Australian author and illustrator Andrew Cranna (The Bloodhound Boys) has created this super fun graphic novel with a bit more of a text focus than other similar series such as Bad Guys or Dog Man. This presents a great way for fans of graphic novels to start engaging with longer chunks of narrative and dialogue. The black and white illustrations are character-driven and intricate, with a particular focus on facial expression.
Moon Mayhem is set 101 years in the future and Lunar Park, an amusement park, is being built on the moon, complete with crazy rollercoaster. There's a team of specially trained kids about to launch off to the moon and test out the new rides before other kids can start visiting, but they never get there. Why? Because their space shuttle is accidentally hijacked by the AstroNaughties, a bunch of misfit kids who attend the Astro Academy but have zero idea about how to navigate a shuttle in space (or what to do once they get there). Is it just a coincidence or were they lured onto the shuttle by their parents who are working on the moon? Is something else going on and can the AstroNaughties possibly save the day?
The AstroNaughties along with their octopug and robot minder are endearing, humorous characters, each with their own individual personalities and despite their moniker they are more naive than naughty. Their simple-thinking antics and commentary make for lots of fun and the fast-pace makes it a rip-through read, especially because there are no chapter breaks. Mission control back on Earth are simply useless and even the villain is funny. Most of the story is told through dialogue as well as some narration from the robot minder to give background information. This is a fun read that ends with the hint of a sequel.
Willa loves the Branagh (1993) film interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado about Nothing’; the feelings the opening scenes of the movie stir up in her become the touchstone in her job as publishing editor of romance novels, and also in her relationships with men. A romance novel is not going to make it if it doesn’t inspire that excited response for her, and neither will a relationship.
This is not so much a modern adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing, though there is a similar shared plot-line, but is more a reflection of the values and relationships within the play. Willa herself recognises the overlap of stories, and wonders if she can realistically reach the same happy outcome. But she doesn’t know who her partner is. And she is very wary because she rebels against the usual expectations of marriage and babies. She just wants the true passion, The Feeling.
Dettmann’s novel moves along at a sparkling pace and is full of witty and very funny dialogue, especially coming from Willa. She is somebody who can always make people laugh, and people love her for it. But it becomes increasingly apparent that her jokes can sometimes be a barrier to better understanding and can even turn hurtful when she reacts too quickly without reflection.
‘Without further ado’ is a humorous reworking of Shakespeare’s play – it could be a rewarding exercise to read the two works alongside each other. But even without knowing too much about the play, there is a lot of fun to be had in reading this delightful rom-com, one that explores issues of love, marriage, parenting, morals, trust and self-assertion.
Themes Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Romance, Women’s roles, Humour.
Helen Eddy
Two Dogs by Ian Falconer
HarperCollins, 2022. ISBN: 9780008399863.
Two dogs, dachshunds Dignified, slightly imperious with aquiline noses and noble profiles. Indeed, they look like Roman emperors...
Everyone loved Augie and Perry when they were puppies and played with them all the time, but as the years passed and the children went to school and the adults were at work, the dogs were left to their own devices during the day. Most days they were fine but one day they found a way to get through the screen door and outside and soon they're diving into the swimming pool, digging an enormous hole in the lawn, and causing all kinds of chaos... But then they hear the family car pull up...
Many of our young readers will have got a pet for Christmas and while that's all well and good during this long summer break, just what will those pets get up to when school goes back? This is an hilarious story that will entertain young readers but plant seeds of doubt as to what might be really happening when they are not there.
Barbara Braxton
Quickly! quickly! by T.M. Clark. Illus. by Helene Magisson
Wombat Books promotes ‘stories that connect us all’ and with this in mind, their books have an overarching positive theme of the importance of family and relationships in different parts of the world. Quickly! quickly! does just that.
Bongani’s job, as he is too young for school, is keeping the animals away from the all important crops. Monkeys love the mangoes and the crows love the seed. Bongani tells his grandmother that he will catch a crow and sit it on a scarecrow to watch over the crops, but grandma is dubious. She tells him that he will need to be clever, and quick and cunning to catch a crow, and they set out to do this, the older woman making a basket under which they place seed to catch the crow. But crows are cunning and when one is caught it feigns an injury, thus escaping the trap.
