Tweet by Morris Gleitzman

"Sometimes going viral can be a good thing. You and Clyde are heroes. A boy and a budgie bravely protecting thousands of birds. Standing in the way of giant trucks 

that want to squish them. How totally inspiring is that?"

All readers judge books by their covers and then the author's name (if it is familiar) and then the blurb. Begin with the one-word title. Tweet is a word we all associate with Twitter and the internet and the spreading of informed and uninformed ideas. Perhaps we also think of this as the chatter, often mindless, of social media.  Now look more closely at the cover and you can see a boy in silhouette with a small yellow and green budgie (bird). Then zoom in even closer and the speech bubble which contains the word tweet is shown coming from the bird not the boy. This is intriguing. Now onto the author. I guess most Australian young readers and nearly all Australian teachers and Teacher-Librarians have heard, and also have read, a book to two by Morris Gleitzman. After all he started writing in 1987. His first book was The Other Facts of Life. In 1987 I had been working in my first school library in a small country town for just two years. From then on we collected every book he wrote and I read nearly all of them. In fact he is the author of over forty titles. See the covers of most of these at the end of this post. 

The one thing that distinguishes a Morris Gleitzman book, from books by other writers, is his unique 'voice'. I use the term naive protagonist. In this book Clyde (he is the budgie from the front cover) and Jay, both have this 'voice' albeit one is a boy, and one is a bird. I probably should spend more time thinking about why the bird has a human name and the boy is named after a bird but that might relate to the fact that Jay's parents are ornithologists. 

In a pattern you are sure to have encountered in many, many books, Jay's parents are absent. In fact, they are missing. They set off for Africa to study birds and they have not returned and no one seems to be able to contact them. The mission to find the lost parents is one of the issues that drives the plot of this book. There is one other adult in Jay's life, but Morris Gleitzman removes him from the story very early on - spoiler alert - sadly Poppa is taken to hospital where he dies. That neatly sets up the plot of Jay and Clyde and later a few other unlikely friends who now have to 'save the world'.

The other issue that keeps you turning the pages of this long book (348 pages) is the mystery of the other birds who keep showing up in their hundreds disrupting human activities. This is happening in the city where Jay lives but later we discover it is happening around the world. Why are the birds stopping traffic? Do they have a message? Yes they do. Humans need to listen but birds and humans do not speak the same language. Luckily Clyde is part human because he has been a pet. He can 'talk' to Jay and over time he learns how to communicate with other wild birds. It is also Clyde who makes the most important friends - a bird named Dora (she is a galah) and another bird - a Kea. Just in case you don't know a kea is a large parrot from New Zealand. 

The birds are showing up to highlight the environmental issues facing our world today. This reminded me of this brilliant book by Christopher Cheng (another well-known Australian author).

Morris Gleitzman explains about the environmental issues he raises in his book:

But it doesn't end there. You'll notice that, as well as all these other problems, Tweet contains one other problem that's so big, none of the characters know how to solve it. Not even Jay and Clyde's friends Maxine and Dora, who are super-smart. Please don't fret. Not every problem in a story has to be solved by the last page. Sometimes just discovering new ways to think about problems is the biggest adventure of all.

I mentioned this is a long book, but the chapters are very, very short and the viewpoints keep alternating between Jay and Clyde, so I found myself swept along with the story and I was easily able to finish the whole book over a couple of days. I think you will need to explain this to your library readers because the size of this book might daunt them but really there are so many funny, almost laugh out loud, moments and Clyde especially is such an endearing character I do think young readers aged 10+ will really enjoy this book. And it is sure to make them curious to read other books by Morris Gleitzman beyond his World War II series. 

Publisher blurb: Birds. Lots of birds. The people of the world are puzzled. Their feathered friends are trying to tell them something, and they’re not sure what it is. Then a boy and his pet budgie discover the secret. Join Jay and Clyde, and their friends Maxine and Dora, on an exciting, funny, risky journey to save their families. And every other family too.

Here are a few text quotes which I was pleased to see were also mentioned in the teachers notes (see below):

"I know you're fresh out of the cage ... but don't be a dope. This is what we birds do. We look out for each other, right?"

"Something terrible's happening. Huge numbers of birds have started acting crazy. Putting themselves in crazy danger."

