Reviews

Bindi wildlife adventures by Chris Kunz and Jess Black

Monkey Mayhem ISBN 978 1 86471855 3), Lost (ISBN 978 1864718546), Mission: Climate change (ISBN 9781 864718577), A giant rescue (ISBN 978 864718560), Random House, 2011.
The first 8 books of the series: Bindi, Wildlife adventures were published in 2010, and now four more have followed. Each book is a short story complete in itself, with Bindi as a wild life conservation sleuth, protecting animals that are in some danger. These four latest stories (each a refreshingly modest $9.95) take us to Kakadu where she rescues a lost tourist, Madagascar where she helps run an ecolodge, then off to Cambodia to work with a conservation group helping save the elephants and finally to Finland where she works with several people including a climate change expert, a professor, who disappears.
Each of the stories is presented in large print with repetitive illustrations denoting a chapter change, and is introduced with a letter from environmentally aware Bindi, closing off each book with 4 pages of information and activities. As a group of books to have in the library or classroom, they promote environmental awareness and conservation; give information about endangered animals and what people are doing about them, as well as providing activities with which to follow up each story. At times didactic, they are not overpoweringly so and neither do they hit the reader over the head with a viewpoint and information, but lead the reader through a story which has an environmental consciousness.
Fran Knight

Tell me a dragon by Jackie Morris

Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2010. ISBN 9781845075347.
Jackie Morris writes on her website , ' One day someone asked me, if I had a dragon, what would it be like. I realized that almost every day it would be different. Some days I would like a big dragon to fight battles for me, sometimes a small dragon to curl around my ear and tell me stories'.
With few words and lyrical illustrations, Morris has built up a gallery of the most wonderful dragons in every size and shape. They range from tiny little dragons, resembling dragonflies that can be found in a garden, to a fierce brown urban dragon, ready to take on the dangers of the city. Each dragon has its own mystical, unique character. Often ridden by equally fabulous people, and drawn in beautiful watercolours, the dragons soar across the sky, race dolphins in the sea and stride across land. One even guards the door while a young child sleeps.
The artwork is superb and an examination of each picture stimulates the imagination and leads the reader off to wondrous worlds of the mind. The concluding double page spread gathers all the dragons together and asks readers to tell about their dragons. This challenge is sure to be taken up by readers and could lead to some stimulating discussion, writing and drawing of their own.
This exquisite book is on the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal longlist, 2011.
Pat Pledger

Bloody Valentine, a Blue Bloods novella by Melissa de la Cruz

Atom Books, 2010. ISBN 978 1907410208.
(Age: 13+) Recommended. As Schuyler tries to arrange her bonding to her true love Jack, she runs into some trouble with her enemies, Venators, who tell or rather show her that one of her best friends is being held captive by them. But with her beau in Italy and no way to contact him, she has no one to help her save her friend.
This book was intriguing, and for me was an easy read. I managed to read it in only a few short hours and was captivated by the amount of love the author could put into such a short book. I love how Melissa writes; I've already read a few of her books and have loved them as I have this one. I would really recommend this book if you were going on a long drive on taking a trip on a plane for a few hours, as the book is small, light and a wonderful read. I think that almost everyone will love this book as it has romance, fantasy and fighting in it. Overall, it's a great fiction novel that you can take anywhere, for anyone.
Taylor Oxenham (14, student)

Out for blood by Alyxandra Harvey

Drake Chronicles. Bloomsbury, 2010. ISBN 9781408807064.
(Age 14+) Recommended. The third in the Drake Chronicles, Out for blood relates the story of Hunter Wild and Quinn Drake. Hunter is a highly trained vampire hunter attending the prestigious Helios-Ra Academy. She is a friend of Kieran, who first appeared in My love lies bleeding, and through her association with him gets to learn about the vampires in the Drake family and becomes more tolerant of them. When Hunter meets Quinn she develops a crush him even though she knows he is a vampire and a boy who plays the field. Also she is going to make some hard choices regarding her loyalty to the vampire hunters and her grandfather as strange things begin to happen at the Academy. Vampires are attacking in increasing numbers and students are falling ill. With the aid of her friends she has to uncover the mystery surrounding the Academy.
Harvey has written an engrossing story. Her series is very clever as she concentrates on the story of one Drake brother in each book and this makes for a series that is not just more of the same. Each has a distinct and quite different personality and the girls that they attracted to are very strong in their own right. Although it would be better to start at the beginning of the series, all the books could be read as stand-alones. There is enough background and character development to remind the reader of what went before and the detailed Drake family tree at the beginning of the book is very helpful in tracing relationships.
Hunter is a strong heroine who uses all her fighting ability skillfully, but who is prepared to be open minded in her dealings with the Drake family. Quinn is a charmer and the romance between the two is handled with a deft hand. Hunter's intelligence shines through as she tries to work through the maze of clues about who is jeopardizing the Academy. I enjoyed the witty dialogue and sarcasm in the book and look forward to the next installment in the series.
Pat Pledger

