Dim's Write Stuff

By now, most of us have heard of the Easter Bilby. A cute long-eared, pointy-snouted, nocturnal marsupial native to Australia’s arid lands aka the Australian Easter Bunny. But when a trio of young desert dwelling birds encounter their very first bilby, they are in need of a bit of convincing that this critter is not in fact EB Og. And who better to persuade them than Bilby himself. In lilting rhyming verse, Bilby escorts his curious companions through an intriguing list of his best qualities. What makes this adventure so alluring however, is the choice of descriptive wordplay Janeen Brian employs to do so. Bilby’s eyes become his peepers , two tall pink straight-ups are his ears and his scratcher-scritchers …? Well, you be the judge. Clues are secreted in follow-up verse as Bilby explains what each of these features help him do, eat, and shelter from. The results are both delightfully informative and hilariously goofy. I will never be able to look at my dogs’ wagging tails again ...

The meaning of life. The beginning of time. Existential significance for human kind. Pretty hefty topics for pre-schoolers and those over 14 years of age. And yet, here are an eclectic collection of picture books that I feel do these notions proud. Funny, informative and touching; the scope is broad as are the concepts but their combined purpose further serves to broaden our children’s minds in the aspects of time and space and humanity. Enjoy! Ada And The Galaxies by Alan Lightman and Olga Pastuchiv and Susanna Chapman Ada loves the night sky and not just for its twinkling stars. Yet living in the city can make it difficult to appreciate distant galaxies of stars, let alone see them! So, when Ada spends time with her grandparents at their seaside home, new universes of nature, meteorology and space become accessible in the most spectacular way. Visually arresting and factually fascinating. A gem in the night sky. Walker Books Australia (Mit Kids Press imprint), September 2021 ISB...

In the lead up to the silly season where, as everyone knows, the best present of all is a BOOK, it’s time to throw some scintillating options at you. This collection features content showcasing our reef and ocean life with a few surprises along the way. Click on title links to access more information for perfect summer reading. Enjoy! A Is For Australian Reefs: A fact astic Tour by Frané Lessac This is an ABC book with a difference. It’s not simply a collection of alphabetised sea creatures but a colour saturated, detail imbued meander around our coral reefs which includes nomenclature (species names) and terminology. Random fun facts pop up on every page adding interesting and depth to one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet. Highly recommended. Walker Books Australia, October 2022 ISBN: 9781760652258 Big World, Tiny World: Reef by Jess Racklyeft Another memorable masterpiece highlighting ocean life in and around our beautiful reefs. Racklyeft combines lyrical ve...

I’m currently embracing all things Aussie and story. This means my awareness and appreciation for the stories created on Traditional Country, Sky Country and Sea Country is slowly but surely growing. It’s a wonderful study to be part of, acknowledging the stories, culture and history of our First Nations people and basking in their enormous pools of knowledge. This new release from the creative brains of Brentos is not just another picture book listing the conservational status of our unique Australian wildlife, it is a colourful ode to the Aussie bush and surrounding seas connecting readers with the heart and soul of the land on which they reside. And it’s a corker. Sadly though, not every creature is thriving alongside our human existence or more accurately, because of it. Australian Animals From Beach To Bush , clearly identifies species from coral reefs to inland skylines that are vulnerable, endangered or currently doing okay. Definitions are coloured coded prior to journey...

Katrina Nannestad has well and truly cemented her position as one of Australia’s most accomplished historical fiction writers with her latest novel, Silver Linings . Most of us are aware that clouds have them, silver linings that is, but what exactly do they mean and do they really exist? Nettie Sweeney sure thinks so. Nettie’s story, set in the 1950s, reads as a middle grade novel yet champions Nettie Sweeney as the young protagonist who has just started primary school. Nettie’s tender years, beguiling naivety and childlike foibles are neatly offset however by the fact that she is the fourth daughter of a farming family with the ability to write and think beyond her years. Couple this with the assured determination of a person set on visiting the moon and you’ve got a character exploding with charm, wit and wonder. In short, Nettie is larger-than-life adorbs! Nettie’s singular desire is for a mother to love and cuddle having lost hers at birth. Her dreams come true in the shape o...

How far would you go for love? If you’re a Magellanic penguin who has imprinted on a kind old man, the answer could be thousands of miles. Where The Heart Is is a gentle tale of findings and belongings inspired by the real life story of Dindim, the tiny oil-stricken penguin found by Joao Pereira de Souza off the coast of Brazil in 2011. This rendition follows the facts closely beginning with Dindim’s salvation by Joao who cleans, feeds and nurtures him back to good health. As a tremendous show of gratitude, Dindim decides to stay and even after being relocated to an island offshore, promptly heads back to Joao’s beachside dwelling for a touching reunion. It is not until Dindim undergoes his first moult and dons his adult plumage that he suddenly decides to leave. In real life, no one knows for sure where this dapper little seabird goes but in Gold’s version, he makes the arduous sea journey back to coastal Patagonia, the breeding grounds of his fellow penguins. Life in the colony is f...

This week’s whopper book list features some of the most favoured and favourite Aussie characters of all time: our wildlife. Look them up in your bookshop or library for some full Australiana immersion . Babies At The Billabong by Maura Finn and Cate James Stunning textural illustrations illuminate one little girl’s late afternoon rambles around a billabong where she spies a bush load of Aussie animal babies. Nomenclature and rhyming singalong verse makes this a sweet read for 3 – 5 year-olds. Affirm Press August 2021 9781922419408 By The Billabong by Maura Finn and Cate James This is the precursor to ‘ Babies …’ and sports just as many gumnuts and superb imagery. A fun and frolicsome exploration of collective nouns that makes a gorgeous bedtime read. Affirm Press April 2020 9781925972474 Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli Anelli’s mixed media artwork and Freeman’s elegant yet fact-driven narrative informs and entices readers to look...

A Piscean by nature, it follows I automatically soak up anything associated with water. Here is an aquatic themed book list sure to ‘whet’ the appetites of ocean lovers. Click on the title links to explore these books further and access ways to acquire them. Aquatica: A beginner’s field guide by Lance Balchin Imagine a world bereft of the natural order because of we humans. A world where artificial robotic life has replaced real species and most terrifyingly, multiplying faster than surviving humans can control. A few years prior to this account, Liberty’s journal of Mechanica surfaced. This is her latest chronicle of the underwater life forms that now plague the oceans. Incredible detail describes each robotic menace, all accompanied by stunning diagrammatic sketches and paintings. Imaginative, beautiful and quietly disarming, this is a must for lovers of future dystopia, sea creatures and saga type fantasies. A supremely standout picture book. Five Mile, April 2017  ...

In honour of a brand new year that is carrying with it some woeful old worries and exasperating new concerns, I thought it might be nice to focus on something a little different and uplifting. And what better way to discover new things than in a book of words, like a dictionary, like an alphabetical listing of a collection of word books, with pictures. Ahem, so with that tenuously linked introduction out of the way, let me begin with something small and bright and beautiful: a book list about bugs ! Click on the title links to explore these books further and access ways to acquire them. (The) Bug Collector by Alex G Griffiths A benign visit to the museum of Wildlife with Grandad exposes young George to the wonderful world of bugs prompting him to curate a collection of his own. After much laborious effect and ingenuity, he does so but soon discovers that such fabulousness is not destined to be trapped within a bottle. A beautifully conceived and crafted picture book that will en...