Tag Ole Kōnnecke

You Can Do It, Bert!

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You Can Do It, Bert!
Ole Könnecke
Gecko Press

We meet Bert on his big day. Having prepared himself both mentally and physically he’s going to jump out of the tree. He’s ready, well almost, though he needs to check everything … just once more. Yes, got it! He’ll do a running start but … hang on, he’s going to snack on his banana first. With that finished, surely he’ll jump. Maybe some loud encouragement from the narrator and little humans will do the trick.

Yeah! Off he goes dashing along the branch and wheee! After worrying on the way down, into the water he plunges and there to greet him are his other avian friends. Time for another jump: Who’s going first?

A spare text, which makes a great read aloud and simple. bold illustrations that show so well Bert’s feelings throughout, provide a story that contains a powerful reassuring message about overcoming your reluctance to try something new. Young listeners will certainly relate to Bert’s internal struggle and the book offers a great starting point for discussion on risk taking.

One for both home bookshelves and class collections.

Diggers, Dozers & Dumpers

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Diggers, Dozers & Dumpers
Ole Könnecke
Gecko Press

Translated from the original German by Melody Shaw, this contains fourteen mini stories each of which features a different construction vehicle. Every story but one unfolds over one spread and all show realistic pictures of the vehicles and their amusingly portrayed animal drivers.. The vehicles include a dumper truck driven by Roberta Elephant, a telescopic crane that concert pianist Cordula Cow uses to carry her piano to give a free concert in the pasture to her ‘less successful sisters’. I think my favourite and probably that of young children, is J.J. Wolf’s mini-digger story. Having dug a small hole in the sheep paddock he’s surprised to find that the following morning some sheep have fallen in. The cunning guy invites the sheep to dinner at his house. Err …

The cement mixer story spread is a recipe for pancakes that requires more than two thousand litres of milk, s two thousand plus tons of flour and over thirty two thousand eggs and there’s a tale of grass mowing one-upmanship entitled ‘combine harvester’.

Each tale has additional information in italics about how the vehicle is used. The countless young vehicle loving children will probably most enjoy seeing the machinery whereas adult sharers will have a good giggle over the animals’ actions.

A fun amalgam of story and information; it’s great to see several of the machines have female operators.

Valdemar’s Peas / Sports are Fantastic Fun!

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Valdemar’s Peas
Maria Jōnsson
Gecko Press

This deliciously funny tale of fussy eating lupine style stars young Valdemar, devourer of fish-fingers; hater of peas.

When Papa strikes a bargain: “The peas go in the tummy. Then ice cream. Chocolate ice cream!” the wily little wolf comes up with a clever ruse that gets the peas into a tummy without a single one of the wretched spherical objects passing his lips.

When he eventually fesses up to which particular tum the peas actually found their way into, Papa’s response is more than a little unexpected, which is fortunate for the young trickster.

Perhaps next time however, his pa might be a little more specific with respect to whose tummy he has in mind.

I love the interactions between father and son that will surely resonate with both young pea-protesters and other anti-veggie littles and their parents.

Maria Jönsson’s black and white illustrations with touches of yellow, red, green and of course, brown, are as playful and humorous as her words.

One to devour avidly and I’m sure second servings will be on order right away. Like those peas, this book is small but perfectly formed.

Sports are Fantastic Fun!
Ole Kōnnecke
Gecko Press

I received this book for review having spent the weekend with a very lively 5-year-old girl who proudly informed me at every opportunity, “I’m a sporty girl!”
I suspect she would feel a little under-represented in this sporting celebration.

It features a host of cartoon style animals of all kinds demonstrating a wide variety of sporting activities both of the individual and team kind; from sprinting to soccer, cricket

to climbing, fishing to cycle racing,

pole vaulting to rowing,

billiards to boxing and rhythmic gymnastics to ice-hockey.

Not only well-known sports are showcased; unlikely ones like  arm wrestling, skipping and unicycling and caber tossing also get a mention.

Each activity is described, sometimes with tongue-in-cheek irony, and illustrated in a style slightly reminiscent of Richard Scarry, with watercolour and pen drawings that are replete with visual humour.

Lack of gender equality and recognition of the differently abled notwithstanding, it’s all very entertaining and there’s a wealth of factual information relating to the featured sports.

A big thank you to Gecko Press for sending these and renewing their acquaintance with Red Reading Hub.