Still Sal by Kevin Henkes

Sal is excited. She is about to begin Grade One. Sal has all her special supplies ready:

At the moment, the school supplies were the things in Sal’s life that made her most happy; the things that gave her a little joyful lift just by thinking about them. The box held brightly colored pencils with glittery stars on them, an eraser shaped like a cupcake for the top of a pencil, and two folders and two notebooks with photographs of baby animals on them—piglets, kittens, puppies, lambs.

Her outfit is ready too:

Sal got dressed in the outfit she’d been planning for days. Pink-and-blue plaid tights. Pale-green corduroy pants that came just below her knees. A shirt patterned with yellow and orange suns. Red sneakers. ... Sal had picked out a cloth headband—her most comfortable one. It was white with purple stripes. She was avoiding her hard plastic ones with teeth. She pushed the headband on and patted it into position. “Ready.”

Then a letter arrives and it seems Sal and her best friend in the whole world Griff (Griffen Babcock) will be in different classes. Griff will have a teacher with such a wonderful name - Ms. Flowers. Surely there is a way Sal can change classes and not be in Ms. McCormick's class.

Ms. Flowers’s hair was dark and curly like Sal’s, but cut very short and accessorized with an ABC barrette. She was wearing red sneakers, also like Sal’s, and jeans that were frayed and fringy at the bottom. Her belt appeared to be a tape measure. She looked like a fun babysitter. She smelled like strawberry jam. Sal’s heart leaped.

This is a year of change for Sal. Her baby sister Poppy has moved into her room and Sal is not happy. Griff seems to be making new friends. AND everything, just everything that can go wrong at school, goes wrong. For example my heart broke for Sal when she saw her name label was wrong (this happens me too):

She was looking at her name tag with narrow eyes. There was a new problem. Although Ms. McCormick had cut off the second L and the Y, she’d made her cut so close to the first L that if you didn’t look carefully, you might think Sal’s name was Sa. Also, there’d been a nice border around each name on the name tags, and now the border on Sal’s was gone on the right side. And, the cut edge was crooked. Sal’s name tag didn’t look professional anymore, and it was different from everyone else’s. Stinging tears came to Sal’s eyes. She knew she shouldn’t ask Ms. McCormick to fix her name tag again, but, still, she found the whole thing upsetting.

Kids in Australia are sure to enjoy all the clothes Sal wears - here children wear school uniforms. Sal's choices each day reminded me of Goonie Bird Greene. 

I love the way Sal tries to convince her parents that two-year-old Poppy should not move in:

“I just don’t think she’ll be a good resident of this room,” Sal had told her parents, trying to be as serious as possible, narrowing her eyes, tilting her head, and pitching her voice to sound important. “I just don’t think she’s responsible enough to be here.”

I also love Sal's dad - he is a parent with quiet wisdom and he can make delicious pancakes.

With a group of older kids in Grade 3 perhaps, you could use this book to talk about the way teachers are different - not to criticise just to explore different ways teachers might cover a topic or relate to their class. You could also talk about the way Sal observes the kids in her class. Oh and I cheered when Sal does speak up - she certainly is not a shy child but she does have an understanding of some adult rules such as not using the teacher's first name even though she is so delighted when she makes this discovery.

I think my hairdresser would enjoy reading chapter 19:

The hair salon was called Hair We Go and it smelled important. Like the smells of a doctor’s office and a flower shop mixed together. Brooke was the name of the woman who was to cut Sal’s hair. Brooke’s thin, straight hair was shoulder length and streaked with pink and green. Sal couldn’t take her eyes off it. She wondered how old you had to be to get pink and green hair, although she wasn’t sure if she’d actually want to have it.

