newborn—toddler (0 to about 2 years)
About an over-excited little boy on Christmas Eve. Well versed in Christmas legend, he knows that not a creature should be stirring – not even a mouse. But our hero can’t sleep! It’s a major dilemma. Each page is full of fun!
ages baby to pre-teen
Bring Me Some Apples is a harvest story that follows a young girl and her family through a year of harvests. A beautiful story about capturing the very best flavours as the seasons provide.
That’s a major gap in a child’s life and one we tried to fill with elderly friends from church and other grandparents and great-grandparents of friends.
I think that one of the reasons we realised this was so important was that we had both read Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge dozens and dozens of times.
Three-year-old Ivy is excitedly awaiting the arrival of a baby brother in a couple of months. She’s looking for things that will be the same and different for them.
He’ll be little and she’ll be big. But, after a bath: ‘he’ll have a naked bottom just like me’. Both true.
Ivy is pretty keen for this baby to arrive. (So am I, truth be told.) Still, there’s bound to be some adjusting to do.
The New Small Person is all about the adjustment – and the process.
Ages 2 to 8
ages 0 to 8 years
Summer is in full swing in Tasmania and everywhere we look trees are laden with fruit. We're closely watching our plum and nectarine trees, eagerly awaiting the first ripe fruit, and I think this is what drew us to Together Always when we saw it in the library. That and the wonderfulness of friendship for the start of a new year.
ages 0 to 3 years
One-year-old Angus’s favourite book at the moment is A Christmas Carol from the BabyLit series.
If you’re not familiar with BabyLit, they're board book primers (covering things like animals, counting, sounds, flowers and much, much more) that are a sweet introduction to classic literature. The words are simple and each page connects an object to a story via engaging artwork. For example, in A Christmas Carol:
ages 3 to grownup
I’ve been a John Williamson fan since childhood and a few months ago we were lucky enough to go to one of his concerts as a family. Amazing. There's really nothing quite like a live performance.
During intermission, I came across Christmas in Australia. I had no idea John Williamson had written a children’s book and just had to buy it—my only regret was that the kids were so exhausted by the end of the show we couldn't wait in the line to get it
a lovely book for all ages
'Opposites' books are pretty great—and not uncommon. They're wonderful for building kids' vocabularies and usually simple enough to keep even the little ones interested. Elephant Elements is a book of opposites, but it's not the common variety—more like one-of-a-kind.
ages toddler to 5-years
Ridiculously, 4 of our grandchildren (including newborn Ezra) live in Cairns and 2 are in Tasmania. That’s pretty much opposite ends of the country and at least a two hour flight each way. So weekly or even monthly visits just aren’t an option. But Samantha suggested this great app—Marco Polo. It’s probably not the original intention, but it works really well for reading stories.
I record a story (dodgy lighting and shuffling pages are no big deal), it uploads, and the grandkids look at it whenever their parents are ready to give up their phones for a few minutes.
a series for 1- to 5-years-old
Finding the 'just right' birthday book can be tricky, but it's worth the hunt—there's something wonderful about getting a special book for a special occasion.
This year, one of those 'just right' books turned up for Angus—he was given You’re One!. It was perfect—a sweet relatable story that celebrated the magic of being a whole year older.
'Look at You! You’re one already!
It’s not long since you were as small as Teddy.'
ages 0 to 8 years
Books about happy homes speak to our need for security, love, generosity and kindness. Books about happy homes that are different to our own also offer the comforting idea that in the midst of tremendous diversity, there is more that connects us than separates us.
The Tree does all of that while extending those same ideas, thoughts and feelings
ages newborn to 8 years
It’s nice, especially on cool, dark nights, to think about how wonderful it is to dream. To dream about our friends and fun, or dream about places we have never been, or about our hopes and dreams. Dreams that beckon and entice us to a deep and peaceful sleep.
Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey is just the book for that kind of night. Arrays of ‘animals from long ago’ come to help children on the way to their dreams.
Did you watch it? I know, soooo good. Links here to @LevarBurton and @NeilTyson. But seriously, no pun intended, the planets are lining up for a revival of Good Night Moon. (Did it ever go away?)
It's a nostalgic revival, yes, but also an adult recognition and a nod to a book that's as effective and heartwarming now as when it was first published in September 1947—70 years ago!
ages 0 - 6 years
Spring is finally here and while it's still quite cold in Tasmania, the sun is out and we're loving being outside. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to make mess and have fun with the kids, especially outdoors, and found a bit of inspiration while spring cleaning the shed—a shallow plastic container that looked like the perfect size for a mud farm.
I'd had my eye on a muddy farm sensory play activity from The Imagination Tree for a while, so thought I'd give it a try, with minor adjustments to this original recipe:
ages newborn to 3 years
Angus is a sensory toddler. He loves to get his hands (or mouth, or any body part) into anything with an interesting texture—the sheer delight on his face as he plays with his mashed potatoes and the joy he emanates from trying to eat bubbles in the bath is wonderful to see.
