Hari's Bones by Danny Parker illustrated by Rache Antonio with music by Matt Ottley

Hari is a cautious girl. She shuns danger because she wants to stay safe. She needs to avoid physical and emotional harm. Hari holds all her bones in a bag but she does have dreams and she certainly doesn't just sit around doing nothing. She can see things to explore in the world and beyond and so she flies her kite, uses a net to gather feathers and from her feather seat she watches the unfolding universe and constellations. But then the day comes when Hari needs to break out of her safety bubble.

The kids call out to her. Hari is standing in the outfield of the ball game, and the ball is heading her way. She needs to catch it but this is risky. Hari will need to overcome her fears, grab that ball and run. Doing this she makes an amazing discovery:

"She peaked at her bones - not a scratch! Her eyes sparkled."

Hari finds she can join in - she can dodge and hop and swerve and spin and splash and still be okay. It seems her dream of reaching the moon might now come true, so it is time to work her plans (blueprints) and models. Her future is filled with endless possibilities.

When you reach the final page of this book - please stop and ponder the final end paper. It shows a small paper aeroplane moving over the night sky and reaching high to the stars showing the endless possibilities Hari can now enjoy. Now go back to the first spread - this same image has been used to open this story showing Hari always had the potential to follow her dreams. These two images beautifully book end the story.

Bookseller blurb: A story for the curious. Hari is always trying to avoid trouble, but one day, trouble comes to find her. To her surprise, the very things she's done to stay safe become her superpowers. A story for the curious, gentle risk-takers, those who suspect there is more to adventure than climbing up and jumping off. Written by the award-winning author Danny Parker and illustrated by emerging illustrator Rache Antonio this children's picture book includes original music composed by acclaimed artist, Matt Ottley, with text narrated by the author.

This is a picture book for slightly older readers. I think many kids (and even some adults) will relate to these words from the text (I certainly did) and this quote could be a terrific way to open a conversation with your library group:

"Hari wouldn't climb a tree, wasn't tempted by trampolines, bicycles, skateboards or scooters."

Whether you share this book with younger children so they learn that being curious, creative, imaginative and quiet as they discover their world is perfectly acceptable, or with older children to help them understand how working towards their aspirations of the future helps shape who they are now, it is a must-have for any collection devoted to student well-being, identity and self-acceptance. A Book and a Hug

Something I often think about is the way an illustrator is sent the text for a picture book - perhaps just typed on one sheet of paper. In the case of Hair's Bones, the art of Rache Antonio works so well to extend the text and to add a rich additional layer of meaning to the story. 

It would be good to share Hair's Bones alongside another book by Danny Parker. I am sure it is no coincidence that this book from 2016 was illustrated by Matt Ottley:

Read more about Danny Parker here

I recently talked about Dany Parker's book Perfect illustrated by Freya Blackwood

Matt Ottely has created a musical accompaniment to enjoy alongside this book (there's a QR code at the back of Hari's Bones) and others. Matt did not do the art in this new book, but it does invite comparison with several of his previous titles which are also part of his "The Sound of Picture Books" project. Read more here. Our 2026 CBCA slogan is 'Symphony of Stories' - this work by Matt Ottley would be so perfect to share as you explore this theme - his work to add orchestral scores while the audience enjoy visuals from his books is an extraordinary experience.

Stickboy

How to make a bird

Teacup

You can see art from Hari's Bones and hear the music by Matt Ottley on the book trailer. 

IBBY Australia nominated Matt Ottley for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen award in 2024 and back in 2019 I shared his work at the Texas Book festival. Thanks to Matt Ottley for sending me a review copy of Hari's Bones. 

In a previous blog post, I talked about how much I enjoyed the music Matt Ottely composed to go with the splendid book Dumazi and the Big Yellow Lion. 

Dumazi and the Big Yellow Lion

I also need to mention the beautiful art in Hair's Bones which comes from a new illustrator- Rache Antonio. She has been illustrating children’s books since 2022 as a means of capturing the wonder, humour, depth and complexity of the human spirit, and the world we live in. She has a degree in Fashion Design and Applied Arts from ECA and has worked in fashion, costume, music festival production and illustration.  Born and raised in rural Scotland, she now lives and works in Somerset, UK.

