Kids' Picks

Picture Books

I am Bear. Ben Bailey Smith and Sav Akyuz

This hilarious picture book will make you laugh out loud! Big and cheeky, naughty and very loveable Bear wears a purple suit with purple hair and gets up to lots of mischief. He steals honey from the bees, doughnuts from a police officer, performs magic tricks and annoys poor squirrel, amongst other things. The illustrations are bright and bold. The rhyming text is very funny and great for reading aloud.

The Seashore Book. Charlotte Zolotow and Wendell Minor

The Seashore Book has been redesigned for its twenty-fifth anniversary. It is stunning! A mother describes the colours, sounds and sights of a day at the seashore to her son. The beautifully simple prose brings the seashore vividly to life for the boy who has never before seen the sea. The illustrations are richly detailed and perfectly capture the story.

Fiction 7-9

Helper and Helper. Joy Cowley and Gavin Bishop

Helper and Helper is the third book about the adventures of Snake and Lizard who live deep in the desert. While the two unlikely friends do have some things in common they are also very different. We learn that while Snake and Lizard often disagree they always manage to work things out and their friendship is enduring. This collection of animal stories is similar to Aesop’s Fables but even funnier and more unexpected. Gavin Bishop’s appealing illustrations combine well with the story which is great for reading aloud.

The Queen’s Tale. Kaye Umansky

This hilarious re-telling of the story of Snow White is told from the wicked step-mother’s point of view. The Queen, who loves shopping and running up large bills for her husband the King, is sick of her step-daughter. The King, however, adores his beautiful daughter Snow White, who is so pretty and kind and loves little animals. The story continues with some wickedly funny twists and turns.

There is a “dyslexia-friendly’ sticker on the cover of the book. It has a dyslexia-friendly layout and typeface and is printed on yellow tinted paper.

Fiction 10+

Quicksand Pond. Janet Taylor Lisle

Terri Carr and Jesse Kettle are on their summer holiday. The 12-year-old girls form an unlikely friendship when they meet on a dilapidated raft out on Quicksand Pond. The story that follows involves the lingering effects of a tragedy that occurred decades ago on the pond when two boys mysteriously disappeared. Around the same time there was a murder committed also near the pond. This story is somewhat dark but riveting and tackles discrimination and friendship. Janet Taylor Lisle is a Newbury Honour winner.

Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas. Jonathon W. Stokes

This is the first book in a new series featuring twelve-year-old Addison Cooke. Addison’s aunt and uncle are both world-famous researchers, who travel all over the world searching for hidden treasure. When his uncle is kidnapped after finding an ancient Incan clue to a huge treasure trove, Addison and his friends become involved in a huge adventure that takes them to South America, where they try to outsmart the kidnappers and crack the code! This action- packed archaeological mystery combines adventure, humour, excitement and danger.