old woman living in a tiny room has her shutters closed but we can see slithers of yellow where the shutters meet. Wild animals are woken by the sun and a young boy and his dad, perhaps in a middle eastern country, set off to the market at sunrise. How lovely to think of the sun glinting off the paper boy's bell until eventually the sun reaches Coco's house where, later in the morning, a group of kids can be seen making a snowman. Luckily this is the winter sun and so the snowman, on the final page, stands happily in a spot light of sunshine.

I am a huge fan of Bob Graham and I have talked about many of his books here in the blog. How the Sun got to Coco's House was published in 2015. When you read this book be sure to notice all the trade mark Bob Graham features - flocks of birds, rows of identical city houses, sky scrapers, teddy bears and at least one reference to another Bob Graham book - in this case it is Silver Buttons. 

It’s great to be able to count on something; readers can count on both the sun and (Bob) Graham. Kirkus star review

There's no drama here, no big events or extraordinary characters. Instead, we are offered a gentle, kindly look at life on our world, almost tender in its depictions of the many and varied ways life exists. The Book Bag

Even adults have difficulty understanding time differences around the world.  The very best book, in my view, on this topic is All in a Day:

Celebrating 100 books and Bob Graham

As part of our 100 books to 100 classes project we have spent the last week exploring all the wonderful Bob Graham picture books in our collection. The week began with his newest title A bus called Heaven and ended with one of his first books Pete and Roland.

The celebration of community is an important theme in many Bob Graham picture books. It is little Stella who sees the real potential of an old bus which has been abandoned outside her house. Everyone comes together from the streets nearby to clean up the old bus, move it into Stella’s driveway and create a communal space inside for games, friendship and fun. Even the graffiti boys rise to the occasion by painting the bus with a glorious design after their night of tagging is discovered by Stella’s mum. As with any great story, however, there needs to be a moment of crisis. The local council are not happy to have the old bus partially over the footpath and so a tow truck arrives to take the now restored bus to the wreckers. Stella is a quiet, shy little girl but she bravely steps out to meet this challenge head on.

Stella reminded me of other wonderful young, yet strong, girl characters in Bob Graham’s books like Rose Summers in Rose meets Mr Wintergarten, Dimity in Dimity Dumpty and Kate in Let’s get a pup and The Trouble with dogs. In a way all of these characters are like Max – a small hero doing quiet deeds – the world needs more of those.

We read all of those Bob Graham titles this week along with Oscar’s half birthday, Crusher is coming, Buffy and Greetings from Sandy Beach. Given more time we should also have looked at The Wild, Pearl's place, First there was Frances and Queenie the Bantam.

If you have not explored the wonderful books of Bob Graham take a look in your library soon. These are books that can be read over and over again and they are books that are best shared sitting side by side with a friend or an adult as together you explore all the tiny little details Bob Graham lovingly includes in each illustration.

Teaching notes for A bus called Heaven and for Max.

Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham

"Today is Oscar's birthday. Well, not really his birthday - he is six months old. The truth is no one can wait for his whole birthday."

I have been reading and re-reading all of my Bob Graham books for a secret project. I have talked about or at least mentioned Oscar's Half Birthday here on this blog many times but I didn't have a post exclusively about this wonderful story. 

You might like to begin by stretching the cover out to see front and back. Oscar is sitting with his cake  and half a candle on the cover while his sister Millie heads over to him with her trademark dinosaur glove and fairy wings. By the way we later discover it is a chocolate cake - yum. 

The title page also stretches over two spreads and as it often the way with city scenes by Bob Graham there are so many tiny details to explore such as the lady sunbaking on her roof; the shops such as Guitar city which has a huge guitar on the roof, the donut on the donut shop and the burger on the top of Burgerland; you will also see several washing lines on the top of high city buildings and flocks of pigeons (Bob Graham puts pigeons in so many of his scenes).

Now zoom in on the same page and you will see a small hill with a park on the top - this is where we are heading for the birthday - up to Bellevue Hill - but first we need to meet the family so turn the page. Dad is wrapping the tuna sandwiches for their picnic and mum is sitting with Oscar and his big sister Millie on their comfy couch. 

The walk across the city involves crossing a pedestrian bridge. You can also see one of these in Queenie the Bantam and Spirit of Hope. They set out their picnic and everyone admires young Oscar and also Millie's fairy wings but even better when the family start to sing Happy Birthday everyone around the park joins in. 

After the singing we have a full page illustration of Oscar and these beautiful lines:

"Oscar sits titled at an angle, his fingers curled into Millie's tuna sandwich. HIs shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns."

Back at home the kids have a bath - notice the candles in the soap dish. Millie gifts her dinosaur glove briefly to Oscar and we learn that the next birthday will be Millie herself with four candles on her cake.

This is a book to own, cherish and read on the occasion of every birthday in your family while your kids are young. 

Graham magnificently captures the essence of a six-month-old: “Oscar frowns in the dim light—six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.” Millie is an adorable older sister, clearly infatuated with Oscar. Kirkus

Talking about another Bob Graham book (The Concrete Garden) Kirkus said his work is:

Deft, understated loveliness.

I am sure you are familiar with Bob Graham but if not here is a good summary of some of his titles from The School Library Journal.