Jane Smith, The Horse Thief (Tommy Bell Bushranger Boy #2), Big Sky Publishing, 1 Jan 2017, 100pp., $12.50 (pbk) ISBN 9781925520064 The Horse Thief is the latest in Jane Smith’s exciting series about Tommy Bell’s time travel adventures to the Australian Gold Rush period. Last time, he met Captain Thunderbolt. This time he meets the notorious horse thief Frank Gardiner – a charming, but very dangerous fellow – one that needs careful handling. Tommy is sent to face Mr Gardiner, each time he wears his cabbage-tree hat (this is the type of hat that bushrangers wear), either of his own…
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Helen Martin (text), Judith Simpson (text), Cheryl Orsini (illus.), The ABC Book of Places to Go, ABC Books/HarperCollins Australia, 23 Jan 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9780733334283 Richard Scarry meets play school in this latest offering in the ABC Kids Book Of series. This book gently explores the adventures that can be had in the world – from playing in the backyard to going to the shops or the doctor or even wider afield like visiting the airport, the zoo and the snow. The book starts and ends with home and the refrain: ‘So many different places- some you know and some are…
Allison Paterson (text), Shane McGrath (illus.), Shearing Time, Big Sky Publishing, 1 March 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781925520088 This is a gentle, educational picture book about a farm girl’s experience of the shearing season. City kids would probably enjoy this insight into rural life; particularly the opportunity to go zooming around paddocks chasing sheep on a motorbike. There is a sense of generational history in the book. The young girl narrator tells us that the dogs know how to round up the sheep because Grandpa trained them so well. There’s also an image of the shearing team of the…
Michael Adams, Wipeout (The Seven Signs #3), Scholastic Australia, Feb 2017, 192pp., $14.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781743628034 I reviewed the first book in this series, Skyfire, and like the first, this book is high action all the way, as the seven teenaged DARE winners race to decipher clues that could save the world from another unknown but potentially deadly threat thrown at them by the evil Signmaker. Having access to the Infinity corporation’s private fleet of super-sonic ‘SpaceSkimmers’ and car drivers, the teenagers are transported around the globe, tracking down clues and seeking out people who can help them unravel the Signmaker’s…
Shane Hegarty, Darkmouth (Darkmouth #1), HarperCollins Australia, 1 Feb 2017, 416pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780007545612 Shane Hegarty, Worlds Explode (Darkmouth #2), HarperCollins Australia, 1 Feb 2017, 464pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780007545674 In a forgotten corner of Ireland lies the town of Darkmouth, a town where for centuries the citizens have been plagued by the invading hordes of mythical creatures – known as Legends – that wander through magic portals and wreak havoc upon the frightened townsfolk. For generations, these Legends have been fought back by the famed Legend Hunters, trained since birth to track down and eradicate the monstrous scourge from the…
Marcus Emerson, Terror at the Talent Show (Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja #5), Allen & Unwin, Feb 2017, 240pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760295592 Marcus Emerson, Buchanan Bandits (Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja #6), Allen & Unwin, Feb 2017, 256pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760295608 U.S. based author Marcus Emerson keeps the hi-jinks and humour rolling in Terror at the Talent Show, the fifth offering in the ten book series Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja. Chase Cooper, ninja-obsessed boy detective, with a wild imagination and some killer ninja moves, is the likeable star of this action thriller series. In Terror at…
Katherine Webber, Wing Jones, Walker Books Australia, 1 March 2017, 384pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781406369090 Wing Jones is a coming of age story featuring 16-year-old Wing who is trying to reconfigure her life after an incident rocks her family and changes everything she thought was true. With her Chinese and Ghanaian heritage Wing’s looks and background have always been unique and she has never quite fit in, not like her brother Marcus — talented quarterback, loving boyfriend and Wing’s hero. But then Wing discovers her talent for running and it opens a world of new possibilities and responsibilities leaving Wing to…
Cate Whittle (text), Stephen Michael King (illus.), Trouble and the New Kid (Trouble #3), Scholastic Australia, Feb 2017, 96pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781742990781 Georgia has been asked to help out the new kid in her school, Nina. Although Georgia isn’t really used to the role of welcoming committee, she welcomes the new kid anyway. Nina isn’t like any of the other kids at school. She is meticulous, arranges her pencils and things in a specific way, arranges her fruits before eating them, and doesn’t really like make-believe stories, preferring biographies instead. So when Georgia tries to tell Nina about Trouble, the…
Dav Pilkey, Dog Man Unleashed (Dog Man #2), Scholastic Australia, Jan 2017, 244pp., $15.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9780545935203 Dog Man continues his heroism in Dog Man Unleashed while also managing to annoy his workmates and the owner of his favourite pet store. What starts of as a simple trip to the pet store to buy a fish to give to the Chief as a birthday present ends up becoming a big problem for everyone. The fish ends up eating something that makes it super clever and sinister. It finds a way to disguise itself while causing trouble everywhere. Dog Man faces multiple enemies…
Corinne Fenton (text), Owen Swan (illus.), My Friend Tertius, Allen & Unwin, March 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760113827 Friendship comes in many forms and, as this delightful book makes clear, a friend does not have to be human! This is based on a true story of the bond between Arthur Cooper, a man working in the British Intelligence Service in Hong Kong just before World War II and Tertius, a gibbon he rescued as a baby from a seller of exotic animals. Tertius becomes Cooper’s constant and loyal companion and travels with him to Singapore. Just ahead of the fall…