Ethel the penguin by Ursula Dubosarsky and Christopher Nielsen
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180880. (Age:3+) Recommended.
Ethel the Penguin is a brightly presented picture book that will appeal to young readers especially because Ethel is extremely mischievous and strong-willed. She lives in a semi-detached iceberg next door to her best friend who is telling this rhyming verse story.
Ethel gets up to mischief in the classroom, on the school crossing, and on this particular evening she runs away from her home to ride on a Ferris wheel. Her family and friends are terribly upset and try to find her before she gets herself into a dangerous situation. But she is a determined penguin and does exactly what she set out to do. Her parents plead with her to get off and after some thought she does exactly that – forgetting that penguins cannot fly. Fortunately, she lands somewhat safely and promises not to worry them again. However, can we believe Ethel?
The bold and colourful illustration are spread throughout the book, from the cover to the delightful endpapers and the large full page drawings. The use of highlighted words for reading aloud emphasis adds to the dramatic appeal of the story. The rhyming text is cleverly constructed but the use of the word ‘span’ in context of the spinning Ferris wheel led this reviewer to do some research and discover that ‘span’ is an older strong past tense form of spin used long ago.
For newly independent readers or those a little older who like a laugh, or younger who need help to read and are happy to ask, then this graphic novel with laugh out loud content will suit many young readers. One of the Tater Tales series, the novel is full of interest as it has text and graphic sequences, lists, cartoons, a host of comic illustrations and several pages of fun facts and quizzes, including a page on how to draw Tot.
The story is told in five chapters each of a dozen or so pages making it most accessible for early readers and those who do not like a lot of text.
Rot the mutant potato is ready or another adventure in this wholly amusing, laugh out loud story of a family of potatoes. Laden with lots of puns (bootiful boots, for example) we see an excited Rot the Tater on a spudlunking trip. Spudlunkig in the world of potatoes means you dig a hole, or just find one to explore. So Rot goes hard at it. He digs and digs, hoping his friends will join him, but their interest lies elsewhere. Rot keeps digging and eventually finds a shiny golden crown. He is excited and puts it on, wanting to show his friends just who he is. The story then goes through the misgivings held by the potato folk, questioning the right of Rot to declare himself king. Some very funny episodes ensue as the potato people learn about friendship and power.
Themes Humour, Potatoes, Friendship.
Fran Knight
The dentist by Tim Sullivan
Head of Zeus, 2021. ISBN: 9781801107716. (Age:Adult - Senior secondary) Recommended.
The first in a series, The DS Cross Mysteries, introduces the reader to DS George Cross, who is investigating the murder of a homeless man who has been strangled. Cross’s investigations lead him to look at a cold case, the murder of the homeless man’s wife many years before. He is convinced the two are linked and with his special set of skills, his obsession with detail, logic and patterns sets about to prove that the man initially charged for murder was innocent and that the police made some fundamental errors. This does not make him popular but his record of solving cases ensures that his boss Carson, leaves him to investigate the cases.
Cross is on the spectrum with poor social skills, and this makes it difficult for his colleagues to relate to him. DS Josie Ottey has been assigned to him and now knows his way of proceeding with an investigation, and tries to help Alice Mackenzie, a recruit who is given menial tasks by Cross. His background is gradually revealed. He experienced bullying in the Police Force particularly while under the supervision of a retired Superintendent who Cross is convinced did not examine every avenue at the time, but this does not deter him from pursuing the case.
This a strong police procedural with an interesting detective showing the reader how important even minor details can be. The mystery of the two murders was gripping and there were enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about who the murderer could be – a surprise for me!
I enjoyed The dentist and intend to read more in the series. People who liked the TV dramas Professor T and MacDonald and Dodds, are likely to want to read this well written book.
Themes Murder, Detectives, Dentists.
Pat Pledger
Ultra Violet: Down to business by Cristy Burne and Rebel Challenger
Scientist and journalist Cristy Burne works hard to provide young children with engaging, meaningful stories, often throwing in a science twist. Her other books include the Takeshita Demons series and Into the Blue. Ultra Violet is a graphic novel aimed at the reluctant reader crowd but also anyone over 7 who still finds toilet humour amusing. The first page sets this precedent really, as we are introduced to Violet, second name Butt. Violet is a scientist who works for Butt Laboratories, the only problem being that she frequently takes her experiments too far...
