The perfect distraction…

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 3 Comments

Just look what came this morning…

… two brand new bookcases!

My husband and I ordered them for each other as a joint birthday and Christmas present and they are finally here. Now my fingers are itching to start filling them (and removing the piles and PILES of books we have of every available surface around the house). All this to say, forgive me if I don’t manage another post this week – I’m sure, as fellow book lovers, you understand how these empty bookcases are just too much of a distraction!

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Fantastic Fiction for Kids – Travel

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 10 Comments

One of my favourite Australian travel books for kids is by prolific author/illustrator Roland Harvey. To the Top End: Our Trip Across Australia is a glorious romp from Tasmania to the Northern Territory, taking in the splendour and natural wonder of this enormous land. Kids experience the highlands of New South Wales, the hot red centre and the cooling waters of the Great Barrier Reef before plunging into limpid water of the Top End. With a fun storyline and fantastical illustrations that make your eyes water with the beauty, this is really gorgeous stuff.

Are we there yet? A Journey Around Australia by famed author/illustrator Alison Lester is a family adventure on the circumnavigation of Australia – by caravan. Told diary-style through the eyes of eight-year-old Grace, the book is rich with detail and humour endemic to children and how they see the world. Mini maps of Australia show the journey’s progress along the way, and the plethora of activities the family undertakes make this book a pleasure to view over and over again.

He may be long gone, but M. Sasek’s inimitable collection of travel books for children live on. Currently going through a spate of re-release, the first book in this lengthy series - This is Paris – was published in 1958. The latest re-release occurred September 2009 with This is the Way to the Moon (formerly This is Cape Canaveral, then This is Cape Kennedy) and currently there are many titles available including favourites London, San Francisco, New York and Rome. Timeless, utterly retro and filled with Sasek’s iconic illustrations, this is a collection we are hopelessly addicted to in our family. Packed with information, anything outdated is refreshed on the last pages of each book (the glass pyramid on the Louvre, for example).

For older readers (teens), the S.A.S.S. (Students Across the Seven Seas) series for girls, follows the travels of students travelling abroad to study. Written by several different authors, the travels include Getting the Boot (Italy) by Peggy Guthart Strauss, Westminster Abby [sic] (England) by Micol Ostow and Pardon by French (France) by Cathy Hapka. Fun for adult readers keen to retrace their girlhood, too!

Not strictly a travel book, unless you include time travel, The History Puzzle by Cherry Denman is a truly mind-boggling journey into both the past and to the times and places of the world so steeped in the history that has created our world today. I wanted to include this book not only for its astounding timeline flooded with child-enrapturing illustrations à la Where’s Wally, but also because it does indeed send the reader on a travelling journey – really like no other.

Similarly, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, deserves a mention, not only because it’s one of my favourite (and my children’s favourite) books of all time, but the ethos behind the storyline is all about the need to move, to seek, to find, to experience, to expand ourselves and… to return home once again. That’s what travel is all about, really.

Relatively new on the scene, the Spying on the Past: Battle Boy chapter books by author Charlie Carter, combine travel with adventure in the most astounding tales, devised to foster a love of history. The hero – Battle Boy 005 (Napoleon to you) – travels to famous battles in history in an attempt to infiltrate the DNA of several world renowned war captains, from the Red Baron to Sir Francis Drake. Utilising high-tech time travelling equipment, what I love about these books is how they are aimed at boys who struggle with reading. With large type and super cool graphics throughout, young boys will be travelling into history (and literacy) in no time.

Not fiction, but still fantastic:

In my mind, there is nothing like armchair-travelling the world through the pages of an atlas. We love the Usborne Children’s Picture Atlas in our house. Not only is the information totally child-relevant and fascinating (with information on grasslands, forest, deserts, cities, people and more), the pictures are drenched in colour and comical beauty. My kids can pore for hours over this hardcover book and the myriad of wonder splashed across its countries.

Travelling from site to site is all good and well, but it’s nothing without the colour and culture of other lands. Lands and People by Phillip Steele and illustrated by John James is an extraordinary, encyclopaedic account of many of the world’s countries and its constituents, from people to trade. The book covers languages, housing, infrastructure, climate, clothing, food, currency, traditions and a plethora of information any travel-hungry adventurer would be keen to devour. The book is out of print, so can be found second-hand online.

I (Zoe) think it is clear from this enthusiastic selection of books that Tania loves to travel! In fact, a deep love of travel and belief that all children should experience travel is the reason she wrote her first children’s book.

