JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Wild Guide to Starting School by Laura and Philip Bunting

Hey, wild thing! Are you about to start school? Then it’s time to get set for your wildest adventure yet.

Follow this simple guide and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

The familiar and much loved animals from previous Bunting tales “Mopoke, Kookaburra, Liarbird, Koala, Quokka, and a few new friends” guide you from starting the day just right (mmm, GumFlakes) to first day jitters, meeting teachers, making friends, lunch time, home time and all the things in between!

Laura and Philip Bunting’s latest picture book The Wild Guide to Starting School is an adorable, beautifully illustrated and incredibly funny guide to the beginning of the school year. How should one get to school? Behave in the classroom? Eat during lunch? Through the lens of animals and barnyard examples, practical advice fills the pages — some helpful, some purely humorous.

Whilst some young readers might cringe at the thought of reading a book about school, Laura and Philip Bunting have put together a really inviting, beautiful book to captivate even the most reluctant of young readers. By incorporating wild animals into the story, they’re appealing to children through the use of the familiar — quirky, cuddly zoo animals.

There isn’t much text to this book, as it’s predominantly relying on illustrations to carry the story. Philip’s illustrations are soft but colourful, and suited for readers of all genders. Together, Laura and Philip have built a beautiful suite of children’s books that I imagine look beautiful when collected and stacked together on a bookshelf.

Recommended for parents and children. I don’t have any children but I found myself chuckling along to this one, so I can imagine young readers really enjoying this read. Readership skews 4+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Wild Guide to Starting School
Laura and Philip Bunting
January 2022
Scholastic Publishers Australia

Cicada by Shaun Tan

The story of a cicada who works in an office, and all the people who don’t appreciate him. The new picture book from multi-award-winner Shaun Tan, author of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and Rules of Summer.

A story for anyone who has ever felt unappreciated, overlooked or overworked, from Australia’s most acclaimed picture book creator.

Cicada by Shaun Tan is an absolutely beautiful picture book about an unappreciated office worker who is bullied by his coworkers and treated terribly by his bosses. He’s a hard worker — diligent and competent.

The little cicada is a data clerk and his colleagues are humans. He’s not allowed to use the office bathroom and he has to sleep in the office wallspace.

Cicada work in tall building.
Data entry clerk. Seventeen year.
No sick day. No mistake.
Tok Tok Tok!

When he retires from his city job after seventeen years of working in a confined cubicle, he walks up to the roof of the building and something extraordinary happens.

SOURCE: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Shaun Tan delivers such magnificent books. His illustration style is careful, considered and so vibrant. I’ve loved his work for such a long time and I love looking through his artwork.

Human never finish work.
Cicada always stay late. Finish work.
Nobody thank cicada.
Tok Tok Tok!

The illustrations in the book appear to be paintings, with such detail and depth that you have to take the time to really run your eyes over all the pages.

The book definitely speaks to many readers — it’s about someone who feels under appreciated at work, and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to this little cicada.

This may be a picture book, but it’s not just for children. Adults will pour over these illustrations and marvel at how beautiful this book is. The ending of the book even allows for some humour!

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cicada
Shaun Tan
July 2018
Hachette Book Publishers Australia