THE LIBRARIAN’S GUIDE TO BOOKS FOR KIDS & TEENS INSIDE MEET Ann-Marie Finn Author & Artist Student Illustration Challenge Wombat Books CBCA AWARDS Special Supplement+ Detailed reviews on the latest APR 2018 bookcurator.com.au | 1 ISSN 2204-5708 fiction to help you choose » ARTICLES & FEATURES WELCOME ABOUT THE PUBLISHER The Book Curator is published by Apt School Resources, an Australian EDITORIAL business jointly owned by two families who share a passion for books and a determination to provide Each year we are amazed at the abundance of outstanding service to our members. incredible Australian literature represented in the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book We help schools all over the country by providing them with of the Year Awards. This year is no exception, access to helpful information, with an incredible 170 books represented. detailed reviews and the latest You’ll find them all in our special CBCA Awards fiction titles for their libraries. supplement,which was so packed this year its Our goal is to provide the resources coming to you in two volumes! librarians need to choose the best Meanwhile in this April issue of The Book Curator, books for their school library across a wide range of genres, age groups we introduce you to author/illustrator Ann-Marie Finn, whose creative and formats. We provide a wide talents are helping kids on the spectrum to make sense of their world. range of services to help support our There’s the opportunity for your students to become published members so they can get the best illustrators by participating in the Wombat Books Illustration return for their time and their budget. Challenge, and many more books for you to discover and enjoy. This magazine (previously called Review) and our service have See you next issue! developed based on what our members want. We invite your ideas, suggestions, feedback and constructive criticism to help us provide solutions to the challenges you face as you work ROWENA BERESFORD to build an outstanding library for your school community. PS. If you have any comments on The Book Curator or suggestions on what we could In addition to library titles, we improve or include in future issues, please call 02 8985 9435 or email your feedback to source and supply a wide range of [email protected] interesting and effective resources to help teachers, counsellors and chaplains work with and support their students. We also help equip teachers and school leaders with professional development resources. For more information about our services or to provide feedback please contact us. Apt School Resources Unit 3, 5 Currumbin Court Capalaba QLD 4157 AUSTRALIA P 02 8985 9435 F 02 8007 0510 W aptschoolresources.com.au E [email protected] The Book Curator ISSN 2204-5708 » For information on our traffic light ratings, please refer to page 10 Disclaimer: The reviews contained in this magazine are based on each individual reviewer’s opinion only. While we do our best to pick up every potential concern in fiction titles, we cannot guarantee that to be the case. Should you purchase a book based on our reviews and then discover an issue of serious concern to you that was not included in our review, please contact us. 2 | The Book Curator: April 2018 Contents » ARTICLES & FEATURES 17 BILL BAILLIE: THE LIFE AND 32 MUNMUN ADVENTURES OF A PET BILBY Jesse Andrews 4 FEATURE INTERVIEW Ellis Rowan 33 THE WAY BACK FROM BROKEN Meet Ann-Marie Finn 17 BREAK YOUR CHAINS: Amber J. Keyser 6 NOTABLE DATES THE FREEDOM FINDERS Emily Conolan 34 MORE THAN WE CAN TELL 7 IN THE SPOTLIGHT Brigid Kemmerer 18 BRINDABELLA Student Illustration Challenge: Ursula Dubosarsky 35 I HAVE LOST MY WAY Wombat Books Gayle Foreman 19 THE UNICORN QUEST 8 NEWS & VIEWS Kamilla Benko » IN EVERY ISSUE » BOOK REVIEWS 20 FEARLESS FREDERIC 37 USEFUL INFORMATION Felice Arena 12 I DESPAIR OF MY HAIR Websites & apps, festivals & literary events, conferences & Ann-Marie Finn 20 THE LIGHT JAR seminars Lisa Thompson 12 THE DREAM BIRD 38 INDEX Aleesah Darlison 21 THE BOOK OF ANSWERS: THE ATEBAN CIPHER # 2 This issue’s titles in 12 ALFRED’S WAR A.L.Tait alphabetical order Rachel Bin Salleh 22 A WHISPER OF HORSES 39 UPCOMING TITLES 13 YOUNG MACDONALD Zillah Bethell What’s on the horizon Guiseppe Poli 23 BIGFOOT, TOBIN & ME 13 DROUGHT Melissa Savage Jackie French 24 THE DIAMOND HORSE 14 MY AUSTRALIA Stacy Gregg Julie Murphy 25 THE STARMAN AND ME 14 MESSAGE IN A SOCK Sharon Cohen Kaye Baillie 26 STORY THIEVES 14 NEVER LOSE HOPE: THE STORY James Riley OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SCHOOL Mark Wilson 26 OPERATION HOTEL CHARLIE DJ Stutley 15 MISSING MARVIN Sue deGennaro 27 DEFY THE WORLDS Claudia Gray 15 MY MUM IS A MAGICIAN Damon Young 28 TRULY, WILDLY, DEEPLY Jenny McLachlan 15 THE KNIGHT WHO SAID NO Lucy Rowland 28 BELOW ZERO Dan Smith 16 UNCLE SHAWN AND BILL AND THE ALMOST ENTIRELY 29 MAYDAY UNPLANNED ADVENTURE Karen Harrington A.L.Kennedy 30 LOVE AND FIRST SIGHT 16 PROJECT DROID #1: Josh Sundquist SCIENCE NO FAIR! Nancy Krulik & 31 SMALL SPACES Amanda Burwasser Sarah Epstein bookcurator.com.au | 3 FEATURE INTERVIEW MEET Ann-Marie Finn FEATURE INTERVIEW MEET ANN-MARIE FINN Meet author and illustrator Ann-Marie Finn, whose book Gus the Asparagus is helping kids on the spectrum make sense of their world. What inspired you to become an of his illustrations, but also the Are you an avid reader yourself? illustrator? wonderful use of colours and I do still love to read, and owning layout; I just couldn’t stop thinking As a child I owned a series of a bookshop means I need to about his work! books by Jayne Fisher called The keep on top of new releases as Garden Gang. I knew she was very What is your favourite artistic much as possible. I get excited young when she created those medium and why? whenever there is a new Jon books, and it made the possibility Klassen or Oliver Jeffers book out. I love to sketch and much of my of becoming an illustrator seem My kids get excited when a new finished artwork still has that more real for me. She was such Treehouse or Dav Pilkey book feel to it. I do work in various a huge inspiration I never really arrives. I’ll enjoy reading anything mediums, including paint and wanted to be anything else. that’s a bit humorous. I also love digital, but for children’s books to escape into a well-done fiction How long have you been my preferred method is to hand story, or a good crime novel or illustrating? draw images onto a specific type biography. of paper that I enjoy working with. Professionally, since I left college. I’ll then often layer the colour My first job was designing with painted backgrounds and greeting cards for Marks & The best photographs in Photoshop, kind Spencer, a major UK department experience of all is of like a digital collage. store. Since then I have worked in finding common ground many areas of design, including Are there any books you read textiles, television sets and, of as a child that made a lasting with my kids. I love course, children’s books. impression on you? sharing whatever they Is there a book or experience There were a few, such as Enid are reading ... that influenced your decision to Blyton’s The Faraway Tree series. work in this industry? I also owned a beautiful edition The best experience of all, of Hans Christian Andersen’s When I first told someone I however, is finding common fairy tales that had wonderful wanted to illustrate children’s ground with my kids. I love colour illustrations. But I think my books, I was instructed to go sharing whatever they are favourite memory is of a book out and do some research; to reading, so that we can chat that I would love to find again: A surround myself with the kinds about it together. It was a great Book of Milliganimals by Spike of books I loved. I immediately joy for me when they discovered a Milligan. It was a collection of silly went out and did just that. One of love of reading for themselves. poems and illustrations that were the first books I bought and fell in guaranteed to cheer me up if I love with was Oliver Jeffers’ Lost was ever upset! and Found. I adored the simplicity 4 | The Book Curator: April 2018 Your book Gus, the Asparagus is the most important thing for missing the connections to get it helping children with Asperger’s. me is visualising it as I am created. What has your involvement in reading it. I love to see the ideas A Trip to the Moon became the that book been like for you? conceptualise in my head. That first book I wrote and illustrated, instant connection to text allows The most inspiring thing about for two reasons: 1) to prove I could me to communicate my thoughts this book has been the responses illustrate picture books, and 2) to the author. I’ve received from complete to learn the process for myself strangers who engaged with and become confident that it was the story. I’ve been contacted by The most inspiring something I could do repeatedly. teachers across Australia and thing ... has been What is on the horizon for you? New Zealand saying that Gus has had life-changing effects in the responses I’ve The Cloud Conductor, written by people’s lives.