Reviews

The Frooties series by Hil Rogers and Joshie Lefers

Ill. by Pete Petrovic. Scholastic, 2018.
"Bad Apple". ISBN 9781742765952
"Crazy Kiwi". ISBN 9781742765969
(Ages: 7-9) Themes: Fruit. Author and publisher Hil Rogers came up with the crazy idea to humanise her fruit bowl, creating a cast of fun characters with big personalities. Entrepreneur Joshie Lefers adds his own unique style with all of the silly jokes, humourous comments and fruity puns.
"Bad Apple" focuses on the trickster of the Frooties, who's always up to no good: poor Lady Mango awakes to find dark eyebrows and a curly moustache drawn on her face. Even with a warning from the Director of Melons, Watermelon Man, Bad Apple turns his punishment to clean out the fruit bowl into fun. He can't stop his Mop Express and pushes the Banana Bunch off the table. Banana Drama! A trip to the scary Rubbish Bin is required to save the bananas. This difficult journey involves making a Cling Wrap Bridge, the traversing down a knotted tea towel and a surprising catapult into the bin. Bad Apple meets some slightly disgusting characters whose comments are quite punny - 'Let's Avo Cuddle' and the fish skeleton who comments 'I don't have any body.' Bad Apple's kitchen adventures are madcap, with his friends include Punky Pineapple, Lefty and Righty Cherry twin and Petey Pear on hand to help. Their modes of transport and movement around the kitchen aided by the utensils adds to the craziness of this cartoon style junior novel.
"Crazy Kiwi" is an overwhelmingly green story, while all the other Frooties want to look their best and be chosen for breakfast by the Human Hand. Kiwi has some self-esteem issues. He's brown on the outside and green on the inside and he's a funny shape. Time for a visit to Granny (Nanny) Kiwi in the Old Froots (or Fruits) Home, a dangerous journey to undertake, surviving the Flames of Doom, the Creeping Forest and the Steel Grater. Kiwi, Nana Banana and Strawbs have some close encounters. They meet Confused Tomato a Not-Fruit Fruit, step into a Spaghetti Western food fight with a cowboy Cucumber and Zucchini and finally arrive at their destination. After some Midday Madness at the nursing home, the friends work on Kiwi's makeover.
"The Frooties" series are deliciously written and Pete Petrovic's zany cartoons bring the kitchen characters to life. These stories are fun to share, just right for readers who love jokes, puns and gross humour. Check out the bananas enjoying their blender bath in "Bad Apple!"
Rhyllis Bignell

Oscar the hungry unicorn by Lou Carter

Ill. by Nikki Dyson. Orchard, 2018. ISBN 9781408355756
(Age: 3+) Recommended. Themes: Unicorns. Fairy tales. Food. Home. Humour. Oscar loves to eat and despite what he eats, he is still hungry. He eats his stable, the gingerbread house, the pirate ship, the toadstools which house the fairies and the dragon's pizza. The dragon points out that the pizza is to share, but Oscar takes no notice. But at the giant's table, he finds that he is part of the food going into the giant's mouth so runs away, despairing that he will never find a home. He crosses the troll bridge eating it as he goes, and just as the trolls begin to exact their revenge, Princess Oola comes by with her boat. She scoops him up, telling how she loves unicorns and takes him to her castle, where food is never ending and Oscar finds a home. But he still looks at the moon with avaricious eyes.
This lovely story about eating reflects many fairy tales which readers will be familiar with. They will love the references to these stories, spying the illustrations to see what parts of the fairy story is mentioned. The fun illustrations suit the tone of the story well, and younger readers will love peering into each picture to see the details.
Teachers and parents will be able to use the story to talk about the place of food in our lives, and the appropriateness of some of the food available against a funny and inviting story.
Fran Knight