Varied text, humurous dialogue and oblivious parents make for a riotous and fun read. Violet is pampered with everything she wants but her parents are largely absent or glued to a screen, ignorant of her dangerous scientific escapades and close shaves with death. Her favourite things are her cheese-eating, talking hermit crab Leo and her best friend Izzy Kelly, believer of aliens, UFOs and conspiracy theories. Trying to solve the problem of the broken toilet on the day of the school bean-eating contest is definitely a job for these three, the self-named Butt Squad. An alien interloper, fun facts, great puns, an invention called a Butt Sucker and an unplanned sewer adventure make this a rollicking read.
Cleverly separated into Chapters named Intro, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion and lots of science vocabulary make this a sciency book without it feeling like you're learning anything at all. Although if you're not a plumber, you might learn about fatbergs for the first time! This is very clever and the illustrations are fabulously full of life.
Thankfully, there's a reference to a book number two, so we can have more ridiculous science adventures with Violet, Leo and Izzy soon.
The story weaves around the painting on the front cover by Marda Pitt, a Tjungudju woman from Cape Took Peninsula. In her painting, two hands are clasped together at its centre, one black, one white, the basic motif of reconciliation. In the story, Kerr outlines the history of colonisation as the ghosts came first in one ship, then thirteen, then countless more, taking the land from its original inhabitants. The First Nations’ land, their animals and water were all denied them and they became sad.
It took a long time before the intruders looked around to see what they had done, leading to saying sorry and setting out on a path where the two could come together.
In a very positive story, Marda and Anne roll out a practical journey for all Australians, drawing a journey map, and encouraging younger readers to do the same. In this way all the features of a child’s life can be included: the families, grandparents, friends, kids at school, the shops, the library, parks, family pets, the environment, home, swimming lessons. All the things kids do can be included in their journey map, and coloured just like Marda’s is on the front cover. Everyone’s map might be different or look different, have different colours and motifs, but there are many more similar features. At the end of the book are several pages of discussion starters and ideas for use in the classroom, including a journey map template.
We do not welcome our ten-year-old overlord by Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180491. (Age:10+) Highly recommended.
I am a fan of Garth Nix’s writing and couldn’t wait to read his latest middle school book with the intriguing title We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord. Set in Canberra in 1975, Kim, his younger sister Eila, Bennie and her younger sister Madir are on a bicycle ride to the lake. Suddenly the world goes dark for a second and they spot an orb amongst weeds in the water. Kim takes it out and it unsuccessfully tries to take over his mind, and he warns the others to stay away from it. But Eila, a know-all prodigy, grabs it, names it Aster and is happy for her to come into her mind. Kim is convinced that it is dangerous, but Eila disguises it as a basketball and takes it out at night, where they experiment on ants, thousands of which die the next day. They also reduce an injured kangaroo to pulp. Eila is convinced that she is doing good when she manipulates her parents, living an alternative lifestyle on an Experimental Farm, persuading them to buy a colour television. Bennie and Madir’s neglectful parents suddenly become caring and Mrs Benison’s pain is stopped. But what will Aster do next? Why is she going out alone at night? Are Kim’s fears justified?
Kim has always been in the shadow of his younger sister, Eila, who speaks many different languages and is very smart. Eila is stubborn and believes that she is always right and their parents usually take her side in any argument. However Kim knows that he has common sense and that the orb’s attempt to take over his mind was not a good thing. He is determined to save Eila from manipulating more people and he may have to save the world as well. There is danger to face and complex decisions to make as Kim and his friends battle Aster’s influence.
Nix brings in some of his own background to the novel. The group love to play Dungeons and Dragons, as Nix did in his teenage years; many families do not have colour TVs, and children were free to cycle miles without parental supervision.
The theme of a 10-year-old becoming an overlord is fascinating, raising questions about the maturity of children to make decisions. The possible outcomes of such decisions will leave readers thinking long after they finish the book. Older readers may want to move onto Nix’s Abhorsen series, starting with Sabriel.
Themes Aliens, Canberra, Science fiction.
Pat Pledger
Helping Little Star by Blaze Kwaymullina and Sally Morgan
Walker Books, 2024. ISBN: 9781760658700. (Age:3+)
Moon warned Little Star not to go near the edge of the Night Sky but Little Star didn't listen. Down he fell, right into a creek! Now how is he going to get back into the sky again? Luckily, Python, Dingo and Kangaroo are there to help but neither can do it on their own.
This is a wonderful story for our youngest readers who are probably already aware of what can happen if you don't listen to the wiser, more experienced grown-ups around them as they begin to push the boundaries to explore the wider world around them. But it is also one of working together to solve a problem as Mother Kangaroo comes up with a solution that involves the help of Python and Dingo.
