Reviews

The anti-boredom book of brilliant outdoor things to do by Andy Seed

Ill. by Scott Garrett. Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408870099
Gardening. Crafts. Cooking. Games. Holidays. Summertime fun in the garden, you can build a tipi, create a den with a fence, sheets and chairs, build a bug trap or create a beautiful water rainbow. With step-by-step instructions, stuff you need and plenty of tips, young readers can create a perfect picnic or a special treasure hunt. Spinners, snappers, paper plate Frisbees, giant bubble wands even making gloop, there are so many easy things to make indoors. With easy to source materials and a little imagination, there are plenty of things to create indoors or outdoors.
There are so many places to explore and see outside, castles to explore, go bird watching, tracking animals or observe shooting stars in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Safety measures are included throughout, telling an adult and asking for advice is important.
Andy Seed's anti-boredom activity book is packed full of games, indoor and outdoor fun, recipes to cook, something special for every season. Thirty-seven exciting challenges are included as well, at an easy, harder or tough level; try going for a night walk, sleeping under the stars or flying a kite. Scott Garrett's fun cartoon illustrations add excitement to this activity book; look for the farm horse playing table tennis and the gardener doing the splits. The creative design and placement of the text boxes, silhouettes and shadows, backgrounds and borders makes this a fun to explore information book. The anti-boredom book of brilliant outdoor things to do is just right for a family to motivate their creativity and engagement with the world around them.
Rhyllis Bignell

Tell it to the moon by Siobhan Curham

Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406366150
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Tell it to the moon is an incredibly hopeful story about friendship and supporting one another through the tough times. I would highly recommend this for people aged twelve and up as it reinforces the importance of surrounding yourself with the right kind of people. Following on from the previous novel, The Moonlight dreamers we follow the girls as they overcome new obstacles and discover new dreams to be fulfilled.
Amber's ambition of visiting the grave of her beloved writer has been fulfilled, but what will come next for her budding writing career? She's experiencing writers block, back to being bullied at school, and her identity comes down as she tries to contact her birth mother. Amber doesn't know what to do next, she feels like much less of a moonlight dreamer than ever before. Maali is still searching for her soulmate but her romantic prayers change course as her father's health deteriorates. Her father is now haggard and having trouble even standing upright. There is something badly wrong and yet Maali and the doctors don't know what. Sky's life is rocked by her Dad's determination to send her to school. Her first time in secondary school, and just ahead the GCSE are looming, however she soon learns that not to let her fear of school swallow up her dreams when she meets a fellow poet, Leon, who encourages her dreams. Rose's world is coming apart at the seams, finally having recovered from the topless photo scandal, she has finally found the courage to accept her sexuality. But with that comes a whole new world of ups and downs as her crush, the lovely Francesca, reveals her boyfriend at the very moment Rose intends to come out.
It seems that times will continue to be tough for the moonlight dreamers as they deal with problems within their family, relationships, school, and religious beliefs. The girls must band together and in doing so demonstrate the importance and strength of their friendship, as well as continue to achieve their dreams.
Kayla Gaskell, 21

Sparrow by Scot Gardner

Allen and Unwin, 2017. ISBN 9781760294472
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Survival. Juvenile detention. Escapes. Homelessness. Sparrow is a 16 year old boy who doesn't speak. He has been accused of murdering his brother and sent to juvenile detention. On a trip home after a boot camp, the boat is wrecked and he finds himself fighting for his life in shark and crocodile infested waters as he swims for shore and freedom. Can he survive the physical problems on the isolated Kimberley coast as well as the mental issues that have kept him from speaking for years?
The reader is kept in suspense as Gardner describes in alternative chapters Sparrow's life as a homeless boy, living in the ceiling of a toilet and getting food in exchange for putting out chairs at local restaurants and his life as a survivor in the bush. Gradually Sparrow's background unfolds. He is determined not to become a 'ghost boy', drinking and becoming a criminal, like his brother, and he is helped out by an old man who helps him learn to swim and a friendly cafe owner. His self-sufficiency and survival skills help him out in the bush as he finds water and shelter and manages to help a girl who was also stranded. Sparrow must not only survive the physical obstacles but he also has to find the emotional courage to overcome the problems that have brought about his mutism.
Gardner's story will bring home the plight of homeless children who have no voice and very few people who will advocate for them. There are glimpses of hopefulness with the old man who teaches him how to swim and new foster parents who stand up for him.
I read this in one sitting, thrilled by the survival aspects of Sparrow's ordeal, and appalled by the life that he was leading on the streets. Fans of Hatchet will be interested to contrast survival in the hot Australian bush with survival in the cold regions. This would make an excellent class novel or literature circle book. There are extensive teachers' notes by Ananda Braxton-Smith at the publisher's website.
Pat Pledger

