Hunwigs Egg

Mem Fox
Pamela Lofts
Harcourt Inc, 2005
Fiction, Animal, Friendships
Ages 3-7

Hunwick is a a bandicoot that lives at the edge of a big and dusty desert. One day there is a big and strong storm that happened in the desert. After the storm had passed there appeared an egg next to Hunwicks burrow. He asked all his neighbors if they knew what kind of egg it could be, alas no one knew. Hunwick decided that he was going to give it a home, so he took it to his burrow and made it all nice and cozy in it. He told the egg that it would be safe with Hunwick down in the burrow, he wondered what would would happen when and if the egg hatched. Every evening before he left to go and find something to eat he would cover the egg with twigs and then he waved goodbye to the egg, even though it never waved back, and "neither did it hatch". One night Hunwick mustered up the courage to tell the egg that he was very fond of it, but yet again the egg gave no reply and still it did not hatch. Hunwick and the egg would sit out under the moon light and he would tell it stories and the egg listened is silence, still it did not hatch. Hunwick would hold the egg close at night when they slept, they were always there for each other but STILL it did not hatch. Everyone began to wonder if it would ever hatch but Hunwick did not care, he had already come to the conclusion that it was not an egg but a stone that was in the exact shape of an egg. Hunwick loved the egg and it remained as his friend forever.

This is an excellent book to show how no matter what everyone else thinks about something you are fond of you should not worry but continue to be friends with whatever it happens to be. Hunwick did not care if it was an egg, the "egg" was always there for him and that was all he needed. One could use this when they are doing friendship section with the class, it would more than likely need other books to go along with the friendship unit. Another activity that would be quite interesting for the class to do was to try and find out what a bandicoot was, since we do not have them here in the USA, it is a native animal to Australia. The explanation that is in the back of the book describes the bandicoot as a bilby that is also knows as a rabbit-eared bandicoot, it is an endangered species. Also with this activity you could expand it beyond just the bandicoot and the class research other endangered species, it could also be restricted to just Australia or it could include all endangered species. The illustrations are basically in one page format, although there are illustrations are both pages. The illustrations flow but they are not necessarily running together in what would be considered a two page format. They are done in watercolor pencil on Fabriano Cotton watercolor paper. As I said this is an excellent book to use in the classroom.

Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild

Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild
Mem Fox
Marala Franzee
Harcourt Books, 2000
Fiction, Clumsiness, Temper, Mother & Daughter
Age 4-8

Harriet Harris is a "pesky child", she did not mean to be so pesky, she just could not help it. At breakfast she knocked over a cup of juice. When snack time came she got jam all over he,r jeans. Even before lunch she made a mess, she dripped paint all over the carpet. When lunch got there she slid out of her chair and took the table cloth with her. At nap time she ripped a blanket apart sending feathers everywhere. Her mother did not like to yell so up until now she had just said to Harriet that she drives her wild and asked her what they were to do. Well finally her mother cracked and started to yell and yell at Harriet. Harriet gave her sincerest apology and her mother knew that she meant it and she apologized for yelling at her. They started to laugh and they laughed the whole time they were cleaning up the feathers.

This is great book for talking about being clumsy and not meaning to be. Also another important lesson a child could take from this book is apologizing for making a mess, even when they do not mean to. It shows a great relationship between a mother and daughter! It shows how both parents and children can make mistakes. It can portray that a mom can lose her temper and explains why they might yell at the child. This could help children to understand if there mom or dad sometimes yells are them. There is also a cute dog that is in every illustration. The pictures were done using pencil and transparent drawing inks on Stanthmore paper and finished on a hot press. They were single page spread style and there typically was a lot of white space around the picture, and generally in the whole book. They were pretty small in size but they were quite detailed in and of themselves. Over all I think this book would be a great read at home but it would also be useful in the classroom. Talking about respect and trying to do ones best. Hopefully Harriet and her mom do not have this kind of day everyday, that is liable to drive her mother crazy, ha!

Where is the Green Sheep?

Mem Fox
Judy Moracek
Harcout Books, 2004
Animal Fiction
Infant to 5 years, as suggested on the book

All different types of sheep are named, starting with a blue sheep. There is a red sheep and a bath sheep, bed sheep, but where is the green sheep. It moves on to show a thin and wide sheep, swing sheep and slide sheep. An up sheep and a down sheep, the band sheep and a clown sheep, but still there is not green sheep. We find a sun sheep and the opposite,a rain sheep. There is a car and a train sheep, a wind and a wave sheep, but still there is no green sheep to be found. The scared sheep and brave, the near and the far sheep. We go to outer space to find and moon and a star sheep, but even they can not find the green sheep. Finally we take a peep around the page and find the green sheep fast asleep, hiding behind a green bush.

