Hilary Rogers, Girltopia, Scholastic Australia, September 2018, 192 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781742994581 Girltopia chronicles’tween Clara’s reaction to her parents’ separation, her relationships with friends and frenemies, and also her quest to work out the mystery of the virus that has suddenly struck down all males in society! This title is firmly aimed at the pre-teen female market, and as I’ve been out of the pre-teen fiction target audience for a while I called in an expert to help with this review: my cousin Bridie, aged 13. Bridie liked Girltopia, but felt that too much happened in the first few…
Author: Admin
Anh Do, Splashy Weird! (Weir Do, #11), Scholastic Australia, September 2018, 160 pp., RRP $15.99, ISBN 9781742993751 Fans of the wildly popular Weir Do series will be delighted by this new instalment chronicling Weir’s experience at the Australian institution: the school swimming carnival. Splashy Weird! isn’t about a sporting prodigy or even a sporting devotee – Weir actively schemes to avoid attending, but the classic mysterious rash and other tricks are to no avail. Making the best of it, Weir immerses himself in the Green Team cheer squad. When Weir learns he will receive a point just for participating in a…
Nick Bland, The Unscary Book, Scholastic Australia, September 2018, 24 pp., RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781742994147 Nicholas Ickle is determined to scare you with a variety of scary characters but his book doesn’t quite go to plan…a parade of cute and cheerful things surround him as the book moves along. Written and illustrated by Nick Bland, author The Very Cranky Bear, The Wrong Book, and several other popular picture books, The Unscary Book continues the contrary craziness of the author’s previous work. The illustrations are bright and although more and more elements are added on each page, the overall look is…
Sharon Kernot, The Art of Taxidermy, Text Publishing Company, July 2018, 288 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925603743 This mesmerising verse novel is a delicate examination of grief and loss suffered by a young girl and her family. Lottie’s family are German but have been in Australia for many years. When they are interned during World War 11 there are long lasting consequences. In the stunning opening lines eleven-year-old Lottie falls in love with death. She becomes fascinated by the beauty of dead things, a dead gecko, the shiny wing of a dead crow, a stumpy-tailed lizard and more. This interest in…
Catherine Doyle, The Storm Keeper’s Island, Bloomsbury Publishing, August 2018, 304 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408896884 When Fionn Boyle and his sister Tara are sent to Arranmore Island to stay with their grandfather, Fionn discovers that there is more to his grandfather, and to the island, than meets the eye. He knows that his father died here, before Fionn was even born, and that his mother can’t bear to set foot on the island. But he soon learns that there is a magic to the island, that there is a centuries-old rivalry buried beneath the island, and that his grandfather…
Sarah J Maas, Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons Series), Penguin Books, August 2018, 384 pp., RRP $18.99 ISBN 9780141386898 This is the third book of a new series called DC Icons, published by Penguin in the UK and written by established and bestselling authors. Catwoman Soulstealer, written by Sarah J Maas, follows the journey of Selina Kyle and her transformation into the iconic Catwoman. As an undefeated fighter for the Leopards, owned by Carmine Falcone, Selina is recruited by the League of Assassins in exchange for a promise of a stable, caring home for her sick sister Maggie. Selina is whisked away…
Samantha Wheeler, author of many stories for young people, has written a piece for us about her latest release, Everything I’ve Never Said sharing insights into the issues of writing something so deeply personal. Thanks for your generous thoughts. I always imagined I’d grow up to be a marine biologist. Or a zoologist. Have six kids, a loving husband and a home brimming with flowers and pets. But life doesn’t always end up how you imagine. I did become a scientist, got married and had two beautiful daughters. But when my youngest, Charlotte, struggled to crawl, babble, or talk, things…
Samantha Wheeler, Everything I’ve Never Said, University of Queensland Press, October 2018, 224 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702260278 This is a personal story, and although it’s from a place of private family business, author Sam Wheeler never descends into melodrama or sentimentality. Main character Ava is based on Sam’s daughter Charlotte who suffers from Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic brain disorder that predominately affects females, resulting in stagnated growth, and a severe impairment of muscle control, speech and movement. The narrative is told through Ava’s point of view, and her inability to communicate with her supportive parents, her sometimes…
Rina Fu, My Mad Scientist Mummy, Little Steps Books, May 2018, 32 pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925545807 Fu has tried to bring her clear love for and knowledge of science into the picture book format with My Mad Scientist Mummy. Her enthusiasm is not however, matched by an equally successful story line, which I found confusing, with plot holes and overly complex language and images. The illustrations are contrastingly bright and muted computer coloured line in spreads that do not always help the story to flow. An exception to this is the page where mum and daughter are marveling at the…
Frances Watts (text), and David Legge (illustrator), It’s a Story, Rory!, ABC Books, July 2018, 32 pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733335938 “It starts with a blank page”, Watts and Legge continue their conversation, (Parsley Rabbit’s Book about Books) exploring what makes a story? Rory the fox and Milly the chicken de-construct their own small adventure into its technical parts – narration, character, setting, action, plot, atmosphere, so that the telling of the tale becomes the book itself. A neat idea that teaches and encourages creative storytelling. The illustrations are computer generated, slick and surreally detailed on some pages, lesser so and…