Pete and Roland by Bob Graham

Books with emotional narratives really appeal to me. Bob Graham has created a masterpiece in this little gem. Pete finds a small, blue budgie in his yard very early one morning. You can feel his quiet wonder, excitement and anticipation as the bird flops onto his hand and he takes it to show his sleepy parents. 

When they put Roland, as they now call him, into a cage the emotions change to shock and sadness. This little wild bird should not be caged. But do not fear Bob Graham quickly solves this by having Pete leave the cage door open so Roland can fly around this wonderful old-fashioned house with its wallpaper, picture rails, lamps and mirrors. We laugh when Roland “accidentally bites Peter’s Aunty quite badly on the finger” and are thoroughly enjoying the antics of this little bundle of feathers when Bob Graham packs another emotional punch telling us Roland is gone. Looking into the illustration you can clearly see what has happened, someone has left the window open.

I always stop at this point in the story and talk about the decisions authors make. Bob Graham could end this story here on a very sad note but he doesn’t. We don’t need the fairy tale ending that Pete and Roland live happily ever after, just a little hope that both can be happy. The last two pages of this book are the real masterpieces of this writing and illustrating. You need to look very carefully at the final illustration to see what has happened.

I am very sad to say this book, like so many others in my blog, is now out of print. I own a copy which I found in an old school reading storeroom and I always include it in my reading program with children in Years 1 and 2. Perhaps one day a publisher will rediscover Pete and Roland it will be published again hopefully in a larger format. 

Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

It is wonderful to find a Christmas story with a totally different perspective. Christmas is not a part of Japanese religious culture and has only recently taken any prominence due to commercial pressures. Incredible as it may seem to an Australian child, the boy in this story has no idea about Christmas.

We see a young boy doing familiar things in an unfamiliar setting. Even his bath looks different. The boy watches, puzzled, as his mother transforms a small pine tree from the garden into a Christmas tree. She adds paper cranes and candles before explaining why she has done this.

I especially like books where you can ‘hear’ the voices of the characters and this is true for Tree of Cranes. You can hear the mother scolding the boy gently as she worries about him catching a chill, you can hear the boy as he feels left out when he is sent to his room and then his excitement as his mother tells the story of her childhood Western Christmas celebrations.

In the week before Christmas I read this book to a group of Year 4 students and it was great to see them settle down, relax and just enjoy and absorb this lovely story.

For more details about Allen Say check out his web site.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

Sometimes you need patience to truly enjoy the silences of a story and this is certainly true for this Christmas gem. A young boy and his mother visit the local wood carver and ask him to make a nativity set to replace one they have lost. During each subsequent visit we are given small insights into the hardships of Jonathan and as each piece of his story is revealed the reader sees an easing of his pain.

The repetition and predictable conversations only add to the lovely pace of this book. I am lucky enough to have a version on CD narrated by James Earl Jones. His voice is perfect for this laconic and emotional story.

The illustrations by PJ Lynch compliment this story especially in the scenes where we are given a close view of Jonathan Toomey’s hands working on his carving. The ending brings promise for a new family and of joy not sorrow.

My Library Thing

I have just created My Library Thing page with the first titles for my Hidden 100 - the undiscovered treasures of your school library.

I am limiting this list to marvellous picture books for all ages and a few special junior novels such as O'diddy which I wish would come back into print.

Take a look at http://www.librarything.com/home/momotimetoread

I had a lot of fun making my Library Thing list and adding the covers etc. Perhaps I will get time to put reviews of some of these great books. In the meantime keep watching this Blog I am using this as a great way to record book reviews.

Billy's Bucket by Kes Gray

Here is another small gem that might have slipped your notice when it was published in 2003. Billy’s Bucket by Kes Gray hits all the right buttons with me. Billy is a boy with a marvelous imagination and a boy with terrific determination.

He does not want a conventional Birthday present given by his conventional parents. He wish is far more simple. Billy wants a bucket! Mum and Dad try to persuade Billy to consider other gifts but Billy simply won’t be swayed.

Finally Mum and Dad give in and take Billy to a store with the fabulous name of

Buckets are us! 