Gander: The Town that Welcomed the World by Nikki Bergstresser illustrated by Reilly Fitzgerald

The musical Come from Away is based on the events in Gander in 2001. This production affected me so deeply when I first saw it in London that I went on to see it again here in Australia in Melbourne and last month again in Vancouver and now I have discovered there is a children's picture book about these events. I originally went to see this show after reading a detailed article in our Sydney Morning Herald back in 2019.

I rarely talk about books I have not seen, but Gander: The Town that Welcomed the World is not readily available here in Australia but I think it looks good. I have read a couple of reviews and seen some pages. IF it ever comes here, it is a book I would like to own. Gander is a new picture book published in June 2026.

Image from publisher page

Publisher blurb: On September 11, 2001, thousands of travellers were stranded far from home in a town called Gander, Newfoundland. They were strangers in a place most had never heard of before. Scared and confused, the travellers were not sure what to expect. Gander: The Town That Welcomed the World is a true story about a world that was hurting and a community that came together with kindness, compassion, and East Coast heart. With sparse text and painterly illustrations, Nikki Bergstresser and Reilly Fitzgerald thoughtfully capture and commemorate this 9/11 story for a new generation.

Many young children, particularly in Canada, may not be aware of the events of 9/11. Unless they were directly impacted by a relative who was there or by perhaps a parent who was pilot or a resident of Gander, most adults will not discuss the events of the day with them. But there is a way to speak to them about it with sensitivity, and Nikki Bergstresser's Gander: The Town That Welcomed the World would be a tasteful and enlightening way to do so. BC's Nikki Bergstresser packs a lot of depth in her words, conveying easily the exceptionality of this day with the natural response of these Ganderites and Newfoundlanders in general. Her words take us through those days by balancing the fears and confusion with action and kindness.  CanLit for Little Canadians

Book Week challenges 2026

Image source: CBCA merchandise

This is controversial but I am not a fan of Book Week dress up days or parades.  I think Book Week should be a celebration of books, reading, libraries and creative thinking, so in my school, as an alternate activity, I used to set four Book Week challenges. Sometimes kids worked on these during breaks and sometimes teachers allowed their class to complete a challenge in class time. 

My rules are simple but of course you can set your own:

• the challenge must be completed during the school day (not at home)
• the deadline for entries is 3.25pm each day
• label your work with your name and class
• up to ten winners will be announced each morning and they will each received a small prize bag there are also certificates for highly commended and commended entries
• you can visit a showcase of entries in the library during Book Week and beyond

Here are ten challenges I have created for 2026 around the slogan 'Symphony of Stories'.  Please feel free to use, adapt, adopt etc.  I suggest selecting four challenges that appeal to and you could set one each day over four days of Book Week. It takes a long time (at night) to sift through the hundreds of entries but it is also fun. I think it is important to maintain the excitement by announcing winners each day and then displaying them in your library.

Here are my 2026 ideas:

Your library needs an advertising jingle – write a song using a well-known nursery rhyme tune that encourages the youngest children to read a book or borrow a book or share a book

Books can be other shapes – not just rectangles. Make a three-page book in the shape of a musical instrument – it will need a title, cover, title page, one story page and a back cover with a blurb or for bonus points make a pop-up book that looks like an instrument

Puzzle me a puzzle – use the letters of the 2026 CBCA book week slogan 'Symphony of Stories' to design a puzzle such as a find-a-word, cross word, or a code to solve

Using music staves as your lines write the first line of your story – make it large enough to fill a whole page ready to display in the library

The members of the orchestra have heaps of spare time – make a list of instruments and suggest a great book for each player to read and present your work as a poster to display in their rehearsal room

Write a short story (one page only) that features music or musical instruments (perhaps a musical instrument could be the main character)

Illustrate the book cover for a new book which features a musical instrument or a song and add the title, plus the author and illustrator names (be inventive with these names if you like).

