Palace of Fires, book 2: Penguin, 2018. ISBN 9780143783800
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Lily's plight continues with book two of the
Palace of Fire series. A recently initiated white witch, Lily
must do the impossible - rescue her mother from black Baphomet
witches without any formal training and before the night of Unholy
when her soul will be torn from her body and offered to Satan. But
Lily isn't alone, as always Skyhawk is at her side and together they
will stop at nothing to find Lily's mother and ensure that Cygnet,
the organisation of white witches survives.
Picking up where the last book left off, Lily is battling the poison
from one of the twin shape-shifters who stung her as a scorpion.
With the dark poison coursing through her veins it seems that her
only hope lies with Skyhawk's mother in their little village of
Needle. But their destination isn't difficult to guess and while
Skyhawk's mother works on the unconscious Lily, they are joined not
just by Uncle Freddie, the second in-charge of Cygnet, but by the
two detectives, Olivier and Marley, just moments after an attack by
Baphomet witch Kritta, and her two crazed familiars.
Struggling at every turn, can Lily and Skyhawk work together to save
Lily's mother before the night of Unholy? Or will everything go
terribly wrong and Cygnet lose not just Lily's mother but Lily
herself?
A book that demonstrates methods of coping and simplifying problems
when it seems like your world is falling apart, I would recommend
for fantasy lovers aged 12 and up.
Kayla Gaskell
Ninja Kid 2 - Flying Ninja by Anh Do
Scholastic, 2018. ISBN 9781742999579
(All ages) Highly Recommended. Nelson returns as the nerdy 'Flying
Ninja' in this second instalment of the Ninja Kid, showing us it's
more than OK to be different - it's beneficial.
When the evil Dr Kane takes over all the machines in Duck Creek, his
grandmother and his side-kick, cousin Kenny, place all their faith
in Nelson. In this Sci-Fi comedy, Nelson's efforts at protecting his
class from rampaging machines and escaped Zoo animals are not
appreciated at first - usually because of Charlie's vainglory in
pinching the credit.
Living by the junkyard, with an inventor as a grandmother, Nelson's
character draws more on fictional gadget heavyweights like Inspector
Gadget, James Bond and Maxwell Smart, than on Ninja skills. This
says more about the author's comedic background especially when his
characters utter dialogue like, 'If that guy's a doctor, I'd like a
second opinion.'
The bold words and phrases will delight children, especially when
read aloud by teachers or parents. Jeremy Ley's black and white
illustrations add visual provocation because Ninja Kid 2, is
an amusing first chapter book, with uplifting messages about
embracing our differences and mustering courage. Junior primary
readers will smile repeatedly and broadly - what child could
restrain themselves after poo lands on the teacher!
Deborah Robins
Dinosaurs rock by Beau Young and Shelly Craft
Ill. by Suzy Boyer. Book and CD pack. Scholastic, 2018. ISBN
9781742765921
As a stand alone book it was described as 'Okay' by Master 8 and
Miss 4, presumably because it was slightly difficult to read in the
correct rhyme, and it sounded kind of clumsy! But once we had
listened to the sound track it all made a lot more sense.
The songs are catchy and were easily remembered by miss 4 after only
hearing them a couple of times, which I think is a pretty good
recommendation.
Once we had listened to the songs a few times the book made a lot
more sense and then every time we read it, it was not read - it was
sung!
The stories/songs introduce dinosaurs such as the Triceratops,
Stegosaurus, T-Rex, Diplodocus and even the Parasaur. There is also
lots of information added within the songs such as what they like to
eat, what they do, noises they make and their individual features.
On top of the catchy songs, there are some lively illustrations
showing happy dinosaurs gallivanting around their habitats. They
pictures certainly aren't historically correct as you would find in
a non-fiction book but they are engaging and aimed at the 3-6 year
old age group.
We liked the book but admit that I am a little over the super catchy
tunes! Otherwise, it's an enjoyable book that can teach some
interesting dinosaur facts in a fun, musical way! (Just watch out
though as you may well find yourself singing the songs hours after
you stopped listening!!!)
