Dharma the Llama likes reading for hours and hours and hours. The other llamas can't understand why she's always reading. When they're out stampeding, Dharma is having her own exciting adventures lost in the pages of her books. Dharma is happy doing her own thing and doesn't listen to the sneering and jeering, but when the other llamas get stuck in a big pit of mud, it's Dharma and her books to the rescue! Finally the llamas have to agree...It sure pays to read!
Matt Cosgrove has created another fun, colourful and joyful book that begs to be read aloud. Dharma is a great example of being 'you' and doing what you love. She is also a total bookworm and Dharma the Llama celebrates reading, the adventures you can have and how books can help us learn new things. I really enjoyed the way reading sparked Dharma's creativity to solve problems, especially her astronaut idea. Matt has also had fun giving some of Dhama's books a 'llama make-over'. Can you spot them? Try giving some of your favourite books a 'llama make-over' too!
Get creative and download Matt's illustrations from Dharma the Llama and add your own colour.
RAP BOOKS...
Something very exciting has recently happened to Dharma the Llama. Dharma's book has been made into a rap performed by Jessica Mauboy.
Have fun doing karaoke with the Dharma the Llama rap.
There are other raps on the BIG W Rap Books website including Alpacas with Maracas by Matt Cosgrove and rapped by Tom Thum.
Nat Amoore is running a fabulous competition for Victorian schools in lockdown. Your school can win ALL of the amazing prizes below. A Zoom chat with Nat would be so much fun!
To enter just post a photo of an Australian kid's book you love on Twitter or Instagram (parents or teachers can do this for you). Tag and follow @natamoore and #natsbrain so Nat can find you.
ENTRIES CLOSE MIDNIGHT SUNDAY AUG 30TH 2020
What are you waiting for...go and enter this fabulous competition!!
Now is the perfect time to get wild about books...
Our wonderful book creators are finding lots creative ways to share their books and reading fun online with YOU their readers.
Anna Walker
If you've read Mr Huff, Florette, Peggy, Lottie and Walter and other picture books by Anna Walker then you will know how creative she is! If you love making and creating and using your imagination then visit Anna's new website called Twiglet for ideas and inspiration and on the Twiglet Instagram page
Judith Rossell
Judith Rossell is the author of the Stella Montgomery series and makes the most amazing model houses. Judith is currently running an Art Challenge on her Facebook page. The first challenge was making tiny houses and you can watch Judith's video HERE.
Tania McCartney
Tania McCartney is sharing a story from her latest Evie and Pog series. Stay tuned for more content on Tania's YouTube channel.
Gus Gordon
It is always a privilege to hear an author read their book. If you enjoy Gus Gordon's picture books you can listen to Gus read his stories onGus' Instagram page
Sally Rippin
Sign up for the Sally Rippin Holiday program - it's free! Did you you know there are THREE new Billie B. Brown books?
Matt Stanton
Matt Stanton the creator of the popular Funny Kid series is currently doing videos from his studio. In this video you can draw a monster for Monster Monday and have a sneak peek at his new Funny Kid book!
Mo Willems
Fans of Piggy and Elephant and The Pigeon will know Mo Willems. You can have fun doing LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems HERE
Book Publisher Activities
Penguin Random House has fun activities for you to download for some of your favourite books.
InPuffinalia for Kidsyou will find puzzles, crack the code, drawing activities and perhaps a little bit too much information about Adrian Beck the author of Derek Dool Supercool.
Puffinalia Littlies for younger readers has mazes, finger puppets to make and you can go on an insect safari in your backyard.
Penguin Random House also have stacks of activity packs for some of your favourite books HERE
Stories at Home
Story Box Library - Australian Stories online
With nearly 300 stories to choose from you will definitely find some of your favourites on Story Box Library.If your local library subscribes to Story Box Library then you can log in and select your library and type in your library card number to watch the stories for free. (If you belong to the Yarra Plenty Library like me - we can use our library card!)
Story Time from Space
You can even listen to stories from space read to you by astronauts on the International Space Station with Story Time from Space . Now that's pretty cool!
Writing Fun
Gross Stories Competition
My favourite podcast One More Page has a Gross Stories Competition for kids up to 12 years old. You can email your story to onemorepagepodcast@gmail.com before April 5th. The winning story will appear on the podcast. Good luck!
