Materials from Oceania
In this wordless graphic picturebook, a young boy feels alone with his worries. He isn’t fitting in well at school. His grades are slipping. He’s even lashing out at those who love him.
Small Things has been discussed in My Take/Your Take for October 2020.
Alfie wants to participate in the best parts of being a kid, from his friend Antoinette’s birthday party to the relay races at school. But his shyness keeps him from engaging. When Alfie wakes up with That Feeling on the morning of yet another big event—the underwater costume parade—his mom takes him to the aquarium. There, Alfie meets a starfish who shines so boldly Alfie feels small. But suddenly, a tiny clownfish swims up to Alfie for a quick hello and retreats again. Alfie begins to understand that there’s a happy medium between hiding away and being the star, and that he needs to come out of hiding every once and awhile to make meaningful connections.
One by one five little ducklings tumble off the bridge into the river below–and mother duck follows them.
Two girls experience the highs and lows of friendship on a train journey.
An Aboriginal ceremony of Welcome to Country is depicted for the first time in a stunning picture book from two Indigenous Australians.
While other birds are seeing the world, George the duck is content to stay at home–or so it seems until he confesses the truth to Pascal, a visiting bear.
An alphabet book with fantastic and detailed pictures, bearing such labels as “Lazy lions lounging in the local library.
Michael’s parents are leaders of a new anti-immigrant political party called Aussie Values which is trying to halt the flood of refugees from the Middle East; Mina fled Afghanistan with her family ten years ago, and just wants to concentrate on fitting in and getting into college–but the mutual attraction they feel demands that they come to terms with their family’s concerns and decide where they stand in the ugly anti-Muslim politics of the time.
Eleven-year-old Stella Montgomery has always wondered about her family. What happened to her mother? And could she have a long-lost sister somewhere? Stella’s awful Aunts refuse to tell her anything, and now they have sent her Stella away to the old family home at Wormwood Mire, where she must live with two strange cousins and their governess. But dark secrets slither and skulk within overgrown grounds of the moldering house, and Stella must be brave if she’s to find out who—or what—she really is…
As a demigod, Maui has done a lot to help humanity. He slowed the sun to make the days longer and used his magical fishhook to pull up new islands. He battled monsters and even helped create coconuts. But there’s one thing Maui has never done: be somebody’s friend. Follow Maui on his journey to become the best friend ever–with some help from the brave voyager named Moana, that is.