"The birds are making a big nuisance of themselves to punish humans for being so cruel. And they don't have a clue how much more cruel that'll make humans be towards them."

"Leaders have two basic things ... Ideas and armies. And the armies are usually bigger than the ideas."

Here are some very detailed teachers notes with discussion questions from the publisher. 

Check out some reviews:

• Readings Melbourne
• What book Next?
• Kids' Book Review
• Story Links

Companion books:

The 7 Professors of the Far North

The Last Bear

Melt

The Doldrums

Flight of the Phoenix

Pearly and Pig 

The Someday Birds

Books by Morris Gleitzman:

Laurent de Brunhoff August 30, 1925 – March 22, 2024

I was sad to read Betsy Bird's Fuse8 post where she listed all the authors and illustrators we lost in 2024. One of these was Laurent de Brunhoff the son of Jean de Brunhoff. Laurent wrote over 40 Babar books.

“The start — (the) very start of Babar — was a bed(time) story from my mother,” de Brunhoff told CNN in an interview, aired in 2003. “And my brother and I loved the story. We went to my father’s studio and told him about it. He started to make a book for us. After the first book he made another one and another one. And he just discovered himself, I think.” CNN

Created in 1931 by Laurent de Brunhoff's parents, the Babar series sold millions of copies around the world and (was) translated into over a dozen languages. ... De Brunhoff's father Jean published seven Babar books before dying from tuberculosis at an early age, with the son then deciding at age 21 to carry on the series. He would go on to create dozens of works around the character, with his last, Babar's Guide to Paris, published in 2017. Le Monde

Here is a video in French (with subtitles) where you can see Laurent de Brunhoff at work.

1 Babar's Cousin (1946)
2 Babar's Picnic (1949)
3 Babar's Visit to Bird Island (1952)
4 Babar's Fair (1954)
5 A tue-tete (1957)
6 Babar and the Professor (1957)
7 Serafina the Giraffe (1961)
8 Serafina's Lucky Find (1962)
9 Babar's Castle (1962)
10 Captain Serafina (1963)
11 Anatole and His Donkey (1963)
12 Babar's French Lessons (1963)
13 Babar Comes to America (1965)
14 Babar's Spanish Lessons (1965)
15 Bonhomme (1965)
16 Babar Learns to Cook (1967)
17 Babar Loses His Crown (1967)
18 Babar's Games (1968)
19 Babar's Moon Trip (1968)
20 Babar's Trunk (1969)
21 Babar's Birthday Surprise (1970)
22 Gregory and the Lady Turtle in the Valley of the Music Trees (1971)
23 Babar's Other Trunk (1971)
24 Babar Visits Another Planet (1972)
25 Meet Babar And His Family (1973)
26 Babar's Bookmobile (1974)
27 Bonhomme and the Huge Beast (1974)
28 Babar and the Wully-wully (1970)
29 Babar Saves the Day (1976)
30 Babar's Mystery (1978)
31 The One Pig with Horns (1979)
32 Babar the Magician (1980)
33 Babar's Little Library (1980)
34 Babar's A. B. C (1974)
35 Babar's Book of Colour (1984)
36 Babar's Counting Book (1986)
37 Babar and the Ghost (1981)
38 Babar's Little Circus Star (1988)
39 Babar's World Tour (2005)

The Anatomy of a Blog Post

Image Source: Matilda and Tronchatoro - 

Character Design by Gemma Román @gemmaroman

How do I compose a blog post?

Over time my blogging process and content has evolved. My early posts, back when I started in 2008, were often quite brief and I didn't always describe the plot of a book. These posts were written when I was still working full time so I used them more as memory joggers for titles I had read and enjoyed. Back then I did one post each week (4 per month) now I do one each day (nearly)! I think my posts have improved over time. 

My intended audience is perhaps a little too broad? - Teacher-Librarians, Teachers, and young readers themselves especially those aged 10+. I also think about parents especially when I share a preschool title or very occasionally a board book. I rate at number 74/100 on the Feedspot list and number 8/25 on their Australian list. 

The promotion of my blog via social media could be better - this might be a project for 2025. 

