This post was added by Rebecca Newman. Rebecca is a children's writer and poet, and the editor of the Australian children's literary blog, Alphabet Soup.
For more about Rebecca visit: rebeccanewman.net.au.
Unicorn Diaries: Bo the Brave by Rebecca Elliott, Scholastic, ISBN 9781338323436
Sloane reviewed her own copy of this book.
Do you like books about unicorns? Then I think you should read Unicorn Diaries: Bo the Brave because it’s magical.
In this story, Bo’s class of unicorn friends goes camping. They heard noises and got scared. The unicorns found out that the noises were coming from the pixies. The pixies were having a party. The pixies were afraid of the beasts and Bo the Brave must save the day.
One reason I like this book is because it’s entertaining to all students. In this story there are lots and lots of unicorns. Another reason I like this book is because there’s lots of magic. Everyone has magical powers. The most powerful magic is flying. The third reason I like this book is because the pictures are wonderful. For example, the book has colorful pictures like orange and pink and yellow.
I hope you go get this book and read it right away. Do you want to find out more about this book? Visit your local library.
I recommend this book for kids ages nine and eight and seven. I’ll give this book a 10 out of 10!
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Jeanette Stampone was born and raised in a spooky three-hundred-year-old English house. Jeanette now lives in a small country town in Western Australia with her husband and two boys. Shadow and the Girl is her debut picture book, illustrated by Demelsa Haughton.
From the publisher:
A giant girl towers over Shadow. Driven by fear, Shadow runs. And so does the girl. But can they really run from each other?
How long did it take to write Shadow and the Girl?
Nearly five years!
I first had the idea back in 2017. It was about a monster living under a child’s bed. I decided to change the monster to a shadow, but still had lots of trouble getting the story to flow.
So, I then completely changed the scene and took Shadow outside to a park. That’s when it really began to work. I sent the manuscript to a few publishers, but not many because I was worried the story was a bit too different. I eventually put it away and worked on new ideas.
But then in 2019, I saw Red Paper Kite were open for submissions. They were looking for quirky and unusual stories. I sent it in and … YAY! It got accepted. I feel like my story was just waiting for the right publisher.
Shortly after I signed the contract, coronavirus hit and the book release got delayed, which meant more waiting. But finally, in 2022, it was ready for print! It’s taken a long time but every stage has been exciting.
Did you have contact with the illustrator, Demelsa Haughton, while the book was being illustrated?
We really only made a few comments on each other’s social media posts. But other than that, no direct contact. My publisher worked closely with Demelsa and occasionally I was asked my opinion on her work, but that was very rare. I actually loved having no contact with her because it meant she was free to use her own creativity without me influencing it too much. She ended up making the book even better than I imagined!
How do you go about writing the first picture book draft?
So this is what normally happens:
Random idea pops into my head.
Idea swirls around my head, getting in the way of anything else I am trying to do!
Get out my notepad and write a summary of the idea.
If I am happy with the summary, I hop onto the computer and ‘grow’ the idea. I add more sentences and not worry too much about it being perfect. I just want to get the basic story down at this stage.
Read through my story and chop, change, and polish until I’m reasonably happy.
Finally, take the story to my critique group for feedback!
Do you have a tip for kids who‘d like to write their own picture book?
Imagine the illustrations as you write but try not to describe exactly what would be happening in the drawings. Let the illustrations tell one story and your writing tell another story.
So instead of saying something like, It was sunny and Ella smiled, you could describe her physical and emotional feelings like this: The sun warmed Ella’s face and her heart sang with joy.
Can you tell us a bit about what you!re working on next?
I have a book coming out with Wombat Books, The Dragon Guest Handbook. It’s a fun but meaningful story and I’m really looking forward to seeing it in print. I have been so busy with the release of Shadow and the Girl that I haven’t had a lot of time to work on new stories, but I do have a big list of ideas. Hopefully I can start working on a few of those soon because they’re all in the swirling around my head stage!
Shadow and the Girl is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
Geronimo Stilton: The Dragon of Fortune, Scholastic Inc, ISBN 9781338159394
Akshay reviewed his own copy of this book.
Do you like dragons, wizards, and talking lizards? Then you should read Geronimo Stilton: Dragon of Fortune. It is very funny. It is so interesting you want to read more!
In the story Geronimo goes with his friends to find the winged ring but people try to stop him. All the witches and also the cat tried to stop him. She disguised herself to go to the witch council in the Kingdom of Fantasy. Geronimo is scared of the cat but the wizard comes with him. Also in the story they call him Sir Geronimo of Stilton. Isn’t that funny?
