Family – Page 3 – Diane's Picture Book Favourites

Deborah Underwood: Ducks!

Illustrated by T.L.McBeth

Published by Henry Holt and Company, Godwin Books, 2020

We are introduced to a little family of ducks in this simple but clever story by Deborah Underwood. One duck is more adventurous than the rest and gets distracted by a hovering butterfly and wanders off, following the butterfly in a daydream. By the time Duck returns to the pond, the others have disappeared!

There is a moment of shock and surprise, what will Duck do next?

Duck starts looking for clues that might help him find his family and we begin the rollercoaster ride of high hopes and dashed hopes as each new lead proves false.

Duck can hear squawking in the park, could that be his family calling him? No, it’s just a brass band playing.

There are webbed footprints on the path, could that be the footprints of his family? No, it’s just a boy with flippers on his feet.

There are feathers falling from the sky, could they be the feathers of his family? No, some children are having a pillow fight and feathers are flying everywhere.

All these false leads are humorously illustrated, and Duck’s emotions range from optimism to you-have-got-to-be-kidding. There are only two words used in the whole story and they appear as capital letters and express their own emotions! DUCKS? and NO DUCKS! The illustrations use only three colours and this simple combination of text and art works brilliantly together all the way to the happy ending.

I can highly recommend this story for children 2 – 4 years, it is easy to read, easy to understand and can help start a conversation about how it might feel to be lost, relying on yourself when there is a problem and persevering to find solutions in tricky situations.

Below are more picture book recommendations for stories which explore the idea of being lost:

Noni the Pony Rescues a Joey
by Alison Lester

Stick Man by
Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Found. by Jeff Newman
Illustrated by Larry Day

Katrina Germain: Let’s Go Strolling

Illustrated by Danny Snell

Published by Little Book Press, 2018

One of the great pleasures of life is going for a walk. Whether you do it in company or alone, with music or without, in the sunshine or rain, all rugged up with coat and hat or cool and easy in shorts and t-shirt, there is something special about slowing down and following the rhythm of your own footsteps. The minutiae of the things around us call out for our attention as we wander by: blades of green grass, hovering butterflies, waving wattle on sturdy branches, lengthening shadows, busy birds and the different textures of bark on trees. We breathe more deeply and feel more connected to the world around us.

Let’s Go Strolling takes us on a walking expedition following a young dad and his small daughter. There is the wonderful routine of just getting out the door. Check the weather, yes, the sun is out. Shoes, bag, hat, teddy, tick! Into the stroller, out the door, let’s go! There is so much to see and name: a pussy cat, blue letterbox, butterfly, aeroplane, a cloudy sky, traffic lights, a mother duck and her babies.

Two big double page spreads wordlessly announce their arrival in the park and look, there’s mum with the little girl’s older brother. Together they explore the simple wonders of being outside: playing in the sand, swishing through the grass, catching the falling leaves, discovering a spider’s web and bird’s nest, counting rocks and resting quietly with mum. Soon, it’s time to go home and we notice all those things we saw on the way to the park, but this time in reverse!

When you read this story aloud, there is a gentle rhythm and rhyme to the words, much like the rhythm and rhyme of walking! This simple experience makes a great learning experience too. A trip to the park enriches vocabulary, relationship and sensory awareness.

The illustrations are simple and uncluttered, making it easy for young readers to match the text to the picture. And there is green grass everywhere, even on the end pages!

I can highly recommend this picture book for children 2-4 years and below are more suggestions for picture books that explore the joys of walking:

I Went Walking by
Sue Williams
Illustrated by
Julie Vivas

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
by Michael Rosen
Illustrated by
Helen Oxenbury

When We Go Walkabout
by Rhoda Lalara
Illustrated by
Alfred Lalara

Brenna Maloney: Philomena’s New Glasses

Photographs by Chuck Kennedy

Published by Viking, Penguin Young Readers Group, 2017

A dear friend introduced me to Philomena and her sisters recently, what a cute little trio of guinea pigs! I have shared this story with young readers and much older ones and everyone, without exception, has finished the book with a smile.

