Rachel McIntyre, Me & Mr J, Hardie Grant Egmont (Electric Monkey), 1 August 2015, 313pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781405273442 Lara is red-headed. That fact alone seems to have initiated the intense bullying she receives at school. Name-calling, physical abuse and cyber-bullying are regular parts of Lara’s day. At home, things are awful as well, with money tight and her parents fighting all the time. Enter Mr Jagger, the new English teacher, and suddenly Lara has someone who understands her, values her and – wait a minute – really likes her. Likes her so much that, even as the bullying gets worse, he…
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Alex Campbell, Cloud 9, Hot Key Books, 1 Sept 2015, 325pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781471403545 Leata is the pill that guarantees your happiness so everyone, say the makers, should take it. Hope knows Leata helps to block those life events that you don’t want to face and she swallows at least one a day, blogging its beautiful effects to her nearly 2 million followers on livelifewithhope. It’s hard to understand why anyone would protest against taking this happy pill because it’s completely harmless, as everyone (except Tom’s dad) would say. Now he’s dead but Hope isn’t friends with Tom anymore…
Karen Wood, Under the Flame Tree, Allen & Unwin, September 2015, 304pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760112462 Under the Flame Tree is a modern day love story set in regional Australia. The heroine is sixteen year old Kirra, a high school student who has withdrawn from her secondary schooling to follow her dream of breaking-in horses. As the daughter of the foreman, Kirra expects few favours and knows she has to work hard to keep her position. She is a tough and determined rider with the stamina to remain aboard even the toughest of horses to bring out their best qualities. Also…
Clement C Moore (text), Amanda Brack (illus), The Night Before Christmas: a brick story, Hachette Australia, 29 September 2015, 32pp., $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733635045 This is an update on Clement C. Moore’s well-loved poem A Visit from St Nicholas. Amanda Brack is an illustrator and ‘brick specialist’ and she has used her expertise to create every scene of the poem in Lego. Beautifully detailed in its creation, Brack has used Lego pieces that I didn’t even know existed; she has lit and photographed each scene alternatively in yellow light and dark blue to create the warm glow of the house…
Laine Mitchell (text), Louis Shea (illus), We’re Going On A Santa Hunt, Scholastic Australia, 1 October 2015, 24pp., $19.99 (includes CD), ISBN 9781743626429 A Christmas appropriation of the classic We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, this Australian picture book cheerfully follows five friends as they hunt down the elusive Santa Claus. A young polar bear, reindeer, mouse, penguin and husky dog write their letters to Santa and tell us they are ‘going on a Santa hunt’ and were ‘going to find the jolly one’. They meet all manner of adventure on the Polar Express, jumping on a sled race and getting…
Gabriel Evans, The Mice and the Shoemaker. The Five Mile Press, 1 September 2015, 18pp., $29.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781760064273 Gabriel Evans has created a new Christmas pop-up book by rewriting The Elves and the Shoemaker. He has replaced the elves with a family of mice who have lost all their belongings and been driven out of their usual cosy woodland home by a flood. This is why they finish up staying with their Grandpa who lives under the floorboards of a cobbler’s home. Grandpa has been well looked after by the cobbler and his wife but he is too…
Duncan Ball (text), David Allan David (illus), Two Tengu Tales from Japan. Christmas Press, 12 August 2015 32pp., $19.99 (hbk) ISBN 9780992283865 This is a lovely book that clearly demonstrates the careful thought that has gone into every aspect of its production. It is an Australian published text which retells two Japanese folkloric tales about the tengu who can magically grant wishes to those who ask for them. There is only one problem, the wishes do not always turn out as intended. It is within such traditions that so much of the ancient wisdom of different cultures becomes evident, and…
Steffani Raff, The Ravenous Gown and 14 More Tales about Real Beauty. Exisle Publishing, 1 September 2015 184pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781939624593 It is always intriguing to see the choices writers make when they work with different aspects of traditional storytelling to create new versions. Speffani Raff’s collection of ‘tales about real beauty’, The Ravenous Gown and 14 More Tales’, is an interesting example of this process at work. The language and structure of her writing is beautiful and in many ways captures these aspects of the literary fairytale. The stories are quirky, humorous and entertaining, however I would suggest…
Michael Adams, Skyfire (The Seven Signs #1), Scholastic Australia, July 2015, 192pp., $7.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781743628010 Seven talented and driven teenagers from around the world have been selected by trillionaire Internet King Felix Scott to form an elite group of young people committed to help make a difference in the world. They meet at the ceremony announcing their selection, then their lives are bound together on a quest as they come to realise that each of them has been sent part of a code that predicts an unknown disaster. Set in the not-too-distant future, the technology is futuristic yet mostly…
Ros Moriarty (text) Balarinji (illus.) Summer Rain, Allen & Unwin, July 2015, 24pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760112110 Summer Rain is a picture book capturing northern Australia during the wet season and bringing the unique landscape alive through bursts of colour and beautiful indigenous artwork. The picture book unfolds across the period of a day; the reader enters the story to the waking of the land and travels through until sunset falls and the moon arrives. Each phase of the day is highlighted through subtle changes in colour and texture capturing the shifting light and mood. A cast of Australian animals feature across the pages…