Hattie Peck by Emma Levey

"Hattie Peck had only ever laid one egg, and it had never hatched. Poor Hattie, she simply loved eggs. They were all she thought about, and all she dreamed about. Eggs, eggs, eggs."

So off she went around the world collecting eggs - hundreds of eggs.

Little Hattie Peck loved eggs! Big ones, small ones, speckled ones. All she wanted was an egg of her own. One day, Hattie left her cosy coop on an adventure to find all the abandoned eggs of the world. And find them she did! But what will happen when they hatch?

Next term some classes at the school where I volunteer each week will explore the topic of eggs! This simple looking picture book would make a terrific starting point after you and your class perhaps brainstorm all the animals that lay eggs.

List of some animals that lay eggs: ants, bedbugs, bees, butterflies, birds, chickens, cockroaches, chameleon lizards, crocodiles, ducks, mosquitoes, emu, ostrich, owl, peacock, penguin, platypus, shark, seahorses, snails, snakes, echidna, and turtle. 

You will find lots of these on the final spread of Hattie Peck. 

Hattie Peck contains delicious words: plucked; embark; venture; battled; vast; deepest depths; clambered; trekked; precious; soared; hauled; trudged; blustery; and colossal. 

I can see this book being used for Reader's Theatre. Emma Levey has some colouring pages on her website. You will need to look in a library to find the books about Hattie because they were published in 2016 and so sadly are no longer in print. 

You can see more books by Emma Levey here. She lives in Wales. I also found a second book about Hattie:

Here are some other books that explore eggs (there are lots more - just ask your Teacher-Librarian):

The Great Shark egg case Hunt

Meet Sylvia Long

This is not an egg

First the egg

Hatch

The Emperor's Egg

Doggo and Pupper by Katherine Applegate

I am always on the hunt (as you might know if you read this blog regularly) for easy or beginner chapter books with appealing stories and hopefully also colour illustrations. I am not a huge fan of the illustrations in this series but the stories are fun!! and well written as you would expect from a master storyteller like Katherine Applegate.

This sweet, seven-chapter early-reader series opener employs simple language, with several short sentences per page and lots of dialogue, to bring these close friends and their fun adventures to endearing life; young readers will be charmed. The colorful illustrations that combine collage and digital techniques are lively and expressive. Kirkus

Here is a video where Katherine Applegate talks about and reads the first book in this book series (11 minutes).  You could also check out the US publisher page (Macmillan). 

Book One Doggo and Pupper blurb: Doggo is used to things being a certain way in his family. He likes routine. Cat says he’s become boring. That is, until Pupper shows up! Pupper is playful and messy, and turns the house upside down. Soon, the humans realize that Pupper needs some training, and off he goes to puppy school. When Pupper comes back, he’s well-behaved. He’s not playful. He’s not messy. But Doggo soon realizes that Pupper also isn’t happy. So Doggo steps in to help, and rediscovers what it means to have fun.

Book Two Save the World blurb: Doggo likes routine: napping, eating, and more napping. Life is good.

Life is good for Pupper, too, even though he worries a lot, about things like giant squirrels. If he were braver, he might even be a hero. Maybe even a hero who can fly! But heroes aren’t afraid of giant squirrels . . . When Doggo and Pupper meet a baby bird who also has worries, they are determined to help. Doggo and Pupper may not know how to fly, but they are very good helpers. Maybe they are even heroes!  [Book two has a Kirkus Star review: Charming and utterly delightful.]

Book Three Search for Cozy blurb: When Cat announces that the Humans have given her a surprise present, Doggo and Pupper are all ears. But when they find out that Cat has a new bed and misses her old one, they set out to help her search for cozy.

Sadly, I do need to tell you that these books may be too expensive for your school library - yes they are available but the cost between AUS$20 and AUS$25 each. I realise up to AUS$75 is too much to spend on just three books.

Sato and the elephants by Juanita Havill illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng

I picked this book up from a library discard pile. Sato and the elephants was published in 1993 and the library copy was purchased in 1995 which means it has been in the library for over thirty years. I hope in that time the world has become a safer place for elephants.