So here are some of my blogging steps (not strictly in order):

• First off, I read the book, and I put post it notes on pages I want to quote or if I forget to do this I try to remember the page number or chapters.
• Note not every book I read makes it onto my blog.
• As I blog or explore a book I skim back through it again - so this is kind of like a second reading.
• I sometimes begin my post with a significant quote from the book - one that perhaps sums up a powerful part of the plot. This applies to novels more than picture books.
• Then I think about a star rating - five stars, four stars or no stars (that just means the book was good but not a title I would give a star). I do not go lower than four stars. I usually assign stars only to middle grade or junior novels and rarely to picture books or non fiction.
• I add my labels (I think I could improve this).
• I try to summarise the plot but only as a way to tempt you to read the whole book. I don't always manage to avoid spoilers but I do try.
• I try to add a qualitative comment and sometimes an age suggestion.
• I hunt for other reviewers who have talked about the same book and then I add quotes to my post with links to their pages and I give an extract of their review which often more eloquently summarises my view of a book. I have listed below some of my main sources of reviews.
• I select a linking colour that matches the book cover.
• Thanks to blogger Joy Lawn and her blog Paperbark Words - I borrowed her term Companion Reads to share books that are in some way related to the book I am discussing and with each of these companion titles I put a link to my own blog post.
• If I can find teacher's notes I add this link and if it is a picture book I might put a link to a video reading - but many of these out on the internet are so awful I am quite careful with this plus I really want children, teachers, teacher-librarians to READ the book not view a video reading.
• If there are illustrations especially in a picture book, I try to include one or two so you can see inside the book.
• If the author uses interesting words or examples of a rich vocabulary I try to list examples.
• I look for details about the author and illustrator and add links to their webpages and sometimes I add a few bio details.
• I often include a picture or link to other books by the same author or illustrator.
• Occasionally I add ideas for book talks.

The books I blog are not only from Australia (we speak English and can enjoy the best books from USA, Canada, New Zealand, and UK) and the books I blog are often out of print but hopefully many will be in your local or school library. Older books and very old books can be treasures you do need to discover just as much as the latest titles that have just hit the shelves of your local bookstore.

My interests in children's books are quite varied but I especially enjoy finding wordless book (IBBY call them Silent Books); interesting and quirky nonfiction; books translated from other languages; and picture books which are examples of excellence in book design and exquisite illustrations. And of course I read lots of middle grade titles. I borrow books from a school library or two and I buy books. Three or four times a year I receive review copies of books from one Australian publisher University of Queensland Press UQP. It would be so fabulous to see new release books from Walker Books (Australia); Gecko Press; Allen and Unwin; Fremantle Press; Hachette; Berbay Books; Thames and Hudson; Lantana (UK); and Penguin Random House. 

Here are a few of the blog reviewers I often quote:

• Kirkus
• Betsy Bird Fuse8
• Colby Sharp - videos and more
• Love Reading4Kids
• BookTrust
• The Book Muse
• Paperbark Words
• Kids' Book Review (Australian)
• Reading Time Children's Book Council of Australia
• Horn Book
• School Library Journal 
• Just so Stories
• Ms Yingling Reads

These are not really reviews but if you have a lot of time to spare you could dip into The Reader Teacher for UK titles (with the volume turned down - his enthusiastic voice can become a little too much). You can see his book lists here. 

Art by Irina Avgustinovich (Instagram) 

The Cave by Victor Kelleher

"no fire burns forever, and the Beast is always out there, waiting. 

No, something more was needed it they were to claim victory."

For a few hours yesterday I was living in the world of Paleolithic man. Fire is a precious commodity; tools are treasures made by skilled members of the community and I watched as bows and arrows were discovered and refined. I really was there - the writing in this book is so evocative of place and time and most of all harsh weather conditions. 

Irian and Ulana have seen their families massacred by a creature they call the Beast. 

"The eyes a golden yellow, almost beautiful in their sheer savagery; the fur of the head a snout patterned with the ugly scars of old wounds; and the fangs! Ivory white, and more like tusks than actual teeth, they curved down past its lower jaw and ended in jagged spikes."

