Elementae series, book 2. Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN:
9781547602544.
(Ages: 12+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fantasy, Air, Magic,
Slavery, Science - Experiments. Aspasia was captured by the
Trifectate as a young child from her family. She was sold as a slave
to a ruler called Cyrus and made to do slave trading. Secretly she
is an Elementae with air powers. As time goes by, she puts together
a crew of Elementae on one of Cyrus's ships, the Anorca, to free as
many women, children and Elementae they can get their hands on so
they don't have to suffer slavery. Cyrus is close to discovering
Aspasia's secrets that could kill her. She searches the vast ocean
trying to find her brother, Gryphon, and her sister, Pera, before
Cyrus finds them and sells them off to slave masters, whom would
kill them. Aspasia travels to a slave sale in the Trifectate and
buys three new recruits who all hold an Elementae power. She
purchases two girls and one boy who has an extraordinary power that
she has never seen or heard of before. Aspasia's crew and new
recruits suddenly find themselves right in the center of a boiling
war that will cover every last millimetre of the ocean. Will she get
her freedom or will she die in the hands of Cyrus?
This heart stopper and page turner of a story will make you want to
read more. Each time I put the book down, my heart was racing and I
was breathless as if I just ran a race. The way the story was set
out and the way the characters acted and behaved made me feel as if
they were real people who lived in this world. At one point I was
going to ask my parents if we could fly to the Wyvern Islands and
visit Aspasia and her crew of Element. Personally, I was so on the
very edge of my couch that I actually fell off. This story is about
freedom and power and how saving people can bring good and bad. This
magical tale of Aspasia and her crew was absolutely a show stopper.
I would recommend this book for 12+ and I think I would give it out
of 5 stars probably 4.5 personally.
Ruby O. (Student, year 7)
Underdog edited by Tobias Madden
Black Inc, 2019. ISBN 9781760641344.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Short stories. Underdog is a
collection of short stories by new Australian writers, covering a
range of themes that will resonate with teenage readers. The first
in the collection, 'Meet and greet', is the poignant story of
Cooper, a young man attending the book-signing event of an author
who has most perfectly captured the heart-break of the forced
break-up of his first gay relationship, an exact mirroring of
Cooper's own experience. But in the book-signing queue he meets
someone he has always admired on social media - ABoyMadeOfBooks...
and just maybe it is the start of a new friendship.
There are other stories about the tentative exploration of sexual
identity, and the struggle to balance wishes and dreams with others'
expectations, but themes also include the chaos of our dystopian
future as the planet is destroyed by human induced climatic events.
There is even something for the ghost or horror story reader.
For a reflection of Australia's rich multicultural world, read 'The
Chinese Menu for the Afterlife' a story that shares with us the
memories a boy from Wagga has of his 'Ong', and the importance of
traditional Chinese dishes in commemorating his life. Another story
'Afterdeath' tells the tragic consequences of the young love between
Romy and Muslim girl Hulya.
I think all young readers would find something of interest in this
collection that has grown from the grassroots campaign #LoveOzYA
celebrating Australian YA authors. There is such a variety of
stories, sure to inspire yet another generation of writers. And on
top of that, there is an excellent foreword by Fleur Ferris on how
to get yourself published.
Helen Eddy
Watch us rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan
Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN 9781547600083.
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. In this novel, Renee Watson and debut
novelist Ellen Hagan give voice to Jasmine and Chelsea, two teenage
best friends who are frustrated with the sexism and racism that
comes their way unnoticed. Creating a blog called 'Write Like A
Girl' as part of a Women's Rights Club they establish within their
school, they post poems and essays about feminism. While the blog
goes viral, and the girls are flooded with positive responses to
their creative content, some trolls emerge and things escalate
within the school, leading to the principal shutting the club down.
Refusing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea risk everything to keep
their voices, and the voices of other young women, heard.
This is an empowering story about undying friendship, loving
yourself and others for who they are and the importance of fighting
for what you believe in no matter the challenges you face. With
poems, essays and journals scattered throughout, this is a powerful
read with the ability to inspire young 'art-ivists' to use their
artistic talent to speak out about the social issues they feel
strongly about. An important novel with a lot to say, particularly
in today's political climate, Watch us rise will have a
lasting impact beyond the reader turning the last page.
Daniella Chiarolli
The flying light by Yuanhao Yang
Starfish Bay, 2018. ISBN 9781760360535.
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Imagination. Insects. Cities. The
words, 'one dull morning' invite the reader to look closely at the
accompanying illustration, a bird's's eye view of a city square,
where a strange lizard appears resting on the cobblestones, a man to
the side, watching. The soft watercolour illustrations detail a town
and each page adds more detail to this almost medieval city and the
land which surrounds it.
In climbing aboard the lizard the pair casts off, flying after a
luminous insect they have spotted. They spend time searching for
this insect, and when they find it, realise that it is one amongst
many searching for flowers which replenish their light. The man
takes a flower and plants it in his town, attracting the light
filled insects to the place, changing it from a dull environment to
one full of light.
The wordless picture book and accompanying intriguing illustrations
invite readers to use their imaginations, to ponder over the deeper
meanings, to see a moral to the story which they can understand.
Within their view of the world this story can apply to understanding
a concept, making friends, understanding environmental concerns,
looking at the needs of animals, the list is endless, and I'm sure
teachers and parents will be amazed at the discussions which ensue
after reading this book. For me the inter-reliance of man, animal
and environment stands out, one so dependent on the other, making me
think of bees and their interdependence on our use of herbicides
which is destroying their ability to harvest the flowers and so
pollinate which is necessary for our food source.
Fran Knight
George and the great bum stampede by Cal Wilson
Ill. by Sarah Davis. Scholastic, 2019. ISBN 9781742762753.
The Peppertons really are the most surprising family ever. We know
this is a comic novel dedicated to nonsense as soon as we meet
George's peculiar family. The key driver is George's mother,
Professor Pippa Pepperton. Dad barely makes an appearance likely
because Philpott is not an inventor. Their children's names are
equally nonsensical. First we have Pumpernickel Pepperton, a
high-schooler; then Poco and the twins, Paprika and Pilates. George
is the last born but he isn't the smallest because Poco had been
shrunk to the size of a lemon with Professor Pippa's Shrink Ray
invention.
Life is never boring living with an inventor but the trouble begins
when the pretentious Finley family move in next door. Princely
Farnsley Finley is in George's class at school and immediately
starts buying friends. This bugs Poco more so and he coerces George
into taking their mother's new Replicator Gun, to school. Of course
it is a hit, but the villain engineers a few mishaps whilst stealing
the gun, including the replication of Maddison Addison's pinching
fingers and Mr Rickets droopy big bottoms - not once but 500 times!
Chaos results from the march of a thousand disembodied body parts -
especially the stench of fartles(sic) emanating from all the bums.
This comic novel is utter verbal nonsense complemented by attention
grabbing title pages, cartoons, bold headings, various fonts, and
lists of rules, inventions and definitions - all illustrated by
Sarah Davis who lures us fully into the surreal realm created by Cal
Wilson, with an irresistible cover. Good for a giggle or two. Watch
the trailer.
Deb Robbins
The Good Egg by Jory John
Ill. by Pete Oswald. HarperCollins, 2019. ISBN 9780062866004.
The Good Egg is verrrrrry good. It does all sorts of things like
rescuing cats, carrying groceries, watering plants, changing tyres,
even painting houses. If there is anything or anyone needing help,
it's there to assist. Back in the store where it lived with another
11 eggs - Meg, Peg, Greg, Clegg, Shel, Shelly, Sheldon, Shelby,
Egbert, Frank and the other Frank - altogether in a house with a
recycled roof, things weren't particularly harmonious because The
Good Egg found the behaviour of the others confronting. They ignored
bedtime, only ate sugary cereal, dried for no reason, threw
tantrums, broke things... and when The Good Egg tried to be the
peacemaker and fix their behaviour no one listened. It became so
hard and frustrating that its head felt scrambled and there were
cracks in his shell, so The Good Egg left.
As time went by, it began to focus on the things it needed rather
than what it thought everyone else needed and in time it began to
heal...
This is a sensitive story that explores finding a balance between
personal and social responsibility so that the egg, or any person
really, can live at peace with itself. It's about helping the
perfectionist lower their expectations of themselves so they are not
always struggling and feeling failure, and, at the same time, accept
that those around them will always have faults and to be comfortable
with those. Self-perception is such a driver of mental health and
self-imposed standards of excellence are impossible to live up to
and so the spiral towards depression begins, even in our youngest
students.