This book is PERFECT for very young readers, or even the ones who still are not able to read. It will help them learn the four different colors that are presented by the four different sheep. It can also start to help them to learn some adjectives; thin & wide, up & down, etc. They will also be able to start to identify different things; clown, wind & wave, car& train, the list goes on. The colors are very vivid in this book, which is perfect for such young readers, it helps to keep there attention on the pages. also the sentences are extremely brief and to the point. The illustrations are done in Rotring Isograph pens and Art Stretchers watercolors on Arches hot-press paper. It is a good concept book, teaching all different kinds of words used in language frequently.

Possum Magic

Mem Fox
Julie Vivas
1st publised by Omnibus Books in Australia, in USA by Abingdon in 1987
Animal Fiction
1-3 Grade (perhaps)

Deep in the Australian bush lived two possums, Hush and Grandma Poss. Grandma Poss was able to do bush magic, she could do all sorts of things. she made wombats turn blue and dingoes smile, emus shrink. The greatest thing she could do was make Hush invisible. Hush was able to have great adventures since no one could see her, although she was squished by koalas at times. Another thing she loved to do was slide down the back of a kangaroo. The main reason Grandma Poss made Hush invisible was so that she would not been able to be seen by the snakes that were in the bush. One day Hush told Grandma Poss that she wanted to be visible again, she wanted to know what she looked like. Grandma Poss started to look through all of her magic books but could not find the magic for making Hush visible. Hush told her that she did not mind even though in her heart she really wanted to be visible again. Finally the next day she figured out that it had something to do with eating people food, although she did not know exactly what. So later on that day they left the bush that they had always lived in to see if they could find the food to make Hush visible. They went to Adelaide first and ate Anzac biscuits, which are a traditional rolled oat and syrup cookie. Then they are Minties in Melbourne, they are a minty nougat candy. Off to Sydney where they ate steak and salad, then to Brisbane to eat pumpkin scones. They ate vegemite sandwiches in far north Australia, vegemite is a brand name for a salty yeart spread eating on sandwiches. Finally a tail appeared on Hush! Later on they ate a piece of pavlova at Perth beach and Hush's legs appeared( Pavlova is a meringue shell topped with fresh fruits and whipped cream). Hobart, later that night, they had lamington and Hush's head appeared! Lamington is a square sponge cake dipped in thin chocolate icing and rolled in coconut. From then on Hush was visible and every year on her birthday they had a special meal of vegemite sandwiches and a piece of pavlova and half a lamington. They did this just to make sure Hush stayed visible forever, I am sure also because it was delicious!

There is no real lesson to this book, it is just a fun book for children to read! It is all about magic and trying to solve a problem. I suppose a lesson that could be taken from it would be that even if you have a problem that you do not know the answer to you should keep searching for the answer. For younger children you might have to point this out to them as it might not be that obvious. This I must say is a charming book for the young reader! This is definitely not a story you would read in upper Elementary school. Also you could point out how Hush is not afraid to eat people food, since I am sure she has never had it before. The illustrations are done using watercolor and ink, I believe since it is not told in the book. The illustrations are just priceless, they are so cute, if I may. The possums and the Koala bears! However the possums are not the same as the American possum, they are in fact much more attractive an animal!

Hattie and the Fox

Hattie and the Fox
Mem Fox
Patricia Mullins
Scholastic, 1987 originally published in Australia in 1986
Early Elementary, K-1
Animal Fiction


The book starts out with Hattie the chicken spotting something in the bushes in an alarmed fashion( I suppose she is frightened or taking off guard). She must have alarmed some of the other animals because at first the goose and duck are also alarmed by Hattie's discovery, "Good grief said the goose. Well, well! said the pig. Who cares? said the sheep. So what? said the horse. What next? said the cow." Then Hattie can see more of the creature in the bushes and tells the other animals. All of the other farm animals repeat what they said the first time Hattie made her discovery. This continues until finally a Fox jumps out of the bushes, and she flies into a nearby tree. All of the farm animals freak out and the cow Moos so loud that the Fox gets scared and runs away. The farm animals were so surprised that none of them spoke for a long while.