Black cockatoo by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler

Magabala Books, 2018. ISBN 9781925360707
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Mia sees her brother Jy firing stones at birds with his shanghai. Among the fallen birds there is a dirrarn black cockatoo, and Mia defiantly gathers it up and wrapping it in her arms carries it inside to her bedroom hoping to nurse it to recovery. Her jawiji grandfather scolds her brother and tells him that he is doing the wrong thing by their culture.
It is never actually stated in the book, but the reader soon realises that this is an Aboriginal family. Mia's grandparents retain their culture despite experiences of being rounded up and losing family to the stolen generations, and they share their traditional values and cultural beliefs with their family. But Jy is becoming less respectful and is drawn into cruel and thoughtless games with other unruly teenagers. Mia is trying to follow a 'both ways' path, gradually discovering her totemic connection to the dirrarn, and also studying hard at school.
A deceptively simple story, enhanced by fine-detailed black and white drawings portraying Australian wildlife and surroundings, "Black Cockatoo" cleverly draws the reader into a greater understanding of culture and Country. The teasing humour and banter between family members is very natural and reveals warm and loving relationships. Words from the Jaru language and Aboriginal English are included in the text in a way that makes the meaning clear, so whilst there is a glossary at the end, there is really no need to refer to it.
Authors Merrison and Hustler bring their understanding of Indigenous teenagers growing up in a remote town - Merrison works with young Aboriginal boys through the Clontarf Academy and Hustler was a high school English teacher at Halls Creek, Western Australia. Their book will surely be welcomed by children in those areas, as a welcome reflection of their culture and experiences, but it is also a story that children anywhere can relate to, with its themes of exploring identity and overcoming bullying.
I would recommend this authentic Australian story for all school libraries, but it would make a particularly appropriate addition to the collection for the International Year of Indigenous Language, 2019, as it includes living Aboriginal languages in a way that is very natural and easy to understand and appreciate. Teacher's notes are available.
Helen Eddy

Blakwork by Alison Whittaker

Magabala Books, 2018. ISBN 9781925360851
(Age: Senior secondary - Adult) Recommended. Poetry. White linen washed by black hands, hangnails on worn hands . . . Whittaker succinctly conjures images of colonisation, oppression and segregation. She tells the story of abattoir life, the jobs the black people do on the outskirts of country towns - the killwork. It is stark and confrontative language, but also rich and poetic. She is an artist with words.
Words are arranged like patterns on a page. To keep the integrity of longer lines, sometimes the poems are arranged sideways, landscape view. Other times, lines interweave alternately. She plays with words - 'Beneviolence' with its repetitive versions of 'THIS IS GOOD FOR YOU! THIS IS FOR YOUR GOOD' is simple but very effective.
Also very effective is the device of taking the forty-nine most common three-word phrases in a text and arranging them, ranked, as a poem - as with the judgement in the Trevorrow v State of South Australia case, the inquest into the death of Ms Dhu, and the Mabo vs Queensland decision. The phrases and the words used reveal everything about the conflict of cultures; the legal terms contrasting with the devastation of stolen children, the inhumanity towards the person in custody, and the disregard for native inhabitants of land.
Whittaker is a Gomeroi woman - she includes Gamilaraay words as well as Aboriginal English in her poems; Aboriginal voices can clearly be heard in her poetry. "Blakwork", with its 'bloodwork', 'heartwork', 'badwork', 'workwork', 'newwork', and lots of other kinds of 'work' makes for a strong voice demanding to be heard.
Helen Eddy

More and more and more by Ian Mutch

Fremantle Press, 2018, ISBN 9781925591545
(Ages: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Recycling, Waste, Collecting. Henry Harper loves collecting, so when he collects Kate he asks her to stay with him on his planet. She agrees saying that she just loves collecting and together the two passionate collectors collect all they can find. In funny rhyming couplets the list is endless: balloons and spoons, TVs and a pair of skis, sneakers and speakers, elastic and toys made of plastic. The audience will love predicting the word that rhymes, learning some of the engaging couplets to say for themselves. And absorbing the drawings on each page they will see how the planet is getting very overcrowded. Tons of stuff is illustrated: all the sorts of things that may be seen dumped along roads, or in the sea, or left out for the rubbish collection, things no longer used or unable to be recycled.
And the contrast between the overcrowded planet, weighed down with rubbish, and the last few pages where things are clean and green, will not be lost on the readers.
They will have a great time looking at the detail included on each page, and make suggestions about how each could be reused, recycled or disposed of with care. Leading onto discussions about the waste we produce, this book will form a great cornerstone of any discussion about waste, and channel the class' ideas to how to recycle things in their classroom, at home and in the community.
With the current discussion about waste, this book forms a timely addition to picture books which will initiate class attention on this urgent matter. Eager eyes will scan each page and call out all the things they see that have become rubbish, with the wonderful endpapers reiterating what they have seen in the pages of this book. Teacher notes are available.
Fran Knight

