Tag: Picture Book

Dragons: Father and Son – Alexandre Lacroix

Illustrations – Ronan Badel

Dragons: Father and Son tells the story of a father attempting to teach his son the dragon tradition of burning down houses. Drake is not exactly proficient at fire breathing, having used his abilities for cooking snacks but nothing ever as big as burning down a house!

Drake finds that he’s not quite a chip off the old block when he flies to a nearby village the next day, ready to make his father proud. Humans don’t seem to be as ferocious as his father has taught him. Can Drake find a way to make his father proud and still stay true to himself?

I loved the expressions captured on particularly the father’s face in Ronan Badel’s illustrations. The father’s use of glasses near the end was a chuckle moment for me. The illustrations complemented the story well and I imagine children will enjoy the father’s cranky expressions at the beginning of the book and the son getting ready to burn down parts of the village in earnest to please his father. I really liked the drawings of the bats.

My favourite picture would have to be when Drake tries to go to sleep the night before he sets out for the village. The look on Drake’s face as he contemplates the next day’s activities is priceless and there was a special cute factor with him holding onto his bird’s leg while the bird sleeps peacefully.

Also, dragons!!! 🐉 😃

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – words & pictures for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Strokkur is a young dragon, whose father instructs him to act like a proper dragon – and to go out and set fire to some houses. But Strokker isn’t confident about his skills and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. How will be prove himself without upsetting his dad and everyone around him? A funny and moving story about the bonds between fathers and children, with a positive, peaceful message – and all the magic and mayhem you’d hope for in a tale about dragons.

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Grug Goes to Hospital – Ted Prior

I love Grug! I read a lot of these as a kid and recently rediscovered them in packs of ten at Big W. They’re just as adorable as I remembered. Who says they’re for kids?! My mother and I love them! I actually bought the packs for Mum and have been randomly hiding individual books for her to find when she least expects it. Today I hid this one for her and it’s the LAST. ONE. I. HAVE! Need to remedy that ASAP!

In Grug Goes to Hospital, which I hadn’t read before, Grug shows Cara how he can swing on a rope and falls off.

Cara pulls Grug on the ambulance to the Bush Hospital. On the way the ambulance tips over and Grug gets a headache. Once at the hospital Cara patches Grug up, splinting his leg and wrapping a bandage haphazardly around his head before instructing him to rest. Grug gets a visitor while he’s in hospital and works on a project to cheer up other patients.

I adore Cara! You can almost hear her thinking, ‘What trouble are you going to get yourself in to now, Grug?’ She’s a great friend who’s always there to figuratively lend a hand – as a snake, she doesn’t have any. I love this series so much! It doesn’t matter what Grug does next. I’ll be reading about it no matter what.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Poor Grug has hurt himself! Keep him company as he goes to hospital!

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Pea Pod Lullaby – Glenda Millard

Illustrations – Stephen Michael King

At first glance this book looks really sweet and it is, but once you start reading you realise there’s a depth to it and sensitivity in its commentary about refugees.

Fleeing from a war torn area, this mother, her children and dog set sail in a small boat that barely looks like it can float on a journey to the unknown. Filled with so much hope, this book impressed on me the depth of this mother’s love and courage.

With few words and accompanied by watercolour and ink drawings by Stephen Michael King, this story was a lovely surprise.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

I am the small green pea, you are the tender pod, hold me.

Words sing over the pictures in this evocative story: a beautiful lullaby about what we can be for each other.

A mother and baby, a boy and a dog run for their lives. A little boat carries them across the sea. A polar bear, too, has come adrift. When will they find land? Where will they find friends? Who will welcome them in?

The Pea Pod Lullaby is an inspiring and timely story of courage, endurance, and hope … for a world in which we can reach out and embrace one another.

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A Unicorn Named Sparkle – Amy Young

Dragging on 🦄 UNICORN MONTH 🦄 because I’m not done yet and, well, unicorns!!!

Cuteness overload! Just on the cover we have glitter and butterflies with happy faces. SOLD!!!

When Lucy orders a unicorn for 25 cents – BARGAIN!!! – she doesn’t get the unicorn of her dreams. If your heart doesn’t melt when you see Sparkle snuggled up with Bear-Bear after a bedtime story to calm his fears during a storm, then I don’t know what will. Plus he has a heart shaped patch of fur near his butt and loves cupcakes.

I need the details of the comic Lucy found the unicorn ad in so I can order my very own Sparkles!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When Lucy sees an ad in the newspaper for a unicorn, she sends in her twenty-five cents and waits four to six long weeks for her very own unicorn to arrive. She imagines the flowers that she’ll braid into his beautiful pink mane, and she even picks the perfect name for him: Sparkle. But when Sparkle arrives, his ears are too long, his horn is too short, he smells funny – and oh, he has fleas. Lucy isn’t pleased, but in the end she warms up to Sparkle and realizes that even though he wasn’t exactly the unicorn she wanted, he might be just the one she needs.