This would be a perfect book for young children because it has a very predictable story line. For the most part the animals say the same thing over and over again. Usually what Hattie says just builds on what she told the animals on the last page. The book is perfect for beginning readers because of the element of predictability. It is also good because they are being introduced to farm animals and can see them on the pages and their names is also printed with everything they say. For say a kindergarten to have them point out the different animals to see if they could identify and tell the difference in the animals. The paintings in the book are done with watercolor. The paintings are pretty simplistic but it goes along with the story line since it is a fairly simplistic book. The entire book is done with a two page spread with the illustrations flowing from page to page. The paintings also illustrate what is being said by the farm animals and towards the end they begin to have more expression in their body language. This could also help children to start to identify what different emotions look like. This was not my favorite book by Mem Fox but I think it is very appropriate for young children. It is also a pretty accurate portrayal of what, in my opinion, what the farm animals would say if they could actually talk!

Feathers and Fools

A: Feathers and Fools
B: Mem Fox
C: Nicholas Wilton
D: Harcourt Brace & Company
E: Picture Book, Animal Fiction, Fable

F: 2-3

This was a story about two different types of birds and how they were afraid of each. They allow themselves to become afraid of each other because of the differences that they saw. In the end these fears ended up killing the birds. They started to make weapons because they were afraid and it ended up destroying all of them. After the peacocks and the swans had died from a battle there was a peacock born and also a swan. When they walked into each other they were very curious about each other and discovered that the only difference that they had was the color of their feathers, they both had two eyes, feathers, two legs, and a head. they became friends and went off in peace and they were not afraid.

I loved the meaning behind this book, there was an excellent message that everyone can appreciate and should take to heart. The lesson of equality and not being judgmental. The illustrations were breath taking and could not have had anymore expression just within themselves. The pictures added so much to the story, just the way that the were done and were more than just paintings, they were very symbolic. Even if a child could not fully understand what was going on in the illustrations, since they are a bit abstract, the text would explain everything easily so that one could understand.  The medium that is used for this extraordinary picture book is acrylic on illustration board.  It is always amazing to me to see how people can make such beautiful works of art, I know that it must be very difficult, something I could never do but wish that I could.  The illustrations in this book are one page type, although both pages are illustrated.  The right page is always the main painting but on the left there is always just a little extra, more details added if you will.  I love how Wilton did this with the pages that are on the left, I think it just shows how much work he put into doing this book and in my opinion it makes it seem like he really enjoyed this book since he did do those little extras on the left hand page.  I think children and art lovers alike would be able to appreciate this picture book!

I would suggest to any teacher that the reading and showing of this story would be an excellent idea. It could be used at any time especially when talking about inequalities. It teaches a good lesson and is a fresh spin on an old principal, this is the kind of story that is timeless. With the children you could get them to talk about why the peacocks and the swans were afraid of each other, and then talk about if it is fair or not and what could be done to make this problem not happen in the future.  I believe that it is important for children to understand how prejudice is something that is wrong and something that no one wants to experience.

The Straight Line Wonder

A: The Straight Line Wonder
B: Mem Fox
C: Marc Rosenthal
D:MONDO Publishing
E: Picture Book, fiction
F: K-1

This is a book that is about three straight lines, one day one of the lines gets tired of always being straight. So this line starts to do all kinds of crazy things, he bends and twists. The other two lines do not like the fact that the one line is doing all kinds of crazy things, they yell at him and tell him to stop doing that, that he will be embarrassed and people will stare at him. But the line does not care and he keeps on doing those silly things and in the end it is a good thing. One day the line is spotted by a famous film director and the director thinks is he fabulous. The director makes him into a famous star. The other lines are not jealous but they do tell everyone they meet that they are his friends.

If I were a child I would absolutely love this book! It is amazing, I love the illustrations and how the line does all kinds of crazy things. I think it is fantastic. The text of the story has such a great message that I think everyone could appreciate! The drawings were everywhere on the page and it was never predictable where they were going to be on the next page, it kept my attention so well, I do not know how a child would not be entranced by this book. Aside from the Divine Wombat this is one of my favorite Mem Fox books, that I have read thus far.

This book would open up an excellent conversation or lesson plan on individuality and how important it can be. You could open up the floor for the students to tell you about how they interpret what individuality means and what it is to them. Also getting them to make a list of everything that they think that makes them an individual.

Sophie

A: Sophie
B: Mem Fox
C: Brenda Lynn Robinson
D:Ian Drakeford Publishing Pty. Ltd.
E: Picture book, Multicultural
F: K-1

This is a very simple book with no more than 14 words per page. It is all about a little girl named Sophie and she loves her grandpa very much. As he grows older her grandpa grows smaller and slower. In the end her grandpa dies and she is sad until she has a child of her own.

