The witching hour series. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2017. ISBN
9781760129255
(Age: 12+) Vampires, horror, Storytelling, Romania, Family. The
professor and his family are holidaying in Romania, the traditional
home turf of Dracula, and Anna the seasoned storyteller cannot help
but make up stories about vampires, using her younger brother, Max
as one of the characters. Transylvania is the perfect setting for
this the first in a series, called The Witching Hour, soon
to be followed by number two, The troll heart.
A classic horror opening sees the family driving through heavy rain,
being forced to take shelter in a remote inn, hemmed in on all sides
by forest. Of course, the inn keeper's name is Mrs Dalca, and she
looks like a witch giving them garlicky stew from a cauldron. The
professor leaves the two children while he goes off to work in the
library, and while left alone they meet the innkeeper's
granddaughter, Isabella.
Playing hide and seek with Isabella sees Max taken by a creature
with glowing eyes and Anna must go to the rescue.
The here and now is augmented with familiar vampire images: garlic,
fairies, blood drinking, ruined castles, mutterings and bears and
wolves, all adding to the fun of this book, with readers recognising
stock inclusions in vampire stories. There are witty touches
paralleling familiar fairy tales and some totally gruesome scenes to
add to the fun.
First in a series about a brave pair of siblings and their dreamy
father.
Fran Knight
How to hypnotise a droid by Joshie Lefers
Hectic Electric series. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2017. ISBN
9781760128005
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Themes: Science fiction, Androids, Humour.
Joshie Hectic, also known as 'Hectic Electric' cannot resist opening
the box marked 'Top Secret' which arrives at his house one morning
at breakfast time. He doesn't quite bring all the troubles of
history on his head, but he certainly makes some people very angry.
And this means trouble.
Head of the Robotics Institute Joshie's mum is convinced that the
droid inside the box is the answer to all her babysitting problems.
Joshie's father is unable to babysit as he has been hit by
lightning, the same lightning strike singeing Joshie's hair. But
Joshie doesn't want a babysitter. His dog, Frenchy and best friend
Pops, will be able to babysit for his mum. But when mum finds out
that he has opened the box, he is worried about her reaction and
wants Pops to hypnotise the droid to avoid any confrontation.
Fast paced, energetic writing combined with a comic illustration
style is emphasised with 'explosive' fonts amongst its easily read
large print size. A highly appealing book, this is the first in a
series, about a boy who cannot help staying out of trouble. Three
more books will be published shortly, adding to the easily read,
high octane and funny stories of this singular boy.
Fran Knight
Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (kind of) by Liz Pichon
Tom Gates book 13. Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781742768779
(Age: 7-11) Recommended. Themes: Families. Grandparents. School life.
Liz Pichon's extremely popular Tom Gates returns with another
humorous diary, exploring the difficulties of his school and family
life. Granny Pet and Granddad Joe - Mum's parents have just returned
from their world travels after seven years. The Wrinklies as Tom
calls them, have mastered yoga in India, can converse in four
languages and have surprise gifts for their grandchildren. Granny
Pet gives Tom a fabulous digital watch with animal noises for the
alarms. This is just perfect for scaring his sister Delia and making
inappropriate noises at school.
School for Tom continues to be a series of problems, awkward
situations and embarrassing moments. Why hasn't he received an
invitation to Julia Morton's birthday party, everyone else has?
There is his failed spelling test, even after study club and the
embarrassment of long hair, even his teacher comments on his need
for a haircut. Of course, he ends up going to Hairtastic where
Granny Mavis has her hair done. The stylist snips away until poor
Tom ends with a super short cut and has a photo of his new hairdo
displayed in the window.
Julia's party at the boating lake is a series of comic events.
Marcus and Tom haphazardly paddle around the lake on a beakless bird
boat (more like a giant worm), and become stranded on a small island
attacked by hungry birds. After lunch Tom is last to hold the
petting zoo animals, no fluffy rabbits for him, just a smelly
armadillo! Of course, nothing is ever straightforward and his life
often seems unfair. The family outing to Crambly Castle proves to be
a day filled with expensive disasters and Tom returns too late to
attend the school disco.
