CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS
The Very Noisy Baby
Still Stuck
We are so excited by this gorgeous new hardcover from Alison Lester, one of our favourite children’s authors and illustrators. The townsfolk hear unusual noises and can’t work out where the sounds are coming from. Is it the tiger, escaped from the zoo? The pony club horse who strayed from his field? Or Mr McAlpine’s cockatoo? No – but guess who?
It’s bath time and our little narrator can’t get out of his yellow T-shirt. No matter how much he tugs and squirms, he is stuck. “I was sure lots of important people had been stuck before,” he thinks, “so I decided to stay that way forever! It wasn’t so bad.’’ He doesn’t, of course, and Mum intervenes. A very cute story.
Alison Lester $24.99
Shinsuke Yoshitake $17.99
The Wolf, the Duck, & the Mouse
The Bad Mood and the Stick
The same team that brought you Triangle and Sam and Dave Dig A Hole return with a fractured fairytale about a mouse who is eaten by a wolf and finds he is not alone. Inside the wolf’s tummy, a bit of a party is happening. A duck has set up home, there’s an elegant table setting, dancing. What’s not to like? Hilarious fun for the three-to-six age group.
Lemony Snicket’s bad mood is an emoji-like cloud character (illustrated beautifully by Matthew Forsythe) who wreaks havoc as it skips from person to person. Kirkus Review describes it as “the wonderfully presented universality of the bad mood and how quickly a little thing can chase it away – or beckon it upon us’’.
Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen $27.99
Balthazar The Great
My Lazy Cat
Another Year of Plumdog
Balthazar is the last violinplaying polar bear in the circus world. This makes him very special, but also lonely and uncertain about his future. Themes of homesickness, the need to be among people we love, the search for home are gently dealt with in this lovely picture story.
A picture book that reminds little readers and their parents to take time out, relax, have a day of no plans and enjoy one another’s company. Meet Boomer, the pet cat, who is tubby and chubby and wonderful company. But he is also lazy. As our narrator’s week explodes with activity – swimming lessons, painting, judo – Boomer just ambles about. And who is happier?
Not since Hairy Maclary has a scruffy black dog captured the hearts of so many readers. In 2014, Emma Chichester published the diary of her dog, Plum. Plumdog became an international best-seller and now, this Christmas, we revisit Plum via a new collection of jottings, accompanied by Chichester Clark’s enchanting illustrations.
Kirsten Sims $21.99
Christine Roussey $21.99
Emma Chichester Clark $29.99
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Lemony Snicket $24.99
Little Dog and the Summer Holiday Corinne Fenton and Robin Cowcher $24.99
One of our favourite characters, Little Dog, returns in a new adventure. After his explorations through Melbourne’s CBD in Little Dog and the Christmas Wish, our friend is off with his family on a road trip to Sydney. This beautiful hardback is a tribute to our much-loved Aussie summers, including lovely drawings of beachscapes and camping scenes.