Harper Teen, 2020. ISBN: 9780062657701. 402p.
(Age: 14+) Fans of high fantasy thrillers will think they have died
and gone to heaven - or at least Kyrkarta. The action starts almost
immediately with an earthquake. Brave spell weavers and tech witches
spontaneously assemble in the street to minimise the damage and it's
wickedly intense.
Kyrkarta has a history of such disasters - the last quake unleashed
something. Maz or magic used to be plentiful, but since the
earthquakes released the spellplague killing thousands, Maz is no
longer common. Maz takes many forms and a Periodic Table of Maz
prefaces Chapter One. We aren't given the atomic weights so the list
is basically a ready reference or glossary of terms. There are three
categories of Maz strains - Core, Perceptual and Augmenting.
Categorised under these strains are the 14 types of Spells. Wataz
Maz is "Core" and produces water and flowing effects, while Magnaz
is used for amplification or "Augmenting".
Maz has become so expensive that Diz and her three friends created
their own black market for Maz - illegally siphoning it off and
selling it. Ania is a Techwitch, Remi a Spellweaver and Jaesin,
Diz's "ex", is a Mundie like Diz. They've planned one last heist,
but they become mixed up in a dangerous conspiracy.
Diz's love interest, Remi, is referred to in gender-neutral pronouns
providing us with recognisable reference points, welcomed because
the level of fantasy is difficult to delve into at first. Thanks to
the group of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A. teens who are very likeable, sarcastic
and flirty, the appeal of Spellhacker is characterisation in
addition to the novelty, which breaks with traditional expectations
of books about magic. If you like Sci-Fi mixed with fantasy and
action, you'll get more than you can handle in the future realm of
Kyrkarta. Spellhacker is available as a downloadable audio.
Themes: High fantasy. Magic.
Deborah Robins
League of Llamas: Rogue Llama by Aleesah Darlison
Puffin Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781760894207.
(Ages: 7+ years) League of Llamas: Rogue Llama by Aleesah
Darlison is the fourth and final book in the popular and humorous League
of Llama series. Secret Agent 0011 Phillipe Llamar is in
hiding and on the run after being blamed for a terrible crime he did
not commit. He is in disguise and on the hunt for the real
perpetrator, Ratrick Tailbiter - a rat with attitude, as well as
evil supportive companions who continually try to out-manoeuvre
Phillipe. Meanwhile Phillipe is being is being pursued by Agents
Elloise and Lloyd who have been sent by Mama Llama to bring in their
rogue colleague. Phillip travels far and wide to prove his innocence
and eventually Lloyd joins forces with him to solve the
investigation.
Being the final book in the series the ending provides the readers
with a very satisfying conclusion. Younger readers will enjoy the
humour spread throughout the book and the fast paced action packed
events which happen frequently. Being one of a series League of
Llamas: Rogue Llama will continue to support middle grade
readers who may struggle with more difficult text as the repetition
of words will enhance their understanding and reading skills. This
is a light and entertaining story and will be popular with children
who can relate to animals as the lead characters. Themes: Secret
agents, Spies, Adventure, Humour, Crime, Animals, Disguises.
Kathryn Beilby
Matthew Flinders: Adventures on leaky boats by Carole Wilkinson
Illus. by Prue Pittock. Wild Dog Books 2020. ISBN: 9781742034935.
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. Stylishly presented, this book of
Flinders' journeys will delight younger readers as they travel with
him, marvelling at the journeys he undertakes and the places he
visits, the maps he draws. And in the main accompanied by his cat,
Trim.
Flinders joined the British Royal Navy, sailing with Bligh, dreaming
of expeditions like those of Captain Cook. Sent to Australia, he met
George Bass also bent on adventure and the two arrived in Botany Bay
in 1795. They sailed in two expeditions along the southern coast of
New South Wales in the Tom Thumb. Later the pair proved that
Van Diemen's Land was not attached to the mainland and when Flinders
sailed back to England, he wrote to Sir Joseph Banks asking for his
backing for an expedition to sail around Australia and map it. With
England at war with France, things could be tricky, and during his
expedition he met Nicolas Baudin off the coast of South Australia,
mapping from the opposite direction. His mapping of the continent
was an amazing feat, with his crew ordered to eat fresh fruit and
vegetables to avoid scurvy.
Many leaky boats later, Flinders survived being shipwrecked,
captaining a small boat back to Botany Bay for help with his
marooned sailors. But another leaking boat in the Indian Ocean saw
him arrested as a spy and imprisoned for six years at Mauritius.
His maps have endured, used until very recently as a standard, and
it is his statue outside the library in Sydney with his cat Trim
which attracts much attention. Statues can also be found in Port
Lincoln and Melbourne, while South Australia has an abundance of
places named after this man.
A glossary and timeline augment this already fascinating book, a
story well told and spectacularly illustrated by Melbourne artist,
Prue Pittock for younger readers to appreciate the lengths early
explorers went to map this continent. Prue's ink and coloured
pencils light up each page as Flinders' travels unfold, her soft
understated style augmenting the text, but so detailed, young
readers will gain more insight from closer examination. An easy to
follow map of his exploits around Australia end the text, and the
story of how Australia was named is told.
This is a wonderful addition to any school or home library.
Fran Knight
A knock at the door by Tom Wood (writing as T. W. Ellis)
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9780751575934.
(Age: Senior secondary/adult) Highly recommended. When two
government agents knock at Jem Talhoffer's door her life is turned
upside down. They ask for her husband Leo and suggest he is involved
in organised crime. She cannot believe that her handsome perfect
partner would have anything to do with such things. While the agents
are questioning and searching she receives a call from an Agent
Carlson, which casts doubt on the identity of the Feds. She is urged
to leave her home and make a run for it.
Jem and Leo have moved from the city for the peace and calm of small
town America. They have found the perfect house isolated from its
neighbours but not too far from the town's amenities. Jem takes yoga
classes, but tends to keep to herself while Leo a wine merchant
takes care of business and often travels overseas.
Jem takes off through the woods, but hasn't thought through her
escape. She is bare footed and has bought nothing with her. She
makes it to the road, feet cut, scratched, bruised and flags down an
old man in a pickup truck. It seems as if luck has changed, Trevor
the driver, is straight as the day is long. He is one of the many in
the USA that has no trust in the government or people in suits, he
has no phone and is self reliant.
They head into town where Jem decides she will confide in the local
police chief, Rusty, an eminently sensible and trustworthy woman.
However when she arrives she is dismayed to find the two agents are
already at the police building. She makes a move to leave when a car
pulls up with Agent Carlson at the wheel; he urges her to get in and
he assures her she will be safe. But Jem doesn't know who to trust
and heads for the police building. She ends up being driven back to
her home by the two agents, but things then really take a turn for
the worse.
Tom Woods is writing here as T. W. Ellis, and has the narrative
delivered by Jem and Rusty (the police chief). The reader is
naturally sympathetic with Jem's story and the dilemma in which she
finds herself. The question is always: what would you do if you
found yourself in the same situation? The narrative provided by
Rusty is very different. The reader is allowed into her life, a
strange mixture of the very private and the very public, but there
is a feeling of dependability and trust.
There are many twists in the plot and you are left feeling very much
like Jem. Who do you believe, who can you trust. There are also
moments of shock when the most unforeseen actions take place. Whilst
not always quite believable Ellis provides a roller coaster ride,
that has perceptions overturned and personalities questioned. A
thoroughly recommended read.
Themes. USA, Crime, Thriller, Conspiracy.
Mark Knight
Robots by Charles Hope
Wild Dog Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781742034799.
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. This non fiction book about robots,
subtitled The Future is Now, will rarely be left on the
shelves as it informs, interests, entertains, delights and
encourages readers to think beyond. Divided into fifteen succinct
chapters, with lots of visual material to pore over, each page
contains a brief outline encouraging readers to think about the
terms expressed. The bites of information are put together in a way
that younger readers can absorb, terms are expressed in such a way
that their context tells the reader what they mean and each page
develops a new idea. A definition of a robot is a good place to
start, and from there the author tells us of the earliest robots:
the story of Pygmalion, the golem, Frankenstein's monster and the
more recent forays into the world of science fiction. Most readers
will have heard of R2D2, Wall-E, HAL and K-9, and the book goes on
to look at automatons and then discuss the difference between
robots, cyborgs and androids. With these differences firmly in
place, the book continues to discuss the use made of such robots and
what the future may hold. A page is devoted to AI, and then Nanobots
and Cobots, terms new to me.
Readers will be enthralled at the range of information given with
wonderfully apt illustrations to behold and longer over. A terrific
index is presented at the end for those curious minds to further
explore the book.
This is one of a series of books being published by Wild Dog, the
first two were Artificial Intelligence, and 3D Printing,
while three more are in the pipeline: Chips, Phones
and Virtual Reality.
Themes: STEM, Robots, AI, Science fiction, Future, Science.
Fran Knight
Nit Boy by Tristan Bancks
Illus. by Heath McKenzie. Puffin, ISBN: 9781760896300. 276pp.
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Nit Boy claims to be two
books in one but it's just two different heads of hair. The
narrative of both books oscillates between the forest of Lewis' hair
and the universe surrounding the hapless Lewis, who is something of
a freak to his fellow humans. Unlike Bancks' usual antiheroes, Ned
has a short life to solve his identity crisis. In Part 1, Lift
Off, Ned grapples with his identity as opposed to Lewis' human
confidence that he is fine just the way he is, with his Dad's long
hair complete with pets. The father-son relationship concerns both
Lewis and Ned in their journeys of self-discovery. Lewis wants to be
like his Dad who is absent a lot of the time and Ned wants to be
nothing like his dad, who uses Ned to fulfil his own ambitions. Ms
Herrick emits shades of Miss Trunchbowl, blaming Lewis for the
headlice outbreak and making him miserable - but it's all Keith's
fault, for forcing Ned to marry and have babies who can jump, yes
jump - like fleas.
In part 2, cathartic secrets are brought to light as Ned leaves
Lewis to live amongst the fleas on Dad's dog. Huck and his chocolate
Labrador Boston, have returned from their field work - an absence
that divides his family. Lewis struggles with veganism in the same
way that Ned can't stand the taste of human blood. Pages cannot help
being turned following their concurrent search for answers.
This is often a descriptively gross book of life-cycle diagrams and
pop quizzes about fleas and head-lice, but amusingly the big picture
issues abound - the environment, eating meat, morality, family,
education and genetics. Illustrated by Heath McKenzie, these
fantastic adventures are founded firmly in facts - an engaging
discourse about change and epigenetics through which mankind is
evolving. The frivolous subject matter, belies a layered line-up of
characters worthy of fan or book club debate. Themes: School,
Humour.
Deborah Robins
Who am I? by Philip Bunting
Scholastic Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781743835043.
(Age: 5-10) Highly recommended. Philip Bunting likes to tackle some
of the big questions in life (How did I get here?) and this is no
exception. Who Am I? doesn't just look at human existence
from a physical point of view, instead explaining to children all
the things that contribute to building identity. The illustrations
are done in Bunting's signature style: simple but eye-catching and
highly effective. The book is structured using a series of questions
(Am I my name?, where I'm from?, my stuff?, my gender?, the colour
of my skin?, my muscles?, my bones?, my guts and stuff? my senses?,
my thoughts?, my feelings?), that are then explored, with the
message that most of these are important makings of our body but
don't really make us who we are. 'Your true self is so much greater
than any of these bits and pieces . . . Pootling around, somewhere
behind your eyes, is the thing that makes you, you. Your truest self
. . . this is the part of you that sees what you see, wonders what
you wonder, and feels what you feel'.
There is an overarching and quite explicit message here that we are
not our outer body and that all humans around the planet are deeply
connected. We are all from the same place, made of the same stuff
and sharing the same feelings. Philip Bunting has the most exquisite
way of putting huge ideas into simple words. The Bill Hicks quote
that he has included in the back of the book is "We are all one
consciousness experiencing itself subjectively". In Who Am I?
Bunting has masterfully explored this deeply philosophical idea in a
way that makes it accessible to the youngest of readers. Themes:
Identity, Philosophy.
Nicole Nelson
Greek Myths by Jean Menzies
Illus. by Katie Ponder. Dorling Kindersley, 2020. ISBN:
9780241397459. 160pp.
(Ages: 8 - 12) Recommended. Greek Myths is a beautifully
presented, simply written, thorough compendium. Although it is
non-fiction, with an index, it helps to begin reading it from the
beginning. In this way you understand how Gaia created the world and
then subsequent Olympian Gods and Goddesses such as Zeus, Hera,
Hades and Poseidon came to be. This section is followed by nine
myths of Gods and Humans such as the myth of Pandora's Jar. Nine
well known tales of heroes such as Jason and the Argonauts follow.
There's much treachery, trickery and violence amongst the Gods and
you realize the extent to which we refer to these characters and
tales in everyday life, e.g. The Trojan War, Icarus and Midas.
Throughout these sections are single fact pages devoted to each of
the main Gods and Goddesses. This helps the reader consolidate who
is who. A reference section has further useful pages explaining how
we know about this Ancient History, more information about mythical
creatures and monsters and how the Greek names were used to name
planets, animals and plants. There is a particularly useful
pronunciation guide as well.
Katie Ponder's many digitally created illustrations are well suited
to the myths. The whole design of the book, with quality buff paper
in a large hard covered volume, is very appealing. This book will be
useful in schools where Ancient History is part of the Australian
Curriculum in the middle years. It will also be of interest to young
readers who love books like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson
series. There have been many anthologies of Greek Myths over the
years but I think the design, large font and easy to read style will
help connect these myths with today's audience.
Jo Marshall
Oi puppies! by Kes Gray and Jim Field
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9781444937367.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Another in the wildly funny series of
books, Oi
frog, Oi
cat, Oi
dog and Oi
duck-billed platypus, comes another which follows the
same storyline, thus instantly gathering together its enormous
retinue of fans, eager to participate, predict and laugh out loud.
The front cover alerts the reader to the stunned dog; eyes wide and
staring, urging the reader to offer help as it is overwhelmed by
seven puppies all in different stages of excitement. Both Cat and
Frog try to help Dog, offering advice while ordering the puppies to
sit. But of course, none do. Each of the puppies is named and each
name reflects a trait shown by the puppy, giving the illustrator
wonderful comic license to show them in all their glory. The puppies
jump and crawl, climb, use the cat's whiskers as a swing, tug the
Frog's shorts, the exasperated looks on the animals' faces adding to
the fun of the story.
At his wit's end, Frog calls the Oi Animals Seating Supply Company,
and the next few pages shows each of the puppies aligned to a
rhyming seat. So Buster gets a duster, Jock a sock and Tiddles a
fiddle. Each page shows an animal and its name with a rhyming word,
all augmented with wonderful funny illustrations, sure to evoke
laughter from the reader. They will love predicting the rhyming
word, making suggestions of their own, and laugh out loud at the
twist that comes at the end of the tale.
And the very last page hints at number six in the series coming
along soon.
Themes: Puppies, Dogs, Humour, Verse, Pets.
Fran Knight
Tashi series by Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg
Illus. by Kim Gamble. Allen & Unwin, 2020. Tashi: The book of magical mysteries. ISBN: 9781760525200. Tashi: The book of giant adventures. ISBN: 9781760525163
(Age: 7-9) Highly recommended. Allen & Unwin have republished
many of the Tashi stories written between 1995 and 2009 in
four volumes, richly illustrated by Gamble. Initially selling over a
million copies worldwide, Tashi is now a TV series and there
have been many other books featuring this wonderful character.
Republished in volumes of eight stories compiled under titles such
as The book of giant adventures and The book of magical
mysteries, younger readers will have the thrill of reading
about Tashi for the first time, while older readers will pick up a
volume to be reacquainted with an old friend.
Each of these two volumes contain a clutch of stories, all about
thirty pages long accompanied by Gamble's readily recognised
illustrations of the tall hatted hero. Each is followed by its
companion story.
In The book of magical mysteries, for example is a story
called Tashi and the ghosts, when Jack as usual is telling his
parents a tale about Tashi eating ghosts. They settle in for a story
in the front room, as Jack retells Tashi's experience with a ghostly
invasion that had the whole village wondering how to get rid of
them. This story of working with his uncle and his telescope is
followed by an expose of Tashi's bravery in The mountain of
white tigers.
Each of the stories tells an adventure and also gives a precept for
life: being kind, being careful of strangers, helping others, being
kind to your friends and so on.
In The book of giant adventures is the first Tashi
story simply called Tashi, first published in 1995. Reading it
recalled my initial fascination for this little person and the
effect of friendship on Jack. He introduces his new friend to his
parents at tea, telling them about the boy he has met. Dad asks all
the wrong questions, prompting Jack to be a little impatient with
him but eventually they learn about Tashi, the boy who arrived on a
swan. This wonderful story is followed by Dragon breath.
With their bright new covers, the stories will be wonderful read
alouds as well as being most attractive for younger readers to pick
up. Themes: Tashi, Adventure.
Fran Knight
Puffin Little Environmentalist: Composting
Penguin Random House Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781760897017. 96pp.
(Age: 6 +) Highly recommended. This small format book is just right
for any child (or indeed adult) who is interested in doing something
about the amount of waste that goes into landfill. How to make
compost is explained in simple, easy to understand language that
will appeal to young children who are becoming independent readers.
It will also appeal to an adult who may be reading to a child as
this book gives great hints about composting that they could do
together.
Commencing with an introduction to what a compost bin is, the book
continues on with information about compost, what can be done with
it, why we should compost and best of all, it gives a detailed way
of making a small compost bin that would fit in a backyard or on a
balcony. This small compost bin consists of a plastic bin with holes
in it and shows children how to make compost themselves, just
requiring a small amount of help from adults, by purchasing the bin
and drilling holes in it.
The simple language, easy to follow instructions and rationale will
provide the newly independent reader with enough information to get
started. A good Contents page, Fast Facts page, Glossary and Quiz
complete this very useful book. Illustrations and the little puffin
that parades throughout the book also add to its appeal.
This would be ideal as a present for young children who wish to help
the planet and will provide children and adults alike enough
information to have a go at composting.
Pat Pledger
Shapes and colours by John Canty
Berbay Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9780648529187. 32pp.
(Age: 0)+) Highly recommended. All the colours of the rainbow and
many different shapes are beautifully illustrated in this lovely
picture book from John Canty, the award-winning author/illustrator
of the Heads
and tails series.
Right from the beginning as the reader turns the cover, bright
shapes appear, with the words, What's red? What's orange? What's
yellow? What's green? and What's blue? Each sentence appears in a
shape that matches the colour, so we see, for example, a green frog
and a yellow banana, all designed for the young child to guess what
the object is. Turning the page, the frontispiece has What's indigo?
and What's Violet, and then the reader will guess that these are the
seven colours that this carefully designed book will contain.
The shapes for each colour are coloured on a double page spread with
the question in one big drawing in the centre. The child needs to
guess what each picture is, and then when the page is turned, finds
a detailed multi-coloured picture of each shape, with the main
colour as the background. I especially liked the colour indigo, with
its vivid picture of a beetle gracing the page.
New words will be introduced to the young child. For example on the
page featuring What's orange, there are a couple of difficult
shapes, and when the page is turned, the reader will find a picture
of a popsicle, orange, safety vest, autumn leaf, pumpkin, traffic
cone and carrot all surrounding a large picture of a goldfish.
This is an imaginative way of introducing different colours and
shapes and is a book that will prove to be a keeper and one that may
well be treasured and handed down to the next generation.
Pat Pledger
The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9781473693050.
(Age: Adolescent - Adult) This is a story about ordinary people who
can sometimes be extraordinary, inhabiting a world that, for them,
is different. They have powers of observation, movement,
understanding and power that enable them to move in space, to
create situations in which different things can happen. They can be
outside of the world that we normally inhabit, and act in a capacity
that may save people from disaster. While focusing on adolescence,
this narrative is very much about the real world of today, a world
that is somewhat fraught with anxiety, and one in which it is still
important to love and find love, to spend time with family and
friends, and to seek to understand those close to us, as well as the
outside world.
Essentially this story has an 'added reality' that reflects that
which used to be called 'science fiction'. The powers possessed by
the Extraordinaries are much envied by their peers, while actually
often causing the Extraordinaries to experience emotional angst that
causes them to suffer. The narrative takes place in a country that
reflects much of the modern world, that raises issues pertinent to
this current world and that highlights the emotional world of
adolescence, particularly that of the 'queer' world of the text,
that controversial issue of sexual preference for one's own gender.
The protagonist is yearning for love, and is lonely because of his
situation, the loss of his mother, and living with a father who is
yearning for his wife, and desperate to love and care for his son.
Yet the father's job often keeps him at work late and the boy is
left alone, at home.
At its heart, this narrative reflects the issues of adolescents in
the world of today, that of planning a future in a world that often
appears to be unstable to the young, and of a world in which they
are hoping to find a place or a group to which they belong, and to find
a pathway that will be fulfilling. This is essentially a story about
love, particularly in families where it is sometimes forgotten. It
is about the compassion felt for those who struggle for whatever
reason. Klune subtly suggests that we consider 'difference' as
something that exists, that we strive to continue to love and
support those people in our own worlds, offering loving and
compassionate understanding. The novel is suitable for both adult
and adolescent readers.
Elizabeth Bondar
The teeny weeny genie by Julia Donaldson
Illus. by Anna Currey. Macmillan, 2020. ISBN: 9781509843602.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. When Old MacDonald on his farm finds a
genie in his teapot, things happen. He wishes for a new tractor and
it appears, then a wife to help with the farm, and she comes along.
She wishes for tools and wood to make a cupboard to store her
clothes, then has some left over to make a cradle and wishes for a
baby. But he is crying so a rattle is needed to quell him, then he
wants a dog, the dog wants a cat and on and on it goes, getting more
and more complicated and very funny as the wishes come along thick
and fast.
This beautiful read aloud will be a treat for a young audience as
they can call out the noises each of the wishes makes: the noise of
the tractor, the howl of the baby, the woof of the dog and so on.
Each page is a delight of fun and noise.
And the wonderfully lively and colourful illustrations, will have
the readers recognising the animals they see and spotting known
things in the farmyard, asking a myriad of questions about what they
do not know.
The blue genie gets a little annoyed with the wishes on the farm,
and wants it all to go away, but he cannot make his wish come true,
only those for other people. He attempts to get back into the
teapot, but finds a green genie there instead. The two wish for each
other, the teapot grows wings and the two are whisked away to a
lonely beach where all they can hear are the waves while they drink
their tea. Then they climb into the teapot and rest happily.
Be careful what you wish for is the basis of this funny tale,
cautioning readers not to take wishes lightly because the results of
this may be more than they bargained for.
This is a wonderfully funny, noisy tale which will have readers
jumping with joy.
Themes: Farmyard, Cautionary tale, Humour, Animals, Parody, Read
aloud.
Fran Knight
Carly Mills pioneer girl: A new world by Jane Smith
Big Sky Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9781922265074.
(Ages: 8-11 years). Recommended. Carly Mills Pioneer Girl: A New
World by Jane Smith is the first book in a new series which
looks at famous women in History. In this story Carly and her friend
Dora travel back in time to 1841 to meet Caroline Chisholm. Carly
has arrived in Sydney from rural Queensland to spend time with Dora
before she attends boarding school. While they are exploring Sydney
they visit Customs House where two shawls from an exhibition are
dropped and then given to the girls after they try to return them.
When Carly places the shawl around her shoulders she is immediately
transported back to the docks of Sydney Harbor and meets Caroline
Chisholm who is in the process of setting up a home for young female
immigrants who are being taken advantage of by unscrupulous males.
While there Carly endures a night far removed from her modern life
and learns how dangerous life is for young girls travelling alone.
After she returns to the present day, Carly encourages Dora to join
her on the next adventure and they experience life as two new
immigrant girls being placed safely in a caring home in a rural
area. Carly has been experiencing great trepidation about attending
boarding school but on returning to the 21st century, learning Dora
will also be going, and after surviving life in 1841, she realises
she is brave enough to cope with the major schooling change in her
life.
This book is a clever introduction to early Australian History for
middle grade readers. Later books will look at Dr Lillian Cooper,
Dame Nellie Melba, Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie
and Miles Franklin. Themes: Women in History, Australian History,
Friendship, Time Travel, Adventure.
Kathryn Beilby
