How do you celebrate?
There's a lot to cheer about for YKNR this month
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they celebrate.
Megan, for instance, is a ‘Bake A Seven-Layer Honey Cake While Wearing Glitter Eyeshadow’ kind of gal. She embraces a good celebration.
Allison R, on the other hand, is all ‘Have A Quick Cheer And Get On With Writing The Next Book’. A Chronic Under-Celebrator.
I’m usually too worried about What Happens Next to celebrate at all – and then I look back later and wish I’d made more of that magical moment.
This month, though, we are all on board the Celebration Train because Allison Rushby has not only launched the first two books in her brand-new junior fiction series THE WISH SISTERS, but has landed herself on the CBCA Book Of The Year Notables list for older readers for her YA novel THE STAND-IN.
Joy Lawn from Paperbark Words Blog described The Wish Sisters as “superb… The stories are appealing and right on target for newly independent readers reading their first chapter book. They are a great blend of imaginative fun, unexpected plot complications and angst. The characters are also well developed, which is a feat in itself considering the necessary small size of the books.”
I’d like to say that we all got together to drink Champagne on launch day but Allison R is so busy with events and interviews that we’re going to have to wait.
Instead, I added to her workload and sent her three questions to answer for you…
HELLO FROM ALLISON RUSHBY
The award-winning, bestselling author of many, many books for children and adults, Allison Rushby’s middle-grade novels are firm favourites in the Your Kid’s Next Read community, particularly The Turnkey series and The Ghost Locket. More about Allison R here.
1. Tell us about The Wish Sisters
AR: The Wish Sisters is a new junior fiction illustrated series, illustrated by Karen Blair and published by UQP. There will be five books published this year – two in March (The Party Wish and The Big Wish), then two more in July (The Running Wish and The Pet Wish) and then The Christmas Wish in November. In The Wish Sisters books we meet sisters Flick and Birdie. Flick learns her Granny Aggie has left the pair an amazing gift – unlimited wishes! The only problem is, the imp who grants the wishes also loves to twist those wishes. With hilarious consequences, of course.
2. Why did you decide to write about sisters?
AR: Actually, the first character who came to me was the imp. I knew I wanted to write something younger and so, in between writing projects, I headed to my ideas folder – a repository of clippings and pictures and all sorts that I keep in the hope that one day they might become a fully-fledged story.
There, I came across a picture I’d filed away of the Lincoln Imp – a funny little grotesque who lives on a wall inside Lincoln Cathedral. I’d seen the imp mentioned in an article and adored its cheeky gap-toothed grin, curly locks and jaunty cross-legged stance.
I did a quick search on imps (I didn’t know much about imps!) and found they could grant wishes, which they invariably twist, because that’s just more fun. It was all I needed – I was off and plotting. It didn’t take me long to realise it would be far more fun if it was a baby doing the wishing and keeping her big sister on the hop.
3. If you could make one wish right now, what would it be?
AR: Well, it’s heading towards 3pm, which is sugar-low time. So I think I’ll be wishing for a packet of Tim Tams that never runs out and a coffee that magically refills itself, please! Of course, the imp would only twist that wish into something like a packet of Tim Tams that never runs out, but tastes like dirt, and a coffee that magically refills itself with used bath water or something vile.
TEAM YKNR
Personally, I wish we were celebrating with Al in person, but then, last time we got together, we ended up cruising the streets of Brisbane in a KIA Carnival.
I mean, do we know how to party, or what?
From l-r: Megan Daley, Allison Rushby, Allison Tait
But on to actual books…
HELLO FROM MEGAN DALEY
Megan is an award-winning teacher-librarian working in Brisbane, the author of Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books, and co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. She is also a sought after public speaker, literary judge, creator of the popular website Children's Books Daily and the 2023 curator for Word Play for Brisbane Writers Festival. More about Megan here.
I've been reading junior and middle fiction books at a great pace this term, trying to come up with some new class reads for school, being on an advisory panel for text selections and just keeping up with my bookmail!
In among all the reading there has been a lot of parenting as club sports, bands, choirs and class parties start up for the year - my car feels like a second home at times.
FEBRUARY BOOKMARK REVIEWS
Each month, I share full reviews of two outstanding books that have crossed my desk. Bookmark these for your own young readers.
The Truth Detective by Tim Harford
Author Tim Harford is the presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'More or Less' program - which I have for some reason listened to a number of times and greatly enjoyed it. This non-fiction book for middle and upper primary readers (and school library staff!) is a look bamboozling headlines and numbers that don't add up - it delves into what is true, what is not and all in between and would be great for looking at authenticity in resources in library lessons.
Within the pages you will transform into a Truth Detective, and be able to hunt down the truth about the world around you. You will meet heroic truth detectives, such as Florence Nightingale who started a revolution with a pie chart. You will encounter dastardly villains who have tried to trip us up with dodgy data and misinformation. And you will learn how being smart and savvy about numbers, will help you be smart and savvy about everything else in life too.
You Two, You Two by Brooke Hill. Illustrated by Elin Matilda Andersson
You two, you two - higgle and piggle, a hullabaloo.
A gorgeous celebration of two little people growing up together. With a gentle rhythm and vibrant illustrations, this is a perfect book to gift to siblings - great focus on the friendship and adventures that can be shared between siblings.
YKNR THREAD OF THE MONTH
From Allison Rushby: There’s not a week that goes by at YKNR without a boys and reading question and we’ve hit the nail on the head here. Finding an ‘in’ is such a fantastic way to boost engagement. I remember well the days of hunting down every single soccer book ever written for my own son. Thanks to our always reliable members for some great suggestions on this thread, which you can read here!
Don’t forget that we also have lots of amazing lists available for you at on our YKNR Community page. If you’re on the hunt for books for boys this age, try this list.
HELLO FROM ALLISON TAIT
Writing as A. L. Tait, Allison is the internationally published, bestselling author of eight novels for middle-grade readers across three series: The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. She is an in-demand speaker for author visits and literary festivals, a writing teacher for kids and adults, co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast and former co-host of the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast. More about Allison here.
I’ve been a blogger for twelve years now and my website is a deep well of information about writing, reading and books (including writing tips for kids).
One of the great things about having such an established presence on the internet is the opportunity to open it up to other authors.
This week, I was thrilled to welcome author and book blogger Razeena Omar Gutta to my site. Razeena and I ‘met’ when she sent me a copy of Hana’s Hundreds Of Hijabs, her debut traditionally published picture book (illustrated by Manal Mirza and published by Barefoot Books), along with a lovely letter.
The book is a delight and I was so happy to be able to share it via the Facebook group and the podcast.
So when Razeena contacted me about curating a book list in the lead up to Ramadan (22 March), I jumped on board.
Razeena’s list of 25 books about Muslim life for kids of all ages starts at board books and goes all the way up to YA novels, and is a great way to help kids understand not only the celebration of Ramadan, but everyday Muslim life.
ON THE PODCAST
We’ve had an amazing month on the podcast, including an interview with YKNR favourite Jane Godwin in episode 92 and a BLOCKBUSTER Bingo question about STEM Books for All Ages in episode 89, which obviously hit a few buttons as it’s screaming up the ‘most downloaded’ charts as we speak.
Big thanks from us to those of you who have left us a review. We love hearing from you!
MARCH BOOKMAIL WINNER
Each month, we’re giving away a prize pack consisting of some of the brilliant bookmail sent to us for the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. One winner* is chosen from our subscriber list by random draw and announced here!
There are nine books in the March prize pack.
The MARCH bookmail giveaway winner is …
Kim Laurie
Congrats! We’ll be in touch by email.
*Australian mailing addresses only. Prize consists of one copy of each book pictured, sent as a pack to the winner by Australia Post. Winner will be contacted by email and prize must be claimed within 14 days or a redraw will take place. You must be subscribed to the YKNR newsletter by midnight (AEDST) the night before publication each month to be eligible to win. No correspondence will be entered into.
Go forth and celebrate
Even if you’re a Chronic Under-Celebrator, there’s always something to get excited about! We hope there’s a bright spot in your day today.
Allison T, Allison R and Megan