Reviews

The kids' survival guide: Avoiding 'When I was young' and other brain-exploding lectures by Susan Berran

Big Sky Publishing, 2016. ISBN 9781925520071
(Age: 8-10) Author Susan Berran humorously provides advice for kids on how to survive parent lectures. When Sam's family move to the country after the arrival of his sister Miss Smelly Melly Poop Pants, he is annoyed. His new school has only thirty students and he becomes best mates with Jared another city transplant. After their Super-charged Cow Crapper Attacker accidentally covers the whole soccer team, the coach, the ref and half the crowd, Sam and his friend receive the same lecture by their parents and the adults involved. Why do they all use the same phrases, is there a secret guidebook? Yes, hidden in the cleaning cupboard is the parent manual titled 'Boring Useless Lectures, Lessons, Children's Rules and Punishments' (that's Bullcrap for short!) Sam informs the reader he is going to share his 'own brain-blowing close encounters to teach you how to get out of stuff!'
Part 1 covers those familiar parent topics - 'You Should Know, I've Told You a Hundred Times! You're Bigger than Her, Act Your Age' and that ever popular - 'When I Was Your Age!' Sam's interactions with his younger sister and his constant fixation on her poopy pants are comical. His mother's lectures laying down the guilt trap are easily recognisable - setting an example or it wouldn't hurt to help around here! Part 2 introduces the POOEARS concept and parts 3-5 include more silly situations and sage insights.
Author Susan Berran's survival guide is a fabulous class read-aloud. Her warnings and hints are comical - 'avoid eye contact at all cost' and 'absolutely do not get sucked in and answer them!' This book is well presented, with a large font, an easy to read format, fun cartoons spread throughout, relatable characters and amusing scenes from family and school life. Berran's message is one of reassurance, that kids are not alone, they have similar childhood encounters.
Rhyllis Bignell

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of glass bk 5. Bloomsbury, 2016. ISBN 9781408872895
(Age: Adult - Older teen) Empire of Storms is the fifth instalment within the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas and with it comes an in-depth and detailed world written with realism and complexity that is the broad setting of Maas's realistic and relatable characters. With the world in chaos and the threat of the Dark King's army set upon them, it is up to Aelin and her unique and powerful court-come-companions to stop the menace of this evil. This threat makes Aelin slowly consider and understand what she is willing to sacrifice to save her people from disaster as she attempts to heal old wounds and bond the land she is attempting to save, uniting a kingdom while under the threat of destruction.
Empire of Storms is well written and a pleasure to read for those whom have also enjoyed fantasies and epics about kingdoms and heroics, each character is unique and their personalities and histories run deep within the book. The Throne of Glass series is aimed for an adult audience due to themes such as violence, fantasy and romance that are blended within Empire of Storms. The world itself is given meaning with elaborate detail to locations and their significance throughout the book, providing the reader with a sense of reality and connection as they progress with Aelin's journey to stop the malevolent Dark King. Overall, this is the type of book that readers can get lost in and can enjoy accompanying the characters throughout their vital decisions, actions, and expeditions as they fight for what they believe in and for those they love.
Sarah Filkin

The Satanic Mechanic by Sally Andrew

Tannie Maria Mystery bk. 2. Text, 2016. ISBN 9781925355130
(Age: 16+) Recommended. Murder. South Africa. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Bushmen. Once again Tannie Maria, who writes an advice column for the local newspaper, uses her unique understanding of food and people to solving a murder. The Bushmen have just won a court victory over their land from two large corporations, when their leader, Slimkat Kabbo, is murdered at a festival. At the same time she is fighting flashbacks to her violent marriage with her late husband, Fanie, while trying to establish a relationship with Henk the detective she met in the first book in the series, Recipes for love and murder.
Readers who enjoyed the first book, will have another treat in store for them. Newcomers would perhaps be best to read the books in order, however The Satanic Mechanic would stand on its own. Tannie Maria is a capable, caring woman, and her recipes are to die for. She had met and liked Slimkat Kabbo and is determined to find out who killed him, even though Henk wants her to keep away from murder. As she struggles with her PTSD, one expert prescribes diet pills and another, anti-depressants. Tannie Maria then discovers a group led by the Satanic Mechanic, and it is during these counselling sessions that she begins to find peace and encounters another murder.
The sights and sounds, animal life and community affairs of the Klein Karoo in South Africa, the huge diversity of people and cultures and the big issues that face the Bushmen, all form a fascinating background to the murder mystery. Woven all the way through are little bits of advice that Tannie Maria gives to her readers, as well as the mouth-watering recipes that she has to help lift the spirits and keep bad thoughts away.
Although The Satanic Mechanic has some very dark and depressing themes, it is lightened by the humour, especially about Henk and his pet lamb, and the thought of all the delicious food and ends on a hopeful note.
Pat Pledger

