Something like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango

Laura is sure it is all her fault. The authorities have taken her mum and dad away. Laura now has to live with an aunt who she does not know. She has to go to a new school. And she is not allowed to phone her mum or dad she can only write letters to the rehab facility. She is wracked with guilt. Why did she make that 911 phone call? This was such a bad decision, or was it?

Her aunt has so many house rules - Laura is constantly on edge worried about doing the wrong thing. Luckily school is okay and without even trying she does make a really good friend - a boy named Benson who is also an outsider. Benson has Sickle cell anemia which means he cannot join in sport activities and he has to spend long periods in hospital. Laura is not sure at first if it is wise to make a friend because surely she can go back home very soon - any day now - but then days become weeks, and weeks become months. 

I love books where a dog helps with the healing of a character - Laura finds an abandoned puppy. Her aunt does let him stay and Laura names him Sparrow. She finds out about a program where dogs can go into care facilities like the one where her parents are. They work as therapy dogs so all Laura needs to do is train Sparrow, pass the training test and then find a way to visit Harmonic Way. This is a good plan but then her parents discharge themselves, they disappear and even though she writes to them every week she never receives a reply. 

The review by Ms Yingling will give you lots more plot details (Spoilers too). Colby Sharp talks about Something Like Home: "Beautiful, powerful, unforgettable." I totally agree - this is a perfect Verse Novel - you can find more of them by selecting that label from my sidebar. Highly recommended for readers aged 11+.

Arango’s writing is a joy to read, combining strong storytelling, compelling characters, and rich language. Kirkus Star review

Arango’s writing is intimate and heartbreaking, tackling such hefty issues as cultural identity, addiction, the pain of displacement and the anxiety it causes, and the adulation and rationalization that a child in pain can offer to adults they love. Arango accomplishes this with the believable voice of a girl in crisis and by tapping into compassion for all the characters amidst moving scenes of joy and connection. Horn Book

Haunted by her guilt and lack of autonomy, Laura is struggling to find a place in a new school and in a house with rules she doesn’t understand when she discovers an abandoned puppy and sets out to train him as a therapy dog. Maybe he will be the key to visiting her parents so she can apologize and they can all go home together. School Library Journal

Companion books:

Waiting for Normal

Wish

When Friendship followed me Home

Almost Home

Scarlet Ibis

Words that Taste Like Home by Sandhya Parappukkaran illustrated by Michelle Pereira

Learning a language is a skill I would like to have. I often think about the lucky children I meet in one of my volunteer jobs who have parents who speak to them in their native tongue. The mother of a young child in my apartment building comes from Brazil. I love hearing them speaking to one another in Portuguese. I know another family where mum speaks only German and dad speaks only English and so their three little girls are now fluent in both languages. 

There is a raw honesty to this book. Rohan has a happy life in southern India. He has an especially precious relationship with his grandmother but then he moves to a different country and he has to adjust to new ways of living and of course learn a new language. At first he is still able to talk to his grandmother on the telephone but gradually words begin to fail him.

When he gets a puppy "he wanted to describe its cute little paws, but the words were out of reach."

Riding his bike "he'd lost the words to tell Muthassi how the wind felt brushing against his cheeks."

"He didn't have the words to explain how he'd scored a goal or why his best friend wasn't talking to him."

Luckily the family make a return visit to their homeland and gradually his words return. There is also a hint that mum and dad will help when they return home because previously we read:

"Rohan's parents started talking to him more and more in their first language."

Image Source: Hardie Grant publishing

This book has been listed as a 2025 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Notable title. I am certain we will see this book listed as one of the six shortlisted books. 

You can see inside Words that Taste Like Home here.

Sandhya Parappukkaran and Michelle Pereria have DONE IT AGAIN. This will, as with their previous titles, will touch your heart. Children from multicultural families will relate to these stories and more importantly books like these will, as Jella Lepman hoped when she formed IBBY, build bridges to understanding. These books are not about world peace (that's what Jella Lepman aspired to) but in small ways these books build understanding about others and between each of us.

Words and pictures combine to make a complex situation accessible to young readers. Michelle’s immediately recognizable artwork here uses a rich colour palette to contrast the different elements that make up Rohan’s two worlds. Each page is rich in detail and a feast for the eyes perfectly complementing Sandhya’s sensitive text. This is an important story that will resonate with anyone who has left one culture and language behind to adopt a new, perhaps quite different culture and language. Storylinks

On the publisher page it says: Sandhya believes that when we explore and celebrate our cultural identities, we show one another greater respect and empathy.

I also love the way Sandhya Parappukkaran always includes the preparation and eating of delicious food in each of her books. In Words that Taste Like Home Rohan and his grandmother make mango pickles. I am not keen on eating mangoes (I know this shocks most people) but those pickles sure do sound delicious.

Stay for Dinner and Amma's Sari

I was one of the CBCA judges who selected The Boy who tried to Shink his Name 

as a CBCA New Illustrator winner. 

Sandhya Parappukkaran is an award-winning picture book author, library assistant and avid reader. She writes stories inspired by her childhood experiences that encourage readers to embrace their cultural identities. Her books have been published all over the world and, among Sandhya’s many accolades, Stay for Dinner (illustrated by Michelle Pereira) won the Multicultural NSW Award at the 2024 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name (illustrated by Michelle Pereira) won the 2022 CBCA New Illustrator Award. 

You can see more art by Michelle Pereira here.

Telephone of the Tree by Alison McGhee

"You know what she told them? To stop it. To go away. 

That she was waiting for Kiri to come home."

Early in this story there are fragments or tiny hints that Kiri will not come home. Ayla thinks about the significant events from their past together such as drawing trees in their second grade class when Mr Nesbitt said to draw 'what you want to be when you are thirty' and both Ayla and Kiri draw trees. A telephone appears in Ayla's tree. Ayla has no intention of using it, after all it is not connected to anything, but others want to use the telephone and one of these is a little boy with the nickname Gentleman. He is mourning the loss of his pet lizard named Sweetheart. The death of this beloved pet is another tiny story hint about the absence of Kiri. Then the pizza guy uses the phone to call his dad. Then another person comes - a dad with his tiny baby who wants to talk to his wife.

"The pizza guy told me about this telephone. He comes here and talks to his dad when he needs to."

The trees in this street are all markers of life and death. Ayla can name each tree and match it with a birth or the end of a life. Then she sees a new tiny birch tree has been planted and her anger flares.

Reading this book needs to be gentle quiet experience - you already know the outcome or the destination, so it is important not to race to get there but rather to slow down and let the story gently unfold. And yes, even though I knew Kiri was not coming back I cried when Ayla finally allowed herself to revisit the awful events that led to death of her friend. 

Raw and sad but lit with occasional glints of humor and ending, as it should, on a rising note. Kirkus Star review

Publisher blurb: Ayla and her best friend Kiri have always been tree people. They each have their own special tree, and neighbors and family know that they are most likely to be found within the branches. But after an accident on their street, Kiri has gone somewhere so far away that Ayla can only wait and wait in her birch, longing to be able to talk with Kiri again. Then a mysterious, old-fashioned telephone appears one morning, nestled in the limbs of Ayla's birch tree. Where did it come from? she wonders. And why are people showing up to use this phone to call their loved ones? Especially loved ones who have passed on. All Ayla wants is for Kiri to come home. Until that day comes, she will keep Kiri's things safe. She'll keep her nightmares to herself. And she will not make a call on that telephone.

I was so interested to read Alison was inspired to write this book after reading about a telephone in Japan outside the town of Otsuchi. It is an old fashioned disconnected rotary dial telephone that people from all over use to call deceased loved ones.

"The image of the phone and the reason for its existence was so powerful to me that I knew, right away, I wanted to create a book inspired by it."

Thanks to the person who commented and alerted me to this picture book.  You can read more here. 

Here is the author web page

Companion books:

Love that Dog

I recognised the author's name when I spied this book in Melbourne last month. I read Snap (published in 1999) decades ago and then re-read it for this blog in 2015. I have also included covers of other books by Alison McGhee. I think Maybe a Fox covers similar themes to Telephone of the tree. Alison McGhee is also the author of the junior novel series Bink and Golly and picture books like Countdown to Kindergarten, Someday illustrated by Peter Reynolds and Always illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre.

Snap

Maybe a Fox bookseller blurb: Sylvie and Jules, Jules and Sylvie. Better than just sisters, better than best friends. Jules’ favourite thing is collecting rocks, and Sylvie’s is running – fast. But Sylvie is too fast, and when she runs to the most dangerous part of the river one snowy morning to throw in a wish rock, she is so fast that no one sees what happens when she disappears. At that very moment, in another part of the woods, a shadow fox is born: half of the spirit world, half of the animal world. She, too, is fast, and she senses danger. When Jules goes to throw one last wish rock into the river for her lost sister, the human and shadow worlds collide with unexpected consequences. Written in alternate voices – one Jules, the other the fox – this searingly beautiful tale tells of one small family’s moment of heartbreak as it unfolds into something epic, mythic, shimmering and, most of all, hopeful.