Liz Pichon's Tom Gates series is perfect for reluctant readers who
enjoy stories told through visual presentations, cartoons, doodles
and sketches. The minimal text is presented in a variety of formats,
styles and sizes, handwriting, bubble writing, emphasized words,
block writing and words made out of patterns. Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (kind of) is another fun addition
to the popular Tom Gates books, recommended for a readers from 8-11.
Rhyllis Bignell
Icky-foodia: The ultimate guide to disgusting food by Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly
Penguin Random House, 2017. ISBN 9780143784388
(Age: 9+) Icky-foodia: The ultimate guide to disgusting food
is the second alphabetical guide book by Australian comedy duo The
Listies. I started with the blurb and didn't know whether to laugh
or grab a bucket in preparation! "It's a CROOKBOOK full of
INGROSSIENTS to make every kid into a DISASTERCHEF. It contains
smelly and just plain horrible words, scribbles, COOKING
DESTRUCTIONS and a guide to the world's worst RESTAURWRONGS." It
really was true to this interesting introduction. Every page has
small snippets of information about either an actual food or a made
up food that is purposefully disgusting, vomit inducing or just
plain wrong. The pictures add to the atheistic and ensure that the
reader really gets a good mental picture of what they are reading
about.
This book, while not so great for those with a weak stomach, would
be awesome for a reluctant reader who enjoys laughing about bodily
functions and anything gross. The small pieces of information would
mean that they don't get bored or fatigued and enables them to
remember the grossest segments to relay to unsuspecting family
members or friends. My son and I found quite a number of things
funny; Feeta Cheese anyone? Or how about a nice Devonshire Wee! The
puns and jokes keep it at a light read, while still providing a
small amount of literary merit.
Although it is an alphabetical guide, it is the perfect book to just
pick up, flick to a random page and read something funny. This
aspect would appeal to readers who are struggling to find books they
want to read front to back, and also those who find it hard to
engage and relate to entire story. Icky-foodia: The ultimate guide to disgusting food would be
suited to children (specifically boys) of ages 9 and upwards, and
would make a great birthday or Christmas gift!
Lauren Fountain
Facing the flame by Jackie French
Harper Collins, 2017. ISBN 9781460753200
(Age: 15+) Set in the 1970s, this story continues the 'Matilda saga'
about a family and community set in the town of Gibber's Creek in
the New South Wales high country.
When bushfire threatens, all members of the community pitch in to
fight desperately to protect life and property. The nightmarish
terror of a firestorm driven by high winds and massive fuel loads,
tearing through forests and communities on multiplying fronts is
described well.
The acts of valour and sacrifice demonstrated by desperate people,
some of whom have lost everything but who continue to labour for
days in hellish conditions are authentic depictions of what is a
frightening reality for many rural Australians.
Unfortunately this novel does not stand alone well and my impression
is that it is expected that readers are familiar with all the other
previous works in the series. Relationships between family members
and community identities are poorly explained and in my view, too
many characters are involved in an unnecessarily busy and overly
long prelude to the main action. The inclusion of strong, female
characters is refreshing and I liked the fact that these differed
from the usual lazy presentations of beautiful young women as
central characters. In this story, the wisdom and experience of age
is valued, intelligence and compassion is celebrated and the
capacity of people with disabilities to contribute to the community
is presented.
What made me uncomfortable was that at times, characters were almost
caricatures in the sense that they appeared to be an overly romantic
and maudlin vision of what country people are like. I felt that the
link to Banjo Paterson's works was too obvious and a little garish,
with an ancestor named Matilda, a matron named Clancy and a woman
known as 'Nancy of the Overflow'. Choosing to assign the surname
'Kelly' to one side of the family also appeared to lack imagination
and naming an important character 'Scarlett O'Hara' seemed too much
until a handsome young man called 'Alex' who was descended from the
Romanov family appeared.
