WILSON, Jacqueline Diamond Doubleday, 2013 295pp NZ$34.99 pbk ISBN 9780857531087 SCIS 1633284 It’s one thing to run away to the circus, but quite another to be sold to a wicked master for five guineas by your penniless father. Young Ellen-Jane Potts, petite and nimble, suffers tragedy along with her family when her mother dies giving birth to the long-hoped for final son who was to complete the set of angelic sons (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The family is scattered, and Ellen finds herself transformed into the aerobatic Diamond of Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus, abandoned by her father, but adored by…
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WILSON, Doug Tom Hassler and The Rats of Droolmoan Cave Erkel-Erkel Publishing Ltd, 2013 160pp NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9780473230135 SCIS 1638020 Book one of a series based on the adventures of one Thomas Hassler and marketed as an Eco-Kids book that tell stories about the environment, this is a fantasy where a willing suspension of disbelief is necessary. Tom believes himself to be an ordinary boy living a boring life (with only his mother as family as his father was dead) until there is a calling. To his delight (and occasionally horror), he discovers that he has special skills and…
WILLIAMS, Sean Twinmaker: Jump Allen & Unwin, 2013 396pp $18.99 pbk ISBN 9781743315866 SCIS 1627425 In this very complex, futuristic novel, people are able to almost instantly ‘d-mat’ (dematerialise/jump) to any place in the world they want to go using a global teleportation system. Clair is often reluctantly drawn in by her best friend, shallow, celebrity-mad, fashion-crazy Libby, into attending trend-setting functions, but becomes disturbed and worried when vain Libby embarks on a mystery program to ‘improve’ herself. Clair believes that Libby is gradually being taken over by someone else’s mind, but finds that it is dangerous to voice her…
TANNER, Lian Ice Breaker Allen & Unwin (The Hidden), 2013 312pp $18.99 pbk ISBN 9781743314340 scic 1627423 This first volume in the series is set in the waters off Antarctica where an ancient icebreaker, the Oyster, has roamed for 300 years. The crew is divided into tribal groups (engineers, cooks, etc.) – all except for Petrel, the Nothing Girl. An orphan (her parents were killed as traitors) she slips between the gaps both literally and figuratively, trying not to draw attention. Her only allies are two intelligent large grey rats, who speak to and advise her, and who can control…
SKOVRON, Jon Man Made Boy Allen & Unwin, 2013 362pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9781743315132 SCIS 1627424 Times Square in New York is a lively place at any time with its bright lights, theatres, eating places, stores and traffic. But deep beneath the Square in tunnels and caverns is a theatre with shows whose performers are a variety of protected mythical and legendary monsters (ogres, satyrs and trouwes or trolls, the last of their kind, and even Madame Medusa herself) in the care of their manager, the vampire Ruthven, where humans make their way down to it for the unique thrills. …
MILES, Cindy Forever More Chicken House, 2013 220pp $17.99 pbk ISBN 9781908435927 SCIS 1619884 Ivy’s mum has remarried, and the family are locating from the USA to her new Scottish Laird husband’s castle. It’s a dark and gloomy place. Strange events happen to Ivy the moment she arrives. Ghostly whispers try to scare her away from the place, an evil presence pushes her into a freezer, and the cold grandmother is ripe with nasty intentions. One apparition becomes more than friendly after she stands up to it – an eighteen year old ghost called Logan. Ivy enlists the help of…
MARSHALL EDITIONS Animal ABC ISBN 9781743317693 SCIS 1640257; Animal 123 ISBN 9781743317686 SCIS 1640170 Allen & Unwin, 2013 unpaged $14.99 These nicely produced (although strangely anonymous) books, with their rather retro decorative features, cover familiar ground but the ABC, in particular, could be a welcome addition to collections. Each letter is presented in upper and lower cases, and a variety of creatures depicted. There is a pleasing variation through the book, with from one to three letters per double page. In most cases different creatures are shown (one each for X and Y, five for L). Although the images are…
MARSDEN, John The Year My Life Broke Pan Macmillan, 2013 172pp $12.99 pbk ISBN 9781742613352 SCIS 1639736 Josh is in Grade six when his parents’ finance business collapses. The now impoverished family has to move to the remote country town of Tarrawagga, an uninviting place that Josh describes as ‘the hole that other holes fell into.’ Yet Tarrawagga also has its secrets as Josh wonders about his mysterious, rarely seen neighbours. Resentful of the change in circumstances and angry at having to go to a new school, Josh decides not to try to fit in. He hides his advanced cricket…
JELLETT, Tom (illus.) Phillip Gwynne & Eliza McCann (text) Little Piggy’s Got No Moves Little Hare, 2013 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781921894251 SCIS 1632048 This vibrant story of the Piggy family rocks and shakes as every other creature living in the street shows their dances while the Piggy elders and siblings shake their heads and say ‘Us piggies, we’ve got no moves’. But it’s disco night at school and everyone is going, so despite their lack of style, the Piggy family joins the others trekking to the party and guess what? Little Piggy has got moves! The vibrant illustrations in this…
LAWSON, Sue You Don’t Even Know Black Dog, 2013 334pp $18.95 pbk ISBN 9781922179715 SCIS 1625770 In lots of ways Alex is like a typical sixteen year old; he’s into sport, has a girl friend and has issues with his parents but unlike his mates and his older brother Ethan he likes to dress up as a fairy sometimes or play tea parties or hide and seek to please his little sister Mia. Alex loves his little sister. When times get tough with his Dad and Ethan picking on him for not being manly enough or his teacher at school…