Book Monitor - books from across the world

Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Category: Featured children’s book Page 9 of 27

Bookshop.org

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On February 26, 2021

In Featured children's book

Bookshop.org is an online store with a mission to make life easy to support readers and independent bookstores. Buying books is a real joy and if you are like me and many others, keeping our unique book shops open is essential. Do you remember your favourite bookshop…being greeted as you walk in, with shelves and tables stacked with books and a wonderful aroma of new books filling the air.

Bookshop.org is the next best thing, in fact there are many other benefits too, like you don’t have to move away from your own sofa, or your own coffee and cake. You can browse your local or favourite book store on the links Bookshop.org provides so that your own bookshop can receive the profit from the book sale.

What is unique about Bookshop.org is exactly that; your bookstore can receive the profit, they have created book lists so you can browse their recommendations and lists online.

BooksGoWalkabout has an online book store  and we have joined Bookshop.org so our schools and readers can access our lists of recommended books and buy direct. In just a few days the books will arrive at your door.

Some of the lists are about projects such as Authors Zoom Across the World. These reflect our projects in the Far East. But they are good books to read in any country and now you can!

You can try books from our authors on Dragons!

Or books we recommend on Mindfulness

Definitely worth a visit to BooksGoWalkabout Bookshop.org. Try a purchase too, our recommendations are all good books!! Of course!

Sue Martin

THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHOW AND THE JOY OF POETRY

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On December 4, 2020

In The Book Monitor, Books go Walkabout, Children's books, Featured children's book, Poetry

The Children’s Bookshow is a charity that inspires school children with a love of reading through an annual programme of theatre performances and in-school workshops with the very best authors and illustrators from around the world.

In 2020, everything is different and the good news is that you can access the poets reading and sharing great videos much longer than one month! There are some amazing poems by outstanding poets. Just click through and visit the poet for each week. You are sure to find a poem that will be just right for you.

THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHOW team had been thinking a lot about the joy of poetry. One of the Directors, Siân Williams, was pulling poetry collections down from her shelves and revisiting all of the marvellous poets we have worked with over the years, and some we hope to work in the near future.


In November 2020 they are focusing on a different poet every week, giving you an overview of their life and work as well as some videos of them reading and performing their poetry. Follow each poet as below. It’s a great way to get the fun and meaning too back into poetry.
   
   Poets for each week are…

Books Go Walkabout
A landscape of poetry…

Tree Beings by Raymond Huber and Sandra Severgnini

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On November 25, 2020

In EK Books, The Book Monitor, Featured children's book

Incredible trees, incredible graphics

Tree Beings takes you inside the incredible world of trees. How do they talk to each other and how do they enrich the whole planet. There is a foreword from Dr Jane Goodall, who brings real soul and understanding to just why we should all know and understand about trees. They are a big clue in how we can save the planet.

This is a book where you will become engrossed in stories, facts and a future. The stories include…

  • A young woman who lived up a giant tree for two years
  • A scientist who discovered trees have their own internet
  • A woman who faced a dangerous dictator to protect trees
  • Young people who fought to save their last native trees
  • A nine year old boy who found a way to plant a trillion trees

Raymond Huber is an author, freelance editor and creative writing teacher. He has a passion for writing about nature and making worlds come alive for children. Tree Beings is  a book that will bring a new world dimension to all children.

Sandra Severgnini is an amazing illustrator with some wonderful children’s books and botanical illustrations too. The intricate and evocative illustrations are intriguing and keep the facts alive.

The book is a resource and teacher workshop all in one, the covers have hidden creatures , there are mazes, hidden insects and a wealth of images and facts to keep you reading this book for ages.

EKBooks is part of Exisle publishing based in Australia and New Zealand. Established five years ago they have a great publication list on issues that matter, books to make a better world.

I really love this book and as a girl who spent much of her youth reading books in the boughs of a leaning oak tree, I know exactly what it means when it says that trees can communicate!