My favourite is Nora Jane. She is not the oldest, that’s Philomena. She is not the largest, that’s Audrey. Nora Jane is completely herself, prepared to follow her sisters’ adventures in acquiring glasses, bags and dresses whether she needs all this stuff or not. But enough is enough. Does she really need a bag when her arms are too short to carry one, or glasses when she can see perfectly well without them?

Nora Jane is even prepared to squeeze herself into a dress just like her trendy sisters, but she soon discovers that the dress makes her armpits itch!

There is nothing like a sisterly conversation, sharing the truth, and talking about the things that are really bothering you, to get the problem sorted.

And just when you think the problems are sorted, your sister can still surprise you!

The final page is very cleverly staged and convinces me that Nora Jane is one sassy, unique and endearing character.

Chuck Kennedy has done a remarkable job getting these real-life guinea pigs to pose for photo shoots. It was also comforting to read that:

“No stunt doubles were used in the making of this book. Each guinea pig performed her own stunts, including hefty purse lifting, snug dress wearing, and even extensive kale eating.”

I can highly recommend this book for children 2-8 years and up to 88 years, my mother was giggling all the way through her first read. Below are more suggestions for further reading about the joys and tribulations of having a sister:

The Seven Chinese Sisters
by Kathy Tucker
Illustrated by
Grace Lin

The Proudest Blue by
Ibtihaj Muhammad
with S.K.Ali
Illustrated by
Hatem Aly

I’ll Always Be Older Than You
by Jane Godwin
Illustrated by
Sara Acton

Whatever Happened to
My Sister by
Simona Ciraolo

Simon James: The Boy From Mars

Illustrated by the author

Published by Walker Books, London, 2017

Sometimes it’s hard to face reality. Especially if your reality is scary, unpleasant, uncomfortable or just too difficult to put into words. Sometimes all you want to do is fly away and leave the problems far behind. Maybe you will come back and face them another day, or maybe not. Sometimes it feels like you should sort the mess on your own but no-one else understands how you feel or how to help you.

Simon James addresses some of these issues in The Boy From Mars.

Young Stanley has to say goodbye to his mum, who is leaving for work and will not be home overnight, and he is feeling a bit lost with this idea. The first thing Stanley does is run out to the garden and climb into a big box that is his spaceship and zoom off to Mars. Fortunately, Stanley comes back, but he is not Stanley anymore. He is a Martian! And this particular Martian does not behave quite like the other boys on Earth.

Martians don’t wash their hands before dinner, they don’t eat vegetables, but they do love ice cream. Martians don’t wash their teeth before bed, but they do keep their helmets on in bed. This particular Martian doesn’t behave so well at school either. Dad is a bit worried about what mum will think when she arrives home. Of course, mum does come home and the first question she asks is whether this little Martian has been good.

What can the Martian do? Jump back in the spaceship, go to Mars and bring back Stanley!

This is a wonderful story that explores what it is like to miss someone. We all have different ways of coping with this feeling. Fortunately for Stanley, his family allowed him the space and time to work it out.

The illustrations are tender and poignant, filled with all the details of life at home, making it very accessible and familiar.

Did you know that Simon James trained as a policeman after leaving school? Fortunately for us, he was asked to leave after penguin drawings were discovered in his notebooks!

I highly recommend this picture book for children 3-6 years, and here are more of my favourite books by Simon James:

Matt James: The Funeral

Illustrated by the author

Published by Affirm Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, 2019

We have all been to funerals. Perhaps you remember going to a funeral when you were young. I have been too many times, it hurts to say goodbye to someone you once loved and who once lived their experienced-filled life. Funerals can be sad occasions, but every death makes you think more about life. And depending on your age, you can experience that loss in different ways, ask different questions, and accept or not accept what has happened.

It is unusual for a picture book to delve into the experience of going to a funeral service, but I think this one beautifully and tenderly captures the sorrow and joy of the occasion.

Norma, a young girl, is happy to have the day off from school and she knows she will meet up with her younger favourite cousin Ray at the church. Did you know that the word FUNERAL has FUN in it? The juxtaposition of the sorrow and sadness of the adults in the illustrations is very cleverly balanced by the joy of being young. My favourite spread is when Norma, sitting in the church pew during the long service, sticks her head in her mother’s handbag, and inhales the scents of her mother. When the organ plays its “swirling song”, rainbows come out of the pipes. Triangle sandwiches are eagerly eaten after the service and finally the children can be let out of church and into the gardens and graveyard beyond. Norma cartwheels over the green, green grass and with Ray they look for frogs and fish in the small pond. On the journey home, Norma reflects that Uncle Frank would have liked his funeral. I felt the same way when my father and father-in-law passed away. If only they could have been present with us and seen all those people gathered in the church, how amazed they would have been and how much they would have enjoyed the occasion.

