Hot Key Books, 2015. ISBN 9781471403521
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. The Monkey's Secret is set in
San Francisco, 1900. Our main character is a strong-willed 13 year
old girl named Elizabeth. Elizabeth wants to be a scientist in an
era when girls are preened to grow up and get married. In this
setting, there are many Chinese immigrants who have created a
Chinatown. Even though Elizabeth's family is not wealthy, they do
have a Chinese cook and house keeper called Jing. At the same time,
rumours of the plague are going through the town and Chinatown is in
quarantine. Jing is missing and Elizabeth has discovered Jing's son
- Noah - hiding in Jing's room. Elizabeth is determined to help Jing
but what is this monkey's secret she has heard about? Where is Jing?
Can she keep Noah safe and a secret in her house?
This text is aimed at readers aged 11+ and is highly recommended.
Elizabeth is a strong female lead who models regularly that you
don't need to follow others, that it is good to think for yourself
and how important it is to put others first sometimes. The strength
of this young child going against the expected role of females is
inspiring. It would be interesting to read with older children and
using it to investigate any historical relevance, how friendships
develop and how roles have changed over time.
Kylie Kempster
Spider Sandwiches by Claire Freedman
Ill. by Sue Hendra. Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN 9781408852583
(Age: 2+) Recommended. Board book. Max is a little monster with an
appetite for strange and yucky things - he loves beetle biscuits,
glug slug milkshake, toenail scrambled eggs and many, many more
yucky things! The reader is taken through his day as he munches
gross food for breakfast, lunch (scrummy lice rice) and dinner as
well as the food he eats on a picnic (pickled worms and squashed fly
jam), what he finds in his recipe book and at the beach. But his
favourite food of all is spider sandwiches. And the reader has to
make a guess to see just what gross thing he will not eat for tea.
This is a very funny and engaging rhyming story that will have both
children and adults laughing out loud at the types of food that Max
eats. The reader would also have lots of fun making up foods of
their own when they have finished reading or listening to the story.
Spider sandwiches is also sure to be a winner read out loud
and newly independent readers would enjoy working out the story,
helped along by the alliteration and rhyming word endings.
The illustrations by Sue Hendra add to the appeal of the story. The
bright colours of many objects and Max who is portrayed as very
green, stand out against a black background. There are often funny
little labels on food packages like Go Rat on some rat poison and
grubs coming out of tomatoes that will entice the reader to look
more closely at the drawings.
Max is not a scary little monster; he has a big grin on his face
much of the time, especially as he consumes his weird diet and young
readers will certainly delight in his yucky ways.
Pat Pledger
What we left behind by Robin Talley
Harlequin Books, 2015. ISBN 9781743694275
(Age: 16+) Recommended for a mature 16 year old. Gender identity.
University and college students. What we left behind,
follows Toni and Gretchen, two girls who have had a perfect
relationship for two years and that will all change as they are
about to face going to college without each other. However it's not
long before they realise how hard it is to maintain a long distance
relationship. While Gretchen knows she's a lesbian, Toni is unsure
about her gender. She identifies as genderqueer, but hates labels.
At college Toni starts hanging out with a group of transgender
students that take her under their wing and help her realise that
she may feel more like a boy than a girl. Gretchen has always been
supportive of Toni being genderqueer, but as they grow further
apart, and more life changing decisions are made, Gretchen is left
feeling lonelier and lonelier.
As much as I liked the idea of this book, something left me
disappointed. I enjoyed the way it was written with alternative
points of view from both the main characters. I just didn't like the
character Toni evolved into or the relationships she shared.
Gretchen and the relationships she had with other characters from
college were really great and it was interesting to see the journey
they developed though out the book. Despite that I would recommend
this book for a mature 16 year old and would compare it to either
Robin Talley's other book Lies we tell ourselves or The
perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
Suggested reading age from 16 years of age.
Jody Holmes
A Lottie Lipton Adventure - The Curse of the Cairo Cat by Dan Metcalf
A & C Black, 2015. ISBN 9781472911780
(Age: 7+) Recommended. The Curse of the Cairo Cat is a short
mystery novel aimed at children aged 7+. Lottie Lipton lives with
her great uncle and calls the British Museum home. She loves the
museum and knows each room like the back of her hand. There is a new
Egyptian display and an infamous statue - The Cairo Cat - is the
main attraction. It is said there is a curse on this solid gold cat
and on the opening night of the display it goes missing. All that is
left is a clue in the form of a riddle. Lottie and her friends must
solve the riddle and find the statue or her uncle will be blamed. The Curse of the Cairo Cat is an excellent first novel for
newly independent readers as the story is short, fast moving and
descriptive. There are clues to solve and the readers are asked to
join in. The small black and white illustrations support the text
and at the back of the book readers will find a glossary to help
them understand new vocabulary. There is also a list of interesting
facts, another code to break and a maze. This is a great story for
bringing history to life.
