Reviews

Charlie turns into a T-Rex by Sam Copeland

Penguin Random House, 2019. ISBN: 9780241346228. 280p. pbk.
The much anticipated sequel to Charlie changes into a chicken is finally in bookshops. Charlie is sorely tested in Charlie turns into a T-Rex, but gradually team work pays off with Flora, and to some extent Moshin and Wogon too, assisting Charlie McGuffin to master his special ability. As they understand more about the phenomenon, they harness it as a weapon to help Charlie's dad save his job. The last thing Charlie wants to do is sell his house, move across town to live with Aunt Brenda (a peg- legged crazy cat lady) and worst of all - change schools and lose the special connection with his good friends. Solving this problem isn't easy when Charlie's nemesis, Dylan, is intent on unmasking Charlie despite Charlie's affinity with different helpful species like Jean Claude, the pigeon.
The first thing that hits you about Charlie changes into a T-Rex is Sam Copeland's conspiratorial writing style, which rapidly draws you in. While agreeing that there's a touch of Roald Dahl about his work, Copeland's writing is unique and cleverly-crafted. Firstly, the humour targets both children and adults, so while there is plenty of toilet humour, there is also a pop culture element that will make adults smile. This universal appeal reinforces that kids love to hear adults laugh just as much as we love to hear them laugh. An early highlight comes when Charlie discovers that his Cat, Chairman Meow, has a whole other life, in which he believes he has supreme power over his universe.
While this sequel is another split-your-sides-laughing kind of story, the humour has effectively been used as a mechanism for addressing childhood anxiety with the lightest of touches: a tricky issue to deal with at the best of times. Parents and educators all know that children can talk non-stop about a whole range of bizarre and wonderful things. However, they are not always so forthcoming about issues that worry them, and while this book isn't an authoritative source, it gently introduces the benefits of mindfulness and happiness and, of course, the power of friendship. Find out more about this talented author.
Deborah Robins

Red by Jed Alexander

Cameron Kids, 2018. ISBN: 9781944903114.
(Age: 3+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fairy tale, Wordless. A wordless take on the classic tale, Little Red Riding Hood, in which the Big Bad Wolf and other woodland creatures are planning something surprising sees Red scampering through the woodland, meeting the wolf and other creatures along the way. Children will tell her to be careful of the wolf, but a bigger surprise is about to happen. I love the wolf's body seen through the trees, and the red of the girl's cape contrasting with the black and white background, the small creatures welcoming her to the forest, readers needing to look closely at each page to spot them all. The image of an elderly comatose Grandma is turned around as the girl reaches Grandma's house and finds all the animals there waiting for her. The black, white and red illustrations beg the audience to add their own words. They will all know the original story but these illustrations will make them use their imaginations to build a new tale, one in which everything ends happily, wolf included, rather than his stomach filled with stones and drowned.
Fran Knight

Computer coding projects for kids by Jon Woodcock and Carol Vorderman

Dorling Kindersley, 2019. ISBN: 9780241317761.
(Age: 8-16) This is a visual step-by-step approach to split complicated code into manageable chunks, so that the most impressive projects become possible. Suitable for complete beginners, this book gives a solid understanding of programming, how to create their very own projects from scratch, and move on to more complex programming languages like Python. Difficult coding becomes easy and fun to understand using Scratch 3.0, the latest software from the world's most popular programming language for beginners.
'Make a Dino Dance Party or create your own electronic birthday cards. Build games, simulations and mind-bending graphics as you discover the awesome things computer programmers can do with Scratch 3.0.' (Publisher)
Donna Isgar

Miss Kraken by Nicki Greenberg

Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760637743.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Humour, Read aloud, School, Marine creatures. Kids will laugh out loud at this very funny look at a class's response when an unexpected teacher turns up for the new year. The children's faces show amazement as the large sea creature appears, their expressions at once wide-eyed, quizzical and a little concerned. But there Miss Kraken sits, nestled onto her eight tentacles at the front of the classroom, one leg having written her name neatly on the backboard.
And she is a cranky teacher, writing up an endless list of rules on the blackboard, confiscating all manner of things not allowed, her multiplicity of tentacles coming in very handy (whoops).
When she announces that they are to go on an excursion, the children are disconcerted; usually trips outside the classroom are fun, but with all the rules Miss Kraken imposes, they are not looking forward to their day out.
Greenberg uses pencil, ink and watercolour for her illustrations, using photography with digital drawing and collage to complete these eye popping illustrations.
Miss Kraken is a wonderful creature, her eyes peering out from the font cover, her tentacles spreading across many pages fulfilling a variety of tasks. The children's faces are a scream as they take in their new teacher, showing resignation at the regime imposed, concerned when they cannot find her at the aquarium, only to have their fears return when their replacement teacher shows up.
This is fun from start to finish, readers will love Miss Kraken, the tricks she can do, the fear she engenders and the search for a place to call home in the aquarium.
Touches about school life, new teachers and excursions are priceless, from the students' behaviour, the manager asking where their teacher is, the children changing from poorly behaved to concerned about losing the teacher, their eyes searching in the dark of the muted aquarium. Readers will love recognising the things they have done on excursions and search each watery page for the now elusive Miss Kraken.
The Kraken of mythology will intrigue readers who wish to delve further, and accessing this Kraken site will satisfy their curiosities and augment the fun they will have in reading this book. Scroll down for teacher's tips.
Fran Knight