Sue Martin

diamonds by Armin Greder

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On November 25, 2020

In The Book Monitor, Allen and Unwin, Featured children's book

A powerful book in graphic black and white images, showing the true relationships between diamonds, the mine diggers and gift receivers. Through the images we follow a journey from a home, where the mother is explaining about diamonds to her daughter before she goes out. The young girl is put to bed by her African Nanny Amina, and later has a nightmare.

It is a book for us all, as we learn more about the differences between wealth and poverty, and the corruption the diamond industry brings to financing wars and conflicts. It is a hard hitting book. The Afterword by Riccardo Noury, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, Italy,explains how the diamond industry works, and how there is now a certification process called the ‘Kimberley Process’ which aims to reduce the sales of diamonds to finance conflict.

Armin Greder lives in Australia and is an artist who illustrates highly impactful graphic novels in startling black and white style, packed with meaning. Other books include The Island and The Mediterranean. There is an excellent review on Playing by the Book about Armin.

Allen and Unwin are Australian publishers who have an excellent commitment to books which enable us to think outside the box and not accept our world as it is.

Definitely a book to engage with students and with your own mind on issues today and stop our complacency in our Western world.

Sue Martin

Authors around the world…

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

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On April 1, 2020

In Allen and Unwin, Featured authors, Featured children's book, Featured illustrators

Anna Chiu has her hands full looking after her siblings and helping out at her Dad’s restaurant, all while her Mum stays in bed. The new delivery boy Rory, is a welcome distraction and even though things aren’t right at home, Anna starts to feel like she could be a normal teen,

But her Mum’s condition gets worse, life becomes increasingly hard for Anna as between them they have lots to work out.

An incredibly good story about life as a young person, moving from childhood to adulthood in a world which seems to be increasingly difficult and foreign. A time when you really do need your Mum. But for Anna, her Mum really needs her.

A powerful and moving story from Wai Chim, the highly acclaimed author, whose previous novel ,Freedom Swimmer, was a huge success. Following the stories of young people in the changing world of China then and now, Wai has a great eye for understanding of young people as they face their own dilemmas as well as difficult situations.

Published by Allen and Unwin from Australia, this book crosses geographical boundaries and unites all children as they move into adulthood.

A wonderful book to sit and read. the story and text are real page turners. Highly recommended for any persiond when you just need a good book to read.

Sue Martin

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

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On May 4, 2020

In Bloomsbury, The Book Monitor, Books go Walkabout, Featured children's book

A tale full of adventure, exploration and excitement as four children find their way home from the deepest part of the Amazon jungle.

A pacy and exciting book, nearly impossible to put down and with an ending that does more than just conclude the story; as life is at risk and new skills have to be learnt so fast. 

A tale full of adventure, exploration and excitement…

Four children, who had never met before, are flying  across the Amazon jungle, when the pilot loses consciousness and the plane crashes into the trees. Fred, Lila, her little brother Max and a girl called Con have to help each other to; find food, survive the creepy crawlies and to escape. On their way they find a map, make a raft and discover a ruined city, where they meet The Explorer, who is not exactly friendly but helpful in an eccentric way. But in a terrifying situation they are forced to leave as quickly as they could. 

 Katherine Rundell, author of The Rooftoppers is an award winning author who  lives in Oxford, UK and The Explorer was; Winner of the Children’s Book Prize 2017, winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2017 and winner of the London Book Fair Children’s Travel Book of the Year for 2017. She has an amazing talent for creating adventure and in this book she brings her love of places and adventure to children’s minds. 

Publishers are Bloomsbury who have created The Explorer in paperback filled with black and white chapter headed illustrations and beautiful sketches throughout the book. 

Wonderful storytelling, delightfully delivered…

It’s a truly great book and children of all ages will love the adventure, the sense of place, the maps, the ruined city and see themselves as one of the characters, in an adventure of a lifetime. 