Kylie Kempster
Cheeky Monkey: When I grow up by Lisa Kerr
The Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN 9781760067854
(Ages: 3-7) Recommended. This is a new addition to the very popular
Cheeky Monkey series. Available in hardback with thick card
pages, the book is durable for little hands, but will also interest
older children because of its 'when I grow up' theme. As with the
other Cheeky Monkey books, there are bright, engaging
pictures filled with little details and things to discuss. Children
will delight in finding all the little mice on every page and will
find new details in repeated readings. The story itself shows Cheeky
Monkey daydreaming about what special job he will have when he is
older. He contemplates many professions that he thinks might suit
him. He would make a fearless fireman and a patient policeman, and
he thinks he would look nice in a white doctor's coat. Some things
he thinks he might not be so good at . . . perhaps not a chef
because he only knows how to cook bananas. The story ends with a
nice message as Cheeky Monkey can't decide but is just happy being
himself for now and will worry about growing up later.
This fun book opens children's world up to the possibilities of
being a grown-up, as well as spring-boarding a conversation about
occupations and how we are all good at different things.
Nicole Nelson
Cut out by Jack Heath
Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781760111984
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Adventure, Spies, War. With all all
the razzle dazzle of James Bond and the swashbuckling heroics of
Errol Flynn, this story will grab readers, following Fero from minor
demonstrator in a far from democratic country, to arrest and
imprisonment. Mistaken for a super spy from their rival neighbouring
country and treated as such until someone from a secretive
department tells them that that person is already in jail, Fero's
plight will intrigue readers. From there fourteen year old Fero is
recruited and hurriedly trained to go to enemy territory and bring
back one of their own, about to be revealed as a double agent. He is
the only one who knows how to get into a disused hospital, the place
now under the control of terrorist threatening to blow it up along
with most of the city. Breathless excitement will keep readers
hooked, as Fero fights dangerous thugs, dodges bullets, rides a
motorbike over the heavily guarded and booby trapped border fence
and evades land mines. But once in the hospital, things heat up as
he must take incredible risks to fight off the gang filling the
disused train beneath the hospital with bombs.
But in going over the border he comes to realise that conditions
there are not what he has been led to believe, and begins in a small
way, to question his own regime. Intersecting layers of story,
humour and many unexpected twists will keep people reading and wait
eagerly for the second episode due out in 2016.
Fran Knight
Adults only by Morris Gleitzman
Penguin, 2015. ISBN 9780143308768
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Loneliness, Ghosts, Orphanages,
Islands. First published in 2001, this is a welcome reprint for
middle to upper primary school readers looking for a gently
entertaining story about one lonely boy. Gleitzman's technique of a
naive child in the centre of the story with things happening around
him somewhat out of his control works well as Jack on an island
where adult guests are promised a holiday without children, must
hide when visitors come along. But this only underlines his
loneliness and he determines to do something about it. He emails all
his School of the Air classmates, inviting them to the island, just
as a couple from a magazine join his parents for a few days. His
parents are hoping for a positive article leading to more guests so
alleviating their financial difficulties. But Jack keeps seeing a
young girl with a pink dress, and each time he tries to find her she
is gone. His only friend, his teddy bear, Crusher, does not know
what is going on either, as Jack tells him all.
In Gleitzman's recognisable brief paragraphs, Jack is drawn into the
world of the children who lived on the island many years ago,
incarcerated in an orphanage where their treatment sometimes led to
their deaths. When Jack realises that these children are ghosts, he
wants to find out more.
At the same time, Jack, convinced that his parents do not want him,
finds the truth about the photographs in the album, and when the
journalists come clean about their reason for being there, all is
resolved neatly and satisfyingly.
Fran Knight
Shadows of the Master by Emily Rodda
Star of Deltora series. Omnibus, 2015. ISBN 9781742990620
(Age: 10-13) Recommended. Themes: Adventure, Fantasy, Sailing,
Ships, Voyages and travels. Emily Rodda's Shadows of the Master
is the first much anticipated book in the new Star of Deltora
series. Set after the Shadowlands invasion, fifteen year old Britta
life is about to dramatically change. She has two paths to choose,
stay in hiding, helping her mother and sister working in their shop
or realise her dream of becoming a Trader, sailing on the Star of
Deltora across the nine seas. Eight years ago, Britta's father
deserted their family, left his ship and embarked on a dangerous
quest to find the magical Staff of Tier.
