Meredith CostainReseñas

Representation: Black character

6/10, this was my first realistic book of 2023 and I was hoping to enjoy this after reading one that turned out to be a snorefest last year but this just wasn't an improvement since I found some issues in this and I doubt I would pick this one up again, where do I even begin. The main character Catalina Parkes Perez otherwise known as Cata is forced to move from Western Australia to the Parliament House in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; at first it looked interesting but it soon deteriorated from there. She acts spoiled and stubborn at first but she develops her character and the climate change message was so overt it felt like it was shoved in my face. The "PM" is such a tyrant (because she locked the entire child population down just because of the Agitators), I was actually rooting for the opposition. There was a plot point about the Agitators but it felt so dragged and unnecessary and they might've been part of the group against Cata's mother. There was only one joke in this book and that was about the Queen at the time when this was written being asked for 'modern furniture' but it fell flat. In the end the Prime Minister regains control of Parliament and that ends it on a high note.

Een verhaal over het leven van de keizerspinguïn van kuiken tot volwassen dier. Prachtige illustraties vertellen het verhaal en geven een fantastisch beeld van het gedrag, de omgeving en het karakter van de pinguïn.

This is the novelisation of the series and it shows with some rather stilted dialog between the characters and some episodic "cliff hanger" chapters that fizzle out in the first pages of the following one. The story has an interesting enough premise, Cat is the daughter of single mother, immigrant PM of Australia who has just moved from her home town Perth to Canberra and must cope with being the PMs daughter and all the BS that comes with that as well as coping with a new school, making friends, new house, etc. Then there is the political intrigue thrown in on top - underhanded tactics by other pols towards her Mum, activist groups protesting and staging incidents that disrupt PM events and also real terrorist threats. The plot is all there BUT the friendship between the teenagers is not authentic and reads false - very strained conversations and the attempt at Romance (oh please). The series "All Fall Down" is much, much better if you want teenagers running around with political intrigue on top.

As schools are focusing more on non fic that can be read as a story, This book would be a perfect non fiction read aloud.

Olivia has started a diary in honor of moving into her new bedroom, which is in the attic of her family's house. She's now in the perfect spot to keep an eye on her neighborhood's goings on, which is fun but also sad, because she can see the empty house where her best friend Lucy used to live.

But then Olivia notices that someone new has moved into Lucy's old house. There's also a new girl, Matilda, in her class. Is it possible that she and Matilda could become friends?

A coworker of mine recently had an "Usborne Facebook party," which I decided to treat as an opportunity to get my Christmas shopping for all my sister's kids done early. I like to read all the books I give the kids, in case they say anything about them (which hasn't happened yet, but an aunt can dream), so that's the stage I'm at now. This particular book was purchased for my youngest niece.

The story is set up as though it were Olivia's diary, complete with her various drawings. Many of the entries read as though Olivia wrote them only a few minutes after the events happened.

I really liked this! I wasn't expecting a chapter book to be so interesting, but I found myself intrigued by the mystery of Matilda's strange behavior, and I enjoyed Olivia's efforts to prove that someone was entering her room when she was gone. Olivia's various intruder detection plans were fun, and her curiosity about and frustration with Matilda were believable. The book's ending was sweet, but not, I think, excessively so.

The one thing that bugged me was that it seemed simultaneously like Olivia and her family had maybe just moved into their house (based off of Olivia getting a new bedroom) but also like they'd lived there for at least a year (based off of Olivia's accounts of slipping through the fence to play with her friend Lucy). It's possible that Olivia once shared a room with one of her siblings, but if that was the case, it wasn't mentioned. It looks like this series is a spin-off of one focused on Olivia's older sister, Ella, so maybe the situation is explained more in those books.

I hope that my niece will end up liking this as much as I did.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)½

Meredith Costain’s “Into Earth: The story of the Caves” is a delightful read for the young, curious minds as it presents geographical knowledge in a lucid, comprehensive manner. To begin with, the font size and style used appears to be very pleasant to readers and will be liked by young children. The information provided does not appear to be crammed. The layout of the pages, with information and illustrations, is not clumsy either.

