Little Blue Where are you? by Sally Morgan illustrated by Karen Blair

"One bright and shimmery summer's day Skippy Gillespie went out to play with a pitter pat of his small dog paws and a scritchetty scratch of his small dog claws."

Little Blue - the baby duck - is lost and even worse she is being hunted by an enormous cat named Rocky Road Jack. Luckily Skippy Gillespie and his friend Boofa Boy Jones are able to spring into action and save the day. 

Thanks to Fremantle Press for sending me a copy of this new book which has just been published. Here are the teacher's notes. Little Blue where are you? is a book I would read to a preschool group for enjoyment. There are lots of ideas in the teacher's notes but in my view it would be best select the ideas that suit your class or library group and not attempt every question or activity. This could also be a book you could adapt for a reader's theatre with older students presenting the story for the youngest children in your school. I am imagining doing this will the addition of percussion instruments as a way to add sounds to the story. Your art teacher could also use this double page spread showing sunlight on the lake as a lesson inspiration.

Publisher blurb: Skippy Gillespie is taking himself for a walk in the park – but he is not alone! Rocky Road Jack has followed him, and that nasty cat now has his eyes firmly on a tiny duckling. Will Skippy save the day, and will Little Blue ever get home to his mother?

Your young reading companion will hear some wonderful words (real and invented) in this story - shimmery, slashetty, quailed, charging, and frenzied.

Here is the review from Readings Melbourne:

• It’s made for reading aloud. Morgan’s bouncy rhymes are packed with playful sound words, and we can already hear little ones joining in by the second read. It’s the kind of book that gets requested again at bedtime.
• Skippy is a hero worth rooting for. When he spots a small creature in trouble, he doesn’t walk past. With his mate Boofa Boy Jones, he steps up to help. It opens up easy conversations with kids about kindness and looking out for others.
• Karen Blair’s illustrations are full of movement. Ears flap, legs stretch and water swirls across the page. Some words are even drawn to look like they sound. The characters’ faces show exactly how everyone is feeling, which makes this a lovely book for talking about emotions.

The publicity notes for Little Blue mention The Detective Dog series by Julia Donaldson; Dog Beach by Julie Murphy; and the Hairy Maclary series by Lynley Dodd. 

I previously talked about this book which is the first in this series also by Sally Morgan and Karen Blair which is where we first met Skippy Gillespie.

The Midnight Chew

Here are a couple of my own favourite books about ducks:

The Other Ducks

Just Ducks

Don't Fidget a Feather!

Fireworks by Matthew Burgess illustrated by Catia Chien

My dad loved the fireworks here in Sydney every New Year. He would either want to head into the city or locally there was a small hill where people gathered. When I was a young child we walked through a harborside suburb to a vantage point opposite our iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. I even remember walking in the dark with my cousins, and I remember the special clothes I was wearing!

In this story, Fireworks, it is a very hot summer day. The two kids cool off under a fire hydrant and then they head to the park where they enjoy huge watermelon slices. 

Grandma cooks their dinner and then the kids climb to the top of their city building. 

"On this summer night, we climb the ricket ladder to the silver tar rooftop still soft from the day's sun and we wait for the first pop!"

It's a fabulous fireworks display and one of the best pages comes at the end where we see the way the colourful images are still exploding in their minds and dreams.

Bookseller blurb: As a hot day sizzles into evening, everyone on stoops and sidewalks looks skyward on this special summer night—the Fourth of July! Words and art blossom into flowers of fire across the sky, making this a perfect read for firework enthusiasts in cities and suburbs everywhere.

Is this book about the 4th of July - probably - but that's okay. We have fabulous fireworks here in Australia on New Year's Eve and at other times so really this story does translate very easily across the world. I have put some of other picture books that include fireworks at the bottom of this post. Betsy Bird also talks about this book being a book about summer heat and my own favourite US book on that topic is Come on Rain by Karen Hesse. Fireworks is set in New York city but that's okay too - our kids know about that city and others like it with tall buildings and large parks.

Think about the wonderful words your library group or young reading companion will encounter in this book: greet; venture; steamy; bodega; sax (saxophone); onlookers; salsa; rickety; finale; charcoal sniff; extinguished; and lull.

Bodega - that's a word you may not know. It is a small Spanish speaking grocery store.

Fireworks contains a gatefold - Besty Bird explains this: Let’s say you’re a children’s book author or illustrator and you wanted to put a gatefold into your book. A gatefold is a spread of pages that physically open up outside of the confines of the book’s dimensions in some manner. Historically, librarians have not been huge fans of gatefolds because they have a tendency to rip over time. What makes the gatefold in “Fireworks” so extraordinary is that it’s vertical rather than horizontal. It also tucks so perfectly into the book that it might take an adult reader a couple seconds before they realize it’s even there. Only the thickness of the paper gives away its presence. Now here’s the kicker: Did you know that a gatefold can only appear in a book at just the right moment? Because of the physical nature of how books are made (the folding of the pages together) gatefolds can only come at certain moments. So part of what’s so amazing about this book is that its gatefold comes at precisely the right moment, both physically and from a literary perspective. It’s a marvel of simultaneous engineering and storytelling.

