Reviews

Little lunch: triple the games by Danny Katz

Ill. by Mitch Vane. Black Dog Books, 2018. ISBN 9781760650278
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Themes: Friendship, School, Playground. Another series of stories from the very popular TV series, Little Lunch, will find even more friends as children pick it up in school libraries. Funny illustrations litter the pages as the children, Rory and Tamara find that fifteen minutes is enough to get into all sorts of trouble. In the first chapter, 'Walkathon', Tamara wants to find a walking buddy for the upcoming walkathon, and holds interviews with the applicants during recess. The second chapter, 'The election', Rory decides he wants to be Australia's next prime minister, while the third chapter, entitled, 'The girls' toilets', has the class practising for the school talent show.
Each chapter is short and pithy, funny and illustrated, just long enough for readers to read during recess, and exciting enough for them to make sure they finish the episode by the time the siren goes. Children will love to read of the antics of this group of school kids, and what they get up to and revel in the similarities with their own escapades and daily routines.
With the popularity of the TV series, this new book will find a host of fans.
Fran Knight

Kensy and Max: Breaking news by Jacqueline Harvey

Penguin Random House, 2018. ISBN 9780143780656
(Age: 8-12) Highly recommended. Themes: Mystery. Adventure. Detectives. Family life. Spies. Brothers and sisters. Kensy and Max: Breaking news is a meticulously built mystery story, a wonderful introduction to a cast of new and intriguing characters, relatable protagonists, mysterious settings and fast-paced adventures. Popular children's author Jacqueline Harvey draws the reader in, sharing her creative insights into the development of Kensy and Max's characters. She shares her inspiration for her background setting of the Morpeth Arms pub with its secret underground spaces situated opposite the London headquarters of MI6.
Eleven year old twins Kensy and Max enjoy a nomadic lifestyle travelling the world with their parents, who work in the ski fields and medical clinics. Changes occur when their parents disappear on an African holiday and the twins are driven across Europe to the relative safety of a huge ancestral home in North Yorkshire. Feisty Kensy and more measured Max explore Dame Spencer's vast home and gardens uncovering secret rooms, quirky characters, hidden cameras and treasures from their past. Fitz their constant companion, tutor and manny, travels to London to investigate their parent's whereabouts leaving Kensy and Max in the safe hands of Song the quirky butler.
With Fitz planning to leave for Africa to search for the missing parents, the twins move to Dame Spencer's townhouse with Song and are placed in the Central London Free School. On their first day, eccentric headmaster Mr MacGregor challenges Max to a computer generated race around London where the young boy's brilliant memory and map reading skills prove advantageous. Kensy and Max settle in to school life, curiously observing mysterious activities and disappearances of their friends, secret meetings and their miraculous escape from a gallery.
Kensy and Max keep a special secret, a communication received from their parents via a message on Max's watch.
Kensy and Max: Breaking news is a suspenseful, intriguing and finely crafted story perfect for readers who enjoy action-packed spy stories. Jacqueline Harvey's initial novel introduces exciting characters, mysterious settings and family secrets waiting to be uncovered. Here the author teases us with little clues, snippets of information, curious conversations with people instrumental in their future plans, and this builds an air of excitement and promise for future stories. Her writing style is bright and lively, alliterative and lyrically descriptive, and the protagonists are perfect foils, each with a unique set of skills and traits that complement the other. The author peoples her narrative with colourful characters, even the settings are imbued with special secretive qualities.
For Middle Primary English students, this narrative provides excellent examples of character development, plot tension, genre writing and presenting realistic settings.
Rhyllis Bignell

