Book Week Fun
Click these links to find fun activities for the short listed books.
Early Childhood Category | Picture Book Category
Younger Readers Category | New Illustrators Category
How to manage jigsaw pieces
- Change the number of pieces for an easier or harder jigsaw under the Play As menu.
Younger Readers Category
August & Jones by Pip Henry
Eleven-year-old Jones Kirby has just moved to Sydney from her farm in country New South Wales. She's missing her alpacas and wide-open paddocks and can't get used to her family's tiny city apartment. She's also worried that her vision is blurry – she lost her eye to cancer as a toddler. Could it be another tumour? Enrolling at her new school, Jones meets shy, awkward August Genting. He loves fun facts, the library and knitting as much as Jones loves rock climbing and being outdoors. Who would have thought they'd become fast friends? At home, August's parents are fighting. And for Jones, the news from the doctor is not good. To cheer themselves up, the pair hatch a brilliant plan: the August and Jones Must-See Bucket List. Together, this brave duo will set out to meet a rare monkey, run across the Harbour Bridge and even climb Australia's highest mountain. After all, with your best friend beside you, anything is possible!
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Read Chapters 1-19 | Do a jigsaw | For Teachers
Evie and Rhino by Neridah McMullin. Illustrated by Astred Hicks
A young girl with a tragic past and a rhinoceros facing life in captivity form an unlikely and magical bond after a fateful storm and a shipwreck bring them together. A moving tale about love, connection and the healing power of friendship.
1891
On a stormy night off the coast of southern Australia, a ship transporting a cargo of exotic animals tosses and turns in enormous seas. Rhino senses they are in grave danger. . .
Not far away, ten-year-old Evie and her grandfather shelter in their crumbling, once-grand old home. They know too well how deadly storms can be. When all is calm, Evie treks over the dunes to the sea and makes a discovery that will change her life, and Rhino’s, forever.
Will the tragedies of their pasts finally be put to rest?
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Q&A with Neridah McMullin | For Teachers | Do a jigsaw
The Raven’s Song by Zana Fraillon and Bren MacDibble
Shelby and her best friend Davy live quiet low-tech lives in a closed community that is made up of exactly three hundred and fifty kind, ethical people living on exactly seven hundred hectares.
When they climb through a hole in the perimeter fence to venture into the surrounding jungle, what they find is more astonishing than anything they could have imagined.
When Shelby realises the terrible danger that is unfolding, it will take all of her daring and determination to ensure the past does not repeat itself.
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Runt by Craig Silvey
Annie Shearer lives in the country town of Upson Downs with her best friend, an adopted stray dog called Runt. The two share a very special bond.
After years evading capture, Runt is remarkably fast and agile, perfect for herding runaway sheep. But when a greedy local landowner puts her family's home at risk, Annie directs Runt's extraordinary talents towards a different pursuit – winning the Agility Course Grand Championship at the lucrative Krumpets Dog Show in London.
However, there is a curious catch: Runt will only obey Annie's commands if nobody else is watching.
With all eyes on them, Annie and Runt must beat the odds and the fastest dogs in the world to save her farm.
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Read Chapters 1-4: Craig Silvey talks about the book.
Enjoy the trailer | For Teachers | Do a jigsaw
The Way of Dog by Zana Fraillon. Illustrated by Sean Buckingham
Scruffity is born into the harsh, grey world of a puppy farm. Taken from his mamma and locked in a concrete cage, what he yearns for most is Family. To belong is The Way of Dog. But no one wants him.
Just as his chances of adoption grow dangerously thin, Scruffity is set free by a boy as unwanted and lonely as he is.
Outside, Scruffity learns all about The Way of Dog – it is to run, to dig, to howl and, biggest of all, to love. But when tragedy strikes, Scruffity is suddenly all alone.
How does a dog find his way home when he never had one to begin with?
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Introduction to The Way of Dog |
Hear about the book [Starts at 4.43] | Do a jigsaw
Read some of the book | For Teachers | For Teachers 2
Xavier in the Meantime by Kate Gordon
Sometimes Xavier wakes up feeling hopeless.
Every new doctor … this will fix it.
Removing him from school … this will fix it.
The therapy group … this will fix it.
And his dad moving out. Maybe, this will fix it.
His daily affirmations seem to be helping, yet the black dog never really goes away. But Xavier has a plan. Enlisting the help of best friend Aster, he tries to convince his dad to turn the family hogget farm into a therapy retreat for the group session kids. But he is up against decades of tradition, his parents who are on a “break,” and the spectre of the black dog.
Can Xavier learn to cherish the moments in between the struggles—the moments in the meantime?
Sometimes Xavier wakes up feeling hopeless.
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About the book | Read Chapter 1| For Teachers | Do a jigsaw