a bit of optimism plus help from a friend can change a life

 a bit of optimism plus help from a friend can change a life

These Two Little Bugs share the same leaf and they both try to persuade the other to come around to their way of seeing the world - one worries, one dreams. (There's a bit of each little bug in most of us.) A very funny and kid-friendly book by a very talented duo.

ages baby to grown-up

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a lovely bedding-down story for the end of the day

a lovely bedding-down story for the end of the day

ages newborn to early childhood
In our house at least, Big Red Barn is a bedtime book. It’s the softly told story of farm animals bedding down for the night ... lovely, calming and reassuring. And elevating.

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there really are no pictures!

there really are no pictures!

There's quite the craze happening for this book - simply because it's heaps of fun! It really is a book with no pictures, but. There are typeface changes, colour changes and white space. Which all go together to give it plenty of life. It's funny and it's great. 

ages 4 to 8 but older kids will respond too / funnylanguage

 

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VESUVIUS POOVIUS :: toilets matter! (world toilet day is November 19)

VESUVIUS POOVIUS :: toilets matter! (world toilet day is November 19)

Ages 4 to 12 years
Vesuvius is a problem solver – and Rome has a big problem. A poo problem. 

No one knows what to do with all the poo. It’s so bad that ‘Some people even dropped it into other people’s pockets when they weren’t looking.”  (Now if that line doesn’t bring at least a grimacy smirk to your face I don’t know what will.)

Because poo is such a problem, it’s also a “forbiddenus wordus’, which leads to a whole slew of hilarious euphemisms like ‘huge daffodil’ and ‘cola cube’. Aside from all the usual uses for a poo book, this one does a great job of teaching how and when and why to use a euphamism.

Vesuvius – clever if marginalised chap that he is – figures out the solution:  tunnels and rain. 

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reading can be an acquired taste—even for a Bilby!

reading can be an acquired taste—even for a Bilby!

ages baby to 8 years
Chock full of delight, this is the story of Bilby, who really isn’t interested in books. All of Bilby's friends are part of a book club and they love to read, but Bilby is a fidgeter and he just isn’t interested in reading. But then, through a conspiracy of circumstances, Bilby ends up reading just one book—The Terrifying Adventures of Big Brave Bilby—and he is hooked. 

 

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    discovering spoonerisms

    discovering spoonerisms

    ages 2 to 10 years
    I particularly like the spoonerisms page in this great book - it comes with a little story about William Spooner – a teacher who would mix up sounds when he spoke.  “One day, he accused a student of missing his history lecture but accidentally said: ‘You hissed my mystery lecture!’”  And there's lots more fun to be had!

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