Promoting social justice – which children’s books do a good job of this?

Posted on | May 14, 2013 | 5 Comments

On Saturday, the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) announced the winner of the inaugural Little Rebels Children’s Book Award: Sarah Garland for her book, Azzi In Between.

Using a graphic novel format, Azzi In Between tells the powerful story of a family forced to flee their homeland and settle in a strange and unfamiliar country. The book is based on the author’s own experience of working among refugee families and is endorsed by Amnesty International. I’ll be reviewing it here on Playing by the book during Refugee Week next month, along with an interview with Sarah, which I can’t wait to share with you.

Sarah Garland talking about Azzi in Between. Photo: http://www.ivereadthat.com/

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award is a new award given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and administered by specialist children’s booksellers, Letterbox Library. The award recognises children’s fiction for readers aged 0-12 which promote social justice. This year’s shorlist was made up of:

The award is the brainchild of Nik Gorecki, Housmans Bookshop; speaking about the award, Nik said, “The Alliance of Radical Booksellers is working hard to promote radical publishing and children’s books are an important element of that. There’s still lots of plans in the pipeline for the future and next year we hope to introduce a category for teen readers”.

If YOU have any suggestions about books published so far this year, which you think deserve consideration for next year’s award, please do leave their details in the comments (Full details of eligibility can be found here).

Here’s hoping that the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award goes from strength to strength!

I’m looking for a book about… inventors and inventions

Posted on | May 13, 2013 | 5 Comments

Welcome to “I’m looking for a book about….”, the topic-themed monthly carnival of children’s literature.

Every month I encourage anyone who likes to review books for children (of any age) to leave links to their reviews of books that match the given month’s theme. The idea is that over time, this carnival will become a resource for parents, teachers, carers, librarians looking for books by subject.

Old reviews, new reviews, and reviews for any age are welcome. You may also submit multiple reviews, as long as they are all relevant to this month’s theme.

This month’s theme is…

If you’ve a review of a book for children about gardening, whether that be a nonfiction book, a picturebook or a collection of poetry, please share it by clicking on the blue button below (“Add you link”) or by leaving your suggesting in the comments to this post.

Cute animals + word play = happy kids

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 3 Comments

Do you know the fabulous children’s book blog, Bookie Woogie? It’s a real breath of fresh air and originality; author/illustrator Dad, Aaron Zenz, and his kids review books through conversation with each other, and pretty much every post will make you laugh, smile and delight in the artwork the kids produce to illustrate their review.

I’m a longtime follower of the reviews by Aaron and his family, so today’s post makes me a little nervous; I’m turning the tables, and reviewing two of Aaron’s own books, and not only that, but in Zenz-Family Style!

Zoe: So can you tell me a little about these books?
M: Oh yes! This one is all about animal mums and that one is all about animal dads… [laughing] HUGGABLE dads! That’s funny!
J: I want to draw a chick… or a rooster…
M: They are SOOOOOOOOOOO funny! They have word jokes! I love ewe mum…. Geddit?!? [giggles] I like how the animals are having fun together.
J: Mummy…. LOOK! Cockadoodledoooooo!
M: Mum, what’s a Mummy Turkey called?
Zoe: Oh, I don’t know, shall we see if it is in the book?
M: Ha ha ha! Look, look, a mummy octopus is called a hen! That’s crazy!…. oh, I like Flyer*… that sounds like she flies all the time.
J: I think the pictures are pretty funny… they make me think of the animal bop book.
M: [singing] Doing the animal bop bop bop!

Zoe: Who do you think would like these books?
M: All animal and joke lovers!
J: Mu-um… my swan has a scarf on! [lots of giggling]
M: Actually, I think some of the names for mummies are quite surprising…
J: And the pictures are cute cute [in a high cute voice] CUTE!
M: I think the pictures have been drawn by a very, very very good draw-er. That’s three very’s Mum. But I do think spelling MOM M-O-M is a bit silly.
J: Mommy, mommy, moomy, mimmy, mummy!
M: Cluck, cluck, ooh ooh ah ah!
[giggles from everyone]
[things rapidly descend into chaos]

*A mummy kangaroo

J’s illlustrations inspired by I Love Ewe and Hug a Bull

M loved the idea that a Mummy lobster is called a hen

So you can see… these books induced lots of laughter, some learning, and a whole lot of delight (even if American spellings don’t go down well with my 8 year old ). Like many jokes based on word play, especially those created and enjoyed by children, the text may not be full of literary sophistication, and the cutesy, animation-like illustration style may not sing to the hearts of adults who like coffee table children’s books, but Hug a Bull and I Love Ewe definitely got the kids’ seal of approval, and on that basis alone I encourage you to seek them out.

Once the animal noises died down, out came our box of plastic animals and the kids got stuck into matching up baby animals with their parents:

Music we listened to whilst sorting our animal families included:

Other activities you could do alongside reading Hug a Bull and I Love Ewe include:

When you’ve finished groaning, why don’t you share your favourite animal joke or name for an animal parent?

Disclosure: I consider Aaron a blogging buddy of mine. He sent me the books for review and asked if I would be happy to share them on my blog, and I am indeed happy to do so