Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham

"Today is Oscar's birthday. Well, not really his birthday - he is six months old. The truth is no one can wait for his whole birthday."

I have been reading and re-reading all of my Bob Graham books for a secret project. I have talked about or at least mentioned Oscar's Half Birthday here on this blog many times but I didn't have a post exclusively about this wonderful story. 

You might like to begin by stretching the cover out to see front and back. Oscar is sitting with his cake  and half a candle on the cover while his sister Millie heads over to him with her trademark dinosaur glove and fairy wings. By the way we later discover it is a chocolate cake - yum. 

The title page also stretches over two spreads and as it often the way with city scenes by Bob Graham there are so many tiny details to explore such as the lady sunbaking on her roof; the shops such as Guitar city which has a huge guitar on the roof, the donut on the donut shop and the burger on the top of Burgerland; you will also see several washing lines on the top of high city buildings and flocks of pigeons (Bob Graham puts pigeons in so many of his scenes).

Now zoom in on the same page and you will see a small hill with a park on the top - this is where we are heading for the birthday - up to Bellevue Hill - but first we need to meet the family so turn the page. Dad is wrapping the tuna sandwiches for their picnic and mum is sitting with Oscar and his big sister Millie on their comfy couch. 

The walk across the city involves crossing a pedestrian bridge. You can also see one of these in Queenie the Bantam and Spirit of Hope. They set out their picnic and everyone admires young Oscar and also Millie's fairy wings but even better when the family start to sing Happy Birthday everyone around the park joins in. 

After the singing we have a full page illustration of Oscar and these beautiful lines:

"Oscar sits titled at an angle, his fingers curled into Millie's tuna sandwich. HIs shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns."

Back at home the kids have a bath - notice the candles in the soap dish. Millie gifts her dinosaur glove briefly to Oscar and we learn that the next birthday will be Millie herself with four candles on her cake.

This is a book to own, cherish and read on the occasion of every birthday in your family while your kids are young. 

Graham magnificently captures the essence of a six-month-old: “Oscar frowns in the dim light—six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.” Millie is an adorable older sister, clearly infatuated with Oscar. Kirkus

Talking about another Bob Graham book (The Concrete Garden) Kirkus said his work is:

Deft, understated loveliness.

I am sure you are familiar with Bob Graham but if not here is a good summary of some of his titles from The School Library Journal. 

Celebrating 24th November - Happy Birthday (with fairy bread)

Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald

It is Fairy Bread Day!

Make a plate of Fairy Bread and sit down with the young children in your family and 

READ this book - it is simple perfect right to the last sentence!

This one is long out of print but Bob the Builder by Emily Rodda is so much fun to read aloud 

(I almost know parts of the text off by heart) and the illustrations are fabulous by Craig Smith

Check out this post from Kinderbookswitheverything

The Birthday of Frances Hodgson Burnett is 24th November - she wrote one of my favourite books The Secret Garden. She also wrote A Little Princess (I talk about that in this post).

The Secret Garden

The author of Pinocchio Carlo Carllodi was born on 24th November, 1826.

Author Mordecai Gerstein who wrote the Jacob Two Two series also has a birthday.

Jacob Two Two meets the Hooded Fang was one of the very first book I read aloud to my Grade Three class in my first school back in 1984. I also own a cassette tape of the story! I might reread it over the coming weeks. The Book Wrangler posted an image of a calendar with author birthdays. 

Gail Gibbons (1944) is on 24th November. I had not heard of her, but my friend has several of her nonfiction books in the library - she was an early creator of illustrated nonfiction and has produced hundreds of titles. She even has two books from long ago about Birthdays!

Gail Gibbons’s books are particularly accurate because she goes right to the source when researching a topic. She has been on the seventeenth floor of a skyscraper in progress, has spoken with truck drivers about the workings of their rigs, has dismantled every clock in her home, and would have donned scuba diving gear to research a sunken ship had the sea waters not been too turbulent. Gail says "I had a lot of ‘whys’ when I was a child. I guess I still do."

These are her recent Board Books

I think I need to FIND this one!

I have a Pinterest of Birthday picture books and a Pinterest of birthday card images. Here is a previous post about the topic of Happy Birthday and a few of my favourite Happy Birthday books to share:

Happy Birthday Moon

Billy's Bucket

Where does Thursday go?

Sometimes Cake

All the Blues in the Sky Renee Watson

"I didn't know

best friends could die"

"You will miss her every day of your life.

Sometimes, the memories will bring tears and sometimes a smile.

The memories won't always overwhelm you,

they will bring comfort too."

You HAVE to let this novel, which is partly told in free verse, unfold slowly. Yes, on the day of Sage's 13th birthday her best friend has died but the when and where and how why are found in the journey you take as a reader.

Sage is grappling with her grief and the adults don't seem to have any answers:

If I live long enough to be an adult

and if I have children when I am an adult

I will tell them.

And I will tell them that sometimes

you go to sleep crying

and wake up crying

and that life after losing someone you love

feels like one big ocean of sorrow

and you might feel like you are

drowning,

but always there is something 

to hold on to 

to keep you afloat.

Sage meets four other students in her school grief group. Ebony's dad died suddenly from a heart attack; Zay's grandmother died in her sleep after a long illness; Ana's twin sister died from leukemia; and DD's brother was murdered by the police. Sage feels that she can relate to Ebony and DD because in both cases the death came suddenly, and these deaths were totally unfair. Sage is sure the death of HER friend is all her fault but how can a car accident be her fault?

There are two rules in the grief group - everyone shares openly and everyone listens with compassion.