As an adult reader I adored this fourth book about the Miller family - I hope young readers aged 7+ will also enjoy this book but they might find the tone used by Sal a little too mature? I need to think about this a little more. The Kirkus reviewer says: Fairly sophisticated language and observations stretch the target audience to include third and fourth graders for whom first grade may be a distant memory. I was delighted to see Kirkus gave Still Sal a Star review:

Henkes’ graceful, easy prose, sharp insights, and impressive ability to convey the way children think shine here. He invites readers to empathize with Sal, feeling her disappointment and annoyance with a world that doesn’t always understand her as well as the satisfaction with small victories that bring her back to herself: getting used to a major haircut and learning to connect with Ms. McCormick. ...  A delightful, understated triumph.

Blurb from Kevin Henkes web page: Sal has been looking forward to first grade for a long time. But her excitement quickly turns to disappointment when she learns that her best friend, Griff, is in the other first-grade classroom and has the most popular teacher. Then Sal’s name is spelled wrong on her name tag, she trips in front of the cool fifth graders, and her self-portrait doesn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. In fact, everything about school is an absolute disaster. Poor Sal! Luckily for Sal, she has understanding parents, a terrific new teacher, and empathetic friends who remind her that it takes time to adjust to change. And sure enough, after a few days, Sal feels like herself again.

Still Sal highlights themes of family, friendship, social and emotional growth, resilience, and adapting to change. The fourth stand-alone book in the Miller Family sequence includes black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes on almost every page and is an excellent choice for early elementary grades, for readers ready for a short novel, and for family and classroom read-alouds.

AND there will be another book in this series later this year - Poppy.

If I worked in a bookshop I would love to make a window display of this series. Here are the four titles from the series so far and I also think all Primary school libraries should own every one of them - you can read more from the links below. All four of these have Kirkus Star reviews:

The Year of Billy Miller; Billy Miller makes a Wish

Click on the Kevin Henkes label on this post to read about more of his books - for all ages!

Joey and the Junjardy by Allison Rocca illustrated by Brenton E McKenna

"I'd been cursed by the Junjardy ever since I moved to Coolibah Creek. But I didn't have hard feelings about it. I was glad the Junjardy had latched onto me, saw something in me living on ancestral land, showed me how to find my place ... to Country."

Joey and his family - mum, dad and sister have moved back to live with their uncle at Collibah Creek. Near the creek Joey hears some noises and later he sees a small hairy creature. Now Joey himself is somewhat of a prankster, but he seems to have met his match with the Junjardy. The question is how much is too much and why are the pranks escalating - is the Junjardy upset?

"Two eyes appeared, peering out among the leaves. Bright, unblinking eyes. Too big for a lizard. Too small for a stray dog. My breath stuck in my throat. A cold, prickly feeling crawled over me, from top to toes, like I'd stepped into a giant spiderweb. The eyes glinted at me. .... I dunno what I was looking at. I just knew it wasn't good."

"Could it be that Coolibah Creek was not some old, boring place like I first thought?"

"I looked closer. I could make out a head, body, arms and legs. The face had ordinary human features, if you could call them that. Poking out from a mat of dark grass-like hair was a flat nose and a mouth with jagged teeth. Somehow it was a face that managed to look young and old at the same time, both a boy and a girl at one."

"Some mobs believe that it's a protector of the land. For fellas on their native land, it can be mischievous. Stealing from them, hiding things, making a mess. But ... fellas who are not on traditional land or who are trying to hurt the land ... it can act aggressively towards them."

Adults can't see the Junjardy and nor can some kids but later Joey learns his teacher and mother do know about it. 

I had one small quibble with this book. I read the bio of debut author Allison Rocca and discovered she is a primary school teacher, so I was very surprised by her portrayal and character name for the school Principal of Collibah Creek Primary School - Mr Plodd. She also makes a small throw-away comment about teachers when she says describes the scene 15 minutes after the end of the school day: "We were the last kids around. Teachers were leaving the car park in droves." I have worked in five schools and I never witnessed teachers leaving so quickly after the bell. It is an awful myth/generalisation that teachers only work between 9am and 3pm. Here is a link to the teachers notes where you can read why Allison wrote her book. 

