Oh dear! A whole month has gone past since I last found time to post here. Just as well I do a monthly reading round up – it at least makes it hard to go any longer without posting. April has been busy, so I was surprised to realise I still managed  to read 13 books. From picture books, to graphic novels to long form historical fiction, with some classics thrown in, it was an eclectic mix as always. Here’s what I read this month:

Books for Children

1. 1. 1. 1. Cloudspotting, by Samantha Tidy & Susannah Crispe (Windy Hollow, 2023). I love  a bit of cloud spotting myself – whether its just contemplating the beauty of a cloudy sky or spotting shapes in the clouds.  So I was delighted to be asked to launch this picture book in WA. When my copy arrived I discovered that while it is indeed about the loveliness of watching clouds, it is also about family, and father-daughter outings and more, as the young protagonist accompanies her father on a early-morning crabbing trip.
         2. Friendly Bee and Friends, by Sean E. Avery (Walker Books, 2023). I lvoed this little graphic novel which follows the adventures of Friendly Bee, who wants to be freinds with every bug he meets – including Angry Wasp, Slightly Peckish Caterpillar and even Enormous Hairy Spider, intent on drinking Bee up.  Lots of humour and silliness, but a so some gentle messages about friendship and getting along.
         3. Little Jiang, by Shirley Marr, illustrated by Katy Jiang (Fremantle Press, 2020). I love Shirley Marr’s writing (and Shirley Marr, who is a lovely friend) but had somehow  not read this one, until now. An exciting, heart warming and quirky tale of how Mei Ling, who is born able to see ghosts and seems to be followed by misfortune, manages to save not just her family’s restaurant, but her whole town.
         4. The Machine Gunners, by Robert Westall (Puffin, 1975). I have read this classic many times. I think I probably first read it in high school, and then taught it in my early years of teaching.  Now I have a copy that, somehow, came to me  having previously been for sale in a second hand bookshop in Cork, Ireland. How did I end up with it? I honestly don’t know, but  I do love a well travelled book.  All that aside, this was in my to-read cupboard and will now go back on my keepers shelves – I am not ready to part with it, because I know I’ll read it again.
         5. When I’m Big, by Karen Blair (Penguin, 2023). I always love a new Karen Blair picture book – but I was especially excited to get my hands on this one because I won a little piece of the original art, won at an auction at the CBCA WA Annual Night With Our Stars. The book is a gorgeous interpretation of the mixed feelings of a sibling waiting the arrival of a new baby – with fears about being ‘big’ and what that might mean. Gorgeous!

Books for Young Adults

1. Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending, by Jodi McAlister (Wakefield Press, 2022).  I enjoyed this book for older teens. Nineteen year old Libby navigates first  sexual encounters, university life and the challenge of trying to figure out how to be herself rather than trying to pretend to be who she thinks she should be.
2. Invisibly Grace, by Avery McDougall (FortySouth, 2022). I bought this one, along with Libby Lawrence, soon after the CBCA Notables list for 2023 was announced. I love that these lists not only profile good quality books, but also remind readers such as myself of what they might have missed.  This one deals with the subject of invisible illnesses, with Grace Turing suffering an undiagnosed chronic illness but determined not to be known as the Sick Girl at the new school she is starting at.

Books for Adults

1. 1. No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering, by Thich Naht Hahn. I listened  audiobook version of this little book about the reality of suffering as part of being human, and the use of mindfulness and meditation to face and transform suffering. The author is a well known Buddhist monk and the lessons and insights were useful reminders of the importance of mindfulness.
   2. Frankenstein , by Mary Shelley. Another audiobook listened to in the car. I find this a great way of reading or rereading classic books that I might otherwise not find time for. This particular classic is one I’d not read before, so it was interesting to read the story and get to know the original story which has been reinterpreted a lot of times.
   3. The Happiness Jar, by Samantha Tidy (Storytorch, 2023). I read this as a precursor to launching it, with the author, in WA this month.  This is a book that covers a lot of territory – the jar, filled with memories of things that made its owner (Rachel( happy, is found by her mother(Beth) amongst her possessions after she dies. The story traces the journeys of  Beth and of her son Matthew, as they try to fulfil Rachel’s wishes – for  them each to take half her ashes on journeys that Rachel has planned. Matthew must travel to a remote Kimberley community, and Beth to India. For each the journey is confronting as they overcome their owns pasts and their grief at losing Rachel.  Themes including  the generational impacts of the Vietnam war on returned soldiers and their families, grief, religion and cystic fibrosis are all worked together into a satisfying whole.
   4. Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler (Penguin, 2020). I have bene trying my hand at capturing and releasing BookCrossing books, and when I saw this one had been released at a Little Street Library not too far from home, I went  there especially to collect it.  Then, true to form, it sat in my to-read pile for a while before I finally got to it. It wasn’t a long read – I read it in one day, and while it wasn’t high-action, I enjoyed it. Micah is a man who is very set in his ways and doesn’t see much point in changing. But when a teenager who claims Micah is his father turns up at his doorstep, Micah starts to realise his life is perhaps not going as well as he thinks.
   5. The Blackout, by  Ruth McIver (Audible Original, 2023). This thriller was a free download from  Audible, and filled a couple of car trips. Narrated by three characters, each read my a different voice, which makes listening easy, though being about some pretty yucky murders, ‘easy’ is maybe not the best word choice.
   6. The Bookbinder of Jericho, by Pip Williams (Affirm Press, 2023). My favourite book in the last couple of years was The Dictionary of Lost Words, so when I heard there was a companion book, I had to read it – and I wasn’t disappointed. I was lucky enough to go a long to a high tea where Pip Williams spoke,  and the depth of her knowledge, research and passion was obvious, as it is on the pages. Set, like Dictionary, in Oxford against the backdrop of WW1 and in the publishing world, this is fascinating. The main character, Peggy, is a bookbinder, working at Oxford Press but dreaming of being able to enrol at the university and be part of telling the stories. With appearances by some of the characters from Dictionary, it has made me want to go back and read that – and it is lovely that, as companion books, they can be read independently and in either order.

That brings my total for the year to 45 books. I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading. Talk soon!