The shop at Hoopers Bend by Emily Rodda

Angus and Robertson, 2017. ISBN 9781460753668
(Age: 9-12) Themes: Magical realism, Family relationships, Fantasy, Australia. Emily Rodda's The Shop at Hoopers Bend is a magical story, centred on eleven-year-old 'Quil' (Jonquil) Medway's search for a family and a place to call home. The dusty abandoned shop in the country is really a mysterious place, drawing together people who need each other, and where the threads of the past lie hidden waiting to be revealed at the perfect time.
Quil's parents died in a car accident when she was a baby and she now lives with Auntie Pam, an executive who spends most of her time working overseas. Maggie her Personal Assistant is there to help by collecting Quil from boarding school and seeing her off to a holiday camp on the Lithgow train. A mug found at a charity stall near the train station is the first in a series of enchanting clues that guide Quil's journey. With her name painted on the side and the base stamped with Hooper's Bend Gallery, Quil makes a decision that will change her life forever.
After thirty years of service, Prudence Bail - Bailey is retrenched and she seeks solace in the old shop and attached cottage at Hooper's Bend, an inheritance from her uncle. Two lonely people who need new directions, a renewed purpose and a family are drawn to the magical shop at Hoopers Bend. Together they learn to rely on each other, to fight the developers who want to bulldoze the shop and bring the magic back to Hoopers Crossing. Along the way, they survive a deliberately set fire, unscrupulous sales people at their pop-up shops and Quil fortuitously avoids her aunt and Maggie discovering her new home.
Emily Rodda's beautifully descriptive narrative explores the themes of loss and love, of learning to rely on others, building resilience and valuing things from the past. As the layers are peeled back and Quil discovers the hidden truths about her family, the reader comes to understand how this special enchantment was there from the beginning to lead her to her new destiny.
Rhyllis Bignell

Vengeance is mine, all others pay cash by Eka Kurniawan

Trans. by Annie Tucker. Text, 2017. ISBN 9781925498226
(Adult) Though in many ways a remarkable novel, this book is not for the faint-hearted. Eka Kurniawan is a young Indonesian writer who was much praised for Beauty is a Wound, which won the 2016 World Readers' Award, and Man Tiger, awarded the 2016 Financial Times/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award. The contemporary Indonesia pictured here is no sweet 'Bali Hai' tourist destination. The young learn to survive in a culture that has suffered political unrest, and is at the mercy of organized gangs, petty criminals and corrupt police. There are many scenes of violence, including one of rape, and some sexually explicit action. The main character Ajo Kawir is a village teenager who spies on sexual encounters but is caught doing so one night and is forced to be part of a rape. As a result he becomes impotent and violent. His impotency is discussed very frankly by Ajo and his concerned friends. Despite his problem Ajo and Iteung, a skilled fighter with a gang, fall in love and Ajo learns how to satisfy her without the help of his penis, which is described as 'fast asleep'. When Iteung becomes pregnant to another gang member Ajo seeks out and kills a gang enemy. Iteung in turn kills the father of her child. Both serve time in prison. The reader learns that Iteung has become a fighter to defend herself against a sexually abusive teacher. When released Ajo buys a truck with the blood money he earned and lives a peaceful life although others around him drive ferociously, push each other off the road, and battle out grudges in soldier-backed gambling contests. Ajo is eventually 'cured' by a mysterious woman who is perhaps supernatural, while Iteung, on her release from prison, seeks out and kills the men responsible for the initial unmanning rape. Ajo settles down with her child to wait for her return from a second prison sentence for this crime. While much of the action is very dark, as teeth and blood splatter and bones crack, the tone of the novel is not. There is a degree of humour and light-heartedness about it all. Ajo works through his rage fairly quickly and is happy to talk to and about his 'Sleeping Bird'. Ajo's impotency is presented both sympathetically and humorously, and he is able to survive in a violent male world. The narrative is fast paced, the language simple and direct, but the chronology is challenging as events are not always presented in order of time. This novel could be very enjoyable for the right mature reader but does have some frank sex scenes and violence.
Jenny Hamilton

