Dim's Write Stuff

If lovers of middle grade fantasy aren't immediately drawn in by this title and its alluring woodsy cover, then like me, the blurb promising an unforgettable adventure ... set in the Stone Age, might do just the trick. Charlie Merriam loves life, living on the edge of an ancient forest. Charlie has a clutch of close buddies to share neck-breaking adventures with. Days are filled with wild expeditions, getting filthy (Charlie is a tween afterall) and parental well-meaning remonstrations. Only one thing could enhance this happiness more; the arrival of a new brother or sister. When baby brother, Dara, is born with a life-threatening abnormality, Charlie's hopes of happiness plunge into a morass of despair. Charlie's parents are consumed with worry. They can barely process their own feelings let alone deal with their first-born's fear, so Charlie bolts, into the familiar sanctuary of the forest. There, Charlie finds a boy, dressed in deerskins, lying face down in the ...

Young children may not be consciously aware of it but every interaction and reaction they encounter builds their unique sense of self. Identity: a cryptic collection of characteristics, mindsets and personality traits that describe who you are to the world. But who are we really? And why is it important that children understand and develop their sense of self? What I love about this small collection of picture books is their ability to combine the notion of loving who you are in relatable visual story lines without explicitly forcing ideals down our throats. When less emphasis is given to maintaining differences and energies refocused on the actual joys of living, greater understanding and harmony is assured. So, let’s start our journey of self-discovery… Who am I? Philip Bunting is well-known for his strikingly simple artwork and nimble narratives. His ability to dress non fictional facts with tongue-in-cheek- humour ensures maximum enjoyment and depth of learning. This book not ...

Most of us have believed in monsters at some point in our lives, whether metaphorically or from when we believed they dwelt underneath our beds and behind our bedroom doors. This extraordinary middle grade fiction not only reignites the notion that we coexist with all manner of devilish beasts, it bravely intimates that not all of them are bad. Could there be some that fall somewhere in between good and bad? Is it possible to love a monster? Sam hatches one fateful night in the vast underground lair where all monsters dwell and begin. He is a curious and inexplicable creation never before seen by the noxious collection of pixies, ogres and trolls. Resembling something of an imp, the grumpy gargoyles adopt him as one of their own. Displaced and unexplained, Imp (aka Sam) learns more and more about his new world with each passing minute, however not the answer to his existence; why he looks like a human but behaves like a monster. From atop his cathedral spire home, Sam adapts to garg...

Bjorn is a bear who lives in a cave. It meets all his needs and even sports a mailbox out front where letters sometimes arrive . Bjorn is not the sort of bear to boast about his various wins in life, like his acquisition of a three-seater sofa. His responses are always considered and calm. In fact, Bjorn thinks a sofa may actually take up more room than it's worth in his tidy compact cave. This is quite the opposite to his woodland friends who think a three-seater sofa is their ticket to comfort and happiness. They quickly assume full sitting rights, which crowds the cave even more until Bjorn cannot think about the sofa without feeling unhappy. To him, the sofa is not great so he decides to give it away. After Rabbit declares that it would make an ideal woodland sofa for everyone to share, Bjorn retires to his cave without it, and is happy. This is just one of the handful of introspective, wickedly playful chapters about Bjorn and his buddies. Through regular deliveries to his m...

The Through My Eyes series is an extraordinary up-close and personal collection of novels that depict harrowing, gripping stories about children from various nations around the globe - from their unique view point. This one, Hasina's story is about one girl's experiences of persecution during the political upheaval of Myanmar in the late 80s. Hasina enjoys a humble yet rich childhood in her ancestral home in the lands of Rakhin, a province on the western side of the Arakan Mountains. Together with her baby brother, Araf, she and her village friends attend their aunty's makeshift home school because the village one is no longer in operation thanks to the conflicts between the police, Army and local governments. In fact many of the freedoms of the past have been sacrificed as growing religious intolerance spreads across the conflicted former lands of Burma. It is occasionally difficult to bend one's understanding around so much unrest. This sadly common abhorrent aff...

What do meat pies, hot chips and the land of the Pharaohs have in common? As it turns out, quite a lot thanks to a curious looking, bald-headed bird with stilt-like legs and a beak that arcs like an oversized hairclip. The Straw-necked Ibis is an instantly recognisable suburban bird to even the youngest of humans thanks to its ungainly appearance and potent guano pong. Yet this hilarious tribute to one of our most misunderstood rubbish bin visitors, allows the humble Ibis to take on a glorious new role. Mother Ibis nests high above her suburban kingdom in a palm tree that is home to three adorable fluffy chicks. Despite the eclectic furnishings of their treetop home, the chicks learn from their mother not only how to survive in this modern world but gain a sense of their ancestry and history. For you see, their ancestors used to grace the banks of the Nile in Egypt and were once regarded regally rather than in distain. So when did it go so awry and Ibis became synomous with the term,...

At a glance, there is not much to this book. A brick wall is wedged in the gutter (middle) of the book with blank pages on each side of it. On closer examination, you'll notice a brick is missing on the left-hand-side of the wall. Supposedly, this is the better side of the book, so it's fortunate the wall is in the middle of the book, protecting it - so says the little knight, who armed with a suitably sized ladder, aims to replace the missing brick. While all this is happening, we catch a glimpse of the other side of the book. It's full of predatory and fierce animals, rhinos, tigers and gorillas. They don't have ladders, just a natural curiosity to explore the other side of the wall, the safe side. They are not the most dangerous aspect of the right-hand-side side of the book though. The knight informs us that honour belongs to the ogre. Oh dear. Lucky for our knight there is a wall for if the ogre was on the other side, he would surely eat the knight. Then a f...

This is a curiously compelling thriller that sets your mind whirling with speculation. After an initial period of accustomization of where and why (and wrapping my head around a slew of acronyms I thought I had to remember), this YA thriller settled into a convincing mystery of deceit and apprehension. Sixteen-year-old Eila is shortlisted to be the face of a global marketing campaign for a new virtual reality skinsuit, the kind never before seen in her futuristic world of VR and AR commonality. These skinsuits have the ability to adhere to their wearers' thoughts and emotions with action, surpassing conventional VR 'normality'. In short, they are uber high tech units. K H Canobi has crafted an action imbued tale of suspenseful turmoil that crackles with tension and doubt. Once we are lured into Eila's world, one that is eerily easy to accept as our own; as it might be just a few years from now, we are swept along with her in a confusion of mind altering, siniste...

Hattie is six and has been waiting forever for school to start. Interestingly, I picked up this novel, first published in Sweden in 2005, at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown when many a young pupil was itching to get back into their own classroom. Hattie however, an only child living on the edge of nowhere with just a dog and two outdoor cats for company, has never set foot in a real classroom and can't wait to exchange her wild, gloriously unstructured days spent among her mother's flowerbeds for the adventure of cutting and pasting and forming friendships. Having survived the bus ride to school, Hattie attempts friendship with Linda, a girl with little blue eyes and a disposition so timid, Hattie initially mistakes her for a stuck-up angry girl instead of the sweet little princess she really is. Linda's cautious but caring personality is the perfect counterfoil to Hattie's torrent of unregulated candour and cheek. Barely a moment passes that Hattie isn...

This is one of those picture books that is few on words but big on interpretation and thus possesses that wonderful read-again-and-again magic. Simple and seemingly unstructured, Ribbit Rabbit Robot is really a lesson in paying attention to the minutiae that make up our lives for when we do, magic is often revealed. One day while hanging out in a fantastically congested shop of curious antiquities, three friends, Rabbit, Robot and Frog, happen upon an enchanted lamp. It's clever frog who rubs the lamp releasing a wish-granting genie of mythical proportions. The genie comes with a caveat that Rabbit and Robot overlook in their wishing-make zeal. They each conjure up companions suited to their desires but as they bicker for possession of the lamp, Frog, who has taken the time to read further, admonishes their greed and selfishness. Rabbit and Robot employ stealth and subterfuge in an effort to second the lamp for themselves. Hot-headed robot appears to have outwitted his rival...

Dee White's narrative is a compelling mix of poignancy and poise. From the very first line, we are condemned to the cellar with Ruben and his exiled family, huddled in the dark under a mantel of uncertainty and fear. His confusion and anxiety are palpable but we are helpless for it is 1942 and for Jews like young Ruben, there is no longer any safe place in Paris as long as the Nazi stronghold remains. Except one... In desperation, Ruben's parents escort him to the Grand Mosque where dozens of other Jewish children take refuge. Ruben's parents hope he will be safe here while they search for his adult sister in Spain, for salvation. After his mother's rushed and tearful farewell, Ruben realises the only familiar thing that links him to his true identity is the tattered yellow Star of David he keeps hidden in his shoe. It's enough to condemn him yet he refuses to part with it. He is an alien in a strange but beautiful new world, one he must now call home to survi...

Edward's battle has begun. He's apprehensive and concerned how the day will unfold so he dons his sturdy suit of armour and helmet and hopes for the best. And although Edward is fond of  hunting dragons and chasing ogres in his spare time, he is careful to sit in the back row of knights' school lest he bothers all the other creatures. The king of knight school generously dispenses kindness and understanding but Edward is wary of the attention so ducks and weaves his way into obscurity, to the furthest side of the playground. It's hard though; there are giants, ogres and dragons everywhere! Despite his best efforts, he is approached by a grinning ogre at lunchtime. She proffers cake...with sprinkles. Is it a trick? He decides to ignore his knight training and accepts her gift. But just as the cracks in his amour begin to widen, in troop the dragons. The first day of school or even returning to school after a long period of absence just as many children are c...

This is so not my genre but the eye-snagging cover and jazzy back cover blurb hooked me as solidly as a jumping spinning side kick so I found myself spending some unexpected quality time with James Gong , Paul Collin's latest middle grade fiction offering. It does not take long to settle into James Gong's high energy world. Edgy narrative and vibrant characters are driven by a seemingly implausible story line that evolves into a curiously involved teen tale. James Gong is a teen on the precipice of stardom. He's OK at school, has a sister whose bestie seems bent on giving him nosebleeds, and two best mates, Jay and Ethan, who keep his fourteen-year-old world balanced. He is also pretty hot at taekwondo despite a slightly goofy veneer and shaved head. James' prowess on the training floor means he is just a few poomse routines away from earning his black belt, but his reckless and uncontrolled rouge behaviour is not enough to convince Mr Choi, his martial art...

I often take a ridiculously long time to get around reading something I feel is going to be good. Rather like leaving the roast potatoes (my favourite part) to the very end of a roast dinner. Then suddenly a book will call to me, wanting to be read. I believe this way invites a more organic reading experience. And what a book at such a time! Lizzie and Margaret Rose is a gripping middle grade novel by accomplished historic children's author, Pamela Rushby set in the early years of World War II. Rushby wastes no words on superlative mundane description rather chisels her supremely defined characters from the world in which they exist. From the shrapnel strewn streets of London to the balmy coastal suburbs of Townsville, Rushby's talent for honing emotion from action allows readers to engage head on with ten-year-old Margaret Rose and her eleven-year-old Australian cousin, at least this reader did in a way that required the occasional swiping away of tears. When Margaret R...

ABCs and 1 2 3s are not only the fundamental building blocks for learning and communicating, they establish connections with ourselves, our cultures and humanity as a whole. These next few picture books are perfect for exploring those connections, introducing sounds, letters and numbers to pre-schoolers whilst providing sound material for ever important reading time, during lockdown time or anytime! B is For Baby ABC books come in an infinite number of guises. This one is singularly different because it focuses on just one letter of the alphabet rather than all 26, in this case, the letter B. We begin with the obvious, Baby but as the story evolves, we and baby are introduced to a marvellous collection of other B words: beads, basket for example. But what is in the basket…? Bananas of course! Or is it something more? This spectacularly illustrated non-fiction picture book is really a cyclical visual journey of baby’s unplanned journey from her African village into town where...

Admittedly, I'm a little late getting around to this one and although a staunch fan of Marsden, if I had read Tomorrow, When The War Began two decades earlier, the plausibility and impact no doubt would have been far more intense. Despite that, this remains a telling story of tenacity, teen relationships and ingenuity - the kind kids had before they plugged themselves into mobile phones. Using one's wits under pressure is never a straightforward thing. Survival text books may help but chuck in generous dollops of distress, an alarming lack of adult assistance, huge clods of uncertainty, a ridiculous amount of gun-wielding marksmen and of course no app to advise you what to do or how to think and you've got yourself a situation a lot out of the normal and way out of control. A handful of Wirrawee's rural youth led by Ellie return from a secluded weekend camping trip to find their world upturned, their town invaded and their families held captive by an unknown for...

The first thing that wowed me about this picture book was the gorgeous title font; simple yet elegant, a bit like the moon, which is the premise for this story. Then, in contrast to the gold infused cover, promising and light, we are plunged into a world of speculative obscurity and thunderous roars. Felix is marooned in a night of storms. A night where the moon has slipped her moorings and has gone into hiding. At first afraid and conflicted by the storm's rage, Felix soon gathers his bedside buddies, takes his torch and embarks on an idea. Rather than run from the shadows, he decides to make one into his friend, an ally who is brave and strong . His shadow friend is this and more. Her daring and beauty transform the night into a bold show of shadows, each as elegant and fearless as she. Each as restless to enter the tempestuous night and face it down. Felix hesitates as you might expect; a thunderstorm is awfully confronting after all, but he eventually follows them with...