Book Review: All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

 

It's 2.23am. I have just finished reading All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton and my first thoughts are, 'What. Just. Happened?' 

After not responding to knocks at doors, scrapes on knees and fire alarms at dinner time, I thought it was safer to finish reading it after the boys had gone to bed. My head was filled with white butterflies, white bones, hope, hate, love, life and death. Just as I became Eli Bell in Boy Swallows Universe,  growing up as a too smart kid in a shut your mouth Brisbane suburb, so was I Molly Hook, head full of words and infallibly optimistic, no matter what life threw at me. Only Trent Dalton can make you loose yourself in a book like that. 

I hate snot. The hardest page of the book for me to read wasn't when the gravedigger's daughter hid with her mother's bones in an open grave, got the beating or saw the rape, it was page 173. It was also the most incredibly moving and mind blowing piece of descriptive writing that I have ever read in my life. In that moment, snot was poetic and graceful. Only Trent Dalton can create characters like that.

The same suffocating pang that squeezed the tears from my eyes when I relived my childhood in Boy Swallows Universe were shed for Molly and Violet Hook. I talked to oceans instead of skies. I spat out pills instead of seeds. I had the monsters in my bed, after I had fed and cared for them all day until they became twisted by drink and darkness. I have carried all I owned and owned all I carried. Only Trent Dalton can see inside my soul like that. 

Now, as I check on my sleeping children under the dark sky, I speak softly to it. 'Please don't let anything happen to me so my kids don't end up like a character in a Trent Dalton novel.' 

When the blue sky returns, I will ask politely if one day I could write a book as honest and beautiful as a Trent Dalton novel, and I wouldn't even care if it lied.

Highly recommended. 

Tom and Mum's Book Review: Pug's Don't Wear Pyjamas

Tom and Mum's Book Reviews on iTunes

Michelle Worthington is an award winning author, international guest speaker and publishing coach, but the star of this show is Tom. Tom loves chocolate, cuddles and construction. 

He's also the smartest, most honest and best reviewer in the world.

Pugs Don't Wear Pyjamas is written by Michelle Worthington, illustrated by Cecilia Johannson, 

published by New Frontier Publishing.

When Tom visits his aunt he meets her pug Ellie.
Ellie is no ordinary pug. Wherever Tom's aunt goes, her pug must go too. His aunt dresses Ellie up for every outing.
Tom finds Ellie strange but she makes friends wherever she goes. Tom makes no friends.
He realises something has to change.

Click here to listen to the Podcast

Top 10 tips for Connecting with Toddlers through Reading Time

Here are my top ten tips for Connecting with Your Little Ones.

• Build a foundation of communication and word structure for your child by helping them to become familiar with common sounds, words and language that you use throughout the day.



• Introduce them to the value of books by incorporating them into playtime as well as a bedtime routine.



• Talk about what you have read. Help your children understand that ideas need to be discussed and thought about critically and creatively. This will help show them that words can be communicated to other people in different ways to pass on the message. If you have read something you don’t agree with, discuss that as well. Children need to learn that everything this is written is not necessarily the truth.

• Find ways in everyday activities to spark your child’s imagination. Stimulate curiosity and help his brain development by using words creatively. Don’t be scared about using ‘big words’. Vocabulary is key to improving communication in young children.



• Use sounds in fun ways. Make silly made up sounds and vary your pitch and tone when talking, reading and singing songs together.



• Help your child learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make-believe’. Imaginative play with toys and books is a great way to switch from real life scenarios to make believe world building. Encourage made up stories but be clear about when the time is needed for truth.

• Picture books can be great tools for you to use to help your child understand change and new or frightening events, and also the strong emotions that can go along with them. The library is an amazing resource for finding diverse books.



• Stop and listen when your child is trying to tell you something. Maintain eye contact. Try to stay as still as you can. Your child will develop early literacy skills like the ability to listen to and understand words faster if they feel they themselves are being listened to and understood.



• Teach your child the importance of following simple instructions by writing shopping lists together and getting them involved with easy cooking recipes or reading aloud to them as you are cooking so they can see the importance of written words.

• Foster a sense of humour by sharing laughter every day. Laugh out loud at silly jokes, something accidental or unusual that happened or silly sounds. Learning to laugh is important for a child’s communication, literacy and emotional development. Best of all, the sound of your laughter will make them the happiest of all.





If you have some great top tips, I would love you to contact me.


www.michelleworthington.com
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My Brother Tom by Michelle Worthington at Mater Little Miracles Day in the Park

Please join us on Sunday February 26th, 2017, 9am - 4pm at Pelican Park, Clontarf in order to help raise money for Mater little Miracles in support of premature babies.

This event is open to the public. Please feel free to invite whomever you think might be interested :)

If you can't make it to the event and would still like to help out by donating, please check out our online donations page, which is set up through Mater:

https://give.everydayhero.com/au/candice-cassie-s-mater-little-miracles-day-in-the-park

We are planning a fun family day. There will be free entry and some free live entertainment.

I will be reading and signing copies of My Brother Tom, a book for older siblings of premature babies to help them understand and cope with a stressful time. I will also have my other books for sale with a portion of proceeds going to the event.

In fact, we have just confirmed we will have famous YouTube children's entertainer Debbie Doo flying up ...from Melbourne to perform throughout the day. What an incredible woman! The kids are going to go nuts :)

We will also have characters from your kids' favourite tv shows and movies making appearances, such as Marshall from Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig, Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and Superman.

There will be face painting, jumping castles, a petting zoo, crazy hair stand, disco tent, and a few other fun things for the kids, all for a $2-$5 donation each towards the charity.

We'll have a couple of professional photographers doing themed photoshoots for a great price. So bring your little ones down to capture some great pics, and donate to an amazing cause :)
We will have superheros, princesses, and pop stars themed shoots.

These shoots will need to be booked in, so please contact us for more details.

There will be food and market vendors there on the day so don't forget to bring some extra cash if you would like to do some shopping and eating. These vendors have made generous donations towards the charity in order to be at our event so we'd love to give them lots of business as thanks :)

Please invite your friends and join us for what will not only be a fun-filled day for the kids, but also helping towards an extremely worthy cause :)