Dim's Write Stuff

Alishba The Great could be a tale touted as moral-driven and whilst helpful notions of self-belief and esteem feature on every page, this picture book by Faeza Samnakay and Sam B , is in fact a delightful and colourful ode to finding one's inner strength and siblings. Alishba hails from a land of antelopes, elephants and passionfruit vines. From the first glowing illustrations depicting Mt Kilimanjaro, we might deduce it to be Tanzania. She is as vibrant as the colours shown to depict her, bold, bouncy and well educated. As she grows, we learn about four precious gifts her family bestows upon her. I personally think her most obvious gift is her nurturing family but more about that later ... From each of her parents and brothers, Alishba receives a cape, each a different colour, a tangible, solid reference to the aphorism that accompanies it: Care, Courage, Determination and Flair.  Her relations take great pains to explain what each truism means for her and any future she forges ...

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a mum. I had a younger sister, my bestie but to fill the sibling gap (and several years before motherhood would be a reality), I had a backyard of furred, feathered and finned buddies. Much like Little A, (my own moniker for him) our main character in Maura Pierlot and A Yi's latest picture book, Our Family Zoo . This little boy's backyard, and kitchen and bedroom are filled to bursting with animals of every description. There are your run of the mill domestic moggies and doggies, the old chook, plenty of questionable reptiles and amphibians not to mention a host of native pet rescues. It's exactly the kind of animal menagerie I yearned for as a youngster, although I did manage to rack up a loft full of pigeons, quails, budgies, ducks, chooks, mice, dogs, cats, rosellas, a galah named Freddie, and at one point, a ping pong eating giant oscar fish. Little A would have been proud. But where my parents drew the line at an Arabian stallion, Li...

As a young tween, the closest phenomena I encountered resembling pestilence and epidemics was the odd mouse and locust plague. Both highly irregular, indescribably disturbing occurrences that eventually, mercifully passed. For the generations before me, war assumed similar levels of upheaval and unrest. Imagine though being born into an era of extreme disruption, disease and prolonged uncertainty as your 'new normal' as  recently experienced by many modern-day Gen Alphas. How would you function? What expectations of the future would you possess? Would you want to escape to a better place? This is the unspoken premise of Wendy Orr’s latest middle grade fiction, Honey and The Valley of Horses . ‘Horses’ was my immediate pull card as I’m sure it will be for hundreds of equine enthused fans but the horses in Honey’s tale are much more than decorative incidental whimsy. They inhabit an enchanted valley and hold the key to the family’s survival and subsequent escape. Beset by t...

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a Towles fan. Such eloquence of expression is truly spell-binding. This is undisputedly an adults' novel but I'd recommend it for YA readers, as well. Here's why ... Towles writes with such wit, intelligence, compassion and sophistication, to experience one of his novels is less of a reading event rather an exquisite pilgrimage into a world so beautifully crafted and portrayed, so cleverly multi-layered, it's an effort to farewell it. Admittedly, the following does not reveal a great deal about the plot. I'll leave that for the back cover blurb. It's the purpose of the thing that truly resounds.  The Lincoln Highway exhibited elements of The Outsiders and The Rain Man for me but all encapsulated in its own big, bold, unique personality. And just like these two former tales, larger than life characters dripping with charm, tragedy and heart-hugging humour steal the show; characters so finely honed, their hurts and happy moment...

Family. Always there. Usually supportive. Supremely significant. And, forever changing. A shift in family dynamics may be as inconsequential as a new goldfish or as disturbing as moving house. It might be easily accepted and temporary in nature like a visiting relative or as permanently disruptive as a new addition to the family. Double that turmoil when not one new sibling but two appear and you've got twice the potential for trouble. Imagine the confusion and disorder a young child might feel, how these emotions might galvnize into feelings of displacement, resentment and pure fury when faced with a pair of cute but persistent attention hoggers.  Now pretend you are a young pigeon with the whole world before you, keen to keep on exploring its wonders and your capabilities only to have your dreams curtailed by two very small, very noisy, extremely annoying baby brothers. This is what our favourite feathered friend, Pippa encounters following the arrival of Pepi and Penn, her new...

I'm not super great at make vids. I still can't sing in tune. Colouring in between the lines is the extent of my illustrative prowess but ... I do know a thing or two about pigeons. So when the youngsters at many of the schools I visit wanted to know more too and specifically, know what Pippa's next adventure was, well I had to do something. So ... have I got news for you!  If you have been craving to find out what ever happened to that pertinacious pigeon, Pippa well wonder no more. Pippa is back! and ready to soar to new heights but two little weights keep dragging her down – her troublesome twin brothers! Pippa longs to take off on more adventures but the two new noisy additions to her family continually thwart plans and divert attention. Sound familiar? She loves her brothers, Pepi and Penn but their constant mess and cries for attention are driving her batty! How can she be a good big sister and still have fun? Find out by joining our feisty pigeon on her latest feath...

Anyone who knows me well knows I harbour a deep fondness for feathered things. Chooks, ducks, quails, budgies, galahs, turkeys and even rosellas have all graced my childhood at some point or another. And don’t even get me started about the pigeons! That’s a whole other story, right, Pippa ?! So it’s little wonder these next few books enthralled from the get go. They all incorporate avian expression and characteristics in some way that contributes a sky-full of heart and soul to these stories. Take off with them soon! Twitch Twitch is a young lad residing in the English countryside surrounded by broads teaming with birdlife. Like me as a child, he prefers the company of winged creatures to the two-legged ones who frequently ridicule and bully him. His reticent and reclusive ways belie his quick wit and sharp intelligence. He despises school but takes infinite pleasure in his own company. He homes a family of pigeons on a rooftop loft and communes daily with his cackleberry-laying girl...

‘There aren't just two kinds of people in the world! ’ Oh, gosh this couldn't ring more true. This phrase sounds inconsequential but like so many other lines from this story, it resounds with implication. Taylor Before and After is a novel that delivers exactly what the title proclaims: a look at one young girl's life before and after a life-altering event. The before and after are segmented into seasons that represent promise, Fall or Autumn - the before, and grimness and despair, Winter - the after. Towards the conclusion, Spring makes an appearance but more on that later. Taylor is a tween starting a new school in a new American state which happens to be the island of Hawaii. Nearly everything is exotic and evocative at first. She is intoxicated by the tropical perfumes of the island, its mesmerizing views and its addictive surfing culture. However not everything that sparkles are diamonds and soon the charms of an island lifestyle decay leaving Taylor feeling entrapp...

Deborah Kelly has a way of cramming gallons of heart into very small spaces. Her picture books and junior novels entertain, yet never fail to unleash unexpected emotions, all perfectly on the mark for her intended reading audience. The Thing About Oliver is a brief but brilliant novel that will appeal to confident young primary aged readers yet also strike a distinct chord with those of the middle grade age group. Fast paced, funny, and deeply satisfying, this story touches on the subject of Autism and its impact on family life and sibling mental well being. Tilly's heart is set on becoming a marine scientist. She lives, breathes and draws marine creatures and has turned herself into a veritable walking Google page of sea creatures and their habitats. The only glitch in her plans is her distance from anything remotely resembling the ocean - they live in the drought-stricken outback - and the fact she can't even swim, let alone owns a swimsuit. As crazy as that premi...