The true colour of forever by Carrie Firestone

Hodder Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9781444929676
(Age: 14yrs+) This book ensnared me! Not by its cover, which is very impressive, and not by the blurb on the back, which is rather lame, but from the opening passage found in the prologue: "A few minutes before the incident, I noticed a tuft of dune grass stuck to a discarded strawberry crate... I was twelve hours into downsizing my life and just beginning to become more aware of my surroundings." For me, this laid the foundation for the entire story. This is a book about looking directly in front of you and seeing the obvious things you can do which will cause a flow effect that improves the wellbeing of others.
Embedded into the story is the importance of solid friendships which are developed over a lifetime, yet finding that these friendships ebb and flow as we all grow up to find our place in society. Sadie is a year younger than her friends and struggling to reconcile herself to her new loner status when the end of their school career looms closer. The depth of these friendships is demonstrated by the wonderfully creative care packages Sadie makes for her friends. They demonstrate key moments she had shared with each person, embodying the impact of each unique friendship perfectly.
The careful blending of the secondary characters adds fine details to the life and events that continue in the background of Sadie's story, old friends, new friends, family and passing strangers. We meet Izzy, struggling with addiction, Gordie, trying to affirm his sexuality, and Sadie's two unique grandmothers.
Carrie Firestone not only skilfully approaches the topic of teen friendship but topics of assault, cyberbullying, peer pressure, discrimination, self-esteem and stress by creating a realistic voice in Sadie's character. Many teens will feel comfortable reading The true colour of forever and considering all of these topics in relation to their own life.
After reading this book try Saints and misfits by S. K. Ali and The lake effect by Erin McCahan.
Sharon Smith

Macca the alpaca by Matt Cosgrove

Koala Books, 2018. ISBN 9781743816332
(Age: 3+) Recommended. Bullying. Alpacas. Llamas. South America. Against a bright blue background, the white alpaca, Macca, stares out at the audience. Children will at once be able to distinguish his features, and see the differences between him and other animals they have come across. The chirpy look on his face gives a clue to the sort of animal he is. Turning the pages we see him gamboling around with other animals, butterflies, a sloth, jaguar cubs, monkeys and an armadillo, that is until he meets the llama. Harmer the llama is a bully, and does some despicable things to Macca, until they decide to a challenge to see who is the best. Each test reveals some of the characteristics of each animal, but it is the alpaca who comes out on top, using his skills to outshine the llama.
Readers will laugh out loud at the antics of these two, taking in their traits as they spar with each other, climbing a tree, climbing a mountain and moving a huge boulder.
The bright clear illustrations will delight younger readers, and the moral of the tale will have a resonance for all children who read the book. In classrooms this may be one of the books read out loud to initiate discussions about bullying and its appearance in the school, and who could resist launching into discussions about South America and its wildlife. And worth mentioning, the endpapaers showcase a little of the human activity of South America.
Fran Knight

The centre of my everything by Allayne L. Webster

Penguin Random House, 2018. ISBN 9780143783336
(Age: Older high school students) Recommended. Themes: Country life. Alcohol. Drugs. Sexual violence. With the opening words, "My head's gunna explode", we know that we are in Australia. Language, way of life, characters and the issues of country town life, are all vital elements that are explored in Webster's very emotional story.
Told by four main characters in sequential order, the slowly unravelling narrative is confrontational. Webster depicts the issues of modern country towns, the isolation, the lack of jobs, the drinking, drug use and the violence, in a narrative that reveals events slowly, and one that only presents each of the four narrators' understanding of what has happened. Yet slowly we begin to grasp the background story and come to understand the web of relationships, connections and issues that face the local adolescents and their families.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted, as Webster plunges us into the harsh elements of modern country life, the binge drinking, parties with alcohol, drugs and sexual violence. With the depiction of good, loving, kind characters juxtaposed to the angry, abusive characters, we slowly begin to understand the complexity and troubles of the past and present, and the different relationships and families. The adolescents are fearful of the future, knowing that there is little for them in the town, unsure of what they can do when school is over. They are desperate to understand what their lives will be like, given the traumas and the violence to which so many have been subjected.
Told from the perspective of the different characters, this book is vibrant and challenging. It would be recommended for older high school readers, with its description of anger, family troubles, binge-drinking, sexual violence and emotional trauma.
Liz Bondar

