Let’s play

Gabriel Alborozo
Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781743316283           RRP: $22.99

This book is like Britten’s Young person’s guide to the orchestra, without the opus; a grand, expansive score compared with this minimalist gem of a book. Quirky pen and ink cartoons show Maestro taking a group of children around the orchestra. Dabs of colour occasionally highlight a child or delineate an instrument; more dramatically, splashes of colours in abstract shapes stream from the instruments to represent their sounds. This delightfully but deceptively simple book will, dare I say, strike a chord with young readers. Perfect for the music room.

Books reviewed 3.07.14

Not all children’s stories are fun and games; some take up quite serious themes. Usually these involve very private emotions which need to be discussed in the secure setting of adult and child together.

The stone lion

Margaret Wild, illustrated by Ritva Voulita
Little Hare (Hardie Grant Egmont)
ISBN: 9781921894855           RRP: $24.95

The lion rests on its pedestal, long wanting to overcome its rigidity and run through the park. Sara and her baby brother sleep at its paws in the winter snow. Overcome with compassion for their plight the lion is granted its wish to take on breathing life; but it uses the short opportunity available to drag the baby and the girl into the library, where they will be saved. Majestic illustrations, rendered in oil pastels, reflect the tone of the story and the period of the setting. In this fable for our times, kindness reaps its own rewards and its magic transforms those that it touches.

Chasing shadows

Corinne Fenton, illustrated by Hannah Sommerville
Ford St Publishing
ISBN: 9781925000153           RRP: $26.95

Beautifully spare text is written haiku-like in this nostalgic family story. Something has happened to Beth that distracts her from day-to-day happenings. She hasn’t noticed the new little puppy playing and growing in the household. Beth’s life has been in shadows. Then another traumatic event draws her out of her detachment. Soft watercolour illustrations suit the mood of the story, at once portraying Beth’s solitude and the puppy’s free-spirited vitality.

Here in the garden

Briony Stewart
University of Queensland Press
ISBN: 9780702250101           RRP: $24.95

Also dealing with loss, this time grief is resolved early and memories are more joyful. Against a backdrop of changing seasons, a young boy visits places where he shared time with his lost companion, and remembers. The tenderness of the poetic text is matched by the delicate illustrations of watercolour and gouache with pencil outline and shading. Always there is movement, if not in the wind then in what the boy is doing or in the words of the story – time moves on. This gentle book is a sensitive exploration of feelings of loss.