Lauren Fountain
The dam by David Almond
Ill. by Levi Pinfold. Walker Studio, 2018. ISBN 9781406304879
(Age: all) Highly recommended. Themes: Conservation, Environment,
Music, Dams, Loss, Hope, Picture book for older readers. Based on a
true story told to Almond by musicians Kathryn and Mike Tickells, The
dam celebrates the power of the human spirit and the beauty of
music. In the 1980's, the largest artificial lake in the UK, was
formed. Farms and houses were submerged and a village drowned, as
the Keilder Valley was dammed and allowed to fill with water over
the following two years. This wild and beautiful part of North
Northumberland would be inundated. But before this happened a father
and his daughter visited each of the houses in turn, the girl
playing her fiddle and the father singing for the last time within
the walls.
This part of England is well known for its rich musical history and
the work done by the girl and her father heralded the importance of
music to the people whose houses were disappearing. Their music
evoked the very essence of the houses and the people, ensuring its
survival. The lake is now a beautiful place, full of history and
music which can never be stilled. While the past can be mourned, the
present remembers the past through the music which can still be
heard, if people stop to listen. Behind the dam Within the water
the music stays, Will never be gone.
Beautifully illustrated by Queensland illustrator, Levi Pinfold,
this poignant picture book will stay with readers as they think
about change and its impact on us all. The musicians and their music
come alive on the pages, the love for music shining through the
pages, with people singing and dancing on the banks of the lake as
the music is celebrated even though the landscape has undergone
incredible change.
This is an unforgettable picture book, with author and illustrator
combining to give the reader a story full of the sadness of change,
but using music to garner the forces which remind us of what has
gone before, impelling us never to forget. The luminous
illustrations, sepia at first, adds more blue to the palette as the
story gathers force, reminding us that although change happens, the
past can be remembered and celebrated through music.
The sweeping vistas of the Northumberland landscape will astound the
readers, their brooding vastness there to be seen and almost touched
in these illustrations. The wonderful squat stone houses, empty for
the rising water are gorgeously portrayed, redolent of the past and
now filled with music waiting for the inundation. A book to savour.
Fran Knight
Papa Goose by Michael Quetting
Subtitle: One year,
seven goslings, and the flight of my life. Black Inc, 2018. ISBN 9781760640750
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended.
Non-fiction. Scientific researcher Michael Quetting zealously cares
for 7 goose eggs - these are to become his little gosling family,
each bird a character of its own: from the glorious firstborn
Gloria, adventurous Nemo and his foolhardy love of water, to the
moody Frieda, to feisty Calimero, gentle Maddin, loyal Paula and
little Nils - we get to know them all. Quetting has the challenge of
raising the goslings to become a flight crew of geese gathering data
about weather and flight patterns. The geese have to learn to accept
Quetting as their doting parent and follow his lead, eventually
learning to fly alongside his ultralight plane carrying data
recorders on their back. At first things seem to go smoothly, the
goslings snuggle up to their foster dad, rush immediately to his
side at the beep of his rubber horn, and they are unperturbed by the
sound of the plane propeller. But as the goslings grow into teenager
geese, there are the first signs of contrary independence and
rebellion.
Quetting had just been through the ordeal of a divorce, and the
budding relationship with the little balls of fluffy feathers brings
him a new sense of peace and calm, away from the demands of his old
life. He becomes content just to be with them and enjoy the simple
things in nature. It is so heartwarming to read of the goslings'
complete trust in him, trotting out in a line behind him across the
fields, and snuggling up beneath his jumper when they are tired . .
. and then gradually gaining the confidence to stretch their wings
and fly in formation alongside his plane. But there are many hazards
along the way, and not everything goes smoothly.
This story is a real delight to read; as we get to know the
personalities of the geese, and share in the interactions Quetting
has with them. It is not easy to accept that eventually there will
be a parting of ways as the experiment comes to an end. Along the
way there are laughs and many lessons to learn about trust and love,
and finding inner peace.
Helen Eddy
Shoo grumpers shoo! by Josh Lawson
Ill. by Shelley Knoll-Miller. Omnibus Book, 2018. ISBN 9781742991955
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. We all have days when we feel like the
world is against us, or simply we just rolled out of bed on the
wrong side - we are grumpy! And Josh Lawson (Australian actor best
known for TV sitcom 'House of Lies') calls them Grumpers.
