The Skyward series continues with an action-packed third instalment, Cytonic. Pilot and understated action hero Spensa Nightshade (call sign Spin) has just fled a political coup in which she was framed for murder, into a portal called ‘Nowhere’. Along with her once-spaceship-now-drone, M-Bot, Spensa enters Nowhere and discovers a land of many fragments surrounding a brilliant sun, called the Lightburst.
Spensa meets Chet Starfinder, a human pilot like herself who has been in Nowhere for almost 200 years. Together, they travel through the dangerous, pirate-ridden and fragmented lands, hoping to find the information and help Spensa needs to return to her home planet of Detritus and continue the fight against the aliens determined to exterminate what is left of humanity. However, she finds that the longer she remains in Nowhere, the less important those desires become. Gradually, Spensa begins to lose all sense of time and to forget why she entered Nowhere in the first place…
Cytonic continues everything that is positive about the Skyward series: striking world-building, intricate plotting and a large cast of interesting characters. However, there does seem to be more character building than is necessary for the third novel of a four book series. Some of the action too seems to be almost repeating what has happened in the previous books, just with different settings and protagonists. The overall impression left is that Cytonic is a ‘filler’ book before what will surely be a spectacular conclusion to the series in the last novel. Nevertheless, fans of the series will greatly enjoy Sanderson’s newest offering. The Skyward series is recommended for adults and young adults alike.
Themes Science Fiction, Adventure, Space, Aliens, War, Friendship.
Lucy is visiting her grandparents and is accompanied on the train by her cat Thomas, her doll and spell book... because Lucy is a young witch. She ignores warnings about letting Thomas out of the travel case and after a disagreement with a small dog, Thomas runs off at the railway station, leaving her distressed. Her grandparents reassure Lucy that they will look for him in the morning, but Thomas shows up at their house that evening, after her spell book teaches Lucy a spell to return her cat. Strangely, Thomas is not his usual self, he does not feel soft and silky and his tastes in food have changed.
While Lucy is alone, Thomas encourages her to venture down to the loch, strictly against her grandparents wishes because of the dangers the mischievous kelpies pose.
Help comes to Lucy from some unusual heroes and it is kindness that eventually solves the problems Lucy has encountered.
This is a short but charming story that is full of magical ingredients, apprentice witches, spell books and talking cats, a world that is part ordinary and part magic. Lucy has a habit of ignoring adult warnings and then having to solve the problems she creates. Her spell book is also a ‘learner’, hence the well-intentioned chaos that ensues.
The author has illustrated the book herself and has divided the story into 11 short easy to read chapters. This is the second Lucy the Witch novel.
I recommend this book for readers aged 5 to 9 years.
Themes Witches, Magic, Cats, Holidays.
Jane Moore
Rebellion of the lost by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin
The World Between Blinks bk 2. HarperCollins, 2022. ISBN: 9781460757635. (Age:9-13) Recommended.
The World Between Blinks: Rebellion of the Lost is the second in Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin’s young adult and pre-teen fantasy adventure series.
The story begins with a report of the previous book, The World Between Blinks, then immediately launches into action. It has been six months since the return of cousins Marisol and Jake to their normal lives. Marisol is home with her family in Bolivia and Jake is in Australia. They keep in touch via FaceTime and try to adjust to their usual, non-magical realities. That is, until Marisol is unexpectedly and mysteriously arrested and pulled back into the World. This time, however, her older brother Victor is taken too, and Jake soon follows. The three find a World that is very different from the one they knew before and become embroiled in a struggle to set things right.
Like the first novel in the series, Rebellion of the Lost is both educational and entertaining. Historical figures and important events are woven into the story, for example, Amelia Earhart and Queen Nefertiti. The delivery is as fun and engaging as in the first novel and the historical aspect does not detract from the adventure. Rebellion of the Lost is a highly enjoyable sequel to the World Between Blinks and is recommended for younger readers.
