The thing about being the mother of a son and the aunt of nephews is that you don't really get to buy books written primarily for girls. And The Billie B Brown series is fairly aimed at girls. I hadn't read any of the Billie books, but was keen to read one before I saw Sally Rippin speak at the Sydney Writer's Festival Children's Festival of Moving Stories recently, especially as I learnt that she is our highest selling female author, and our fourth most read children's author. And I hadn't really heard of her! But of course now that I'm paying attention, I've seen young girls excitedly plucking Billie B Brown books off shelves to buy them.
The Billie B Brown books are perfect for emerging readers. A simple but fun story on 42 pages with large font and illustrations make them very easy to read. Billie B is a bit of a tom boy, her best friend Jack is absent from this story (the second in the series) as Billie B goes to the beach with her parents.
Billie B is good at lots of things. She is good at the monkey bars and good at making cubbies. She is good at soccer and she is good at midnight feasts. But the thing that Billie B is best at is coming up with ideas.
Author Sally Rippin is actually an illustrator as well, but the Billie B Brown books are illustrated by NZ illustrator Aki Fukuoka. There's at least 20 books in the series, and another series featuring Billie for slightly older readers, the Billie B Mysteries.
Teacher's Notes for The Secret Message.
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I've finally read my first Billie B too - can't believe I waited so long!
ReplyDeleteHaving a 6 yr old niece helps though :-)