Blog Target 4000 - nearly there

Hello, I had a plan to reach 4000 blog posts by the end of 2024. Sadly, I did not quite make it. As I write this it is 30th December 2024, and I have 3600+ posts in total and 1,840,192 hits! It will be exciting to reach 2 million hits and 4000 posts. Perhaps I will have a party. I have also posted 890 times on Instagram and have over 500 followers there so that feels like an achievement. 

I did give five stars to lots of books this year, but I thought for this post I should just focus on Australian children's titles. I'm not lucky enough to be sent review copies except for titles from UQP so I can only talk about books on this blog that I either buy from book shops or borrow from a library. This means I did miss some great titles this year especially in Middle Grade but I do have a big pile of these to read in January that I have borrowed from a local school library. These books are the focus on my previous post. In past years I had the wonderful privilege of reading for one of local bookstores - they were a terrific source of advance copies and new releases. Sadly the store has now closed. Any independent bookshop people in Sydney reading this post I would love to read for you (for free)! (Gleebooks Kids; Three Sparrows; The Constant Reader). 

Favourite Australian Middle Grade Books published in 2024:

The Midwatch

A small collection of happiness

All the beautiful things

The 113th Assistant Librarian

Bravepaw

Leo and Ralph

Blog post coming - this is a five star book but you need to look beyond the uninspiring cover.

Favourite Australian Picture Books published in 2024:

Listen Hippo

What stars are for

The Wobbly Bike

The Truck Cat

The Hidden Hat

Over or Under?

Bowerbird Brood

Tearaway Coach

I have a few more picture book titles on my 'to read' Australian Picture book list: Boots by Elizabeth Pulsford; A leaf called Greaf by Kelly Canby; The Welcome Cookies by Kaye Ballie; and Words that taste like home by Sandhya Parappukkaran.

One Million hip hip hooray

 

My little blog has reached one million page views 2008-2023. YES one million. Actually it has crept past the million.

I started this blog in 2008 in response to a challenge by a school Principal who saw NO value in school libraries or the role of the Teacher-Librarian. He altered my library position in drastic and life-changing ways but when he said he knew more about technology (and the things we now called Social Media) I decided to strike back.  I could not reverse his dreadful decision to completely change the way our school library was organised but I could show him the power of  blogging, and Instagram, and Twitter and even a platform like Pinterest. This Principal is long gone. I imagine he has no idea that he created such personal and educational havoc but here I am, all these years later, still blogging and advocating for the importance of children's books in the lives of our children and the importance of putting outstanding books into the hands of teachers. I am very proud of this blog and I do hope you find it useful for your library or personal reading journey.

This is the list of my top posts - there are a few surprises here! Old worlds New worlds was a Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week slogan in 2021. I read The Amazing Adventures of Chilly Billy to every child in Grade 3 and later Grade 2 from 1984 til 2017 so I am not surprised to see it here but I wonder why Peggy is in the top 8 list?

Mr Archimedes Bath by Pamela Allen (December 11th, 2012)

Happy Mouse Day by Dick King-Smith (November 20th, 2012)

Peggy by Anna Walker (April 22nd, 2013)

The Day Saida Arrived by Susana Gomez Redondo illustrated by Sonja Wimmer translated by Lawrence Schimel (November 15th, 2020) 

Possum Magic by Mem Fox illustrated by Julie Vivas (November 27th, 2012)

The Amazing Adventures of Chilly Billy by Peter Mayle (October 19th, 2008)

I now have 2970 posts so I am edging closer to my goal of 4000 by the end of 2024. I now blog nearly every day but when I started my plan was one post per week.

My first post was on Sunday, September 7, 2008. I think my style and formatting have come a long way! I have been so lucky to access so many utterly wonderful books thanks to my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything and her splendid library and also thanks to Beachside Bookshop and Libby for all the wonderful advance book copies. Sadly this terrific independent book shop will close at the end of June. 

I am often asked what is my own favourite book. I cannot answer this but here are a few standouts although for every book I put here I could easily think of an extra ten or twenty or thirty. Of course there is also Momo by Michael Ende. We are so lucky to have access to so many fabulous books in Australia from UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and also a wealth of books from other places that have been translated into English.  

If any of these look interesting just type the title into my side bar:

Where to next? I hope to continue posting nearly every day. I need to do a lot of work on my indexing (labels) adding star ratings and author/illustrator names. It would also be good to edit and tidy up some of my early posts. I'd also like to investigate a way to promote my blog to teachers, teacher-librarians and keen readers.

Happy Reading to all.

Momo celebrates

Hello to all the people who read my blog.  I don't know who you are but I am celebrating!  I now have 300 book reviews and there have been 30,000 hits on my site!  I love numbers (and reading too of course) so the neat synchronicity of this makes me smile.

I thought I might use this post to talk about the books I am reading right now and the books I plan to read soon.  I have been a little distracted recently because I bought an ipad and a Kindle.  This means I can read books electronically but I have also found these devices to be quite sinister just like the grey men in the novel Momo - stealing all my time.

As far as print books go I am reading Jay by Elizabeth Laird, Alison's camels by Christine Gregory (a visitor to my school library in recent weeks) and The true story of Lilli Stubeck by James Aldridge which is a old book from my bookshelves.

On my Kindle I am reading Nanberry by Jackie French and over the next few months while I travel I will read (or re-read) Outlaw by Michael Morpurgo, Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt, The Present takers by Aidan Chambers, Over sea under stone by Susan Cooper, The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood, Septimus Heap book one by Angie Sage and Dicey's song by Cynthia Voigt.

Finally this is a big thank you to my 16 followers and to all those other people who have dipped into my blog.  We read to know we are not alone and I blog to know I am not alone as a reader. It is great fun sharing books through my blog. I have set a target of 500 titles by the end of the year.  I probably won't reach this but I do plan to do heaps of reading in the next few months so keep visiting to find books you might like to read too.