Holiday Reading 2006

Picture Books

Ahlberg, AllanThe runaway dinner: A young boy named Banjo Cannon always eats a sausage for dinner, until the night his sausage - and the rest of his meal - runs away.
Bachelet, Gilles My cat, the silliest cat in the world: An artist describes his cat, who can usually be found either sleeping or eating, except the cat looks remarkably like an elephant.
Banyai, Istvan The other side: A wordless picture book that shows a series of familiar scenes through many twists in point of view.
Base, Graeme Uno’s garden: An blend of story, puzzle, and maths book.
Bateman, Teresa Keeper of soles: A shoemaker repeatedly outwits a black-robed figure who knocks on the shoemaker’s door and demands his soul.
Best, Cari Sally Jean, the bicycle queen: When Sally Jean outgrows her beloved bicycle, Flash, she experiments with various ideas for acquiring a new, bigger one.
Briant, Ed Seven stories: A girl in a seven-story apartment building has trouble sleeping because of her disruptive neighbours, who all seem to be characters from fairy tales.
Browne, Anthony Silly Billy: To help with his anxiety, Billy uses the worry dolls his grandmother recommends, but finds that they do not quite solve his problem.
Burningham, John Edwardo, the horriblest boy in the whole wide world: Each time he does something a little bit bad, Edwardo is told that he is very bad and soon his behaviour is awful.
Child, Lauren Clarice Bean, don’t look now: There seems to be an awful lot in Clarice’s life to worry about and when she finds herself unable to sleep at night, she follows Ruby Redfort’s advice and devises a Worst Worries list.
Child, Lauren The princess and the pea: The tale of a prince, a princess, perfect politeness, pages of love and a peculiarly hard pea.
Clement, Rod Louisa May Pickett: the most boring person in class: When Louisa May Pickett arrives at her new school, her show and tell efforts fail to impress her new classmates who constantly outdo her with their own amazing stories.
Cooper, Elisha Beach: Women, men, boys and girls spend a day at the beach enjoying a variety of activities on the sand and in the water.
Crews, Nina Below: In this photographic picture book Jack has to rescue his action-figure, Guy.
Daly, Niki Happy birthday Jamela!: It’s Jamela’s birthday, and she and Mama are off to buy new shoes.
Daly, Niki Welcome to Zanzibar Road: After moving into the house on Zanzibar Road that her neighbours helped her build, Mama Jumbo decides to share it with Little Chico.
Diakité, Penda I lost a tooth in Africa: While visiting her father’s family in Mali, a young girl loses a tooth, places it under a calabash, and receives a hen and a rooster from the African Tooth Fairy.
Falconer, Ian Olivia forms a band: Another story about this endearing and rather subversive pig.
Faller, Régis The adventures of Polo: A wordless book in which Polo the dog sets out from his home and enjoys many adventures, including sailing his boat on top of a whale, roasting hot dogs over a volcano, and taking a ride in a spaceship built from a mushroom.
Foreman, Michael Mia’s story: Mia lives with her family in a small South American village beneath the snowy mountains. Their house is put together from the dumped rubbish of the city. One day Mia’s father brings her a puppy.
Fox, Mem A particular cow: A particular cow has some particularly unusual adventures on a particular Saturday morning.
Funke, Cornelia The wildest brother: Ben is a fearless young boy, as brave as a lion, as strong as an elephant. Nothing can distract him from the tireless task of protecting his big sister, Anna.
Geisert, Arthur Lights out: Told by his parents that his light must be out at eight o'clock, a young piglet who is afraid of the dark devises an ingenious and inventive solution to the problem.
Godwin, Jane When elephants lived in the sea: Tells a story that traces the evolution of the elephant from its prehistoric marine beginnings to the water loving land animal we know today.
Graham, Bob Dimity Dumpty: the story of Humpty’s little sister: Shy as her big brother is bold, Dimity prefers the shadows to the spotlight and never joins her performing family in the tent at showtime. But one fateful afternoon, Humpty climbs the factory wall at the edge of the circus ground, and slips. It is Dimity, not all the King’s horses or all the King’s men, who finds her voice and saves his life.