'When you find yourself with a grumper, or two, you need to tell
those grumpers to shoo for it's grumpers that bring out the grumpy
in you'
A Grumper can best be described as a small winged creature that
causes chaos in your life and just really gets you down. They make
you huff and puff, frown, screw up your face and even whinge and
whine. BUT... there is help and this book gives a whole heap of
ideas for even the most grumpiest of child (or adult!) to shoo those
grumpers away.
I really liked this story and for so many reasons!
I loved that it takes the all too familiar feeling of grumpiness and
gives it a face for children. This can then be used during these
times to distract and turn a bad day into a good one.
The list of activities to do are also amazing, and easy to do
anywhere - such as sing, dance or laugh.
The illustrations are so lovely and show the bond between a mother
and child that can sometimes be frustrating but also so much fun.
In essence, I found this book really relatable and able to be
re-read at grumpy times and even just discussed. The phrase 'Are
there some grumpers around here?' Is now familiar in our house.
A great book for both home and in the classroom. 5 out of 5.
Lauren Fountain
Broken things by Lauren Oliver
Hodder and Stoughton, 2018. ISBN 9781444786859
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Themes: Thriller. Murder. Friendship.
Secrecy. Diversity. Fandom. Brynn and Mia are reunited five years
after the brutal murder of their friend Summer. Everyone believes
that they, along with their friend Owen, killed her although there
is no conclusive evidence to prove that and they have been wrongly
accused. Given the name The Monsters of Brickhouse Lane they are
shunned and harassed by the townspeople. Determined to prove their
innocence they must confront what happened in the woods that
dreadful day.
Oliver deftly takes the reader into the minds of three young girls,
all lonely and misfits, who are obsessed with a novel called 'The
way into Lovelorn', which ends in mid-sentence. They begin to
write a sequel and become immersed in a fantasy world, with a
strange figure, the Shadow, featuring prominently. Told in
alternative chapters by Brynn and Mia, with excerpts from 'The
way into Lovelorn' and their fanfiction sequel, events in both
the past and present gradually unfold. Then the two friends get
together with Owen, and assisted by Abby and Wade, try to trace what
really happened leading up to Summer's murder.
One of the strengths of Broken things is Oliver's in-depth
characterisation. The reader gets to know the three girls really
well when they are young 13 year olds trying to navigate through
school and friendship crisis, as well as five years later, having to
manage to survive through the townspeople's abuse and family
difficulties. There is brash, gay Brynn who feels she can't go home
and with the help of her cousin Wade, fakes drug tests to stay in
rehab, shy Mia who has problems getting words out and who is in love
with Owen, and Summer, charismatic yet often cruel and brutal with
her friends and boyfriends. Their sidekicks, Wade and Abby, are
fascinating as well - Abby is overweight and proud of it and is
popular online, while Wade, very intelligent, is not very likeable.
This was a compulsive read and will appeal to readers who enjoyed
other books by Oliver, Panic
and Vanishing
girls or We
were liars by E. Lockhart and One
of us is lying by Karen M. McManus.
Pat Pledger
The awesome book of space: The world's most awesome facts by Adam Frost
Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408896501
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Subjects: The Universe. Space. General
Knowledge. Award-winning UK author Adam Frost continues to deliver
another exciting information book jam-packed with the strange, the
record-breaking and the amazing. His focus is the Universe
beginning with Arthur the alien, who wants to return home using
helium balloons! For his size - 26 kgs - he will need over 2000
balloons! Written in a conversational style directly addressing the
reader, Frost takes us on a wild ride, up into the thermosphere,
then looks at freefalling back to Earth being caught in a giant net.
How many pairs of underpants would you need for a year on a space-
station? There are no washing machines, so what happens to the used
ones - they become shooting stars! What happens when the next
asteroid hits the earth? Scientists have suggested catching it with
a giant drawstring bag and setting robot drills to eat the rock and
return the smaller pieces into space.
Each double page spread is creatively designed with bold
backgrounds, fun fact boxes, colourful diagrams, graphs and
cartoons. Hero or Zero discusses the impact of zero gravity in a
space station, tears just stay under your eyes, magnetic cutlery is
needed and your bed is strapped to the wall or ceiling.
Adam Frost has gathered information from all over the Universe,
recorded alien sightings, birthdays on other planets, even extreme
exoplanets. The awesome book of space is a mini-almanac of information
that can be enjoyed by the space enthusiast, shared with family and
friends or as an excellent resource for the classroom and library.
Rhyllis Bignell
Monster party by the children from Rawa Community School with Alison Lester and Jane Godwin
Magabala Books, 2018. ISBN 9781925360554
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Monster party is a book co-created by
the wonderful Alison Lester and Jane Godwin, alongside the middle
primary children who attend the Rawa Community School in the Pilbara
region.
After some quick internet research I found that this project
occurred in 2017 and was aimed at increasing the students skills in
creative writing and art making.
The story follows a funny band of monsters who come out from the
ground to visit the children, keeping them awake with lots of noise
and crazy activities.
Each page has a monster that has been designed and created by the
children, matching the verbs within the text and showing lots of
different facial features and body shapes.
The text is written in rhyme, making it very easy to read to younger
listeners and easy to ready by older siblings or children around the
age of 6.
My favourite pages say 'There's a happy smiling monster, one that's
like a mouse, and a complicated monster that looks like Yapu's
house'. The illustrations are bright and vibrantly coloured and the
monsters faces are happy and not scary like we are usually
accustomed to.
My two children, aged 4 and 8, both enjoyed different aspects of the
book. Miss 4 liked the pictures and pretending to be a monster
whereas Master 8 liked the rhyming and big words like 'galumphing',
'slobbering' and 'prowls'. It was also a great book for role play
and silliness - lots of crazy noises and moves to be had when
reading this book.
A fun and easy book to read, 4 out of 5.
Lauren Fountain
Brimstone by Kelly Gardiner
The Fire Watcher Chronicles book 1. Scholastic, 2018. ISBN
9781742994277
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Themes: Time travel, London Blitz,
Great Fire of London. It is 1940 and Christopher Larkham is in the
middle of the London Blitz. Seeking shelter from the bombs, he
uncovers a ring with a phoenix symbol on it and finds himself
transported back to 1666, the time of the Great Fire of London. Here
he faces Brother Blowbladder who believe that London should burn
because of its sin. Brimstone is an exciting book and Christopher is a most
engaging character. In London in 1940 he is a courageous
firewatcher, managing to help identify where the bombs will be
dropped and helping to put out spot fires with his mother who is a
fire warden. In 1666 he manages to persuade the family who believe
that he is Kit, their dead son and brother, to take their belongings
and flee the advancing fire. He also bravely faces Brother
Blowbladder and his cohort in the mysterious Righteous Temple and
with the assistance of Master Merriman and Molly he manages to help
save many lives.
Gardiner has brought together many strands, time travel, history and
action, all rolled into one exciting adventure that will prove
fascinating for the reader. Time travel is deftly handled as
Christopher goes back and forth from 20th century London to 17th
century London. The descriptions of both the fires caused by the
bombs and those in the Great Fire of London are vividly and bring to
life both events - readers will learn much about the history of both
periods, while revelling in a well told adventure story. Gardiner
has included an author's note about World War Two and the blitz and
the Great Fire of London and a list of books that readers interested
in the history could pursue.
Fans of both fantasy and historical fiction will really enjoy
Brimstone and are sure to pick up the next two books in the series,
Phoenix and Vigil, both coming in 2019.
Pat Pledger
Van Diemen's Land by James Boyce
Black Inc., 2008, new edition 2018. ISBN 9781760640781
(Age: Senior Secondary - Adult) Highly recommended. This award
winning book has recently been republished with a foreword by
Richard Flanagan.
James Boyce has written an enlightening early 'environmental'
history of Van Diemen's Land which shows how the convicts were
changed by the land and people they encountered. Instead of an arid
wilderness beset by the kinds of problems encountered in early
Sydney, the new inhabitants found an abundance of wildlife in the
form of the Forester kangaroo and emu. Within 2 years of settlement
convicts were able to live independently in the bush using nothing
more than a hunting dog.
'They soon turned to native animal skin for their clothing and
pretty soon they adapted aboriginal designs and learnt how to build
overnight shelters very quickly and later, stronger huts. So
basically, all of the essentials of life they were able to access
from the bush around them. If you think of the poor of Britain you
can imagine how tough life was for them in the early 19th century.