Samantha Seagull's sandals by Gordon Winch

Ill. by Tony Oliver. 25th anniversary edition. New Frontier, 2010. ISBN 9781921042591.
(Age: 3-6) Recommended. Samantha Seagull longed to be different. Even though wise old Hector the Hermit Crab assured her that she would be different one day, she decided she couldn't wait. She thought that wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes would make her different, but she sank into the sand and got stuck. Her friend Simon had to help her out. When all the other gulls laughed at her she started to blush and 'her bill went red, the rings around her eyes went red, her legs and feet went red.' Each pair of shoes that she tried turned out to be a problem and finally she had to accept herself as she was.
This wonderful story about silver gulls has been in print for 25 years and rightly so. Both the story and the illustrations are excellent. Children will relate to the humour in the problems of Samantha and her many pairs of shoes, but also will identify with Samantha's need to be different.
Tony Oliver's beautiful illustrations, using watercolour with black outlines, add depth to the humour and interest of the book. The detailed drawings of the seaside, shells, sand and sea are beautiful.
Information about silver gulls and the fact that their beaks, legs and eye rings turn from green to red when they reach puberty is contained at the back of the book. It is sure to have children, who live near the sea, watching seagulls to see if they can spot one with red legs.
Pat Pledger

Savannah dreams by Lolla Stewart and Elaine Russell

Little Hare books, 2011. ISBN 978 1921714030.
(Ages 3-9 ) Recommended. Aboriginal themes, Savannah and her family go out from Sunday to Saturday collecting bush tucker. Each day they go to a different place, the river, the sea, the bush, the mangroves, the billabong, the hills behind the community and the community store. Each time every member of the family finds something to take back to eat, except for Savannah. Dad finds 5 things, mum finds four things, her sister finds three, and her brother finds two. Each brings back something for the family to share, but Savannah always finds one thing discarded and inedible.
Elaine Russell's striking illustrations show the reader the bush tucker the family gathers, and also the pieces of junk that Savannah finds. Savannah tells her family that each piece of junk she finds is part of a monstrous barramundi, and at the end when the family comes together to feast on what they have found, Savannah shows all her pieces of junk drawn together to represent the spirit of the barramundi and sure enough the next day, when the family goes collecting bush tucker, they find nothing but Savannah lands an enormous barramundi.
The spare prose, brimming with rhythm and repetition, will gather the listeners and readers in to predict what is happening and repeat the phrases as the pages are turned. Not only does the reader see an Aboriginal family working together to collect bush tucker, but they learn about the foods available in the bush, the numbers one to five, the days of the week and a little of the spiritual beliefs of the group. A beautifully subtle book that will find a place on many library shelves, this book will encourage readers to look at things a little differently.
Fran Knight

Zombies vs unicorns ed. by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black

Allen and Unwin, 2010. ISBN 9781742375502.
(Age 14+) Short stories. Recommended for lovers of the paranormal and fantasy genres. This collection of 12 short stories written by favourite authors in these genres is highly entertaining. With authors of the calibre of Cassanda Clare, Libba Bray, Carrie Ryan, Margo Lanagan, Scott Westerfeld, Garth Nix, and Naomi Novik and edited by Larbalestier and Black, I expected some thrilling stories and I was not disappointed. I have also gained some new to me authors, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Kathleen Duey and Diana Peterfreund, whose works I now want to sample.
The stories are linked with witty banter by Larbalestier and Black about the respective merits of Team Zombie and Team Unicorn and the humorous debate continues to the final story by Libba Bray, Prom Night. They range from a very scary fairytale-like story of a young princess' love for a unicorn and the havoc that it causes in A thousand flowers by Margo Lanagan to the hilarious Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot, where the unicorn farts rainbows and unfaithful boys get their come-uppance. One of my favourites was The care and feeding of your baby killer unicorn by Diana Peterfreund, where Wen, a teenager is called to rescue a newly born unicorn and has to learn how to look after it. The cliff-hanger ending is a shocker as is the ending in Love will tear us apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson, which does contain some sexuality and strong language.
All the stories were excellent, some thought-provoking and others scary. Readers will have fun deciding if they vote for Team Unicorn or Team Zombie.
Pat Pledger