Thanks to UQP for sending an advance copy of Joey and the Junjardy. This book will be included if your school purchases the Lamont Standing order. 

Publisher blurb: Joey Gibbs is always up for a laugh. What isn’t funny: the ‘Big Trouble’ he caused at his old school that meant his family had to move back home to Coolibah Creek. Joey’s going to keep his head down this time. New school, new mates, new start. But trouble seems to have a way of finding him.

When his sister and cousin start getting mysteriously pranked, Joey looks for answers from his Wakka Wakka culture. He discovers he’s caught the attention of the Junjardy, a hairy little trickster. Joey can’t resist making mischief again with his secret partner in crime. But as the jokes spiral out of control, he must work out what the Junjardy wants with him before disaster strikes.

Joey and the Junjardy’, by debut First Nations author Allison Rocca, is a funny middle-grade novel featuring characters from First Nations storytelling. This represents reading for pleasure - and has the power to raise really positive conversations about storytelling and culture. Paul Macdonald

Allison Rocca is a primary school teacher who has taught in classrooms from the ’burbs of Australia, to remote villages in Asia and castle-like academies in Oxford. She is a descendant of Wakka Wakka and Kaanju people and her upbringing was rich in storytelling. Allison likes to draw on the stories passed down by her highly respected Elder grandparents to write fiction for children and young adults. She lives and writes on Yuggera/Turrbal Country, Brisbane.

Brenton E McKenna is a Yawuru artist and writer from Broome who fell in love with comic books at a young age. He studied visual arts at Goulburn TAFE, and in 2011 became the first ever published Indigenous graphic novelist with the release of Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon. When he’s not drawing, Brenton dedicates his time to educating young people through creative storytelling workshops.

The scenes in this story where Joey is framed for taking Bruno's precious pencil set reminded me of these classic Australia books:

Here is another Australian book about pranking:

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden

The chapters in this book alternate between four voices and cover the time from April 30th to May 21st. 

Who are these kids?

Libby lives in Vermont. She sees the world through colours and creates her own equilibrium through art and using coloured pencils. Her school does not appreciate her art especially when she paints a whole wall at her Middle School. Libby lives with her mother and angry father. Her mother has no understanding of Libby and in one dreadful scene she confiscates all of Libby's pencils and art supplies. 

Maybe things would be easier if I could do a better job of staying closed-up. Like if I didn’t wear my yellow polka-dot sweatshirt all the time. Maybe then Danielle wouldn’t have teased me, and I wouldn’t have lost my temper and punched her, and I’d still be on the softball team.

Vincent lives in Seattle with his mum. He is probably on the Autism spectrum. He loves quirky clothes, tucking in his shirt, triangles and puffins including a breakfast cereal called Puffins. Because he is different he is very badly bullied at school but the reasons or motivations for this are a deep puzzle for Vincent.

I take out the shirt and look at it closely. There’s a little embroidered emblem of a bird on the top right. It’s a puffin. Like the bird on the cereal box that my mom gets. And its beak has some fabulous triangle action going on. Katherine Johnson would approve. I pull on the shirt and button it up. I guess I’ve grown, because it’s super snug. But it feels good, ...

Jack also lives in Vermont. Spoiler alert - we don't know how but Jack's younger brother has died recently. Jack goes to a very small school which has just two teachers. A officious lade arrives at the school to inspect their compliance with rules such as bathroom facilities. Jack has been taught in this school to think and to act so he starts a petition to save his school and then he speaks at the local school board meeting. Unfortunately his message is interpreted completely wrongly and then social media takes over.

The school might have to close? It can’t. Next year is my eighth-grade year. How could I spend it somewhere else? And what would happen to all of us? Just farmed out to a bunch of different schools in the valley, where all the students think they’re better than hicks like us?

T is a homeless non binary youth living on the streets of Seattle with their dog. These chapters are brief and told in verse.