DD's brother was murdered:

Now she is a sister familiar with words she's never had to say

so often, know so well; police brutality, death, rage, injustice, press conference

obituary, funeral, casket, hearse, graveyard, protect, indictment, trial, jury, verdict, guilty, sentence,

involuntary manslaughter, memorial, closure?, closure?,

grief, grief.

Sage has her own set of words such as vehicular manslaughter, hit and run, and criminally negligent homicide.

Blue is the empty chair at the desk in the classroom where my best friend used to sit.

Blue is the ache in my heart when I pick up the phone to call her and remember she's gone.

Blue is Aunt Ini's warm hugs.

Blue is a hot mug of cocoa on a cold stormy day.

Blue is all the calm, all the heartbreak,

all the hope

all the tears, all the laughter. ...

For all the blues in the sky,

there are as many blues in the heart.

Just a warning you will be sobbing by the final pages of this book.

Bookseller blurb: Sage's thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn't predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life -- and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all. In accessible, engaging verse and prose, this is an important story of a girl's journey to heal, grow, and forgive herself. To read it is to see how many shades there are in grief, and to know that someone understands.

This is a verse novel from 2025 for sensitive mature readers aged 12+ but sadly here in Australia you will need to wait for the paperback edition - the hardcover will be well beyond the budget of most school libraries. 

A heartfelt portrait of the complexities of grief and the indomitable human spirit. Kirkus Star review

The counselling group in All the Blues in the Sky reminded me of this book:

Just Like Jackie

Other books by Renee Watson:

Got to Get to Bear's! by Brian Lies

The snow is falling but the note from Bear is urgent - 'Please come at once' - so Izzy sets out towards Bear's house. Luckily her friends are able to step in and help her - firstly Scritch, a squirrel, takes Izzy across the tree tops from branch to branch, then Bingle a goose offers Izzy and Scritch a ride in the sky but with the blizzard they cannot see and crash into a snow-covered roof. Luckily Snaffle the raccoon is able to help with the final part of the their journey and eventually they all reach Bear's house. Spoiler alert - Bear has a terrific surprise for Izzy - Happy Birthday!

Bookseller blurb: Bear never asks for anything. So, when she sends a note to Izzy urgently requesting her presence, Izzy can’t refuse! But a blizzard begins and slows Izzy's progress.  As the snow accumulates, so do her friends, helping her on her way to Bear’s place. 

Notice the word bear's in the title - the forest animals on the front cover and heading to the home of their friend Bear. You need to read this book with your preschool group or young reading companion to find out why.

I love the character names and their little knitted clothes especially Bingle's ear-flap cap with the camel decorations. Notice the letter on the first page was deliver par avian! and do take time to look closely at the half title page and the title page because these two scenes form the start of the story. 

I think we need a name for stories like this one where the main character is heading somewhere, he or she meets friends along the way, the friends all have a secret, and the destination is a surprise birthday celebration. There is always a sense of urgency about journey and the protagonist has no idea that a wonderful surprise is waiting for him or her at the end created by their very special friends. Take a look at this post. You could create a fun mini unit for a preschool or Kindergarten class on the topic of Surprise Birthday Parties. 

Post update - I also found this book in 2025 (published in 1998) Happy Birthday, Harvey Hare! by Bernadette Watts. It is part of a series of three books featuring Harvey Hare. 

A beautifully illustrated and gratifying story of woodland-creature comradeship and determination. Kirkus

Got to Get to Bear's was published in 2018. You might find it in a library and I think new copies are available but the price here in Australia will put this book well beyond the reach of your library budget sadly.

I previously talked about More which is illustrated by Brian Lies. 

You can see other books by Brian Lies here.

Happy Birthday

Yes, it is my Birthday so let's celebrate with some Happy Birthday picture books!

Happy Birthday, Moon

Blue Kangaroo!

David McKee

Tacky the Penguin

Melrose and Croc: A hero's Birthday

Sometimes Cake

Where does Thursday go?

Billy's Bucket

Bread and Jam for Frances

There's a Hippopotamus on our roof eating cake

A library book for Bear

Carmela full of wishes

The Birthday Invitation

Apples for Little Fox by Ekaterina Trukhan

Adult readers have read this plot of this story many times but for a young reader this will be a new story. Fox loves reading and he especially loves mystery stories. He also loves apples and libraries and his perfect day involves collecting a few apples from the trees in his forest on his way to the library! Life is good but Fox would love some action. Then we turn the page and as readers we can see the action is already underway but of course Fox does not know this. A group of masked animals are collecting all of the apples. When Fox sets off to the library the next day all of the apples are missing. 

"A mystery for me to solve! At last!"

As he continues his journey, Fox meets each of his friends and he tries to ask them about the missing apples but everyone is too busy to talk. Finally he reaches Rabbits home where he smells something delicious. Have you guessed what it is?  Spoiler alert - Rabbit has baked a delicious apple pie because everyone is gathering to give Fox a very special surprise Birthday Party! The final words of this book gave me a warm smile:

"In the middle of the party, Fox saw that the whole apple pie had disappeared. But he didn't need to investigate that mystery."

I do have a Pinterest collection of picture books with apples. Here are some other books about surprise birthday parties"

Once again I am so sorry to say this book, Apples for Little Fox, is out of print even though it was only published in 2017. The cover caught my attention - I like the bold, graphic design and I had not heard of this illustrator. She is originally from Russia but now lives in Montenegro (well she did in 2019).

Here are some other books by Ekaterina Trukhan:

Here is her website. And here is a 2019 interview where she talks about her work. And here is another interview where you can see more of her illustrations.