Olivetti by Allie Millington

"Memories are like heartbeats. They keep things alive. They make us who we are."

"Typewriters are not allowed to tell the words that have been told to use. That is our typewriter code - to never let what has been typed into us back out. Communication with humans is strictly forbidden."

Olivetti lives with the Brindle family. I love the names of the children - Ezra, Adalyn, Ernest, Arlo. Dad is Felix and mum is Beatrice. It was Beatrice who found Olivetti many years ago. She uses him to write her most personal thoughts along with stories and poems. The family do own a computer but as Olivetti explains:

"I was not familiar with what files were, but I was certain I had more storage. In fact, I had unlimited storage. I held an endless amount of memories inside me. Decades worth of words. Not to mention I was much more low maintenance. I did not need to be constantly charged or connected to some higher power called the internet."

"Remembering is the very language we speak. I am a patchwork of pasts, stitched together with stories. A tapestry of tales."

These tiny extracts show you the unique and witty voice of Olivetti - yes he can 'speak'! 

Now look back at the list of children. Ernest is our story hero. He is a loner. His main companion is the Oxford dictionary. He has memorized hundreds of word definitions, and these are scattered throughout the book. Ernest is also silent. There is a hint early on in the story that something truly dreadful has happened and that this is why he has retreated into silence. I cannot explain this further - you need to read the whole book to make this discovery for yourself.

"My family didn't understand why I spent all my time reading (the dictionary). But there was a lot they didn't understand about me, so that wasn't exactly breaking news. Compared to them, I was different, defined as: not the same as another or each other; unlike in nature, form or quality."

"I wasn't big on meeting new people. Once you meet people, you might get close to them. And once you get close to them, you might lose them for good. You're less likely to get hurt, the farther you stay away."

Beatrice has disappeared and she has taken Olivetti to a pawn shop. Why? Where has she gone? 

The chapters in this book alternate between the voices of Olivetti and Ernest. By accident Ernest finds Olivetti. Mum has sold him for the strange amount of $126. Ernest will now need help from the pawn shop owner's granddaughter to solve this urgent mystery and find mum. Quinn is character you will love. She is a problem solver, she is patient, she is persistent and most of all she really likes Ernest even though he tries so hard to ignore her. 

After reading this book you will want to revisit the classic story - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. 

If you enjoy a good mystery especially one where two kids work together to gather clues not realising that through this process, they are forming a wonderful friendship, then this is a book you will really enjoy. Hopefully modern kids do know a little bit about typewriters but if they don't you (the adult reader) can easily answer any questions or find photos an actual Olivetti. I read this book in one sitting - the plot just races along. I highly recommend Olivetti for readers aged 10+. And I love the cover too! When I was in London last week I saw a couple of guys with typewriters sitting near Tate Modern offering to compose and type a poem for anyone passing by for a small fee. What an enchanting idea. 

Millington captures the essence of why typewriters are such extraordinary creations, and why everyone should have one: Olivetti takes no side, shakes no finger. (A typewriter simply reflects what you put into it.) And he cares. So when Ernest tracks down Olivetti, inexplicably pawned by Beatrice for $126 (remember that amount), and begins tearfully typing on him, desperate to communicate with her, Olivetti does the unthinkable: He types back. “Do not be alarmed. … I am Olivetti. … I can help you.” Tom Hanks New York Times (try to read this review it contains lots of plot details. I do wonder how this famous actor came to read and review Olivetti but I happy to have found his piece.)

The author winningly blends magic and realism, poignancy and mystery, as her characters close in on what’s happened to Beatrice, bonding through adversity along the way. Her lovely notion of a typewriter as a repository of secrets and dreams is finely rendered, and she imbues Olivetti’s heavy steel case and clackity keys with compassion and determination. This heartfelt tale movingly explores the beauty and importance of communication—whatever form it may come in—while encouraging readers to welcome the singular joy of finding kindred spirits in unexpected places. Bookpage

Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web by Lucy Brownridge illustrated by Hannah Abbo

This is a powerful book, that teaches children about a hugely important discovery in contemporary science, about a secret world beneath our feet and most importantly, about the strength that comes with asking for help, and discovering that you are not alone.  Quarto

Children will likely discover hidden treasures each time they read the book—from worms to burrowing moles to buried bones—and these discoveries can expand learning with ecological conversations about subterranean dwellers and decomposers. Importantly, this story calls our attention to organisms often overlooked in our environment—plants and fungi.