This book, honestly was not a favorite of mine. There was not much context to the book, no real meat to the story. And I was not very fond of the ending, it just said that she was sad after her grandpa died but then as soon as she had her own child "sweetness filled the world, once again". I suppose the point was just to talk about the cycle of life but it made death seem like something that can be solved with having a child. Aside from the text I was intrigued by the illustrations they were so unique and like nothing I had ever seen in a children's book. They were made using acrylics, dyes and house paint on rag cloth. I have never heard of paintings being done like this and I thought it was a great thing to do for a children's book.

The only way that I can think to use this book would be to talk about the cycle of life. Also you could talk about how the illustrations are so abstract and exaggerated and see if the children could do paintings like the ones that are in the book.

Wombat Divine

A: Wombat Divine
B: Mem fox
C: Kerry Argent
D: Harcourt Brace & Company
E: Fiction, Animal Fiction,Picture Book
F: K-2.5

This is one of THE most adorable books I have read in a really long time!!


Wombat Divine is all about a little Wombat in Australia who just wants to be a part of the Nativity play. Christmas is his favorite holiday and now he is finally old enough to go and join his friends and be a part of the play. So he hurries over to audition to be in the play. All of his friends are there and he is so eager to get a part in the play. He tries many different parts but is either too big, to heavy, to short, to sleepy, too clumsy, to shortsighted and finally there were no parts that appeared to be available. He was really upset that he was not able to get a part in the play and was almost in tears when someone remembered that no one had been given the part of baby Jesus, so this was given to Wombat and he "was so dizzy with pride"!

I am not sure as to what the medium used in this book is but I talked to my roommate who is an art major and she said that it looked like mostly water color with maybe some guach(No clue how to spell it). For me the illustrations are what really makes this book pop for me. I suppose it is really the text with the illustrations that make it so wonderful. The majority of the book is single page style with each page showing a different scene that goes along with the text. I love the one when Wombat is trying to be Gabriel and they are hoisting him up, or trying, and it just won't work, the expressing on Wombats face is to die for(I tried to get a picture of it off the web but still have not found one). I love stories where the characters are animals and in this book that is all that is seen and they were painted to where they look exactly like they do in real life, despite the fact that they are putting on a play and wearing costumes.

One teaching connection would be to talk about how eagerly Wombat wanted to have a part in the play and it seemed that he was not fit to do anything in the play, but he kept trying and trying to do the best he could. You could point out how he kept trying and talk to the children about perseverance and to keep trying even if it seems like nothing will work out, something always works out you just need to keep trying and one day it will come.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

A: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

B: Mem Fox

C: Julie Vivas

D:(Originally by Omnibus Books in 1984)

E: Fiction and life/Picture Book

F:  Younger Elementary School

This is such a fetching little book.  It is all about a small boy named Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.  He has four names and his favorite person in the world is an old lady who just happens to have four names as well, Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt.  He lived next to the "old persons home" and so he was always over there and he knew every last one of them. There are many different types of older people in the home and they all do different things with Wilfrid Gordon but in accordance with above Miss Nancy is his favorite and he tells her all of his secrets.  One day his parents are talking about Miss Nancy and said that she was losing her memory, well Wilfrid Gordon did not understand the concept of memory so he set off to find out what it meant.  He talked to all of the people at the home and each person gave a different answer on what they thought was memory.  So then Wilfrid Gordon goes home and he starts looking for memories of his own to give to Miss Nancy, he gets sea shells, a puppet, a medal from his grandfather, his football, and a warm egg from under a hen.  He brings Miss Nancy his basket of memories and she starts to remember some of her own and then she remembers all of the secrets that she and Wilfrid Gordon had told each other. It ends here on a happy note, "Miss Nancy's memory had be found again".

The illustrations in this book mirror and follow the text very well.  I am not quite sure what the medium that was used is but I think that there has to be some watercolors in there with maybe pen or pencil.  The majority of the book had single page images while there were a couple of double page spreads.  Even without the pictures I think that the text of this book could hold your attention fairly well, it is just a cute little story about a small boy and his friend who happens to be much older than him.  The Images in this book are very realistic and charming.  the only thing about the pictures that would be false is some of the proportions of the older people.  Which I thought was really cute because that is probably how he felt when he was standing next to those tall men and women.

This could be used to help talk to children about older people and how we should treat them just the same as everyone else.  To be respectful to those who are older than us.  Also talking about curiosity would be something to discussed and I bet it would find some interesting conversations with in that context.  You could ask the students to think or maybe write down something that they are curious about and then you could talk about them in class and see if the answers could be found, which could integrate the internet into a class activity.  A safety talk could be appropriate there if it had not been done yet or in a while.  You could possibly talk about how you need to be careful of strangers and it is generally not ok to just go into the home and start talking with the residences. Those are just a few of what could be done with this book.