Sean is now mute, traumatised by his past and unable to move beyond what was a hidden horrible life with his drug-addled mother in a poverty-riddled locality. Now in care with his formerly estranged grandfather, who lives with his own griefs and challenges from the past, Sean must deal with the nightmares of many, and their stories of night time terror that have been fed to The Baku. The Baku is an ancient creature of corruption that horrifies and destroys in a dark and foreboding way and is revealed in a book written by Sean’s grandfather. The Baku invades Sean’s life, just as he seems to have found a glimmer of hope. Can he escape the Baku’s attempts to destroy him?
In a dark, psychological way there is great depth to this tale as it weaves its way through nightmares of many children, and the nightmare life of Sean and also his grandfather as they deal with guilt and grief. For Sean there was a life of hardship that is unfathomable, that was given moments of uplift because of art and some ‘hard-as-nails’ friends from the rough side of town. But for most of this book the reader is led through a disturbing horror story of chilling terror. For those who like the horror genre this will appeal as it weaves stories from childish nightmares into Sean’s real-life daytime nightmare of trauma. The revelation of more than just a horror story comes slowly and is also a powerfully written metaphorical exploration of psychological trauma. I am greatly impressed at the potent, tense and moving story by this debut novelist, it is not an easy read and some younger readers would recognise their own night time terrors in the dreams fed to The Baku. This is not for the faint-hearted.
Highly recommended to mature readers aged 15+.
Themes Horror, Nightmares, Trauma, Family dysfunction, Grief, Guilt, Drug taking.
Carolyn Hull
Dinosaur Squeak! The Compsognathus by Peter Curtis
Another book in The world of Dinosaur Roar! series, (including Dinosaur whizz! The coelophysis and Dinosaur Whack! The Stegosaurus) will delight young fans of dinosaurs. A very sturdy board book, this production in association with Natural History Museum, is full of facts about the Compsognathus, a tiny dinosaur the size of a chicken, who has to make sure she isn't trampled by all the big dinosaurs walking about. Dinosaur Stomp, the Triceratops has enormous feet but she jumps out of his way, while the greedy Diplodocus, Dinosaur Munch gets a shock to see her hiding by a rock. She survives being hit by the long tail of Dinosaur Whack, the Stegosaurus, and makes her friend Dinosaur Roar, the Tyrannosaurus, proud of her ability to look after herself.
The rhyming narrative makes this a perfect read aloud for young children, and the bright illustrations show what the habitats and plants of the dinosaurs' world were like. Older readers who love dinosaurs will also be attracted to this book, its easy style, words in bold print and complementary illustrations, making it a story for children just becoming independent readers.
The introduction of all the big dinosaurs that could be perilous for little Dinosaur Squeak will reinforce their names and their illustrations will be most attractive to the book's young audience. A double page spread at the end of the book provides information about the little dinosaur that will fascinate adults as well as children, for example, Compsognathus means 'elegant jaw'.
This is a very attractive series, sure to find many interested readers.
Themes Dinosaurs, Compsognathus.
Pat Pledger
Michael Rosen's Sticky McStickstick by Michael Rosen. Illus. by Tony Ross
A story of resilience, Sticky McStickstick is the name given by Rosen to a walking stick which becomes the symbol of striving and perseverance to get better and leave hospital. The picture book relates Rosen’s own story, getting COVID in 2020, being asleep for forty days and waking to find that his arms and legs did not work.
In the tale, the hospitalised man peers out from his bed, frightened and alone. Three staff come in to get him out of bed. But they cannot. The next day they try again and get him onto a frame. After that they try a wheelchair. While in the wheelchair, he spies people outside his little world, a woman watering her plants, a man in the street. The next day he is taken to the gym, a fearful place, but designed to increase his strength. And the next day they give him a walking stick. They train him in its use and encourage him to try the stairs. Eventually he finds he can walk without the stick, but the stick is still there if he needs it. Going home he gradually learns to do without the stick; he learns to make a cup of tea, shakily at first; he climbs the stairs holding the bannister and walks in the garden with his family.
Over time he relearns all the things he has forgotten and even though his stick is still there he has little use of it. But it reminds him of all the kind people who helped him along the way, encouraging him to get out of bed, to use a frame, a wheelchair, a stick and the gym.
All readers will see the perseverance needed to overcome this illness. Rosen presents a man totally beaten and fearful of the things the nursing staff are helping him with. All readers will recognise the initial fear of doing something they are not used to, of being fearful of failure, of wanting to hunker down and ignore the outside world. It is the strength of others, their determination that gets him out of his lethargy. They keep trying with different sorts of equipment, unwilling to give up.
Tony Ross’ illustration parallel the conflict the hospitalised man is going through. His apt drawings, from the cover showing the man looking askance at the stick, and the stick offering an almost encouraging look back, readers will see themselves. The little world of the hospital is revealed with few colours, the white walls and sheets only mildly contrasting with the blues of the pyjamas and nurses’ uniforms. A little colour enters the picture when the man puts on his dressing gown, a signal he is no longer confined to bed, then when he greets his family, more colour appears. A subtle increase of the outside world and its influence.
I love Ross’ facial expressions and reader will all look closely at how his expressions change through the story.
A wonderful tale of never giving up, of the help given by others and a telling story about the effects of COVID.
Themes COVID, Hospital, Perseverance, Michael Rosen, Walking stick, Resilience, Hope.
Fran Knight
Super Sidekicks: Trial of heroes by Gavin Aung Than
Super Sidekicks: Trial of heroes is the third book in the series by Gavin Aung Than. These books are graphic novels and follow the adventures of the Super Sidekicks, a group made up of 2 humans (JJ and Flygirl), a dinosaur shapeshifter (Dinomite) and a pile of goo (Goo) who used to be a bad guy. In this story the superheroes are invited to join an exclusive club, but before they are accepted, they need to pass an extremely hard challenge. The group work together and the story culminates in a win for them and a loss for the bad guy! I enjoyed the overall sentiment of the story where working together as a team and looking out for each other is the main goal. Trial of heroes certainly had a 'feel good' element to it, especially the ending. I think children of ages 8 and above will really enjoy this story, especially the images. Gavin Aung Than is a cartoonist for the New York Times and his skills are very evident. The characters have expressions, interesting backgrounds and without them the story would certainly not be as interesting. My 9 year old son was particularly taken by this book and said: "I thought this book was funny, and it was kind of nail biting or a 'what's going to happen next' type of book. The 4 superheroes were really good and I loved the part where they were trying to beat the stone man. I particularly liked it as it was a graphic novel and I would definitely recommend this one to my friends, hopefully I can find the other books in the series soon." So overall, this book was a winner and we both agree that readers from ages 7 and up would enjoy it.
Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike - particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.
Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?
When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything - including her own life.
Michaelides is back with another heart stopping thriller. This novel is full of red herrings and will keep you guessing with every twist and turn. Dark academia meets Greek mythology, this book will hook its readers from the very start. The author has such a strong command of the mystery/thriller genre, and the short chapters will keep the readers interested. His use of psychology interwoven with the book gave it an extra depth, something that makes the story unique to your typical murder mystery.
Thea Demetriou’s son Stefan has spent the last three years behind bars for causing the death of his girlfriend and childhood sweetheart Belinda. He has no memory of the incident, being completely under the influence of drugs at the time. His parole conditions require him to stay within a 50 mile limit of home and Thea’s tenured job as an academic and husband Jep’s successful coaching career mean they can’t move away and must endure harassment from locals led by the dead girl’s mother, Jill McCormack who has started SAY, 'Stop Abuse Young' a group raising awareness of dating violence. Stefan finds it hard to settle and still finds it difficult to live with the guilt and the grief at losing his soulmate. ‘I know I owe more' p104. At one stage he says to his mother 'you probably wish I had never been born' but for Thea he is ‘My boy. My child. My only.' p31. As Stefan gradually starts to make a new life for himself and finds a way to seek atonement through redemptive action, sinister incidents start to mount up and hints are given that there is more to know about the fateful night when Belinda was killed.
Told in the first person with the narrator the mother of the killer there are some echoes of We need to talk about Kevin. Thea’s obsessive nature constantly monitoring Stefan’s rehabilitation makes intense reading and sometimes we wonder if she is a reliable narrator. But unlike Kevin, Thea and Jep seem to have been model parents of a loving and ordinary child 'ordinary people whose children have done awful things' p161 and Stefan knows it 'I feel like one of those guys, those athletes of Dad’s, I’ve had it all handed to me and I didn’t live up to it.' p104.
Overall the book is an interesting but exhaustingly slow trip into the changed lives of this family through the eyes of the mother, but other characters were sketchy, especially the father and the plot required a considerable amount of suspended disbelief.
A wonderfully humorous play on the often heard excuse, ‘it just followed me home’, this cat follows her person when the boys goes to the shops.
Nicholas finds a silver coin in the garden and decides to go to the sweet shop to buy some liquorice, his favourite. But as he looks behind him, the cat has followed him.
‘Marl’ it says in greeting, ignoring all of Nicholas’ entreaties for her to go home. Nicholas dreams of the sort of liquorice he will buy, deciding that he likes black liquorice better than the red or green. He sees the cat once more, telling her to return because of the dangers she may face: a dog might chase her up the tree. Finally Nicholas spies the sweet shop across the road. He does the right thing, looking both ways before he crosses, but the cat does not. She sits in the middle of the road, causing Nicholas to make a huge choice.
A wonderfully warm story of friendship this tale will be a favourite amongst readers as they follow Nicholas in his attempts to save the cat from danger and finds that his friendship with the cat is the most important thing in his life.
The repetition of the line, ‘go home, cat’ will be heard wherever this book is read aloud as the audience joins in. And the line telling us that Nicholas ‘loved liquorice more than almost anything’ is stunningly recalled at the end when the cat snuggles into Nicholas, and we are told that she loves Nicholas ‘almost more than anything’.
The charming watercolour and pencil illustrations, nodding to times past, recall the days when a sweets shop was in the High Street, when most children ventured out on their own, and we see many playing in the streets and parks, when cars were a rarity. Young readers will love looking at the detail Masciullo provides in her street scenes and will enjoy following Nicholas’ journey with the aid of the map of the suburb on the endpapers.
Themes Friendship, Cats, Humour, Decision making.
Fran Knight
The boy who got accidentally famous by David Baddiel
(The Boy Who Got) Accidently Famous, written by comedian David Baddiel will surely be another sensation, as were The Parent Agency (one million copies sold), The Person Controller and The Taylor Turbochaser. Add together the expertise of Steven Lenton’s illustrations and this super story will have everyone laughing out loud!
Billy and his best friends, Bo and Rinor are in the fifth grade at a school called Bracket Wood. Billy is a very ordinary kid from an extremely ordinary family. Nothing extraordinary ever happens, most nights they even have the same dinner – fish fingers, chips and peas! Billy knows that there is absolutely nothing special about him, but he does dreams about the possibility of one day being famous. He loves looking at gossip magazines containing famous people, such as Sunshine De Marto – the fabbest girl ever!
So, when a TV crew arrive at Bracket Wood Primary to shoot a documentary called School Daze, Billy thinks nothing of it. There are so many more interesting kids at his school that they will undoubtedly focus on. Nothing out of the ordinary happens until the first episode which homes in on Billy’s mundane and ordinary life. Billy is suddenly thrown into the limelight and has everyone vying for his attention. Bo and Rinor are there to support him throughout his famous journey. But when Billy finds his famousness continually placing him in situations that he never thought he would find himself in, will fame be the answer that Billy is looking for? Will his old friendships hold up, or will newfound fame go to his head? And what could possibly happen if he finally gets his promised opportunity to meet his idol, Sunshine De Marto?
David Baddiel has written another fast paced and entertaining novel. This story will make a terrific read aloud to children aged 8 –12 years of age. The great illustrations by Steven Lenton provide the reader with further engagement and imagery. This is great book for young readers to enjoy a laugh, and it is one that many will find relatable.... even if they don’t have fish fingers, chips and peas for dinner every night!
Themes Themes: Humour, Friendships, School.
Michelle O'Connell
AmAZed! CSIRO’s A to Z of Biodiversity by Andrea Wild
Author Andrea Wild is a science writer at CSIRO and has sourced some amazing information through talking with her colleagues at the National Research Collections Australia and elsewhere at CSIRO. She has shared their research and stories in an easy to navigate glossy non-fiction book cleverly using the alphabet to familiarise younger readers with incredible and often unknown facts. For example, did you know there are four different species of kookaburras, and they are part of the kingfisher family. Or that baby oysters are called larvae and are fussy eaters that only eat certain kinds of microalgae. One of the grislier stories that children will be fascinated by is that of the spider wasp. The female hunts a spider bigger than itself, paralyses it with her sting, drags it into her burrow and then lays a single egg inside its body. The spider wasp larvae then hatches and as it grows and develops, it eats the spider from the inside out!
This interesting and entertaining book is a perfect one to browse through for both young and old. Each letter of the alphabet has several pages clearly set out with labelled diagrams, illustrations and photographs. There are detailed contents pages and a very useful glossary.
AmAZed! CSIRO’s A to Z of Biodiversity takes the reader on a wondrous journey with amazing facts to learn and share. A great resource for home, school or public libraries.
Iron Circus Comics, 2021. ISBN: 9781945820793. (Age:5+) Recommended.
This anthology of cautionary fables and fairytales is one of a series which includes selections from Africa, Asia and Europe. This collection from Oceania includes stories from Hawaii, the Philippines and Fiji. Each black and white fable has its own author and comic style and many feature a fusion of modern and ancient cultures. In 'Tabi Po', creatures from the spirit world break though into everyday life when disrespectful children draw their attention with terrifying results. In 'The Legend of Apolaki and Mayari' children squabbling over the TV game controller hear a tale about another brother and sister fighting and the serious consequences. Some are quite frightening and 'The Alan and the Hunters' quite disturbing. 'The Turtle and the Lizard' is unusual as it is written in Babayin, an old Filipino Tagalog script and is followed by 'Lets Learn Babayin' with the challenge to decipher some of the words in the story. Abrupt changes between stories are a bit disconcerting but the range of styles maintains interest and there is a brief bio of each of the 19 contributors at the end so readers can follow their preferred artists online.
Aspiring comic artists will find some new ideas and those who like classic fearsome fairytales won’t be disappointed.
Themes Fairytales, Fables, Oceana, Comics.
Sue Speck
This tree is just for me! by Lucy Rowland and Laura Hughes
Jack has hidden away in his tree with a new book. He has unwrapped it, put on his outside boots and climbed up into a crook in the tree where he just fits. He tries other trees, but this one is just right. He nestles on a doona and begins to read, but a tiger appears, landing on the branch next to him. He roars at the tiger, telling him that he has no time to play as he is reading his book in his tree. The tiger jumps off only to be replaced by an alligator. The alligator moves away when Jack reminds him that this is his tree and he is reading his new book.
The alligator is followed by a python, then a monkey and a sloth. And they are all told the same thing. But the noise becomes overwhelming, and he realises that perhaps there is a whole zoo in his tree. He shouts at them that this tree is for him, and one by one they all drop to the ground. So Jack finally gets down to his book, but he realises that it is very quiet and he cannot concentrate. He waits for a new noise, but none comes. He then shouts out to all the animals to come back and share his tree. And they do. Told in rhyming four lined verses, the text invites the readers to predict the last rhyming word and call out Jack’s refrain that the tree belongs to him. Kids will love connecting the words used to each animal, and love calling out the words Jack says and the noise the animal makes. A whole lot of fun is in store for all readers, listeners and adults as they follow Jack’s path from being selfish to learning to share.
The lovely illustrations will captivate readers as they recognise animals around the tree, wondering at Jack’s equanimity at having a tiger, python and alligator landing next to him.
This book is a joyous celebration of reading, of friendship and of sharing, which will engender much discussion amongst its readers.
This companion board book to Aussie baby animals uses just two colours (black and white) and is designed with new borns in mind. They have not yet developed their eyesight and so these two books allow them to see the two basic colours, while helping along their cognitive abilities and encouraging their gross motor skills.
In this book, we meet penguins, sea turtles, brolgas, sharks and clownfish, all things that live in the sea and in an environment different from our own. Again the love between adult and off spring is shown in both text and image, while the environment in which these animals survive is shown.
All the while younger children are introduced to Australian marine animals, given a chance to see them and their offspring, develop some skills and learn to love books and reading with an older sibling or adult.
Themes Australian animals, Environment, Offspring, Babies, Perception.