Matt James has deftly portrayed a singular event from two perspectives. We see the adults doing their grown-up duties and we see the young ones doing their best to be part of something that they sort of do and don’t understand. What the young ones teach us however is this: we have life, we are alive, live it to the fullest today.

I can highly recommend this book for children 5-10 years. The illustrations are complex, but not overwhelming, the colours are vibrant but not sombre, and they enhance the text with pathos and insight. Painted with acrylic, Matt James has also used twine, cardboard, masking tape and scroll-sawn masonite to create his amazing artwork.

Here are more suggestions for further reading on the topic of grief and loss:

Old Pig by Margaret Wild
Illustrated by Ron Brooks

Goodbye Mousie by
Robie H. Harris
Illustrated by
Jan Ormerod

Her Mother’s Face
by Roddy Doyle
Illustrated by
Freya Blackwood

Michael Rosen’s Sad Book
by Michael Rosen
Illustrated by
Quentin Blake

Lifetimes by
Bryan Mellonie
Illustrated by
Robert Ingpen

Sammy in the Sky
by Barbara Walsh
Illustrated by
Jamie Wyeth

Air Miles by
Bill Salaman with John Burningham Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

The Boy and the Gorilla
by Jackie Azua Kramer
Illustrated by Cindy Derby

Lorna Scobie: Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!

Illustrated by the author

Published by Scholastic Children’s Books, 2020

We all make assumptions. About many things. It could be about a person or a place or even what a particular food might taste like because of its colour. We might make assumptions about someone’s behaviour or even an animal’s behaviour. We could assume that most cats like to chase mice, most dogs like to chase cats, and probably most foxes like to eat chickens and sometimes even rabbits. Sometimes we don’t even know what our assumptions are until they are challenged.

In this picture book we meet a young rabbit who assumes that he is the only one in the litter and he loves it that way. There is no need to share anything. He can have his own flower patch, his own stack of juicy carrots, his own private bedroom. Until one day he is joined by one sibling, and another and another and even another, and more again. Lost are all the privileges of being the only one.

Enter the fox next door who has declared his love of having rabbits for company.

And what do we assume? I think we assume the worst.

So, when the young rabbit asks the fox very kindly to take care of all those extra rabbits, we all take in a sharp breath. We think we know what is going to happen.

Yes, the young rabbit gets back his own flower patch, his own stack of juicy carrots and his own cosy bedroom, but the assumption he made about how he would feel when that happened was not what he thought. He misses his siblings and wants to be where they have gone.

So, into the fox’s den the young rabbit happily hops….and what do you assume will happen once he is inside?

Well, I can’t tell you…you will just have to read it yourself!

But remember, never assume because you may be wrong, but you could be right!

I can highly recommend this book for children 4-8 years old, the illustrations cleverly aid the storyline and build tension to the very last page.

If you would like to read more books about foxes and rabbits, not necessarily in the same story and the list is not exhaustive (never assume!), here are some of my favourites:

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
by Mo Willems

A Mouse Called Julian by
Joe Todd-Stanton

One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller
by Kate Read

Sophie Blackall: Hello Lighthouse

Illustrated by the author

Published by Orchard Books, 2019

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live and work in a lighthouse?

If you have, then this is the book for you. The illustrations are exquisitely detailed, you can see the minutiae of everyday life inside a light house over the seasons of the year. Sprinkled in between the pages are gems of information, like letters really being sent in bottles and visitors being winched from a swaying tender in a bosun’s chair to the lighthouse itself, all the while over rough and turbulent seas. Many of the drawings are illustrated from different perspectives: some from above, some in fog, some in roped circles and one in a pull out spread that captures the isolation of the lighthouse in glorious sunset colors. At the end of the story, the author tells us more about lighthouses, their function in days gone by, the faithful and constant maintenance of the lightkeepers, the hardships and loneliness that had to be endured. And how that all changed with the introduction of electric lights and automated machinery around the turn of the century.