From these descriptions you can probably guess these kids need help and hope. Libby is given some small index cards. She writes "you are amazing" on the card with a picture of a dandelion. Decorating and writing on index cards is how it all starts. She hides her first card for a small boy who is crying outside the dentist. Then she makes more cards and even though she is grounded she sneaks out at night and puts her little cards in various places all over the town. 

I start to stick the index cards all over the place—in a window box outside the pharmacy; in the bike rack at the library; attached to an ATM; in the window of the art supply store; on the steps into the ice cream shops; on a bulletin board outside the senior center; and stuck into the hedge between the hardware store and the post office. Even if no one thinks to pick one up, at least they’re adding more flowers and sunshine to the world. That has to count for something.

Libby hears about a boy in Seattle who loves puffins but is having a hard time. She puts his address on the back of one of her index cards, adds a puffin stamp (I know this is a little contrived, but it made me smile) and she posts her card - it is going to Vincent. 

I talk (a lot) and think (a lot) about book covers. This book has a fabulous cover BUT it totally misled me. I assumed (wrongly) that this book would have a North American indigenous focus. I did not look closely enough - the wings of the puffin are filled with city buildings - US readers might recognise these places. You probably already know I am slightly obsessive about puffins so the title grabbed me right away. But this book is not really about puffins either although they are mentioned. 

You can hear the first chapters here. And you can read a chapter sample. You can see other books by Ann Braden here. If you need another viewpoint the Kirkus reviewer didn't like Flight of the Puffin. 

This is a story that is rich in truth, sadness, redemption, and possibilities. It is a wonderful book that I would recommend to teens, middle school and above, as it deals with bullying, gender issues, and family tragedy. Kathleen Palmieri

Vincent loves to eat this cereal - I wonder what it tastes like? The box has facts about puffins which Vincent reads over breakfast.

Flight of the Puffin is the March selection for an online Children's book group I follow on Facebook. I am fairly sure that without this group this book would have passed me by because I am not sure it ever arrived here in Australia and it was published in 2022 which means it will be hard to find. I read an ebook edition. I did find this copy from an Australian online bookseller. 

I love the idea of these index cards as a way to spread happiness. It made me think of Wishtree and also Stargirl.

Wishtree

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

She drops coins on the footpath (sidewalk) as a tiny way to give other kids moments of happiness

The Kindness Project

A Strange thing Happened at Cherry Hall by Jasmine Warga

I LOVE books with twists and turns and gasp aloud moments and there are plenty of those in A Strange thing Happened at Cherry Hall.

Here are some text quotes which will give you an idea about the plot of this book:

The day the painting was stolen from the museum was the warmest day that Maple Lake had had so far that year. The sun beamed down on the garden. That heat and goldenness radiated into Agatha’s burrow.

The stolen painting was called Untitled. Literally. That was its name. Its name was its lack of name.

The girl didn’t speak like most of the kids he knew from school. And there was a lilting quality to her voice. It reminded Rami of something from an old movie. It was then that Rami noticed the girl’s feet. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. Which would’ve been strange enough on its own, but upon second glance, it was obvious that her feet were not touching the floor. She was floating. Barely. But she was floating. Rami screamed.

So who is this girl? How is she connected with this theft? How can Rami prove his mother is not involved? Why did someone take this fairly obscure painting? Who is the artist? Is there a way Rami and his new friend Veda can talk to her? The museum director is acting suspiciously - is she the thief? And how is a turtle part of this intriguing story?

Listen to an audio sample here. This review from Ms Yingling has plenty of plot details. 

Publisher blurb: A painting has been stolen…! When Rami sees a floating girl in the museum, he knows he has seen her somewhere before. Then he realizes: She looks just like the girl in the painting that has gone missing. But how does her appearance connect to the theft? Agatha the turtle knows—she has been watching from the garden. But she can’t exactly tell anyone…can she? Will Rami, with the help of his classmate, Veda, be able to solve the mystery? The clues are all around them, but they’ll have to be brave enough to really look.