Digby and Claude by Emma Allen

Ill. by Hannah Sommevillee. National Library of Australia, 2018. ISBN 9780642279279
(Age: 7) Recommended. Themes: Australian History, Development, Heritage, Architecture, Housing. The change that came across Australian suburbs in the 1030's with clearing away of slums and abandoned buildings is shown here through the story of two young boys, Digby and Claude. They have an ideal life of roaming freely through their neighbourhood, of claiming a small patch of land with a wonderful old tree as their play space, of dragging all sorts of discarded materials to make their cubby house extend up into the tree. As the boys build their tree house, they watch the redevelopment project across the road, of slums being demolished and low cost housing being built in its place. Claude's father prevents his son coming to the site because of the danger posed by the trucks and diggers. When summer arrives so do the families and their children, and Digby welcomes new friends to his tree house. And in the tree, he tells the newcomers stories of days long ago when a friend called Claude helped build the tree house.
This is a warm and enveloping story about the place where you belong, a story of memories that build up around your own place, that place called home. Digby and Claude together build their own place and stock it with memories that they share, and when Claude goes, Digby recalls those memories with others, sharing his place with the newcomers. The contrast with the rebuilding over the road reinforces the idea of home, how each new generation builds their own memories and stories about their own place. Buildings come and go but the stories remain.
The illustrations, redolent of images found in books and annuals published for children between the wars, recreate the carefree and innocent lives of children where they had the freedom to imagine and build a tree house, meeting their friends there for the days with nothing to do but play and chat and build, while in the background we see the changes in the skyline of the suburb.
Several pages after the end of the story are devoted to a time line of housing in Australia which will give readers an idea of the range of housing in Australia from early times, and will encourage them to look further. A page is devoted to a newspaper article outlining the Erskinville development one of the first of its type in Australia, a small cohort of low rental flats for families with children.
An interesting read, Digby and Claude could be used in conjunction with the iconic "My Place" (Nadia Wheatley) which shows the changes in Australia over time, through the life of one tree and the lives of those around it, both books extolling the idea of home. Teacher's notes are available.
Fran Knight

Dino diggers: Dumper truck danger by Rose Impey

Ill. by Chris Chatterton. Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408872482
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Dinosaurs, Technology, Accidents. In Dino-Town, the Dino Diggers are all ready for action. Dressed in their hard hats and fluoro jackets, they can take on any problem which comes long, so when the town bridge collapses after a heavy rain storm, they are ready with their machines to clear the path and help rebuild the bridge.
Young readers will adore the five friends, Terri,Tyrone, Bruno, Ricky and Stacey, working out just why each has that particular name, their size and physical attributes eagerly recognised by dinosaur hunters. The problem of the bridge and the baker's van stuck beneath causes the team some headaches as Tyrone takes his digger down into the river bed to get the van out. He does this successfully but they both end up on the wrong side of the bridge. Another problem creates another solution, and all ends happily, with the dinosaurs reopening the bridge in time for traffic. The Dino Diggers have done their work.
Young readers will love looking at the array of work done by each of the trucks illustrated, recognising these implements from seeing them on their streets. The illustrations give a streamlined image of each of them allowing kids to point out the features of each. Recognisable work safety measures are included, alluding to the possible dangers of this work, and showing readers what needs to happen to keep themselves safe. In the last few pages is a cardboard cutout of Stacey's dump truck with instructions on how to put it together, continuing the fun of the book.
Fran Knight

Mummy Fairy and me : Fairy in waiting by Sophie Kinsella

Penguin, 2018. ISBN 9780141377896
(Ages: 5 - 7) Recommended. Themes: Fairies. Humour. "Ella's family has a big secret - her Mummy is a fairy. She can do amazing spells with her computawand. Only, sometimes the spells go a bit wrong, and that's when Ella steps in to the rescue.
In this brand-new book of magical adventures, there are very naughty monkeys, a swimming pool filled with ice-cream, and the best birthday party ever - complete with giant cakes and fairy dust." (Publisher)
And after so much fun and adventure, will Ella get her wish and become a magical fairy, just like her Mum?
The magic and mayhem in this young chapter book make it a sweet and funny series for 5-7 year-old's. There are lots of messy adventures and parents who do silly things.
Donna Isgar