Barney and the secret of the French spies by Jackie French

The Secret Histories series book 4. Angus and Robertson, 2018. ISBN 9781460751305
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Themes: New South Wales (1788-1851), Australian history, Convicts, Sydney Town, Spies. When orphaned Barney finds a mute girl hidden under a ledge in the bush outside Sydney Town the pair is taken in by the colony's minister Mr Johnson and his wife, there to thrive with care and tutelage. Barney names the girl Elsie after his dead mother, the pair sent to Australia as convicts several years before. And in looking out for Elsie, Barney pictures a life for them in the new colony as he makes a place for himself. Given land and convict labour, he sets up a small farm along the Parramatta River. Here one day he hopes the two of them will be happy. But when the Johnsons call him to come to Sydney quickly, he arrives to find Elsie in the grip of a debilitating lung complaint and while ill she speaks French.
He is taken aback, as stories of French spies are rife with the threat of a French takeover always on the horizon. La Perousse stopped at Botany Bay when the First Fleet was about to sail to Sydney Cove but he was not heard of again. And later, Baudin stopped for help. while Britain and France were at war. Against this background French has woven her story, that of a young French girl and her family checking on the English defenses, but when her parents are killed by convicts she is left alone.
French very carefully plies the story with an incredible amount of factual information about the early days of Sydney, so cunningly tied with the story that no one will suspect that they are having a fascinating history lesson. Every sentence is replete with meaning, every paragraph gives the reader a substantial lesson in Australia's early days, and all told with adventure and intrigue, sure to reel in the most reluctant of readers. Barney and Elsie are an engaging pair of characters and the secret each holds ensures a captive readership. The illustrations at the start of each chapter, too, give a view of Sydney that will be new to many, encouraging the readers to take notice of small details, reflecting those seen in the text. This is the fourth in French's series, Secret Histories.
Fran Knight

A lion is a lion by Polly Dunbar

Walker Books, 2018. ISBN 9781406371536
(Ages: 2-7) Highly recommended. The talented Polly Dunbar (probably best known for Penguin) has created this humorous and unique feast for the eyes and the ears. It looks amazing, from the eye-catching front cover onwards, and is fantastic to read. The cover shows a distinguished-looking lion sitting at a table with knife and fork at the ready and two children on either side staring at him in astonishment. Is he still a lion? He's wearing a hat and coat! Would a lion eat with a knife and a fork?! This sets the premise for the book. "Is a lion still a lion if . . . he carries an umbrella, too?"  "Is a lion still a lion if he rings the doorbell, greets you politely and asks you to dance? As the children find out," YES, A LION IS A LION IS A LION!", so you should tell him to SHOOO!"
The heavy use of capitalisation, italics and punctuation (if you are not a fan of exclamation marks steer clear!) assist in making this a dramatic, theatrical read-aloud. Dunbar's black line illustrations are fabulous, especially the larger than life lion and his expressive face. There is a touch of The Tiger Who Came to Tea here but with an interesting point of difference with the children deciding that no, they would not allow the lion to come into their house - even if he does have a particularly well-groomed mane and impeccable table manners! The tiger who came to tea doesn't decide to eat children for dessert though either.
There is an old proverb that "A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog" and this is the simple message conveyed here. Perhaps there is even a little bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing about this well-dressed, pompous lion.
This is great fun for both the reader and the audience, who are directly addressed ("So please remember, A LION IS ALWAYS A LION!").
This is a winning picture book to share with children of all ages.
Nicole Nelson

