Storybook Corner Book Review: The Go-Away Bird (Children's Picture Book) + related children's craft

The Go-Away Bird

by 

Julia Donaldson

illustrated by Catherine Rayner

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Publication date: 26th February 2019
Pages: 32
RRP: $24.99
Format Read: Hardcover
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

‘The Go-Away bird sat up in her nest, With her fine grey wings and her fine grey crest.’ One by one, the other birds fly into her tree, wanting to talk or to play, but the Go-Away bird just shakes her head and sends them all away. But then the dangerous Get-You bird comes along, and she soon realizes that she might need some friends after all . . .

The Go-Away Bird combines brilliant rhyming verse from much-loved children’s author Julia Donaldson, creator of the bestselling picture books The Gruffalo and What the Ladybird Heard, with stunning illustrations from the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Catherine Rayner.  

Julia Donaldson’s name is always synonymous with delightful picture books for children and she doesn’t disappoint with her latest offering The Go-Away Bird.

The Go-Away Bird is a beautifully crafted hard cover picture book with blue foil lettering and highlights on the birds wings on the cover, giving it additional shelf appeal.

On the title page the star of the story sits alone, just how she likes it, in an exquisitely illustrated tree.

Different birds drop by to engage the Go-Away bird but each time she shakes her head and with a few mean words tells each little bird, not too kindly, to go away. Then a very large Get-You bird comes by and he doesn’t listen to the Go-Away bird, instead shouting “I’m going to get you, get you."  The Go-Away bird was getting very scared now until one little bird called for all the other birds to come back and together they chased the big bird away.

Sometimes you feel like being left alone but you shouldn’t be mean and  hurtful to others, it’s always good to have friends close by when you are feeling scared. There is also a lesson on forgiving someone who is angry and mean and giving them a second chance.

Dot loved this story of friendship and working together and is happy to have it read over and over joining in with the story.

The watercolour illustrations are bright and engaging. The rhyming is fun and the prose flow seamlessly. The repetition of key words makes it easy for children to join in which in turn makes the story more engaging.

Dot’s favourite bird was the Chit-Chat bird. The other birds having equally delightful names; the Peck-Peck bird, the Flip-Flap bird and the Come-Back bird.

Dot and I decided to make our own birds using the colours in the book as inspiration. The Go-Away bird is sitting on a branch looking suitably annoyed by all the birds flying down to play with her. All the birds are simply made from coloured carded paper and feathers.

 Rated by Dot  5 / 5  🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

Julia Donaldson is the author of some of the world's best-loved children's books, including the modern classic The Gruffalo, which has sold over 17 million copies worldwide, and the hugely successful What the Ladybird Heard adventures. Julie also writes fiction, including the Princess Mirror-Belle books illustrated by Lydia Monks, as well as poems, plays and songs - and her brilliant live shows are always in demand.






About the Illustrator 

Catherine Rayner studied illustration at Edingurgh College of Art. Catherine won the Best New Illustrator Award at the Booktrust Early Years Awards for Augustus and His Smile and has been awarded the prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. Catherine's other title for Macmillan include the critically acclaimed Solomon Crocodile and the award-winning Smelly Louie.




 

Book Bingo - Round 6 #bookbingo2019

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

Well here it is book bingo Saturday again. This week I will be marking off the 'author under 35' and 'themes of fantasy' categories.

Written by an author under the age of 35:

For this  category I have gone beyond my usual reading genres and read Baby, a book that was a little out there, quite dark and strange but at the same time compelling.

You can read my review here

Themes of Fantasy:

I love fantasy and I was eager to read The Ruin of Kings, the start of a new fantasy series.  The world building was huge, the characters well drawn and the action was non stop in this epic fantasy.

You can read my review here

#BookBingo2019 

Book Review: Life Before (Crime/Mystery) #BRPreview

Life Before

by 

Carmel Reilly

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication Date: 6th May 2019
Pages: 352
Price: $29.99
Format Read: Uncorrected proof copy
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading Preview 

 
Lori Spyker is taking her kids to school one unremarkable day when a policeman delivers the news that her brother, Scott Green, has been injured and hospitalised following a hit and run.

Lori hasn't seen Scott in decades. She appears to be his only contact. Should she take responsibility for him? Can she? And, if she does, how will she tell her own family about her hidden history, kept secret for so long?

Twenty years before, when she and Scott were teenagers, their lives and futures, and those of their family, had been torn to shreds. Now, as Lori tries to piece together her brother's present, she is forced to confront their shared past-and the terrible and devastating truth buried there that had driven them so far apart.

 

1993 - Pam and Mick are an everyday couple, married with three teenage children. They live in the small country town of Northam, a close knit community where everyone knows everyone else. However a tragic accident involving Pam’s children will have the community divided and some parents feeling alienated.

2016 – Lori and Jason live in suburban Melbourne (Melbournites will find themselves surrounded by familiar scenes here), they lead ordinary lives bringing up their two young children, in a large city where anonymity is the norm, until a visit from the local police sends Lori’s world into a spin and her past comes crashing in.

Life Before is a compelling mystery. Reilly conveys, through this page-turner, the lengths a person will go to forget a tragic past. Lori completely reinvented herself when she met Jason, blocking out her past, avoiding questions a telling a few white lies. Yet, when Lori starts to let the barriers down people begin to tell her how unhappy and closed off she always seemed.

The storyline of Life Before is gripping as it slowly unfolds with what starts as an ordinary family when one wrong decision, one moment in time, changes their lives forever and leads to a lifetime of regret. The mystery lingers as the reader gets the aftermath of this momentous decision but not the details of that particular day. We are left to wonder what actually happened that night.

Many themes are explored throughout the novel; small town life, nonacceptance of outsiders, parenting teens, facing your past, blood ties and the question: “How responsible is a parent for their child’s actions?”

Both timelines are told in a female point of view; 1993 through Pam and 2016 through Lori, which gave me the feeling that while not actually being women’s fiction it would appeal more to a female readership.

I like that both Pam & Mick and Lori & Jason had good strong supportive relationships and banded together in times of stress. It’s so easy to add extra drama to a story by having a husband and wife against each other and I’m so pleased that Reilly didn’t go down that road.

I would have liked a little more on Scott’s life as we only get a small peek into his home and that left me wanting more.

Life Before is an engrossing family drama that had me captivated from the beginning right through to the shocking end.

My rating 4.5/5    ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

*This review is: 
Part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge
& Book #5 in the Australian Women Writers Challenge
 

 Carmel Reilly is one of Australia's busiest educational writers, with over 300 titles to her name. She has written a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction for ages five to teens, with subjects that encompass topics from democracy, global cultures and the solar system to everyday life, adventurous aliens and silly superheros.

Outside of writing for children, she won the 2013 Partners in Crime Short Story Award for her entry Another Life. In 2016 she was awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship, and was shortlisted for a 2018 Varuna Publisher Introduction Program Fellowship. Life Before is Carmel's first novel for adults. She currently lives in Melbourne. 

 

 

Mailbox Monday - March 11th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 

We have had a new postman over the last two weeks and I'm not sure if he is that happy with getting off his bike everyday and bringing my parcels to the door.
So, any ideas how to soften up the postie? I used to give my old postie books. Not sure that will work with this one. 

Review Titles:

I Love My Mum Because by Petra James
Publication Date: 26th March 2019

This book is for you and your mum.

Draw, decorate, colour in, count, spot the mum, make a butterfly (or two) and then present the book to your mum for any special occasion: birthday, Xmas, Mother's Day ... or just because.

An interactive picture book to personalise for your mum.

A Lovely and Terrible Thing by Chris Womersley
Publication date: 23rd April 2019

In bestselling author Chris Womersley's first short fiction collection, twenty macabre and deliciously enjoyable tales linked by the trickle of water that runs through them all will keep readers spellbound until their final, unexpected and unsettling twist... 

The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley
Publication date: 23rd April 2019


Posy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living in her beautiful family home, Admiral House, set in the glorious Suffolk countryside where she spent her childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father,  Posy knows she must make an agonising decision to sell it.

Then a face appears from the past - Freddie, her first love, who abandoned her and left her heartbroken fifty years ago. Already struggling to cope with problems amongst her grown-up children, Posy is reluctant to trust in Freddie’s renewed affection. And unbeknown to Posy, Freddie - and Admiral House - have a devastating secret to reveal . . .

The Spanish Promise by Karen Swan
Publication date: 26th March 2019

One of Spain's richest men is dying. But as he prepares his estate, his family is shocked to discover he is making plans to give away his wealth to a young woman they have never even heard of. Who is she and what hold does she have over him?

Charlotte Fairfax is asked to travel to the troubled family's home in Spain to get to the bottom of the mysterious bequest. It's the week before her wedding but she is confident she has time - there's only one reason an older man leaves his money to a beautiful young woman, isn't there?

But in Madrid, things don't go to plan when the woman  denies knowing anything about the gift. Is she lying? Looking for clues, Charlotte digs into the prominent family's history and unearths a dark  and shocking past in which two people were torn apart by conflict.

A Life of Her Own by Fiona McCallum
Publication date: 18th March 2019


Alice Hamilton loved being a mature-age student, but now she's finished her university degree she needs to find herself a career. But the job market is tough and it doesn't help that her partner David keeps reminding her about their sizeable mortgage. When she's offered a role in a major real estate agency, she jumps at the opportunity. David is excited by her prospects in the thriving Melbourne housing market, and Alice is pleased that she'll be utilising her exceptional people skills.
But Alice quickly realises all is not as it seems. What is she doing wrong to be so out of sync with her energetic boss, Carmel Gold, agent extraordinaire? Alice is determined to make it work, but how much will it affect her values?
As everything starts to fall apart, a sudden visit home to the country town Alice escaped years ago provides an unexpected opportunity to get some perspective. Surrounded by people who aren't what they seem, or have their own agendas, can Alice learn to ask for what she really wants ... on her own terms?



Won
I won this amazing book on Page by Page book club with Theresa Smith Writes on Facebook.

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
Publication date: 26th February 2019

2019 Life changed beyond recognition for Alice when her son, Eddie, was born with autism spectrum disorder. She must do everything to support him, but at what cost to her family? When her cherished grandmother is hospitalised, a hidden box of mementoes reveals a tattered photo of a young man, a tiny leather shoe and a letter. Her grandmother begs Alice to return to Poland to see what became of those she held dearest.

WWII Alina and Tomasz are childhood sweethearts. The night before he leaves for college, Tomasz proposes marriage. But when their village falls to the Nazis, Alina doesn't know if Tomasz is alive or dead.

2019 In Poland, separated from her family, Alice begins to uncover the story her grandmother is so desperate to tell, and discovers a love that bloomed in the winter of 1942. As a painful family history comes to light, will the struggles of the past and present finally reach a heartbreaking resolution?

What am I looking forward to reading? 

I love all things macabre and a little unusual so this week I will be choosing: A Lovely and Terrible Thing. I love the contradiction in the title and I'm hoping it's not too macabre that I will get nightmares but just a little weird and twisted. 

What Books did your postman deliver this week?

Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.