The great big enormous book of Tashi by Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg

Ill. by Kim Gamble, Allen and Unwin, 2010.
(Ages, 8-12) Highly recommended. Fantasy.  This is an absolute treat. For all those fans of the wonderful Tashi, and for those who do not know Tashi, then this compilation of all the stories will stand them in good stead. I can imagine mums and dads who knew and loved Tashi when the stories first began appearing on 1995, reading them to their kids in years to come from this amazing volume, grandparents reading them to their children's offspring, and teachers reading them to a new bunch of kids. Each chapter is a single adventure, originally published as a small book, told by Tashi of events in his amazing life. Jack takes it all in, the slating of a dragon, the story of the genie, the tale of the giants and so on, all imaginative and just great fun.
Jack tells his parents that he has a new friend, Tashi, but the story behind his becoming a friend does not faze them, even though he was brought by a swan from the warlord who owned him after his parents sold him to get enough money to escape! Jack's parents get on with their tasks although some of their questions do annoy Jack, and this interplay between parent and child forms a familiar and humerous dialogue the whole book through. In later stories the adventure involves Jack and Tashi rather than Tashi relating the tale, and these include stories about the phoenix, a stolen bus and an unexpected letter, amongst many others (32 in all) Jack and his parents along with Tashi are an endearing set of characters, subtly drawn and evocative of family relationships.
I particularly love the family intimacy surrounding the telling of stories, of the family sitting around listening to the tales told by Tashi or Jack, even when Dad is ill in bed with a cold, the family members stop all they are doing to listen to another story.
Fran Knight

Bookaboo: Dogs in disguise

Walker Books, 2010. ISBN 978406326543.
(Age 3-6) Bookaboo, the world famous rock and roll drummer puppy is in Paris with his band. Besieged by fans and photographers it seems that he can't get out of the Bookabus for the story that he really needs to hear. But then he has a great idea. Donning a pink wig and girl's clothing Bookaboo sets out for storytime at the Bow Wow Bookshop. When a huge sneeze dislodges his wig, Bookaboo's disguise comes unstuck but he still gets his daily story.
This funny story starring BAFTA-award winning Bookaboo is sure to appeal to young children. Bookaboo is a most appealing character and his addiction to a daily story will be welcomed by both children and parents who can't do without a story themselves.
The illustrations are bold and bright and add to the humour of the story. The delightful addition of, The hare and the tortoise, a mini book, gives the young reader or listener the opportunity to share a second story with Bookaboo.
Pat Pledger

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy. Penguin, 2010. ISBN 978-1921518904.
Rose Hathaway is in trouble, BIG trouble for a crime she didn't commit. Being held in prison for the highest offence imaginable: the assassination of a monarch, Rose's time is running out. But the only thing on her mind is getting Lissa acknowledged to the Moroi elite with the note left by the late queen. Meanwhile, Lissa, Christian and Adrian are trying to find out who really killed the queen and save Rose. Can they save Rose and put the real murderer behind bars?
All the favourite characters are back in Last Sacrifice, the last Vampire Academy novel. This novel and the rest of the series was wonderful to read. They were so easy to get into the story line, that I had problems putting them down. Last Sacrifice holds twist and turns readers won't think were coming and other turns that readers want to find. I got to a stage when I wanted to continue reading to find out what happens but didn't want to finish novel because I was enjoying the book so much.
I would recommend this book to teenagers and highly recommend not just this novel but the whole series to anyone wanting to read a brilliant book.
Lauren Pfeiffer (16 years old)

The wish pony by Catherine Bateson

Woolshed Press, 2008. ISBN 978 741663242. Available as e-book: ISBN: 9781742741161. (Ages 10-13) When the older neighbour comes in to look after Ruby when her mother has to go to hospital, Ruby is defensive and put out. Things have not gone well. Her best friend, Sarah, has abandoned her for the new girl in the class, Mum is always ill with her pregnancy, Dad is wrapped up with his wife and Ruby feels left out. Magda from across the road smells and asks strange questions, but soon the two become firm friends, Ruby finding in Magda the friendship which has deserted her at school. Magda gives Ruby her wish pony, and the little figurine takes on a life of its own on Ruby's dressing table, where it hears Ruby crying and hears her wishes. Gradually Ruby's life turns around, her baby brother is born, somewhat premature, her parents begin to listen to her, she takes on more responsibility, and she makes new friends. All simple, but each in itself is a huge stepping stone for Ruby as she works out what is important in her life. And as she develops, so the importance of Magda declines.
A stunning story about loss, growing up and friendship, The wish pony had me on the verge of tears, wishing along with the figurine, that Ruby would find her feet in her muddled world. All of the children in the story are subject to change, change in their circumstances, change in their school friends, change in their homes, and each has to cope with those changes, and luckily for some, Magda is there to help them along.
Bateson's writing is always impeccable, finding the right series of words to describe what is happening and the characters' feelings. In this book, she gives a voice to children whose lives are not going along smoothly, and helps them see that things will right themselves. I wrote this review in 2008 when this wonderful book was first published, and on reading it again, my review holds. This new edition, published alongside Magenta McPhee, with similar covers making them a pair, will entice new readers to Bateson's amazing writing.
Fran Knight

