The Finn Family Moomintroll books and comic strips are the kind of stories that you are never too young or too old for. The characaters, including Moomintroll, Moominmama and Moominpapa, were created by Finnish writer and artists Tove Jannson. They appear in books and comic strips and are among the world’s most famous stories. Philip Pullman, creator of the Golden Compass (or Northen Lights series if you prefer) says the Moomintroll are among his favourite stories ever.

Recently, the comic strips have been reprinted. But you can also read them free online. Here’s the first panel of a story. See what you think. Do you do Moomin?

Theodore Daniels, or to give him his full name, Theodore Erasmus Romeo Daniels, has a problem.

It’s called high school. Primary school was a breeze. Lots of friends, everyone knew each other, and if you didn’t, well, that was okay. But high school is a whole other thing. Theodore’s best friends all go to a different school. The new crew are not so friendly, but Theodore isn’t making things easy for himself, either.Suddnelly it seems a short step from Theodore to Theodork.

See how Theodore makes out in Year Seven in Theodork by Jessica Green. Can he survive his new school, and can he survive himself? I enjoyed Theodork. It’s pretty funny and it has the ring of truth.

If the scientist and explorer Charles Darwin was still alive he would celebrate his 200th birthday next week. On February 12, in fact. It was Charles Darwin who gave us the theory of evolution, sweeping aside the notion that seven days was enough to create the world. (That was a very nice story, but very poor science!)

Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species explained his theories and obversations, which he developed over many years, travelling to all parts of the world including Australia. Charles Darwin’s life and his discoveries changed the course of history.

If you want to know more about Charles Darwin, a great place to start is Tree of Life by Peter Sis. You can visit Peter’s website, which has a brilliant animated tour of Tree of Life.

The book has been a favourite of mine for a long time, as Sis is one of the world’s best illustrators. You will see that Darwin was very much more than a nerdy guy with a big beard.

(And there are teacher’s notes too.)

Happy birthday, Charles Darwin!