The bravery and stoicism of those facing the infernos and the
kindness and generosity of the community's response to the tragedy
were aspects worthy of presentation in this novel. To that extent,
the author succeeded. Unfortunately I felt that some depictions of
characters and subplots were a bit silly and this detracted from the
overall story which doesn't seem to meet the high standard normally
associated with Jackie French.
Rob Welsh
Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408880975
"Norman had always been perfectly normal. That was until the day he
grew a pair of wings!
He had imagined growing taller or even growing a beard like his dad,
but not growing a pair of wings!
Norman is very surprised to have wings suddenly - and he has the
most fun ever trying them out high in the sky. But then he has to go
in for dinner. What will his parents think? What will everyone else
think? Norman feels the safest plan is to cover his wings with a big
coat.
But hiding the thing that makes you different can prove tricky and
upsetting." The coat became a burden, even an embarrassment and
Norman began to resent the wings until he realised it was the coat
making him unhappy, not the wings. After all, no-one else has wings,
so why him? Can he find the courage to discard the coat? What does
he discover when he does? In this poignant story about being
different, Percival has set the text against striking backgrounds of
various shades of grey depicting normal and dull while giving Norman
bright colour and light so that his feelings of being unique are
highlighted physically as well as emotionally. He has also chosen to
depict a diversity of characters, each unique in their own way and
each of whom accept Norman as normal, so really, what does "normal'
mean?
For a wonderful part of their lives, children don't see difference
and they just love who they are but then awareness starts to develop
and they start to see themselves with new and often unkind eyes.
They want nothing more than to be the same as their peers, to not
stand out, to be normal and anything that makes them unique, whether
it is skin colour, wearing spectacles, being an only child or
growing a set of wings, becomes a burden that they would rather not
carry. But the freedom when the coat is shed...
Accepting and celebrating who we are and what we are, especially
those things that make us special and unique is so important for our
mental health and at last, we are starting to understand that the
self-talk and messages we give ourselves as we interpret our
interactions and experiences as a child can have an incredible
impact on the well-being of our older selves. The more children can
encounter books like Perfectly Norman and discuss them so
they understand that there is no 'normal' or 'perfect' the healthier
they will be. It is our responsibility as teacher librarians,
teachers and other significant adults in their lives to make sure
they meet lots of Normans and not only grow to love their own wings
but to use them to fly!
Barbara Braxton
Tintinnabula by Margo Lanagan and Rovina Cai
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2017. ISBN 9781742975252
(Age: 10+) Recommended. In this picture book for older readers,
Margo Lanagan takes a young woman on a journey to Tintinabula in
times of stress and distress. In wild times and in wartime,
in times of fear and illness, I go
to Tintinnabula, where soft rains fall.
Tintinnabula is a story about moving from discomfort to peace,
from violence and uncertainty to a still, sure place.
It reminds us that our best friend in hard times
can often be ourselves. (Back cover)
The reader is carried along with the young woman in the story as she
flees the vision of monsters in a red background. She moves through
windswept trees, past ruins and devastated lands until she finally
reaches a quiet place where the grass is green and silver rains
fall. The term Tintinabula means small tinkling bells and the young
woman follows their sound to find that final good place that she
needs.
Rovina Cai has produced memorable illustrations which swirl and
twirl, brilliantly showing in reds the fear and need of the woman as
she tries to find a peaceful spot to rest from the violence that
surrounds her. This locale is depicted in greens and pale yellows,
and the end paper finally has a glow of brighter yellow, leaving the
reader with the notion that things can be brighter.
The idea that people in trouble can find a peaceful place within
themselves is one that will resonate with readers and will be a
comfort to those who are having problems, be they ones of mental
illness or of war and violence. The ideas are complex and the book
would be best suited to adults and teens or used by an adult with
upper primary children.
Pat Pledger
A tangled tale of tagliatelle by Yves Stening
Ill. by Nigel Buchanan. Dinner Detectives series.
PublishCreative books, 2017. ISBN 9780648008712
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Humour, Pasta, Italy, Marco Polo.
Clementine and her little brother, Aksel love food, and when a new
girl, Sophia, moves into the street, they play football with her.
She asks them to lunch and once inside her house, find that her
father is making pasta.
When the children ask where pasta comes from this gives rise to the
Dinner Detectives sleuthing the answer. In a bright and breezy
style, the story of pasta coming to Italy and being developed as the
food for which Italy is known unfolds.
From the funny map of Italy, showing its resemblance to a boot, with
the main town of Bologna clearly shown, the story of Marco Polo and
his eventful journey to China hundreds of years ago is told. One of
the things he brought back to Italy, were the noodles eaten by the
Chinese people. Once back home in Italy, the idea of noodles took on
a life of its own, and the basic pasta was expanded from the plain
long strings to all different shapes and sizes.
Any child reading this book will learn the story of pasta and its
association with Italy and they will want to try the recipe for
themselves, handily included at the end of the book. Through the
book, readers will see how pasta is made as Sophia's father uses his
pasta machine. They will see the different types of pasta and be
able to learn their names, and be intrigued by the journey of Marco
Polo.
This is the second in the series called Dinner Detectives,
the first being, A
fearsome beast and a dumpling feastby the same
authors.
Fran Knight
The cute friend by Kim Kane
Ill. by Jon Davis. Ginger Green, Playdate queen series.
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2017. ISBN 9781760129613
(Age: 5-8) Recommended. Themes: Friendship. Problem solving. Ginger
Green is the playdate queen but runs into trouble when she spends
time playing with new school friend Daya. They get on well but when
they go into the kitchen they find that baby of the family remains
nude while everyone else is clothed, the reason Ginger thinks Daya
is cute, becomes obvious. Daya's smallness is pointed out as each of
the girls liken her to the baby's size and stature, wanting to lift
her as they would the baby. Daya is unimpressed. This happens
several more times, Daya's size and therefore cuteness being
commented upon until she takes a stand. Ginger is a most
resourceful young girl and runs to her room to bring out her dolls
and plays with Daya and her dolls until the problem is smoothed
over.
This is a gently humorous story that will appeal to children who are
just moving from picture books to chapter books. The dilemma of a
misunderstanding looms large until the problem is solved neatly and
in a way that would give children hints on how to handle difficult
social situations. Readers who enjoyed this will be happy to find
other books about Ginger Green and will delight in the cute
illustrations of the little foxes in clothes (except for one!)
Fran Knight
Sky by Ondine Sherman
The Author People, 2017. ISBN 9781925399189
(Age: 14+) Everything happens so fast for Sky after the death of her
mother. She leaves her home and friends in the city to live in the
country with an aunt and uncle she barely knows and suffers the
anguish of trying to fit in at a new school.
When Sky moved to the country, she wanted to fit in, to belong and
find a place. This meant sacrificing and putting on hold some of her
beliefs until she could find her personal comfort zone, in both her
new family and at school. When she began to feel that life was
settling into a rhythm she could cope with, Sky becomes overwhelmed
by challenging emotions at the same time as taking a stand against
animal cruelty.
I tried to empathise with her because losing your sole parent and
leaving your childhood home and friends is horrendous, but I found
the character that Ondine Sherman had created emotionally
under-developed. The character was not written with enough realism
for me so I felt Sky's erratic moments were too far-fetched to make
the story an enjoyable and believable read.
All this being said, Ondine Sherman has a comfortable and easy
writing style and there are important messages Ondine wants to share
about family, coming of age, standing up for what we believe in and
love . . . love of yourself, love of family and the awkwardness of
young romance.
This book will open your eyes to the lengths businesses will go in
making profit but unfortunately I felt that the author had a point
to make and was forcing me to accept this point of view instead of
letting the story help the reader come to the same realisation.
Ondine Sherman is a dedicated to the protection of animals and
passionate about promoting respect and compassion for all creatures.
In Sky, Ondine has woven special mention of one of
Australia's leading animal protection groups, Voiceless, founded by
Ondine and her father in 2004; and Franimals, Ondine's social-media
platform, a popular community for animal-loving teens across the
world. For extension activities there are teachers'
resources at Allen and Unwin.
Sharon Smith
Koala Bare by Jackie French
Ill. by Matt Shanks. Angus and Robertson, 2017. ISBN 9781460751619
(Age: 4-9) Koala Bare is the latest book from the excellent
author of the Diary of a Wombat series, Jackie French. It
follows the tale of a koala who is trying its best to convince the
bird (that I figure is on the committee for the provision of actual
bears) that it is actually NOT a bear - like most people thought.
Each page shows another type of bear and why Koalas don't fit into
the category. I love the illustrations by Matt Shanks, he uses water
colours that stand out on the white background and draw your eye
into the funny happenings of the bears around them (I personally
like the fishing polar bear and the panda bear at the bamboo
restaurant).
The rhyme is nice and short, and uses coloured and enlarged text to
enable the reader to add sounds, tone and expression to the story.
This book could very easily be used as the centrepiece for learning
around bears/animals/Australian animals, habitats, homophones, text
types and rhyming. I think it would be a wonderful resource for a
reception class to use and study.
This book could also be read to children up to the age of 8 or 9.
Overall this is another great title in the Jackie French collection
that will be on the shelves of many libraries and in many homes in
the near future!
Lauren Fountain
M is for mutiny: History by alphabet by John Dickson
Ill. by Bern Emmerichs. Berbay Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9780994384119
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Themes: Australian history. Aboriginal
themes. First Fleet. A different view of Australia's history is
presented in this intriguingly illustrated picture book, with
information to hold readers' attention and drawings that will make
the eye linger on each page.
An alphabet book, the first double page entitled, 'A for
Acknowledgement', is devoted to the first people who lived in this
land. Following is 'B for Banks the Botanist' who accompanied
Captain Cook in his explorations of the southern lands. The text
gives information about this scientist and his place in our history
while the illustrations shows some of the plants he is known for,
adapting the local Aboriginal name for their classification. And 'C
is for Captain Cook', while 'F is for First Fleet', 'M for Mutiny',
'R for Rum Rebellion', 'S for Sheep', so offering few surprises with
information given about known events in Australia's early history.
Where this departs from the expected is the emphasis given on how
the indigenous people were affected by this incursion. So we have 'L
for Land Rights', 'Q for Questionable Acts', 'T for Terra Nulius',
'U for Uproar', and 'Y for Yemmerawanne', while several of the other
pages include information about Australia's Indigenous population.
An alphabet book trying to achieve a 'history by alphabet' is by
necessity very selective, having only 26 headings to use, but this
book has selected a number of events normally not included in
history books, so offering a differing view of our past, one which
readers will recognise alongside learning something new.
Told in a chatty style, each paragraph is enough to engage and
delight while offering snippets of funny information kids love to
read.
References to other events, for example Mabo, gives readers
something more to research, while some themes - Women, Crime and
punishment, Treatment of the Indigenous people - will impel readers
onto to fields beyond this book.
The startling illustrations were developed by painting onto ceramic
tiles which are then photographed. The detail is astounding and
infectiously fascinating, the detail quite extraordinary, making
this a book to pore over. The naive style is reminiscent of early
pottery. The endpapers list all the people of the First Fleet, some
named, most left with a number, underlining the lack of importance
given these people by those who sent them to Australia. In a
classroom, it would be fun to envisage what the students would have
included as their letters.
Fran Knight
My magical life by Zach King
Puffin Books, 2017. ISBN 9780141387574
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. My magical life is a new
series by author Zach King and he also just happens to be the star
of the book. Zach is 11 years old and comes from a magical family.
The opening pages of the book are like a photo album, showing
colourful, cartoon style pictures of the characters you will meet
throughout the story. Zach is in year 7 but is homeschooled. He has
the chance to attend public school when his parents realise he might
not have magic like the rest of his family. They hope a change of
scenery might help Zach find his special magic object and then his
magic.