Baby's first jailbreak by Jim Whalley

Illus. by Stephen Collins. Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN: 9781408891810.
(Ages 4+) Highly Recommended. Themes: Animals, Babies. Baby Frank is back. A hilarious follow-up to Baby's first bank heist, this wonderful rhyming story, is full of mischief and cute animals. It is so much fun to read aloud, the illustrations are brilliant, with lots of little details for young readers to spot.
Can Frank and the animals convince the visitors that they belong right where they are? The answer is both yes and no. But what happens finally, you'll have to discover, by getting your flippers, trunks, or other appropriate appendages on a copy of this chuckle-worthy book.
The storyline is great, as it gently introduces the downsides of performing animals, without coming across in a preachy form.
I have to say, this is one of the funniest picture book series, in recent years, with high hopes for more instalments of the adventures of 'Baby Frank'.
Donna Isgar

Petal and the really hard riddle by Kathryn England

Illus. by David Allan. Christmas Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780648194545.
(Age: 6-8) Themes: Fairy tales. Katherine England's beginning chapter book is based on the Rumpelstiltskin folk tale, one of the less familiar fairy stories. She follows the similar plot lines, reworking the ideas and introducing the cunning twin brother Riddlestiltskin who's up to the same old trickery as his brother.
Petal's father can't help boasting about his daughter, she is clever, grows the most gigantic pumpkins and can even juggle fiery torches hopping on one foot. Of course, when he boasts about Petal's ability to spin straw into gold, things come unstuck. The greedy king summons the girl and locks her in a room with a bundle of straw and a spinning wheel. Poor Petal is unsure about what to do next, when a little bearded man climbs in through the castle window.
He promises to fulfil the king's commands if Petal can answer all his tricky riddles. Luckily Petal has read 'The Giant Book of Riddles' from cover to cover.
David Allan's black and white sketches add liveliness to this easy to read chapter book. Katherine England's ending brings a new interpretation to this fairy story, one which adds a fun conclusion. Petal and the really hard riddle is an easy story tale for young readers.
Rhyllis Bignell

Where the river runs gold by Sita Brahmachari

Orion, 2019. ISBN: 9781510105416. 340p; p/b.
Shifa has to protect herself and her brother Themba as she finds out the unfortunate truth about her parentage and the controlling government she lives under in a world supposedly ravaged by an incredible storm. Characters are deep and well developed, with even the seemingly most antagonistic characters having a human side to them. The treatment of Themba's implicit neuro-divergence is fairly respectful. The plot is largely character-based at first, focusing on interactions in an oppressive society, but pivots to a sort of thriller action with escapes and secrets towards the end, in a way that is interesting and doesn't feel jarring, but the conclusion does feel a bit rushed and insubstantial.
The novel tackles a variety of themes, and handles them largely well. There is examination of the expression of creative freedom under an oppressive government as people struggle under ARK's 'freedom farms'. The populace is controlled through complete isolation from and lies about a better outside world, but people fight back with stories and artwork. Treatment of people with neuro-divergence and mental illness is also looked at, as Themba struggles to cope on the oppressive farms and everyone tries to deal with the old lady on the farm. At the core of the plot though, is environmentalism, with the world presumed to be after a mass extinction event and the protection of what natural life remains.
The novel takes place in the fictional 'Kairos Lands' with a vaguely futuristic technology level after recovering from a cataclysm. The setting is well established with some interesting, but not too intrusive, world building.
Vincent Hermann

George and the great brain swappery by Cal Wilson

Illus. by Sarah Davis. Scholastic, 2019. ISBN: 9781742762760.
(Age: 8+) Recommended. The Pepperton family are back in the follow-up to George and the great bum stampede, another humorous story by comedian, Cal Wilson.
The Peppertons are a quirky, energetic family. Mum is Professor Pippa Pepperton, an Inventor Extraordinaire. She is always making wacky inventions, so life for the Peppertons is never dull or ordinary.
This is a tale of Mum's newest wacky invention, a 'Brain Swapping Machine', its name giving an indication of the potential for causing havoc. When the machine is stolen by one of George's classmates, and taken on an excursion to the zoo, it's complete mayhem, as the animals and visitors, start behaving rather strangely. This is a tale about chaos.
This is a fun book for young readers, with creative interaction of text and illustrations, interesting fonts and the use of space. This is especially helpful for new readers, who may feel daunted by a full page of text.
Once again, great illustrations by Sarah Davis, that really add extra humor to the story.
Donna Isgar