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The Girl Who Said Sorry – Hayoung Yim

Illustrations – Marta Maszkiewicz

💡GIRL POWER!!!💡

This book!!! Oh, my goodness!!! Please buy a copy for EVERY. SINGLE. GIRL. you know!!! By girl, I’m talking ages from newborn to 100 plus years old.

As girls we grow up being taught so many conflicting things and then told to apologise, well, basically for being a girl. We’re too fat. We’re too thin. We’re too quiet. We’re too loud. It’s the real Neverending Story.

In The Girl Who Said Sorry, girls are not told to be sorry for who they are! Let’s just celebrate that for a moment … While encouraged to own their mistakes and ensure their choices and words don’t hurt anyone, they’re told IT’S. OK. TO. BE. UNAPOLOGETICALLY. YOURSELF. Hallelujah!!!

This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. So simple yet so profound, I want to read this book over and over again until I unlearn all of the sorry conditioning I’ve ever been exposed to. Can you imagine a world where girls don’t apologise for being who they are? I can’t, but I desperately want to!

Hayoung Yim, this book makes me so proud to be a woman! Thank you!

Marta Maszkiewicz, your illustrations are exceptional! They’re so soft yet so strong at the same time, and they capture the feel of the book brilliantly.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association for the opportunity to read this book. If there was an option to give more than ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I’d be giving this book every star I could find.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Too girly or too boyish. Too thin or too fat. Too quiet, too loud. Be ambitious, but don’t hurt feelings. Be inquisitive, but don’t interrupt. Be outspoken, but don’t be bossy. Most of all, be yourself – but be a lady.

What’s a girl to do in a world filled with contradicting gender expectations, aside from saying sorry?

The way we teach politeness norms to children is often confusing, changing based on gender – and can have lasting effects. And while everyone should be courteous and accountable for their actions, apologetic language out of context can undermine confidence and perceived capability.

Within the subtle yet beautiful illustrations and powerful rhyme of The Girl Who Said Sorry developing girls will learn that self-expression and personal choices can be made without apology, and with confidence.

50% of profits from this book is donated to Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation campaign dedicated to empowering young girls to take action on global issues.

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The Bear Went Over the Mountain – Louis Shea

This book deserves 5 stars for the illustrations alone! It has some of the most detailed and beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen in a children’s book. All of the animals in each picture have their very own personality and they’re just so cute and quirky! Whether it’s a squirrel with a mohawk, crabs building sandcastles, sharks attending school, penguins swordfighting with swordfish, a fruit salad chameleon or mosh pit bats and rats, there’s so much to see and laugh at. The story is simple, repetitive and fun for kids, but the real stories are what’s happening within the pictures. I adore this book!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see.
What do you think he saw?

You won’t believe what the bear sees over this mountain!

A forest of squirrels singing,
Setting ears a-ringing.
Golly gosh! Oh my! Oh me!
It was a sight to see.

Sing along with favourite children’s entertainer Jay Laga’aia’s bonus CD recording!

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Thelma the Unicorn – Aaron Blabey

Another book proudly brought to you by …

🦄 Unicorn Month! 🦄

Thelma the horse desperately wants to be a unicorn and doesn’t believe her best friend when he tells her she’s perfect just the way she is. Between a carrot tied to her nose and a fortuitous near miss with a truck loaded conveniently with pink paint and glitter, all of Thelma’s dreams come true. Or so she thinks. It’s not much fun keeping up the facade of being someone you’re not.

This is a sweet book about accepting and loving yourself for who you are. A recommendation from one of my favourite librarians, I love the message of this book. The illustrations are lovely and I particularly liked Thelma’s best friend, Otis. You can’t help but love someone who loves you just the way you are.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Thelma dreams of being a glamorous unicorn. Then in a rare pink and glitter-filled moment of fate, Thelma’s wish comes true.

She rises to instant international stardom, but at an unexpected cost. After a while, Thelma realizes that she was happier as her ordinary, sparkle-free self. So she ditches her horn, scrubs off her sparkles, and returns home, where her best friend is waiting for her with a hug.

From award-winning author Aaron Blabey comes this joyful book about learning to love who you are … even if you don’t have sparkles.

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Chirp – Dolores Costello

Chirp, the book and the sweet little chick, are so adorable. Chirp goes on an adventure through the red fence, past a cat and some turkeys. A gust of wind deposits him in a can of blue paint before he wanders back to his siblings.