When a magic trick at school brings Zach to the forefront of
popularity, his path crosses mean girl Tricia. Zach doesn't even
know how he did it but it is all over social media. Thankfully, Zach
makes quick friends with Aaron and together they try and use Zach's
magic to become more popular. When Zach discovers two caps that help
him channel his magic, hilarious moments and detentions occur. Can
Zach get back at Tricia and teach her a lesson? What does a locker
full of chocolate pudding and an alligator in the principal's office
got to do with it all? My magical life is an excellent mix of drama and comedy. It
is a novel with comic style images and readers will related to
Zach's issues and life at school. They will get a laugh out of
Zach's antics and the text will engage readers throughout the story.
Zach is a great role model for children - a bit naughty, a good son,
a good friend and all about being supportive to everyone. My
magical life is highly recommended for boys aged 9+ but will
be enjoyed by all readers.
Kylie Kempster
Agent Nomad: Deadly magic by Skye Melki-Wegner
Random House Australia, 2017. ISBN 9780143780403
(Age: 14+) Deadly magic is the second book in the riveting
Agent Nomad series by Australian author Skye Melki-Wegner.
I was impressed by Skye Melki-Wegner's first book in this series,
confident that the next book would see the author honing her writing
skills. In the first of the series, The eleventh hour, my
enjoyment was minutely affected by the momentum of the story and
the minimal character development. These downfalls were not evident
in this second book. Deadly magic provides more insight into
the characters and skilful technique in allowing events to build the
story.
Our feisty and independent protagonist, Natalie Palladino, is nearly
16 years old now, and she has found a growing strength in her role
as Nomad, a rare witness in the world of magical secret agents known
as HELIX.
After the exciting adventure and personal discoveries of the London
mission in The eleventh hour Nomad, Riff, Phoenix and Orbit
are itching to leave training behind and go out into the field
again. Their chance comes when all the cadets are sent to New
Zealand for their annual camp and our team is put in charge of
investigating a mysterious death with strict instructions to not get
involved. After solving ingenious clues, the cadets find
communication with their senior supervisors compromised and, being
isolated from help, they now have crucial decisions to make.
Skye Melki-Wegner cultivates the teen topics that were touched on in
The eleventh hour. We see how the team has further developed
their skills in collaboration, not just within their own close-knit
group but by allowing others to influence and guide their choices. A
fast read with gripping adventure and compelling friendships. Once
again there is a twist to the plot I did not see coming and I look
forward to the next instalment.
Sharon Smith
Undercover princess by Connie Glynn
Rosewood Chronicles book 1. Penguin, 2017. ISBN 9780141387567
(Age: 11-14) Themes: Fantasy. Boarding school. Princesses. Connie
Glynn's debut novel Undercover princess takes inspiration
from her love of Disney princesses and their stories. She shares
this on her popular Noodlerella vlog and YouTube channel. This
fantasy adventure story uses recognisable Young Adult literary
tropes, well-known character types and settings, typical plot
points and twists, and the prescient struggle of good and evil. Her
familiar settings include an elite boarding school with its secret
magical qualities and the old bakery where the orphan protagonist
lives with her uncaring stepmother. Of course, there is a defiant
princess from the magical kingdom of Maradova, who rebels against
her royal destiny allowing Lottie to fulfil her dream of being a
princess.
Lottie Pumpkin has studied incredibly hard to win a bursary to
prestigious Rosewood Hall in spite of her difficult home life.
Before her death, Lottie's mother has instilled in her a sense of
self worth, with the mantra "I will be kind, I will be brave, I
will be unstoppable." Meanwhile Princess Eleanor (Ellie) Wolfson of
Maradova, finally has been allowed to leave her own country and
attend the same school, in fact she is Lottie's roommate. Following
a huge mix-up, Lottie takes on her royal role allowing Ellie to
enjoy a normal life. There are the familiar highs and low of school
life, friendships, bullying, secret messages to solve, as well as a
quick trip to Maradova for Lottie to take on the role of portman, or
undercover princess.
The text ranges from simplistic to extremely expressive, while the
characters need more depth and back-story. Several scenes are
somewhat confronting and more suited to a teen audience. This novel
is the first in the Rosewood Chronicles series written for
young teen fans that enjoy the fantasy genre.
Rhyllis Bignell