It's also wonderful to see his love of all things sensory extending into his love for books—thanks to these five beauties:
ages 0 to 8 years
‘It’s like ...who sank the boat!' That’s how my family often describes an overwhelming day, too much of something, or a time when we've gone one step too far.
In this story, there’s ‘a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig and a tiny little mouse’ who decide to go for a row on the bay. One by one, they gingerly climb in the rowboat and restore the equilibrium before the next passenger. Finally it’s the tiny little mouse’s turn and so in it jumps. You can guess what happens next I’m sure!
ages 0 to 8 years
Have you ever heard the patter of little feet in the night and found toys and books scattered around the house in the morning? It used to be an almost nightly routine at our place.
In this tender story Hannah wakes and, ‘surprised to find that it was still dark’, discovers that her family is soundly asleep.
She gently finds her way around, pouring milk for her cat, eating cherries without permission, and borrowing some of her sister’s precious possessions.
How many Dr Seuss books can (or could) you recite by heart? There was a time when I could rattle off the whole of Green Eggs and Ham while driving—Thomas would sit in his car seat behind me, flipping the pages at the appropriate moment while his two younger siblings looked on. I could give Fox in Socks a good crack too, though I did sometimes have to agree with Mr Knox:
“I hate this game, Sir. This game makes my tongue quite lame, Sir.”
All the Dr Seuss rhymes are brilliant for little kids who are learning to read, as that great-fun video points out.
ages 0 to 8 years
"I'd say that's udderly fantastic!" - Ruby, agronomist
We’re all fans of the George the Farmer series. Knowing where food comes from and how it’s produced is empowering. Kids and adults alike need to know the process, and ideally we’d all know how to produce a little food ourselves too .... George’s stories are information rich and this time we learn about Ruby .... She’s an agronomist and is called on to help Alex who runs a robotic dairy.
Just a little quickie here—because this video came to me this morning and I have to pay it forward! There are >1.7m views on youtube (and counting) but I'm pretty sure many would be return visits. I did my bit!
First, here's the star of the show—KPtheBaby.....
ages 0 to 6 years
All my brain space has been taken up by our coming-up-fast big move (to Tasmania), so this year's Easter activities have been on the back burner. Thankfully, Ivy found this cute book at the library—it’s managed to kick-start us into our usual Easter fun mode. We’re Going on an Egg Hunt is the story of 4 bunny friends that set out on an egg-hunting adventure (think We’re Going On A Bear Hunt):
ages 0 to 7 years
I love it when Ivy says something like ‘remember when we went to that park, that was so cool!’ I love it because we're usually just driving away from the park at the time! She re-tells all the wonderful things that happened, even though I was there the whole time and it was only 20 minutes ago. The talking is lovely and draws us closer together...
Counting is fun. Counting backwards is even more fun. Counting funny animals backwards — best! In this totally charming book, animals line up roughly by size—and there’s a bossy seagull who keeps them all in line while they wait. The animals make cheeky jokes, push and shove each other and play a game of animal Word Chain. It’s all lots of fun and things build to a surprising and funny climax.
ages newborn to 5 years
I came across this really sweet book at the library. It's a lovely collection of different animal and human parents telling their young ones what it felt like when they were born. For the bear family it was: When you were born the snow melted, the birds sang, the flowers grew. For the owls
ages newborn to 8 years
That's William at playgroup, all dressed up as a pirate and asking: “Who will be my crew?” And, when William's dad was five or six-years-old, he used to leap on to the lounge chair asking exactly the same question:
ages newborn to adult
A board-book all time favourite that invites complex, moral, metaphorical reasoning—and makes you laugh! About a unique relationship between a boy and a duck—is it exploitative or is it synergistic?
When you’re a worm on a mission to get to an apple, you need determination and imagination – and you need to be a go-with-the-flow sort of worm. There’s a great punchline in this book and easy to ‘read’ pictures too.
ages newborn to 8 years
ages 0 to 8 years
Childhood is a wondrous and joyful time. Everything is magical and full of wonder. But it's easy to forget that childhood is also intense!
Those small bodies can experience such BIG emotions. Learning to understand, process and communicate emotions is a difficult process.
A book that's been incredibly helpful in our home recently is In My Heart: A Book Of Feelings.
Also — if you'd like special suggestions, please send us an email. We totally get that a need doesn't always fit neatly into an age group or category.
The story of a baby who gets super powers from eating avocados. It really appeals to kids - and parents! The baby chases away robbers and I do recall cheers while reading the story aloud + cries of "Go Avocado Baby, Go!" There are lots of good strong messages here about little ones being able to contribute.
ages baby to early childhood