In the video clip Katherine introduces  The Explorer and you can just feel her own love of adventure which creeps in every corner of the book. 

A must read for lockdown 2020 and for anytime at all, home, school and library. 

Sue Martin 


 

Hasina by Michelle Aung Thin -Through My Eyes Series

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On April 15, 2020

In Allen and Unwin, Featured children's book

A gripping story of one child’s experience of the refugee crisis in Myanmar. The men come at night. The first Hasina knows of it is her aunt’s voice, urgent,full of fear.’Up, up.Get up! ‘The second thing is smoke.Then there is a scream.’Run,’ her father shouts. ‘And don’t stop!’

Hasina races deep into the Rakhine forest to hide with her cousin Ghadiya and her little brother, Araf. When they emerge some days later, it is to a silent, smouldering village. Their own house has not been burnt down,but where are the rest of her family?Perhaps they have been gathered up and taken away … or worse.

So many Rohingyas are gone, how will she survive? Will her parents return? Hasina must find the courage to save her family amid the escalating conflict that threatens her world and her identity. 

Hasina is written by Michelle Aung Thin who tells this story, based on real life, with immense feeling and with the real sense of a child’s helplessness, in fear but still retaining courage and hope. Michelle is a novelist, essayist and an academic and this book written for children and young adults shows her ability to reach out to all.  

There are excellent teacher notes available for school use only on Michelle’s website to accompany Hasina and would fit with curriculum across the world for ages 11-14 years. 

Allen and Unwin are the publishers and Hasina joins one of my favourite series, Through My Eyes, which recount world crisis and tragedies through the eyes of children and young people.  

As I write this we are in a lock-down, in the Covid 19 period in the UK. Unable to do my usual travels I have really enjoyed this amazing book and maybe I should travel to Burma/Myanmar soon? 

Sue Martin 

Sofia the Dreamer and her Magical Afro by Jessica Wilson

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On April 29, 2020

In Featured children's book

When Sofia has her hair styled she magically falls asleep and in her dreams visits a Jamaican Rastafarian,a black panther and an African ancestor. In Sofia’s Afro are tight coils which hide stories of joy, heroes, social situations and fascinations. An amazing book in a new style of genre of illustrated poem-story.

Jessica Wilson is the author and is an Aesthetica Award finalist with achieving a Go Fund Me award in March 2018. Her talent is incredible and this style of poems with illustrations is a powerful way to reach out to children and adults too. The rhythm and rhyme of the story lends it to being read aloud and plants the work within Caribbean oral story-telling traditions.

Jessica resides between Jamaica and London and is currently working on her first poetry collection entitled ‘The Bulldog and the Hummingbird’ (available on 5th June 2020) which was shortlisted by Penguin Random House for their ‘Write Now’ initiative held in conjunction with the BBC to promote diversity in writing.  Jessica was trained in English Literature at University College London (BA) and was awarded an MA in Fashion Journalism by London College of Fashion.

The illustrations are by Tom Rawles, who lives in Bristol and he specialises in album covers and Renaissance-inspired scenes of contemporary culture where, he states, “halos are more bling than holy”.  His eye-catching scapes were described by influential community, Afropunk as both ‘stylized’ and ‘surreal’.

The picture-book was designed by Paul Martin of threeshadesred . Martin’s aesthetic is minimalist with a strong focus on clean lines and colour association.

Sofia the Dreamer tells the stories with meaning and emotion, using illustrations to engage with children in the balance of social history and modern day culture between different places; a bridge over the oceans. A wonderful book to have.

Buy this great book securely on-line:

http://www.jessica-wilson.com/buy-books/sofia-the-dreamer-and-her-magical-afro-by-jessica-wilson-paperback

See also: https://tallawahpublishing.com/

“Tallawah Publishing was founded in response to the need for diversity in the publishing industry. We are committed to telling the best unheard stories of the Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora and amplify voices at the interstices. We also seek to offer support to writers of African and Caribbean descent. Founded by writer Jessica N. Wilson”.