This is a warm and endearing look at life in an African village: the roles of the villagers shown as they till the soil and sow and harvest their crops, aware of the animals that will try to steal their efforts. Each person has a role to play and Bongani in keeping away the animals, tries to do more for his family. He and his grandmother work together to achieve their goals and together with the crow manage to keep away some of the pesky animals. But a twist in the tale on the last page will have readers laughing. And watch out for the play on words; scared crow and scarecrow.
Beautifully illustrated, the pages show a village and all the work done by the families. Readers are given a wonderful insight into the life in this village, and learn that children the world over have smaller tasks to do to help the family grow and prosper. The background tells us about how people live in this village, how they are dependent on each other and the work they all do. I loved the vistas of the African landscape with boab and palm trees, small mountains and the parade of animals that the villagers have to contend with.
Zimbabwe born T. M. Clark, now living in Australia, loves the wild world, including different cultures in her writing. And read more about T. M. Clark and her work here.
Themes Africa, Village life, Families, Grandparents, Crops.
Fran Knight
Mini & Milo: The teeny-tiny voice by Venita Dimos & Natashia Curtin
A story that leads readers to think about keeping themselves safe, defying the negative voice in their head which seeks to undermine and belittle. The book will find a willing audience as many children are more aware of their mental health, of needing to be positive and resilient, and this book is one which will encourage individual readers and a classroom or group to be positive.
Mini the elephant lives in a tiny house with a tiny bedroom and a tiny bed. Her best friend, Milo is practising to be a magician. Usually the voice in Mini’s head is supportive and encouraging, but now and again it goes the other way. Instead of saying ‘you can do it’ it says ‘everyone’s mean’ and ‘its not fair’.
The negative thoughts keep appearing, undermining everything she does. Try as she might, the voice is still there.
She tried various ways of getting the voice to keep quiet, all to no avail. But one day she has an idea. The teeny tiny voice in her head should follow her rules, just like Mini follows Mum’s rules. She and Milo write up a list of rules for the voice and tells it it must stick to them, reminding the voice of the rules whenever it strays. 'I’ve got this’ is the response that Mini uses whenever the voice begins its negative thoughts and together they follow the rules; kind words only, no whining, no telling me to do naughty stuff and no breaking the rules.
Children will love the ideas put forward in this humorous tale: that you can do something about the negative voice in your head, that you can be resilient and positive. The story encourages them to reject negative thoughts, to use positive and kind words only, to stop any whining and look to their friends for support.
Family dispute specialist, Venita Dimos has written a tale full of support for those living under a cloud, showing them a way to grapple that negative encumbrance and turn it into something positive.
Supported by very funny illustrations by Natashia Curtin, readers will love following Mini’s antics through the story as she tries to conquer the unkind thoughts in her head, succeeding when she plots a set of rules to guide the voice’s interruptions. I have never thought of an elephant being agile, but Curtin manages to show Mini in the most physical of activities, all of which seem most feasible. I loved following Mini through this story, seeing how she reacts to all that is imposed upon her until she takes stock and turns the voice around.
This is the third in a four-book junior fiction series developed with Football Australia (Half-time Heroes and The Kick Off are also available now) and written by broadcast journalist Kristin Darrell. There are two feature characters, Kat and Crabbie, with alternating chapters picking up the perspective of each. Their soccer team, the Under 11s Merridale Fever are off to a two-day talent camp at the National Academy of Ball Sports. Normally only one or two players from each club around Australia make the cut, but Kat and Crabbie's whole team have been invited and everyone is hoping to be selected to take part in the Game of Stars. Kat is totally excited but the girls and boys have been separated and it feels strange playing without her brother by her side. Not only that, there are some girls with bad attitudes saying that she doesn't even deserve to be there and trying to make her look bad. Crabbie is nervous and unfocussed; he is hiding a secret personal challenge - his parents have recently told him they are separating and he can't bring himself to tell anyone, not even his best friend. His problems are showing on the soccer pitch. Can they both learn from their football heroes and solve their problems both on and off the field?
Kids who love soccer will adore this, as it is heavy on detail about soccer history, their training drills, soccer skills and gameplay description. It also drops big names and even characters from the world of soccer, such as Lydia Williams and Andrew Redmayne. It cleverly uses both girl and boy main characters to keep it relevant to all and introduces a mixed playing field where everyone plays alongside each other and are of equal value. Cultural diversity is also valued, with Kat showing great pride in her Croatian heritage. The soccer heroes the children look up to are also both women and men. This is a lovely story that shows how sporting clubs and teams can be like family and provide a real sense of belonging. The players look out for one another and support each other in both word and deed.
Themes Socceroos, Matildas, Competition.
Nicole Nelson
The odd fish by Naomi Jones. Illus. by James Jones
An amusing story of a fish trying to find its school has a hidden message of pollution and the despoiling of our seas as younger readers becoming increasingly aware of the damage that plastic is having on our oceans and those that call it home.
A little fish sees what he calls an odd fish. It is nothing like he has seen before and being helpful tries to help it find its way to its own school of fish. Together they travel through the seas, through the reef and out to the ocean, along the way seeing how plastic is destroying the environment. The seahorse has a straw attached to its tail, an octopus has its legs entangled in netting, a turtle is eating a plastic bag, and the number of plastic debris increases the further out from the shore they get. Finally they spy the place the odd fish belongs, with thousands of other plastic bottles and rubbish swirling around the ocean. Readers will see the huge mess of plastic that now inhabits our oceans, reefs, and shores. All children will be able to give stories of how they have found plastic rubbish as they walk along the beach and see the point of the book they have just read.
Stunning illustrations by James Jones underlines the impact of plastic upon our wildlife in the sea. Readers will love picking out the detail he includes in his pages, the different inhabitants, the increasing amount of rubbish, nets, the odd ship and so on. Information on the last two pages underline the story of the book, giving detail which will interest them further. A list of websites encourages further investigation, and I am sure they will notice the amount of litter on the beaches they visit, helping collect it to put it in a bin.
Themes Oceans, Seas, Fish, Pollution.
Fran Knight
Song in the city by Daniel Bernstrom. Illus. by Jenin Mohammed
This exuberant story full of the noises heard in a city will impel readers to stop and listen for themselves. Emmalene and her Grandmother walk through the city, the young blind girl listening to the cacophony of sounds around her. The yip yap of the dog, tap of her mobility stick, screech of brakes, sizzles from the street food stall. She runs for the bus telling her Grandmother about the pretty ditty she can hear. Grandma is unimpressed, telling her it's not a song but a commotion of sound coming from the traffic.
But Emmalene persists. Telling Grandma Jean of the drumming, humming, clap clap clapping, toot tooting sounds that she hears. But the singing and ringing are not music to Grandma’s ears. Emmmalene sits her down and she listens. She hears the crying cat, the buzzing of the mobile phone, the shrieking of a siren. Emmalene puts her hands over Grandma’s eyes and in the dark she hears the sounds the city makes beyond the wrecking and the sirens, above the peck pecking of the birds. She hears the clapping, the rollicky romping, bopping, tippety tapping that the city makes.
Emmalene is thrilled that Grandma Jean can hear what she hears, the two experience something together, a joyous reminder of the link between generations. This is a meditative work, encouraging people to take time and listen. Just sitting and breathing deeply will cause the other senses to come into play, hearing the sounds around you with more clarity. A wonderful exercise to do in the classroom.
Readers will love taking up the rhythm of the story, intrigued by the rhymes offered, and the array of onomatopoeic words which exude fun and excitement.
The bright illustrations present a disabled child in a positive light. She teaches her Grandmother to hear the things she can hear and impels readers to take more notice of what is around them. With her mobility stick and Grandma she is about to navigate the city she knows well. More about Jenin’s work can be found hereand more about Daniel and his aim to bring joy filled books to readers, can be found here.
Themes Africa, Village life, Families, Grandparents, Crops.
Fran Knight
You two, you two by Brooke Hill. Illus. by Elin Matilda Andersson
The charming tale of siblings doing everything together, will find a ready audience amongst children listening to the words. Told in rhyme, the children will love prediction the rhyming word, especially those that describe movement inviting them to wriggle and jump along with the two little people portrayed. Everything about the book invites readers to participate either in movement or listening to the rhyming words, or predicting the word, or saying the lines along with the reader.
And each page invites discussion as different animals are portrayed, offering a decision to be made about what animal is shown and what the children know about that animal.
The rhyming lines underscores the relationship between siblings, showing the bonds that tie them together reinforcing the links that exist between those born in the same family. They are together, side by side, peas in a pod, friends, a team.
They climb, fly through the air, play hide and seek, crash and boom until knees must be bandaged and a lap found to sit upon for comfort, get muddy shoes and sandy feet, and get stuck up a tree together. Activities abound throughout the book, done together, as a pair of little people.
Full of flair and fun, the story will be read eagerly by children, engaged with the movement and activities of the children in the tale, engrossed with the vibrant funny illustrations and engaging with their siblings in a variety of adventures.
This is a sturdily bound book suitable for reading at bedtime. Or any time!
A Q and A with author, Brooke Hill can be found here. While more can be found about the illustrator, Elin Andersson here.
The appealing and colourful cover of Can you Get Rainbows in Space? will attract many readers both young and old. The colour theme flows throughout the book beginning with the contents page set out with each chapter being one of the colours of the rainbow. The introduction discusses all aspects of colour including ‘What is colour?’ and ‘How do we see colour?’
The first chapter is all about the colour red and begins with some interesting facts such as red is the colour of good luck in China and was one of the first colours used in prehistoric art. This is then followed by questions such as ‘Why is blood red?’ and ‘Why is Mars know as the red planet?’ The chapter then goes on to explain such things as why flamingos are pink and why a hippo’s sweat is red. Each chapter follows a similar format with fascinating questions and facts surrounded by colourful images to engage all readers. The last chapter talks about everything rainbow-related: facts, how to make one, what do rainbows represent and the important final question ‘Can you get rainbows in space?’ This is followed by a detailed glossary and finally a thank you to the rainbow key workers who kept people safe during the covid pandemic.
An interesting and entertaining book that would be an excellent non-fiction resource for a classroom, school or public library.
Meet the Weather is a brightly coloured rhyming picture book that will entertain younger readers with its clever text and vibrant illustrations. Each aspect of the more common weather conditions is introduced to the reader as a young child and their pet travel on a hot air balloon through clouds, wind, thunder, lightning, tornado, fog, snow, sunshine, rain and finally a rainbow. The lyrical text is lots of fun and as a read-aloud text lends itself to role play and actions:
I’m the WIND, whooshing wildly! I’m the gushing and RUSHING of air. There are times when I’m soft as a feather- Feel me tickle and lift up your hair.
It’s great fun when I’m GUSTING and blowing. I can make the trees swish and fro So take a deep breath and come join me Are you ready… One two, three-BLOW!
Each of the weather conditions are presented in bold font and there are highlighted key words throughout. The full-page illustrations are busy and bright with fluorescent colours added in for extra emphasis.
This book is a great introduction to weather for early years students. A companion book to Meet the Planets and Meet the Oceans and an enjoyable book to be shared out aloud.
This is a simple tale told in the style of a Dreaming story, with the bird community lamenting the loss of their environment due to logging. The interplay of species who try to work together to remedy habitat loss has a melancholic feel. Is there hope for the future? The goanna’s silver tears may provide a mysterious solution in an unimagined way.
The presentation of this hardcover story has an appealing quality. Illustrated in black and white (highlighting the difference between nocturnal and diurnal birds), the illustrations are naively simple but presented with stark clarity. The story is told in distinct chapters, but the length of this story is more akin to a standard picture book rather than an easy chapter book. This innocent reflection about habitat loss would be a good addition to a library keen to see Aboriginal storytelling represented in their collection.
Sixteen-year-old Winnie Wednesday lives in Hemlock Falls, a town where an ancient order, the Luminaries, stalk and kill nightmares – monsters that roam the forest. Winnie’s family was ostracized from the society when her father was accused of being a traitor. Bullied and shunned, by friends and relatives alike, she longs to be a member of the elite group of hunters, knowing that would reinstate her family’s standing. The only way back is to succeed in the deadly hunter trials even though she has not had the rigorous training of other contestants. With the help of Jay Friday, her ex-best friend, she faces the trials and the horrific monsters in the forest.