If you share this book with a group of older readers in grades 4-6 please take the time to talk about pace and word placement - the final page turn and final word of this book is sure to have been one of the many reasons Fireworks was selected for this enormously prestigious award.

When you read enough picture books you shouldn’t allow yourself to have favorites. Still, I state loud and clear for the record, that this is without a doubt my favorite firework-related summertime picture book ever. Beautiful, weirdly touching, and utterly original. “Swish Zing Tizzle-ting POOF!”

Take a look at the book trailer on the author web page.

Read some reviews:

Kirkus Star review

Horn Book

Waking Brain Cells

You can see more books illustrated by Catia Chien here and here is the web page for Matthew Burgess. I previously talked about The Bear and the Moon;

Betsy mentions that there should be more books about fireworks. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything shared a few in her blog post. I remembered a book from my former library which was regularly requested by our art teacher but sadly I cannot find a cover image to share here. This book is from 1983 published by A and C Black - Firework Party by Peggy Blakeley. 

Fireworks is the winner of the 2026 Caldecott Medal and yet here in Australia it is listed at over AUS$53 as the retail price - I have seen it also listed for AUS$38 but even that will be way beyond the budget of every school library her in Australia - why oh why? My friend and I have seen this issue with other Caldecott winners and honor titles - see the bottom of this post for some covers. It is true that some Caldecott titles are not really relevant for our Australian children, but Fireworks (and Watercress) most certainly are. I previously talked about past winners here.

Here two of the 2026 honor titles (there are four in total)

Every Monday Mabel

Watercress and Hot Dog

Awards for Fireworks:

     2026 Caldecott Medal

     Charlotte Zolotow Honor for Outstanding Writing in a Picture Book 

     SCBWI Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration and Text

     Society of Illustrators Gold Medal 

     A NYT/NYPL Best Illustrated Book

     Kirkus’ Best Books of 2025

     School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2025

     Publisher’s Weekly Best Picture Books of 2025

     Blue Ribbon Award 2025

You can also find fireworks in these:

See inside this book here

Noah's New Home

A Gift for Nana

Beyond the Shore by Kirli Saunders illustrated by Mark Chester Harding

This book has a gentle and lyrical text exploring the experience of young child standing at the seashore and watching the ocean.

Here are a few lines of the text:

"It is safer on the edge 

where toes bob 

plip plick splish

where sand swirls and sways

encouraging me away

from the yolk-stained shore"

The little girl images the underwater world and the songs of the whales and this made me think of this book:

The Whales Song

Bookseller blurb: It's safer on the edge, where we can walk with our feet on the floor ... but beyond the shore is a world that inspires awe. Will you dive in? Written by award-winning Gunai author Kirli Saunders (OAM), with art by debut picture book illustrator Mark Chester Harding, Beyond the Shore gently encourages young ones to step beyond fear into curiosity.

I am not usually a fan of digital art but it is very appealing in this book. I expect to see Beyond the Shore listed as a CBCA Early Childhood notable for 2026. 

Here are some teachers notes from the publisher Scholastic Australia. 

Mark Chester Harding is a freelance illustrator and musician based in Sydney. He is one half of the band Cooee with Kirli Saunders. Their debut album ‘Messengers’ will be released in February 2026. ‘Beyond the Shore’ written by Kirli Saunders OAM is his debut picture book. 

You could pair this book with the Bluey where she follows her mother along the seashore.  (The Beach Season One episode 26).

Companion book:

The Midnight Chew by Sally Morgan illustrated by Karen Blair

This book is light weight fun for very young readers who enjoy rhyming stories and who are already fans of Hairy Maclary - a series you should discover if you haven't already while your child or young reading companion is very young. There are tons of books in the popular series by Lynley Dodd.

The dogs in this book - The Midnight Chew - do have very appeal names - Skippy Gillespie and Boofa Boy Jones. Skippy is a tiny dog with a secretly stashed bone. Boofa is a big dog who wants that bone. Is there a way they can both have this prize?

There are teaching notes for The Midnight Chew on the publisher page - Fremantle Press (Thanks for my review copy).

Sally Morgan was born in Perth, in 1951. She has published books for both adults and children, including her acclaimed autobiography, My Place. She has also established a national reputation as an artist and has works in many private and public collections. I loved her verse novel Sister Heart (for readers aged 10+) and her series illustrated by Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr. 

