Have you ever wondered how polar bears stay warm? What about why there are dark spots on the moon? How about if dolphins talk to each other? What about if something lives at the bottom of the ocean? Well now there is a book which can answer these questions and so many more for you! Hailing from the team at the Natural History Museum of London, Do Penguins’ Feet Freeze?is a quirky collection of questions and answers focussing on the natural world.
I’ve always wondered why rain has a distinct smell, thanks to this book I have learnt that the scent is known as petrichor, and it is made when oils from plants combine with a special molecule called geosmin. Geosmin is made by special algae and bacteria. As it turns out our noses are especially sensitive to it when it combines with the plant’s oils, and that is why we can smell petrichor every time it rains.
Each page in this book poses a new question about the natural world and then answers it with fun images and informative text.
It is fun, real and perfect for curious young minds who have lots of questions about the natural world which surrounds us. They will be excited to share the new things they learn with everyone around them which to me is a win-win for any adult out there looking for a new read for their bedtime repertoire!
Wild and weird Q&As about the natural world that show that facts can be stranger than fiction! Do Penguins’ Feet Freeze? is a wonderfully weird collection of questions and answers about our natural world, written by the expert team at the Natural History Museum, London.
Packed with colourful images throughout, this book reveals:
Why do rabbits eat their own poo?
How do polar bears stay warm?
Can dolphins talk to each other?
Why does rain smell?
How clever is an octopus?
Which animal has spines in its throat?
Why do goats scream and faint?
Will an asteroid hit Earth?
Why are flamingos pink?
Do birds sneeze?
Why do honeybees dance?
… and many more cool and quirky facts that prove nature is often stranger than fiction!
There’s no better place for children than in a bookshop or library. Heads in books, imaginations working in overdrive.
On Saturdays, when we’ve finished our chores, helping Dad hang the clothes and Mum mow the lawn we set out on journey, into the beyond, to visit our wonder-what wow-ical secret … the bold little bookshop on Ballarat Street.
What our young readers find in their local bookshop is ‘plentiful magic’. Characters from books fill the pages like the cheeky trolls follow them home but Dad says they’ve got to go! From monsters, giants or pirates, to dragons or wizards or wild things that dance. They can’t wait until Saturday comes so they can go back to that magical-make-believe, troll follow, that-one-please, bold little bookshop on Ballarat Street.
We Know A Place is about the wonders of stories inside the covers of a book. But also the place that keeps these treasures and the joy they provide to those that step through its door. Like young imaginations, Beneba Clarke’s illustrations literally fill the pages so they brim with colour.
The little bookshop is also Maxine’s favourite, and she pays it a beautiful tribute with this book.
She is the ABIA and Indie award-winning author of Carrying the World (2016), Foreign Soil (2017) and The Hate Race (2018). She is the author of five books for children, including the CBCA and Boston Globe/Horn Prize award-winning picture book The Patchwork Bike (2016, illustrated by Van T Rudd), and the critically acclaimed Wide Big World (2018, illustrated by Isobel Knowles).
Maxine is the author-illustrator of two picture books, Fashionista (2019) and When We Say Black Lives Matter (2020). She also illustrated the picture book 11 Words for Love (2022), written by Randa Abdel-Fattah. We Know A Place is the third picture book she has both written and illustrated.
This is an atmospheric horror novel with chilling and immersive imagery.
Jade Nguyen is staying with her sister in a colonial house in Vietnam that their estranged father is fixing up, and tensions are high. But something is wrong: the house. Waking up paralysed with dead bugs everywhere in her room, Jade is convinced the house is haunted. When she starts getting vision-like dreams it’s undeniable, but no-one believes her.
With the help of local girl Florence, Jade vows to reveal the truth about the house. The imagery and descriptions are vivid, and placed me right into the shoes of the main character, from the crawling insects and bugs to the creaking and rotting house itself. The history and truth about the colonial house is revealed slowly and eerily. It left me wanting more at the end of each chapter.
She Is a Haunting is an alluring novel that details the experiences of the children of immigrants and effects of colonisation.
Reviewed by Bethany, St Ursula’s College, Kingsgrove NSW
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Trang Thanh Tran is a Vietnamese American writer telling all stories scary, otherworldly, and emotional. Trang grew up in a big family in Philadelphia but now calls the South home. They’re an alum of the Writing Barn’s Rainbow Weekend and Tin House’s YA Fiction Workshop. When not writing, they’re busy trying new food and watching too many zombie movies.
Trang Thanh Tran writes books about big feelings in small moments, people making bad decisions, and ghosts—real and imagined. Watch this space for special book content, updates, and blog posts about writing life, publishing, and current obsessions.
This is the American way of pronouncing her name. Trang – pronounced like rang with a. Thanh – pronounced like Ton, Tun, or Thahn. Tran – pronounced like ran with a.
As Captain Thunderbolt emerges from his hideout one morning it’s not long before he checks his pockets only to realise that he is in need of shillings to buy himself a hot meal and a piece of sweet sugar loaf for his horse, Spirit.