Sue Martin

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

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On May 15, 2020

In Penguin Books, Featured children's book

A story of friendship, love, care and challenge.

I  discovered this book whilst browsing in my favourite bookshop in London. I was on a training course at the time and was delighted to have found this inspirational, beautiful and emotive book I showed it to my colleagues. 

To my surprise, most of the people in the room had already bought the book and were overwhelmed with it. And so, as I journeyed home that evening I slowly went through all the pages, the drawings, the meaning in the text said so much, and the inspiration on life was wonderful. 

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a story of friendship, love, care and challenge. The characters are brought together gradually, with the boy first, who is lonely until he meets the mole, who loves cake. They meet the fox, not easy if you are a mole, but fox has been hurt by life and is mainly silent. The horse is the largest and the gentlest of characters and carries them through a lot. 

The format of the book is water-colour illustrations with hand written text on creamy tactile paper  and feels such a precious book. The author, Charlie Mackesy, hopes that the book will be well used and I’m sure he is right, although I am not sure I could also make notes on it as he suggests. It is still sitting by my chair looking new, although well read. It is a book for quiet moments and for sharing with others too. 

Charlie Mackesy is an artist, a thinker and a creator of inspirational ‘stuff’ about life.  

Penguin Publishers are a huge publishers, and full of creative and new authors, and The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is in a beautiful format which highlights the inspirational text and illustration.

What a joy!

Sue Martin

Books from around the world

Joanna Grochowicz, Antarctic Explorer author, Zooms to Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong

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On June 24, 2020

In The Book Monitor, Featured authors, Featured children's book

Joanna and statue of Amundsen

Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong have been working with Books Go Walkabout for some years. We had planned a wonderful author visit to the school in October 2019, by Joanna Grochowicz, New Zealand author of Polar Explorers. But then the Hong Kong protests meant it was no longer safe.

With children still working from home, due to Covid 19, in the spring of 2020, Beth McNeilly, school librarian and a passionate believer in the benefit of direct contact with authors, helped us to find a way. So, along with three quarters of the world in June 2020 we used Zoom. And hey it was fantastic!

A great school…

We had over 300 children, staff and parents joining the Zoom presentation with Joanna. We found our way to the Antarctic; where Joanna had visited in February this year, we reached the South Pole, and saw the photographer Ponting taking a photo of killer whales, we heard that the ice block he was standing on was upended by the whales, but he managed to escape, which was good as they would have eaten him.

Joanna in disguise as Herbert Ponting

There was so much fascinating detail of the journeys of both R.F Scott from the UK, and R. Amundsen from Norway in the early 1900’s, that the stories of adventure, courage, determination, skill and expertise were incredible. All the stories which brought the presentation and the books to life had been meticulously researched by Joanna with visits to many places to gather the story behind the journey. Joanna visited Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, where she also came to Books Go Walkabout office.

Joanna in disguise as Amundsen

Her books are just made for reading, the first in the series is, Into the White, Scott’s Antarctic Odyssey and her second book is, Amundsen’s Way, with her third book about Shackleton being published later this year. They are some incredible stories and immensely well written, good for ages above 9 years and including all adults.

Into the White

We are indebted to Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong for their perseverance in enabling the visit for Joanna to take place and especially to Beth McNeilly and staff for their commitment to the project and of course, to all the children who joined into the presentation. It must have been as hard for them to sit still for an hour without asking direct questions as it was for Joanna to present her stories to many, many black screens.

Amundsen's Way - The Race to the South Pole

We hope that one day all will be well and international travel will enable Joanna to make a direct visit to Hong Kong. But there is also so much scope now for children to have virtual visits with authors who have so much to bring to learning and adventure.

At Books Go Walkabout, we are committed to an international dimension to with books, and authors; stories across the world and knowledge transfer through reading and sharing.

Sue Martin

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