Angela Crocombe
Angela Crocombe is the Readings Prize and Readings Foundation coordinator and a senior buyer for Readings Kids. She is also the author of two books on sustainable living, A Lighter Footprint: A Practical Guide to Minimising your Impact on the Planet and Ethical Eating: How to Make Food Choices That Won’t Cost the Earth.
Blog post — 5 Oct 2021
Animal rescue stories for junior and middle fiction readers
When I was a kid, the stories I loved most were about animals, and I was particularly fascinated with animal rescue narratives. Well, it turns out this love is perennial…
Blog post — 27 Sep 2021
Best truck books for toddlers
Toddlers and trucks just seem to go together like cheese and tomato, chocolate and ice cream. Playing in the sandpit, driving your truck around the house, vroom vroom, what could…
Blog post — 20 Sep 2021
New indestructible books for babies
It’s important to introduce books to babies from birth to stimulate learning. They will soon get into the routine of handling books and even learn to turn the pages from…
Review — 2 Nov 2021
Plume: World Explorer by Tania McCartney
While we may not be able to travel much ourselves, the utterly delightful penguin Plume can, and he makes for a wonderful guide on a journey around the world, exploring…
Review — 6 Sep 2021
Poison For Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
Mr Lemony Snicket, pseudonymous author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, has just eaten the same breakfast he prepares for himself every day when he discovers a piece of…
Review — 1 Sep 2021
The Song of Lewis Carmichael by Sofie Laguna & Marc McBride
This utterly exquisite adventure story about travelling in a hot air balloon on the boreal winds to the Arctic north has all the hallmarks of a contemporary classic.
Matthew is…
Blog post — 15 Sep 2021
Recommended children's books and news for September
This month in kids books we travel to the Arctic Circle on a hot air balloon, go on a research trip to study rare sharks, reach the final story in…
Blog post — 15 Sep 2021
Recommended YA books and news for September
This month in young adult new releases we have a hilarious Freaky Friday time-slip adventure, a road trip that may be a total disaster or the beginning of an unexpected…
Blog post — 1 Sep 2021
Vale, Jill Murphy
I was saddened to hear of the death of British author and illustrator Jill Murphy earlier this month. She had a long, illustrious career and is probably best known for…
Blog post — 30 Aug 2021
Five new books to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day
1 September is Indigenous Literacy Day; a day where we celebrate the culture, stories and language of our First Nations peoples.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) strives to reduce the…