Angie's Reviews - The Book Chook & Bad Crab

The Book Chook
By Amelia McInerney & illustrated by Connah Brecon Bad Crab By Amelia McInerney & illustrated by Philip Bunting
$24.99 each, Scholastic

Amelia McInerney may be a newcomer to the children’s picture book scene, but she’s shot out of the gates with two books published this year, and a few more already in the works. The Book Chook and Bad Crab are both light-hearted, think-outside-the-box creations (and both have colourful illustrations with very telling animated eyes). The former is a meta tale (meaning it draws attention to book conventions – in this instance as a way to create absurdity and humour) about Ray the chicken realising he’s a character in a book and through lively dialogue – existential crisis alert! – considering the pros and cons of being a ‘book chook’ versus a real life chook. The latter, using far fewer words (“ow” is the sum total), sees a crabby crab failing to win friends due to his penchant for pinching. Books with few or no words are great for teaching visual literacy; the fact that the action gets a little confusing towards the end of Bad Crab just means readers can discuss and dispute the exact series of events… so long as no one gets crabby!   

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Angie Schiavone has a Master of Arts in Children's Literature and is the former children's book reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald. She has been a judge for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, a restaurant reviewer and editor for the Good Food Guide, and a cookbook editor. She's also a mum to two book and food-loving kids.   

If you are a SCBWI member and have a new book coming out soon make sure you CLICK HERE to submit your book to Angie’s Reviews.

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Angie's Reviews - A Construction of Cranes

A Construction of Cranes
By Margaret Robson Kett & illustrated by Caitlin Zeigler
$24.95, Kettlestitch Press

It seems the norm nowadays for our city and suburban skylines to be crowded with cranes, so it’s about time someone came up with a collective noun for them. At least, that’s how I’m interpreting the title of this eye-catching book – the debut publication from Melbourne-based Kettlestitch Press.

The title works on another level, too, reflecting the way in which both its text and images explore how cranes construct geometric shapes, high in the sky. An unusual format (tall and thin, befitting its subject matter) makes this book standout, as do the kaleidoscopic illustrations, which use collage to emphasise shapes and angles. While a few labelled illustrations give factual information about cranes, the text focuses on form and movement, imagining what it would be like to be a crane, and the overall feel is abstract and artistic.

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Angie Schiavone has a Master of Arts in Children's Literature and is the former children's book reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald. She has been a judge for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, a restaurant reviewer and editor for the Good Food Guide, and a cookbook editor. She's also a mum to two book and food-loving kids.   

If you are a SCBWI member and have a new book coming out soon make sure you CLICK HERE to submit your book to Angie’s Reviews.

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Angie's Reviews - Cowboy and Birdbrain

Cowboy and Birdbrain
By Adam Wallace
$12.99, Scholastic

A mix of wordplay, silly scatological acronyms, slapstick, repetition, cartoony illustrations, and outright absurdity make this madcap day in the life of crazy couriers Cowboy and Birdbrain a laugh-out-loud read. (My 7-year-old ‘Dog Man by Dav Pilkey’-loving son required regular breathers – as in, I had to stop reading so he could stop laughing and resume breathing). Birdbrain lives up to his name in more ways than one: he’s literally a brain with wings and a beak, plus, he’s completely and utterly stupid. He and his friend/fellow “deliverer” Cowboy (also named literally, as he’s a cow and a boy) have been given the seemingly impossible task of delivering package to “the middle of the ocean” by 8.37pm… will they make it in time? One thing’s for sure – young readers will be cheering them on as the clock counts down.

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Angie Schiavone has a Master of Arts in Children's Literature and is the former children's book reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald. She has been a judge for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, a restaurant reviewer and editor for the Good Food Guide, and a cookbook editor. She's also a mum to two book and food-loving kids.   

If you are a SCBWI member and have a new book coming out soon make sure you CLICK HERE to submit your book to Angie’s Reviews.

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