I hope these stories and activities will help you to get 'Wild about books @ home'. I'll be adding more blog posts like this one so stay tuned!
I would love to know what you're reading. You're welcome to tell me in the comments...
I enjoy listening to podcasts when I'm out walking and because I'm wild about books, most of the podcasts I listen to are about books!
One of my favourite podcasts about children's books is One More Page which is hosted fortnightly by three fun, book-loving ladies who also happen to be authors.
I regularly laugh out loud as I'm walking and listening toNat Amore, Kate Simpson andLiz Ledden.TheirOne More Page podcastis chock-full of entertaining interviews with authors, illustrators and other people from the book world. Whatcha Readin? will have your TBR (To Be Read) pile growing into Mt Bookerest! There's bookish fun in Kids Capers, competitions to win great books and you can hear about upcoming book events. I also look out for Marianne Khoo's vibrant illustrations of each podcast's theme. What a talented team at One More Page!
You can also listen to the podcastsHEREon their website and find more information in the Show Notes.
You shouldn't, but if you need one more reason to listen to One More Page...their guest author for Episode 25 on Wednesday, February 13th will be Tim Harris whose new book Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables On the Lookout is out now!
Thank you One More Page for highlighting kids' books and reading in a fun and engaging way and making this teacher librarian's heart sing!
On Saturday, The Little Bookroomcelebrated it's 58th birthday with it's inaugural Kids Books Fest. It was a day of celebrating books and reading with a session for young readers in the morning and I attended the afternoon for primary school children.
(Watch in full screen by clicking on the square)
By 2pm everyone was seated and eager for our exciting afternoon to begin...
Author vs Illustrator Debate We were treated to a lively debate between author and illustrator partners chaired by Peter Helliar (Frankie Fish series). The panel was made up of Danny Katz and Mitch Vane (TheLittle Lunch andPoppa Platoonseries), Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood (Real Pigeons series) and Andrew Hansen and Jessica Roberts (Bab Sharkey and the Animal Mummiesseries). They had to convince us which is more important - words or pictures? What do you think?
Illustration Battle The illustrators battled each other under extreme pressure with just THREE minutes to draw requests from the audience! It's not easy drawing a moth with cheese for antennas or a zombie unicorn with a banana horn. Mitch Vane and Ben Wood's illustrations were so close they used 'Paper, Scissors, Rock' to decide the winner! The final result was a draw between Mitch Vane and Jessica Roberts.
Total Quack Up! Sally RippinandAdrian Beckare the editors of Total Quack Up!They wanted to do something to help raise money forDymocks Children's Charitieswhoprovide books to children who don't have access to books. Sally and Adrian approached eight author friends to write a funny story for the book and James Foley to be the illustrator. All of these generous people donated their story and illustrations to create this book. Total Quack Up! is guaranteed to have you laughing and quacking up! Buying a copy means you will be helping other kids to have books so they can enjoy reading too.
We had laughed lots while listening to Adrian and Sally read 'Who Blocked Up the Dunny?'written by Ella Wallace who won a competition to have her story published as James Foley illustrated the 'unplugging' part of the story.
Gastronauts Launch James Foley launched his bookGastronautswhich is the third book in his Sally Tinker series. We were all blown away when James showed us his dummy book of illustrations that stretched across the front of the room and round the corner!
In Conversation: Sally Rippin and ElliotPerlman Elliot Perlman is a famous author of adult books who has written his first book for children calledThe Adventures of CatvinkleElliot told Sally that Ula the dog in the story is based on his dog called Ula when he was growing up. The children in the audience were very lucky to be the first children to hear Elliot read his book aloud - what a treat it was!
A BIG thank you to Leesa and the staff of The Little Bookroom and all of the authors and illustrators for a fabulous afternoon of celebrating books and reading. See you next year!
The Little Bookroom is thrilled to present its first Kids Book Fest!
Come along on Saturday, October 13th to the Fitzroy Town Hall's Grand Ballroom to celebrate reading, writing, illustration and creativity and meet some of our talented Aussie children's book creators.
October 13 also marks 58 years since the doors ofThe Little Bookroomfirst opened. The Kids Book Fest is a fabulous opportunity to celebrate the way this amazing kid's bookshop has been bringing kids and books together!
The Kids Book Fest has two sessions with a Storytime Spectacular for Little Kids and an Epic Extravaganza for big kids.
You can find more information and book your tickets HERE.