Sato watches his father carving ivory. He really wants to become as skilled as his father. He does know ivory comes from elephant but it takes a terrible experience to really give him an understanding of this.

He buys a large piece of scarce ivory from a trader for a very high price. As he works over many days on his carving he sees something lodged inside the ivory itself - it is a bullet. Sato's dreams are then filled with the real scene - elephants living in on the wild plains of Africa. When he wakes up he makes a vow to never use ivory again. Marble will now be his new medium for carving. 

I don't imagine this book will be easy to find but if I were to share it in my library I would read it to a Grade five or six group as a discussion starter about animal rights, animal exploitation, and the continuing issues of poaching. You might be able to access this BTN (Behind the News ABC TV) program from 2016. Here are a couple of companion books to explore the topic of animal rights:

Ivan the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla

Jean and Mou-Sien were classmates at the Fine Art Department of the National Normal University in Taiwan. After graduation, they married and worked as teachers, designers, and illustrators. They also worked for a UNICEF Project in Taiwan, editing and designing 165 picture books-thirty of which they illustrated themselves. Their book Lovely Toys won the 1971 Golden Book Award for the best picture book illustration. Mou-Sien also won the Golden Goblet Award for Excellent Achievement at Chinese Painting in 1990. Here is one of their books which is by Margaret Mahy:

Find more books about elephants in these two posts from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything:

International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos; and Elephant Day.

Bothered by Bugs by Emily Gravett

If your class are talking about the balance of nature - the role of every tiny creature in an ecosystem - this book is simply perfect. 

Publisher blurb: Pete the Badger is choosing a delicious recipe from his new fruit cookbook when his peace is interrupted by a teeny tiny fly. The fly becomes a swarm and soon all the animals are being bothered by bugs and insects of all kinds . . . before helping Pete to rid the forest of every single one. Disaster! Now nobody's around to clean up the poo, and come autumn, there's not a berry or a cherry to be found. But the lesson is learned, the bugs are released, and order is restored to the forest once again.

Infused with humour, this superb picture book carries an important message about the natural world. Wonderful to read aloud, the witty, rhyming text provides rhythm and pace. Children will adore exploring the exquisitely detailed illustrations, particularly a sumptuous picnic on the final pages, which is crammed with delectable cakes, tarts, and summer puddings. Book Trust

Here is one of the irresistible illustrations:

Here are two another books by Emily Gravett featuring the same woodland animals:

The topic of eliminating one part of the natural food chain and how this can be catastrophic is beautifully explained in this picture book for young children (but I would also be happy to share Bothered by Bugs with an older group of students in Grades 3 and 4. And with your senior classes do make sure you explore this book:

Sparrow Girl

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by all the books that you have not yet discovered? I feel like this every time I visit the fabulously well stocked library where I volunteer every week. Even if I had several lifetimes I am sure I could never discover every treasure held by this library. The Teacher-Librarian was very aware of this book by the famous author/illustrator Emily Gravett book and she shared it with me because it has been short listed for the 2026 UKLA Book Awards. It really is a very good idea to keep your eye on as many international children's book awards as you can from UK, USA, New Zealand, and Canada. I am so happy to have discovered Bothered by Bugs. Add this book to your library wish list today!

Here is a partial list of other books written and illustrated by Emily Gravett - you should try to add as many of these as you can afford to your school or local library:

• Wolves (2005)
• Orange Pear Apple Bear (2006)
• Meerkat Mail (2006)
• Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears (2007)
• Monkey and Me (2007)
• The Odd Egg (2008)
• Spells (2008)
• Dogs (2009)
• The Rabbit Problem (2009)
• Blue Chameleon (2010)
• Wolf Won't Bite! (2011)
• Again! (2011)
• Matilda's Cat (2 August 2012)[12]
• Little Mouse's Big Book of Beasts (2013)
• Bear and Hare: Go Fishing (2014)
• Bear and Hare: Snow! (2014)
• Bear and Hare: Where's Bear? (2015)
• Bear and Hare: Mine! (2016)
• Tidy (2016)
• Old Hat (2017)
• Cyril and Pat (2018)
• Meerkat Christmas (2019)
• Too Much Stuff (2020)
• 10 Cats (2022)
• 10 Dogs (2023)
• Bothered by Bugs (2024)
• Bear's Nap (2025)

My Pet Goldfish by Catherine Rayner

"When I was four, I got my first ever pet: a fish no bigger than my hand, with red and orange scales. My very own goldfish! He didn't have a name yet so I got to choose one - and I called him 'Richard'".

