Book picks similar to
The Quinkins by Percy Trezise


picture-books
1001-children-s-books
1001-children-s-books-you-must-read
children-s-books

Talking In Whispers


James Watson - 1983
    Then Andres meets an American journalist who provides him with evidence that will be ‘more valuable than bullets’ against the oppressive military regime.An exciting and uncompromising political thriller, Talking in Whispers was awarded the German Buxtehuder Bulle, which celebrates outstanding teenage fiction dealing with human rights themes.

Coram Boy


Jamila Gavin - 2000
    From an acorn of an idea about a real-life good Samaritan of yesteryear, the author has crafted a satisfying, if occasionally painful, novel that spans the lives of several fortunate and unfortunate young people of the day.The author has researched her backdrop very well, and the atmospheric sights and sounds of the time are both vivid and captivating. Readers will smell the dirty streets and close-living of urban London, revel in the summer splendour of the finest country houses and then flinch when the harshness of life for the poorest souls is revealed in uncomfortable detail.For in the late 1700s your circumstance of birth meant everything. Toby and Aaron may both find themselves living at Captain Thomas Coram's Hospital for parentless children, but their histories are as far apart as they could possibly be. Toby has been rescued from a life of slave labour in a faraway country; Aaron is the illegitimate son of the heir to a large country estate. They are watched over by Mish--a simple soul who has been with them since their arrival. His devotion to them is absolute, but his motives are not altogether straightforward. Could this curious man really be Meshak, the son of a wicked child-killer who was hanged at the gallows for his crimes?Coram Boy is a glorious web of changing fortunes and subtle intrigues. There is tragedy and corruption, hope and evil. Sometimes brutal and sometimes unceasingly bleak, the genre of historical fiction has rarely been this good. It's undoubtedly the kind of book that wins awards. (Age 12 and over) --John McLay

One Morning in Maine


Robert McCloskey - 1952
    But when she wakes up to brush her teeth with her baby sister, she discovers something shocking.... Her tooth is loose!And that's just the start of a huge day!

The Submarine Full of Bees


Neil McFarlane - 2015
    Usually stories are about other people but this story is about you. And usually stories are made up but this story is all true. It’s about the amazing adventure you had today with those bees. I know what you’re thinking: you’re thinking: I didn’t have an adventure with any bees today! Oh yes you did! But you can’t remember because that magic flower made you forget. Let me explain ... This story is one of the thirty-one stories that make up the critically acclaimed collection A Month of Bedtime Stories Available exclusively on Amazon for $2.99 (That's 9 cents per story!) Reviews of A Month of Bedtime Stories "A wonderful book well worth adding to any collection" - Book Reviews and Giveaways "I loved each one and never once was ready to put the book down" - Chodi Kid Books "These well-written and fast-paced stories are told with a touch of humor that both the child and the storyteller can enjoy" - Online Book Club Grab a copy today

A Hundred Million Francs


Paul Berna - 1955
    But suddenly the horse becomes the pawn in another game - a deadly race against time between a ruthless gang of train robbers. The stakes are high: A hundred million francs... and the lives of five innocent children!

What Was I Scared Of?


Dr. Seuss - 1997
    Finally, when the two find themselves hiding from each other in a Snide bush, the terrified narrator realizes, "I was just as strange to him as he was strange to me."  This little Seussian gem, plucked from the back of The Sneetches and Other Stories, shines on it own as it delivers a timeless message about fear and tolerance.

Ox-Cart Man


Donald Hall - 1979
    The oxcart man packs his goods - the wool from his sheep, the shawl his wife made, the mittens his daughter knitted, and the linen they wove. He packs the birch brooms his son carved, and even a bag of goose feathers from the barnyard geese.He travels over hills, through valleys, by streams, past farms and villages. At Portsmouth Market he sells his goods, one by one - even his beloved ox. Then, with his pockets full of coins, he wanders through the market, buying provisions for his family, and returns to his home. And the cycle begins again."Like a pastoral symphony translated into picture book format, the stunning combination of text and illustrations recreates the mood of 19-century rural New England."--The Horn Book

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush


Tomie dePaola - 1988
    How this striking plant received its name is told in an old Indian legend.Many years ago, when the People traveled the Plains, a young Indian boy had a Dream-Vision in which it was revealed that one day he would create a painting that was as pure as the colors of the evening sky at sunset. The boy grew up to become the painter of the tribe, but although he found a pure white buckskin for a canvas and made paints from the brightest flowers and the reddest berries, he could not capture the sunset.How the young Indian artist finally fulfills his Dream-Vision is lovingly told and illustrated by Tomie dePaola, in words and pictures that capture the spirit and beauty of this dramatic legend.

The Story of the Root Children


Sibylle von Olfers - 1906
    The root children spend the winter asleep. When spring comes, they wake, sew themselves new gowns, and clean and paint the beetles and bugs. All summer they play in fields, ponds and meadows before returning in the autumn to Mother Earth, who welcomes them home and puts them to bed once more.Also available in a mini version for small hands.(Ages 3-7)

Walkabout


James Vance Marshall - 1959
    Mary and her younger brother Peter set out on foot, lost in the vast, hot Australian outback. They are saved by a chance meeting with an Aboriginal boy on walkabout, who teaches them to find food and water in the wilderness, but whom Mary can’t bring herself to trust. Though on the surface Walkabout is an adventure story, darker themes lie just beneath. Peter’s innocent friendship with the Aboriginal throws into relief Mary’s no longer childish anxiety, and together raise questions about how Aboriginal and Western culture can meet. And in the vivid descriptions of the natural world, we realize that this story—a deep fairy tale in the spirit of Adalbert Stifter’s Rock Crystal—must also be a story about the closeness of death and the power of nature.

Clifford the Big Red Dog


Norman Bridwell - 1963
    Emily Elizabeth describes the activities she enjoys with her very big red dog and how they take care of each other.

The Little Grey Men


B.B. - 1942
    But when one of them decides to go and explore and doesn't return, it's up to the remaining three to build a boat and set out to find him. This is the story of the gnomes' epic journey in search of Cloudberry and is set against the background of the English countryside, beginning in spring, continuing through summer, and concluding in autumn, when the first frosts are starting to arrive. First published in 1942, this book is still fondly remembered and well-loved by readers everywhere.This edition includes the original black and white illustrations by the author.

The 18th Emergency


Betsy Byars - 1973
    When the toughest boy in school swears to kill him, twelve year-old Mouse finds little help from friends and must prepare for this emergency alone.

The Family from One End Street


Eve Garnett - 1937
    The father is a dustman and the mother a washerwoman, but because they are poor the children find even greater opportunities for adventure in their ordinary lives.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel


Virginia Lee Burton - 1938
    Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers -- the very symbol of industrial America. But with progress come new machines, and soon the inseparable duo are out of work. Mike believes that Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as one hundred men can dig in a week, and the two have one last chance to prove it and save Mary Anne from the scrap heap. What happens next in the small town of Popperville is a testament to their friendship, and to old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity.