September 2007
This is very much an initial list of sophisticated picture books for older readers. I had hoped to do more work on the list and include more titles but have run out of time. I shall add to the list and improve it later.
Many teachers enjoy working with picture books with older readers since they can be used in such a variety of ways and can open up discussion on a wide number of topics. It is great to use them to introduce a topic or to look at the way a story is constructed.
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Recommended by Kate Shepherd
Jeannie Baker has an international reputation because of her intricate collage work and textless picture books with an environmental theme.
Where the Forest meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker hardback $27.95 pb $14.95 Big Book $37.95 is set in the Daintree rainforest in northern Queensland.
The Story of Rosie Dock hardback $27.95 pb $14.95 shows the devastating effect of an introduced plant to the desert area of central Australia.
Window hardback $27.95 pb 14.95 Big Book $37.95 is a study of a changing view through the window of a house as more and more houses encroach on the countryside seen from the window.
Belonging hardback $27.95 follows the same format as Window but it looks at an inner city suburb bleak in its drabness, ugly signs, graffiti and dilapidated houses and how over time the street is gradually transformed into a green inviting place where people can meet and enjoy their environment..
The Hidden Forest hardback $27.95 pb $14.95 Big book $37.95 This latest work is set in the Tasmanian kelp forests, giving an eerie quality of luminous pale green and blue, as if looking through the water. As usual the collages are made up of natural materials - rock, sand, wood, feathers and seaweed.
When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs pb $19.95
This is Briggs at his most satirical and also his most poignant. Still in cartoon style, this is a chilling, blackly humorous account of what happens to a middle aged couple after a nuclear bomb is dropped. For secondary students.
Piggybook by Anthony Browne pb $15.95
A satirical and surrealistic look at a modern family where mum does all the work and the rest of the family are behaving (and looking) like pigs. (9 – 14 years)
Dreamwalker by Isobel Carmody pb $16.95 created with illustrator Steven Woolman is a striking graphic novel which looks at the way stories are created both in words and in illustration and in the way new worlds are created. (11 - 16 years)
Gary Crew is well known for his thought provoking novels and the way he experiments with a range of styles in picture books especially for older children.
The Watertower by Gary Crew illus by Stephen Woolman pb $17.95 Won the 1995 CBC Picture book Award. It is a story for sophisticated readers who can sense the alien threat that is present as two boys go for a swim at the old water tower. The stunning illustrations and understated text combine very effectively to convey the enigmatic latent menace.
Beneath the Surface pb $15.95 is the even more chilling sequel.
One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi hardback $44.95 Beautifully illustrated in the style of Indian miniatures, this is the story of a young girl who requests, as a reward for a good deed, just one grain of rice at first and then double the amount of the day before over 30 days. To the greedy Raja’s astonishment, this grows to more than one billion grains of rice which she shares with the hungry people. (5 – 12)
The Drover’s Boy by Ted Egan illustrated by Robert Ingpen hardback $27.95
Told in the form of a song, this is a tribute to the many Aboriginal women drovers who worked, often under duress, with cattle droving teams in the outback. Beautifully illustrated, it is a sophisticated picture book for older children opening up a wealth of discussion about race relations, relations between men and women and exploitation. (12 years up)
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman illus by Dave McKean pb $15.95
Lucy hears wolves behind the walls but her parents don’t listen.
My Dog by John Heffernan illus by Andrew McLean pb $16.00
A very moving understated story in picture book format of terrible suffering as a consequence of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Seen through the eyes of a young boy, the story is illustrated sensitively illustrated in water colours by Andrew McLean. It would be a moving introduction to discussion on human rights. (8 – 12 years)
Spooner or Later by Paul Jennings, Ted Greenwood and Terry Denton pb $17.95
The authors must have spent many hilarious hours working on this extraordinarily clever, challenging and funny book. It combines illustration and text to explain what a spoonerism is and then progresses from examples ranging from the very simple to the fiendishly difficult. (8 years up)
The Rabbits by John Marsden illus by Shaun Tan hardback $27.95 pb $15.95
A sophisticated picture books for middle & secondary students. A powerful allegory which surveys, aided through extraordinarily innovative illustrations, the impact rabbits (and human rabbits) have had on the Australian land
Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka pb $16.95
Very funny reworking of a number of traditional tales. (8 years up)
D is for Doufou: An Alphabet Book of Chinese Culture by Krach Maywan Shen
illus by Hongbin Zhang pb $24.95
An exceptional book which gives an insight into the pictographic nature of the Chinese language through 25 Chinese words and phrases. It gives a fascinating historical and cultural background through well known words such as kungfu, feng shui or more complex words like “ai” meaning “love” where the explanation shows some of the cultural differences between Chinese and western ways of thinking. Wonderful illustrations in the style of Chinese folk art. (9 up)
Lady White Snake A Tale from Chinese Opera by Aaron Shepard illus by Song Nan Zhang hardback $36.95 (English and also available in Chinese & English)
The story of a thousand year old snake which visits the human world in the form of a young woman and falls in love with a mortal. Beautiful illustrations give an idea of the operatic sets. (8 years up)
Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan illustrated by Roberto Innocenti pb $18.95
This is an extremely moving portrayal of the horrors of war seen though the eyes of a young German girl who, when she discovers children in a concentration camp in the woods, secretly takes food to them. Innocenti’s illustrations portray much of the greed and desolation of war time and about the others who did not see what was happening. For older children 9 years up.
The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes illustrated by Charles Keeping pb $19.95
This classic stirring poem comes to life through the stunning black and white illustrations by Charles Keeping. (10 years up)
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say hardback $37.95
A beautifully illustrated picture book for older students. Allen Say’s grandfather made the journey from Japan to the United States when he was a young man and this story beautifully describes through text and illustrations the love that he and his grandson feel for both countries. Many students will relate to the feelings of longing expressed. (9 years up)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan hardback $39.95
This extraordinary book has amazed and delighted everyone I have shown it to. It is textless and depicts many strange things and a world that we do not understand and yet at the same time it is not difficult to understand. It shows the experience of an immigrant when he or she comes to a country where they know no one and understand very little. Shaun Tan wants us to understand the feelings of apprehension as a young man leaves his young wife and daughter and his country to travel a vast distance to a completely different country where he can’t speak the language or read any signs. A country where the landscape and the creatures and even the pets are very different and where he doesn’t understand how things work or what is the purpose of so many strange things. However on his arrival in this new land, he meets new friends who show him how to get to places and how things work and they also tell him the stories of how they too came to this new land. And so we get the very moving stories of a number of immigrant families. The illustrations are meticulously drawn in detailed panels of illustrations or sometimes full page illustrations in black and white or various shades of grey and sepia. It is a very evocative and moving book. It could be used with children from about 9 years up I think but it would be especially effective when used with older students in upper elementary and middle school. It is especially helpful for discussion with any study concerning immigrants. (9 years to adult)
Also The Red Tree by Shaun Tan hardback $27.95 pb $15.95
In this textless book a small girl feels depressed and the world looks bleak. However when she returns to her room the red tree is covered with flowers and hope blossoms again. An evocative and moving picture book. (8 – 12 years)
My Place by Nadia Wheatley illus by Donna Rawlins pb $19.95 Brilliant in concept and in execution. By moving backwards in decades from 1989, the book shows how a particular neighbourhood in Sydney has changed from a modern urban street to the first white settlement and earlier to the time when the aborigines lived there. The story is told through the eyes of the various children who lived there. An innovative book which inspires students to work on similar projects wherever they are in the world. (8 years up)
Fox by Margaret Wild illustrated by Ron Brooks hardback $27.95 pb $15.95
A highly acclaimed moral fable about the friendship between Dog and Magpie. Beautifully illustrated by Ron Brooks.
Woolvs in the sitee by Margaret Wild, illus Anne Spudvilas hardback $26.95
This book is most controversial. It is deliberately confronting and disturbing. Some teachers have found it challenging and have been very interested in the various possible interpretations of the story. It can be read as about homelessness, mental illness, or a post-holocaust world. The illustrations are disturbing and somehow made more so because of the deliberate use of incorrect spelling. One teacher has described the book as incomprehensible and pretentious. However the judges obviously find it innovative. I would be interested to see what you think. Definitely for middle school and up.
The Ballad of Mulan by Song Nan Zhang hardback $35.95 (In English and Chinese.)
Beautifully retold and illustrated version of this traditional story about the Chinese heroine, Mulan.
The Great Voyages of Zheng He text by Song Nan Zhang & Hao Yu Zhang illustrated by Song Nan Zhang hardback $36.95 in English and Chinese
This book is a beautifully written and illustrated telling of the story of the amazing voyages undertaken by Zheng He during the Ming dynasty in the fifteenth century in China. The illustrations depict vividly the Chinese court, the building of the boats, the journeys and some of the amazing places he visited. The text is informative and well written, keeping to what is known. There is also a detailed map of Zheng He’s voyages. (10 - 15 years)
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