Watch out, snail by Gay Hay

Ill. by Margaret Tolland. Starfish Bay Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9780473226442
(Age: 4-7) Highly recommended. Subjects: Snails, New Zealand Animals. The Powelliphanta snail is very rare, a native of New Zealand's moist forests. This large carnivorous snail hunts for earthworms at night.
Author Gay Hay and illustrator Margaret Tolland's Watch Out, Snail explores the nocturnal activities of the snail as it slips and slides through the forest searching for food. Lurking in the background are the hungry predators waiting to pounce. The striking front cover with a glossy overlay on the delicately patterned shell is both a tactile and visual experience. As the snail crawls over and under the leaves, a shiny trail is left behind, for readers to trace the snail's movements. Tolland's visually pleasing paintings bring us close to the action. The deep purple of the night sky, the green hues of the leaves and bushes are a beautiful background for the snail's nocturnal trip.
Hay's alliterative narrative is measured, with each short sentence perfectly chosen. 'Night slips in. The forest stirs.' Carefully camouflaged in the background waiting to be discovered are bird's beaks and claws, the silhouette of a rat and then close-ups of the predators, a hedgehog shuffling and a large pig with menacing tusks ready to eat the snail. A surprise for the readers is the close-up of the Powelliphanta snail using its rows of rasping teeth to slurp up the tasty earthworm. Hay leaves us with an interesting ending, as the Weka bird appears through the foliage. Is the snail safe?
Additional facts are included describing the life cycle, diet, physical features, habitat and predators. In conjunction with Hay's Go, Green Gecko, this informative picture book Watch Out, Snail, is an excellent resource for the Early Years Science curriculum - Biological Sciences. In Year 1, 'learners explore and investigate how living things live in different places where their needs are met'.
Rhyllis Bignell

Go, green gecko! by Gay Hay

Ill. by Margaret Tolland. Starfish Bay, 2017. ISBN 9781760360337
(Ages: 2-5) Geckos. This is a New Zealand publication and a similar title, Watch Out, Snail!, is also available. The text, which follows a repetitive and predictable pattern, is lyrical and has some great imagery ('Slithering over rotten logs, gulping down a spider') but it doesn't always flow well ('Scurrying along a riverbank, sneaking up on dragonflies.'). The refrain ('Watching out for danger, looking . . . '), however, is great as it encourages young children to join in the reading and provides a predictable anchor for the reader which assists in setting a rhythm. The Illustrations are textured and show the gecko up close as he moves through the long grass, along branches and over rocks. They are quite good at showing how the gecko's body bends and moves and young children will enjoy pointing out the numerous other insects featured in the pages. At the end of his adventuring the lizard encounters something large and blue. Scared, he scuttles and scampers back the way he came (shown through a story map). Then we see the predator (a bird) with a gecko tail in its mouth and our gecko short of a tail. Confusingly though the gecko has an intact tail on its return journey. The last two pages include information about geckos; however, these facts are in quite big chunks and seem a little dense and lifeless for the target audience. Some of the information will be interesting to young children (a gecko's mouth is bright blue inside) while other inclusions will not be as fascinating (they used to be common in New Zealand, but now they are not so easy to find). On the title page, there is a dedication to Ruaumoko, the Maori earthquake god, which will not be understandable to most Australian children (or adults for that matter). There are also some other New Zealand specific references (rata trees). Children who love finding and following insects in their environment will enjoy following the gecko's journey but some minor details have been overlooked and overall this may be more suited to a New Zealand audience.
Nicole Nelson