A companion to The bad seed, John and Oswald have combined
sober text with humorous illustrations to present an engaging story
that has a strong message of accepting oneself and others for who we
are, not who we think we should be.
Great addition to the mindfulness collection.
Barbara Braxton
Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by L.C. Rosen
Penguin 2018. ISBN 9780241365014.
(Age: 18+) Themes: LGBTQ. Don't get me wrong, my secondary libraries
have acquired a number of LGBTQ novels beginning with Kate Walker's
Peter in the nineties. To be honest, the hedonism of the
students in this one, likely disturbs me more than their sex lives.
However, considering our secondary school populations can range in
age from 11 to 18 years, I'm not sure whether Jack of hearts
is that one step too far - much like Rammstein's imitative
pornographic music video became as immoral as the social commentary
they so powerfully achieved.
Previously published in the USA, Rosen's actual storyline is a
suspenseful cautionary tale of cyber safety. Jack, a highschool
student, falls victim to an anonymous stalker, who uses both text
messages and printed notes folded into origami shapes. Due to his
reputation as a promiscuous gay teenager, school authorities are not
much help, so Jack and his friends attempt to investigate the
identity of an increasingly ominous person - presumably also gay,
like Jack. The characters are fully fleshed out as they too become
targets. Jenna is a serious, aspiring journalist and straight. She
encourages Jack to write a weekly guest column for her blog, which
is essentially a sex advice column. Ben, is gay but unlike Jack, a
romantic who is waiting for a deep and meaningful relationship with
his first boyfriend. Jack's mum is a doctor and single parent, who
has a healthy relationship with Jack. Nance is that one teacher who
'gets it'. Jack himself, despite his own preferred 'love them and
leave them' lifestyle, is an insightful student of human nature,
advocating good communication, kindness and self-respect in every
piece of advice he gives.
Here's the thing, the quantity and explicit nature of Jack's own sex
life is the deal breaker for me. That said, I can't see the problem
including it with 18+ material. Perhaps, a solution would be to add
it to non-fiction as a relationships advice manual, where the
narrative element becomes a suspenseful and interesting
counterpoint; not that the publisher thought to develop either an
index or glossary. The gambit of Jack's relationship knowledge would
warrant both.
I enjoyed Jack of hearts because I am an adult, yet
obviously there are YA publishers whom Jack acknowledges for their
support, who feel otherwise. Lastly, Penguin includes a bonus first
chapter to whet our whistles for another LGBTQ title, The
miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth - now a
motion picture.
Deborah Robins
Yahoo Creek: an Australian mystery by Tohby Riddle
Allen and Unwin, 2019 ISBN: 9781760631451.
(Age: mid primary) Highly recommended. Themes: Folk tales,
Australian stories, Australian bush, Aboriginal themes, Mystery. A
compilation of numerous newspaper reports of the Yahoo or Hairyman
or Yowie are offered in this unusual picture book from Tohby Riddle.
Each double page is covered in images reflecting the colour of the
Australian bush with a creature visible in the background. Sometimes
it is clutching a tree or moving a log, or staring at a settler, but
most of the time it is strolling through the undergrowth,
unconcerned with the attention it receives.
Edited sections of newspaper accounts from the nineteenth century
are aligned with the images, giving the reader a brief textual
context to compare with each of the stunning illustrations. Readers
will find that they scan the pages looking for clues about this
creature: is it imaginary, is it a real animal, is it human, what
are its features and so on, the mystery which baffles the reader
paralleling the fears of the early Europeans as well as stories told
in the Aboriginal communities.
The predominance of place names with the word Yahoo, intrigues
Riddle, and his acknowledgement of the Aboriginal stories of the
creature, supported with words by Ngiyampaa Elder, Peter Williams,
make this a book in which to immerse readers with the stories of
these mountains running 3,500 kilometres along the east coast of
Australia. Readers will quickly engage with stories about this
animal, comparing it perhaps with other world folk stories
concerning the Yeti, or Bigfoot or Abominable Snowman.
In Boori Pryor's wonderful story of a boy's growing up, My
Girragundji (republished 2018) the boy is fearful of the
hairyman, a creature which lurks in his house at night, and Pryor
links this creature with the Quinkin, an ancient Aboriginal spirit
which causes mischief.
Readers will love musing the layers of meanings and intrigues
offered in this book; Aboriginal culture prior to European
settlement, Europeans and their distrust of the bush (still in
evidence today with lurid tales of death in the bush), reporting of
these sightings in the local newspapers from Geelong to Bega to the
Hunter Valley, showing the spread of white settlement and their
isolation, and even why the Blue Mountains are blue. Riddle's
illustrations born out of many wanderings in the bush reflect the
magnificent variety of fauna and flora that exists in these
mountains. I love his depiction of the increasing encroachment of
Europeans in his illustrations, from a few objets of bedding at the
start, then a camp, and finally a town. The Yahoo can only look on
with slumped shoulders.
This is a fascinating look at a enduring story from Australia's past
sure to rope in those students who love mysteries and pondering
possibilities, and with recent sightings reported and a statue of a
Yowie erected in Queensland, readers may like to look further.
Fran Knight
Bushfire by Sally Murphy
My Australian Story. Scholastic, 2019. ISBN: 9781742994307.
(Age: 10+) Recommended. Themes: Bushfires, Black Saturday, Victoria,
Dandenong Ranges, Emergency Services, Climate change, Disasters. Mid
to upper primary readers will absorb this story about the Black
Saturday bushfires in Victoria in 2009, told within a loving family
unit, the details of their lives making a strong backdrop to the
action. And what action! These bushfires, the worst in Australia's
history, took 173 lives, burnt out whole towns, ravaged huge swathes
of the Dandenong Ranges surrounding Melbourne, threatening the city
itself, and made people rethink strategies when dealing with fire on
this scale.
Shortly after Christmas in 2009, Amy waves farewell to her climate
science mother, going off to a conference in Brussels and is taken
back to her grandmother's house at Marysville in the Dandenong
Ranges, north of Melbourne. She and her dad talk about the trees and
the undergrowth, the recent rain and the greening of the bush, the
eucalypts that can be used as compost, while making Gran's home more
bushfire ready.
Amy loves reading of disasters around the world and the story is
placed firmly in its time with the plane landing on the Hudson River
in New York while references are made to disasters which happened
years before at Christmas: Cyclone Tracey and the Canberra
bushfires. Readers will enjoy reading about these and doing some
research for more information. Letters between Amy and her brother,
Aaron, now in Paris, give a different perspective to Amy's life with
Grandma.
But the air becomes more oppressive, warnings are given, some people
move to the city for safety, others clear their yards, fill cleared
out gutters with water, put their fire plans into action.
Finding their way to the local oval, they spend agonising days
trying to contact friends and relatives, and Sally Murphy is able to
make the readers feel that they are part of the action, fretful,
worrying and afraid.
This book joins a group of novels and picture books recently
published which enable readers to empathise with those caught in
such events and work out and understand how they could survive, all
the while presenting the amazing work done by mainly volunteer
emergency services, ambulance officers, fire fighters and police.
Fran Knight
What Momma left me by Renee Watson
Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN: 9781681199498.
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Themes: Family, Domestic violence.
Originally published in 2010, Newbery Honor Award winning author
Renee Watson's newest UK edition of What Momma Left Me,
seeks to uplift another generation of YA readers with a contemporary
cover.
Serenity and her younger brother Danny lose both parents as a
consequence of domestic violence. Serenity begins journaling her
healing in the home of their maternal grandparents. A new start in a
new community forces them to look outside themselves to develop
symbiotic relationships with wider family, parishioners, students
and hardest of all - professional counsellors. Serenity uses her
epiphanies to help her new friend, Maria, having learned that little
good comes of secrets. Danny's catharsis comes only after further
tragedy but to some degree from realizing that materialism cannot
fill that dark hollow of human despair, from which no one is immune.
Serenity crushes on Jay, who is somewhat of a rough diamond, but
stays focused on her school work and writing. Every chapter explores
both a line of scripture and a poetry device from her first period
Poetry class, to be learned and applied. The last chapter called
'Amen' begins with an Ode. Serenity's naive ode to a Red Velvet Cake
is an important metaphor and specially blended Mother's Day surprise
for her Grandmother. Readers are treated to the recipe in the end
papers.
Both Danny and Serenity falter but their family, faith and
community, reconnect them to bittersweet memories and dispel their
fears that they are not destined to repeat the same cycles of
violence. The novel arrives full circle back to the scripture that
sustains Serenity on the day of her mother's murder.