Pig the tourist by Aaron Blabey

Scholastic, 2019. ISBN: 9781742994123.
(Ages: 3-8) Recommended. Themes: Rhyming story, Travel, Humourous story. Pig the pug is back and this time he's off on a worldly vacation. But he's causing trouble at every destination, with poor Trevor standing by unimpressed and at times distraught. The little details in the illustrations are sure to make kids and their grownups giggle; from Pig's doctoring of Trevor's passport on the endpapers to farting in his first class airplane seat, this is Pig as we know and love him. He is larger than life and more inappropriate and naughty than ever before. He hijacks a hot dog cart in New York, wees on a polar bear in the Arctic, knocks the head of a Sphinx in Egypt and lampoons koalas in Australia. And that's just for a start. 'Unbridled and vast was his need to offend. But every wild party must come to an end . . . Yes, if you treat locals with little regard, they'll come back to bite you . . . ' Yes, Pig meets an unfortunate end again. The rhyming and perfectly rhythmic text is rich and with that melancholic tone unique to Blabey's Pig stories. Lovers of Pig's previous escapades will be fans of his travel antics and Piranhas don't eat bananas fans will love to see the role the piranhas play in Pig's eventual comeuppance.
Nicole Nelson

Meet me at the intersection ed. by by Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina

Mika and Max by Laura Bloom

Walker Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781760651145.
(Age: 10-14) Highly recommended. Themes: Friendships; Neuro-atypical characters; Puberty; Coming-of-age. Mika is 13 years old. Her life is changing, her view of herself is shifting and there are pressures at home and in all areas of her life. Some of those pressures are the ones she puts on herself, but life seems to be getting harder and her family do not seem to help. Knowing who she is and even what she should wear, and the way she should behave and where she fits is causing her internal angst. Then she is expected to go to a music festival with her parents and stay with a family that she does not know! But on this weekend away she meets Max, a 10 year old who is non-verbal and on the Autism Spectrum. The festival presents opportunities for her to begin to show some independence, but her connection with Max shows her that friendship sometimes happens, even when you don't expect it. The link they forge though puts them into danger, but ultimately this is a story of discovery that goes beyond the stressful circumstances.
I was delighted that this story was able to reveal a window into the world of the family with a neuro-atypical child. The struggles and joys were there, but the realities were also exposed. Mika's family life was more typical, but it too showed that we can sometimes distress each other without meaning to. Her emotional growth was given a boost by connecting with the younger boy, Max. The drama within the coming-of-age story was compelling and quite exciting. This will be a book to recommend to young pre-teen and early teen readers; it is not difficult or long, but there is a gentle pathos that is appealing. Laura Bloom's own family circumstances have given her opportunity to create characters that are real and believable. Teacher's notes are available.
Carolyn Hull

The old lie by Claire G. Coleman

Hachette, 2019. ISBN: 9780733640841.
(Age: 15+) Recommended. Themes: Dystopia, Science fiction, End of the world, Refugees, Biological warfare, Dispossession, Stolen Generations. With excerpts from Wilfred Owen's poems as epigraph for the first chapter, and descriptions of soldiers struggling amid mud, barbed wire and corpses, the reader would be forgiven in initially thinking this novel is set in the trenches of World War 1, however, reading on, we discover that the action is taking place 'far from Country, trapped on a planet light years from Earth', and the soldier we have been reading about, Corporal Shane Daniels, is actually a woman (an Aboriginal woman), fighting a battle to protect the Earth and other planets of the Federation against attacks from the alien Conglomeration forces. The fearless and dashing fighter pilot, Romeo, with a reputation of being caught out in other people's beds, is also a woman - a clever reversal of stereotypes by the author Claire G. Coleman. Shane Daniels and Romeo are caught in a battle fought around space stations overrun with refugees, human and non-human, from planets in the Federation.
Other characters are on-the-run escapee, Jimmy; a strange malnourished waif, Itta; Walker, struggling alone in a desert somewhere; and Williams, a surgeon imprisoned in a laboratory cell. How their lives are connected is not revealed until the end. The common thread is the turmoil that has overtaken the Universe, the violence and suffering as beings are pitted against each other, the stampede of people fleeing danger, spaceships pitted in battle with space stations, and no safe haven anywhere. As we read on we gradually become aware of parallels with the current situation of refugees fleeing danger around the world, the use of biological warfare, past atomic testing on Aboriginal lands, Aboriginal soldiers denied recognition and rights on return from war, and children stolen from their parents. Coleman has found a highly original way to present themes from Australian history in a science fiction format that will engage readers who like that kind of exciting action drama.
Helen Eddy