The book is very easy to read and the action moves along at a fast pace. Winnie faces nightmares in the forest, many graphically drawn in full page illustrations with a description, and these add to the enjoyment of the book. She is a young woman who is very easy to relate to: she stoically faces unkind comments from her classmates and the reader empathises as she recalls the companionship of Jay and Erica, who had been her best friends prior to her father’s disgrace. And no one will believe her when she speaks of the Whisperer, an entity in the forest that even the monsters are afraid.
Romance lovers will enjoy the slow-burn romance between Winnie and Jay, while readers who like action, monsters and horror and short chapters will escape into The Luminaries. While waiting for the next instalment, readers may enjoy the monsters in The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan, Dread nation by Justina Ireland, Highway bodies by Alison Evans and The bone houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones.
Themes Monsters, Bullying, Coming of age, Fantasy.
This is an astounding story with real heart, ripe for Sci-fi film adaptation and full of issues for consideration for those who like their sci-fi stories to challenge their thinking! After invasion by aliens (who are never seen or described) the world is given only one solution for the survival of humanity – relocate to Antarctica in 30 days or face extinction. For individuals and governments this announcement creates a frantic scramble to find a way to Antarctica for as many people as possible. With some countries and individuals being deliberately forward-thinking, and others just acting randomly in grasping at ways and means of getting to the frozen continent, there are always going to be problems for future survival. The cold is an enemy almost larger than aliens. Once on the frozen wasteland survival strategies must be explored and new ideas for the future involve the ‘creation’ of genetically modified ‘Cold People’. The ordinary born community members also create modified ways of living that are both beautiful and profound. Seen through the stories of a few individuals, we see possibility for hope but also encounter the awfulness of a world gone wrong.
The mastery and the mystery of this story is that we never see the aliens, but their influence has been profound and strangely gracious in allowing some human survival. Bizarrely, humanity seems to be drawn to create their own ‘aliens’ through the genetic manipulation of the human genome and genetic interpolation from other species. How this collides with love, compassion and what we would define as ‘humanity’ is part of the power of this story. The story is told through the perspectives and history of a limited number of individuals – there is a traversing of time and place as their stories are patchworked together in the lead up to the moving and confronting conclusion. Each of these characters have stirring and unique histories and attitudes that readers connect to or puzzle over. This is a book to recommend highly for sci-fi lovers. It is not so much an alien invasion story, but a human survival story in the most awful of circumstances, with the vestiges of science being used to breed a future community with cold adapted features. There are huge leaps required over credibility hurdles, but none of these detract from the intense readability of this story.
Pearly and Pig’s second action packed adventure is into an Asian jungle looking for the lost city of Mu Savan. Before Pearly was born her parents and grandfather spent time in the village of Ban Noa searching for Mu Savan and made friends with King Alung Chu. Now the Woe family are trying again. After a long journey they travel along the Mekong River by longboat, only to find Ban Noa is no more. A huge band of monkeys nearly turn them back but luckily one little monkey takes them to the new site of Ban Noa. However, things are not right in the village. King Alung Chu is missing and his brother King Foom Chu blames the Woe’s for upsetting nature. Pig’s mother The Divine Sow is very ill and strange rumbling noises at night are scaring the villagers.
Luckily Pearly has a gift for languages, including talking to animals. This gives her a lot of useful information and helps the Woe family get to the bottom of what is going on. Despite her self-doubt (and there’s a lot!) she proves once again she is the best Adventurologist in the family.
There’s plenty of action, great characters and a whiff of Indiana Jones in this novel. Pig is an endearing character who any child would want as their friend. Pearly is a worrier but she remembers to refocus in stressful events and recalls the rules for young Adventurologists to guide her decisions. The evil doers are dispatched with in a suitably just fashion. The story’s underlying message is about being resourceful, smart and brave. It is also about adults allowing their children to take risks and trust them. This is a terrific positive story and will make a great read-aloud as a class novel for early primary years students. There is a lot of potential for creative learning spin offs from it. Readers who enjoy Miss Mary Kate’s Guide to Monsters series are certain to like this series about Pearly.
