environment

Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra by Cassy Polimeni, illustrated by Hykie Breeze, UWA Publishing, ISBN 9781760802899

REVIEWED BY ELLA, 9, WA

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra is a fiction book with lots of facts about frogs. The story is about Ella, who moves house and finds frogs near her new home.

I really liked the author’s descriptions of all the details in the book, and all the onomatopoeia, that made me feel like I was actually there. I thought Ella was a fun and likeable main character. The illustrations were really good, I just wish they had more colour in the book.

I think that anyone aged 5-9 would enjoy this book. Anyone who likes frogs or wants to learn about frogs, would love this book.

I loved this book!

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REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 11, WA

One Thousand Trees,
by Kyle Hughes-Odgers,
Fremantle Press, ISBN 9781925164725

Matilda received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

This is about living the city with polluted air, and how Frankie wishes there were trees. And then Frankie starts to imagine …

I’ve seen some of Kyle Hughes-Odgers artwork before, in Ten Tiny Things (written by Meg McKinlay), and also on walls and murals around Perth.

One Thousand Trees is reflective and shows you what happens in Frankie’s head as Frankie imagines a forest of trees. The story is told mostly through the illustrations, with not many words, and the words that are there are mostly prepositions. I like the shapes used for the trees and leaves, and the range of greens in the forest pages. (At the beginning of the book you see mostly greys and dark colours). The endpapers are good to look at — they change from the front of the book to the ones at the back of the book because of the story.

This picture book would suit children who live in the city, and kids who would like more trees in their environment. This book suits ages 4 to 8.

Matilda is one of our regular book reviewers. You can read Matilda’s other reviews here. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Tag: environment

Book review: Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra

Book review: One Thousand Trees