The Wood Wide Web is a network made from strands, or hyphae of fungus. It exists under the forest floor and connects a tree's roots to other trees in the forest. The network enables trees to share all sorts of resources and signals with each other.

This book was the 2024 winner of the Giverny Award. 

The Giverny Award is an annual children's science picture book award established in 1998 by Dr. Jim Wandersee and Dr. Elisabeth E. Schussler who was at that time affiliated with the 15º Laboratory at Louisiana State University.

1. This singular annual award is bestowed to the author and to the illustrator of the chosen book.
2. The book must be a children's science picture book written in the English language and published within five years of the award date. These books typically have ~ 32 pages and serve children between ages 4-8.
3. The book must teach its young reader at least one important scientific principle well, or encourage the reader toward specific science-related attitudes, pursuits, or inquiries.
4. The book's artwork, illustrations, photographs, or graphics must work in harmony with the text to tell an important story well.
5. The text must have a story with a plot and characters.
6. All other factors being equal, books about plants and/or plant science or biology will have preference. However, books on geobiology topics are also considered and have been chosen.
7. A book must be published in the English language to be eligible, but the award is international in scope.

Read the School Library Journal review. And here is the Kirkus review. 

Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web is a nonfiction book [582.16] told in the form of a narrative. It is so important to add books like this to your library collection both as a book for teachers to use but also as a terrific way to share an interesting aspect of nature with young children. I first heard about this phenomenon though, in a fiction story - Mikki and Me and the Out of Tune tree - and then I went on to find other story books linked with this topic:

Mikki and me and the Out-of-tune tree

Apple and Magnolia

Little Sap

Previous winners of the Giverny Award:

1998   Common Ground Molly Bang

1999   Sam Plants a Sunflower Kate Petty & Axel Scheffler

2000   A Log's Life Wendy Pfeffer & Robin Brickman

2001   Henry Hikes to Fitchburg D.B. Johnson

2002   Rare Treasure Don Brown

2003   The Hidden Forest Jeannie Baker

2004   Lonesome George Francine Jacobs & Jean Cassels

2005   Squirrel and John Muir Emily Arnold McCully

2006   Daniel and His Walking Stick Wendy McCormick & Constance R. Bergum

2007   The Snail and the Whale Julia Donaldon & Axel Scheffler

2008   The Prince of Butterflies Bruce Covile & John Clapp

2009   Forest Bright/Forest Night Jennifer Ward & Jamichael Henterly 

2010   Redwoods Jason Chin

2011   A Tree for Emmy Mary Ann Rodman & Tatjana Mai-Wyss

2012   Eliza's Cherry Trees Andrea Zimmerman & Ju-Hong Chen

2013   Green Laura Vaccaro Seeger

2014   Maple Lori Nichols

2015   Up in the Garden down in the dirt, Kate Messner & Christopher Silas Neal

2016   Frog in the House David Mather & Stephanie Mirocha   

2017   The Tree Lady H. Joseph Hopkins & Jill McElmurry 

2018   Bat Count: A Citizen Science Story Anna Forrester & Susan Detwiler 

2019   Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 Helaine Becker    

2020   They All Saw A Cat Brendan Wenzel

2021   Little Turtle and the Changing Sea Becky Davies & Jennie Poh  

2022   Old Rock (is not boring) Deb Pilutti

2023   The River that Wolves Moved Mary Kay Carson & David Hohn

2024   Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web Lucy Brownridge & Hannah Abbo

Green

Old Rock (is not boring)

Starfish by Lisa Fipps

 

"The secret to surviving childhood

so far has been knowing when 

to keep my mouth shut.

But I am not a child anymore.

I have feelings.

I have thoughts.

I have the right to express them both."

I have no idea how to talk about this book because it has affected me so deeply so I am just going to share the blurb and some review comments and then say every high school library and public library should have this book - if you have a book shopping list add this title to the top of your list now. As Colby Sharp says (see link below) this is a book for teacher, teacher-librarians, gate keepers and all sorts of readers - bullies, kids with weight issues, and every other kid too. 

'It seems like these rules

would make you think about

and hate your body

every minute of every day.'

'That's what society wants.'

'What about what you want, Ellie?' ...

