Ursula Dubosarsky
Ursula Dubosarsky is the author of many great children’s books and of recent she has published information books under the title of The Word Spy. There are two books in the Word Spy series and I highly recommend them as they are a fun way of learning about the English language and many of its conventions. The books are also cleverly illustrated by Tohby Riddle another great Australian children’s author and illustrator. I highly enjoyed the style of writing in these books as it felt like I wasn’t reading a non-fiction book but rather a story due to the layout, style of writing and included activities. A fun way to learn about grammar also!
The Word Spy
Join the WORD SPY on an entertaining journey through the English language. Learn more about where the alphabet came from, find out what ATM stands for, make up your own palindromes (it’s easy!) and impress your friends by speaking Pig Latin. There are cartoons, riddles and a special code to solve along the way.
Awards: Winner – NSW Premier’s Literary Award, CBCA honour Book and Junior Judges’ Project Winner.
The Word Spy Returns
In The Return of the Word Spy she continues the fascinating journey through language, with chapters on language families, how we learn to speak, grammar and written forms of communication. In an accessible, engaging style, the WORD SPY explains the meaning of nouns, verbs, pronouns, ‘dead’ languages, word origins and other wordy wonders. Packed with cartoons, games, facts and puzzles, The Return of the Word Spy continues the WORD SPY’s fascinating journey through the English language.
Awards: Winner of the CBCA Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2011
The Word Spy Activity Book
An activity book that has just been released allowing the children to write in it and further learning about languages.
Below is the link to the Word Spy’s blog which is updated regularly and allows you to leave questions or comments for the Word Spy. You can also join the Word Spy Club and get a free membership card, a badge and stickers! Make sure to go on her blog regularly as you learn more, it’s fun and you can leave comments which doesn’t seem to be happening very often. You can also email her about words and where they come from! Don’t be shy!
http://wordsnoop.blogspot.com.au/
Sonya Hartnett
Sonya Hartnett in my opinion is one of the best Australian authors out there for both adults and children. She has won many numerous awards and is exceptional at painting an image of what she is writing due to her rich vocabulary. It has been awhile since she has written a new children’s book but the wait is now over. Her new book is titled: Children of the King and I highly recommend it as an engaging read.
Here is a short description of the book: Three children have been sent to live in the countryside, safe from the war in London. When they find two boys hiding in a castle, the past and future come together to make an extraordinary adventure.
Other Sonya Hartnett Books:
The Silver Donkey: One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvellous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny silver donkey.
The Midnight Zoo: Under cover of darkness, two brothers cross a war-ravaged countryside carrying a secret bundle. One night they stumble across a deserted town reduced to smouldering ruins. But at the end of a blackened street they find a small green miracle: a zoo filled with animals in need of hope.
Our Australian Girl
Our Australian Girl is a fresh new exciting series by Penguin that is written by some great Australian authors. It is a highly recommended book series that is engaging and aimed at younger girls, with each character in the series focusing on a different era of Australian history and what it was like to be a girl in that setting. It has been praised by many teachers, lecturers and organisations with rumour of a boy series in the works due to its high success.
Check out the Our Australian Girl website for more information:
Hi Kon I have read a few of the australian girl books already and I especially like the Rose series and Meet Poppy,
from Amy.
Hi Amy!
Thanks for commenting, it’s the first comment on the blog. I hope you you get to comment more often. The Rose series is written by Sheryl Clark whom I especially enjoy as a children’s author – http://www.sherrylclark.com/. Will you be reading the new books released this year about Lina and Ruby?
Kon
Hi Kon,
I look forward to reading all about Lina and Ruby,
Amy.
Hi everyone,
this year some of my favourite books have been:
The Alice-Miranda series, by Jaqueline Harvey, The Mona Lisa mystery, by Pat Hutchins ( which is in our classroom.) and The Lighthouse Kids by Diana Chase.
con theres a enormous glitch with the blog plz fix it. It is really ignoreing
con does your name start with a k or a c
Both!
Hello Kon,
Amy and I really love the class blog and we particularly like your book recommendations. Amy has begun reading some of your recommended books and it is great to see her enjoying some new authors.
She would like to start adding her books to the reading challenge but we haven’t been able to log in. So we wanted to check with you – has she been registered yet?If yes, perhaps we are using the wrong login and password.
Thank you,
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for the kind comments about the blog. It’s always nice when you get a few children each year appreciating it.
Amy has been registered, it actually continues from the previous years and she gets rolled over into the Year 3 category. I just checked the 3B classroom and everything seems fine. I’ll reset her password and email her the new details using her school email address. If there is another email that might be better to send it to, just let me know through a comment on the blog and I can then delete the comment if you don’t want anyone to see the email due to privacy issues. Hope you’re having a fantastic holiday!
See you soon,
Kon
I have never read those books Kon but they sound very interesting!
from Amelia
Hi Amelia,
Thanks for the comment. You should try read some of the books I’ve recommended and let me know what you think of them. I know Lenny read Our Australian Girl and she has really been enjoying it. You should talk to her about it : )
Hi Con,
Thanks to the recommendations on your blog I am reading The Word Spy! It is fantastic, I love it, it’s the best! I have learnt so many new words, spelling and history of English than I would ever have imagined I could learn from a book in 3 nights. I have not yet cracked the code but I think I am getting somewhere! Thank you so much again for your recommendations on not just The Word Spy but all the books you have recommended.
From Jasmine
Hi Jasmine,
Thanks for the comment. Glad to hear that you’re reading The Word Spy. When I first read it, I also learnt a lot about the English language. If I hear of any other books I will also post them on the blog for recommendations! Have you been on the word spy blog yet? You should definitely join the the word spy club.
From Con
Wow great books! I LOVE Sonya Hartnett! The Midnight Zoo is the best!