The introduction holds a very curious tone that tickles the imagination of the reader and sparks an interest to turn overleaf. The author says “Imagine crawling on your hands and knees in the dark ….” The very sentence is inviting. Children absolutely adore illustrations of any sort that helps them relate to the ongoing story or facts in the book and the author has started providing them from the very first page. One striking feature of the book is the use of realistic or real-life pictures in order to emphasise the importance of cave exploration as well as the popularity of the sport, referred to as Spelunking in United States. The usage of the word “Spelunking” also highlights another quality of the author which is her tendency to incorporate contemporary lingo in her books in order to familiarise the children with prevalent, easy terms.

While assessing the content of the book, it seems that the author has systematically planned out the information. She has tried to provide a well-rounded idea of the topics, discussing about the kind of caves, how they are formed, the different expeditions and the flora and fauna of the living in that habitat. She has kept it simple and thoroughly avoided going into complicated details about caves.

To sum it up, I recommend the book as a compulsory read for children as it serves as the perfect beginner’s guide for geographical study for them, balancing information and a joyful reading experience together.

This selection on forest fires is equal parts informative and interesting! Best of all, it’s an easy reader recommended for kids, ages 6-9!

A cute rhyming story that celebrates the special bond between father and child. From playtime to cuddles, this title celebrates how awesome daddies are awesome. This board books illustration are simply show a variety of dogs and their pups exploring what it means to be an awesome father.

"Mommies are magic. / They kiss away troubles... / ...find gold in the sunlight / and rainbows in bubbles." And so begins this adorable picture-book tribute to mothers, in which an engaging text in rhyme from Australian author Meredith Costain is paired with lovely artwork from Slovenian artist Polona Lovšin. All of the mothers depicted here are feline, and the artist shows them engaged in many activities with their kittens, but the sentiments expressed in the text apply to all kinds of maternal figures...

Following up on their earlier Daddies Are Awesome, which celebrated fathers (in canine form), this author/artist duo return with this immensely appealing second volume of parental praise. The cats depicted by Lovšin are simply adorable, and the various poses in which they are shown will be familiar to any cat lover. I appreciated the fact that many different kinds of cats, from Siamese to Sphynx, are represented in the artwork. The text itself has a pleasing rhythm, and would make an excellent read-aloud, I believe. Recommended to young cat-lovers, and to anyone looking for picture-books focusing on the bond between mother and child.

Just a basic daddies are this and daddies are that. Great for a toddler storytime though.

short, low-level readability, photographs. Would recommend only for lower grade elementary students.

This was a great informational book about Israel. What I liked most was how it was organized. From the first flip open of the cover page, it was packed with information about how to say simple phrases such as “Hello”, “Excuse me”, “How are you?”, and “Good morning.” The text includes a wide range of topics that include an overview of Israel, culture, religion, landscape, history, and major cities. Each section includes a few illustrations about the topic that allow readers to have a window into the Jewish traditions, Caesaria, the Dead Sea, and the Western Wall. As a follow-up, the author includes a fact file, glossary, and index for more easy access to the information. The main purpose of this book is to give readers more information about Israel and Israeli culture.½

great illustrations, nice work

Josie is worried because she must miss an important match with the All-Stars to attend her older sister’s wedding. Josie is Italian and has 3 older sisters and a younger brother, and with only a week to go , chaos rules supreme in her house! There are all sorts of dramas on the morning of the wedding – the flower shop is flooded and her brother steals all the neighbours’roses! –the bride gets lost on the way to the Church – the flower girl and ring bearer go missing ( along with the rings)and finally, the ultimate embarrassment – Josie’s phone rings in the middle of the ceremony.

Maddy and Jess are not selected for their school netball and with Sarah (a girl from her year) decide to set up their own team at the local rec. center. But with only 3 girls where can they get 2 new players? They post flyers and door knock and discover Josie, Bree and Mel, who are step-sisters. But just as the team is getting formed, Maddy’s Mum drops a bombshell- after her parents’ divorce, they can’t afford their house and she’ll have to move!
p.21-27 They do not get picked for the team.

An Aussie Nibbles about a young girl who has a tree house and a fascination for fire engines. She makes a go-cart which looks like a fire engine and one day while sulking in her tree house because her parents won't buy her a real fire engine, she sees a fire, reports it and saves the town. As a reward her parents buy her an abandoned engine tp do up.

Year 6

$3.95

The way the Aztecs used to live their life.