Well-known Aboriginal writer and illustrator Sally Morgan, a Palyku woman from the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, has teamed up with her son to create this story, and indeed, it is the vibrant illustrations in her iconic style that bring it to life, deserving its reprint after 11 years since its first publication. Littlies will enjoy this, perhaps even going outside to see it they can spot Little Star in the night sky, while parents can use it as a reminder if their little one goes too close to the edge.
The ‘glass girl’ is Bella, a 15 year-old struggling to cope with her parents’ bitter separation, continually swapping houses between them, dealing with her younger sister’s neediness, feeling invisible at school, mourning the recent death of her beloved grandmother, and devastated by the break-up with her boyfriend Dylan. The only relief is that which comes with the Sprodka, vodka mixed in a bottle of Sprite, vodka scored from a person willing to take the money and buy it for the hooded teenager waiting outside.
Scoring grog is a group thing that she and her friends do after school. But for Bella, it becomes the release that she can’t do without. After all, adults use alcohol to wind down after a tough day at work, why not kids? Without ever acknowledging it, Bella descends deeper and deeper into addiction until the day her mother finds her, unconscious with a smashed face from falling drunk onto the doorstep, after being dumped there after a party gone wrong.
The narration is Bella’s internal voice, her thoughts and fears, her self-justifications and anxieties. It is a very convincing account of the lived world of a teenage alcoholic. In the author’s note, Glasgow describes how as a teenager she ‘really, really, really, really liked drinking’. And there are many kids that do. She draws on real cases as we enter the world of rehabilitation with Bella. Recovery is not easy, things don’t all magically get better, happy ever after. It is a very tough path, and there are frequent relapses. Glasgow presents it all.
The glass girl is a very powerful exploration of many teenage issues: all kinds of addiction, peer pressure, cyberbullying, anxiety and loneliness. Glasgow’s writing style draws the reader in, and we live through Bella’s experience. This is an important book for young people which helps to create empathy both for those with addictions and those who need to step up and be the real friend that is needed, one who is prepared to call things out. It would make a worthwhile addition to the school library.
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781760526061. (Age:8-Adult) Highly recommended.
Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica is a glorious coffee table-style book that will appeal to readers both young and old. The striking photographs and stunning illustrations will provide endless hours of engagement and enable younger readers who may not yet be ready to read the text to pour over the pages and images, thereby gaining a wonderful snapshot of this mysterious and magical land of big seas, ice, snow and the natural environment.
Author Alison Lester and illustrator Coral Tulloch share their memories of journeys to this southern continent with both candour and reflective thoughts. They have interspersed their own narratives with quotes and stories from the past, and discussions in the present. There are historical facts, journal entries, quirky titbits of information, diagrams, tables, illustrations and maps, plus superb photographs of varying aspects of Antarctica.
The book begins with the story of the trip in 2006 where they experienced a storm at sea. The reader can feel the anxiety and the fear but also the trust they have that the crew and the ship will keep them safe. The first sightings of an iceberg leave them in wonder of the majestic size and … 'heralding the entrance to an old, ancient world, seen new.' Through their eyes, there is so much newness to see, read and learn. Along with the weather, the landscapes and the history, the creators share their impressions and heartfelt emotions.
Into the Ice would make a beautiful gift to be treasured and browsed through time and time again. The text is highly accessible and it is a story waiting to be read and devoured. In the final pages are detailed lists of sources, images and acknowledgments. I cannot recommend this fabulous book highly enough. A fascinating read.
Winner of the CBCA Picture Book of the Year, Are we there yet? has been republished for its 20th anniversary in a special foiled collector's edition. The National Year of Reading, 2012, chose this picture books as its focus for reading and book activities in Australia in 2012, and rightly so. It is an amazing book, considered a classic, detailing the exploits of a family and their trip around Australia in their family 4 wheel drive. With the refrain of 'are we there yet' common to everyone, everywhere, the family hits the grey nomad trail, one increasingly covered by younger families as well. A map at the start helps set the scene as the family packs up grandpa's old camper trailer with everything they think they will need for the three month trip.
A small Australian map every few pages acquaints the reader about how far they have gone and reinforces the position of the places they have stopped at. From The Cooroong to Uluru, Wave Rock to Sydney Harbour Bridge, the sights and sounds of Australia are presented in Alison Lester's beautiful illustrations and economical words. What better introduction to the Australian scenery could we hope for? I can imagine every classroom using this book as an introduction to any unit of work based around Australia, its land and its people. Reading Australia has published an unit of work for teachers.