Colby Sharp has talked about this book SO enthusiastically and last year he read it as a class read aloud. Sadly, here in Australia it is way too expensive for your school library BUT I am certain a paperback will appear soon.

I loved the little observations by Jasmine Warga:

(He also frequently wondered if things would be better for him socially if his name ended with a y instead of an i.)

She had that accent that most rich people do, where it’s impossible to know where they are originally from, but you know that they are fancy and well educated.

Talking with Veda sometimes felt like drinking straight out of a hose—it all came at you very fast, at full blast. But he was finding it was pretty nice to be in the splash zone.

A slowly unfurling delight. Kirkus Star review

"Warga’s lighthearted mystery [is] tempered by witty banter, a touch of whimsy, and just enough suspense to make it a page-turner." — Horn Book Magazine

Other books about art theft and thieves:

The Calder Game

Masterpiece

From the Mixed up files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler

I previously read this book by Jasmine Warga - FIVE STARS.

A Rover's Story

And this one:

Other words for Home

Shaun Tan Limited Edition print of The Story Furnace for sale

Limited edition prints are available to purchase

The Story Furnace by Shaun Tan: Numbers 37, 47, 48, 49, 57, 58 and 59.

You can bid here

Are you looking for a special gift for a school library, a teacher, a Teacher-Librarian, an art collector - this could be the piece for you! 

This print could also be a feature piece for your 2025 Book Week display and the slogan:

 

BOOK AN ADVENTURE! 

ACT QUICKLY - this auction ends soon.

I am sure you are familiar with books by Shaun Tan. He was a previous winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award along with heaps of other book awards here in Australia and beyond.

IBBY Australia was formed in 1966 and is one of 80+ National sections of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). IBBY is a non-profit organization which helps to build bridges to international understanding through children’s books. 

IBBY Australia submits authors and illustrators and their work for several IBBY administered international awards, including:

• The Hans Christian Andersen Award

• IBBY Honour Book List

• The Silent Books collection (Wordless Books)

• The Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities list

IBBY Australia pays an Annual International Membership fee which supports the work of IBBY International. Funds raised from our March 2025 auction will assist us to pay our 2025 fees.

When you click the auction link you will also see a wonderful artwork by Bob Graham! We have the original of this and only ONE limited edition print. 

Later in the year we will also hold our mini masterpiece art auction - here are some pieces from 2023. Please note these were all sold at our first art auction:

Gabriel Evans

Nicky Johnston

Lucia Masciullo

The Falling Boy by David Almond

"There were battered faded signs. KEEP OUT. NO ENTRY. 

BEWARE DANGER OF DEATH. One had a silhouette of a falling boy on it."

"Beyond it was the wasteland - shrubs and scrawny trees and brambles and rubble and dusty ground. And old tombstones, lopsided, broken, lots of them topped to the earth. Then the chapel itself. Ancient, crumbling. The roof was shattered and the spire was nearly gone. Most of the windows were bricked up, the huge front door had bars and boards across it."

It is the summer holidays. Obviously these warning signs mean nothing to the local kids. In fact they have meant nothing for several generations as the graffiti inside attests. The kids call this place the Chapel of Doom. There had been plans to use it for a restaurant or a club or a community centre or a museum or even restore it as a church but nothing had happened for decades.

Joff does have a lot going on in his life - high school starts soon and worse dad is very ill. 

"I wanted this stupid rotten time to be over. I wanted to feel happy and strong like I used to feel. I wanted to be the proper Joff Johnson again."

David Almond explains he was going through his own cancer journey when he wrote this book which is dedicated to a hospital where he lives in Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

I did keep thinking something dreadful was going to happen (you need to read this book to see if I was right). David Almond gave me some serious story hints such as crows flapping out through the shattered roof as Joff enters the building. Then we read that his dad told him there used to be a golden angel on the spire but it had flown away years ago. And then these words which gave me a jolt:

"There were painted scenes high on the walls from when the church was in use. ... You could just about see the saints with bits of their halos, and angels with bits of their wings, and fragments of Heaven though God disappeared long ago."