Jinxed! The Curious Curse of Cora Bell by Rebecca McRitchie

Illus. by Sharon O'Connor. Angus and Robertson, 2019. ISBN: 9781460757642.
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Cora lives an ordinary life with her friend, Dot. Each day she leaves her house in the wall and goes out collecting bits and bobs, returning each night to share her finds with Dot who is no longer as agile. One day Dot asks her to find shoe polish and so Cora spends all day searching the city of Urt, running from scavengers and trappers and finally just as she loses hope she finds a tin of shoe polish and a wooden box. Cora opens the box and sets off a chain of events that lead her on a wild and magical journey away from Urt with the help of two fairies, Tick and Tock.
Cora's journey takes her to many magical lands as she attempts to escape from a furious warlock and a Jinx, find out who and what she is and discover where Dot is. Together with her fairy friends, Cora meets hobgoblins, trolls and many magical beings, some of whom are willing to help her, as she tries to escape the warlock and the Jinx and find herself.
This book is an easy read for competent younger readers with adventures, a couple of mild scary scenes, (but nothing that will lead to nightmares) and a great story line. The author has created a story that children will want to believe in and want to visit. Cora's backstory and the journey she takes in this book encourages children to think beyond themselves, wonder what life would be like if you didn't know who you were or where you fit and to imagine what life would be like if like Cora, you could only remember waking up with one eye and Dot looking after you.
My one gripe about the book is that it ends with "to be continued" which is also how the author ended her first book, Whimsy and Woe. I feel this is an unnecessary addition to the story as I felt that the characters had reached a conclusion. I look forward to reading more about Cora's adventures but felt that this made the story feel unfinished.
Mhairi Alcorn

I am so clever by Mario Ramos

Gecko Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781776572496.
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Fairy Tales, Red Riding Hood, Wolves. In a turned about version of Red Riding Hood, we have a wolf who thinks he is very clever, being outsmarted by the girl in the red cloak.
The story begins in the usual way with Red Riding Hood taking a basket of goodies to an ailing grandma on the other side of the woods. The wolf convinces her to tarry, picking flowers for grandma, while he scurries off to the house to eat her up and be ready for the little girl as dessert.
With Grandma nowhere to be seen, the wolf puts on her nightgown, taking her place in bed, ready to eat the girl when she appears. But first he must wipe away his paw prints from the doorway and when he goes outside to do this, the door slams and shuts him out.
He encounters the woodsman searching for his glasss, and spies the bears, three little pigs, a prince looking for Sleeping Beauty and seven dwarves off for a shower. He sees Red Riding Hood and tries to accost her but falls flat on his face, his feet tripping over the long nightogown, so breaking his teeth and leaving him with egg on his face. He is shamefaced, not eating the two people he expected to eat that day. Too clever for his own good.
This engrossing version of Red Riding Hood will have readers recalling other versions and telling their own stories about the characters met during the reading. I do like the inclusion of the other tales as background to the wolf's meanderings in the woods, and love the turn about of the original story. The illustrations will appeal to the readers, especially watching closely the various expressions on the wolf's face as he changes from a confident and clever wolf to one despairing, embarrassed wolf at the end.
Translated from Le Plus Malin (2011) I turned the page expecting a little more.
Fran Knight

The Astrid Notes by Taryn Bashford

Pan MacMillan, 2019. ISBN: 9781760552213. 337p; p/b.
As Astrid Bell, classical singer, secret pop songwriter, grapples with career-threatening stage fright, and Jacob Skalicky, Indie singer, loses his bandmates to a fatal accident, their paths intertwine as they help each other overcome their fear of falling into a forgettable life. The novel is massively character-driven, so having relatable leads is important, and Bashford fleshes them out perfectly. The consistent switches of perspective help highlight their different ways of seeing the same world. Some more minor characters are less fleshed out, as comes with a lack of 'screen-time', but even that can enhance the point sometimes, as you feel like you don't know anything about Jacob's absentee parents, just like him. It also seems that some other characters may be fleshed out more in a previous novel, without this one depending at all on having read it. This depth of character allows the novel's plot to flourish, as the reader is gripped by characters coping with their tumultuous lives.
The novel juggles its three themes of loss, parentage and ambition effortlessly, weaving them into each other to become more than the sum of its parts. The dual perspectives of the novel's leads allows for multiple valid takes on each, so it never fells like the reader is being judged for how they see things, but still allowing them to open their minds.
The story is set in modern-day Sydney, which isn't anything special - but that's exactly what's right to help the leader better relate to the characters and plot.
Vincent Hermann