teachers' resources

Picture book review: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, by Sue Whiting, illustrated by Sarah Davis.

CD (included)* narrated by Antonia Kidman. Published by New Frontier Publishing.

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, book cover"

REVIEWED BY OLIVIA, 7, NSW

It’s a fairy tale book with a CD, about two adults that work as candy makers, their names were Marcus and  Mary.

The King comes and tastes the lollies, he loves them so much he says he’ll take fifty jars.

Marcus was worried how they would make them in time and a fairy overheard.

But will the fairy come to save the day?

I liked the book because I liked the happy ending and the colourful pictures.

[If you’d like to take a peek at a few pages of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, then visit the illustrator’s website. *CD includes the music of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, from The Nutcracker Ballet by Tchaikovsky. ]

"Undercover Readers Club logo"Olivia is a member of our Undercover Readers Club, a book reviewers’ club for kids. (The book was provided by the publisher, New Frontier Publishing.) If you or your class would like to join the club, you can download an information pack (PDF) from the magazine’s website. Membership is free!

authors, illustrator

Author website: Hazel Edwards

book cover
book cover

There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake Answering Questions!

There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake (by Hazel Edwards and illustrated by Deborah Niland) celebrates its 30th birthday this year. Do you have a question you’d like to ask the hippo? You can ask away on Hazel’s website! (You can also find out the answers to to questions from other kids, like: What kind of cake is it? and Do you talk?)

The site also has news about Hazel’s latest picture book Flight of the Bumblebee, which comes with a CD of Antonia Kidman reading the story, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous music Flight of the Bumblebee.