So, why not grab your favourite person, head out to the coast and find a lighthouse to explore! While you are there, think about those brave men and women who lived and worked inside them, devoting their lives to be beacons of safety for sailors all around the world.

This book was the winner of the Caldecott Medal in 2019 and I would highly recommend it for children aged between 5-10 years old.

If you like this book, here is another favorite of mine by Sophie Blackall, telling the story of the inspirational beginnings of that famous bear, Winnie the Pooh.

Finding Winnie by
Lindsay Mattick
Illustrated by
Sophie Blackall

Anna Dewdney and Reed Duncan: Llama Llama Mess, Mess, Mess

Illustrated by J T Morrow

Published by Viking, 2019

It’s cleaning day and Llama Llama just wants to play! It’s a thorny problem, tackled by parents everywhere with growing children. Just how do you motivate them to help with the chores? So, Mama Llama asks Llama Llama to imagine what it would be like if cleaning was never done. It’s a clever idea and humorously illustrated with Mama Llama tossing rags on to the floor, throwing clean clothes up in the air, dancing around the kitchen on roller skates and leaving dirty dishes all over the sink and benches, even throwing empty snack bags over her shoulder onto the couch. The house is one big mess. The resulting chaos makes Llama Llama aware of the consequences of being untidy and he begins to understand the importance of why we clean up after ourselves.

The illustrations reflect the devil-may-care attitude of Mama and the carefree abandon of not being responsible for anything. I must admit, I could feel Mama Llama’s joy as she sat in the mess of her own making!

As with all Llama Llama books, the rhyming words almost make you sing the story. It’s a great book to read aloud with your little one and wonder together at the what-ifs of life. We all have choices: to do good or not. Children and adults always need to think about that!

There are many books in Llama Llama series, here are three of my favorites, suitable for children aged 3-5 years old:

Mike Dumbleton: Anisa’s Alphabet

Illustrated by Hannah Sommerville

Published by Midnight Sun Publishing Pty Ltd, 2020

With few words, many pictures and the alphabet, Mike Dumbleton has taken us on the journey of young Anisa Alidurahn, a refugee fleeing from her homeland with her family. Each letter frames the next step, the next hope and the next feeling as we travel with Anisa, helping us to understand what it might be like to leave all that we love behind. From happy home, to a tent city, to a boat that is overcrowded and sinking, to detention, we journey with Anisa and enter her uncertain world.

The language is simple, evocative and hopeful despite the helplessness of the many challenges that face Anisa and her family. As such, it is an excellent resource to introduce this sensitive and sometimes disturbing topic to younger readers.

If you like this book, look out for these titles by the same author:

If you would like to read more picture books about refugees, here are some of my favorite titles:

The Little Refugee
by Anh Do and Suzanne Do Illustrated by Bruce Whatley

Corinne Fenton: To The Bridge – The Journey of Lennie and Ginger Mick

Illustrated by Andrew McLean

Published by Black Dog Books, 2020

Corinne Fenton has written a wonderful story about a young boy named Lennie and his horse Ginger Mick, both born on the same day in 1922 and destined to ride together 9 years later to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It’s hard to imagine the spunk and bravery of a 9 year old boy and his trusty horse, being able to navigate the road to Sydney, some six hundred miles away, without a mobile phone, google maps or pre-booked accommodation. And just as hard to understand, that his parents thought he was more than capable of the task ahead and helped and encouraged Lennie to fulfil his dream. Andrew McLean’s illustrations thoughtfully reflect the enormity of the undertaking – my favorite page being the one where the family are gathered around the table looking at maps, the father hovering over his son’s shoulder and the mother with arms crossed, standing close by, looking apprehensive yet proud.

Corinne has included biographic details at the end of the book with photos of the real Lennie and Ginger Mick, and a reminder of the importance of the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, employing many workers at the time of the Great Depression.

If you would like to read more about this extraordinary story, look out for this title – Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney By Pony, written by Stephanie Owen Reeder, published by National Library of Australia, 2020.

I can highly recommend this picture book, most suited for 5-8 year olds.

If you like this book, look out for these titles by the same author: