Nette Hilton

the story centers around the relationship between Jenny and her great-grandmother Violet-Anne who has befriended a lizard named Saffron and a possum called Saffron. When Jenny visits her elderly relative, the two are stunned by the beautiful webs a spider named Sam spins. Each one reminds Violet-Anne of something from her past. When her parents insist that Violet-Anne must move to a nursing home, Jenny brings Sam along, despite her fear of spiders, and he spins one last web for Violet-Anne. show more Filled with poignant moments, the book reminds readers that there will be losses in our lives but there will also be moments and memories to cherish. show less

At the time this was written, when I first read and acquired it, men did not knit, and there was still a division between women's work and men's work. I've decided to pass this on to my husband's youngest grandchild in the hopes that we continue to make progress on these societal limitations. Maybe by the time she's ready to read this herself, she'll interpret the message as one of self-sufficiency for all, gender irrelevant.

Lovely book, fun to read aloud, vibrant timeless artwork.

This is the second book today about Australian animals, and I'm seeing a theme: Australian animals have a difficult time finding their place in the world. Little Platypus is born, inextricably, from an egg among other eggs into a world where nobody is like he is. He wanders here and there, attempting to be a kookaburra and an emu and a wombat, but failing miserably, until he finally comes upon a creature that looks just like him. A lovely story for children and grownups, too.

Suitable for the ages of about 7 and above, “My Silent World” by Nette Hilton and Vincent Agostino is quite unique. The picture book is great on many levels but particularly educationally, as it raises awareness about deaf and people with disabilities. Hence “My Silent World” is about a young, deaf girl who's recently been fitted with a cochlear implant. The book describes the girl's fears associated with this, and her love and contentment with her world of silence. However she is show more confident that she will learn sound too. I must admit that “My Silent World” is a challenging book, as there's a lot to be taken in with the first person, free verse it's written in and the bright, busy, contemporary illustrations, which fill up each page. Therefore a younger reader would certainly need some adult guidance regarding the meaning of the story. The whole presentation of the book is really abstract as the font and color of the text varies throughout. As well as this the colorful, computer generated illustrations are a mixture of silhouettes, shapes, letters and words of the girl's world. In summary "My Silent World" is very symbolic, contain a lot of underlying meaning. show less