It is late Autumn, and the Winter will be bitterly cold and dangerous. Ulana has been injured in her own confrontation with the Beast and Irian is so traumatized he has lost the power of speech. The pair are hopelessly underprepared for their journey, and they have no fixed destination except to get away from the cave where they have lived all their lives. Cave dwellers live precarious lives constantly on watch for the Beast and other huge predators such as the Pard. They use fire for cooking of course but also for protection. As the story opens Irian and his father have the task of maintaining the fire through the night but exhaustion overcomes them, they fall asleep and the Beast attacks. 

"For a mere split second, he glimpsed a scene of carnage; a nightmare vision of strewn bodies, of smashed pots and weapons, all of them corpse-grey in the uncertain dawn. Then the whole scene was replaced by a huge head and a great scared face, no more than an arm's length away."

The two young people on their own could never survive their journey or escape all the dangers that surround them except for the help of Trug. Trug is an old loner woman who survives by trading. She is a skilled traveler, and she carries a huge bag filled with all manner of tools. After their meeting she is able to help Ulana, whose wounds have begun to fester. Then she helps the friends make a shelter and together they survive a violent storm. Ulana is heading to the flint fields for trading. In spite of her grumbling, she teaches Irian and Ulana how to trade and by the end of that visit both have warm coats and more importantly Irian has discovered his own skill as a tool maker. Irian meets an old reclusive man who has brilliant tool making skills but sadly he dies. With his dying breath he gifts Irian some small strange very small weapons. 

"A tiny thing. A sliver of stone, no more, but chipped into a strangely curved shape that gave it a beauty and mystery that made it stand out from the rest. ... What used could there be for such a tiny weapon?"

I loved the care people take with transporting fire and the discovery that Trug finally shares about using a flint to make fire rather than need to rely on occasional lightning strikes and burning bushes. 

"she pulled apart the clay ball, splitting it neatly in two. At its core lay a tiny bed of hot coals. With two sticks, tong-style, she removed one of these tiny spots of glowing red and placed it carefully in the grassy nest. Working quickly now, she closed up the clay ball, preserving the rest of the coals; then folded the nest on itself and blew gently on it. Puffs of smoke immediately billowed out, followed by a spurt of flame that grew and grew."

There are also interesting issues in this book about kindness, sharing, trade, using your gifts and talents and trust.

If you read this book with a class I am sure you and your students will notice the way Victor Kelleher weaves in the seasons as a plot device moving from the dangers of Winter (danger and despair) through Spring (hope) to Summer (good times ahead). 

"Within minutes the temperature plunged and they were caught in a complete white-out that transformed even the closest trees and rocks into indistinct ghosts. The driven show, in the form of tiny ice crystals, stung their faces and hands; while the intense cold bit into their very bones and made each breath a form of torture. Worst of all was the wind, cutting and cruel ... "

The Cave just has to be a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Notable title either in Older Readers or perhaps Younger Readers. This book might better suit readers aged 12+ or very mature readers aged 11+. The print size is quite small. You will see in the reviews below that the age recommendations do vary widely. Our Australian journal Reading Time said Grades 4-6; Buzz Words said 12+; and Kids' Book Review say 10+.  There is a one scene in the story where Trug tells Ulana to be very careful at the flint fields. Ulana is a pretty girl and the men there could be dangerous.  Check chapter 7. 

Don’t miss this outstanding novel that will leave you as enriched in knowledge as were the characters of the story from their journey. Kids' Book Review

The cave is a scary adventure story. The little group have to travel through snow, rain and flood, always on the alert to danger from leopards and other wild creatures. Along the journey, Irian has to rediscover his selfhood and find the courage to stand tall and take his place in the world. There are strong moral lessons about caring for others, sharing knowledge, and working together for the better of the community. Read Plus

Kelleher laces the fairly straightforward text with hints of more complex philosophical tension—Ulana’s utilitarian idealism favours sharing resources and knowledge, while Trug relies on more defensive trade tactics, with Irian suspended between them, fighting his own demons and slowly fostering a sense of purpose in the aftermath of losing his known world. Books+Publishing quoted on Facebook.

Kelleher creates a prehistoric world in a way that is both familiar and unfathomable. He leads the characters on a journey where the descriptive writing is detailed enough that the reader can easily imagine being on the journey with them. The characters he has created are so unique, so individual and so enjoyable that they will each stay with the reader long after the final page has been read. Buzz Words

Reading The Cave I kept thinking about earlier books by Victor Kelleher. Sadly, these are both long out of print. If you are lucky one or both of these might still be held in your school or local library. I adored both of these when I read them many decades ago.