The rains by Gregg Hurwitz

Penguin, 2016, ISBN 9780765382672
Last chance. ISBN 9780765382696
(Age: 13+) Themes: Adventure, Invasion, Post apocalypse, Survival, Aliens, Zombies. This pair of novels pack a lot into their nearly 400 pages as Chance Rain, his brother Patrick and best friend, Alexandra, residents of the quiet community of Creek's Cause, fight for their lives against infected adults, while others hide in the local high school. This sci-fi young adult novel sets a tale of alien invasion of unrelenting pace. Chance and Patrick Rain are the heroes of this weird and unlikely story of the take over and destruction of not only their town but all of human kind.
The strange events begin with a meteorite shower which brings strange plant life which grows quickly and then dies, sending their spores into the world. Events then take a dreadful turn, when the adults change horribly into zombie like creatures intent on capturing the children of the town for goodness knows what purpose.
Chance and Patrick pit their resources and nerve against overwhelming odds and somehow prevail. They have to fight, not only the 'hosts' the adults have become, but also some of their peer group who disagree about the actions they should follow. They also discover with the aid of Dr Chattergee, the only adult unaffected by the spores, that at their 18th birthday they will also become infected.
Hurwitz delivers a frightening scenario that many young adult readers will find gripping, tense and thrilling. However I found the episodes of fighting off yet more hordes of hosts distracted from the narrative and tended to layer too many unbelievable acts of survival, heroism and mayhem.
There is a follow up novel, Last Chance, where our hero will have even more weight loaded on to his adolescent shoulders, because he and Patrick carry the genes for immunity, indeed they are the only ones in the whole wide world. I just couldn't bring myself to read it!
Mark Knight

Of Jenny and the Aliens by Ryan Gebhart

Candlewick Press, 2017. ISBN 9780763688455
(Age: Older teens) Themes: Aliens; Sexual Relationships; Teenage angst. The Aliens have got in contact with earth and the world wonders whether this is the end. For Derek though, an 'End of the World as we know it' party leads him to a sexual encounter with the liberated and feisty Jenny who then proceeds to spin his world into an orbit that is completely out of control. His encounter with the Alien is positively humble and calm in comparison - even when it transitions to the literal 'Out of this World' experience. Essentially this book transitions from an American teenage sex romp (with soft-porn detail), into the roller-coaster of a relationship that does not seem to follow a straight path, and then morphs into a strange encounter with aliens that in some way is meant to solve all the sexual and relationship angst that Derek is experiencing! There is almost a hallucinogenic strangeness to some parts of the book. The family break-up history that runs as an undercurrent to the flow of the story is one of the few conventional aspects of the story.
This is not a coming-of-age story or a science fiction story - it is just strange. This book did not win me over. If it was attempting to be humorous, it did not quite hit its mark. The friendship between Derek and Karo (the alien musician) was under-developed and should have been fleshed out with much more narrative intensity. Unfortunately it lacked the spark of literary quality.
Note: Drug taking, alcohol consumption, Sexual activity.
Carolyn Hull

White Night by Ellie Marney

Allen and Unwin, 2018. ISBN 9781760293550
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Themes: Mystery and suspense. Diversity. Family relationships. Collectives. Environmental protection. Country life. "In Bo Mitchell's country town, a White Night light-show event has the potential to raise vital funds to save the skate park. And out of town, a girl from a secretive off-the-grid community called Garden of Eden has the potential to change the way Bo sees the world. But are there too many secrets in Eden?" (Publisher)
With problems looming at home with his father, Bo becomes increasingly drawn to Rory, the girl from the Garden of Eden commune, the members of which believe in being self-sufficient, growing their own food, recycling everything and refusing to use plastic. But some things about Ray, the mediator in the community, seem off as Bo becomes more involved in their life.
Bo is one of the most engaging male adolescents that I have read about for quite some time. He has a very caring relationship with Rory and although there are opportunities, he doesnt take advantage of her. Although things are strained at home with family secrets beginning to emerge, Marney shows a loving home life with rules that Bo respects. At school, things are hard for Rory as she tries to fit in, but Bo tries to help her out, while he struggles with deciding what courses he should do - play football or become a chef. Bo's friends too are very relatable, as they party by the creek and organise a White Night to make enough money to keep the skate park open.
Marney has written a cracking suspenseful story that keeps the reader engaged and wondering what will happen next. At the same time life in a small country town is explored and the reader will learn lots about how teens could organise to keep a community place as Sprog fights to save the skate park.
With its complex themes of sustainability, family relations and communal living as well as a tense plot, White Night could make an engaging class novel for older teens.
Pat Pledger