'I want people to accept me,

just as I am.'

Blurb: Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules like "no making waves," "avoid eating in public," and "don't move so fast that your body jiggles." And she's found her safe space her swimming pool where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It's also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie's weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.

Here is Colby Sharp talking about Starfish. "This is a book you NEED to read!" "You need to experience this story."

This is absolutely on point when it comes to modern feelings about body image in young girls, and shows Ellie's struggles in a way I haven't seen very often in middle grade books. This is not a book about a girl struggling to lose weight (as books in the past would have been), but a book about a girl struggling to come to terms with her body and the people around her who constantly harass her. Ms Yingling

The text places readers in Ellie’s shoes, showing how she is attacked in many spaces—including by strangers on public transit—while clearly asserting that it’s other people who need to change. ... Make room in your heart for this cathartic novel. Kirkus Star review

I have had this book on my "to buy or borrow" list since reviewers first talked about it back in 2021. Every word of praise for this book is true - this is an engrossing, heart-breaking story of courage. I loved every word of this honest and emotional verse novel.

Awards - a selection:

• 2022 Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children’s Book
• 2022 International Literacy Association Notable Books for a Global Society Award Winner
• 2022 National Council of Teachers of English
• Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book
• 2022 NCTE/Children’s Literature Assembly
• 2021 Internationale Jugendbibliothek  White Raven

Starfish is available in English, Turkish, Korean, Spanish, Chinese and large print.

I would pair this book with;

Out of my Mind

Two Sparrowhawk's in a Lonely Sky by Rebecca Lim

"Yun thought how physically strong Fu was, how practical and dependable, steady as an ox. 

Pei was fast, meanwhile, and asked inconvenient questions ... She was a small, angry, 

quick-thinking girl in a village that valued none of those things."

"Life was hard. And so unfair. For those without money or consequence, it was a game of chance, not of skill. But the children already knew that, even if they had no words for that knowledge."

"I don't want to be angry, if being angry is a bad thing ... but if I'm not angry, nothing changes. I don't want to be one of those people ... that things are done to. Life seems like a test people like us can never pass because we never know what the rules are, and there are always rules. 

I want to know the rules. I want to write the rules."

This story is told in three parts. We meet Pei, Fu and their mother living in a village in China 1951-1958. The family are poor and under the rule of the local landowner but they are happy. Pei and Fu's mother and father are well educated people - different from others in their village. Then two life changing events occur - their father disappears and the feudal system is overturned by communism. Now neighbor is pitted against neighbor, the state demand more and more of their produce and they take away their farm animals and tools. Everyone suffers but they are all powerless. 

In part two, after their mother finally succumbs to starvation, the two children set off on a journey to find their father. They have a tiny collection of documents, letters, a menu and one very precious photo. They also have treasures sewn into their worn jackets. Their mother has told them never to part with their jackets and to only use the precious hidden things in an extreme circumstance. These land-based kids have never seen the sea let alone traveled across the vast ocean to an unknown destination in search of one man who they have been told can help them. Hong Kong is huge, confusing and loud and it seems completely impossible that Pei and Fu could ever meet the man who once knew their father and who they have been told can help them reach Australia. 

Finally in part three, the two bedraggled children have been able to secure passage on a ship traveling to the land at the bottom of the world and again, luckily, Pei makes a friend. This time it is a wise, kind young Jewish woman. It is a special moment in the story when Miss Ewa offers to teach Pei English.

The cover (by Hana Kinoshita Thomson) and title of this book are such interesting choices. This book is set in China in the 1950s but the cover (to my eye) does not have an Asian or even an historical feel. But I am most curious about the title. I've done a very tiny amount of reading about the Chinese Sparrowhawk bird. Their migration route does not take them to Hong Kong or Australia which are the destinations of Pei and Fu. The lonely sky makes more sense when you think about their long journey first in the sampan and later in the ship across the ocean under an enormous and lonely sky. Also, the way language barriers, loss and separation from loved ones means the children are desperately lonely. On page 74 of the novel their mother says:

‘My two sparrowhawks, my two fierce, bright young birds, carrying a piece of us with you wherever you go.’ 

Post update! I asked a question about the title on Instagram and Rebecca Lim replied. I was so excited to read her reply. And if I can boast she also thanked me for my 'absorbing and heartfelt' review!!!:

"I have just done an interview with ABC Nightlife where I talk about the title. Chinese Sparrowhawks are native to Southern China and they are common, tough and hardy. I wanted to set something tiny and local to a specific area against the fearsomeness and vastness of the wider world/sky - would such a creature survive."

There is nothing like a well-written, emotionally engaging historical novel to give young readers an understanding about life in a previous time and place. This wonderful story exposes the reality of life under Mao Tse-Tung’s Great Leap Forward, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Chinese, and the institutional racism of the White Australia Policy during the 1950s. Reading Time

The depth of research, emotion and strong characterization (especially of Pei) comes from the personal nature of this story - Rebecca Lim says "I'm trying to set the record a little straighter for my kids, their friends and the people we know, bringing all of us, not just the usual suspects, into the canon of stories that are worthy of telling."

Publisher blurb: Thirteen-year-old Fu, his younger sister, Pei, and their mother live in a small rural community in Southern China that is already enduring harsh conditions when it is collectivised as part of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward campaign that ultimately led to economic disaster, widespread famine and millions of deaths. After tragedy strikes, and threatened with separation, Fu and Pei set out on a perilous journey across countries and oceans to find their father, who left for Australia almost a decade ago. With nothing to guide them but a photograph and some documents in a language they cannot read, they must draw on all their courage and tenacity just to survive - and perhaps forge a better life for themselves. An unforgettable story of family, resilience and the complex Asian-Australian experience from the esteemed author of Tiger Daughter, winner of the CBCA Book of the year for Older Readers.

Here are some text quotes which will give you a flavour of this absorbing book. I didn't lift my head over the last couple of days because I needed to make sure Pei and Fu were safe. I was very tempted to skip to the end just to reassure myself but I resisted. There were so many times when I worried that truly terrible things would happen to these young children. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. 

I also enjoyed the way Rebecca Lim wove the history of The Great Leap Forward (1958–1961) in China and the philosophy of Mao; Refugee and Immigration Policies in China and Australia (The White Australia policy); and early in the story the feudal system in Chinese villages contrasted with the 'new' collective regime. She also touches on child marriage and the powerlessness of women. 

"Should we take it all back, good peasants? ... Should we start the agrarian revolution in your own feudal pocket of Southern China?" "Will you apologise to the proletariat who have suffered under your reign like beasts of burden?"

"It was a great tragedy, they all agreed, that the chieftain had to forgo his life for the greater good. But things like class struggle and socialist transformation and revolution had nothing to do with them .... no one will ever go hungry again. But that was not really true."

"All private land holdings, draught animals and tools within this village are now contributed to a single co-operative, for the common good. ... The State now owns all means of production and all means of livelihood."

"The Liang family had no draught animals, so Yun always transported the remains of their harvest divided into two baskets hanging from each end of a long guava-wood pole, balanced across her thin shoulders, staggering under the weight. It was a one-hour trip each way. ... Cutting the hard rice and sorghum stalks in the pelting rain had grazed Pei's fingers and palms, and they stung now with a myriad of tiny cuts, and the cold."

"The people of Long Jing Cun had never seen a female cadre with a rifle in the village before ... Pei's eyes widened. It suddenly occurred to her that this woman was not a famer. Pei had never seen a woman who was not a farmer but rather something else - could you even be something else?"

Descriptions: "Then one day, Ru went out to teach - wearing his old navy officer's cap and threadbare, loose-fitting navy suit, all trace of his former officer status stripped from the shoulders and collar, and his cracked leather shoes that let the water in on rainy days ... And he never came home again."

Notice some of the words used here - threadbare, loose-fitting, cracked leather.

"Yun covered Pei's eyes so quickly that her work hardened hands - nails cracked with dirt and clay - scratched the soft skin of her daughter's face like claws."

Notice the words here too - work-hardened, cracked, soft skin, claws.

"Like her children, she was slender to the point of emaciation, and her eyes were ringed with dark circles. She looked much older than her years."

In this interview for ABC Radio National Rebecca talks about her book. I do wish the interview had asked about the title!  Here is a link to the teachers notes written by Rebecca Lim available on the publisher site (Allen and Unwin) and also via Pegi Williams. Here is a review with plot details from The Book Muse. 

This exciting and immediately engaging story is rich in memorable characters, full of tension, moments of tenderness and high emotion, with a deep, challenging core questioning our beliefs and prejudices. StoryLinks

I am going to predict we will see this book listed as a Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable title and short-listed book for 2024 - possibly in Younger Readers but I think Older Readers might be a better fit. I would highly recommend this book for mature readers aged 11+ - I won't spoil the end but even though many things are resolved for Pei and Fu the ending is also open for readers to imagine a new future for these two children arriving in a new land.

