Susan Berran, Chomp’d (Freaky #5) JoJo Publishing, 2013 196pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9780987192738 SCIS 1637065 In this latest book in the popular series, Sam has found himself with his parents and baby sister Mel stuck in the boring country town of Agnath, ‘the butt-crack of the universe’, where the smell of cow-dung pervades the atmosphere, and his school companions are grass-chewing dull-heads, except for his mate Jared who is also a city-bred boy. The two find amusement in ingenious adventures, surfing in a muddy dam with the help of goats, and devising a powerful sling-shot using a broken-down tractor to get rid…
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BACON, Lee Joshua Dread: The Nameless Hero Hardie Grant Egmont, 2013 289pp $16.95 pbk ISBN 9781742974125 SCIS 1636941 Oh, to be a superhero like the famous characters in comic books! Young Texan author, Lee Bacon, delves into the genre of action hero comics to create a young character whose fantasies are fulfilled in the most prosaic way – a summer camp for children who have been identified as having the Gyft; a Gifted and Talented program unlike any other, complete with Spandex costumes and masks. However, the novel is more than just an entertaining parody of the genre; amid all…
Gerry & Sylvia, ANDERSON Thunderbirds Egmont, 2013 288pp $39.95 ISBN 9781405268363 SCIS 1642102 This hardback comic book is a huge retro collection of strips from the 1960s and 70s. They were as successful as the TV series that ran parallel to them and were published under the banner of TV21. This collection includes thirty-six adventures of the talented team with an introduction tracing the history of the series as well as double page spreads of the technical data of the Thunderbirds. The original comic artwork by leading UK illustrators is immediately appealing to those who delighted in the fantastic rescue…
BERRY, Julie All the Truth That’s In Me HarperCollins, 2013 310pp $19.99 pbk +e ISBN 9780732298067 SCIS 1626740 In a small rural community, Judith’s disappearance for two years is regarded as shocking. She is an outcast, diminished by everyone, including her widowed mother. When the village is attacked, Judith returns to her captor to get help, and the village is even more convinced that Judith is a bad girl. Her actions have involved the love of her life, Lucas, who is also brought before the community and accused of fornication. Both Judith and Lucas are innocent, and the true perpetrator…
ADAMS, Michael The Last Girl Allen & Unwin, 2013 384pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9781743316368 SCIS 1626739 Set a few years into the future, this story has a unique take on an end of the world scenario. Sixteen year old Danby is spending Christmas morning in Sydney with her father, step-mother and 6 year old brother when it happens. Suddenly, everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts. Chaos and utter madness follows, there is death and destruction everywhere. Danby discovers she is unique – she can hear other people’s thoughts but they can’t hear hers. Desperate to keep her little brother safe,…
ABDEL-FATTAH, Randa Jodie This is the Book of You Omnibus, 2013 185pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9781742990101 SCIS 1624742 This is a rites-of-passage story about Jodie, a tall girl (always the tallest in her class) who has issues about self-esteem. She has two special friends who provide her with support and good advice, which she doesn’t always accept. But not everyone at school is so friendly and she is often subject to bullying and name-calling. Not surprisingly, she finds this very distressing especially as she is going through some difficult changes in her life. Jodie and her friends are in their…
BOYCE, Julie Life in the Mulga Lands Village View Gallery, 2013 35pp $14.95 pbk ISBN 9780987583208 The arresting colours of far western Queensland, depicted in acrylic and oil naive style art works by Julie Boyce, leap from the pages of this publication. It was released to accompany her exhibition at the Village View Gallery, in Highfields, Toowoomba, in September 2013. Julie Boyce also received attention at the Stockman’s Hall of Fame celebrations in Longreach in the same month. The artist narrates and illustrates events from her family’s life based and working on a large sheep property in the Charleville area.…
BORNHOLDT, Jenny (text) Sarah Wilkins (illus.) A Book is a Book Gecko Press/Whitieia Pub, 2013 unpaged NZ$24.99 ISBN 9781877579929 This small format picture book is a quirky pastiche of proverbial sayings about what a book is and possibly is not. The acknowledgment page suggests that many insights were suggested by children but the author, an established poet, no doubt gives them a fresh perspective as well as other insights. The illustrations are thought-provoking; often taking the words into a different space. For example, how would you illustrate the insight ‘Books can be true and not true and sometimes they can…
BELL, Krista (text) Ainsley Walters (illus.) Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes One Day Hill, 2013 30pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780987313980 SCIS 1619902 Cricket enthusiasts will embrace this production with enthusiasm. While it is in narrative form, it is mostly factual, and packed with information. The story is told through the eyes of Russell Clarke who when the book opens is on a deckchair ‘engrossed in his cricket book’ on board the Peshawur sailing home to Australia from England. Russell is a cricket fan, so is drawn to a Miss Morphy, also on board and a friend of…
BISHOP, Gavin Bruiser & the Big Snow Random House, 2013 unpaged NZ$21.00 pbk ISBN 9781775534860 SCIS 1634378 Younger children living in the deep south of New Zealand will relate well to stories of snow falls and all the trouble and chaos that a cold southerly from Antarctica can bring. But it will be children with a love of machines that will really get hooked in by this story of Bruiser, a grader that enjoys the challenge of mid-winter rescues. Be it buses full of people or SUVs that are stuck, and indeed even tricycles that are lost and alone, Bruiser…