Companion books:

This is the first book in a series called "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" 

I highly recommend these books.

Tarin of the Mammoths

Also try to find these two non-fiction books - they are so interesting:

Cave Paintings

Ancestory

Also look for this book recently written by Victor Kelleher:

Wanderer

My Brother Finch by Kate Gordon

"Tomorrow is going to be amazing. Tomorrow is going to change my life.' If I'd known then - if I'd have even had an inkling of how - I'd have torn my soul apart to protect him, to change the future, to make sure tomorrow never happened. But I had no idea. 

No control. No power. Tomorrow came. And my brother disappeared."

Born just eleven months apart in some ways Wren feels as though Finch is her twin sibling. But in other ways she has always felt displaced. Wren is a quiet girl who does not stand out whereas Finch is a loud boy who everyone immediately warms to. Even their parents seem, to Wren, to treat Finch with more love and attention. 

"We were connected, tied together, linked in a way closer than any of those kids whose siblings are their best friend. We were like twins. Like two halves. But when Finch wanted me to be his friend, I just wanted ... To be seen, by anyone else but him. To be important. To be number one."

"You are normal Wrennie. You're what you're meant to be.' I knew he meant it kindly - as a compliment in fact. But it felt like a slap. Being normal meant I wasn't like him. And everybody loved Finch. Mostly they just ignored me."

The family go on an outing to a disused coal mine. Finch is so excited to explore the ruins. Their mother is slightly overprotective but on this day their father says it is all okay and Finch should be allowed to explore a little further on his own. Within minutes, Wren who has been taking photos of the clouds with her camera, realised something feels wrong. 

These are all events from three years ago. Finch has never been found. The family members, each in their own way, are deeply grieving. There are of course several possibilities - kidnapping, misadventure or that he just wandered away. Knowing this does not help. And Wren is certain all of this is her fault. Nor does the fact that two young children disappeared that day - Finch and another younger child named Ava. 

"Dad cries all the time. He cries loudly and painfully and - I suppose he thinks - in secret behind the bathroom door."

Finch was just nine when he disappeared. Wren is now moving onto Year Seven at a different school. Her old friends, friends from Kindergarten, have drifted way. Wren's grief has also been too much for them to stay connected. On the first day of High School, though, Wren makes a new friend. Freddie is also an outsider but she is not shy or insecure like Wren. She is bold and seemingly fearless. The two girls team up for a school art project and Wren, who constantly hears the voice of Finch, somehow suggests their topic could, in part, be about missing children. Added to this the girls see another new student in the playground. A girl, maybe a year or two older, who also looks lost and alone. 

Publisher blurb: Finch and Wren were as close as a brother and sister can be. When he vanished, when they were nine years old, her world cracked in two. Finch was never found. On the same day that Finch disappeared, another girl was lost, too. Her name was Ava. Her parents were rich tourists, from Sydney. Ava’s story got all the media attention. And Finch was forgotten. But not by Wren. Never by Wren. Three years on, Finch is still with her, whispering in her ear, guiding her through life. As Wren begins high school and forms a new, bewildering friendship with a mysterious girl called Freddie, Finch is there, urging her on. To go bolder. To go braver. To grab life with two hands. When another girl goes missing – a strange girl called Johanna – Wren feels compelled to search for her. To her surprise, Freddie does, too. The two of them try and piece together who Johanna is and why she ran away. Or did she run away? Was the truth more awful? And was it all tied together with what happened to Finch and Ava?

Here are some teaching notes from the publisher. 

I just want to mention one sentence in this book - just to show the power of Kate Gordon and her writing. This description is something all Australian kids and adults will relate to:

"I look up, Ms Jermy is standing over us. ... She has bells on her sleeves, and they play music that reminds me of ice cream trucks. Of how - when we were little - Finch would always scream when he heard one, leap to his feet and run to Mum yelling 'Please! Please!' as if the ice cream from the truck was any better than the ice cream in our freezer. I guess it was. It was a bit more magical. But maybe it was only Finch who made it that way."

This book is for mature readers aged 11+. It does contain difficult themes of grief but it also has a very open ending. Less mature readers may have difficulty with the seemingly unresolved conclusion - this could be their first encounter with a book that does not neatly end with "and they all lived happily ever after." The story is told by Wren but it is interspersed with the voice of Finch presented in free verse. 

I am certain My Brother Finch will be a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Younger Readers Notable title. Kate Gordon's writing just goes from strength to strength. I think this is her best book (of the ones I have read) so far. 

My Brother, Finch brings in themes around sibling relationships and the way we see ourselves in our families, which will be relevant to young people at a time in their lives when they are forming and changing their view of themselves and the world around them. It is a special book with powerful messages and stunning use of language that will stay with you as you get on with your life. Helen Ward Writes

My Brother, Finch is an allegory to grief and loss and the oscillation between hope and hopelessness that people must feel when a loved one goes missing. How can you grieve when you never really know what happened? And how can you move on with your life, how can you let them go, when there’s a chance, however small, that they are still out there somewhere? Helen Ward Writes

This story will keep you curious until the very end. It will also pull on your heart strings. Keep some tissues handy! Buzz Words

It sensitively explores the difficulties in moving on after tragedy and is ultimately a message of hope. The reader is left with the sense that this grief never ends, but it doesn’t preclude experiencing lives of friendship and love. This exquisite, heart-warming story seems destined to win awards and will be enjoyed by readers aged 11 and older. Storylinks

My brother Finch had a big impact on me and my thoughts turned back to it for days after finishing. While reading it, I kept thinking how brilliantly Gordon has created an authentic 12-year-old character and realistic descriptions of her strong emotions, as well as believable family and friend relationships. And cleverly, too, Finch is very much a central character in the story, as part Wren’s imagination and memories. Reading Time

Award-winning author Kate Gordon tells an incredible story through both prose in the form of short sentences and clever verse. This novel will tug at your heart strings and leave you longing for closure. The ending may not be what you are expecting but the incredible use of language to explore the characters, their emotions and their struggles make this story a compelling read.  ReadPlus

Companion books:

Bird

Right as Rain

Telephone of the tree

The Probability of Everything

Picasso and the greatest show on earth

Read my blog posts about these other books by Kate Gordon:

Xavier in the Meantime

Aster's good, right things

The Calling of Jackdaw hollow

The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn

Except Antarctica! by Todd Sturgell

You need to add this book to your school library. It is a perfect text for all your science units about animals, animal classification and habitats plus it is SO funny. The only question you might have to ask yourself is just where to shelve this book? Is it just a picture book about a crazy turtle who sets out to disprove the theory that turtles live on every continent except antarctica? Well yes. Turtle gathers all his friends, who also apparently do not live in Antarctica, and the team set off to check this out for themselves. So far this could just be a funny romp, a story, but the final pages - eight of them - are filled with animal facts - like a non-fiction book. Oh, and the end papers are world maps and a useful map of Antarctica showing all the research stations.

The swiftly rising, maniacal tone is highlighted by different, boldfaced types assigned to the narrator and the animals. Vivid, wildly imaginative illustrations add wonder and excitement to the proceedings. Readers will laugh out loud at the animals’ recalcitrance and the narrator’s frustrations, all the while absorbing a great deal of information. Delightful and hilarious. Kirkus Star review

This nature-documentary-gone-wrong is a gleefully funny lesson in determination, and includes educational backmatter and lots of animal fun facts! Penguin Books

Now think about the animals that travel with our hero - an owl, a dung beetle, a snake, a mouse, a bee, and a frog. Yes nearly every animal group is covered - birds, insects, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians. Only one group is missing - can your readers work this out and then can they talk about why.

Here are a few fun facts from the final pages in this book:

• The oldest turtle in the world lived to be 255 and was named Adwaita.
• Burrowing owls love to eat dung beetles.
• Dung beetles navigate using the Milky Way.
• Snakes smell with their tongues.
• Bees love the colour blue.
• Mice eat fifteen to twenty times a day.
• Frogs were the first land animals with vocal cords.

Except Antarctica was published in 2021. It is still available and I found a copy for a good price but you might need to act quickly because I imagine their stock might be limited. Here are a set of teaching ideas from the publisher. 

This book is also an example of breaking the fourth wall - you will hear the voice of the off stage narrator trying to advise the turtle his mission is impossible. 

Here are some companion books:

Todd Sturgell is an illustrator, author, and freelance art & creative director. In his previous career as a corporate advertising art director, he worked with national brands including The Home Depot, Hyundai, Red Lobster, and 7-11; in his current role, he focuses on local and regional clients including universities, museums, and music, food, arts, and wine festivals. He lives, hikes, draws, and watches nature documentaries in the North Carolina Mountains with his wife, daughters, and dog Max (named for a certain famous picture book character). He has not yet been to Antarctica.

Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead illustrated by Nicholas Gannon

When she was just five years old, Livy visited and stayed with her Grandmother in a small town in Victoria, Australia about two hours drive from Melbourne. Livy's mum is from Australia but the family now live in Massachusetts. Livy is now ten and she and her mum have come back to show off the newest member of the family - baby Beth Ann. Strangely Livy has no memories from their previous visit but something niggles at the back of her mind. Then she discovers a surprise in her wardrobe - it is Bob!

But who is Bob? Where did he come from? Why has he been in this wardrobe for five years? How come he can talk? Why is he dressed up like a chicken? How does he know so much about Livvy? Why can't Livy remember her promise to Bob? And why does he love licorice so much?

All of these questions and deeper ones about the devasting drought that is causing great hardship in this country town form the basis of this totally engrossing story which is told by the two alternating voices of Livy and Bob. (Try to find Runt if you want to read another book about this impact of droughts here in Australia). 

Inside the wardrobe Bob has some Lego to play with, comics to read, and a huge dictionary. Some of his favourite words are listed at the back of the book - brunch, eternity, library, solo and serendipity. His definitions are sure to make you smile.

I have resisted reading Bob for nearly six years! I read that it was set in Australia but knowing Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead live in America I feared it would be filled with Aussie cliches - think of Crocodile Dundee which is a movie that makes me cringe. This is absolutely not the case. Rebecca wrote her first part of the story on the plane home from Australia then she and Wendy Mass spent the next seven years creating their story.

The book is imaginative, intriguing and endearing. It is charming and funny in equal measure. It is sweet, in a myriad delightful ways. It truly touches at the same time as it entertains and surprises. It is a story that so beautifully captures aspects of both five and ten-year-old childhood that it chimes with much that is universal too. Magicfictionsincepotter

Mass and Stead’s brilliant collaboration has produced a beautiful tale of friendship, love, and the magic of childhood. Livy and Bob’s points of view alternate chapters, and each character’s personality is wonderfully realized with subtle nuances of emotion and humor. School Library Journal

Watch this video with Colby Sharp (6 minutes) where he shares his delight over reading this terrific book. Here are some teachers notes from the US Publisher Macmillan.

Anyway, I was TOTALLY TOTALLY wrong! Bob is a fabulous book with terrific illustrations and an imaginary friend who you definitely need to meet. Nicholas Gannon also illustrated The Doldrums.

Author blurb: It’s been five years since Livy and her family have visited Livy’s grandmother in Australia. Now that she’s back, Livy has the feeling she’s forgotten something really, really important about Gran’s house. It turns out she’s right. Bob, a short, greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit, didn’t forget Livy, or her promise. He’s been waiting five years for her to come back, hiding in a closet like she told him to. He can’t remember who—or what—he is, where he came from, or if he even has a family. But five years ago Livy promised she would help him find his way back home. Now it’s time to keep that promise. Clue by clue, Livy and Bob will unravel the mystery of where Bob comes from, and discover the kind of magic that lasts forever.

Awards:

• Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award
• Mythopoeic Society Book Award
• Golden Cowbell Book Award, Switzerland
• The Cartwheel Book Award for Best Non-human Character
• The Nerdy Bookclub award

If you have read any of my past posts you might know I am a little bit crazy about imaginary friends.  Here are some of my favourite books:

O'Diddy

Tish

Crenshaw

Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House

Leo and Ralph

You also need to hunt out a copy of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble - I won't say why just believe me it is important.

I gave five stars to a previous collaborate between Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead:

The Lost Library