He lay in wait behind a boulder until along came a horse and cart with a German band of musicians. As he rushed out on Spirit he shouted, ‘Stop there! I am Thunderbolt! The King of the Bush!’ The players quivered with fear as he waved his gun around. Thunderbolt laughed and insisted they play for him, but to also pay him to listen to them.
This tale is based on a true story. Thunderbolt robbed the band, but he was also known to repay those he robbed so there is a surprising ending.
Jolly has written the characters well and Duthie’s illustrations brings them to life on the page.
Captain Thunderbolt’s Recitalis a fun read that also educates us on a time in history. Great information is squirrelled away at the back of the book to learn more about this story from history.
Reviewed by Jane Stephens Age Guide 4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born in Adelaide in 1957 and raised at Henley Beach (quite often on the beach!) where I attended the local primary and high school. I then went on to Torrens C.A.E. where I spent three years socialising and emerged as a primary school teacher in 1976.
In 1992 I married and now have a 28 year old daughter (and a husband), three adult step-children and six grandchildren. I have now retired after 45 years off being a Primary School classroom teacher.
I have had three children’s picture books published by Limelight Press (Limpopo Lullaby illus. Dee Huxley 2004, Glass Tears illus. Di Wu 2005). Both of these books were listed as Notable Books by the CBCA. Ali the Bold Heart illustrated by Elise Hurst was released on June 1st 2006 .
I have a large organic fruit and veg garden. I love eating the fresh produce from my garden. I also love bottling, drying and pickling it. I love eating. Especially chocolate. If I could grow a chocolate tree I would. I have a theory about eating and that is, that our whole lives revolve around eating. Think about it! The last time you went somewhere or met a friend … what did you do? Eat or drink or both!
I also love my chooks! And their big brown eggs. Which I eat!!
It was a month before Christmas and time for a tree, but where, oh where, could the decorations be?
As the family searches from the attic to the garage to under the house where Dad had to crawl, no-one heard the quiet BEGERK! That night as they tucked up the hens into bed they discovered that one was missing. Gloria. They searched high, they searched low. They noticed up in a tree, right by the chicken coop, was a hunter – a hawk – having a snoop.
The facts were quite clear, the facts were quite grim: that hawk was no longer particularly trim.
The flock of hens is not too fussed that Gloria has gone missing. After all, None of them liked her, they thought her quite strange. She had weird ideas – completely free range.
Where oh where could Gloria be!
Honestly, while writing this review I am hard-pressed not to burst into rhyme. You can’t help but get caught up in the rhythm as the rhyming words swish along.
I giggled my way through reading The Daring Tale of Gloria The Great. When I finished, I read it again. I laughed out loud. Then I read it again, out loud, and my heart was filled with joy. Such hilarious fun, fabulous illustrations. A book you simply have to go and borrow or buy.
Don’t miss it!
Reviewed by Rowena Morcom
Age Guide 3+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jacqueline Harvey worked in schools for many years but has had a passion for storytelling since she was a child.
She is the author of the popular Alice-Miranda, Clementine Rose, Kensy and Max and Willa and Woof series, which have sold almost two million copies in Australia alone. In 2022, she released a picture book, That Cat, illustrated by one of her former students, Kate Isobel Scott. Jacqueline’s books have received numerous shortlistings and awards while her picture book, The Sound of the Sea, was a CBCA Honour Book.
Jacqueline speaks to thousands of young people at schools and festivals around the world, and says the characters in her books are often made up of the best bits of children she’s met over the years. While she is not a twin, like Kensy and Max she does have excellent powers of observation and has always thought she’d make a great spy.
Jacqueline lives between Sydney, Australia, and Queenstown, New Zealand, and is currently working on more Willa and Woof adventures, several picture book projects and an exciting new middle-grade story.
This novel follows the venturesome teen Maude on her journey to find her childhood best friend, Odette, who has mysteriously gone missing. Maude and Odette had spent hours happily engaging in stories about princesses and ‘dark lords and dragons’ in a magical forest until Odette deserted Maude four years ago when Maude lost her magic.
A Hunger of Thorns begins with Maude’s tedious life with her two grandmothers, getting ready to go to a vigil to locate Odette. After attending, Maude comes to the staggering realisation that her late mother’s paper moth is more than origami. As it begins to fly away she follows it. It leads her into the forgotten ruins of Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant built over an ancient magical forest.
I especially enjoyed the part where we meet an intriguing yet devious character in Sicklehurst and see a glimpse into the life of a creature who lives in that deserted woodland.
As I met new characters and further immersed myself in this story, I became deeply enthralled. It’s an exciting adventure and I would definitely recommend this book for fantasy lovers.
Reviewed by Georgia, Year 8, St Ursula’s College, Kingsgrove NSW
Age Guide 12
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of eighteen books for young people, including The Erasure Initiative and After the Lights Go Out. Lili has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and is a passionate advocate for YA and the young people who read it, establishing the Inky Awards at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. Her latest book is A Hunger of Thorns.
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR