Tag Allen & Unwin (Murdoch Books)

This Girl Can Be A Bit Shy / I Just Ate My Friend

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This Girl Can Be A Bit Shy
Stephanie Stansbie and Hazel Quintanilla
Little Tiger

Narrated by little Ruby, ‘I am brilliant. I’m also a little bit shy.’ we learn of her different days: some when she feels brave, bouncy and full of chat, and others when she wants to go it alone, not playing with anybody, not talking to others just hiding herself away in one of her favourite hiding places where no-one can look at her and she doesn’t have to join in with things her friends are doing.

Her Dad understands exactly and wisely suggests, “Tell people kindly if you’re feeling shy.’

No matter what though, there is one thing Ruby is never too shy to say: can you guess what that is?

This is the second book wherein we meet the delightful Ruby as main protagonist and it’s a pleasure to be back in her company, empowering others with her thoughts, energy and actions now that she’s turning six, as we see in some of Hazel Quintanilla’s enchanting illustrations.

I Just Ate My Friend
Heidi McKinnon
Allen & Unwin

Darkly humorous is this tale of a monster that eats its friend and spends almost the rest of the book searching for a new one – to no avail. Those asked, ‘Hello! Would you be my friend?’ find the impulsive protagonist in turn, too big, too small, too scary, too slow

and then there’s just a flat refusal sans reason. Just when it seems he’ll remain lonely evermore, what should come along but another potential candidate for friendship with alluring eyes and a beguiling smile …

This simple story with its patterned text is perfect for those in the early stages of learning to read and they will likely delight in the unexpected twist with which the story ends.

Walks with Wonder

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Your Hand in My Hand
Mark Sperring and Britta Teckentrup
Orchard Books
As winter is turning to spring we join a mouse parent and child in a litany to nature through the seasons as they walk hand in hand. Together they encounter trees bejewelled with singing birds,

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the glorious blues and yellows of the woodland flowers, experience the wildness of the wind as they splash through puddles and wonder at a rainbow.

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Then come summer’s glowing meadows alive with birds, butterflies and other creatures large and small, as well as the delights of paddling in the warm sea. Autumn too brings gifts – of acorns, berries, conkers, fungi and leaves glowing golden, orange, red and brown as they start to tumble.

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Then when winter takes hold once more, the pair snuggle closer together through frost and snow safe in the knowledge, “With your hand in my hand … we’ll never feel lost.”
This book is an absolute joy to share with young children. Sperring’s gentle rhyming text is perfectly paced so one can linger long over each spread and savour the colours, shapes and patterns of Britta Teckentrup’s eloquent scenes along with the mouse and child.
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On the Day You Were Born
Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks
Allen & Unwin (Murdoch Books)
‘My daddy said,
On the day you were born, I wrapped you up warm and took you for a walk to see the world.’
A new father takes his new baby out into the world, and as they walk, it’s as if like his infant, he too is seeing it as new. What a truly wonderful walk it was taking them through sparkling puddles after the rain had stopped, when sleepy night creatures woke to say hello and the honey-scented air was filled with the buzz of bees,

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where a duckling found its family once again; a walk past an old tree of special significance, where friendly animals were almost overwhelming and berries glowed on the bushes, and crickets sang and butterflies danced among the glorious wild flowers. Then as day gave way to night the full moon shone to light the way home where, ‘My daddy said, …
‘I put you back in your mother’s arms and that night we were the world, the three of us together.’
This celebration of a new life is poetry in motion. Brooks glowing scenes, so rich in detail, texture and colour are the perfect complement for Margaret Wild’s lyrical text.
A gorgeous gift for a young child, new or not so new, and surely one to engender feelings of awe and wonder about the natural world.
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