Exchange of heart by Darren Groth

Penguin Random House Australia, 2017. ISBN 9780143781578
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Themes: Student exchanges. Mental disorders. Assisted living. Munro Maddux has been having problems ever since the death of his sister Evie. He constantly hears a voice that he calls the Coyote, which is always negative and nasty and he is so affected by grief that he refuses to go to school. However when a student exchange to Australia is offered he decides to go and finds a welcoming family in Brisbane. His new school has a compulsory volunteer program and at Fair Go, an assisted living residence, Munro finds that the voice is silenced.
There are many heart breaking moments and flashes of humour as Munro settles into a new school, helped by Rowan his new Australian friend and son of his exchange family, and his friend back in Canada. Munro has to constantly struggle against the voice of Coyote, his chest pains and his anger and the only place he finds peace is at Fair Go.
This is a wonderful story that delves deeply into the effects of grief as well as giving a warm insight into an assisted living program. The team of residents at Fair Go, Bernie, Florence, Blake and Dale, refugee Shah and Iggy, design a Straya Tour to show Munro the sights and the reader is taken on a journey around Brisbane as well as gaining insights into the characters and strengths of the team. Munro too, begins to discover that he has things to offer as a volunteer and his aim to become better seems possible. A glimpse of Perry from Are you seeing me? will also please readers who enjoyed that book and there is an unexpected twist towards the conclusion of the book that draws together many threads of the book.
Groth has given the reader a warm and memorable story that will stay in the memory for a long time. The themes of coming of age, assisted living and mental health make this an excellent book for a class novel or literature circle book.
Pat Pledger

Kid Normal by Greg James and Chris Smith

Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408884539
(Age: 10+) Kid normal is the first book in a series by Greg James and Chris Smith. The story follows lead character Murph Cooper through the frightening task of moving house, leaving friends and changing schools part way through the term. When all the closest schools are full, Murph ends up in the unlikely situation of being a regular kid in a school for super heroes!
Every child who has gone through this will be able to sympathise with him and I think this will help them to believe in the character and in the story.
Murph joins a gang of kids called 'The Super Zeroes' who are those without superpowers and therefore unlike everyone else. Unfortunately they get picked on by the kids with superpowers - but this gives them the desire to fight back and use what they know to fight the bad guy Nektar.
This is a really funny book with quirky, silly illustrations that will appeal to most people who have a sense of humour. The book is however too long in my opinion. At 384 pages long, there are parts of the story that are too drawn out and this makes it inaccessible for readers who are not particularly confident or intimidated by the look of a very thick novel. It is not difficult to read but I think younger readers will potentially drift away half way through the book due to its length. In saying that - this book is written to be read out loud! A class of children will giggle and laugh all the way through if the teacher (or parent) read this book with voices, movement and flair.
I really enjoyed the messages that came with this story, and think they are a great conversation starter for children around 8 years old and above. There are undertones of school hierarchy, and of course good versus evil, but also that everyone is special in their own way and that superpowers are not necessary to win the fight against evil villains!
Suitable for children from 8 years old but more so for 10+ due to the book length. Also for lovers of David Walliams and David Wallace.
Lauren Fountain

Soda Pop by Barbro Lindgren

Gecko Press, 2017. ISBN 9781776570119
(Age: 9+) A faint hum begins and a cloud of smoke slowly advances from the horizon. The hum turns to howling and growling as it comes closer. Then a huge swarm of tigers arrives - through the garden, squeezing into the barn, diving into the swimming pool.
Soda Pop loves bright orange clothes and wears a tea cosy on his head. He has brought up his son Mazarin on sweet buns and love. Grandfather Dartanyong emerges from his woodshed every morning with a new identity, and Great-grandfather thinks he is a cuckoo. Their peaceful existence is shattered when the group of hot dog eating tigers decides to move into the barn and owls that live in the barn start sleeping in the mail box causing Dartanjong problems.
The story is set in a very unusual world. The characters lead a carefree life in a non-judgemental world where anything can happen. The usual rules do not apply in this story full of nonsense. The illustrations by Lisen Adbage add another dimension to the characters.
This is a classic Swedish tale that was first written in 1970 and has only recently been translated to English. It has been so popular in Sweden that it has been made into a stop-motion animation series, a cartoon, a play, an opera and a comic. Suitable for children 9 and up.
Kathryn Schumacher