Design a game that includes some of the 2026 short listed picture books – it might be snakes and ladders, or a simple version of monopoly, or a card game perhaps

Choose a book that can be made into a movie – write a proposal in the form of a letter to a famous movie director suggesting which book could be a movie and which music they should use for the movie soundtrack. Did you know the movie Babe uses music by a famous composer Camille Saint-Saëns and his Symphony number 3 and Star Wars uses music from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and Bluey also has classical music in the episode called Sleepytime from a piece called The Planets. The book you choose for this challenge could be a personal favourite or even one of the 2026 CBCA shortlisted titles.

I penned a post linking classical music and children's books a few months ago. And this post about an elephant and a piano in Thailand might also give you some inspiration. 

Happy Book Week

Heartwood Hotel: Family Forever by Kallie George illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

Bookseller blurb: Everything is humming at the Heartwood Hotel one year after the forest fire. Yet Mona the mouse feels like something is missing. Something besides the Golden Acorn—a legendary treasure buried and forgotten long ago. When a stranger turns up at the Heartwood with a map, suddenly the whole forest is taking part in a big treasure hunt and the hotel’s regular activities are turned upside down. But Mona has an idea to get things back to normal: throw a surprise birthday party for Mr. Heartwood! As the Heartwood attracts treasure hunters—well-meaning and otherwise—and as Mona's best friend Tilly seems to be pulling away, Mona feels like her plans are slipping through her paws! Who will find the legendary treasure? And what if danger finds the hotel first?

I actually squealed when I saw a NEW Heartwood Hotel book in Canada last month. Kallie George lives in British Columbia, Canada. I grabbed it with both hands, went back to my hotel and read the whole book straight through in one huge, delicious gulp! If you have not yet discovered this sweet series quickly add them to your 'to read' or 'to borrow' list. I am sure this series will be easy to find in many school and public libraries. Kallie George creates real tension in this newest installment as we watch Mona struggling to understand why her precious friend Tilly is so distracted and where is Mr Heartwood he needs to know some of the hotel guests are acting suspiciously. 

This newest book has a slightly larger size. The new editions, which have different covers from the original ones, match this size but if your library has the original copies the two newest books will look slightly different on your shelves. You can see other books illustrated by Stephanie Graegin here.

Now there are six books in this series (the sixth book is not yet released):

A True Home (#1)

The Greatest Gift (#2)

Better Together (#3)

Home Again (#4)

Family Forever (#5)

A Brave Beginning (#6)

Canada 2026

I first visited Canada in 1994 and then again in 2012 and 2019. I have now returned from my fourth trip to this huge, and varied country. My visit this time allowed me, and another children's literature aficionado, to attend the 40th IBBY World Congress hosted by IBBY Canada in Ottawa.

Back in 1994 I set myself the target of collecting a picture book from every Province and territory. One of the books I picked up back then was O'Canada. The lyrics of this song, the Canadian nation anthem, hummed along in the background all through my most recent trip.

Here are a few observations about Canada some linked with a picture book (although not all of the books are Canadian).

Bookshops 

No surprise here - I visited heaps of bookshops in Vancouver; Victoria BC; Montreal; and Ottawa - here they are: Kidsbooks Vancouver; Munro's Books (Vancouver Island); Tanners Books (Sidney Vancouver Island); Kaboodles Toy store (Vancouver Island); Upstart & Crow (Granville Island Vancouver); Nooroongji Books (Granville Island Vancouver); Indigo (Montreal); Octopus Books (Ottawa); and one with books all in French which was so much fun Librairie du soleil d'Ottawa. (I will post pictures of some of the book treasures we found in these shops later). 

One of the most moving books I read in a library - we visited four or five - was this one:

Beavers, capybaras, sea otters and groundhogs (and squirrels too)

We didn't actually see a beaver or a capybara or a sea otter in the wild, but we did see them in a 'zoo' called The Montreal Biodome and we watched a wonderful film about a sea otter mum and her baby.

 Groundhogs on the other hand were everywhere on the campus at Carleton University - I didn't know groundhogs were even real. Oddly we did have to navigate lots of misinformation about them - at first I wondered if these little brown guys were chipmunks but we discovered chipmunks are tiny. Then someone told us they were muskrats or perhaps woodchucks. Anyway, we did some research, asked more questions and yes they were groundhogs (woodchuck is another name for a groundhog). On campus they are affectionately known as 'chonkers'.