There is also the mystery of Dawn's deceased brother. 

David Almond writes books that, while not too difficult to read, contain very deep themes that are sure to give readers plenty to think about long after the book is finished. No wonder he won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. I was left with some unanswered questions in this book - but that is a good thing - readers do not need to have all the answers. I also felt a lot of internal tension reading this book - expecting a dreadful outcome - maybe I was wrong to feel this?

I wanted to compare The Falling Boy with Skellig.

I read Skellig decades ago. It was published in 1998 and so I am sure my memories are fragmented and incomplete but I did keep thinking there are links between this newest book by David Almond - The Falling Boy and Skellig (winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award). 

• Both stories feature a lonely boy - Michael in Skellig and Joff in The Falling Boy
• A loved family member has a serious illness - Michael's sister in Skellig and Dad in The Falling Boy
• The boy makes friends with a girl - Mina in Skellig, Dawn in The Falling Boy
• The girl has a role in healing the boy or helping him navigate difficult times
• There are issues of bullying
• The setting in both books include an old disused building - in the Falling Boy it is an old church
• The ending of both books leave readers with a sense of hope and renewal

The Falling Boy blurb from the author page: Nothing is the same for Joff this summer. His dad is ill, his mam is working, there’s a new kid in town. He can’t wait to escape each day and explore with his dog Jet. But there’s one place he’s not allowed to explore. Above the town sits the Chapel of Doom, ancient and crumbling, with its warning signs and the legend of the Falling Boy. And when Joff’s adventures take him beyond the boundaries he discovers something unexpected, something truly magical …

There are at least two falling boys in this new novel from David Almond. The first appears in silhouette on the danger sign as Joff approaches the ruined Chapel of Doom above his village. The second is Joff himself, on the verge of secondary school, tumbling and flailing into a pit of confusion and despair as his beloved dad (perhaps a third falling boy?) undergoes treatment for cancer. If you have read any of Almond’s novels before, you might know how this might work out. Books for Keeps

The Falling Boy is about Joff, a boy in the north-east whose Dad is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer of the colon. Joff has friends, he has an enemy, and he meets a girl who doesn’t quite fit in. It is the start of the summer holidays, and Joff spends time visiting an abandoned chapel – the Chapel of Doom – the one he went to with his Dad before he fell ill, and plays there. This is where the title of the book comes from, as the chapel is rumored to have been the site of a boy falling to his death, and is now an angel. A myth? A legend? Just Imagine

Here are some books I previously mentioned for readers to explore after Skellig:

The Amazing Mind of Alice Makin

Angel Creek

The Boy, the Troll and the Chalk by Annie Booth illustrated by David Litchfield

The title of this book sets up the plot. Yes, there is a boy. Yes, there is a box of chalk and you can see a boy drawing with the chalk on the front cover. Look closely and you will see the boy, who looks very calm, is sitting in front of a cave. But what of the Troll? Surely there is a danger here even though we cannot see this troll and yet the boy is sitting outside what might be the home of the troll. What do you know about trolls? Perhaps you have memory of that famous trickster tale of the Three Billy Goats. 

The blurb below contains a spoiler - but I am sure your class or young reading companion will be very surprised to discover the true identity of the 'troll'. The final pages of this book are such a celebration of community and happiness and coming together.

Bookseller blurb: Everybody knew that a big fierce troll lived in the cave. "Leave me alone!" it yelled. So everybody did. Only one child cannot turn their back on the troll at the edge of the playground. One day, he takes his chalks up to the mouth of the cave. He draws a flower with every petal coloured in but one, and leaves the chalk behind. The next day, the flower has been completed. Day-by-day, the boy and the troll finish each other's drawings, until they each draw a portrait, showing a boy holding hands with a fierce, scary troll. "But you're not a troll," says the boy. "You're a boy - just like me." Patience, kindness and the power of art win out in the end: the two boys wordlessly draw together. Soon all the other children gather to join in with the game. Everyone forgets that there was a troll inside the cave. Because outside the cave, there is so much to draw.