Fresh meat was a very occasional luxury and even wheat, bread was
very expensive. Genuine material poverty - so for the convicts that
came here to be able to access the essentials of life - food,
clothing, shelter, independently was an enormous boon.'
In the 1820s relations between Europeans and Aboriginal people in
central Tasmania, began to change as almost all indigenous people
were either killed or removed, wild dog numbers exploded, fire-stick
burning ceased, emu became extinct and kangaroo numbers dwindled.
This was followed by the peak of convict influx in the late 1830s
and early 1840s, including large numbers of Irish and women
convicts. The colony survived but the convict freedom and
independence was curbed as more and more free settlers arrived.
The Appendix of the book, 'Towards Genocide Government Policies on
the Aborigines 1827-38', provides a detailed examination of
Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur's horrific assault on the
Aborigines in north-west Tasmania, ending with their complete
removal to islands in Bass Strait following roundup and imprisonment
on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour.
The history is supported with a wide variety of primary sources and
an extensive index.
It was an engrossing book, easy to read and accompanied by a
beautiful cover using John Glover's 1834 portrait of Hobart and
Mount Wellington, as well as photographs of the changed landscape,
important identities and maps. It is also available as an ebook.
Paul Pledger
The way home for Wolf by Rachel Bright
Ill. by Jim Field. Orchard, 2019. ISBN 9781408349205
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Friendship, Caregivers, Lost.
Assured wolf cub Wilf thinks he can do anything. He is full of
confidence, itching to be grown up and lead the pack. When the pack
needs to move because another animal has taken over their den, they
must roam many miles, searching for a new home, through the snow and
ice of the North Pole. Midwinter with the borealis lighting the
night sky, they trudge on through snowfalls and blizzards. Wilf
strays behind and when he recovers he has lost the pack. He has gone
astray and is unsure of what to do. Setting down for the night the
ice cracks beneath him and falling he is taken up by a watery
unicorn who gathers him onto her tusk and lifts him onto the shore.
Here she passes him over to her friend, Mr Walrus and he takes the
young cub to Musk-Ox.
Each time he is passed from one animal to another readers will be
excited to predict the rhyming word as they turn the page. The story
is in four line rhyming stanzas, encouraging children to predict the
last word of the next line, and marvel at the way the story is
expressed. It makes easy reading and many of the phrases will stop
the readers as they ponder the image presented. I loved the "howling
of wolves" and the "wafting of fish" amongst others, and found
myself reading it over again to check out the rhymes and word
images.
The illustrations reflect the story, taking the reader into the cold
and bleak northern Arctic, feeling lost with Wilf as he attempts to
navigate the white and grey expanse. Field's use of white and grey,
the dark and the shadows, is wonderful, making every reader feel
alone in the wilderness with the wolf cub.
Wilf passes through a number of hands before he is reunited with his
pack, and they huddle and cuddle their lost cub, welcoming him back
to the pack. He is a wiser little cub.
A wonderful read aloud, this cautionary tale will be loved by all
readers as they recognise the comfort of friendship and family,
welcoming him home despite his bravado which helped him get lost in
the first place.
Fran Knight
Morris the mole by Nikki Greenberg
Allen and Unwin, 2018. ISBN 9781760630829
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Moles, Animals, Tunnelling,
Adventure. Morris the mole simply loves to tunnel. And readers
following his exploits will laugh with him as he finds the most
unexpected of things in the tunnels he digs. Told in rhyming
couplets, children will have a whole heap of fun predicting the word
that rhymes to complete the line, probably learning some of the ones
they like, and certainly learning to recognise alliteration as they
read.
Morris extols the virtues of being underground as he sashays with
his shovel, finds rich treasures, collects worms for desert and
eventually digging a hole to get out into the fresh air, but in
doing so, wrecks the mouse's birthday party by coming out exactly
where the cake has been set upon the ground. The next time he pops
up he wrecks the rabbits' garden, and then finally he finds
something he cannot dig through. But will our hero give up? Never,
and he digs through the bottom concrete layer of something quite
unexpected. And just like Mr Toad from The Wind in the Willows
finds another avenue for his adventurous spirit.
Readers will have gales of fun with Morris, watching his antics,
digging with him as he comes up in the most surprising of places,
causing all sorts of mayhem. And perhaps finding out more about
moles in the classroom.
A book with lots of fun, and lively illustrations to complement the
tale.
Fran Knight
Boats: Fast and Slow by Iris Volant and Jarom Vogel
Flying Eye Books, 2018. ISBN 9781911171928
(Age: 7-10) Subjects: Boats, Ships, Sea craft. Boats: Fast and
Slow introduces in a simplified format the history of boats
from the earliest rafts of woven reeds and Native American log
canoes and on to boat festivals and modern sailing boats. The facts
are presented in an easy to read format, beginning with a
uncomplicated definition that 'boats carry people across water' and
they are powered by sails, engines or human effort.
Not all boats are the same is such an obvious statement, why include
it? Very basic overviews are included, without a depth of
information that even young boat enthusiasts are keen to read. War
boats introduces the Corinthian trireme used for battle by the
Ancient Greeks. Three rows of oarsmen powered the sailing ship which
had a ramming device at the bow of the ship. The seafaring Vikings
built strong and sturdy longships capable of taken them across the
seas to raid the Northern European countries.
Jumping to the early 19th century, we read of the Chinese pirate
queen, Ching Shih, who commanded 300 ships and 30,000 pirates.
Famous naturalist Charles Darwin and his sailing ship the HMS Beagle
is included, with his scientific expedition to the Galapagos Islands
noted. Steam-powered vessels are presented, manufactured in iron and
steel, with coal furnaces to propel them across the oceans. From
ancient Dragon Boat Festivals to the America's Cup, boats have been
used for 'sport and leisure since the earliest times.'
Jarom Vogel's digital images sweep across the pages, the stylised
boats, ships and recreational craft add interest to this historical
look at seafaring history. Boats: fast and Slow is a useful
resource for a Middle Primary class as a springboard into exploring
the history of transport.
Rhyllis Bignell
Time's convert by Deborah Harkness
All soul's trilogy. Headline, 2018. ISBN 9780399564512.
(Ages: 16+) Recommended. Themes: Vampire/Historical fiction. Marcus
MacNeil is a centuries-old vampire who was made during the time of
the American revolution. This novelis split between Marcus's
memories of the past in 18th century America and his presence in the
21st century with his lover Phoebe as she begins to make the
transformation from human to vampire. He relives his own trials and
turmoils and ultimately discovers what family truly means to him and
to those he holds dear.
The characters of Time's convert were authentic to what time
frame they were set in and felt realistic and likeable as they
acted in ways that were true to what the novel painted them to be
e.g. the mentor or the villain. Since many of the characters in this
story were vampires the reader was able to see their attitudes and
beliefs from a much older time and how these ideas conflicted with
modern times. It was satisfying to see how the characters'
relationships with each other grow and their thinking shifts to fit
with the modern age as the experiences they endure shape them to be
wiser and more mature or the opposite. In turn, the reader's
relationship grows deeper as we see them struggle and overcome
challenges which give us a feeling of being connected to Marcus and
Phoebe.
The tone of the novel reads as a diary as Marcus tells us personally
the challenges and triumphs he faced as a newly made vampire and
Diana's a new mother and then Phoebes a newly made vampire in the
21st century. This creates a feeling of closeness with Marcus as we
watch him essentially grow up in front of our eyes. The reader ends
up caring deeply about what happens to Marcus and the people he
holds dear in the story. The switching point of views in the story
was an interesting a much-needed addition as we can see the
thoughts, feelings and trails of Diana, Phoebe and Marcus through
their own eyes. This was an effective way of driving the message of
the story about the meaning of family dynamics and maternal
relationships whilst also making it clear to the reader as each
character's experience is different and thus the reader can look at
the overarching theme from many angles.
The dialogue of Time's convert sounded extremely authentic
for the 18th century and modern day. This made it easy for the
reader to imagine what life was like in the different time frames
and feel more fully immersed in the story itself. Another
contributing factor to the story's allure was that each character
had a distinctive voice which showed rather than told the reader the
age, personality or even what religion the character was. This
helped in not only making the characters more memorable but also
aided in creating connections with the reader.
Amy Folker (Year 11 student)
