Rahui

This picture book is about cousins’ holidays in a rural Maori community having adventures and fun together – playing in the bush, riding horses, fishing, eeling and swimming at the beach. During the holiday, a death leads to a rahui being placed on the beach. After a year, the rahui is lifted, and they return to the beach full of life and with their cousin in their hearts. The feeling of the book is joyous and wistful, and the illustrations richly evoke the atmosphere of the setting and people.

Featured in Volume VI, Issue 2 of WOW Review.

Shigeru no Kachan (Shigeru’s Mom)

Shigeru’s mother, single mother, is a truck driver. Sigeru is proud of his mother because she can do anything that seems difficult for women.

A Is For Australian Animals

Animals, birds and reptiles organised alphabetically; each entry includes a full-colour photo and descriptive, readily accessible text. Large clear print and picture book format. Ages 4-12 and overseas visitors.

Roimata and the Forest of Tane

In this story a little girl, Roimata comes and stays with her grandmother. The grandmother tells her the story of a old tawa tree which was in front of their house. And how a storm comes and blows the tree down.

Queenie: One Elephant’s Story

The true and tragic story of one of the most famous elephants of all time: Queenie, the gentle Indian elephant. Evoking a time when elephants were giving rides in zoos all around the world, the true story of Queenie follows her from her birth in an Indian jungle to Australia’s Melbourne Zoo, where she lived for more than forty years.

Moving On

Picture story for early primary school children about Grandpa Bill’s reminiscence of childhood. He regrets that his old school is closing, and that his grandson will have to move to another school.

Jungle Drums

Tired of being teased, Ngiri, the smallest warthog in Africa, uses a set of magic drums to make wishes, but he is not careful enough and makes the rift between the Warthogs and the beautiful Other Beasts even worse.

Penguin Island

This book tells the story of Little Penguin, a fairy penguin who lives in Port Phillip Bay, and what happened when oil was spilt into the Bay. Fortunately for Little Penguin, there are people who gather the dying birds, clean away the oil pollution, and care for them until they are able to be returned to their island home.

Burung Camar dan Kokokan/Seagull and Heron

Picks up where the first book left off with Seagull continuing inland from the beach and befriending Heron and Kingfisher along the way. The trio discover a whole new set of environmental problems faced by the children and animals in the cities and surrounding countryside. Readers are also introduced to the local “Pemulung” or scrap collectors in an attempt to explain their very simple and essential role in the process of scrap collecting and recycling on the island’. Source: publisher’s website

Waltzing Matilda

A poem set to pictures of the Australian countryside.

Worlds of Words

International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature

Primary (ages 6-9)