Felicity Bradshaw (Text), and Norma MacDonald (illustrator), The Great Lizard Trek, CSIRO Publishing, August 2018, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781486308828 The climate is changing. It is too hot for the lizards of the north so they must relocate; find a new home further south on the granite rocks of south-west Australia where they hope it may be cooler, a place where their eggs can hatch and youngsters survive. So, The Great Lizard Trek begins; first with the lizards who are joined by the dragons, then the geckos come along followed by the goannas – encouraged by the crow, nature’s…
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John Flanagan, The Red Fox Clan (The Royal Ranger #2), Random House Australia, July 2018, 384 pp., RRP $18.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780143785903 The Red Fox Clan is Book 2 in the Rangers Apprentice : Royal Ranger series; one of the four series of books John Flanagan writes for primary aged children who highly anticipate the arrival of ‘the next book’. The Red Fox Clan is a journey about life as much as a physical journey through the provinces of Araluen, Picta and Celtica. Maddie is royalty, a role that doesn’t inspire her with its inherent restrictions and expectations. However, Maddie…
Nicola MORGAN, The Teenage Guide to Life Online, Walker Books, August 2018, 190 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406377903 This fairly densely printed book with a thorough index at the back might seem an odd response to the internet. If teenagers do want to reflect upon their online life or learn more about its context, history, opportunities and dangers, wouldn’t an online site with plenty of hypertext links be the way to get to them? Besides, this scene is so fast-moving that wouldn’t a more fluid form of information be able to respond to needed updates? Nevertheless, this book retains and preserves…
Caroline Paul, (text), and Lauren Tamaki, (illustrator), You are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World, Bloomsbury Publishing, July 2018, 114 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 97816811198224 This book is based on the reasonable idea that kids have the power to change the world. It is a how-to manual on being an activist. So what needs changing? Well, you need only ask a six-year-old if it seems okay that each of us throws away about 85 kgs of plastic a year — much of it ending in the ocean. Three year olds are becoming vegans when they discover the mass slaughter of…
Robert Muchmore, Killer T, Hot Key Books, August 29th 2018, 461 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781471407505 Robert Muchamore’s new novel is set in the near future, in a Las Vegas of tech and science savvy youngsters riding waves of opportunity in a world where almost anyone can be a journalist, where personal gene modifications have become as common as nutrient supplements in health shops, and where school is much less fun than making a few hundred thousand dollars selling photos or stories on news sites, or selling new genes to teenagers who need to be rid of their pimples, their pale…
Patrick Ness (text), and Rovina Cai (illustrator), And the Ocean was our Sky, Walker Books, September 2018, 160 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781406383560 “Call me Bathsheba.” The Whales of Bathsheba’s pod live for the hunt. Led by the formidable Captain Alexandra, they fight a never-ending war against men. So it has been, so it shall always be. Then the whales attack a man ship, and instead of easy prey they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself. With their relentless Captain leading the chase, they embark on the final hunt, one that will forever change…
Christelle Dabos, A Winter’s Promise (The Mirror Visitor #1), Text Publishing Co., October 2018, 496 pp., RRP $22.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925603828 Ophelia possesses two special gifts: the ability to read the pasts of objects and to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful existence on the ark of Anima is interrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a member of a powerful clan from a distant ark, the cold and icy Pole. Ophelia must follow her fiancé to the floating city of Citaceleste, where nobody can be trusted. In the company of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia realises she is a…
Stephanie Burgis, The Girl with the Dragon Heart, Bloomsbury Publishing, August 2018, 240 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408880777 Silke has a gift for words – for talking herself out of trouble. Or into it. And now she’s in big trouble. She has one chance to save her lost parents from the fairies who stole them away. One chance to finally find a place to call home. But will her words fail her when it counts the most? The Girl With the Dragon Heart is an adventure story for anyone who loves fairy tales. You name it, this book has got…
Carole Wilkinson, Inheritance, Walker Books Australia, September 2018, 240 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760650360 Inheritance was not a comfortable book to read, but it was a significant and thought-provoking one. It deals with the massacre of the Djargurd balug people, and the impact of our darker history, and Carole Wilkinson extends special thanks and acknowledgement to the Elders who read and edited drafts of the book. I was reminded of books that I read in early high school like I Am David, and Goodnight Mister Tom. Well-written and intense, Inheritance will probably become a classroom text of note in the…
Dave Leys (text), and Shane Ogilvie (illustrator), The Institute of Fantastical Inventions, Harbour Publishing, July 2018, 256 pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922134936 The Institute of Fantastical Inventions, or IFI, aim to make your dreams and wishes come true, no matter how bizarre or impossible they seem. Do you dream of floating through the air and bursting like a bubble? IFI have the scientists to make that happen. Do you long for an extra leg? Not a problem. Leo McGuffin is hard at work coming up with ways to make the forgettable Roger Mumble into an irresistible Man of Mystery, but in the…