Alliterative siblings Bea and Bart have a knack for attracting lost birds. Luckily, they live in a mansion and so there is plenty of room for all these different creatures - Boo the owl; Polly the rhyming parrot; Doornail the peacock; Crumbs the sparrow; Squish the fairy wren; and Rosy the crow. Unfortunately having these creatures inside the house does lead to daily chaos. Mum keeps fainting; the butler keeps dropping plates of food and Nanny cannot get any sleep with the noisy parrot in the house. Oh and I need to talk about Doornail. Doornail is a peacock and when the children find him they think he is dead - dead as a doornail. In fact pretending to be dead is a clever defense mechanism for peacocks and they soon discover this bird is actually alive. I have some country friends who have a peacock in their large back garden. He moved in about a year ago. I think they would like him to move on but no one really knows where he came from. The fun thing about having him living there is his almost daily feather show which delights the small children (an adults) who visit this house.
Living in mansion might mean these children's parents are rich. They do have a nanny and a butler! A lady sees the kids with all their bird friends and she hatches a plan to kidnap the children and ask for a ransom. More chaos ensues and the children are rescued.
This is a sweet story with an old-fashioned feel (think about having a Butler and a Nanny). It is easy to read with a good print size and plenty of illustrations along with short chapters. Bee, Bart and the Birds will also work as a family (very short) read aloud. The font changes will help readers identify words to emphasise such as in this sentence: "The birds bobbed and chirped. They loved walkies in the park."
This book, Bea, Bart and the Birds, comes from a new series from Affirm Press (Simon and Schuster). The three authors/commentators behind the Facebook and Podcast group "Your Kids Next Read" were asked, I think, or perhaps it was their idea, to develop some simple and hopefully appealing junior chapter books. The series name is taken from their group name. Katrina Nannestad talks about her book here.
Here are the blurbs of the first four titles which were released this week:
The Lonely Lunch Club (Friends, School and Funny Stories) One lunchtime, Benji goes to the worst bench in the whole school instead of playing footy. There he meets a girl named Alice and a spider named Mabel. And Mabel needs their help! But can Benji and Alice do it alone?
The Missing Pencil Case (Mystery, Family and Funny Stories) Lea has lost her pencil case. It's full of money she has collected for charity! Lea must search all over her apartment block for the missing pencil case. Where could it be?
Will Finn Win (Animals, Sport and Friends) Fin never wins anything. On school sports day, a naughty puppy stops Fin from coming first in his race. Will Fin ever win? Or will he learn that there are more important things than medals?
Bea, Bart and the Birds (Animals, Family and Surprising Stories) It all starts with Boo, the owl. Bea and Bart take her home and love her. Soon, they have a feathered family! But Bea and Bart are not the only ones interested in these unusual birds …
In July last year Joy Lawn (Paperbark Words) interviewed the YKNR team about their book series plans. Allison Tait, Megan Daley and Allison Rushby have quite lofty goals for their series. I have only read one title so far so I will reserve my judgment as to whether their goals have been met: If you are looking for older junior series that most certainly could 'build a love of literature' see if your library has Aussie Nibbles and also the Solo series.
‘We are thrilled to be part of the development of this incredible series, which offers a wide reading experience for young readers from creators whose work we love and admire. Your Next Read will provide adults with a one-stop shop for quality books for junior readers, while offering young readers books that are fun, exciting and aimed at building a love of literature.’
Alongside a phonics-based approach to learning the skills of reading comes the most critical part of a child’s reading journey: the desire to keep reading. That’s where Your Next Read comes in – a bold new series designed to ensure every child learns to love reading.
Quirky things to notice:
The shape - with rounded corners - this harks back to the wonderful series we had here in Australia in the past called Aussie Nibbles, Aussie Bites and Aussie Chomps. The rounded corners are possibly intended to make the books stand out as different and also I did read they are meant to look like collectors cards. Also there is spot varnish on the cover - silver for the first titles in the series.
Each book has a set of 'genre' labels on the cover - my book is listed as animals, family and surprising stories. I am not a fan of generifying school library collections but these little labels might help a young reader anticipate the plot of their book.
At the back of the book readers are invited to take a survey and this then tells you which book could be Your Next Read.
There is a plan to have 36 titles for this series and they are coded silver and gold. These colours link with suggested ages Silver=ages 5-8 Gold=ages 7-9.
Of the four titles from this first batch it seems the creators have somewhat deliberately tried to have 2 "girl" title and two "boy" titles.
You might recognise some of the author and illustrator names. I purchased Bea, Bart and the Birds (it's a fun alliterative title) because I have read nearly every book (for older readers) by Katrina Nannestad and I do love art by Cheryl Orsini.
I was pleased to see Affirm Press have kept the price at a lower level for the series at AUS$13 each. I did spy them for just AUS$10 each in a chain store today. I do wish the paper was slightly higher quality but I guess you need to balance this against a lower price and also consider the intended audience is home ownership not library collections perhaps.
Here are some of the authors and illustrators who will contribute to this series: Peter Cheong, Jane Godwin, Jade Goodwin, Anita Heiss, Kylie Howarth, Tom Jellett, Maddy Mara, Jasmin McGaughey, Katrina Nannestad, Cheryl Orsini, A. L. Tait, Kate & Jol Temple, Amelia Mellor, Jess Racklyeft and Briony Stewart.
Jane Godwin was previously the author of several titles from the Aussie Nibbles and Aussie Bites series including one of my huge favourites Poor Fish. Here's a list of all her books.
Here are the next two titles due out in June:
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