The curious guide to things that aren't by John D Fixx and James F Fixx

I seem to be following a theme - here is a another quirky non fiction title filled with trivia and interesting facts.

The curious guide to things that aren't - what does this mean?  Keep reading and you will discover the subtitle says :

Things you can't always touch, see or hear - 

can you guess what they are?

This is an A to Z guide to those elusive but very real things that are all around us such as:

air
breath
cold

itch
joke
kiss

pain
quiet
reflection

x-ray
yesterday
zero

Each letter begins with a puzzle page.  Here is an example :

"This starts with the letter T.  This is always passing by, but you can't see it, stop it, or even slow it down.  When you are raking leaves, cleaning your room, or waiting for your birthday to arrive it creeps by slowly. But when you're happy or playing with friends, it flies by. .... it is measured with objects that hang on the wall, are worn on the wrist, or contained in a cell phone."

What is it?

One aspect of this book that I really loved is the way each explanation also contains usage of the word in sayings.

For TIME "you can 'save time' or 'waste time', or you can be 'ahead of time', or 'behind the times."

Here are some others I like :
"breath of fresh air"
"kiss it goodbye"
"a pain in the neck"
"at a loss for words"

You can read more about the author and listen to an interview here.  This might be another book you could use with a class exploring one letter each day and then creating you own list of things that aren't.

An A to Z of Australian bush creatures by Myke Mollard

First of all this is not a new book.  An A to Z of Australian bush creatures was first published in 2008 but this is a new edition released in 2016.

In 2016 our CBCA Book Week slogan is

Australia : Story Country

I plan to feature picture books about Australian animals such as A house for Wombats, Koala Lou, and Edward the Emu.  I have been hunting for a book that covered some of our less famous, but no less fabulous, Australian Animals.

An A to Z of Australian bush creatures will be a terrific jumping off point.  Yes it does contain detailed illustrations of our famous fauna - koala, kangaroo, kookaburra, wallaby, wombat, platypus, numbat, bilby, cockatoo and even the wonderful Christmas beetle but it has so many which you may not know including one that doesn't even really exist - the bunyip!

I would like our older students, during Book Week, to adopt a Australian animal.  I want them to find one that is not featured in lots of picture books and perhaps write a short story or a poem.

Here are some possibilities but there are so many others in this book :

• bettong
• blue tongued lizard
• spotted cuscus
• dusky hopping mouse
• jabiru
• witchetty grub
• rosella
• lorikeet
• lyrebird
• kowari
• kultarr

You can see every page from this richly illustrated book on the author web site.