A common theme in picture books for children is the pivotal role of family and friends. Bee, the main protagonist in Good Morning Mr Pancakes (Allen & Unwin, $29.99 hb, 32 pp, 9781742377193), has a bevy of animal friends, all of whom must be catered for before she heads off for a week’s holiday with her family. Chris McKimmie’s idiosyncratic book explores the world from the child’s point ... (read more)
Stephanie Owen Reeder
Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder is a Canberra-based author, illustrator, editor and award-winning reviewer who has been reviewing children’s books for nearly thirty years. She has also worked as a secondary school teacher, a librarian, a university lecturer and a Hansard editor at Federal Parliament. Stephanie co-edited The Inside Story: Creating Children’s Books (1987) and was the editor of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s journal Reading Time. Her historical novel Lost! A True Tale from the Bush (2009) was shortlisted in the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards in 2010, while Amazing Grace: An Adventure at Sea (2011) won the New South Wales Premier’s History Award in 2012. Her picture book I’ve Got a Feeling! (2010) was an International Board on Books for Young People Outstanding Book in 2011. Her latest book for children is Dance Like a Pirate (2013).
Many Australian picture book authors and illustrators continue to develop the genre in exciting and unusual ways. For example, Jeannie Baker’s Mirror (Walker Books, $39.95 hb, 44 pp, 9781406309140) challenges the very notion of a picture book. It contains dual narratives that are presented as two separate books in one. These books are designed to be opened and read simultaneously – one from le ... (read more)
A matter of style
Stephanie Owen Reeder
Once upon a time, Australian picture books were easy to pick because of their distinctive artwork, which often featured Australia’s unique landscape and its flora and fauna. Nowadays, many Australian illustrators adopt a more universal style.
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The latest crop of children’s picture books highlights the ability of this versatile genre to cover everything from the ever-popular animal tale, to sparkling stories about fairies, to introspective contemplations on the meaning of life.
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