Tag Archives: Books

I’m a Hungry Dinosaur

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I’m a Dirty Dinosaur written by Janeen Brian and illustrated by Ann James is back!  This time he is hungry for cake in his new book I’m a Hungry Dinosaur.

Two of our students were very excited to show me their copy of I’m a Hungry Dinosaur. It had been signed by Ann James who is also their friend.

How lucky they were to have an opportunity to paint pictures with Ann using flour, cocoa, icing and 100s and 1000s just like Ann did to create her illustrations in the book!  Now THAT sounds like fun! (We might have to try it in the LRC!).

If you love baking and chocolate cake then this might be the perfect book for you (and me!!).

 

New books at the LRC…

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We have lots of new books to start off Term 2 so come on in to the LRC and take some books for a ‘test drive’ to find one you would like to read….

Stuff Happens is a great new series that I’m sure lots of our boys will enjoy reading because the boy characters in these books are just like them with the same everyday problems. I really like the way each author explains at the end how the story relates to an event in their life when they were a boy…

If you enjoy reading books by Andy Griffiths, Jeff Kinney and Paul Jennings then you will definitely enjoy the My Life series. Tom Weekly is the funny main character from the My Life series by Tristan Bancks. There was lots of laughing out loud when the  Year 4 classes and I read “My Nan’s Tougher” from the first book. Tristan also has a fantastic website that you can explore HERE.  This is the book trailer for his first book, My Life and Other Stuff I made Up…

Last but definitely not least is a book for our Senior Fiction readers that Mrs Hembree recommended to me called The Honest Truth. This book touched my heart. The main character Mark is an incredibly brave boy for many reasons who against all odds sets off on a life and death quest to climb Mt Ranier with his much loved dog Beau. It is a book you won’t want to put down…and you might need some tissues…

This book is set in Seattle where Mrs Hembree lives and she actually went to Mt Ranier to take the photos for her stunning book trailer below.  Read Mrs Hembree’s blog post about The Honest Truth HERE.  Notice how the book’s front cover is different to our cover here in Australia. Which one do you prefer? I love that the author Dan Gemeinhart is also a teacher librarian and this is his first book! I certainly hope that he will be writing more books.

What book/s would you like to read from our new books?

A fun day at the Children’s Book Festival 2015

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Melbourne turned on a magnificent sunny day for this year’s Children’s Book Festival! 

It was wonderful seeing so many families on the lawns of the State Library basking in the sunshine enjoying live entertainment or reading books that were provided.  Inside the library it was buzzing with children wearing monster horns dragging their mums and dads to activities (past students trying hard to study!). There were book signings with lines of eager readers; Meet the Author and Illustrator sessions; drawing and writing workshops with the experts; a chance to make and publish your own book; time to chill in red comfy bean bags and listen to stories or you could get creative making your own “Oddity” for a collaborative giant book.

One of my favourite parts of the day was walking into the beautiful domed La Trobe Reading Room where the Jazz band was playing and lots of children were having fun participating in the creative activities set up for them. This space is usually SILENT but today music and the sound of children laughing were bouncing off the walls and it was magical!

If you click HERE and scroll through the photos from the Wheeler Centre you will see two lucky people from our school who met Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton!

I was surprised when I came across author Tristan Bancks sitting on a bench in front of the library! We had a great chat about books and writing and Tristan kindly signed three books I had hoped to get signed for our library. The Year Fours love his hilarious story “My Nan’s Tougher”.  I really enjoyed his Meet the Author session and the audience laughed a lot. Tristan is a great storyteller and I discovered that he sometimes likes to do his writing when walking along the beach…can you work out how?

A big thank you to the Wheeler Centre and the State Library of Victoria for a fabulous day of celebrating books and reading! 

What did you enjoy at the Children’s Book Festival?

Children’s Book Festival 2015

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The Children’s Book Festival is on Sunday, March 22nd at the State Library and the Wheeler Centre…

The Children’s Book Festival is a fabulous and fun day of celebrating books and reading with your family! Click HERE to find out more and to download the program.

You can meet your favourite authors and illustrators − including Shaun Tan, Gabrielle Wang, Andrew Joyner, Ursula Dubosarsky, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton and even more authors and illustrators. There are storytellers, musical acts and performers of all sorts to discover. Grab a book from the picnic library and sink into a beanbag. Help create a giant book that will become a memento of the day and drop by the Children’s Book Festival Monster Marquee, where you can make your own horns to wear all day long.

Warning – bookings required!

All events are free but bookings are required for Meet the Author and Illustrator sessions with Tristan Bancks, Hazel Edwards, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, Oliver Phommavanh, Shaun Tan and Gabrielle Wang. Tickets will be available from Wednesday, March 11th at the Wheeler Centre

Look who I found in the Czech Republic

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I visited Khiny Books which is one of the biggest book shops in Prague to see what I would find in their Children’s Books section.  Do you recognise Mr Stink, The Wimpy Kid and Big Nate? Click on the photo to see what the titles look like in Czech…

In the medieval town of Cesky Kromlov I visited a tiny little bookshop called Shakespeare & Sons.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found a copy of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus”  in English in their display of picture books. The Grade Ones will be impressed!

Reading and books are alive and well in the Czech Republic!