Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (film tie-in), Puffin, 29 Jan 2018, 288pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780241331163 A Wrinkle in Time is the book that has started many readers on the path the fantasy and science fiction. When I read it at around the age of 11, it had a profound impact on me. I’ve re-read it many times since then, and studied it even, and it still holds a special place in my world. I am nervous about the release of the new movie based on this book, because how could any movie possibly do justice to the vision of…
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Allayne L. Webster (text) Amanda S. Clarke (illus.), Sam’s Surfboard Showdown Scholastic Australia, Feb 2018, 96pp., $12.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781742991894 This easy-to-read chapter book focuses on a sporting competition; a relatable topic for middle primary students. Protagonist Sam Sumner is the best at most things at Robe Primary School – he’s the best cricketer, the best Nippers kid, the best mathematician and (according to his own assessment) one of the best-looking boys. But when new kid Finn Hester comes to town, Sam finds himself challenged on all these fronts. When a Nippers competition is announced with the winner receiving a surfboard…
Dave Hackett, Time for School, Daddy, University of Queensland Press, 30 Jan 2018, 32pp., $24.95 (pbk), ISBN:9780702260049 ‘Wake up, Daddy, it’s time for school.’ ‘But I’m tired,’ says Daddy. From the creator of Time for Bed, Daddy comes this wonderful new parody of a family’s morning routine. In Time for School Daddy, we meet a determined young girl trying her very best to convince her beloved daddy to get ready for school. Talented cartoonist and author Dave Hackett, uses this witty role-reversal to tell a delightfully funny tale from a little girl’s point of view as she navigates the fun and…
Shamini Flint (text), Sally Heinrich (illus.), Game Changer! (The Susie K Files #2), Allen & Unwin, 2 Jan 2018, 112pp., $9.99 (pbk) ISBN: 9781760296698 Game Changer! is the second installment of the Susie K Files, a fresh new series from popular author Shamini Flint. Susie K is a clever, introverted child with a truly awesome skill: problem solving! Despite Susie’s academic successes, especially in science, her mother’s unrealistically high expectations are an ongoing challenge for her misfit daughter. ‘You see, Mum was a refugee from Sri Lanka. And because she never had much when she was a child, she just wants…
Belinda Murrell, Kira Dreaming (Pippa’s Island #3), Random House Australia, 2 Jan 2018, 96pp., $14.99 (pbk) ISBN: 9780143783701 Kira Dreaming is the third book in the upbeat Pippa’s Island series by popular author Belinda Murrell. So far in the series, Pippa and her siblings have been uprooted from a seemingly happy family existence in London and moved to a caravan in their grandparents’ back yard on a tropical island just off the coast of Australia. Pippa’s father has moved away to Switzerland for work, a decision neither the children nor Pippa’s mother seem to have really come to terms with. Despite…
Alex Field (text), Owen Swan (illus.), Happily Ever After: The Little Mermaid, New Frontier Publishing, March 2018, 24pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925059816 Of the Sea King’s six daughters, only Ariel finds it difficult being a mermaid and longs for sunshine and flowers. At 15 she visits the surface where she sees a passing ship that is shortly destroyed in a storm. She rescues a drowning prince but as she cannot follow him on land, she exchanges her voice for a pair of legs. No longer able to speak or sing, her chances of marrying her prince vanish – until her…
Chloe Lukasiak, Girl on Pointe: Chloe’s guide to taking on the world, Bloomsbury Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 208pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781408898253 Chloe Lukasiak is the 15 year old retired star of Dance Moms, a reality TV show on pay television. Chloe writes, with a poignant young rawness, of her experiences as an elite dance competitor, and the direction her life has gone since her initial involvement in the program at age nine. She writes frankly of her anxiety, the cyber bullying she has experienced (some of which occurred because of an unusual eye condition), and the important support of her family. The…
Stephanie Owen Reeder, Marvellous Miss May: Queen of the Circus, National Library of Australia Publishing, Feb 2018, 136pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781642279156 A fascinating look at the true life story of one of Australia’s forgotten circus stars, May Zinga, from Bundaberg, who performed with the Wirth Brothers Circus in Australia, and later was a star of Ringlings and Barnum and Baileys Circus in New York. Beautifully designed with a simple primary colour scheme and vintage images on almost every page, this book is packed with facts, images and information about the circus. Many vintage photos of Miss May, as well as…
Matt Cosgrove, Little Stunt Riding Hood (Epic Fail Tales #3), Koala Books/Scholastic Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 128pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781742992501 This is the third book in the Epic Fail Tales series, where traditional fairy tales are re-imagined with new events and images. The book is designed to look as though the original story has had new words pasted over the old ones, which is only the beginning of the graphic excitement of this books. Each page has exciting images of the main characters, Little Stunt Riding Hood and the Big Bad Werewolf, as they battle it out in a stunt riding…
Libby Gleeson, 1918 (Australia’s Great War #5), Scholastic Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 288pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781743622513 1918 is the fifth book in the series Australia’s Great War and covers the final year of World War I through the eyes of Ned, a young Australian stationed in France. The story begins in the middle of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, a decisive conflict in early 1918 that succeeded in stopping the German advance across France and turned the tide of the war. It goes on to tell of Ned’s experiences as an Australian soldier over the remaining months of that year, which are…