The glowing pictures of various places around Australia are set against the family's trials and adventures, with the group pictured in their various costumes suited to the climate they are travelling through. The whole is presented with warmth and humour, underlining the vastness of the land through which the family moves, and also its friendliness and comraderie.
Editor's note. This review was first published in 2012 and has been updated.
Fran Knight
Mackenzie Arnold: Game play by Mackenzie Arnold and Jess Black. Illus. by Hannah McCaffery
Mackenzie and her friends are in the supermarket ready to compete in the Supermarket Lottery for Macca’s 12th birthday. This is a competition to see who can find certain food items and get back to the checkout first. Vying to be the winner are Ryder, Otto, Sofia, Edwin and Smiley. The winner will receive two packets of chocolate biscuits and the loser has to eat a bag of spinach. Even Macca is playing and she is thwarted by her school principal casually perusing the ice cream section. Macca is agitated and wishing she would hurry up. Of course, Macca is last but is grateful to be celebrating her birthday with her friends. Hamish and Sage join the group at the park and more birthday games are played. The first game is called Dizzy Penalties and involves a lot of spinning and trying to kick a goal. This is followed by more games, party food and a sleepover. A huge birthday celebration.
As Ryder and Macca tied in the birthday games, there is talk of one more game to finally find the winner. A football game is organised and both Ryder and Macca need to select their teams. But Ryder is on to it early and Macca is not happy. She is also in charge of organising her class fundraising idea for the school leaving gift at graduation which she has not yet done. Unexpectedly in a History lesson, Macca learns about a charter for miners’ rights and decides to create one for the upcoming soccer match much to Ryder’s annoyance. Will they be able to sort this out amicably? Or does it have far-reaching effects on the school and community? Will Macca be able to organise a fundraising event in time?
Game Play provides readers with soccer terms and plays, visual clues for readers who prefer less writing on the page and important lessons about friendship, competition and teamwork. It is an engaging fast-paced story that will be enjoyed by middle grade readers.
The Animal Action Squad is a top secret organisation of superheroes dedicated to fighting crime, and Supersquirrel is one of its operatives. With her undercover occupation as a taxi driver, and her superpowers including being able to fly extremely quickly, x-ray vision and superhearing, she has to outwit the fiendish criminal mastermind Dr Drizzle and his sidekick Rocky who have stolen a top secret formula meaning danger if it gets in the wrong hands.
But she can't do it alone - she needs the reader's help, and this is what sets this remarkable little book aside from so many. Part stepping-stone novel, part graphic novel, it is packed full of puzzles and clues that the reader needs to solve, making it as interactive as a print text can be. Being directly involved as a character means the reader has to engage with the story, the text and its illustrations rather than a skim-read-what's next book. It can be read alone or shared as participants stop to consider what they have learned from a particular excerpt and how it fits into the overall scheme of things, encouraging deeper thinking, reflection and synthesising information. Although it doesn't require making decisions to determine the path of the story, it could lead to an interest in the choose-your-own-adventure genre.
This is the first in this series that I predict will become a must-have as it reaches out to newly independent readers, including those who are beginning to think that reading doesn't really hold much for them. So much more fun than pressing or tapping buttons just to accumulate a high score. A book trailer is available.
Themes Puzzles, Super heroes.
Barbara Braxton
The backyard games by Alister Nicholson & Tom Jellett
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180927. (Age:3+) Recommended.
A nostalgic look at the games played in the backyard involving all the kids in the neighbourhood is sure to recall happy times, and nudge the young audience into organising just such a day for themselves. When all the world seems glued to a screen, a boisterous, funny book like this is sure to please, as the kids take it upon themselves to participate in a plethora of games, limited only by their imaginations and the equipment hanging in the shed.
In rhyming pairs of lines, the story unfolds as the kids pool the equipment, thinking about the heroes who have gone before them: Thorpe and Pearson and of course, Cathy Freeman.
Each of the children selects their country and hold a parade of nations around the backyard to open the games, making sure that someone is turning the sausages on the barbecue. The first quest for gold comes as the bows and arrows are used, the targets being plates from the kitchen, something that Mum is not happy about. During a foot race, one child falls over and the sportsmanship of John Landy comes to the fore. A larger child gets the weights ready, buckets of paint strung at each end of the broom handle. The same broom handle comes in handy when the children aspire to doing the high jump onto a mattress conveniently placed beneath. A group of kids bring their bikes in for a bicycle race, and after that the field events come along. All are nervous when the discus flies over the fence into a backyard where a ferocious dog patrols. Tennis and skateboarding follow, and then cricket and hockey. As the day draws to a close, medals are given out to all participants. Everyone wins in these games and as the children depart for their own homes the question arises about whose backyard will be used tomorrow.
