Mr McGee by Pamela Allen

This was the first installment in the classic and popular Pamela Allen stories about Mr McGee. These stories about the funny little man in a bowler hat who lives under a tree are great fun for kids of all ages.

I love these books! They are fantastic to read aloud, perfect for any age to enjoy and Pamela Allen's illustrations are excellent - simple and detailed at the same time, colourful and often hilarious.

The language in Mr McGee is simple and clear and would be great for children learning to read. The rhyming text is fun to read aloud - the Mr McGee books are a favourite choice for my library story time sessions and toddlers aged 2 to 4 love these stories.

Maximilian has really enjoyed this story. He laughs when the bird pecks Mr McGee and likes to chime in with the words he knows. The story is also the perfect length for the attention span of a wriggly 18 month old - this is a great book for when I'm looking for a quick story to fill in some time.

There is always an element of humour in the Mr McGee stories, which engages both the children and adult reader. He often gets himself into trouble of one kind or another, mostly through poor decision making, which children find funny (and probably relate to!!) Humour can also often be found in the illustrations - details such as Mr McGee's bright yellow underpants will have kids of all ages chuckling!

Pamela Allen is an absolute classic in Australian children's publishing and Mr McGee, like all her books, shows why.

If you are ever looking for a picture book to enjoy or to buy as a gift for someone, you simply can't go wrong with a book by Pamela Allen!

Noni the Pony by Alison Lester

Noni the Pony is a sweet and simple story about a pony and her farmyard friends: Dave the dog and Coco the cat.

The story is told in simple rhyming text - "She lives on a farm at Waratah Bay, and likes eating apples and carrots and hay." This makes it a satisfying story to read aloud and the language is very accessible for very young children.

Noni the Pony has very sweet illustrations that are very engaging for even the youngest reader. The colours are really lovely - the cornflower blue sky and green grass capture the colours of outdoor Australia beautifully I think.

There is also lots in the story for young children to relate to, such as the way that Noni gets scared in the dark. There are lots of nice messages about kindness and friendship in the story - with the help of her friends Noni overcomes her fear of the dark and feels much braver.

We borrowed Noni the Pony from the library and it is a book we have both enjoyed very much. With two kids under two, our trips to the library are a bit of a mixed bag at the moment - Maximilian randomly throws things into the book bag and I just grab handfuls of whatever board books are available before leaving in a rush, so what we end up with is a bit of pot luck :) but this story was a real hit from the first time we read it.

Alison Lester has published over 25 picture books for children since 1985, so her books are always a very safe choice!

This board book is a lovely size and shape and perfect for little hands to enjoy. I'd recommend this book for all ages - even the youngest babies will find something to enjoy in this sweet tale.

Warambi by Aleesah Darlison and Andrew Plant

Warambi is the story of a little bent-wing bat. The story follows Warambi growing up and learning to fly and hunt. When the bat colony's cabe is demolished by excavators, Warambi finds herself separated from the other bats and the story follows her adventure to find a new home.

We stumbled across this book at The Library Shop, the State Library of Queensland's bookshop - a wonderful place to find excellent children's books, particularly Brisbane, Queensland or Australian books (actually it is a wonderful place to find all kinds of fabulous books!!)

As soon as we saw Warambi, we had to buy a copy - the illustrations are excellent and the realistic artwork really brings little Warambi to life. (It is amazing to learn that the bent-wing bat is only 45mm long - hard to believe from looking at the incredibly detailed drawings of the bats in this book).

The other really lovely thing about this hardcover book is the endpapers, which contain additional information about bent-wing bats, including where they live, what they eat, etc. We don't read this information to Maximilian yet, but these are a great way to  learn more about the facts behind the story - something which will really appeal to the wonderful curiosity of older children.

This isn't a short story so it is not one for young babies or toddlers. Although the text on each page is quite short, there are a lot of pages so younger children just wouldn't have the attention span to enjoy the story. The illustrations are remarkably realistic and mostly dark coloured, so also wouldn't really appeal to young children in the way that bright primary colours do. At eighteen months age, Maximilian will now sit still and listen to the entire story and he enjoys it but he doesn't really understand what's going on in the story, and it will probably be more suitable from around age 3 and up.

Warambi would be a terrific addition to a storytime program based on Australian animals and could also be used for environmental awareness or a conservation theme. It would also be a great book for primary school teachers or librarians to use an education aid. I really think this is a wonderful and unique book and I'm glad we found it - it will be enjoyed in our home library for many years to come.