Welcome to My Blog
News Update for 2019
My latest book I Like Numbers is out now. I was lucky enough to have help from Jenny Allum and Bronwyn Hession with this one. I Like Numbers is the third book in the series of I Like. . . titles. It is designed for children from around 6 to 12 but can be enjoyed by...
What’s new in picture books?
Breaking the rules Everyone who is a blogger advises you need to ‘blog’ at least twice a week. I haven’t managed anything like that and there has been an especially long gap since I last wrote. But now I really want to tell you about my new book, so here I am again....
Time to read
Christmas greetings to you all. The characters in my christmas card are Sad the Dog (from Sandy Fussell's Sad the Dog) and Reindeer (from Ursula Dubosarsky's Reindeer's Christmas Surprise). Both books are very popular with young children. Have you heard of the...
Who’s afraid of graphic novels and other news . . .
Who’s afraid of graphic novels? If you have been hesitant about encouraging children to read graphic novels, it may be time to change your mind. On the Playful Learning website you can read about why graphic novels make great reading and learning experiences for...
All the buzz about books in the upper primary
Let me introduce three upper primary students who have plenty to say about what they like reading. Did you have books read to you when you were little? Can you remember anything...
Do boys enjoy books with girls as the heroines?
An article in Daily Life, ‘How I've helped teach boys that girls are boring and unimportant’, by Kasey Edwards really made me think. She quotes L.J. Lacey of the Melbourne children's bookstore, Three Four Knock On The Door, saying that 90 per cent of the books she...
Books that make an impact
Two books my Kindy class have enjoyed recently are: I Spy with my little Eye by Edward Gibbs. This book gives children the chance to guess which animal is on the other side of the spyglass. They get a hint because they can see part of it. It doesn’t seem to matter...
The Sydney Story Factory
Catherine Keenan, the executive director of the Sydney Story Factory and the 2016 Australian of the year Local Hero, is our guest blogger today. Welcome Cath and congratulations on your well deserved award. In the nearly four years since the Sydney Story...
Children’s learning patterns
Children's learning patterns can seem quite mysterious to an adult. The meanings they take from stories, for example, can be different from the meanings we think they take. In an earlier post I described how children need quite some time to work out what is real and...
The 2016 short list of children’s books and other thoughts
The Children’s Book Council of Australia has announced their short list for the book of the year in various categories for 2016. There are some wonderful choices in each category. You could encourage your children, grandchildren or class to read books from the...
Have you come across Aaron Blabey picture books?
My Kindy group is enjoying Aaron Blabey's books at the moment. Have you tried any of them? You can read about him here. He both writes and illustrates his books and, while they may be something of an acquired taste, they are wonderfully unusual. You could try The...
Websites about children and books
Websites for you to browse Here’s an outline of a few useful sites to help you find advice about children, reading and books on the web. Most sites have some commercial base so you need to read with discrimination – but then that is true of anything you read,...
How to encourage children’s interest in books.
Start the practice of visiting the library at a very young age. Let them choose their own books – a bit of subtle guidance and even sleight of hand may be needed, but children love to choose things for themselves.
How young children see the world
Young children take time to learn whether things are living or non-living, real or pretend. In their world these categories are not yet well defined. It may make for a world that has more exciting, even magical, possibilities but it may also at times be more...
To Disney or not to Disney? | Versions of children’s books.
Does it matter which version of a classic story you read to your child? Well – yes and no. You can be fairly sure the time tested magic of these tales, as long as age appropriate, will probably spread their enchantment, whichever the version. But there is more to it.
Choosing a book for young children
I was asked this week if I had written any books that would suit a two and a half year old Canadian boy with a Dutch mum and Afrikaans dad. I do have a book in production (as they say!) that might suit his age group, but in fact there is nothing of mine, at the moment, that I could recommend.
Reading to young children
I read picture books at a local kindergarten once a week. I love to do this and wonder why I didn’t begin years ago.
It is such a pleasure. Children love stories and love being read to. Seeing their keen, eager faces waiting to see what I’ve chosen to read to them is very encouraging. Their responses are enthusiastic and immediate – intense concentration, loud laughter, impulsive comments.
Read thyself
Who first said 'Know thyself'? A friend and I were trying to remember this the other day. Shakespeare maybe? Aristotle? I looked it up online when I got home and learned it was Socrates, or at least Socrates' words as reported by Plato . As I read further I...
Recent Comments