Companion book:

The Boy, the Troll and the Chalk is sure to appear on the Empathy Lab book list in 2025. The previous book by Anne Booth and David Litchfield is A shelter for Sadness - it is way more didactic than this newer book. Here is the Kirkus review. 

It is not really connected with the themes of this book but you might need to explore famous books about trolls with your library group:

You can see other versions of this story on my post. 

If you work in a library (school or public) I think it is essential to build up your field knowledge of authors and illustrators. I have been quite shocked lately when I meet staff in libraries or in children's literature related occupations who had not heard famous names I mentioned. At Seven Stories in Newcastle-on-Tyne the three young education staff members had no knowledge of the UK illustrator Brian Wildsmith. Yesterday I was at a library meeting in my local area and one of the experienced Teacher-Librarians who is an organiser for this group had not heard of Ann James or our special illustration and event space Dromkeen (Victoria). I am hopeful that if I had mentioned specific books illustrated by Ann James such as Little Humpty; Penny Pollard; I'm a dirty dinosaur; Lucy Goosey; and It's a Miroocool. 

When I saw the name David Litchfield on the cover of this book, I knew the illustrations would be splendid! I knew this because I am familiar with other books he has illustrated - I have 'field knowledge'. This comes from 40 years of working as a Teacher-Librarian, book judge and blogger, but more importantly it comes from READING tons of children's books - picture books, junior novels, middle grade books and non-fiction.

 My strongest advice if you are new in any library setting is to take books home every week or even every day so you begin to know your collection and build up your personal knowledge of authors and illustrators from Australia and more importantly from around the world. I talked about Brian Wildsmith at the library meeting yesterday - I wonder how many of the twenty participants were familiar with his gorgeous work.

The boy who drew cats by Arthur A Levine illustrated by Frederic Clement

Avoid large places at night - keep to small

"Now it happened that there was a large and wealthy temple high at the top of a nearby mountain, where for months not a soul had entered or left. Villagers whispered that a terrible Goblin Rat, possessed of a magical sword and a fearsome tail, had claimed the temple as his own."

Kenji is the youngest son of a poor farming family. He is sent to train with the local priests but the oldest monk casts him out because Kenji spends his time drawing and day dreaming. In the next village Kenji walks up to the temple - he has no idea about the Goblin Rat. While he waits for the priests to arrive, he paints a set of huge white screens with cats in honour of his old friend the monk named Takada.

"he painted powerful cats with broad majestic shoulders. Sleek cats with sharp claws and quivering whiskers. Alert cats with twitching tails and watchful eyes."

Have you made a connection here. Kenj has painted cats and the evil goblin is a rat! Kenji grows tired and so he climbs into a small cupboard to sleep. Remember those words "keep to small".  In the morning the scene has completely changed. The screens he painted are shattered, the cats are all gone and best of all the Goblin Rat is dead. 

You can read the full story plot here. I would love to find this audio version read by William Hurt. I you have a class studying Japan this book would be perfect. It would also be a terrific addition to your folklore collection and a perfect book to share with any budding artists. 

I picked up this book from a recent charity book sale for just $2. It is an American book but it looks very Japanese. The illustrator is from France. It was published in 1993 and my copy is in mint condition. 

"According to Japanese legend, the famed fifteenth -century artist Sesshu Toyo created in drawing of animals that were so vivid they could come alive."

The text originally came from: Hearn, Lafcadio, translator. Japanese Fairy Tales: The Boy Who Drew Cats. Tokyo: T. Hasegawa, 1898.

Here are some other editions of the same Japanese folktale: