Lovers of Australian crime novels will welcome this thriller from Matthew Spencer, a former journalist for many years. And those who are familiar with the Parramatta River and Sydney suburbs will revel in the familiarity of the setting. The body of a young woman has been found in the grounds of an elite boarding school and Adam Bowman, once a student at Prince Albert College, is tasked by his editor to get exclusive pictures of the crime scene. He knows secret ways in and out of the grounds used by the boarders and can get close. Meanwhile Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, already on the trail of the Blue Moon Killer who has killed two young women near the river, is trying to find any links of this murder to the serial killer.
Part police procedural and part psychological thriller, Black River is a riveting read. Adam Bowman is forced to delve into his childhood growing up on the grounds of the school, as the police team uses him to deliver snippets of information to his newspaper. Gradually different motives are uncovered, and questions posed for the reader. What is the role of the headmaster, and is organised crime involved? Why is the old boy, now politician, involved and pulling strings behind the scenes? What really happened to Adam’s brother who died when he was a child? Is the groundskeeper involved? And who entered the murdered girl’s home?
This is a well-constructed and engrossing story. The setting is detailed and feels authentic, and the characters are all well rounded. It is easy to sympathise with Adam, unsuccessful and drinking too much, and to cheer Rose along hoping that she is successful in solving the crimes. There are plenty of twists and turns to tantalise the reader and leave some surprise outcomes.
I look forward to future books from this author, and readers who enjoy books by Chris Hammer, Garry Disher and Christian White are likely to enjoy Black River.
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761065651. (Age:8+) Highly recommended.
Wolf Girl Gwen and her pack are in terrible danger from crocodiles, a rapidly approaching waterfall and of course, the enemy. So begins Book Eight in the Wolf Girl series written by Anh Do. This time the heroes of the series end up on a beautiful island full of wild animals which cause them no end of grief. From the cheeky baby monkey who steals Gwen’s most treasured possession and has a devasting effect on her health, to the ferocious lion who stalks the pack and places them in more danger, to the gentle herd of elephants who help Gwen and the pack to safety, this story really does have it all. They also meet two humans who are in the employ of The Collector but are they friend or foe?
This is another exciting and action-packed read that will continue to engage fans of the Wolf Girl series. Illustrations by Lachlan Creagh add to the appeal of the text. The bonus sealed section at the end continues the story of Gwen and Amber. Book Nine will be published soon.
A strongly bound board book to acquaint younger readers with Australian animals and settings, while helping them form good habits of reading before going to sleep will stand multiple use by inexperienced hands eager to help turn the pages. Stars twinkle on the cover, as the sun sets in bright yellow and oranges, leading to the night sky and bedtime on the next eight double pages. Each double page mentions something to do with sleep in the lullaby: floating in clam water, sleep is the end of a gorgeous day, dreams will appear, and stars will come out in their billions.
So sleep comes along, the joey finally hopping into its mother’s pouch knowing she will be always there in the calmest of waters.
The song version can be viewed on Youtube here and here. And more information about the lullaby can be found here.
I loved the countdown to sleep from calm waters to the end of day, to the setting sun, to dreams, sleep, and stars, billions of them! Each set of words on each page leads the small child to the end of the journey - sleep. Images on each page reinforce the idea of the end of day and sleep, of sleep being the natural consequence of a good day, along with the setting sun and stars coming out. Each is a consequence of what has happened before, leading the child to sleep.
The original artwork by Lisa Kennedy reinforces the strength and comfort of family with the joey and its mother kangaroo appearing through the pages, a family of birds snuggling together in the nest and two platypus on the riverbank. All give comfort to the child going to sleep, the words and images reinforcing the community and its closeness.
Themes Aboriginal lullaby, Sleep, Stars, Australian animals, Board book, Family.
Fran Knight
Charlie's whale by Libby Gleeson and Hannah Somerville
Charlie loves the sea, and all the creatures that live in it, the seashells and seahorses, sharks and stingrays, crabs and crayfish. He loves the gently tickly waves and those that crash and tremble about his feet. But most of all, Charlie loves whales - minke whales, orcas, beluga whales and humpbacks, sperm whales and right whales, and especially the great blue whale. He loves to read about them, research them on the internet, write about them in his school project and play with his toy whale and dream about them. While his brothers play at building with the blocks, he imagines seeing a whale, but they tell him he is dreaming. The aquarium did not satisfy him, so they are taken to the beach where his brothers play in the sand and mum tells him that whales are too far away to see. But Charlie keeps watching and dreaming. The day they are to leave, he climbs a sandhill and looks far out to sea and spies a breaching whale.
Some children will know the feeling of seeing a whale breach or spying a pod of whales as they travel along the east coast of Australia to reach the breeding grounds in the warmer waters of the north. Or travel the Great Australian Bight.
There are a number of books about whales and whale watching, all of which could be read alongside this one, to extend the idea of the whales in Australian waters. Where once they were few after being killed for oil, now they number in their thousands and many towns profit from sight seeing as the whales pass by.
Charlie’s persistence pays off as he dreams of seeing a whale, and then goes to the beach where he watches and waits until his dream is realised.
Libby Gleeson's wonderful words develop the tale of Charlie and his dream while Hannah Somerville's illustrations add magic to hisdream as we see whales in his bedroom, in the clouds and in the night sky. And the endpapers show outlines of the whales at the start, then completed at the end. A lovely inviting touch.
Fire Reads, 2022. ISBN: 9781728257594. (Age:14+) Recommended.
Teenagers have gone missing in the Bronx neighbourhood. Raquel is drawn into the mystery when her mother, a nurse, is infected by the mould transferred to her by teenage fugitive Cisco. It seems that Cisco was drawn into some kind of game, he broke the rules, and now he is running for his life. Raquel, her best friend Aaron, and her secret crush Charlize, all become caught in the web of the nightmarish world of the Echo Game, a game set in the underground train system, where monstrous creatures track them down and overcome them with mould and rot.
It seems like the futuristic world of some kind of video game, yet has clear links to historic events of the past. It's a past that not many might now be aware of – how in the 1960s-70s the Bronx community was devastated by the racist urban planning that destroyed the homes of Black and Hispanic people, to create the Cross-Bronx Expressway, with bridges built to provide access to the cars driven by middleclass white families whilst denying access to the public transport buses used by poorer ethnic groups. The tenements of the South Bronx became dens of poverty and crime, rendering buildings so undesirable that they were abandoned or burned. A recent documentary Decade of Fire has exposed the era of the 1970’s fires that consumed the South Bronx. It is this history that author Tirado references in his horror world of the Echo Game.
The ‘Falsas Promesas’ chant of the zombie-like Passengers in the Echo Game can be heard in the YouTube video by John Fekner about the false promises offered the South Bronx. It is a thread that Tirado picks up and repeats throughout his novel. Burn down, rise up is a very dramatic story, filled with excitement and tension, and written in a way that will appeal to young adult readers of sci-fi fiction and players of action video games. It also exposes a history that most would probably prefer to forget. Whilst there is some unevenness of tone, I think most young adult readers will be easily drawn into the action, and find it a riveting read until the last page.
Themes The Bronx, Ghettos, Horror, Science fiction, Racial discrimination, LGBQTI+.
Helen Eddy
One more mountain by Deborah Ellis
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761068133. (Age:10-16) Highly recommended.
Deborah Ellis’s Parvana series has been praised by Malala - “Ellis beautifully captures childhood in war-torn Afghanistan”. The series tells of Parvana, a young girl, living at the time of the first Taliban regime. This latest novel picks up the story of children in Afghanistan now, following the American withdrawal and the Taliban return.
Damsa, caught in a moment of desperation, is rescued by policewoman Shauzia, and the two of them, hidden under burqas, find refuge in the Green Valley, the school and home for girls set up by Parvana. Damsa, a 15 year old, is running from the prospect of a forced marriage. At Green Valley she meets other girls in similar situations, including a 13 year old, already a mother to a baby.
Parvana wants to send her 11 year old son, Rafi, an aspiring ballet dancer, to safety with family in America. Alternating chapters tell of the experiences of Damsa, and of Rafi, over the ensuing days. Unfortunately before Rafi and his father and his aunt can reach the Kabul airport, the Taliban have taken over, and they are caught in the massive throng of people desperate to leave the country: the gates to the airport are closed, and the only way forward is across a trench of sewage. Adult readers may recall the news reports of the chaos at Kabul airport last year, as the last evacuation flights left. Rafi is caught between following his aunt towards freedom, and seeing his father sink beneath the bomb detritus, knowing that with his father’s death his mother is left without a male protector. It is a horrendous decision for an 11 year old to have to make.
This all sounds like a harrowing tale, and it is, but Ellis knows how to write simply and directly for a young audience. We follow Damsa and the other Green Valley girls, disguised as boys, as they retreat to the mountains, and we follow Rafi, trying to find his way home. For me, it recalled the writing of Ian Serraillier’s historic classic The Silver Sword about children making the dangerous journey from war-torn Poland to Switzerland during WWII, a story of the courage of children. One more mountain is a story in this league, dealing with current issues of war and displacement.
Themes Afghanistan, Taliban, War, Freedom, Courage.
Helen Eddy
Social Media Survival Guide by Holly Bathie
Usborne, 2022. ISBN: 9781474999267. Recommended.
Like it or not, use it or not, social media is an integral of today's life and despite it being illegal for those under 13 to have accounts because the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), which prevents collection and storage of personal information from children under 13 years of age which originated in the US but which is pretty much universal, many of our young students still access sites and apps daily.
For many parents, the world of social media and instant connectivity is not one in which they grew up - it's all happened in the last 20 years - and so helping their children navigate where they never went when they were children can be tricky. Perhaps the recent hacking of Optus and Medicare and the exposure of personal date gathered legitimately can have a silver lining if it alerts parents to the spread of their digital footprint and propels them to start considering what they are sharing, and thus, their children.
For even though way back in 1996 my school had a huge focus on safe surfing of the web and the kids, most of whom did not have access to computers and the internet at home, had the basics drummed into them from the get-go, the issues caused by the use of these instant, anonymous platforms continue to rise as our young people seek attention, fame, and in some cases, notoriety. Who can forget the death of 14 year old Dolly Everett who took her own life because of online bullying?
Thus this book which enables our young readers, even those under the required 13 years, to manage their life, relationships and mental health on social media platforms and empowers them to stay safe online is an important read for all. With the usual engaging layout we associate with Usborne, but in monochrome rather than colour, it offers in-depth coverage of a range of important and difficult issues young people face including body image, appearance-enhancing filters, influencers, sexual content and mental health. It uses recognisable themes rather than platform specifics, making the content relevant long-term, and tips on how to set up accounts safely and best manage privacy and messaging settings. It also addresses the user's online persona, online reputation, and relationships; helps them understand fake news and information and how to handle online bullying, as well as avoiding trolls.
While social media can have a really positive side - many would have been very isolated without during COVID lockdowns - and it would be wonderful if we could instil such a sense of confidence and well-being in the younger generation that they never feel the need for anonymous, meaningless affirmation, nevertheless there is a dark side and users must be aware of the potential for harm as well as good. Once it's out there, it's out of your control.
As well as being an important guide for the kids, it is also really useful for parents themselves as they learn what it is their child needs to know and do, understand and value as what was once just "peer pressure" from your immediate social circle is now a universal phenomenon right there in their hand. It goes hand-in hand with the excellent site and work of the E-Safety Commissioner established by the Australian government which has information for everyone from parents to teachers to kids to women to seniors and even a host of diverse groups who may be targeted or marginalised.
Despite the care we take, every keystroke or finger tap can unknowingly add to our digital footprint, and so the better informed we are the safer we will be. Thus this is one to recommend to parents, to teachers and for yourself if you have responsibility for students or your own children online.
Barbara Braxton
Miss Mary-Kate Martin's guide to monsters: The Trouble with the Two-Headed Hydra by Karen Foxlee
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781760526634. (Age:6-11) Highly recommended.
Mary-Kate is on her second monster seeking adventure in this delightful series. Her mother, Professor Martin, has been summoned to an archaeological dig on the remote Greek island of Galinios. There is an ancient, tiled floor that needs protection from building expansion by The Kyrios Famous Sardines factory. As soon as they arrive Mary-Kate is aware of things being awry. There are smashed paddle boats in the harbor. They are met by Nikos and receive a letter from his Yiayia who is very concerned that the island’s Two-Headed Hydra is behaving strangely and attacking things.
While her mother works, Mary-Kate is taken on a bicycle tour by Nikos who fills her in on other island problems, including pollution in the sea and dwindling fish catches. They become very suspicious of the glamorous owner of the sardine factory and a group of men called The Legendary Pest Control. Maybe they are behind the island's problems. So Mary-Kate and Nikos bravely try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Karen Foxlee makes this an entertaining and absorbing read with a nice twist. Mary-Kate is a terrific quirky character with her unique dress style and her glitter pens and notebook. She has many anxieties but overcomes them by making careful plans, having a backpack of useful things and her lucky charms. Her self-talk is always about how to overcome her fears. She grows more intrepid and stronger through the story. Nikos is “the force for good in this world” and Prof Martin is similarly principled and a kind, eccentric parent. There are several villains to dislike who don’t care about the environment, preservation of ancient history or the Hydra. The baddies are a bit menacing but the scary bits are tame and suitable for young readers. Greek language and culture are woven through the story. Freda Chiu’s jacket design, maps and illustrations complement the story well. Year twos and threes should enjoy this as a class read-aloud. It can be read without reading The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm first.
Themes Ancient Monsters, Greek culture, Environmental problems, Bravery.
Jo Marshall
The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick
Little Brown, 2021. ISBN: 9780356515175. (Age:15+) Highly recommended.
Readers who enjoyed Six of crows by Leigh Bardugo or the adventures in Meg Caddy’s Slipping the noose will fall in love with this series written by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms writing as M.A. Carrick. Ren is determined to enter the noble House Traementis, with its riches and a comfortable future for her sister Tess and herself. When her mother died, she had been picked up by the evil woman who controlled a gang of children notorious as Fingers. Her brother Sedge was killed, so she and Tess fled the house, relying on their skills and determination to survive. Posing as a long lost relative, Renata, she cons her way into the family. But life in Nadezra is not as glamorous as she had hoped, and she is drawn into the dangerous feuds of the ruling houses. She crosses the paths of Rook, a Robin Hood like character who is fighting for the impoverished people in the city and that of Vargo, a merchant who is trying to claw his way to the top, as well as Grey Serrado who is a city guard.
The world building is dazzling. It is easy to imagine the city of Nadezra, with its mansions, slums and waterways, gangs roaming and rich young men partying in the night. With the help of Tess’s exceptional dressmaking skills, Ren slips into the persona of Renata, dressed in the latest gorgeous fashion and into the home of the Traementis family. Magic is in the air and Ren can use the cards to read patterns and predict what could happen. (Readers who are interested in pattern reading can go to the author’s website to see the pattern of their fate.)
Action and danger faces all the characters, who are all vividly described, making it easy to become engaged in their destinies.
The Mask of Mirrors is a multi-layered, complex fantasy that is very difficult to put down and I cannot wait to read the next in the trilogy, The liar’s knot.
Grub is eating and eating. He is getting bigger and bigger. He knows that a change is about to happen, and wants to know what he will become. He asks a variety of insects that pass him on the floor the forest. A ladybird, cicada, dragonfly amongst others all describe what they were before their current manifestation, so making the reader more curious about Grub.
Gently humorous, each new meeting ends with the repeated lone, ‘so he ate and he ate, and he grew and he grew’.
The background of the forest floor will captivate young readers as they recognise plants and growth amongst the fallen logs and branches. Each insect is given its correct name and the descriptive words coincide with the insect in question. So readers will learn that a dragonfly lives in water as larva, while a cicada was a nymph, a butterfly a caterpillar and the ladybird a small insect with similar markings. Each new page gives a greater understanding of the insect world and the changes that occur when they emerge as adults. Children will be mesmerised by the information put in this book, and use it as a springboard to seek out further facts. They will gasp in awe at what Grub becomes and be fascinated by the fact sheet at the end of the book.
The detailed illustrations of the forest floor invite the reader to take a closer look, while the glorious endpapers show the juvenile stages at the start and the adult stages on the last end pages. Each invites the readers to spot the ones they know and ask questions, using the pages as a quiz, to share their knowledge with their friends.
A stunning addition to the non fiction world for younger readers.
Themes Insects, Change, Non fiction, Forests, Humour.
Little Bat has never stayed up all day before! He always goes to sleep at the end of the night and so he is very curious about how the world looks when he's normally asleep. He's excited to see how everything looks in the sun and so he decides to stay up all day.
It turns out the world is a much different place - it's hot, bright, and noisy and full of new things. Luckily, Rusty the Squirrel is willing to show Little Bat around, even though Little Bat struggles to stay awake. But when these new, fast friends separate at the end of the day, how will they stay in touch when one is usually awake while the other is asleep?
With a distinctive illustrative style that has won him a Caldecott Honor award among others for The Rough Patch, this is a charming story to share with young readers who always want to stretch their bedtime because they think that something magical happens to the world after dark. And it does - for all sorts of creatures who have slept during the day emerge when the sun disappears and the shadows take over. So it's no wonder Little Bat is curious about what happens in the world while he is asleep.
As well as shining a light, so to speak, on the activities we diurnal creatures tend to take for granted, this is also an opportunity for young readers to learn about nocturnal creatures and consider why that is the best time for them to be awake. Why does Little Bat sleep during the day? It can lead to investigations about why we have day and night, the phases of the moon, and even why all creatures need to sleep at some time.
Shinn
opens her high fantasy with a gripping description of travellers stranded as
earthquakes destroy the bridges leading into the city of Corcannon. The magic
that had knit a continent together is breaking apart and threatens the heart of
the land. Among the isolated are Pietro who fears he knows the reason for his
world cracking apart, a soldier named Jayla who is seeking work and a young
child, Aussen, who has a mysterious power. Cody, a courier who can walk the
high cables above the city, comes to the rescue of the stranded people, walking
a tightrope across the deep gorge, enabling a bridge to be spanned over the
dangerous break. In the meantime, back in the wealthy part of the city, Madeleine,
is planning her wedding to Tivol, but wondering if Reese is the person she is
in love with. Then there is the mystery of Villette, a young woman imprisoned
by the high priest, and guarded by Brandon, a young temple soldier.
Told
from multiple viewpoints, Shinn manages to weave together a fascinating story
of diverse characters, who all have a key role to play in trying to save the
city. Each of her protagonists is richly described and it is easy to follow the
story from the differing viewpoints and a twist in the plot might be a surprise
to some readers. Shinn excels in describing emotions and the romances in the
book are low key but will appeal to lovers of romance.
I
am a fan of Sharon Shinn’s books – she always delivers with relatable
characters and events, leaving the reader satisfied with her conclusion. This
will be a book I will re-read when I am seeking a feel-good tale to lift my
spirits. Readers who enjoy Juliet Marillier’s books or the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey
are likely to enjoy The shuddering city.
Themes Fantasy, Romance.
Pat Pledger
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
Hachette, 2022. ISBN: 9781529367225. (Age:15+)
Lovers of lavish Gothic worlds will be sure to pick up this story imbued with romance, wealth, and mystery. Nineteen-year-old Signa first met Death as an infant when everyone died at a party welcoming her into the world. Now, just months away from gaining her inheritance, and after the deaths of a string of grasping guardians, Signa comes to Thorn Grove, the estate of the Hawthornes. Here she hopes to find relatives who will accept her but instead faces mystery and secrets. She discovers that Blythe, the daughter of the house is being poisoned, and believes that Blythe’s mother, Lillian, had died from poisoning as well. Knowing that Death may be able to help her, she uses belladonna to summon him, asking for his help in solving the mysteries of Thorn Grove.
Signa’s desire to be a proper young lady and enter society soon clashes with her independent spirit as she realises the restrictions that society places on young women. She does not want to be bound by rules that make her uncomfortable and limit her skills and abilities.
Belladonna has all the hallmarks of a gothic mystery, with some supernatural fantasy tossed in as well. Thorn Grove is haunted by the ghost of the woman who claims she has been murdered; there is a dank graveyard, thorny woods, and wild rides at midnight. The attraction that Signa feels for Sylas the handsome groom who had escorted her to the manor and the enigmatic Death who wants her to control her burgeoning powers will thrill romance lovers, while there is enough action to keep the reader immersed in the story. The author has also left an opening at the end of the book for a sequel.
Themes Gothic mystery, Romance, Death, Murder.
Pat Pledger
Milly and the mulberry tree by Vikki Conley and Deb Hudson
EK Books, 2022. ISBN: 9781922539120. (Age:4+) Recommended.
Milly and her Papa planted the mulberry tree on Milly’s birthday. Every year they sat under the tree on her birthday, eating the ripe mulberries. She grew up with that tree, circling her arms around it when young, stretching her arms up to measure herself against its height, watching the silkworms, her friends become cocoons and then leave the casings as moths, watched over by Milly. She adored the feel of the silky cocoons, storing them in her scrapbook. But older, she moved with work, now residing in a different part of the world where she encountered the silky end product of her silkworm friends. She used the memories of her tree to make sketches for garments, ate whole mulberries, celebrated her birthday under a canopy of red lanterns, found some fluttery friends, sipped mulberry leaf tea but none of this felt like home.
The climax of the story of Milly and her wish to be back home will flatten everyone’s heart as she gets her wish to spend her birthday under the mulberry tree. This is a delightful look at the place home has in everyone’s heart and the strings which bind us to that place.
The illustrations to this rhythmic tale are just as impressive, with the mulberry tree hanging over many pages, its large leaves and bright red fruit hanging enticingly in front of your eyes. Old gardens may have a mulberry tree so it is worth seeking one out to acquaint the readers with the sight of these magnificent trees. The life cycle of the silkworm is another story to tells the readers after the book is read and eagle eyes have spotted the moths, cocoons, and caterpillars of the silkworm story. And they will also have need lots of other details while they read.
Themes Mulberry tree, Growing up, Life cycle, Silkworms, Fabric, Japan.
Fran Knight
An odd dog Christmas by Rob Biddulph
HarperCollins, 2021. ISBN: 9780008413354.
It's Christmas and Odd Dog is running out of time to find the perfect present for her pal. But then she steps into a Christmas arcade which looks very promising until she meets a new friend who needs help. Suddenly, instead of shopping for that perfect gift, Odd Dog has the adventure of a lifetime and learns an important lesson about gift-giving at the same time.
Both the rhyming text and the illustrations will engross the young reader in this unusual Christmas story, but the engagement will be heightened because they are challenged to find some interesting items that have been hidden within. And while it might be easy for an eagle-eye to spot five golden rings, what do turtle doves look like, or, indeed, a partridge in a pear tree?
One to keep the little ones intrigued as the anticipation builds...
