I live in a house filled with music. Just like the athlete or artist, the musician commits to practice at every opportunity to hone their skills and perfect their craft. As my daughter prepares herself for her year twelve exams and auditions to enter the Conservatorium to study classical piano, I am treated every day to her beautiful renditions. The classes were worth it. Enduring those early 'tinky tonk' repetitive years has now paid off, however I think my daughter would like to own, just for a short while, the gloves that appear in Julie Hunt and Dale Newman's award winning graphic novel, KidGlovz.

Hunt and Newman's book, KidGlovz (Allen & Unwin, ISBN: 9781742378527, 2015), is an emotional story that connects to the Dahlian and ancient  folk tale style of story telling. Where terrible things happen, where people are captured and kept prisoner, adults are not to be trusted  and children   are the heroes and    magic and   friendship   are   the       stronger powers.

'There is a town in the mountains not far from here where people lock their pianos on the night of the full moon. It makes no difference – the keys move up and down and the air is filled with wild music.
Someone once thought they saw a white bird flying between the trees. But the truth of the matter is that it’s not a bird that flies on the night of the full moon but a pair of white gloves. I know this because they used to belong to me.'

It is the story of a child prodigy, Kidglovz, who can magically play beautiful, and is kept locked away in tortuous circumstances in order to make the biggest profit for his 'owner', Dr Eronious Spin. His piano teacher, Lovegrove, is heart broken about his circumstances and then, by chance, a young boy called Shoelace, a tightrope walker, enters Kidglovz life and soon, things begin to change for the better and for worse. Kidglovz is potentially rescued but is it into the hands of more evil, greedy adults? Friendships are betrayed, relationships are broken and Kidglovz has to learn to live a new life. And what of his magical gloves?

The emotive, soft, black and white sketched images tell the story in true graphic novel style. Newman's illustrations move through the potentially clinical story board style with warmth and gentleness. We are carried through and into the story with soft lines, dark shadows, wonderful contrast and well etched characters. With the protagonist being nine years old, the imagery sits well with the younger age group the readership starts at. With touches of humour to soften a sad story, Newman creates a wonderful visual narrative that supports Hunt's evocative story.

Whilst words and text are minimal in the graphic novel format, the process of creating a story in this style takes a long time with much planning and communication between both author and illustrator. Hunt's words, including the words that we do not read but were written as story to help direct the illustrator, have worked well with strengthened Newman's narrative, providing a strong, seamless foundation. Obviously, the seamless dance of narrative, words and pictures can only come from a strong and well balanced    team   of creators.

This is a story that is suitable for a wide age of readers and we own two copies at our house: one for me and my daughter has one in her personal collection for when she moves away. Whilst my daughter would not wish to suffer the consequences associated with the magic gloves, I know that she is able to insert herself into the story and ride the journey with Kidglovz. You don't have to be a musician to understand it though. It is a universal story for everyone.

This multi award winning book is a must for your bookshelf and your collection of 'keepers.'  It is destined to become a classic.

For those who know me well, I am a bit obsessed with Tasmanian tigers, or Thylacines. They are my home state's emblem and also our equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster, except that these amazing creatures actually existed, or for many, still exist.

Aleesah Darlison and Shane McGrath's new book, Stripes In The Forest (Big Sky Publishing, HC ISBN: 9781925275704, 2016) is a strong story that travels with the mythical Tasmanian tiger, teaching us through story about the demise and threatened existence of these once feared creatures.

The beautiful illustrations depict the tigers in an accurate but simplistic way, capturing their movement and their stance in a very believable style. McGrath has certainly caught the essence of these creatures and the illustrations stand well with the text in bringing different aspects of the story to us.

Darlison uses powerful text that doesn't shy away from the truth. She uses it with creativity, presenting a sad story in a way that offers hope, telling the story from the perspective of the thylacine and her journey to escape danger and to survive humanity. Her research is demonstrated in her story telling as well as in the interesting facts that feature at the end of the story.

I love stories that end with hope and this book offers that. With an opportunity to review our past mistakes and to cause us to reconsider our present day decisions, books like this will empower younger readers to become adults with a caring and informed discernment of our environment.

With National Threatened Species day being held annually on September the 7th, which is the day we commemorate the death of the last known thylacine in captivity and possibly the wild, this book will not only be a wonderful educational tool, but a story that we can revisit to remind ourselves about this amazing creature and the story it carries with it.

I recommend it is one that lives on your bookshelf.

                                'I am the last of my kind. Or am I?'

There is nothing like a spanner in the works, something that makes us take a step back and think hard about our circumstances, something that challenges us and the way we think and view ourselves. Here is a book that is a spanner, an effective one, a tough one that doesn't shy away from realities that many refuse to consider or want to know. Are you up for that challenge?

AUSTRALIA TO Z by Armin Greder, (Allen & Unwin, ISBN: 978 1 76011 3186, 2016), is in my 'picture book toolbox'. It is a tool to help me create brave stories, to not be shy from truths or to gloss over facts. It is a picture book that calls us to be brave, honest and to get down to business. Yet it is an alphabet book, one that hides it's intense honesty behind simplicity that can't help but draw you in.

This is not a book for the very young, it certainly isn't designed to teach your toddler their A to Z's. It is, perhaps Greder's attempt to re-educate older readers about our Australian A to Z's, our culture, what it has become, and who we see ourselves as.

I LOVE IT!! (sorry to shout).

Thank you Armin Greder for creating a book of simple truth. It will stay forever on my bookshelf, and it will continue to be taken down and shown to all and sundry. It has wit, it has grit, it has humour, it has sadness and it has grief, yet it is done with reverence and slighty discomforting honesty.

Greder's illustrations stay true to his wonderful strong and energetic style. His use of block colour and ink creating simple, almost 1950's reminiscent colour play, drawing the older audience in. There is nowhere to hide. The images are blunt and to the point. My favourite pages, if I dare to choose as they are all so brilliant, are A & B: Aborigine and Boat People, R: Rupert, W: Waltzing Matilda and the final double page spread of Advance Australia Fair.

This is a 'to have' book. Ask at your local bookstore if they have it and if not, why not? Then if you have to order it in, do so, then show them the book before you leave. This is essential reading, our basic, truthful Australia A-Z.

Whilst not a book for younger readers, this would be a great book to share with discerning middle grade and high school students and adults.

Be brave. Get your copy now.