Australia

Materials from Australia

A Bus Called Heaven

One morning in front of Stella’s house, an abandoned bus appears, looking sad as a whale on a beach. On its front, held up with packing tape, is a hand-painted sign that says Heaven. Right away, the bus brings change to Stella’s street when people stop to talk about it instead of rushing by. And as Stella looks past all the empty bottles and cans inside, as she sees the sparrows nesting in the engine, she changes, too. “This bus could be ours,” she declares. With a master’s eye for finding the magic in the mundane, Bob Graham creates an encouraging story about community – a whimsical tale about neighbors of all ages and stripes coming together, and about one little girl who comes into her own.

This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

Town Mouse Country Mouse

A town mouse and a country mouse exchange visits and discover each is suited to his own home. Peep-holes in some of the pages allow the reader to guess at what happens next.

Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild!

When a young girl has a series of mishaps at home one day, her mother tries not to lose her temper–and does not quite succeed.

Puffling

Puffling is a baby—small, white, and very hungry. Every day he waits in the burrow while his parents, Big Stripy Beak and Long Black Feather hunt for food. As he grows, Puffling dreams of the day when he will leave his nest and fly away—but he isn’t ready yet, not until he’s tall and brave enough to fend for himself. Every day Puffling asks his parents, but every day they say he must wait until he has grown bigger. Will he ever be ready to head out into the world on his own?

Wombat Divine

Wombat loves everything about Christmas–especially the Nativity play. He’s wanted to be in it for as long as he can remember. At last he’s old enough to try out. But at the auditions, the first part goes to someone else. So does the next. And the next … Will there be a part left for Wombat?

Zoo-Looking

Flora loves looking at all the animals in the zoo, but what a surprise–she isn’t the only one doing the looking! Flora looks at the giraffe, and the giraffe looks back.  She looks at the ostrich, and the ostrich looks back, too.  But when Flora looks at her dad, she gets the best surprise of all.

Beloved storyteller Mem Fox has created a lively rhyme for zoo-loving children to read and chant out loud.  Candace Whitman’s enchanting torn paper pictures add to the joyous fun of the story.

Wilfrid Gordon Mcdonald Partridge

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, a rather small boy, lives next door to a nursing home in which resides Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, his favorite friend, because she has four names as well. When Miss Nancy “loses” her memory, the intrepid Wilfrid sets out to find it for her.