Grey, Mini The adventures of the dish and the spoon: Find out what happens next in the astonishing tale of the Dish and Spoon.
Hume, Lachie Clancy the courageous cow: The Belted Galloways are trapped in a vicious cycle. Every year their bossy neighbours, the Herefords, win the Cow Wrestling Contest.
Jahn-Clough, Lisa Little dog: A lonely stray dog befriends a struggling artist, transforming her art and both their lives.
Kloske, Geoffrey Once upon a time, the end (asleep in 60 seconds): A tired father takes only a few sentences to tell a number of classic tales in order to get his persistent listener to fall asleep.
Lee, Tae-Jun Waiting for Mummy: Set in Korea in the 1930s this tells the story of a young child waiting at a tram stop for his mother.
Lehman, Barbara Museum trip: In this wordless picture book, a boy imagines himself inside some of the exhibits when he goes on a field trip to a museum.
Ljungkvist, Laura Follow the line: This book invites the reader to visit a wide variety of places and count different objects found in each.
Lloyd, Sam Mr Pusskins: Mr Pusskins is bored. What he really wants is adventure and so, one night, he goes in search of it.
MacDonald, Margaret Read Teeny Weeny Bop: Teeny Weeny Bop has found a gold coin. Her luck is made; she’ll buy a pet pig! But while Teeny sleeps, the pig destroys the garden! Teeny needs a better pet - she’s going to trade her pig for a cat.
Murphy, Jill Mr Large in charge: With Mr Large in charge of all the children, Mrs Large’s day in bed is not quite as peaceful as she had hoped.
Newton, Gina Blossom possum : the sky is falling down-under: Early one morning, Blossom Possum gets a fright - she thinks the sky is falling down! She has to tell someone, so she sets off with her news. On the way she meets her bush mates. But she also runs into trouble.
Prince, Joshua I saw an ant on the railroad track: When Switchman Jack sees a black ant strolling down the railroad track in search of a snack, he tries to reroute a 10-ton freight train.
Raschka, Chris Five for a little one: A buoyant bunny introduces readers to the senses, numbering them one through to five.
Shannon, David Good boy, Fergus!: Except for his bath, Fergus experiences the perfect doggy day, from chasing cats and motorcycles to being scratched on his favourite tickle spot.
Sierra, Judy Thelonius Monster’s sky-high fly pie: Thelonius Monster invites his friends and relations over to eat his fly pie, but not everything goes according to plan.
Simmons, Jane Together: Mousse and Nut love playing together, but can they really be friends when they’re so different?
Svendsen, Mark Kestrel: A boy and his grandfather build a boat together. The final book with illustrations by the late, great Steve Woolman. His roughs were completed by Laura Peterson.
Thompson, Colin Norman and Brenda: Some people have big houses, big cars, and big hair. Yet Norman and Brenda are nothing like those people. (NB The illustrator of this book, “Amy Lissiat”, is a pseudonym for Colin Thompson. The name is an anagram of 'It’s my alias'.)
Timmers, Leo Who’s driving?: Who’s going to drive the range of vehicles mentioned in this book? A guessing game with a twist.
Wallace, Nancy Elizabeth Look! Look! Look!: An adventure into art.
Wild, Margaret Chatterbox: Max’s baby sister, Daisy, is gorgeous. But when is she going to talk?
Willems, Mo Don’t let the pigeon stay up late!: Needing to brush his teeth, a bus driver asks the reader to make sure that the pigeon goes to bed on time, but the bird has many excuses about why it should stay awake.
Wormell, Chris The wild girl: A little girl and her small brown dog live all alone in a cave on the mountainside in the middle of a great wide wilderness. Then one day in the bitter cold of winter, they see bear tracks in the snow.
Young, Ed My Mei Mei: Antonia gets her wish when her parents return to China to bring home a Mei Mei, or younger sister, for her.