Book Description

Age range 6+ What makes a children's book character memorable?Is it their personality, the story they tell or the way they're depicted by theillustrator? Is it that they make us laugh or cry? Or is it that we canidentify with them? Often, even as adults, we can remember what our favouritechildren's book characters said or conjure an image of them in our mind's eye. From Snugglepot and Cuddlepie to the green sheep and Pig the Pug,Australian children's book characters have always delighted the young andyoung-at-heart. Get together with old friends and meet new ones in thislighthearted retrospective of much-loved characters from over a century of Australianillustrated books for children. Many will be delighted to reencounter Albert, the cranky cut-and-come-againmagic pudding, who has fought the puddin' thieves in multiple editions, as wellas across the stage in musical theatre, puppet shows, animated films and opera.Others will be thrilled to see lovable grass tree Grug, who was once describedby The New York Times as the 'Elmo ofDown Under', and who has bustled through over 30 picture books since he firstappeared in Grug in 1979. With such classic characters included alongside newer stars, parents andgrandparents can not only share their favourites, but can also get to know the newercharacters who enchant their children and grandchildren. Today's little oneslove to go searching for Mem Fox and Judy Horacek's green sheep, who won theCBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year Award in 2005. They grump along with NickBland's bear, who has been cranky, itchy, hungry and noisy, to name but a fewof his dispositions. And they giggle at greedy Pig, the pug, who is awfullymean to his flatmate Trevor, but who always gets his comeuppance in the end. All these characters and more showcase the breadth of Australianchildren's books over the last century and give readers of all ages the chanceto get to know their favourite characters a little better.