Bill Bennett, Initiate (Palace of Fires #1), Penguin Australia, 29 Jan 2018, 377pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780143783794 Lily Lennox lives an unsettled life with her flighty mother. Since her father died in a car accident, Lily and Angela have moved from place to place, often because of Angela’s ‘bad feelings’. Lily has adapted to the lonely, nomadic lifestyle, and knows how it feels to always be the one who doesn’t fit in. When Angela is kidnapped by three bikers, Lily goes to her Uncle Freddie who tells her the truth behind her mother’s odd behaviour and her father’s death. Lily is the latest in…
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John Field (text), Tull Suwannakit (illus.), Stanley’s Playing the Trumpet, Scholastic Australia, 1 Nov 2017, 24pp., $19.99 (hbk + CD), ISBN: 9781743815892 Stanley’s Playing the Trumpet is a funny story about a determined rhinoceros, Stanley, who is certain a little practice can make perfect. Stanley wants to be in the band. He has a trumpet and he is going to practice until he gets it right. Unfortunately for Stanley’s family, his neighbours and anything within a kilometre that has ears, Stanley’s trumpet playing is atrocious. Stanley’s ignorant enthusiasm makes for a humorous tale. Young children will enjoy replicating the bleurts, bwaahs and…
Mary McCaffrey (text), Grace Chen (illus.), Jelly and the Leaf, Little Steps, 1 August 2017, 32pp., $24.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9781925545517 The day has come for Jelly, the tiny bird, to learn to fly. His brothers and sisters zoom out of the nest but not Jelly. He’s too afraid. Despite his mother’s best attempts, Jelly refuses to jump. Woo the Wise Old Owl listens to Jelly’s concerns and offers some advice. Jelly learns to relax and listen to hear the solution to his dilemma. Before long he has found the confidence to take the leap. Jelly and the Leaf is a sweet…
Hayley Barker, Show Stopper, Scholastic Australia, 1 Oct 2017, 400pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781407179674 In a dystopian London in the not-too-distant future, society is divided into Dregs and Pures. Ben is the son of a prominent Pure politician. His life is one of privilege. Hoshiko is a tightrope walker in the deadliest circus on Earth. Like the other starving, worthless Dreg children who are sometimes stolen, sometimes sold to the circus in exchange for food, Hoshiko has one purpose in life – to be entertainment for Pures. When Hoshiko is almost killed during a performance, Ben makes a spilt-second decision to…
Reviewer Fiona shares her picks for 2017… YA Contemporary Because of You – Pip Harry A poignant and important story, this book challenged and changed my perceptions. The Start of Me and You – Emery Lord I devoured this delightful story in a day. It left me happy and inspired. YA Fantasy The Princess Bride – William Goldman Miss Six and I read this together and it was wonderful. We both adored this rollicking tale of bumbling heroes. Flame in the Mist – Renee Ahdieh A gorgeous tale set in ancient…
Lorraine Teece (text), Paul Seden (illus.), Molly the Pirate, Magabala Books, Nov 2017, 32pp., $17.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925360660 Molly the Pirate is the story of a little girl who transcends her ordinary home environment to enter an imagined world as a pirate. Molly is illustrated as a feisty tomboy in a rural red earthed setting. She imagines sailing out to sea and taking on the pirate buccaneers who are depicted with the faces of the chickens and turkeys of her home environment. Seden’s lively illustrations portray the energy and humour of Molly’s imagined antics. She walks the plank, does back flips,…
Nova Weetman, The Secrets We Share, University of Qld Press, 30 Oct 2017, 240pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9780702259784 The Secrets We Share is the sequel to The Secrets We Keep which was on the 2017 CBCA Younger Reader Book of the Year Notable List. This second book re-introduces the reader to Clem, a 12 year old with more than her fair share of worries. Some of her concerns are typical for her age. She is nervous about starting high school and to make matters worse she feels jealous and left out after noticing the blossoming friendship between her two best friends. When…
Dr. Ramesh Sivabalan, (text), Sabu Sarasan (illus.), The Human Race series, Episodes 1 – 8, Race For Life, Langdon Turns Yellow,Chewnai Baking, How Lazy got his Name, Emergency Response, I’m Always Sad, Candy Town and Fizzy Springs,Keeping Hip Hop Clean, Balboa Press, June 2017, 24pp., $26.99 ea, pp. ISBN: Book 1 – 9781504309059 Fascination with the human body begins at an early age; using song and rhyme, fact and fiction with a little bit of ‘gross’ thrown in. Writers and illustrators continue to explore new and interesting ways to encourage young children to learn about their bodies. Inspired by his own…
Aaron Blabey, Alien vs Bad Guys (The Bad Guys #6, Scholastic Australia, 1 Oct 2017, 144pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760279486 What can a wolf, a shark, a piranha, a spider and a snake do when they find themselves in outer space being chased by an alien called Marmalade? Of course they can do what any bad guys turned good guys who plan to save the world would do, get the hell out of there. In Blabey’s most recent Bad Guys episode the usual gang find themselves confronted by a terrifying alien with way too many eyes and bums. They must…
Kristen Ciccarelli, The Last Namsara (Iskari #1), Hachette Australia, 3 Oct 2017, 304pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781473218130 Destroyer. Death-bringer. Dragon-slayer. I am more weapon than girl. Asha is a dragon-slayer, killing to atone for a wicked deed in her past. She is also the daughter of the king of Firgaard, of noble blood and betrothed to a cruel commandant in her father’s military. To fulfil her destiny she must embark on the greatest hunt of her life, or be forever enslaved. But what she finds in the wilds of the Rift is much more deadly than dragons… Straight up, I loved…