DK Find Out! series

DK Publishing, 2017.
Decades ago DK Publishing revolutionised the presentation of non fiction to young readers with bright photographs, information in manageable, well-labelled chunks and the clever use of white space so that the reader was not overwhelmed. Their  Eyewitness series became a staple of primary school library collections. Now they have a launched a new series, DK Find Out! for the younger reader, using their familiar format but adding many more features so the newly independent reader can access information at their level.
Beginning with a durable paperback cover which folds out to be a quiz with answers and essential information relevant to the topic such as areas of study, a timeline or a phylogenetic tree, it then offers a page where the reader can jot down the things they have already identified that they want to find out thus supporting the inquiry method of investigation from the get-go. Then, as is customary with DK books, there is the usual contents, glossary and index pages which encourage and enable young readers to use the clues to get to what they want and in between are double-page spreads of basic information and glossy photographs and diagrams, all clearly labelled. So as well as being an ideal way of exploring print to find information they also serve as a model for students to present their findings if their searches have been assignment based rather than just curiosity.
To top it there is an easy-to-navigate website that offers more information and activities as well as support for teachers and parents. Like the books it is also a teaching tool for helping young children learn to use a website for information, one designed for their level and more authoritative and targeted than Wikipedia.
Despite the misguided opinion of some, there is a lot of research and reasons that primary school libraries, particularly, need to have a robust, attractive, up-to-date non fiction collection and this new series demonstrates the value of not only catering to those who prefer to read non fiction but also those wanting to find out more NOW! As well, the series is attractively priced so that parents can purchase individual volumes to accompany particular interests or investigations that their child is pursuing.
Miss 6 is fascinated with the human body and snaffled my review copy as soon as she saw it, not only asking and answering questions for herself but also learning vital lessons about using such resources. Now she is exploring those for information as often as those for her imagination. It won't be hard to fill her Christmas stocking!
Barbara Braxton

Wreck by Fleur Ferris

Random House Australia, 2017. ISBN 9780143784319
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended, Shipwrecks, Sibling rivalry, Crime, Survival. When eighteen year old Tamara leaves her holiday work at the local paper, ready for uni the next day, she finds her house torn apart by someone's manic search. But grabbed and threatened by a man asking about a note, she escapes and runs for her life, only to be grabbed by another who kidnaps her. Returning to the office for the note, they stumble onto the bodies of the two men she worked with, and her kidnapper Zel, steals her away in his car. There she hears a story about the note she found, a note in a bottle from Zel's cousin, Christian, stranded on a beach after the family's yacht sank five years ago. His step brother, Knox, is after them, and will stop at nothing to remain head of the family business and married to Christian's ex fiancee, Portia.
Wreck is a page turner of a thriller, a crime story which forces the reader to be suspicious about everything anyone says, deciding for themselves who is speaking the truth and who is lying.
The opening sequence of the storm is breathtaking and will ensure readers keep going with this fast paced story.
When Tamara meets Knox at the police station where she has told her story, she becomes convinced of his duplicity, but his words create lingering doubts over Zel's sanity. The police and the Chisel family are all convinced that Knox is the sane one, with Zel a dangerous killer on the run. Tamara gets to Sydney to try and speak to Christian's parents, aware of the power that Knox has, having some police in his sway.
The readers like her will be constantly looking over their shoulders, not sure of where the next attack on her credibility will come from, aware that people in the past have been killed to keep the notes from Christian being made public.
A climactic scene on the island ends with more deaths and Zel having to fly a helicopter back to Australia after only four trips on a simulator, only one of which was successful.
The author of two other crime thrillers for young adults, Risk and Black, Fleur Ferris is an ex police officer, using her expertise to ground her novels with a concrete base founded on knowledge and experience.
Wreck is a great escapist read for a wintry afternoon by the fire, and I also loved Risk, detailing the ease with which girls can be seduced over the internet, and look forward to more by this author.
Fran Knight