Karen Blair is an award-winning Western Australian author and illustrator of nearly 20 children’s books. Her books have been published in eight countries, and she has illustrated for some of Australia’s most acclaimed authors. She has worked as a primary art teacher and creates books from her home studio in Fremantle. Karen Blair talks about her book here. 

Here are two previous books I have talked about with illustrations by Karen Blair.

Hello from Nowhere

With Nan

If you want to explore other books about garbage dumps, try to find this one - it is a fabulous one to read aloud.

Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear

You might also try to find this book:

Wishbone

There's a Tiger on the Train by Mariesa Dulak illustrated by Rebecca Cobb

You’ll never guess what happened

On our trip down to the sea . . .

A tiger in a top hat

Came and sat right next to me!

There is a tiger on the train but also some hippos, crocodiles, piglets, and two pugs BUT dad is so engrossed in his phone screen he misses all the fun and amazement. 

From the author web page: This text won the Faber FAB Writing Prize for Diverse writers in 2020. Rebecca Cobb is an award-winning author/illustrator who has collaborated with other authors such as Julia Donaldson, Richard Curtis and Helen Dunmore. It’s the perfect day for a seaside trip. But who invited the Tiger in the top hat… and all those other animals? And will Dad ever look up from his phone? A rhythmic, rhyming romp about the value of living in the moment and spending quality time with those you love.

You can see inside this book here and read details of the story. 

The story was inspired by my own experience of balancing full-time work with a young family and feeling that I wasn't making the most of the precious time I had with my children. "There's a Tiger on the Train" is about taking time out to connect with those you love. I hope that children reading the book will join in with the rhymes and rhythms, have fun making some new animal friends, and enjoy the ride! And I hope that their grown-ups will be reminded to look up from their phones once in a while to see what they might be missing in the wonderful world of their own child’s imagination. Mariesa Dulak

Here is the title page:

This book published in 2025 should be essential reading for parents! And at the same time young children will enjoy this wild train ride and the 'noisy sections' with words like clank, rumble, chew-chew, spish-splash and everyone should join in with the huge roar at the end as the tiger grabs that wretched mobile phone. Sadly also, though, many children will relate to the little boy in this story who just needs his dad to put down his phone and listen and look and connect with his son in a meaningful way. Please consider adding this book to your school library wish list. The paperback is slightly expensive at over AUS$28 but I really do highly recommend There's a Tiger on the Train.

Phubbing is snubbing or ignoring someone else because you are using your mobile phone. In today’s modern world, we do it without thinking, but research shows that phubbing undermines interpersonal relationships and mental health especially when parents do it to their children. A staggering 70% of parents say they feel distracted by their mobile phones when they spend time with their children. And studies show that the more parents phub their children, the more socially disconnected that child feels towards them. So, when I sat down to write a book that included phubbing, I tried to imagine what it might be like to feel ignored by the most important person in your world and being too small and powerless to do anything about it. Books for Topics

Take a look at this blog post about The Global Day of Unplugging. 

Awards:

• Shortlisted for Oscar's Book Prize 2025
• Nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2025
• Shortlisted for the UKLA Book Award 2025
• Shortlisted for the Indie Book Award 2024
• Selected as a Books for Topics Book of the Year 2024
• Selected as a Waterstones Best Books of 2024
• Shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Award 2025

After reading There's a Tiger on the Train try to find other books illustrated by Rebecca Cobb - I am a huge fan of her art. I am keen to see her book A Wild Walk to School.  

The Empty Stocking

Who Lives Here?

Snow Day

The Great Dawn Choir by Sarah Speedie illustrated by Cindy Lane

"The term dawn chorus refers to the collective calls of birds at the start of a new day. ... It usually begins anywhere from 90 to 30 minutes before the sun rises. ... Birdsong and calls can be used to communicate with other birds or to defend territory. That's why the dawn chorus is a mix of raucous squawking and chatty screeches alongside melodic songs or loud territorial calls."

Can you name all the birds on the cover of this book? I have listed them below if you are unsure.

My favourite from my own morning bird choir/chorus are the pairs of birds who sing call and response to one another. I like to think of it as a safety check or their love language. Listen to this one the Common Koel.

Can I suggest you open up this web link which contains the top 40 bird songs of the birds found in our Australian backyards and use it when you read this book for the second time.  It will really add another dimension to this experience for your young students. I would begin with the kookaburra. There ae also detailed notes at the back of The Great Dawn Choir with photographs of each of the eight birds. 