The very best books to pair with this would be these two picture books but there are lots of other suggestions in the teacher notes.

Sparrow Girl

Link this to the line in the book - "He is a leech. 

He is a pestilence far worse than sparrows, than locusts." Page 25 Two Sparrowhawk's in a Lonely Sky

"All mosquitoes, rats, flies and sparrows are to be exterminated. Sparrows and rats eat grain! Flies and mosquitoes cause pestilence. ... Take your pots and pans into the fields and clash them loudly 

while the sun shines. Drive the pests away." Page 84 wo Sparrowhawk's in a Lonely Sky

Make sure you also read Tiger Daughter. 

Little Robot by Ben Hatke

 

The opening scenes of this graphic novel or toon are wordless. We see a highway, trucks and then move in closer to see one truck in particular. A carton falls off the truck when it goes over a bump in the road. The box falls off a bridge and into the river below. The wordless scenes continue into Chapter One. A young girl climbs out of the window of a trailer house. She plays at the park and then heads down to the river where she has stashed her toolkit. She finds a carton and when she opens it, she discovers something very surprising - a robot! He's been slightly damaged from the fall out of the truck so the girl, remember she has set of tools, sets about some repairs and before too long the little robot, who looks a little like R2D2 is up on his feet and able to walk. 

Meanwhile back at the factory the computer sensors ring out alarms because one of the units - UNIT 00012 - is missing. The orders are to locate and recover.

I hope this plot is making you think of The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.

Of course, things are heading for a showdown. The sinister robot charged with finding UNIT00012 is coming. The little girl has truly made a special friend so what will happen when the retrieval robot arrives? Problem solving, ingenuity and true heroism are at the heart of this story. Oh, and there is a lot of 'boom', 'zom', 'clink', 'clang', 'chonk', 'pling', 'ploop', and 'jonk' to enjoy along the way as well as lots more robots!

This delightful, nearly wordless graphic novel portrays a kid with gumption enough to take on big business and smarts enough to advise the factory’s fix-it robot on repairs even though she just might be too young for kindergarten. Despite having little material means and few human connections, this kid creates life in the inanimate and fosters community where none could exist before. Girl power at its best. A sure winner!  Kirkus Star review

This is not only a sweet and wonderful book about friendship, though – it’s a great maker space selection! This is a little girl who’s comfortable with a tool belt and she tinkers with a robot! What' cha Reading?

Blurb: When a little girl finds an adorable robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend. But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy for nefarious purposes, and it's all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!

This is not a book an Australian school library could ever add to their collection which is such a dreadful shame. Here in Australia this book, with only 135 pages, costs over AUS$45. Why oh why?

In 2016 Little Robot won Will Eisner award (Considered the “Oscars” of the comic book industry, are handed out each year in a gala ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of “The Spirit” and pioneer of the graphic novels), the Awards are given out in more than two-dozen categories covering the best publications and creators of the previous year):

2016 Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8): Little Robot, by Ben Hatke 

2023 Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8) Chibi Usagi: Attack of the Heebie Chibis, by Julie and Stan Sakai

Other 2023 entries for ages up to 8 years:

Beneath The Trees: A Fine Summer, by Dav (Magnetic Press)

Fox + Chick: Up and Down: and Other Stories, by Sergio Ruzzier (Chronicle Books)

Grumpy Monkey Who Threw That? by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang (Random House Studio)

Hey, Bruce!: An Interactive Book, by Ryan Higgins (Disney/Hyperion)

Here is the full list of past winners:

2012 Dragon Puncher Island, by James Kochalka (Top Shelf)

2013 Babymouse for President, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House)

2014 Itty Bitty Hellboy, by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani (Dark Horse)

2015 The Zoo Box, by Ariel Cohn and Aron Nels Steinke (First Second)

2016 Little Robot, by Ben Hatke (First Second)

2017 Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, by Ben Clanton (Tundra)

2018 Good Night, Planet, by Liniers (Toon Books)

2019 Johnny Boo and the Ice Cream Computer, by James Kochalka (Top Shelf/IDW)

2020 Comics: Easy as ABC, by Ivan Brunetti (TOON)

2022 Chibi Usagi: Attack of the Heebie Chibis, by Julie and Stan Sakai (IDW)

2023 The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems (Union Square Kids)

Here are some other books (graphic novels) by Ben Hatke:

Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth by Anna Fienberg

There is so much going on in the life of young Frances right now. She has moved to an outer suburb away from the busy city, to a home with a garden and lower rent. One special thing about this new place is the nearby bush.  But only a week after they arrive and begin unpacking that dad announces he has to travel overseas for his work as a journalist so now it is just Frances and her mum and the memory of her toddler brother Henry. Clearly something truly dreadful has happened to Henry but Frances is riddled with guilt and just does not want to revisit these terrible events.

