Something Wonderful

Sam is a dreamer; a free spirit with a curious mind. He is interested in everything around him to the point where he forgets his chores. He tests things to discover how they work. He takes them apart and puts them together again to see how they are made. He invents things from bits and pieces of all shapes and sizes and scrap materials.

It is on a rainy day that he discovers the shed and all its magic contents. That’s the day that dad realizes that Sam has a special gift.

This meaningful picture book dwells on themes around children’s need to explore, understand, investigate and create. Curiosity about, and absorption in, their world and things around them, can be misconstrued as apathy, indifference, or some other mistaken emotion. Here those perceptions are addressed, from a child’s view.

I found the illustrations created with pencil and watercolour, stunning and detailed. They stretch the story to a greater proportion by showing what Sam thinks and feels. Karen Blair has done an exceptional job at translating this text.

This could be a valuable book to initiate discussion in the classroom or at home about the importance of dreams and making things with your hands. It will inspire children to create and believe they can.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Something Wonderful

Author: Raewyn Caisley

Illustrator: Karen Blair

Publisher: Penguin Random House, $24.99 RRP

Publication Date: February 2016

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9780670078455

For ages: 5+

Type: Children’s Picture Book

Hello From Nowhere

Eve has lived with her dad for some time in Nowhere, a place in the Nullarbor where they keep a roadside stop. The area has everything she needs to fill her life. People pop in all the time as they pass in buses, campers, and trucks, and share their stories and adventures.

Eve has bonded strongly with her environment; with nature and its creatures, the rocks and waterholes. There is really only one thing she misses and that’s her Nan. But Nan isn’t thrilled with the idea of travelling to the middle of Nowhere for a visit.

Eve’s letter of longing convinces Nan to come. Eve shares with Nan all the beauty and magic that fills her daily life. Will Eve’s bewitching surroundings draw Nan back again?

Beautifully translated illustrations give children, older readers, tourists and travellers a wonderful view of the stunning Australian outback. The illustrations reflect the wildness, silence, isolation, and grandeur that invades people’s psyche once they’ve been there.  The story also addresses the powerful relationship between children and grandparents.

 Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Hello From Nowhere

Author: Raewyn Caisley

Illustrator: Karen Blair

Publisher:  Penguin

Publication Date: 27 August 2014 $24.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780670075003

Type: Australian Picture Book