Melowy : The ice enchantment by Danielle Star

Ill. by Danielle Stern. Melowy series book 4. Scholastic, 2018, ISBN 9781338151800
(Age: 6-8) Themes: Unicorns, Fantasy, Friendship, Courage. In the Castle of Destiny hidden by a sea of clouds, Melowies, winged horses with gorgeous colourings, gather to be schooled in magic. Cleo, Electra, Maya, Cora and Selena wake to a beautiful morning eager to begin their classes in the Art of Powers. Cleo's destiny is unsure, she hasn't received her place in a realm yet: will she be a Winter, Spring, Day or Night? To find the nature of the young filly's power she needs to attend all the classes with her friends. This proves to be difficult for her, as she suffers sunburn in the Day Tower, tangles herself up in plants in the Spring Tower, and has candle problems in the Night Tower.
Cleo seeks advice from Theodora the friend who raised her after she was left on the castle steps as a baby. She needs encouragement to keep on with her lessons. Mysteries and problems abound, with a stolen magic book, a classmate casting a forbidden spell and problems in creating ice sculptures from the magic waterfall. Little by little, Cleo learns the power of friendship and patience.
Bright colours, pretty embellishments and beautiful creatures adorn the pages, making this junior novel sparkle. Danielle Star's magical fantasy series are just right for newly independent readers.
Rhyllis Bignell

Meet me at the intersection: Short stories edited by Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina

Fremantle Press, 2018. ISBN 9781925591705
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Themes: LGBTIQA+. Disabilities. Indigenous Australians. Cultures. Short stories. Meet me at the intersection is an collection of short stories by authors who write from the heart about issues that have personal meaning to them. These authors include those with a disability, are LGBTIQA+ or are Indigenous and are passionate about sharing their stories written from their point of view.
At the beginning of each story is a blurb about the author and the inspiration for their story, which is fantastic as it gives the reader an insight to how and why the author came to write this particular piece.
My favourite of the short stories was 'Harry Potter and the Disappearing Pages' by Olivia Muscat because of the Harry Potter connection. The author says right from the beginning that the character in the story is her and this connection seemed to personalise it for me.
Many of the stories are raw and brutally honest. There is no filter to what is written and they say exactly what they think. Sometimes this can be confronting but mostly you appreciate the honesty and frankness of the story. With some of the stories, I wondered what the point was but in hindsight, the point is really a snippet of a story that is waiting to be told.
The stories are quite diverse and it is refreshing to change pace at the beginning of each new story. The stories are not long and at times, they leave you wishing for more. Some are revelations and others make you think about topics not normally spoken about.
I would recommend this book to 14+ readers whose interest is in diversity amongst our population.
Gerri Mills

Kissed by the moon by Alison Lester

Penguin, 2013. ISBN 9780670076758
(Age: 3+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Themes: Influences. Growing up. This beautiful book has been reissued as a board book, and will win hearts all over again with its wishes for the future of a new born child. Alison Lester, one of Australia's best known and loved author illustrators, is able to capture a parent's wish for their child to wonder at the world in which they have been born, to experience the community and the environment, to splash in the water, to experience the ocean, to hear the birds as they wake, to walk in the untamed forest, all the things experienced by the parent in their youth.
Each page opens the child's mind to the possibilities of what is around them, encouraging the parent to ensure that the child is exposed to all the good things of life.
Lester's soft watercolours draw the eye to the detail of the images she draws, as well as creating soft love-filled pages, underscored by the spare prose. Each page shows a different environment and season, covering aspects of the Australian climate, be it snow, spring produce, a sunny beach or the falling leaves of autumn. Every picture is filled with the safe secure arms of a parent, guiding the child to experience its surroundings. The subtle subtext of caring for the environment is there, in lines which assume the rivers, fish and oceans will still be there, and the forests as wild.
Lester's talents with many different art forms along with her ability to encapsulate meaning in a brief smattering of words, is enough for anyone to gasp at the depth of her work, for parents to smile with recognition and children to read for themselves the wonder of childhood.
Fran Knight