This is a book centred on grief, but certainly refuting the metaphor
that the disease of domestic violence is either inherited or
chronic.
Deborah Robins
BumbleBunnies: The sock by Graeme Base
BumbleBunnies, book 2. HarperCollins, 2019. ISBN:
9781460753972.
(Age: 2-6) Recommended. Themes: Superheroes, Washing, Problem
solving. With exquisite pictures that demand the reader examine each
one again and again, Base has given very young readers a lovely
introduction to superheroes. In the second book Wuffle the puppy,
Lou the kitten and Billington the duck are watching the washing blow
around in the wind, when a sock blows off and lands near a muddy
puddle. What a dilemma! How are the friends going to get the sock
back on the line? After some misadventures with the sock, the
BumbleBunnies, those long eared heroes, come to the rescue.
The text is simple and easy for a beginning reader, but reads aloud
very well for the pre-schooler, who will have lots of fun
identifying each of the characters - even their names give clues to
who they are and the expressions on their faces as they fight over
the sock are priceless. Readers too, will enjoy having knowledge
about who the BumbleBunnies really are, while Wuffle, Lou and
Billington are bamboozled by the masks, capes and equipment that
they carry. It is fun to try and work out just what is in the garden
that will help the superheroes get the sock back on the line and
just what skills they will have to use as they come up with a
wonderful solution to the problem.
The illustrations are ones that beg for a revisit, as something new
and interesting will be found to look at in the rich hues of the
garden. The vivid drawings of all the characters ensure the reader
becomes familiar with each individual personalities.
The second book can be read as a stand alone, as there is plenty of
information about all the characters, but once started on this
series, young children will be asking for more stories about the
BumbleBunnies and the three friends and will certainly want to read
the first book, Bumblebunnies : The pond.
Pat Pledger
Mighty Mitch: Day/Night decider! by Mitchel Starc
Mighty Mitch series book 5. Scholastic, 2019. ISBN:
9781742769172.
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. The U10 Wombats are in the enviable
position of playing in the Grand Final against the Dingoes team. But
there's a bigger challenge than their unbelievable winning streak.
Mitch and his quirky team mates are clearly having a ball playing by
the new mixed Junior Cricket rules with 7-9 on a team and a shorter
pitch; but now the rules state that the Grand Final is to be a
Day/Night game. How are they going to overcome playing under lights
with a pink ball to achieve new individual goals before the end of
season - especially Oli, the team buffoon?
Coach makes them practise under the lights with the fearsome ball
launcher and his motivational strategies seem to be doing the trick,
if Josh can stay off his mobile phone and Oli can find his way back
from the toilets or finally make a catch. Cassie, Jess, Hayden and
Raf set their own goals and victory is within their grasp in the
last over when Mitch's fumble is ruled a catch. Will he follow his
conscience or make his team and his parents happy?
This illustrated novel flows well to its ethical conclusion and
Starc must be commended on attributing ample skills to the girls on
the team. Non-cricketers are supported by Philip Bunting's winsome
illustrations and lucid technical aids, including a comprehensive
Cricket Terms Glossary, a Fielding Positions chart, a Batting Shots
Chart and even a table of all 11 Ways to get Out. Whether you can
already distinguish between a Cherry and a Sweet Spot or not, this
series is an excellent Middle to Upper Primary school introduction
to Australia's national game.
Deb Robins
Wrestle! by Charlotte Mars, Maya Newell and Gus Skattebol-James
Ill. by Tom Jellett. Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760296810.
(Ages: 4-8) Recommended. Themes: Wrestling, Identity, Families. Wrestle!
is inspired by the documentary Gayby Baby, which featured
the stories of four kids being raised in LGBTQIA+ families (Gus
Skattebol-James was one of the children in the film and Mars and
Newell were involved in producing and directing). It's nearly time
for Mardi Gras and Gus wants to go as a wrestler. The accompanying
illustration shows a table covered in family photographs and other
odds and ends which tell us a lot about Gus's life (he has two mums,
a little sister, likes lego, dinosaurs and wrestling, and he
barracks for the Sydney Swans). Gus's problem is that he LOVES
wrestling and wants to be big and tough with huge muscles. But his
mums think wrestling is 'violent and dangerous, and that having big
muscles and being macho isn't the only way to be strong'. This is
written so well: at a child's level but intelligently. 'I worry
Gus', says one of Gus's mums, 'that you might start thinking that's
the way to be a GOOD man, a POPULAR man or a SMART man'. It provides
families with a really lovely example of how to talk with their
children. 'You can dress up as anything you like at Mardi Gras . . .
As long as you're respectful and kind'. When Gus has a dream about
wrestling and decides he doesn't want to hurt people he realises
that there could be different kinds of wrestler (e.g., those who are
proud and stand up for themselves). I love the way Gus and his
little sister transform their wrestling toys with pink paper and
rainbow crayons (we also see the transformation on the endpapers).
Tom Jellett's illustrations are warm and generous, quite similar to
the work of Craig Smith. His other illustrative works include
popular picture books Sea Dog and My Dad Thinks He's
Funny. The illustrations perfectly reflect the realities of
life for an Aussie kid (Mum's folding washing, the kids are watching
the iPad on the couch).
This is a family story that just happens to feature a family with
two mums. These sorts of stories are important in the wake of the
same-sex marriage legislation change as we seek to expand young
children's understandings of normality in terms of family, sexuality
and gender.
Nicole Nelson
Harry Potter: A history of magic by the British Library
Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2019. ISBN 9781526607072.
(Age: 10 - Adult) Highly recommended. Themes: Magic. Fantasy. Harry
Potter. Another book for fans of Harry Potter, this handsome volume,
now in paperback, is sure to appeal to anyone who has read the books
or seen the Harry Potter films. Curated by the British Museum for
their 'Harry Potter: A history of magic' Exhibition, this book has
immediate appeal with its vivid cover and beautiful illustrations by
Jim Kay and copies of manuscripts from the British Museum. These are
dispersed throughout the book and make for a fascinating initial
perusal of the book, for those who like to flick through to get a
feeling of what is inside.
It has an introduction by Julian Harrison, the lead curator of the
exhibition and learned articles from people like Julia Eccleshare,
Lucy Mangan and Tim Peake, but what made it stand out for me were
copies of the original manuscripts that J.K. Rowling had written,
and pictures of some of her drawings of characters and scenes. It
was fascinating to see her annotations, her erasing of certain words
and the appearance of her characters in her clever illustrations.
The British Museum exhibition must have been a wonderful experience
for people who managed to see it, and this book makes it accessible
to all. It is a book that begs to be read from cover to cover, but
it rewards the person who dips into information that interests them.
I was really taken by the information about mandrakes and the
drawings of them were fascinating. Any reader will gain much
knowledge about the history of magic and will wonder at the
knowledge that J.K. Rowling brought to her books.
A table of contents gives easy access to different aspects of the
history of magic, including potions and alchemy, herbology,
astronomy and charms as well as care of magical creatures.
This would make a beautiful gift for any Harry Potter fan, and would
grace any school or public library collection.
Pat Pledger
Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian
The Ash Princess series, book 2. Macmillan Children's Press,
2019. ISBN: 9781760559106.
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Theodosia's escape from the Kaiser
has succeeded and for the first time since she was six years old she
is free from his clutches. But at what cost? With the help of her
aunt, the notorious pirate Dragonsbane, she makes for Sta'Crivero
where King Etristo has invited all of the eligible royal bachelors
to try for her hand in marriage. But with Soren imprisoned and
Blaise's berserker symptoms worsening, marriage is far from Theo's
mind. In Sta'Crivero Theo's priorities turn to her people in the
nearby refugee camp, however, the camp is nothing like Theo
expected, the Sta'Crivero people believing that the refugees bring
misfortune. King Etristo is one of Theo's strongest allies and she
must do her best to pretend to be the dim little girl they all
expect her to be - but how can she curb her enthusiasm now that
she's free of her shadows? Can she find a way to avoid marriage yet
save her people?
Similar in ways to Daenerys' story from George RR. Martin's A
song of ice and fire, the second book in The Ash Princess
series gives hope for Theo and her friends as they press forward in
their quest to retake their Astrean home. Dealing with friendship
and the ever complicated love triangle, Sebastian highlights the
importance of trust, honesty, and, most of all, friendship. Filled
with rich, complex characters, Lady Smoke is sure to keep
you captivated.
Highly recommended for young people twelve and up, particularly
those who enjoy fantasy.
Kayla Gaskell