We didn't see a beaver except on a live cam screen at the Biodome

I found this close up photo on the internet of a Groundhog- 

my photos are too far away - these guys are quite shy but they sure do munch a lot of grass

Capybara image source: Montreal Biodome.

Watch the trailer

At the Malahat Skywalk we also saw a young girl handing a red-tailed hawk - one of those moments to treasure. It made me feel very emotional being so close to such a majestic bird.

Art galleries

We were so lucky to find fantastic exhibitions that coincided with our visit for example at the Ottawa Art Gallery near our hotel we learnt about the life and work of Faith Fyles (1875–1961), the first woman to be appointed as a botanist with Canada’s Department of Agriculture. Someone needs to write a picture book about her.

The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa had a very special exhibition by the Canadian impressionist artist Helen McNicoll.

Image source: National Gallery "In the shadow of the tree".

In Montreal there is a children's bookshop called Livres Babar

Sadly it was too far away for a visit this time.

At the Montreal Museum and Fine Art Gallery, we chanced upon an exhibition entitled 'From the functional to the Fabulous: 600 years of decorative arts and design'. They had chairs, computers through the ages, jewelry, and silver tea sets and so much more.

And in Vancouver we spent time at the Bill Reid gallery in preparation for our IBBY Congress which explored Canadian and other indigenous books for children and their creators. 

Suffragettes

The Famous Five statue in Ottawa

Read more here

Canada granted women the right to vote in 1917. Only women who were war widows or had husbands or sons at war were able to vote. Considerations for extending this right were linked to the desire of the nation to remain a “White Settler” land. In May 1918, women citizens (this did not include Indigenous women) were given the right to vote.

Check out my blog post about this book.

Maple trees and maple syrup

We did a fabulous tree walk in Stanley Park and saw some very, very old and very, very tall trees. Our guide was a young tree enthusiast and expert. We saw animal bones dropped by an eagle from a high tree nest, a woodpecker, and a robin feeding her babies in a tiny but precarious nest. Near the end of our walk Colin our guide pointed out a little berry on a plant (you can eat them) with the delightful name: Thimbleberry.

Lakes, rivers, canals and waterfalls

Canada has an abundance of freshwater, with about 20% of the world’s total freshwater resources and roughly 7% of global renewable freshwater supply. Freshwater shapes Canada’s geography, with over 2 million lakes, countless rivers and creeks, and nearly 9% of the country’s surface area covered by water. We walked along canals and beside lakes and saw several waterfalls including the famous Montmorency Falls in Quebec. We took a boat trip on the St. Lawrence River which is the second longest river in Canada and we were lucky to see the locks in action on the canal in Ottawa.

Montmorency Falls Quebec

Residential schools

In 2019 I read this book, Fatty Legs, and then at our conference David A Robertson talked about his book which shares the sad history of residential schools and is written for young children. Sitting in a museum (I think it was in Vancouver at The Bill Reid Gallery) I read Shi-shi-etko and The Secret Pocket. 

In Australia you might read this important book alongside The Burnt Stick by Anthony Hill.

Eagles

On a boat trip from Granville Island (Vancouver BC) we saw several of the famous bald eagles - they were actually very close.

Flower baskets and displays

It is summertime in Canada and every city had the most gorgeous street planter boxes and hanging baskets. 

More to come - conference highlights - I will talk about the richness of the 40th IBBY Congress in a few days including Michael Rosen; Sidney Smith and Jon Klassen! And we met Kathy Stinson, Margriet Ruuers, and saw Barbara Reid in the crowd. 

One more thing - I need to mention the BEST sandwich of the whole trip which we ate on the last day in Ottawa: Chicken avocado club: Brined Roasted Chicken + Cranberry Loaf + Avocado + Chipotle Aioli + Bacon + Smoked Cheddar + Lettuce + Tomatoes Served with choice of House Fries or Salad. YUM!

Speaking of food perhaps you are wondering - sorry we didn't eat Poutine nor did we sample a beaver tail (it's a pastry not the tail of a beaver).