Philip Bunting, Sandcastle, Allen & Unwin, March 2018, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760295387 From the moment you pick up this book by author/illustrator Philip Bunting, the feel of its textured cover and embossed text let you know you’re in for a treat. On one level, Sandcastle is a very simple story about Rae and Grandad building a sandcastle at the beach. Together, they build a very impressive structure. However, when the tide comes in the sandcastle is washed away. Rae is naturally disappointed, but Grandpa’s wise guidance leads Rae to a couple of important life lessons. By independently building a new…
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Claire Saxby (text), Tannya Harricks (illus.), Dingo (Nature Storybooks), Walker Books Australia, 1 April 2018, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781925381283 What a wonderful new addition to Walker Books’ award-winning Nature Storybooks series! Dingo’s faultless text, stunning illustrations and clever design all play their part to create a beautiful narrative non-fiction nature book that may well become a classic. Consistent with other books in the series, author Claire Saxby’s text features two layers. The first is a lyrical narrative about a mother dingo’s hunt to support her five nine-week-old pups. The second presents facts in an expository writing style, about the life…
Michael Morpurgo (text), Michael Foreman (illus.), Lucky Button, Walker Books Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 176pp., $19.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781406371680 Lucky Button, by master storyteller Michael Morphugo, introduces us to young Jonah, who spends his nights caring for his ailing mother and his days attending an English high school. Jonah is lonely and sad and the obstacles to his happiness seem unsurmountable. He finds solace in music and when he is cast as Piggy in a musical version of Lord of the Flies, he embraces the role. However, the kids playing bullies in the musical are also bullies in real life, and things…
Elizabeth Eulberg (text), Matt Robertson (illus.), The Great Shelby Holmes Meets Her Match (Shelby Holmes #2), Bloomsbury Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 256pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781408871492 This second instalment in the Shelby Holmes series by bestselling author Elizabeth Eulberg is a fun middle grade read with lots of heart and a feminist twist. The story tracks the adventures of case-solving sleuth Shelby Holmes and her sidekick John Watson. At the New York School of Arts, nine-year old Shelby is so eccentric and rude that she is shunned by the other students. Shelby, like her namesake, has a complete disregard for the pleasantries…
Pat Clarke (text), Graeme Compton (illus.), Elvira and the Triplets, Little Steps Books, 1 Dec 2017, 85pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781925545616 Elvira and the Triplets is the latest book in an Australian Bush series by author Pat Clarke. Beautifully presented in large, hardback format, the story is set in the Aussie bush around Dubbo. In this book we welcome the return of some characters from Pat’s previous stories, including Wally the White Cockatoo and Pookie the Pilliga Mouse, as well as Elvira herself. When Elvira’s mate Byron goes missing, Elvira the wedge-tailed eagle wants to go looking for him, but with…
Christian O’Connell (text), Rob Biddulph (illus.), Radio Boy and the Revenge of Grandad (Radio Boy #2), HarperCollins Australia, 11 Jan 2018, 368pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780008200596 The second in the Radio Boy series by Christian O’Connell, Radio Boy and the Revenge of Grandad is a unique, funny, action-packed read that this sure to entertain. Radio Boy – Spike Hughes, is the star of his own radio show, broadcast from his garden shed with the help of his best friends, music guru Artie and producer Holly. When Spike invites his Grandad Ray, fame seeker and failed cruise-ship singer, onto the show, the…
Polly Dunbar, A Lion is a Lion, Walker Books Australia, 1 Feb 2018, 40pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781406371536 This fun read aloud picture book asks if a lion is still a lion when he wears a hat, carries an umbrella, and takes part in other human type activities. The lion invites himself into the home of two children, and to lunch. The two young children finally decide to stand up to the lion, with surprising results. Full-page illustrations invite the young audience to take part in this fun theatrical picture book. The metafictional nature further encourages audience participation by asking…
Kate and Jol Temple (text), Terri Rose Baynton (illus), Room on Our Rock. Scholastic Australia, Feb 2018, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781742764108 Three seals are on their rock, not letting anyone else join them. They are emphatic that the rock is theirs only and chase two other seals, an adult and young seal, away. However, at the end of the book, the reader is instructed to read again, backwards, reversing the story physically, verbally and visually. The result is a complete reversal of attitude, with the three seals welcoming anyone to their rock. The limited colour palette works well with…
Margot McGovern, Neverland, Random House Australia, 2 April 2018, 320pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780143787846 Kit, (Katherine) Learmonth, daughter of famous author father and artistic mother, is taken home from her latest boarding school after just two terms, and after trying to take her own life. A troubled young woman, Kit has suppressed memories of the night her parents drowned. The island where she grew up, fondly called Neverland, is now a sanctuary for young adults in need of psychiatric help. Kit’s uncle runs the facility and he is also her guardian. Kit is reacquainted with her best friend Gypsy and…
Tamora Pierce, Tempests and Slaughter (The Numair Chronicles #1), Hachette, 13 Feb 2018, 480pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780734418678 Arram is a brilliant young boy studying magecraft, soaking up learning and moving faster than his teachers can keep up with him. As he grows older and finds friends who can meet him on his own intellectual level, and teachers who can understand and challenge him as he needs, he also finds himself witness to the political machinations behind the throne of Carthak, and to the bloodthirsty gladiatorial games that keep the empire entertained. Arram walks the line between seeing too much, caring…