Chirp and his siblings are the sweetest little balls of fluff on scrawny stick figure legs, and in only a few lines for their eyes and beak, their expressions are priceless. There’s a lot of white space surrounding the pictures but they’re brightly coloured and I feel extra detail would have detracted from the cute factor. The illustrations are so simple, not that I think for a minute I could replicate them. Art and I aren’t on the best of terms. I like it but it doesn’t like me so much. This book would be a helpful tool to teach your little ones primary colours.

Each of the five times I’ve read this book (so far), I’ve smiled from start to finish. It’s a lovely picture book that I’d happily read over and over. This would make a great bedtime story for your own adventurous little chicks.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Xist Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When a little chick leaves the flock, he stumbles on to an adventure that will change him forever. This charming picture book from Dolores Costello is a cute read for little explorers.

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The Little Red Wolf – AmĂŠlie FlĂŠchais

Illustrations – Jeremy Melloul

Spoilers Ahead!

Well, that was dark and depressing. The young wolf is on his way to his grandmother’s house to deliver a freshly slaughtered rabbit and is warned to stay away from a certain area of the forest because that’s where the horrible hunter and his daughter live. On the way he gets distracted, hungry and lost. He eats the rabbit intended for his grandmother and then worries about getting into trouble.

Along comes a nice young girl who offers to take him to her place for a replacement rabbit and he naĂŻvely follows, unknowingly walking into a trap. We end up hearing two versions of the same story at the end of the book, both told as songs to the same tune. In one version the wolves killed the hunter’s wife. Therefore, wolves are evil and we must kill them all. In the other version the hunter’s wife was friends with the wolves and when the hunter couldn’t find his wife one night he got worried and searched for her. Seeing her with the wolves he was afraid and shot at the wolves, accidentally killing his wife.

While some of the illustrations are intricate and gorgeous, others are dark and would most likely give young children nightmares if this was their bedtime story. I know that generally the fairy tales we’ve known all our lives didn’t originate with the Disney version we’re used to but that doesn’t mean I want to read them to a young child. I can see this book being appreciated by some older children and adults but I personally wouldn’t want to buy it.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A young wolf, on a journey to bring his grandmother a rabbit, is charmed by the nice little girl who offers to help him … but nice is not the same as good.

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Who Feels Mad, Dear Dragon? – Margaret Hillert

Illustrations – Jack Pullan

After my love of dragons was encouraged by Margaret Hillert’s Es Halloween, querido dragĂłn / It’s Halloween, Dear Dragon I scoured NetGalley for more books by this author and illustrator, Jack Pullan.

In Who Feels Mad, Dear Dragon?, Dear Dragon and unnamed boy have both got their cranky pants on. No matter what they’re asked to do, they simply don’t want to. Mother and father each tell them not to get mad and after doing the activity they were spitting the dummy over, unnamed boy and Dear Dragon decide they either enjoyed the activity or that it was good for them after all. A lot of the activities centred around going to bed. Dear Dragon and unnamed boy get up the next day with a new attitude, decide that they won’t get mad and will have a good day.

Now, these parents must be saints, remaining calm regardless of their child and dragon’s bad behaviour. Personally I was disappointed that not once was an apology given by the boy or dragon and there didn’t appear to be any consequences at all for their bad behaviour. The boy attends school so surely he’s too old to be chucking tantrums where he’s laying in bed after being tucked in with the covers off, kicking and punching the air, isn’t he? I wouldn’t have gotten away with behaviour like that without consequences at any age.

Frustrations aside, this book is part of the Beginning-to-Read series and as I expect an adult will be reading this book to the child, at least initially, there is the opportunity for engagement with the child about Dear Dragon and unnamed boy’s behaviour. If I was reading this to a child I’d be getting them to think about the way the characters behaved, when they should have apologised, and how they could have better managed being mad about what they’d been asked to do.

There’s good use of word repetition and a Reading Reinforcement section at the back of the book that assists the adult to help the reader get more out of the book. The Reading Reinforcement has activities relating to phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and text comprehension. There’s also a list of the 73 words found in the book.

I love Jack Pullan’s illustrations again in this book. I liked the pictures in the Halloween Dear Dragon book more but that is solely due to the fun that could be had with that book’s subject matter. The illustrations in this book are still brightly coloured and well suited to the story. The expressions on Dear Dragon and unnamed boy’s faces clearly show when they are mad and when they are happy.

For a book that helps children learn to read, it seems to tick all of the right boxes. However, if I wanted a book to help teach a child how to deal with anger, I would be looking for one that has consequences for bad behaviour and that provides age appropriate ways of managing emotions without chucking a tantrum.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Norwood House Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A boy and his pet dragon feel mad when asked to do daily tasks. Together they learn to manage their anger and find that completing their tasks is a good thing. Emphasises the importance of controlling the emotion of anger. Teacher resources include note to caregivers, word list, reading activities to strengthen phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. 

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