One reason I like this book is because it has lots of adventures. What happens in the story is there is an enchanted book they use to fly to the witch castle. Pretty adventurous, huh? The second reason I like this book is because, for example, it has lots of pages. If you finish a hundred pages you have a lot more! My last reason I love this book is because the characters from the other books stay in the new book. For example, Geronimo, Scribblehopper, Blue Rider and others are in this book and different books in the series too.
I hope you get this book and read it right away! I recommend this book for ages 8 and above. I give this book 10 stars.
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Silks! Purple and red awaited me to climb! It was my first class of cirque and I was so delighted. The teacher’s assistant was there but the teacher was late.
My teacher was called Miss Maria. She was thoughtful, kind and generous. She had an assistant called Emily, who was sixteen. I love when they helped me.
Next, we did stretching and I practised planks. Emily helped me when I did a plank. We carried the blocks and I practised the splits. Then the teacher called me to climb the silks. I felt joyful and thrilled. I made a knot on my foot with the silks to stand on. Our teacher said a saying, “Outside, inside, pull up, and around,” to teach us how to do a knot for us to stand on. It was hard to climb the silks because it had a difficult technique.
At my class I met two new friends. Their names are Scarlet and Sienna. They are younger than me but they are good at the knot for the silks.
Excited for my next class because this class was so enjoyable and fun, I ran to my mum and hugged her. I was so glad to do cirque because it was so fun to go on the silks and play with my new friends.
I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow, Cengage Learning, ISBN 9780547401638
Alina reviewed her own copy of this book.
Do you like rhyming books? Then I think you should read I Like Myself because it teaches you to like yourself. In this story it talks, talks, talks about yourself. In this story it talks about your hands, ears and your eyes and your legs and arms and head and more.
One reason I like this book is because it makes you love yourself more than you already do. The second reason I like this book is because the girl is nice. The third reason I like this book is because the pictures are pretty and the girl is cute and she has a dog. In the story it says “I like myself because I am me.”
I recommend this book for ages 8, 9, and 10. Find this book at your local library. Out of 10 stars, I give it an 8.
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Pizza and Taco series by Stephen Shaskan, RHUS Children’s Books, Book 4 ISBN 9780593376072
Ethan read his school’s copies of the books in this series.
Do you like comics and friends and funny beginnings? Then the Pizza and Taco series is for you.
Pizza and Taco are always competing. And I think you should read this book because Pizza and Taco have so much fun together. But Pizza and Taco have one enemy: it’s Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger is Hamburger’s cousin. And some of Pizza and Taco’s friends are Ice Cream and Cake and the Chicken Tender Twins and Hamburger and Hotdog.
One reason I like this book is because Pizza and Taco are hilarious, one time they created a comic which had a lot of funny things. And Pizza and Taco are very nice to each other, but they get into a lot of trouble. In Pizza and Taco Too Cool for School, they get into trouble. The second reason I like this book is because it has imaginative pictures. Another reason I like this book is because they are a bit realistic. For example Pizza is a bit realistic. The third reason I like this book is because Pizza and Taco are so funny and sarcastic.
Do you want to find out more about this series? Visit your local library. I recommend this series to ages seven and up. I give this series 8 out of 10 stars.
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Fox and His Friends series by Edward Marshall, illustrated by James Marshall, Penguin Young Readers Group, ISBN 9780140370072
Jacob reviewed his own copy of this book.
Have you ever read a book that is funny and has some sad parts but more good parts? Good. You came to the right place because this book series has bad cooks and basic ones. And you do not have to read the books in order. The series is Fox and Friends by Edward Marshall and James Marshall.
In one of the books he gets in a race. He crashes in a garden so he has to fix it himself. And he gets sad about crashing into a garden. Then he broke his bike so he has to get a job, so he gets one …
My first reason I like this book is because Fox is funny. In the story he threw his tunafish sandwich away, but then he got hungry. It is so funny. My second reason I like these books is because they are not that long. You can read one in one day. My third reason is you don’t have to read the books in order.
I hope you get these books right away. I give it ten stars. I think this book is for ages 7 and up.
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
The Colour of Music by by Lisa Tiffen, illustrated by Matt Ottley, MidnightSun Publishing, ISBN: 9781925227871
The publisher provided a review copy of this picture book.
The Colour of Music shows us what music can be like for people with synaesthesia. When some people listen to music they just enjoy the beautiful sensation, and other people see colours and pictures in their imagination. Reading the book has meant I can listen to music in a new way.
The illustrations are colourful and have lots of feeling. I recommend this book for any kids that love music.
Pinkalicious and the Sick Day by Victoria Kann, HarperCollins, ISBN 9780062246011
Lila reviewed her own copy of this book.
