Chloe Jasmine Harris, Maple the Brave, Walker Books Australia, May 2019, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925381924 This debut picture book from illustrator, now author, Chloe Jasmine Harris, is a sweet, rustic, humble story about a fantastically named girl who overcomes fears to live a life many little girls would dream of. Maple, who is of no certain origin, lives in a cosy, yet modest, treehouse in the forest. She collects fresh water and fruit so there has been no need for her to leave her comfortable dwelling and face her fears. After all, there could be any number of fierce animals making the terrifying…
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Angie Thomas, On the Come Up, Walker Books, February 2019, 448 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406372168 This second novel by writing sensation Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give) is another cracking good story brimming with heart and life in 434 pages of high drama and intense feeling. It is perfectly pitched at its audience. Sixteen-year-old Brianna’s life is the opposite of easy. She lives with her brother and her mum, a recovering drug addict and still misses her dad, a famous rapper in the ‘hood, who was killed in a gang shootout. When her mum loses her job, the…
Norma MacDonald, Lucky and Spike, Magabala Books, February 2019, 32 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781921248177 MacDonald is a painter, sculptor, printer and community artist who is of Yamitji and Nyungar heritage. Her artwork is in collections of Art Gallery of Western Australia and National Gallery of Australia. Much of her work is informed by Australian Aboriginal history. Readers first met Lucky in Spinifex Mouse (2017). Here he is joined by his brother Spike as they leave their burrow early in the evening to forage for the seeds left by the women grinding seeds for flour. A feral cat disturbs…
Celine Kiernan, The Little Grey Girl (The Wild Magic Trilogy, #2), Walker Books, February 2019, 224 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406373929 This is the sequel to Begone The Raggedy Witches where when witches kidnap her dad, Mup is swept up into a different world of magic. The Little Grey Girl is the second instalment in a new trilogy by Irish author Celine Kiernan. The defeated queen, Mup’s grandmother is not dead and is still influencing and creating havoc in a land now ruled by Mup’s mother, Stella. The whole family, Dad, who has no magic at all, Tipper, her…
Sophie Masson. War and Resistance (Australia’s Second World War, #1), Scholastic Australia, March 2019, 240 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781742769219 War and Resistance provides insights into the lives of families during the occupation of France in World War Two. The story is told from the point of two children: Sasha, who helps in the Resistance, and Dieter, who is a member of Hitler Youth, both of whom end up living in the same town in France. I found it very interesting, as my reading about the experiences of family life in World War II were largely set in England…
Jane Godwin (text), and A. Yi (illustrator), Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six, Allen & Unwin, March 2019, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760631864 Ivanhoe Swift (isn’t that a lovely name?) “had heard many songs about the world” and decided that he needed to see it for himself. He packs a map, a hat, a pencil, his kite and a sandwich in his backpack and sets off. His parents are worried that they will not know where he is but he logically replies that he will know where they are! Along the way he meets a new friend, Maisie…
Priscilla Lamont, Hodge Podge Lodge (A Rubbish Story), New Frontier Publishing, December 2018, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925594287 The Pigwigs are a messy family, with loads of rubbish building up in their house. When it all blows away and causes chaos in the nearby forest, they are forced to change their ways. This is a lovely title to introduce young children to the consequences of littering, with various adorable forest creatures affected by the rubbish: “Rat found some plastic packaging that looked just like meringues, so he gobbled them up and got a horrid stomach-ache”; “Squirrel had to…
Coral Vass (text), and Christina Huynh (illustrator), Grandma’s Treasured Shoes, National Library of Australia, March 2019, 36 pp, RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780642279354 This unique picture book was commissioned and published by the National Library of Australia. The illustrations by Christina Huynh are delightful, with a smooth chalk-like finish perfectly complementing the whimsical poem which forms the text. Some lines are off-beat, or form only half-rhymes, which does occasionally detract from the flow of the text, but overall this is a sweet book that provides a pathway to discussing refugees and Australian history in a child-friend way. There is a…
Hiawyn Oram (text) and Gwen Millward (illustrator), Flat Cat, Walker Books Australia, January 2019, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781406371543 Jimi-My-Jim lives at the top of tall building in one of the busiest cities in the world with his mistress Sophie who spoils him rotten, piling all sorts of playthings on him. Sophie thinks he has the perfect life for a cat but Jimi-My-Jim doesn’t agree with her. He isn’t allowed to go outside to play and be part of the interesting world he sees from the window. So, he becomes depressed just like a flat cardboard cut-out cat.…
Gwyneth Rees (text), Becka Moor (illustrator), Super Cats, Bloomsbury Publishing, April 2019, 176 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408894194 Gwyneth Rees’ return to junior fiction is a triumph. Super Cats kicks off a series about Tagg the kitten and his super cat family. Tagg is excited to find out not only that super cats exist, but that he IS a super cat! As there’s only one per litter, this makes Tagg unique, and he’s eager to start having adventures – but when the local hit cats are involved, and maybe a worldwide scientific conspiracy underway, will Tagg’s new super power…