Evan McHugh, Black Sunday (My Australian Story series), Scholastic Australia, August 2016, 256pp., $16.99, (pbk), ISBN 9781743627990 Evan McHugh’s first novel is a beautifully written text that evokes the setting of Bondi in the year 1937. The main character, twelve-year-old David McCutcheon, known as “Nipper”, lives near the beach in Bondi. It is an important time for Nipper as he approaches his thirteenth birthday and must decide if he will leave school to work like his brother Jamie did the year before. He doesn’t like school, particularly his teacher, Mrs Kearsley, who seems to loathe him. Nipper’s real love is…
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Rosanne Hawke, Dear Pakistan (Beyond Borders #1), Rhiza Press, 1 June 2016. 163pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925139549 The first book in the series Beyond Borders from Rhiza Press, this story by Rosanne Hawke takes an unusual approach to the problems of identity and belonging experienced in the teenage years. The protagonist, Jaime Richards, is Australian born but has lived most of her life in Pakistan with her aid-worker parents. Having adjusted well to life in that country, when the family moves back home so that she can finish her education in Australia, many customs are unexpectedly unfamiliar and strange in her…
Cate Whittle (text), Stephen Michael King (illus), Omnibus/Scholastic Australia, 1 July 2016, 96pp., $9.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781742990774 Trouble and the Missing Cat continues the adventures of Georgia and her dragon friend Trouble. At the start of the book, Georgia revisits the story from the first book (Trouble at Home) of how Trouble stole the family home with Georgia’s baby brother inside, but she won them back in a staring competition. Due to the recap, it’s not essential for young readers to start with book one. The story starts with Principal Postlethwaite banning Trouble from coming to school. It seems that Georgia’s…
Stacy Gregg, The Girl Who Rode the Wind, HarperCollins, 1 July 2016, 336pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 97800008124311 This book was originally released in hardback last year, and this year the paperback edition has been issued. Twelve year old Lola Campione is a third generation Italian-American. She lives in New York where her family owns a training stable for racehorses. She does extremely well in school and her father has high hopes for her to be the first of her family to attend university, but Lola just wants to work with horses. An unexpected windfall, combined with Lola having time off school,…
Bruce Pascoe, Mrs Whitlam, Magabala Books, June 2016, 80pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925360240 Marnie Clark loves horses and dreams of owning one, but her family cannot afford to buy one. She can hardly believe it when she is offered a horse for free, albeit under tragic circumstances. Mrs Margaret Whitlam might have a funny name and be part Clydesdale, with huge feathery feet and big hindquarters, but she is an affectionate and loyal friend. Marnie is thrilled to have her to look after and to ride. Although she is picked on by snobby pony club girls, Marnie and Maggie prove…
Dianne Bates (text), Sophie Scahill (illus), Horses (Amazing Animals #3), Big Sky Publishing, 1 April 2016, 150pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925275858 This is number three in the Awesome Animals series, and is a non-fiction book broken into 18 chapters of horse facts. Each chapter is covers different aspect of people and horses, and the chapters consist of short, bite sized facts, perfect for readers to dip in and out of. The facts are broken up by colourful, cartoonish illustrations, and photographs of the equines (horses, ponies and donkeys) from Horse Shepherd Equine Sanctuary. The last chapter is all about the Sanctuary…
Angela May George (text), Owen Swan (illus), Out, Scholastic Australia, 1 June 2016, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781743629000 This is the story of an unnamed girl and her mother fleeing by boat from their home to another country. They face danger during their escape and their long boat voyage. They find safety and security living in a flat with another woman from the boat. Helping each other to settle, learn a new language and new customs, they miss their father and husband and wait for his arrival. Written in first person from the viewpoint of the young girl, the well-worked verbal…
Emily Gale, The Other Side of Summer, Random House, 30 May 2016, 313pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780143780113 Summer Jackman’s family is grieving. Her older, much loved brother Floyd has been killed in a bomb blast in London. When the police return his treasured guitar, it almost seems too much. Summer’s father, originally from Australia, decides it is a good idea to take the family back to his home city of Melbourne. Summer wants to support her father while her sister, always angry, does everything in her power to go against the decision. Leaving England the sisters are faced with another shock…
Tim Hehir, Julius & the Soulcatcher (The Watchmaker Novels #2), Text Publishing, 30 May 2016, 330pp., $19.99 (pbk.), ISBN 9781925240177 Julius Higgins lives with his Grandfather, a seller of rare and difficult to find books. Julius is reacquainted with Emily when she sells his Grandfather the stolen diary of Charles Darwin’s visit to Brazil. On a visit to Kew gardens she overhears an argument between Darwin and another man, Tock, after which she pickpockets Darwin’s diary. Tock, accompanied by two criminal helpers, track Emily and the diary to Higgins’ bookshop. They leave an orchid as a parting gift after taking the…
Paul Griffin, When Friendship Followed Me Home, Text Publishing, 27 June 2016, 256pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925355499 There will be tears. Just a warning. When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin is the story of Ben Coffin, a former foster kid who always felt like his life was temporary. He was adopted at 10 years old and has since lived with his mom, Tess. A clever, imaginative kid with a passion for all things Star Wars, Ben is a constant target of school bullies. His last name, Coffin, doesn’t help either. He feels out of place. He is afraid…