Friendship on fire by Danielle Weiler

Sid Harta, 2010. ISBN 1921829699.
(Age 13+) Year 12 starts off with a bang, when Daisy has to give a speech to the whole school, with her hair, dyed disastrously red, covered in a turban. Things look up when she spots a gorgeous boy, Nate, who goes to her rival school Addison Grammar. But she has been best friends forever with Roman and what will a romance with Nate do to that relationship?
This story looks at the trials of Year 12, and finding your place in the world. The characters are skilfully developed and seem real Daisy is a likeable girl who gradually finds out who her real friends are and where her future path lies. She makes the sort of mistakes on the way that teen readers, especially girls, will identify with. The problems of working out meaningful connections and trying to find love are ones that will strike a cord with teens. The familiar setting of school, parties, and the beach, also make it an easy book to access.
What I most liked about the free flowing prose was the humour that was an integral part of the book. Daisy has some very amusing lines that kept me chuckling as I read. The inclusion of diary entries was a good device that also kept me informed of Daisy's thoughts and feelings.
Friendship on fire is a debut book by Weiler, who is a teacher and obviously understands the angst and pitfalls of being a teenager well. She has certainly captured an authentic voice in Daisy that girls will enjoy.
Pat Pledger

Diva series by Sue Lawson

It's a girl thing (ISBN 978 1742031675), Rising star (ISBN 978 1 74203 1682), Going solo (ISBN 978 1 74203 169 9), Finale (ISBN 978 1 742031705). Black dog books, 2011.
(Ages 8-12) Realistic fiction. First published in 2006, BDB has republished this successful series of four books with shining new covers and small, harder covers making the books easy to handle. The stories will be readily snapped up by the pre teen group, eager to read of girls their age and a little older winning a singing competition and then competing interstate with a whole lot of others. Reminding me of several TV shows in which amateurs try out their skills, the stories are full of the background to these shows, being selected, practice, rehearsals, make up, cloth buying and above all publicity.
Mickey fills out an entry form in her girlie magazine in the first book in the series, It's a girl thing, and then has to front up at the first audition with what seems to be every girl her age in Australia. The usual mix of characters is interestingly portrayed as several take nasty tactics too far. Rising star follows her journey through the audition stage, while Going solo shows her at the national competition where she meets some even more undesirable competitors and a few other girls like her. Finale satisfyingly rounds the story off.
The issues are straightforward and easy to follow, the humour lightly played out, the characters neatly drawn, with some older people making their mark. The stories will be eagerly picked up by that group of kids for whom little is written, and showcases some of the background and glamour of the competition world that they see on TV.
Fran Knight

Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott

Bloomsbury, 2010. ISBN 9781408813935.
(Age 5-7) On the night of the full moon, Vlad picks up a young boy and together they go to his father's barbershop. He gets out his scissors, rotting tonic, horn polish, and stink wax and gets ready for his customers. He has some regulars, all of whom are monsters, but even monsters need haircuts. Then a normal customer comes in. What is he to do?
McElligott has a wonderful sense of humour. The use of words like 'shamp-ewww' ensures that young children will giggle all the way through the book. Children will also have fun identifying the monsters that come to have their hair cut.
The accompanying illustrations are equally as humorous as the text. The little boy wears green monster slippers, and each one of the monsters is drawn with a deft touch. Pictures of monsters getting haircuts that really suit them, like Frankenstein with a flat top and Medusa with snake plaits, are very funny. Vlad, who changes from a bat that accompanies the boy to the shop, to a vampire with a swirling cape, is a great companion for the boy to have. Little touches like changing the pictures in the shop from famous people to monsters are also fascinating. The idea of cutting the hair of monsters takes away any scary aspect of them as does the bright colours and cartoon like characters.
This is a hilarious, original story that will delight children, especially boys and reluctant readers and is ideal for a Halloween theme.
Pat Pledger

The betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate