1st January Olivier Dunrea (1953)

Happy New Year!

Olivier Dunrea is the author illustrator responsible for the wonderful preschool series about Gossie and friends. Gossie is a gosling who wears red boots even when asleep. She has friends BooBoo, Ollie, Peedie and Gertie. These farmyard animals, drawn very endearingly on expansive white backgrounds partake in simple stories created very satisfyingly with minimal text. The books and toy Gossie are popular in my library and I am always on the lookout for a new one.

In the library we also have Bear Noel a beautiful story about a bear at Christmas and with such different illustrations from those in the Gossie books that at first I did not realise they were by the same illustrator. Looking at his website, I see that Olivier Dunrea has a new book also about a bear, Old Bear and his Cub that I need to look for.

5th April

The Easter break is just about over, but as there are no birthdays today, I thought I would write about picture books for Easter. My favourite Easter picture book is Muddy Footprints by Mary Small and Pat Reynolds. It is old and out of print, but I share it with Kindergarten every year in the week before Easter. It is ideal because being Australian, it depicts an Easter where

it is raining, it is Autumn and the outdoor egghunt is thwarted. The children relate instantly to Sam and Lucy because they have lived this experience!

Egghunts are the focus of two other picture books suitable for sharing with Kindergarten or preschool children. Firstly, Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells. Here Max sabotages bossy Ruby's carefully planned egghunt in his usual mischievous way. Children love watching the pictures tell another story from the one that Ruby and the text are telling. A similar idea is used in Olivier Dunrea's newest Gossie and Friends book, Ollie's Easter Eggs. Gossie, Gertie, BooBoo and Peedie are working hard while Ollie plays. Each of them collects, dyes and hides an egg, but Ollie moves them to other hiding places. As usual the crisp white pages have perfect ink and watercolour illustrations.