Various authors (text), Jules Faber (illus.), Cat Stories, Random House Australia, 28 Nov 2016, 208pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780143780991 Various authors (text), Jules Faber (illus.), Dog Stories, Random House Australia, 28 Nov 2016, 208pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780143780977 These collections of humorous stories will delight lovers of feline and canine alike. Popular children’s authors such as Nick Falk, Belinda Murrell, Jacqueline Harvey, Tristan Bancks, RA Spratt and Aleesah Darlison fill the pages with crafty cats, devoted dogs and a variety of naughty pet antics. The books contain ten cat and eleven dog stories, interspersed with wonderful, cartoonish illustrations by Jules Faber. Some…
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Rob Lloyd Jones, Jake Atlas and the Tomb of the Emerald Snake (Jake Atlas #1), Walker Books Australia, 1 Feb 2017, 336pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781406361445 Adventure, high-tech gadgetry, family quarrels and ancient Egyptian mythology are all packed into this fast- paced book by Rob Lloyd Jones, author of the Wild Boy books. Jake Atlas and the Tomb of the Emerald Snake is the first in a series about Jake Atlas and his family of treasure hunters. Trouble maker Jake and his genius sister Pandora are dragged along on a family vacation to Egypt by their boring, academic parents. No one…
Brian Falkner, Shooting Stars, Scholastic, 1 Feb 2017, 352pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781775433606 Innocence collides fist first with brutal reality in Shooting Stars, a new novel from Brian Falkner. The latest work from this award-winning New Zealand author packs a powerful punch. This is the private diary of Egan (Bush) Tucker and ‘other stuff compiled by his friend JT’. An engaging YA story, Shooting Stars tells the tale of a fifteen-year-old boy raised in isolation in the midst of the New Zealand Coromandel wilderness. His mother, Moma, has sheltered Egan from a danger hunting them since their treacherous journey into the wild…
Sue deGennaro, Eddie Frogbert, Scholastic Australia, 1 Feb 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760276782 Eddie Frogbert has an unusual problem for a frog. Unlike all his friends and family, Eddie does not like to jump or hop or leap. In fact, Eddie is quite happy to keep both his feet firmly on the ground. That is until a niggling idea prompts Eddie to think that maybe, just maybe, he could enter the diving competition with his friends. Terrified but determined, Eddie puts a plan in motion to help him overcome his fears. A gentle tale for children aged 4 and over,…
Lizzy Stewart, There’s a Tiger in the Garden, Frances Lincoln/Murdoch Books, Feb 2017, 40pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781847808073 A celebration of imagination and an end to that dreaded phrase “I’m Bored”. Nora’s grandmother gently sends the reader (and Nora) into her strange and delightful garden to see what lives there. Each scene is captured in reassuring retro shades against clear white backgrounds. Stewart populates the pages with an array of imaginary creatures, combining soft classic colours with more modern collage and ‘paint’ techniques and gives a nod to Judith Kerr’s famous visitor who came to tea. I loved the juxtaposition…
Margaret Wild (text), Ron Brooks (illus.), Old Pig, Allen & Unwin, Feb 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760293895 This new edition of the 1995 award-winning classic is about the death of a grandparent. With lyrical phrases like ‘clouds gather like gossips’ hand-rendered in pencil and with Brooks’ constantly active sketchy line and busy washes of colour – every page poignantly quivers with the fragile vibrancy of life, just as it is let go. Bursts of watercolour will make the reader want to dance for joy at nature’s splendour and allows them to see the world through the eyes of both…
Jane Smith, The Horse Thief (Tommy Bell Bushranger Boy #2), Big Sky Publishing, 1 Jan 2017, 100pp., $12.50 (pbk) ISBN 9781925520064 The Horse Thief is the latest in Jane Smith’s exciting series about Tommy Bell’s time travel adventures to the Australian Gold Rush period. Last time, he met Captain Thunderbolt. This time he meets the notorious horse thief Frank Gardiner – a charming, but very dangerous fellow – one that needs careful handling. Tommy is sent to face Mr Gardiner, each time he wears his cabbage-tree hat (this is the type of hat that bushrangers wear), either of his own…
Helen Martin (text), Judith Simpson (text), Cheryl Orsini (illus.), The ABC Book of Places to Go, ABC Books/HarperCollins Australia, 23 Jan 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9780733334283 Richard Scarry meets play school in this latest offering in the ABC Kids Book Of series. This book gently explores the adventures that can be had in the world – from playing in the backyard to going to the shops or the doctor or even wider afield like visiting the airport, the zoo and the snow. The book starts and ends with home and the refrain: ‘So many different places- some you know and some are…
Allison Paterson (text), Shane McGrath (illus.), Shearing Time, Big Sky Publishing, 1 March 2017, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781925520088 This is a gentle, educational picture book about a farm girl’s experience of the shearing season. City kids would probably enjoy this insight into rural life; particularly the opportunity to go zooming around paddocks chasing sheep on a motorbike. There is a sense of generational history in the book. The young girl narrator tells us that the dogs know how to round up the sheep because Grandpa trained them so well. There’s also an image of the shearing team of the…
Michael Adams, Wipeout (The Seven Signs #3), Scholastic Australia, Feb 2017, 192pp., $14.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781743628034 I reviewed the first book in this series, Skyfire, and like the first, this book is high action all the way, as the seven teenaged DARE winners race to decipher clues that could save the world from another unknown but potentially deadly threat thrown at them by the evil Signmaker. Having access to the Infinity corporation’s private fleet of super-sonic ‘SpaceSkimmers’ and car drivers, the teenagers are transported around the globe, tracking down clues and seeking out people who can help them unravel the Signmaker’s…