My life as a hashtag by Gabrielle Williams

The traitor and the thief by Gareth Ward

Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781925381504
(Ages: 11+) Highly recommended. Steampunk genre. Spies. Friendship. Steampunk isn't for everyone, but this wonderful book is worth reading as a first foray into this inventive and curious genre. It is a genre worth exploring as a world of mechanical parts, devices and steam propulsion replaces things we know well and creates an historical twist of ingenuity and imagination, with a layer of grime, grease and steam.
Amongst this ingenious backdrop, Gareth Ward has created a spy novel involving young teen participants who are selected for their unusual talents, with the addition of treachery and villainy that rivals the magical world of Harry Potter (although in a much shorter book!). This counter-espionage training is set within the steam and mechanical driven world that exists prior to a major war, but with an innovative overdrive. Everything about the setting is not real, and yet it is draws heavily on the world of espionage and circumstances leading up to a real major conflict set in Europe. The fun of this book is that many real events are referenced in a veiled and twisted way, names are perverted and warped with meaning dripping from the choices, and there is excitement, secrecy and manoeuvring befitting a good spy novel. The central character, Sin, comes from an Oliver Twist, Dickensian-street urchin and thieving background, but he bears a mysterious history that makes him a suitable candidate for the Covert Operations Group (COG). His fellow candidates in the COG training school, Zonda and Velvet, are at odds, and trust is difficult to place confidently. In addition, which of the directors of the establishment is hiding secrets and who is to be feared? With word play and inventiveness dripping in 'spendiferosity' from the pages there is a sense of fun woven into this book, as well as the tension of a good spy novel. I loved every moment of this book, and will be sure to recommend it to both male and female readers. With predominantly spy drama, military-style training and impossible 'special-effects', it will appeal to action-lovers, but there is also a hint of the teen-relationship and coming-of-age personal discovery that will endear the characters to readers.
NB: A sequel is being written!
Carolyn Hull

Pip and Houdini by J. C. Jones

Allen and Unwin, 2017. ISBN 9781760296056
(Age: 8-11) Highly recommended. Missing persons. Runaways. Dogs. Adventure stories. Resilience. J. C. Jones' popular Run, Pip, run introduced us to the feisty young Pip Sullivan whose search for her birth mother Cass motivates her every move. She only has one clue to her past life, an old postcard from Byron Bay. Pip's moved into a new foster home with the Brownings who are planning to adopt her, but trouble seems to follow her at every turn. She has a short fuse and does not tolerate classmates who blab her past secrets at school. After hitting Spiro on the nose, Pip is banned from the class trip to see the African dinosaur at the museum. With her faithful dog Houdini and a little luck, Pip's decisions land her in more trouble. How can one ten-year-old girl who is 'as skinny as a piece of string' become a runaway again and set off on a lengthy journey to northern New South Wales? Escape artist Houdini joins her for this difficult and challenging trip, filled with danger and excitement.
Happenstance plays a major role in Pip and Houdini's trip. First they fall asleep in the back of an old van that is heading in the right direction, north on the motorway. After a fiery accident and a daring rescue of the trapped driver, the two travellers walk, catch buses and meet up with a cast of interesting characters along the way. Money is scarce and so is food and shelter, but Pip's bravery, resilience and dogged determination drive her forward.
When she meets Frankie a homeless busker, the pace picks up and they stay just ahead of the authorities who are searching for the runaway girl. Pip stands up for her new friend, even washing the dishes at a cafe as payment for Frankie's stolen hamburger. The adventure continues with lucky escapes, train rides, a journey on an old bicycle left on the footpath and Houdini's capture by the dogcatcher.
With a shark sighting, a surfer with a tattoo of an octopus wearing a top hat and a strangely recognisable old house, Pip's emotional journey draws to a close. J C Jones Pip and Houdini is a heart-warming story of one girl's courage and determination to find her own family.
Rhyllis Bignell