The honey factory by Jurgen Tautz and Diedrich Steen

Black Inc Books, 2018. ISBN 9781760640408
(Age: Senior secondary - Adult) Recommended. Non-fiction. The subtitle 'Inside the ingenious world of bees' describes exactly what this book is about - not so much a guide to beekeeping but a detailed exploration of what bees do and how their community works. And it is absolutely fascinating! Tautz and Steen reveal to us the workings of the intelligent bee superorganism - a community of individuals dependent on one another and working together to make a single breathing, living entity. Each bee has its role to play - the queen, the drones, the workers; there are nurse bees and field bees, guards, scouts and foragers. Tautz and Steen reveal to us how they communicate in the pitch darkness of the hive, how they regulate the temperature of the hive, how they communicate food sources with the waggle dance, and what leads them to swarm or move house.
The two authors make different contributions to the book - Steen is a long time beekeeper and Tautz is a renowned bee researcher. So the book is a combination of practical knowledge and scientific research, distinguished in the text by different fonts. It is possible for readers wanting a 'lighter' approach to just read the Steen contributions, whilst others may enjoy the insights offered by the experiments and studies that Tautz describes. There is a logical sequence to the book; however an index is available at the end for quick reference.
The last chapter describes the bees' struggle for survival - extinction remains a probability, and sadly the main threats are from human factors. Anyone reading this book must hope for greater understanding and appreciation of bees for it truly seems that they offer us an insight into an amazing community based on unconditional and mutual sharing, something that humans could only learn from.
Helen Eddy

Ruby's worry by Tom Percival

Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408892152
(Age: 3+) Recommended. Themes: Anxiety. Depression. Sharing. Friendship. Ruby's life is carefree and happy, but one day a worry finds her. At first it is a very small worry and can be hidden behind her, or even ignored. But as time goes on the worry increases in size, becoming a constant shadow next to her as she goes to bed at night, eats her breakfast and catches the bus to school. She tries to work at school, but the worry sits next to her, invading her thoughts. The worry gets bigger, staring at her over the breakfast table, sitting on the swing besides her. She realises that no-one else can see her worry, until one day she sees a young boy sitting in the park. He too has a worry and this time, Ruby can see his worry. He is sad and reflects just how she feels, so she sits down next to him and they talk about their worries. As they do this their worries become smaller, and lift from their shoulders. They are aware that by sharing their worries they become smaller, and Ruby knows that although her shadow is still there, much smaller than it was, she now has the skill to keep it under control.
This story, like Mr Huff (Anna Walker, 2015) is most useful at a time where mental ill health has become a problem amongst younger children. Children will instantly recognise the background to the story, many knowing someone who suffers from anxiety, and see that having a worry is not unusual and there are steps they can take to help themselves not be overwhelmed by the feeling.
Fran Knight

Uncle Shawn and Bill and the pajimminy-crimminy unusual adventure by A.L. Kennedy

Ill. by Gemma Correll. Walker Books Ltd, 2018. ISBN 9781406360509
(Ages: 6-9) Recommended. Themes: Friendship. Humour. Bonkers story of friendship, llamas and total evil.
Uncle Shawn and Bill are back, and so are the llamas. In a book that could stand alone or work as a sequel, they have settled into a happy life at their llama farm in Scotland with their new llama friends. But all is not right on the horizon as someone new to their village is stirring up trouble, and encouraging anything 'unusual' to be vilified and the perpetrators locked up...
This contains great hilarious posters, comic style illustrations and informative chapter headings evoking old Victorian novels. It is a very visual story, with plenty to read around the words themselves.
The theme of celebrating difference and not being afraid of who you are, is well covered by a vast number of different habits and hobbies of the people in Pandrumdroochit. They get involved in an exciting adventure as Bill and the llamas (as well as some other friends) work together to defeat the evil threatening them all.
The story is totally bonkers, but such good fun and has a lesson of friendship at its heart.
This is a great series, with lovely short chapters, lots of action and silliness and full of things to look at.
Donna Isgar

Funny Kid: Prank wars by Matt Stanton

Harper Collins, 2018. ISBN 9780733335990
(Ages: 8-12) Highly recommended. Themes: Humour. This is the third book in the Funny Kid book series. Max, otherwise known as 'funny kid' is determined to make his class mates laugh at his pranks and antics, at any cost. When Max's class embark on a school camping trip, he makes grand plans to humiliate Tyson, the new boy, by making him the centre of his gags. A prank war is on between the two boys, after Max finds himself at the unfortunate end of one of Tyson's master pranks.
While engaging in their prank war, Max, Tyson and their class mates grapple with mysterious lake monsters, makeshift toilets, a smuggled pet duck and plenty of gas inducing beans. A generous serve of ingenious pranks makes this one very unforgettable camping trip.
Prank Wars:

• Full of appealing toilet style humour.
• Targeted at 8-12 year old's.
• The illustrations are comic book style, with interesting speech bubbles.
• Hilarious and slapstick adventures of fun and frivolity.
• For fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates and WeirDo.