Talking about this book I don't want to give too much away. You will work out some of the content from the labels I've assigned this post. Another way to introduce this book might be to look at the title. Moving to the new house means mum and dad decide to buy Frances a puppy. Picasso is her favourite artist and she has his painting Le Chien on her bedroom wall so the new pup is named Picasso. 

Visiting the beautiful Australian bush near her home Frances surveys the scene as the sun is setting and declares that moment - The Greatest Show on Earth. Here are some quotes from the text that will show you the highly evocative way Anna Fienberg describes the natural environment - trees, colours, light and shadow:

"The track turned into a spindly trail that zigzagged round rocks splotched with lichen. It was the palest olive green, thin as dried paint. ... On our right the creek trundled on, gathering into shallow pools, vanishing into mud. Trees towered above, filtering light that ended up as glitter on the water."

"After the rain the angophoras turned tangerine, their juicy pieces of bark smashed around their roots. I pressed my cheek against a massive trunk and the cold was startling."

Anna Fienberg has added some wonderful art insights into her book too - no doubt inspired by the late Kim Gamble. They met at the School Magazine where she was the editor. Kim Gamble illustrated The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels by Anna Fienberg, which is a favourite book of mine, the Tashi series the Minton series and Joseph which was shortlisted for the 2002 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award. 

All the art Kit and Frances create surely must link with the special relationship between Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble. It is described with so much care:

"Crosshatching ... you create a hollow with shading by doing lots of parallel strokes one way, crossed with parallel strokes the other way."

"Kit let me share his chalk pastels and showed me how to make a twilight sky. I made notes of his instructions in my sketchbook ... At home I practised sky after sky. And I learned how to make a star sparkle.With white chalk you do the blue at the top, then take one dot and make it into a cross, smearing out the points into long white lines. When you stand back it sparkles."

I finished this book this morning having started it a couple of days ago and yes I did cry but that's okay because the happy, but not saccharine, ending restored me.  Anna Fienberg adds a wonderful layer of tension to the story. I just kept reading and reading even though I knew something dreadful was going to happen. This is a five star book. It is Australian in so many ways but it is also such a heartfelt human story.

Thinking about this story one word that came to my mind was consequences. Frances is obsessed with germs and diseases because she see this as a consequence of her action or inaction with her brother Henryre. Kit worries about consequences too. He cannot reveal anything about his house or mother because in the past the consequences were dreadful. Then there is the consequence of a tiny decision Frances makes when she makes a sketch of her friend. (When you are reading this book take your time over page 140-141). 

This story is also about personal growth. We watch the trust between Kit and Frances grow and both find a way to trust each other with their deepest secrets and sadness. Kit also has such emotional maturity and his gentle advice to Frances is uplifting

Someone asked about the themes in this book on a Facebook forum and whether it was too confronting for an eleven year old reader. I’d be happy to have this book in my primary school library but I’d be recommending it to mature Grade 6 readers. Yes it’s sad and yes grief and the death of a sibling and mental health are BIG topics but that’s okay. The writing is wonderful. You just feel as though you are right in the bush with all the sounds and smells and light and shade. This is a long book so really only kids with good reading stamina and the right level of maturity will persevere. I’m sure this book will go on to win many awards and be on short lists.

This book is like a warm, comforting hug when you need a friend, and I found myself wanting to read on to find out what had happened yet at the same time, it felt like one to savour and sit with so my reading pace could match France’s pace as she slowly revealed what had happened to her brother. The Book Muse

The different ways grief is expressed is a significant theme throughout this novel but there are other important ideas upon which to reflect such as family, bullying, courage, the healing provided by nature, dogs and art therapy and loneliness. Just So Stories

After reading Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth you might like to revisit these classic Australian stories:

I do wish we could see the mural created by Kit and Frances but keen artists might like to look a little further into the art of Wang Wei.

It would be interesting to compare Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth with a 2001 novel by Anna Fienberg - Witch in the Lake. I did read that one many years ago but sadly I cannot recall much of the plot. Other companion books: