P Crumble (text), Dean Rankine (illus.), A Funny Thing Happened to Simon Sidebottom (Simon Sidebottom #1), Koala Books/Scholastic Australia, May 2018, 192pp., $9.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781743810385 It’s the last day of the school holidays and Simon’s mum is ruining his last day of freedom by taking him shopping for school shoes. Urgh! Simon doesn’t want to go and the reader gets to decide, choose-your-own-adventure-style, whether he stays with his mother or takes off. Either way, the results are ludicrous, with loads of snot and snot bubbles, slime monsters, a farting elephant, a mega wedgie and a cranky cat. There are…
Author: Admin
Aviva Reed, Eon: The Story of the Fossils, Oekologie Studio, Dec 2017, 35pp., $35.00 (hbk), ISBN: 9780646978376 Eon is a distinctively different picture book combining concepts from science, poetic text, imaginative storytelling and beautiful artwork. The story essentially describes the evolution of the earth (not just fossils, despite the title) from 5 billion years ago to now. Beginning with the creation of the earth from Stardust, readers follow the forging of our planet’s atmosphere, seas and land masses, the subsequent varied life forms that have come and gone over time, ice ages and mass extinctions. Through it all, readers become…
Anna Pignataro, It’s Hard to Love a Tiger, Scholastic Australia, June 2018, 24pp., $16.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781743817582 This delightful rhyming picture book for children 3+ describes a series of imaginative scenarios explaining why it’s hard to love a tiger… It’s hard to love a tiger/in the ballet class you do/especially when he gallops in your fluffy pink tutu. Be it at a soccer match, tea party or pastry shop, author/illustrator Anna Pignataro’s playfully imaginative story will have readers falling in love with this troublesome but good-natured tiger. Cheery illustrations of the young girl/narrator and her friendly feline companion are heart-warming and…
Pat Simmons (text), Vicky Pratt (illus.), Ziggy’s Zoo, Little Pink Dog Books, 1 May 2018, 32pp., $24.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9780994626905 This lovely rhyming picture book follows Ziggy as she collects an interesting assortment of creatures from her back yard to create her very own zoo. Young readers count up with Ziggy as she completes exhibits one through ten. In doing so, they meet common garden minibeasts, including slugs, worms, millipedes, beetles and snails. They will also enjoy Ziggy’s more imaginative exhibits – a teddy bear and Ziggy’s pet dog dressed up as a dinosaur. In a fun twist at the end,…
James Dashner, Blade of Shattered Hope (The 13th Reality #3), Scholastic Australia, August 2018, 416pp., $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 97817742998381 Jumping into an author’s imagined world at Book 3 of a series isn’t an ideal beginning for all readers. However, in this book, that disconcerted feeling that you get when you need to refer to the glossary to understand something, puts you right alongside the characters who are similarly grappling with understanding their own strange universe. Blade of Shattered Hope, Book 3 in James Dashner’s The 13th Reality series, propels you into Dashner’s richly complex multiverse. Relevant events in the previous…
Leslie Patricelli, Best Buds Under Frogs (The Rizzlerunk Club #1), Candlewick Press/Walker Books Australia, 1 May 2018, 288pp., $19.99 (hbk) ISBN 9780763651046 Lily is nervous about starting school, but that queasy feeling in her tummy isn’t just nerves. On her first day, she vomits in front of all her new classmates. She is mortified. And worried no-one will want to be friends with her. Despite the opening vomit scene, this really is a lovely story that will resonate with young readers. It’s recommended for ages 7-10 and I reckon that’s about right. Friendships seem to become more complicated somewhere around…
Sophie Masson (text), Kathy Creamer (illus.), See Monkey, Little Pink Dog Books, 1 May 2018, 32pp., $24.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9780994626981 This story captures the essence of toddlerhood. From the moment eyes open antics ensue with toddler and his favourite toy Monkey playing, eating, dancing, and mischief making their way throughout the day. All before heading back to the comfort of bed before beginning their adventures together again tomorrow. I can definitely relate to the chaos of toddler and Monkey’s day. Having boys of my own I understand the pandemonium which surrounds their days as they investigate, play, learn and explore their…
Heath McKenzie, Zoo House, Scholastic Australia, June 2018, 32pp., $16.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781742767628 Heath McKenzie takes us on a journey with Oscar and his family as they wake to find their house is a zoo! What will they do? The bright and cartoonish illustrations portray a sense of chaos, craziness and confusion. Animals with big eyes, extreme reactions and expressions, along with the use of varied font types and sizes; McKenzie creates a sense of hysteria while moving through the pages. This story is sure to make young children giggle; my boys found the baboon bottoms and gorillas on the toilet…
Fleur Ferris, Found, Random House Australia, 2 July 2018, 288pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780143784326 What if everything you thought you knew – your name, who your parents were, your place of birth – was not the case? In one action packed 24-hour period, Beth Miller’s life is turned upside down, when her family’s secret past comes racing back to seek revenge. As a small-town girl growing up in rural Australia, Beth lives a comfortable life with her mother and overprotective father. Unbeknownst to her, her family is not who they seem. Now, triggered by an Instagram photo, they have been found, and it…
James Moloney, The Love That I Have, HarperCollins Australia, 21 May 2018, 304pp., $27.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781460754634 This adult novel is perfectly suitable for older readers and would be an ideal study for it is rich in relevant themes, is sensitively written and has a carefully structured plot that maintains interest and suspense to the last page. It is 1944 and Margot Baumann loves her brother, the long summer holidays and Adolf Hitler. At sixteen, living with her parents and sister in Oranienburg near Berlin she is naïve, idealistic, and ignorant of the brutalities of war. That all changes when she…