Kerry Brown (text), Lucia Masciullo (illus.), The Hole. ABC Books/HarperCollins Australia, 23 April 2018, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9780733335235 When an unnamed squirrel, on her way to visit “Vera, her cousin from the West”, finds a large hole in the ground, she has to investigate. However as she hangs from the edge, she cannot feel the bottom and is sure the monster that lives there will soon eat her. Calling for help she attracts an ostrich who is “off to visit Douglas, his brother from the East”. He too becomes stuck, and his calls for help attract three monkeys. Hanging…
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Clare Strahan, The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge, Allen & Unwin, 24 April 2018, 304pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760296797 Fifteen-year-old Vanessa Partridge, gifted cello player, is on her way with her family to their beach side mansion, Shearwater. Named after the birds nesting nearby, this has been their summer home for years. However this year it is very different, with her parents divorced, her father remarried and her mother overseas and out of contact. Her brother’s best friend Darith is with them and Vanessa is secretly in love with him. Vanessa’s best friend Kelsey and her family run the local…
Samantha Wheeler, Turtle Trackers, University of Queensland Press, 27 Feb 2018, 192pp., $14.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9780702259951 The main character in Turtle Trackers is 10-year-old Isaac, who seems to have more than his fair share of worries. Since his dad passed away tragically, he must help his mum run a caravan park on the Queensland coast. Things get even more difficult for Isaac when a cantankerous travel journalist, Mr Eastwood, comes to stay at the park. He writes for a caravanning blog and a bad review could be disastrous for the caravan park and Isaac’s mum. Unfortunately, despite Isaac’s efforts to impress…
Nikki Grimes, Planet Middle School, Bloomsbury, 1 March 2018, 160pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781619630123 Planet Middle School contains short poems of prose which capture 12 year old Joylin’s musings about her life changes and new experiences of adolescence. Award winning US author, Nikki Grimes, brilliantly portrays the awkwardness, uncertainties and sometimes painful experiences of adolescence, with humour and sensitivity. Each short poem is similar to a diary entry written in Joylin’s voice. Through the poetry Grimes has concisely created a complex, wholistic main character who grows and develops. Joylin describes herself as a tomboy with a talent for basketball – an…
Naomi Hunter (text), Sunshine (illus.), Marshmallow Dreamers, Empowering Resources, 1 Dec 2017, 36pp., $17.00 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925592122 Marshmallow Dreamers is a story about Marli and Max, identical twins, who by day enjoyed imaginary adventures on their make-believe unicorns. But by night they were plagued by scary dreams – “Dreams that made them quiver and shake all night.” Finally, they hatch a plan to harness the power of their unicorns and with a supply of marshmallows they conquer the scary monster of their bad dreams. The text is rich in descriptive metaphors and imagery e.g. “Swirling and swerving to miss the fiery lines…..” …
NoNieqa Ramos, The Disturbed Girls Dictionary, Walker Books Australia, 1 April 2018, 344pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781512439762 Macy Cashmere has it tough. Her Dad is in prison, her brother has been claimed by social services and her mother has no time for her as she entertains a constantly changing cast of ‘guests’ in her bedroom. Macy has been classified as emotionally disturbed at school and her best friend and role model Alma, who seems to be the only light in her life, is now no longer talking to her. The Disturbed Girls Dictionary is not a light-hearted banter-fest like some young adult…
Michael Panckridge, Over the Wall (Legends #5), Ford Street, 1 March 2018, 138pp., $14.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925272925 Michael Panckridge, On the Buzzer (Legends #6), Ford Street, 1 March 2018, 138pp., $14.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925272932 Over the Wall and On the Buzzer are books five and six in Michael Panckridge’s Legend Series of Aussie sports books. The series is made up of eight titles and with each book covering a different sport. Over the Wall focuses on soccer while On the Buzzer is all about basketball. The books follow the trials and tribulations of Mitchell Grady, a grade six student at Sandhurst school as he competes in regular sporting contests to…
Bobbie Peers (text), Tara F. Chace (English translation), William Wenton and the Secret Portal (William Wenton #2), Walker Books Australia. 1 May 2018, 224pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406371710 Rich in clever twists, ancient mysteries and the technological gadgetry of a futuristic world William Wenton and the Secret Portal will have you wavering between finding out what is on the other side of the portal and saving the world. The greatest codebreaker of all time, 12 year old William Wenton, suffers a mysterious seizure on live TV, so the Institute for Post-Human Research take him back under their protection to test…
Fiona Bell, Waterhole, University of Queensland Press, 2 April 2018, 296pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9780702259999 Ever since sixteen year-old Sunny Maguire’s mother died in a car accident, Sunny has been feeling lost and alone. She dreads the idea of spending the long summer with her distant stepfather, the person she blames for her mother’s death. But Kevin is the only family she has left, and she has nowhere else to go. When Sunny learns that a local teenage boy has disappeared, she joins the search along the gorge and at the waterhole – a beautiful pool tainted by a suspicious number…
Marcus Emerson, The Super Life of Ben Braver (Ben Braver #1), Allen & Unwin, March 2018, 320pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760631680 Ben Braver is an ordinary kid living an ordinary life… until he’s chosen to go to a secret academy for kids with superpowers! This is Ben’s chance to be special – once his superpowers kick in, of course… When he discovers the bully from his old school is at the academy too, things go from bad to worse. Ben is so busy trying to bring his powers out he doesn’t notice the strange infection spreading through the school, turning kids…