Click on the eight birds featured in this book:

• Australian magpie
• Sulphur-crested cockatoo
• Rainbow lorikeet
• Laughing kookaburra
• Fairy wren
• Australian raven
• Crested pigeon

There is nothing to see in this video (10 minutes) so I would just play it for your library group and let them close their eyes and listen. They might recognise some of these dawn chorus sounds from their own neighborhood. Also in my post about This Bird I mention the ABC Radio National weekly bird sound 'competition' called 'tweet of the week' (link below).

You can see more books illustrated by Cindy Lane here and you can discover other books by Sarah Speedie here. I also found an Instagram post where we see Cindy Lane painting her fairy wren. A couple of days I talked about this book which is also from CSIRO Publishing. 

This Bird

Huge thanks to CSIRO Publishing for sending a review copy of The Dawn Chorus. I'm building up a terrific collection of books about our Australian birds. The Great Dawn Choir will be released in August.

Try to find this book too after you look at the end papers of The Great Dawn Choir which are filled with feathers. This one is not Australian but it is a truly special book:

Birds and their feathers

Here are some other books about birds and their songs:

The Forgotten Song

This is perfect because it also contains onomatopoeia

Magpies in Australia

Have you heard the nesting bird

The Song of the Nightingale

These companion books might be in your school library - I have popped all of them on my own list but please note these are not about Australian birds:

Spiro by Anna McGregor

This book completely surprised me. The cover made me think this would be quite a silly story about a funny spider but instead I discovered a story about persistence, patience and perseverance. These are indeed heavy topics but in Spiro this is all told with a light touch and tons of humour.

On the title page Sprio is reading a book - the title is Advanced Web Design. We are off to a good start.

Spiro needs food - a juicy fly or a scrumptious moth, or even a stink bug. I talked about this recently - did you notice I used the word (from the text) scrumptious. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to read heaps and heaps of the BEST picture books to our children - this might be the first time they hear the wonderful word - scrumptious. Then when your child says 'read it again' this word will gradually be one they use in their everyday life or if that seems too ambitious it will be word they recognise and understand. 

Spiro builds his web but unfortunately ... well three times there are three disasters and Spiro misses his prey. I have a little spider like Spiro on my veranda. He builds his web and at night the lights from my windows attract various insects. This is exactly how Spiro succeeds - the family switch on the fairy lights they have draped over the apple tree and "the insects come swarming". 

Spiro is a 2025 CBCA Early Childhood notable title. You can download some teachers notes from the publisher webpage. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a very useful Pinterest collection of other picture books about spiders - which of course would be a terrific mini theme for your preschool or kindy class. It would be great to talk about the design of Spiro's web and to compare this with photos of spider webs found in non fiction books in your library [595.79]. With a slightly older group this book could also open up a discussion about prey and predators - eat or be eaten!

A perfect book to share with preschoolers and children up to 7 years old. Reading Time

The CBCA 2025 Early Childhood Picture Book judges in their report about the Notable titles said: The blend of deadpan humour in the written text and slapstick in the illustrations is masterful. 

If you are sharing this book with a young reading companion or in a school library or classroom you MUST also look for this wonderful Australian book about a spider who spins her web. In 1976 Aranea was a Picture Book of the Year commended title. I do wish the publishers would consider bringing it back into print - this year would be the perfect time because Aranea was published in 1975 - so this is the 50th Anniversary.  

Aranea

You could also share these books:

Here are some other books that you will find in your local or school library by Anna McGregor:

Whistle up the Chimney by Nan Hunt illustrated by Craig Smith

Tuesday Treasure

Mrs Millie Mack lives alone in her little cottage. She is content with her routine. Looking after her garden and enjoying seasonal produce. She makes raspberry jam in summer, pickles, chutneys and relishes in autumn and in the winter she knits beside her fire.

"When winter came she waited for the truck to bring the heavy wood she had ordered. ... 'This is old railway wood and that's half a door from a bogey louvre.' When he said that a most delicious tingle ran up Mrs Millie Mack's spine."

A most surprising and wonderful thing happens when Mrs Millie Mack puts this new wood on her fire. A huge steam train - an express train - rushes out of her chimney and disappears out the door and into the night. The next night there is another steam train - a mixed goods train and on the third night "out trundled a four-coach all-stations passenger train. It slowed down (and) ... she just had time to wave to the children sitting with their faces pressed against the windows..."  Mrs Millie Mack has the best winter of her life. It is so exciting but she never "did find out what a bogey louvre was."

Discover a bogie louvre here https://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/vlx/vlx.html

Whistle up the Chimney was published in 1981 and it won the CBCA Picture Book of the Year award in 1982. I need to ask again why is this treasure out of print? Surely our award winners should stay on a publisher back list. I'm sure this book will still be on the shelves of many Primary school libraries in Australia. You could read this book as a way to explore steam trains and perhaps even knitting!

Here is an interview with Craig Smith where he talks about his many books. You might like to look at my review of Black Dog his earliest book.