The Magic Hat by Mem Fox

True to Mem Fox style, quirky and with repeated rhymes designed to get your child to read, this picture book is the full package. It is a funny, dynamic read-aloud book which both entertains and allows for prediction from page to page. The illustrations by Tricia Tusa brings to life both the magic and the unpredictable nature of the marauding hat which flies into town out of the blue. It adorns a toad, a baboon, a kangaroo, a bear and then suddenly its wizardly owner appears...This book is now part of my grandson Archie's collection.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

I bought this hardback edition of Matilda when I was teaching on the west coast of Tasmania at South Queenstown Primary (which no longer exists) and my grade 6 class just loved it. It is an outstanding book by the famous author Roald Dahl who also wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and The Twits which are equally memorable. Its central character is the very intelligent Matilda who can read novels like Great Expectations and multiply fourteen by nineteen in a flash. Unfortunately, she lives with two undesirable parents, a lay-about mum and a dodgy used-cars salesman father who are blind to the fact they have a gifted daughter. In fact they treat her like dirt. At school she has to deal with the Trunchball, who lives up to her name, but luckily finds an ally in her classroom teacher, Miss Honey. There is adventure, magic and violence, the stuff of Dahl novels, and it is hard to put this one down. Students who read this novel can borrow the DVD I have. Here is the trailer for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfJAvIA9aJY

The Wishing Tree by Ruth Crew

If you like the land of Narnia from C.S Lewis , then maybe you will like this little book. However, bear in mind that it is a much more simplistic read... but still enjoyable nevertheless. It is all about Brian and Peggy (brother and sister) and a tag-along cat who find a magical tree in a park near their home. The tree enables them to enter another land. Pure fantasy. Author, Ruth Crew, sadly passed away last year (2010) but she lives on in over thirty books, mostly juvenile fantasy. Want a bit of magic in your life? Then give this book a go. It is now out of print.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

I liked the book more the film only because I feel the characters are not really developed enough in the movie.

The book was originally written in German but was translated into English in 2002. If you like Harry Potter books then you will most likely appreciate the novels by Funke. Running away to Venice seemed like a good idea to Bo and Prosper after their mother's death given that she loved the city so much. Following a difficult journey, they find a place with other homeless children who live in an abandoned theatre. Their leader is the charming, slightly mysterious Scipio, known as the Thief Lord. Like Robin Hood, Scipio robs the rich to provide his poor friends with food and the necessities of life. Scipio usually takes jewels, but he's hired to steal a most unusual item for a pawnbroker's wealthy client, a broken wooden wing. The wing as it turns out is part of a magical carousel that has the power to change children into adults, and adults into children. During this adventure, secrets about the characters and their fantastic world are revealed. I have the DVD if anyone in Bay Unit wants to watch it after reading the novel. Here is preview of the film, the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNgQ75FlzY&feature=related