The time has finally come; Mab, the Trader Rosalyn has announced the
day of testing for trader apprentices - three teenage girls are to
be chosen to learn the trader craft aboard the Star of Deltora.
Britta's friend, retired Captain Griff enters her name. He's been
teaching her sailing and trading skills for years. Secretly she
leaves home against her mother's and sister's advice and heads for
the hall. She is competing against Vashti the daughter of a local
trader, Sky of Rithmere and tall, exotic Jewel from far away Broome.
The competition is tough, a written test, then interview, then the
finalists are sent out into the dark harbour streets to complete a
trading assignment. Britta's courage, determination and compassion
are qualities that help her succeed.
This is the beginning of an exciting new life for Britta, following
in her father's footstep, a trader's apprentice aboard the ship her
father captained. In the background, there are dark and mysterious
forces following the young girl.
Emily Rodda's Shadows of the Master novel is filled with the
promises of the exciting adventures to come. What will happen to
Britta and the crew in Two Moons?
Rhyllis Bignell
That's not mine by Anna Kang
Ill. by Christopher Weyant. Hodder, 2015. ISBN 9781444918328
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Ownership, Sharing. Two furry animals who
live in the same house, both want the same chair to sit in. When one
is sitting comfortably, the other remonstrates 'that's my chair',
with the emphasis on 'my'. When one moves away the other stakes his
claim and the never ending argument starts all over again. The
illustrations are full of wit and humour as the two fold their arms
and stare at each other, the one willing the other to move. The
simply drawn faces are full of life as they react to each other's
demands: every emotion can be read there, jealousy, ownership and
anger as the two quarrel over the chair.
Simple lines make the message very clear, the chair takes central
position on each page and the two animals stand out with their brown
and grey fur against the bright yellow of the chair cover.
Fighting over the chair escalates until they both fall over
together, and decide that enough is enough. But the twist in the
tale will have the readers laughing out loud as they see the
argument starting all over again.
Conflict resolution is at the heart of the story of two animals
fighting over the same thing, and this book could be a starting
point for class discussions about conflict between children,
ownership and resolution of problems.
Fran Knight
This little roo went to market ill. by Mandy Foot
Lothian, 2015. ISBN 9780734415981
(Ages: 2-5) This is a fun Aussie version of This little piggy
went to market in which Mandy Foot's illustrations take centre
stage. Sweeping green and brown drawings beautifully portray the
Australian outback with bright colours added within the animals
clothing and houses. The animals themselves are realistically drawn,
but with an added cuteness, and are humanised through their clothing
and the activities they are taking part in (painting, cooking,
cleaning). The pigs that inspired the tale have been replaced with
Australian native animals (kangaroo, quokka, crocodile, platypus)
and the story has been expanded to show that the other animals
didn't go to the market because they were busy preparing Roo's
surprise birthday party.
Large, bright text makes the story perfect for beginning readers as
well as for sharing aloud with younger children.
Nicole Nelson
The ratcatcher's daughter by Pamela Rushby
Angus & Robertson, 2014. ISBN 9780732297138
(Age: Yrs 8-10) Themes include: Black Death plague, girls and
education, the class system, government secrets, early Australian
history. Set in 1900 this story details the little known events of
the Black Plague outbreak in Brisbane. It follows the McKelvie
family through the voice of Issy (the second daughter). Issy, as is
expected during these times, is forced to leave school and find
employment. Her mother finds her a job at the home of the local
Funeral Director. She is not happy about leaving school as she has
been offered extra tuition by the teacher and believes that she
could be very successful if she could continue her education. Their
life is turned upside down with the death of a young man next door.
The family is thrust into quarantined for several weeks to ensure
that they also had not contracted the disease. Issy's father has a
pack of rat catching terriers and when he falls ill the job of
catching rats falls to Issy who is repulsed by the process.
The story explores in minor detail the life of a young girl during
this time, the outbreak of the plague and how the authorities deal
with the situation and relationships between the various class
structures during the early 1900's.
Wendy Rutten
Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti
Zeroes bk 1. Allen and Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781925266955
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Thriller. Super heroes. Six teenagers
have awesome super powers and when one of them gets into trouble,
the Zeroes pull together as a team to sort out some dangerous
criminals. Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that blurts out
things people often don't want to heart. The Voice has gotten him
into trouble when it divulged things about his four friends, and
they are not very keen on being his friend. However when Ethan comes
to grief during a bank robbery, they decide to come to his aid, and
in the process find Kelsie who can manipulate a crowd and who is
desperate to help her father who was involved in the robbery. Led by
Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's 'glorious leader' and ably helped
by Anonymous, the handsome boy that everyone forgets, Crash who can
wreck anything electrical and Flicker who can see through other
people's eyes, the Zeroes team face danger and adventure as they
chase the mob in an attempt to rescue Kelsie's father.