Riley and the Sleeping Dragon: A journey around Beijing is a unique travelogue picture book for young children that incorporates gorgeous black and white photos of Beijing with cute illustrations, graphics and photographs of a real life toy plane. It follows the journey of this little aviator as he scours Beijing in search of the elusive sleeping dragon of China. The second book, Riley and the Dancing Lion: A journey around Hong Kong sees Riley searching for the traditional dancing lion of Chinese new year, and both books incorporate adventurous, cultural and traditional aspects that make the travel element even more exciting. Book three, based in Sydney, will be out November 2010.

Music to enjoy alongside these books could include:

If you’ve a trip to New York planned, apart from taking me with you, you could also check out this page – a collection of music featuring New York. There are also links to other songs featuring London and Copenhagen (and I’d be happy to go to either of this cities too!)

Travel-related projects that could be fun to go with this wonderful and varied selection of books include:

So that’s today’s Fantastic Fiction for Kids post wrapped up. Tania made a great selection of books – Thank you Tania! – do drop by one of her blogs and say hi to her! And if you’ve a trip planned this year, let us know where you’re going and whether you’ve got any great kids’ books to read on your journey

Cacao Girl

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 8 Comments

Move over Biscuit Bear… here comes Cake Girl!

After a long and patient wait, I’ve finally been able to get my hands on the latest book by David Lucas – Cake Girl – and (hooray, hooray ) it has been worth the wait!

Alone again on her birthday, a witch decides to bake a cake girl for for company. Cake Girl could be Cinderella and the Witch, the wicked stepmother, for soon Cake Girl is being bossed about and given plenty of housework to do. Witch threatens to eat Cake Girl, but Cake Girl thinks quickly and distracts Witch by asking about her birthday party.

“Party?”
said the Witch,
“I’m not having a party.”

Her hat spun round
and she turned away.

“No one likes me,” she said

It transpires that Witch’s magic is useless when it comes to making friends as she does not know how to be nice. Cake Girl then helps her discover her kind and friendly side through helping each other out, dancing and singing (with a little but of magical fun thrown in along the way), and before long they are become true friends and it turns out to be “the best birthday either of them had ever had.”

The idea behind this story is lovely – a little bit of kindness can go a long way to transforming someone’s day, and even someone’s heart. This truism is explored in a gentle and clear (but never earnest) way as Cake Girl shows rather than tells Witch about nice things to do together.

Whilst I like the meat of the story, the actual storytelling isn’t the reason why I’d love to own a copy of this book. Rather, it is the illustrations that make this book really worth seeking out. If you liked the look of Halibut Jackson (my review is here), you won’t be disappointed here – again there are great details in the clothing (especially the hats and shoes), and the flowers, and the use primarily of oranges, greens, browns and black give this book a halloweeny feel (although it would be fine to read at any time of year – indeed, for any birthday – no mention of Halloween is actually made).

The magical element and detailed illustrations, combined with the opportunity to bake a cake made sure this book was a hit with both girls. I don’t think it is quite as wonderful as Halibut Jackson, The Robot and the Bluebird, or Whale (which I reviewed here), but it’s still a lovely, fun book worth finding (and worth all the calories – see below!).

So you’ve guessed it. We simply had to make our own Cake Girl, which we renamed Cacao Girl seeing as she HAD to be made out of chocolate cake. We used this recipe:

Cake
225g (8 oz) soft butter
225g (8 oz) caster sugar
250g (9 oz) self raising flour
25g (1 oz) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs

1 plastic doll

Icing
225g (8oz) soft butter
25g (1oz) cocoa
25g (1oz) icing sugar

A selection of sweets/chocolates/biscuits to decorate Cacao Girl’s skirt.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4.
2. Liberally grease and then flour an ovenproof bowl, having made sure that the bowl is deep enough to fit (most of) the legs of the plastic doll you will later insert into the cake.
3. Mix all the cake ingredients together (we did this in a blender). When well mixed, pour into your bowl and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 50 minutes – this will depend partly on the depth of your bowl. It’s better to over cook this cake than undercook it – and don’t worry about it being too dry – it gets slathered in icing and so can take a bit of drying out!

4. When the cake is cooked (a skewer comes out clean) leave it until it is entirely cool – this may take a couple of hours. The top of the cake will probably be a bit lumpy – simply slice this bit off so that there is a level surface. Invert the bowl and let the cake fall out.

5. Wash your doll and push into the cake! Don’t worry if your doll’s legs aren’t completely covered by cake – you can use the icing to build up height (and to cover the doll’s torso). To make the icing, simply beat all the icing ingredients together. Our icing wasn’t too sweet – given the amount of chocolate used in decorating Cacao Girl we didn’t add much sugar to the icing.

6. Decorate Cacao Girl’s skirt, trying not to eat too many chocolates along the way…

7. Eat (Cacao girl), drink (a hot coffee), and be merry!

Music we’ve enjoyed whilst baking includes:

Other activities that would go well with this book include:

We had lots of fun making this crazy cake. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever baked?