Richard is not alone - he lives in a fish tank with her sister's fish. The young girl loves spending time with Richard - telling him about her day. Sandy, the boy next door also has some goldfish but this live in pond in his garden. When you turn to the page filled with the fish in Sandy's pond you will gasp at all the colours.

There are facts on each page of this book: did you know there are over two hundred different kinds of goldfish with names like comets, bubble eyes and pompoms. And did you know that a group of goldfish is called a “troubling” or that the oldest ever goldfish was 43 years old?

Eventually Richard grows too big for the fish tank and so the girl takes him over to Sandy's to live in his pond. 

Because this book is a combination of narrative and nonfiction it contains an index, further reading list, and a page of author notes. 

My Pet Goldfish was published in 2021 - I am not sure how I missed it. AND it is illustrated (and written) by Catherine Rayner which is another reason I should have been aware of this book. Here is a video of Catherine reading her book. 

The lovely and delicate mixed-media illustrations sparkle with color; we see Richard, other fish, bubbles, and aquatic plants drift serenely in gentle waters. ... Delightful and validating for first-time or would-be goldfish guardians. Kirkus

In the US this book has a different cover:

In the library where I spend a joyous day as a volunteer the Teacher-Librarian has gathered together all of her books from the Nature Storybook (or previously Read and Wonder) series from Walker books. I think she might have nearly every one of these splendid nonfiction titles. Recently she set up a display of books about goldfish and it proved very popular with the children and now this topic links perfectly with one of the CBCA 2026 Early Childhood shortlisted titles - Derek.

Derek

UKLA Book Awards 2026 Shortlist 7-10

The UKLA Book Awards are the only national (UK) 

children's book awards judged by teachers.

The UKLA Book Awards 2026 shortlist highlights a diverse range of outstanding children’s and young-people’s books across four age-based categories, spanning 3-14+. Hand-selected by teachers for their quality, creativity and relevance, these titles offer exceptional storytelling, engaging ideas and rich reading experiences.  Here is the full list of six shortlisted titles. These two are titles I have read (and loved) from the 7-10 Shortlist.

After. Written by Pádraig Kenny

Birdie. Written by J P Rose

Read more here including books for 3-6 and 11-14+

In addition to the two titles above which made the shortlist you can see the longlist and from the longlist I have talked about:

The Falling Boy. Written by David Almond

Leo and Ralph. Written and illustrated by Peter Carnavas AUSTRALIAN!!!!

Ghostlines .Written by Katya Balen

Fallout. Written by Lesley Parr (blog post coming soon)

Ettie and the Midnight Pool. Written by Julia Green and illustrated by Pam Smy

The DANZ Awards Longlist 2026

The DANZ Awards celebrate diverse children’s fiction published in Australia and New Zealand, honouring books that challenge stereotypes, push boundaries, and highlight diverse and marginalised communities, including those representing disability, culture, LGBTQI+, race and religion. 

The ASLA DANZ Awards aim to encourage inclusivity and spotlight authentic representation, providing marginalised voices with recognition and support. They also aims to influence book-buyers and educators to prioritise such works. The awards spotlight the wonderful books which provide mirrors, windows and sliding doors into different lives, and build empathy and understanding of people from all walks of life. 

PICTURE BOOK LONGLIST

From this list I have talked about

Bapa's Last Canoe; A Lemon for Safiya; and The Truck Cat

CHAPTER BOOK LONGLIST

MIDDLE GRADE LONGLIST

From this list I have talked about

The Silken Thread