How to blitz nits (and other nasties) by Mumsnet

Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408862155
(Age: Parenting book) This is a parenting book for people who hate parenting books. It portrays the reality of being a parent in a way that politically correct parenting books rarely do. Would they talk about what to do when you child does a poo so epic that it reaches their neck? Or how to stop your child scratching their bum when they have worms?
While witty and limited in scope, this semi-reference book is definitely more useful than it first appears. Factual information mingles with real posts from the English online parenting community Mumsnet; this use of first-hand anecdotes and advice means that it doesn't just tell you what you 'should' do or what is proven to work. There are old wives tales and ingenious (not always medically recommended or socially approved!) solutions to tricky problems (for example, how to pin down a child to administer eye drops or fight molluscum with a toothpick).
It addresses 10 main issues: nits, threadworms, ringworm, warts and veruccas, molluscum, conjunctivitis, foreign objects, vomit, poo, and dragons under the bed. Sometimes as a parent you just need to know someone else has faced the same horrors or that someone else has had it worse and on this level the book provides genuine laugh out loud moments.
It is a funny read, perfect for parents who want to know the essentials but want to take it with a pinch of salt and a few laughs along the way. Simple language peppered with witticism makes this an engaging and quick read and it will probably be reached for again when advice is needed on how to clean vomit out of the couch or de-nit the household.
Nicole Nelson

Insides out by Zack Zombie

Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Book 11. Koala Books, 2017. ISBN 9781743818398
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. This book is written from Zack's point of view and describes what it is like to be a 13 year old Zombie.
Zack finds himself changing and he has to find a way to deal with his feelings before they are the end of him. Lots of strange things happen to Zack but with the support of his friends he manages to get through the tough situation and come out the other side relatively unscathed.
If you want to find out how Zack deals with his feelings you will have to read the book.
I would highly recommend this book to children aged 8+. It is book 11 in the series but can be read independently of the series and the reader is able to make sense of what is going on, although some Minecraft knowledge can be useful.
Karen Colliver

Parmesan the reluctant racehorse by Jacqui Halpin

The elephant by Peter Carnavas

University of Queensland Press, 2017. ISBN 9780702259616
(Age: Primary) I highly recommend this book. Olive imagines the sadness felt by her family members as different grey animals. These animals appear to follow the person around and pull them down, while the grey animals are there the person seems to have trouble being happy.
Olive is determined to get rid of these animals and make her family happy again. Olive confides in her best friend to help her with a task that seems so mammoth. She soon realises that getting rid of these animals may not be as easy as she first thought but she is determined.
This book touches on a topic that is very real but not talked about especially with younger children. This book is well written for younger readers and it gives some idea about the topic of depression without going into too much detail. The book uses language easily understood by younger readers.
The simple illustrations in the book support the story and help to depict the mood of the chapter.
I would recommend this book for primary school age children; it could be used as a class novel to support learning around emotions and encouraging discussions about different emotions.
Karen Colliver

The wizards of once by Cressida Cowell

Hodder Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9781444939576
(Age: 10+) A wizard with no magic and a warrior with magic get stuck in a big mess. Can a wizard and a warrior be friends and get out alive?
This story is make-believe but the story is so intense it feels like you are the characters. The characters are Xar a wizard (with no magic) and Wish a warrior princess (who has magic). These characters entwine in an adventure that neither of them or their friends will forget.
The settings are the bad woods, the wizard camp and the warrior fortress.
The story has a few plots entwined together to make this story. The theme for this story is fantasy and being friends with the enemy.
I recommend this book to 10+ boys and girls. Also if you have enjoyed this book you might like How to train your dragon because it's the same author and if you have read How to train your dragon you might like this book.
Grace Colliver, Year 6