Stellaluna: delighting in the extraordinary brings confidence and happiness

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Stellaluna: delighting in the extraordinary brings confidence and happiness

Ages 2 to 8

This is a must-read book - it speaks to the anxiety of being separated from family, the strangeness of new worlds, reconciliation with those new worlds, a return to family and familiarity and being able to move between two worlds without betraying either and without loss of love or friendship. It's a book to have, sitting on the shelf, to provide reassurance and peace at the end of a long day.

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friends, luck and work help when life’s storms become rough

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friends, luck and work help when life’s storms become rough

The story of Milo, a dog with 'few complaints', whose life and perspective changes when he's tossed about in a gale. Luckily, he has friends and good luck on his side. A lovely way to begin a discussion about mental health issues - and more.

ages 2 to 8 years 

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integrity, kindness and creativity can change the world

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integrity, kindness and creativity can change the world

ages baby to 8 years
I lent this book to my children’s school and it disappeared for a week or two. I shouldn’t have worried – it came back to me with a new plastic cover, making it one of our most carefully preserved books! Here's how it goes:

Annabelle lives in a cold and colourless little town, but one day she finds a box of yarn of all sorts of colours. So she knits herself a sweater. Then, since there is ‘extra yarn’, she knits her dog a sweater.

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profound messages of kinship, connection, and shared love of country

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profound messages of kinship, connection, and shared love of country

ages 2 to grown-up
Some stories have a profound message – one that everyone needs to hear more than once – one that is just as relevant to a toddler as it is to the toddler’s grandpa. This isYou and Me Murrawee.

The story is told as the musings of a young girl – maybe 10 or 12 years old – who has a gift for seeing what is no longer present. 

The girl is on a family camping trip in the Australian bush and, as she plays and paddles and watches her family, she senses the life of an indigenous girl, 200 years ago, doing many of the same things she is doing. 

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