by Susan Barnes | 5 Jul 2017 | Book Reviews
This book is currently being featured on the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance. Information about the author and more details about the book can be found here. My brother Tom is a picture book for young children, which helps them understands the anxiety, as...
by Susan Barnes | 11 Jan 2017 | Book Reviews
Captain Sneer the Buccaneer is a great story written by Penny Morrison and Illustrated by Gabriel Evans. It is a fun book about a pirate trying to be brave while looking for gold. It is well-written, rhymes and uses anticipation very well. However I felt the book was...
by Susan Barnes | 19 Dec 2016 | Book Reviews
The Mighty Mighty King by Penny Morrison is a delightful rhyming book based on the Christmas story. Penny has suggested actions for the children to do while the story is being read to encourage their engagement and I can see this working well. Lisa Flanagan has done...
by Susan Barnes | 19 Oct 2016 | Book Reviews
My granddaughter asked me to read, The very cranky bear by Nick Bland on a recent visit. I was surprised that this simple story could be so insightful. Zebra has a plan to cheer up the Cranky Bear by giving him strips. Moose thought he needed antlers and Lion thought...
by Susan Barnes | 21 Sep 2016 | Book Reviews
When I see Grandma by Debra Tidball is the story of a young girl who visits her grandma in a nursing home. It’s clear from the illustrations that she is no longer able to communicate and spends much of her time asleep. However her granddaughter remembers when...
by Susan Barnes | 31 Aug 2016 | Book Reviews
The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside is a very helpful book which teaches children how to deal with their worries. The story is about a happy girl called Jenny who has no reason to be worried. Over time though she begins to worry about all sorts of random...
by Susan Barnes | 17 Aug 2016 | Book Reviews
Bounce Back by Cheri Meiners is a useful resource for the Bounce Back! program which is run in many schools. I have used this book in my role as a school chaplain and found it explains resilience in a way a child can understand. The story is loosely set around a girl...
by Susan Barnes | 20 Jul 2016 | Book Reviews
Happy Pants is written from Heather Gallagher’s own experience of postnatal depression. She uses the visual image of a pair colourful pants to portray her happy emotions. So when her happy pants stay in the wardrobe it indicates her feelings of sadness. It is a...