Billy needs to look at all those rows and rows of buckets in order to find that one special bucket he knows is there.

And what a bucket it is. When Billy gets the bucket home he fills it with water and then the magic begins. Rock pools, fish, coral, sharks, clown fish, a stingray and much more can be seen inside this marvelous bucket. Of course Mum and Dad don’t bother to look and so miss all this magic.

The best twist though comes at the end, when despite Billy’s stern warning, Dad uses the bucket to wash his car. Spoiler alert -  “It took Billy’s Mum and Dad six hours, three fire engines, four cranes and a shoe horn to get the whale back into the bucket and they never borrowed Billy’s bucket again.”

This is a book you can easily revisit again and again. It will be a hit with young readers and with Mum and Dad too! Check out other books by Kes Gray such as Eat your peas and You do. They are great fun.

Here is a set of teachers notes. Zoe at Playing by the Book loves Billy's Bucket too. Here is a splendid video of the whole book.

Toothpaste and The Astonishing Madame Majolica

Here is another small book that most people probably missed when it was published over 10 years ago. It is called The Astonishing Madame Majolica by Erylis Hunter. In just 64 pages this book has all the right ingredients for young readers – humour, magic, toothpaste, a touch of fantasy and a cliff-hanger about half way through.

Our hero sees an eccentric lady at the local shopping centre with a sign that says ‘Let Madame Majolica Astonish you’. This magical lady explains she has some special toothpaste that you only need to apply once each year. In exchange for 20 cents and a fudge recipe Toby takes home the little tube, he tries it out and then he screams!

Madame Majolica has a magical bag. She places the recipe inside and just a few moments later pulls out a dish of freshly baked fudge. It is delicious!
The theme of lost teeth is always popular with Years 1-3 and I love to read books like The Tooth Ball by Philippa Pearce, Oliver Sundew Tooth fairy by Sam McBratney and by Robert Munch Andrew's loose tooth.


On the topic of toothpaste books like The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling and the sequel Chocolate Touch II along with The toothpaste Genie by Sandy Frances Duncan are worth searching for in your library. Finally there is one of the best short stories of all time Paul Jennings One Shot toothpaste which I first read in a little Puffinalia magazine in 1985.





In writing this blog I now discover the author of The Astonishing Madame Majolica is from New Zealand.

Pencil of Doom by Andy Griffiths

I will admit I am not a huge fan of Andy Griffiths http://www.andygriffiths.com.au/ – why would I be – I am completely the wrong demographic. I am not a boy in Year 4 or Year 5 but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading one of his newest books – Pencil of Doom.

What a great book to read if you feel like real laugh. The plot has just the right number of twists and turns for a story that could be so predictable.

The pencil of this book is totally evil. The idea is similar to the genii from the bottle who gives wishes but always gets those wishes wrong. When the children draw their wishes using this pencil they really need to take care. How these wishes are ‘interpreted’ by the pencil of doom is guaranteed to be a shock, dangerous and often a disaster.

One memorable scene is in the school library towards the end of the story. Our 5 intrepid heroes enter the library stealthily. Clive, their enemy, has the pencil and he has produced a cartoon that fills all the friends with dread. Frame one is a happy picnic scene set under a snow capped mountain, frame two the cap of the mountain breaks off, frame three all the friends are buried under the snow, and the final frame is five tombstones in a ring on the snow.

The cartoon comes true but since we are in the library it is the bookshelves, not snow that falls on the gang. Mr Shush, the librarian, must set the children free but first “I have to do it systematically. In alphabetical order. This is a library, you know, not a garage sale. It will take me a few seconds ... minutes ... hours …days … weeks … months … years.” See Chapters 58-63 for more details.

I love the name Mr Shush and of course the other characters have great names too – the teacher Mr Brainfright, Mrs Rainbow the art teacher, Mr Grunt the sports teacher and my personal favourite Mrs Bandaid the school nurse.

You will laugh out loud when you read this book so if you need a good laugh try Pencil of Doom! This is the second book in the Schooling Around series which began with Treasure Fever.