A lovely rollicking rhythm is set up by the two rhyming lines on each page, the children encouraged to yell out the predicted rhyming word, as well as involving themselves in the range of games laid out before them. How much equipment is occupying a place in the garden shed, unused and untouched.
Children will love thinking up their own games, getting others in their neighbourhood or class to be involved.
They will delight in the images of the backyard, all the accoutrements of the Australian backyard are all there: a Hills Hoist, a dog, a gate opening onto a lane, an old esky, bits of old bird netting, discarded tins of paint, a broom, all lovingly portrayed by Jellett with his signature household of characters. Children will love looking at the range of children represented in the backyard, and check out the names of the countries represented by them all.
A warm hearted look at the way families can use their backyard, encouraging the children in their neighbourhood to get together and play together.
Both the author and illustrator offer scenes from their childhoods, making it a tender, nostalgic look at something we seem to have lost. Hopefully this book will not only entertain, but remind kids and adults alike of the pleasure to be gained in playing in the backyard.
In schools, the book offers an opportunity for classes to follow the leader and at home for kids to gather together some of their neighbours. A focus on summer, of being outdoors, to trying sports not usually undertaken, this book is a springboard for an active participation, encouraging children to step outside their comfort zones. There will be a host of questions as the story is shared: who is John Landy, Pearson or Thorpe, what countries are involved in the games, what games are involved? And looking at the different ways we all spend our leisure time, with the endppapers there to help.
Electric Postcard, 2024. ISBN: 9780593571545. (Age:14+) Recommended.
Love requires chocolate is American writer and professor Ravynn K. Stringfield's debut novel. It is written from the first person viewpoint of Whitney Curry as she arrives and spends a semester boarding at a posh Parisian lycée situated near the Sorbonne in le Quartier Latin, a short walk from the Seine. Whitney is determined to launch an artistic career by writing and performing a ..."fantastic one-woman senior thesis show...I've got to make a name for myself. The legendary Whitney Curry." She's a list maker and has a bucket list for Paris. The reader is taken on a trip through the real Paris as opposed to the tourist list that Whitney has prepared, guided by her handsome french soccer star tutor Thierry Morgan. Initially reluctant and grumpy, Thierry gradually changes and lovers of romance will not be disappointed. Progress in that department is not smooth. Will Whitney and Thierry's growing relationship just remain a Parisian romance that stays in Paris and lasts but a semester..?
Neatly, the story is bookended by, at the start, Monsieur Polignac (her escort from the airport to the Lycee International Des Arts a Paris) when he tells Whitney that the magic of Paris must be discovered by wandering-not through lists, guidebooks and websites and at the end when she realises that Monsieur Polignac..." was right all along. The only way to do Paris is not by list, but by love."
The reader cannot help but feel for Whitney as she stumbles well meaningly but clumsily through homesickness, schoolwork and friendships whilst struggling to master the french language. She grapples with the production of her play (which aims to honour the life of black American Josephine Baker- music hall artist, philanthropist and French resistance worker) and working through her Parisian bucket list along with the emotional rollercoaster of a first romance. Love of chocolate is an important ingredient of this novel.
Fresh, funny, and sweet, Love requires chocolate is a very enjoyable and recommended read for young people who like romance novels. Love requires chocolate navigates young people's emotions, aspirations and interests (especially mid- twentieth century theatre and soccer) through the eyes of Whitney-a feisty, black- American girl in Paris.
Themes Paris, Drama, Student life, Romance, Friendship, Coming of age, "The universal black girl struggle".
Wendy Jeffrey
My encyclopedia of very important dinosaurs by Dorling Kindersley
2024. ISBN: 9780241656549. (Age:5+) Recommended.
If there is one thing every teacher librarian knows about collection development, it is that you cannot have too many items in your 567.9 section - that's the section where you will find little and a-bit-bigger ones, gathered as they pore over the stories and information of those fascinating creatures that ruled this planet until 65,000,000 years ago.
So this publication from the non fiction experts will be a welcome addition as it is written especially for those who are almost independent readers but still need lots of illustrations and accessible text.
It includes everything from an in-depth exploration of the triassic, jurassic, and cretaceous periods and how fossils are made, to detailed profiles of popular dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, to more unfamiliar species such as Microraptor, Guanlong, and Spinosaurus.
For decades DK have had the best reputation for delivering quality non fiction for young readers and this is no exception. Pitched perfectly for its intended audience, it will satisfy the curiosity of those with a passing interest, while leading others on to more complex texts.