Written by three outstanding authors, Zeroes will
immediately grab the reader with its fast paced action and great
characters. Each of the six is so well described that it is easy to
become engaged with them, to see how they use their fabulous powers
but also to see their fears and weaknesses as well. Each chapter is
narrated by a different character who gives a description of the
action that is going on and the reader gains insight into how the
differing teens operate and feel.
This is a powerful combination of fantasy as the teens use their
superpowers and crime thriller as they chase the dangerous gang.
There are some explosive moments and thrills galore.
I really enjoyed this story - the rollercoaster action and the
characters' superpowers were gripping. Zeroes is a stand
alone novel in a trilogy and this makes it a winner for me. I will
be sure to pick up others in the series and look forward to more
adventures and fun.
Pat Pledger
Mister Cassowary by Samantha Wheeler
UQP, 2015. ISBN 9780702253881
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Cassowaries are unusual creatures and I admit
my understanding of them was very limited until I read this novel.
Samantha Wheeler weaves her knowledge of cassowaries throughout the
book and the reader learns about this strange creature along with
the main protagonist, Flynn.
Flynn has journeyed back to his deceased grandfather's banana farm
with his Dad in an attempt to clean up the property ready for sale.
From the beginning of the story it is evident that Flynn's dad is
apprehensive about the farm and scared of the cassowary bird.
Flynn discovers his grandfather's interest in the birds from books
and articles he finds in the house and becomes more and more worried
about a cassowary that his father struck with a car when they
approached the farm.
He also meets a local girl Abby who helps Flynn when he discovers
two seemingly unprotected baby cassowaries.
There are many mysteries and unanswered questions that Flynn wants
solved. How did his grandfather die? Why won't his father talk about
it? Why is his father so scared of the birds?
The story is well constructed and has a satisfying conclusion when
all the answers are provided and misinformation corrected. It is a
learning journey for both Flynn and his dad.
Facts about cassowaries and links to more information are provided
at the end of the book.
By the way don't confront a cassowary as they can kill you!
This book is recommended for children who enjoy animal stories and
students from 8 years and older.
Jane Moore
Historium by Richard Wilkinson and Joy Nelson
Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN 9781760068202
(Age: 8+) History, Museums, Civilisations. This large and imposing
(and heavy) book directs the reader to use it like a museum, opening
pages to the great civilisations of the world, using each section to
gain an overview of what is held in various museums reflecting that
group of people.
After a double page time line of the various great civilisations,
the curators (cute!) present the civilasations of Africa beginning
with a group of Stone Age tools from one million years ago. The book
moves on to several civilisations within the last two thousand years
leaving their mark with a glorious gold leaf rhinoceros and ivory
mask, before settling into the Egyptian period, better known to the
audience. Each page has wonderful illustrations drawn from original
photographs taken in various museums around the world, and several
paragraphs of information about the artifact, its date, its
importance and where it was found and is now housed.
Included are sections on America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and
Oceania before a detailed index and list of museums where the
artifacts can be seen.
I found this book fascinating to dip in and out of, but of necessity
its broad scope makes some of the information only a taste, leaving
me to search for more. Some civilisations are again only briefly
dealt with, whereas others more well known are given a greater chunk
of space. But as an introduction to the span of civilisations which
have preceded us, many of which do not get much cover in books about
ancient history, the book makes a wonderful appetiser, leading
children to think about what they are looking at and hopefully want
more.
Fran Knight
Dinosaur dump by Tim Miller and Matt Stanton
ABC Books, 2015. ISBN 9780733334634
(Age: 4-7) Recommended for those who like funny books about body
functions! A story about dinosaurs from the authors of The fart
monster, Dinosaur dump is another humorous book that
is sure to appeal to young children who will love the funny verses
and wide-eyed dinosaur characters that all use a giant loo with
disastrous consequences.
The story is written in funny verse, in bold black type that is easy
to read and will stay in children's minds as they re-read the book: It was a simple life,
But they had a GIANT loo.
It was way up on the hilltop
And today it had a queue. . .
Miller and Stanton are on a winning formula with this book. The
verse is great for adults to read aloud and for children to chant
along with them, predicting the text, and of course the toilet
humour is just what this age group, especially boys, love.
The illustrations are a great accompaniment to the story making the
different dinosaurs quite distinct, but also very amusing. I loved
the illustration of Tash the pterodactyl who dive-bombed the
mountain loo with a disastrous splashback!
Pat Pledger
