Book Week is just around the corner, and with this year's theme of 'Symphony of Stories', we've put together a list of children's books with rhythm, rhyme, movement or poetic verse!
PICTURE BOOKS
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Gymnastica Fantastica!
Gymnastica Fantastica! is a joyful and exuberant picture book about a child discovering and attempting new physical skills and putting on wonderfully imperfect shows for whoever will watch them.
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Giraffes Can't Dance
Gerald the giraffe longs to go to the great Jungle Dance, but how can he join in when he doesn't know how to tango or two-step? Everyone knows that giraffes can't dance ... or can they? A funny, touching and triumphant story about being yourself and finding your own tune.
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Up, Down, Over, Through
A simple and engaging picture book set over a morning in a playground where two young children spontaneously meet and play together. As they do, they explore spatial concepts - up, down, over, through!
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The Big-Time Boogie-Woogie Animal Band
When a music-loving dog meets a fox with a fiddle, they decide to start a BOOGIE-WOOGIE ANIMAL BAND! Count and jiggle along with this toe-tapping rhyming celebration of music and rhythm.
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The Diddle That Dummed
Flinty Bo Diddle is writing a tune for his fiddle. All his diddles have lined up nicely - except for one who keeps going DUM, right in the middle! A musical story full of hilarious word play and silliness that will have you in fits of giggles!
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Mulga's Magical Musical Creatures
Mulga's Magical Musical Creatures is a rhyming picture book for children that answers the question where does music come from? This fun and colourful story will delight readers of all ages with its fantastically quirky creatures.
JUNIOR FICTION
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The Hidden Story of Estie Noor
No one wanted to hear Estie's side of the story. Now she's on a mission to make sure the truth is heard . . . A page-turning mystery novel in verse about identity, friendship and learning to use your voice.
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The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them)
A page-turning verse novel about memory and identity, and a bond that soars above all else.
YOUNG ADULT
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Once Upon Tomorrow
Three girls. Three fates. Three interwoven stories. Spanning a hundred years from the present to the future, three girls on the cusp of life search for truth and connection amid family dysfunction, climate change and the march of new technology in this exquisite verse novel.
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Drift
A beautifully written verse novel that will resonate with younger teen readers who are beginning to understand themselves and the changing world they live in.
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Grace Notes
Grace Notes is a debut YA verse novel, set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world - Melbourne, 2020. For fans of Cath Crowley and Pip Harry.
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The Foal in the Wire
An astonishingly raw and beautiful verse novel about survival, love and the bonds between humans and animals from an important young Australian poet.
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I Can't Even Think Straight
Big decisions and messy relationships. It's all part of life for Kai. A must-read queer coming of age story written in verse by Stonewall-Award-winning, Carnegie-shortlisted author Dean Atta.
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