Have you ever read the Pinkalicious series? If you have not, you should read Pinkalicious and the Sick Day because it is funny. In this story there is a girl named Pinkalicious who is sick and her daddy tries to cheer her up.
One reason I like this book is because there are a lot of jokes. One of them is “Why did the pink panda go to the doctor? Because it was pink!” (That is why it is funny.)
Another reason I like the book is because I may want to be friends with her because she’s fun, but she may be crazy!
A third reason I like this book is because I like the pictures in the story. There are great pictures!
Do you want to find out more about this book? Visit your local library.
I recommend this book for kids ages 2-8. I give this book 9 and a half out of 10 stars!
Second grade students at Glenridge Elementary School (Missouri, USA) are guest reviewers at Alphabet Soup. Click here if you’d like to read more book reviews by Glenridge Elementary School. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Kathryn Apel lives among the gum trees, cattle and kangaroos on a Queensland grazing property, where she writes poetry, picture books and verse novels. Her previous books include Bully on the Bus, Too Many Friends, and The Bird in the Herd. Kathryn’s latest book is What Snail Knows, illustrated by Mandy Foot, and we’re thrilled to chat to her about the book today.
Lucy’s glad she has Snail, the perfect pet for a lonely girl. If only she had her own shell to hide in every time she started at a new school. But this place is different. She likes her teacher, Miss Darling. She likes her classmates, especially Tahnee. She even likes Mei-hui’s van park, where she lives with Dad and Snail. This place feels like home. Can she convince her dad to stay?
You’re well-known for your verse novels, did you know you’d write this as a verse novel when the story idea first came to you?
I did not! I was talking with a friend about the ‘How Can I Help?’ unit I’d team-taught a number of years earlier, and my friend commented that it would make a great book. I was in the middle of prepping two picture books for print at the time (Up and Down on a Rainy Day and The Bird in the Herd) and I couldn’t imagine how to squeeze ‘How Can I Help?’ into a picture book. But 6 weeks later I realised it could be a verse novel. And I was very quickly excited about that idea!
How did you go about writing What Snail Knows? Did you write a plan before you begin working on the story?
My story plan unfolds as I’m writing. When I get some words on the page, I stop and think about the character more. Is the voice distinctive? What does s/he want? What could cause the problem?
And that’s how this started … ‘It’s just you and me. We don’t need nobody else.’ I was thinking about my character and wondering how s/he could link in with ‘How Can I Help?’ when I realised I already knew her. And I didn’t need to create a whole class of characters for this story. I already had them! They were in my verse novel, Too Many Friends. The voice I had found was Lucy’s – the quiet girl who was always alone. I did wonder how I was going to fill a book when Lucy doesn’t say much … But she thinks. A lot. And she shares her thoughts with Snail.
I can tell you that there is alot of stress when you’re 3/4 of the way through your first draft and you still don’t know what happened to your main character’s mum … or why they have to move a lot. Usually I know how a story will end … just not how it will get there. But this time I didn’t even know the ending. Would Lucy and her Dad have to move again? Why? How did things change and resolve? I had no idea, and I was very worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish this book! So – I wouldn’t say I recommend not planning …
Did you talk with Mandy Foot about the illustrations? Do you consider illustrations at all when you’re writing?
I didn’t know there were going to be illustrations – so I didn’t consider them when I wrote. And I didn’t talk to Mandy about them. But I loved them. That tangle of hair, the dirty smudges, and that sweet little face. Finding the right place for them in the story was a bit like a jigsaw – but when the puzzle was complete, those little line drawings surprised me with the emotions they squeezed from the poetry. They captured the aloneness … And the moments of connection between Lucy and Snail, Lucy and Dad and finally Lucy and Tahnee.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to write a verse novel or a verse short story?
Say less, best. There are lots of small words we need in sentences that we don’t need in poetry. Cut them out.
Play with your words and where they sit on the page.
Try line breaks instead of punctuation.
Read your writing aloud. Or better still – get someone to read it aloud to you.
Focus on individual poems. Write one poem. Then the next. Forget you’re writing a book and just write lots of small poems that fit together to tell a story.
Could you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m rather excited to have a picture book that has also just gone to print. Miss Understood, illustrated by Beau Wylie, will be released in May 2022 with Scholastic. It’s a romp of a rhyming picture book, as told by the wolf, Miss Understood. She is such a sweetie, and if you have never heard her side of things, you really must read this book, because truly, she has been … misunderstood.
I have a couple of other picture books and verse novels in various stages. And I’m a wee-bit excited about the possibility of another companion title to Too Many Friends and What Snail Knows. I’m still mulling it over in my head – and then I need to do some research. And that may involve me stepping waaaay out of my comfort zone.😬 So it may be a while, yet …
What Snail Knows is out now! Look for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
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