Janeen Brian has written more than fifty books, all published in Australia, as well as poems, plays, and stories for children's magazines in Australia and the USA. She lives by the sea in Glenelg, Australia.
Stephen Michael King's first picture book, THE MAN WHO LOVED BOXES, won the Family Award for Children's Books in Australia. He wrote and illustrated A
After celebrating his birthday, Bruno, a little white bear with a big black nose, wonders what happens to the day after it's done. Accompanied by his friend Bert, a tiny penguin in aviator garb, Bruno journeys through a series of starry blue watercolors, looking for a Thursday he can say goodbye to. "First they came to a bridge. A gentle river gurgled beneath. `Oogle, gurgle, Oogle, gurgle,' it said. `Is that you, Thursday?' Bruno called out.... But there was no reply." Brian (Pilawuk) does not definitively resolve Bruno's question, but Bruno and Bert associate the departing birthday with the full moon (which hangs "like a silver balloon"), to which the two creatures wave an energetic goodbye before it slips behind a cloud. King (A Special Kind of Love) presents a cozy vision of night, his outdoor scenes spangled with glowing lanterns and bright windows. Children on the younger end of the target audience may enjoy this gentle tale; others may find that Brian's whimsy crosses the border into coy. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.