American Monsters by Derek Landy

The Demon Road Trilogy bk 3. HarperCollins, 2016. ISBN 9780008157081
(Age; 14+) American Monsters by Derek Landy is the third in a fantastic trilogy centred on Amber and her bodyguard-now-friend Milo and their time on the highway of horrors across the U.S as they continue their escape from Amber's flesh and power hungry mother and father. But now, after the events at Desolation Hill and the choices that Amber has had to make in regards to her love life as well as her forced position at Astaroth's side, the hunters have become the hunted as they flee while attempting to persuade Amber to join them and overthrow the almighty Shining Demon, Asaroth. While dealing with murderers, demons, and wretched beings from hell on her way, Amber fights to save the friends and relationships she has made on this terrible and bloody journey. To make matters worse, Amber has life-threatening propositions forced upon her from all sides that are all near impossible for her to complete so that she can finally guarantee her own life and her safety in this evil-tainted world that she has become exposed to. Amber and Milo face a fight against the possibility of death while accompanied by unsuspecting allies and the fact that they are changed because of it, this fight against evil is the last stand and the end of a gruesome and fear-inducing chase.
American Monsters is a fantastic end to the Demon Road Trilogy due to its sheer cleverness and utilisation of plot devices, characters, and relationships from the last two books in the series. The novel itself is written in a way that keeps the story feeling like it's progressing at a realistic pace without feeling rushed. This novel, just like the two before it, is suited to a young adult audience as there are mature themes within the story. It's fair to say that American Monsters exceptionally ties together the trilogy in one final epic read and leaves you wanting for more.
Sarah Filkin

Heather Feather by Diana Wilson

Ill. by Jessica Freeman. Little Steps, 2016. ISBN 9781925545005
(Age: 7-9) Heather Feather is a special emperor penguin whose intrepid environmental journey sees her circumnavigating Australia. Antarctica is the 'coldest, driest continent on Earth' and millions of emperor penguins raise their eggs and young in difficult conditions. Heather Feather is extremely curious about the world around her, in particular why the ice cap around her was melting. Her father presents the young bird with a fantastic flying helmet and goggles just right for protection and keeping her safe. He also encourages her with sage advice, 'beware, take care'.
Her first stop after leaving her Antarctic home is Macquarie Island. Here author Diane Wilson provides information about the penguin, seal and sea lion slaughter by traders; the introduction of rabbits, rats, mice and cats and the current environmental measure clearing all the feral animals. Here she encounters royal, gentoo, rockhopper and king penguins and is frightened by a Tasmanian devil. There is no mention of how Heather Feather gains her scientific understandings and insights at each place she visits. Wilson also writes directly to the young reader reminding them to look at the map to follow her trip.
Environmental questions are constantly included as the text shifts between the penguins story, to information, questions to think about and the 'Did You Know' facts included at the end of each chapter. Her voyage takes her right around Australia - Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, the Great Barrier Reef, Darwin, and Perth and back to her home. Jessica Freeman's illustrations show the reader to the different animals Heather Feather encounters. This junior novel is suitable for the Year 2 Science - Biological Sciences and Science as human endeavour.
Rhyllis Bignell

The trapeze act by Libby Angel

Text, 2017. ISBN 9781925355925
(Age: 15+) Recommended. The trapeze act is a first novel by Adelaide poet Libby Angel and is set in an unnamed but recognisable Adelaide. It is about the influences exercised by family and place on the development of character. It starts with the narrator, Loretta, attending a retreat to 'find herself', 'to leave the past and future alone and to concentrate on being'. Unfortunately her mother's real and imagined words keep interfering, tying Loretta to the past and reminding her of what her family is and who she is. And so begins this novel with an eccentric cast of characters who make up the narrator and this city we live in. Loretta is thirteen for much of the action and daily life is unpredictable. Her father, a successful and promiscuous barrister, is not interested in the past but his family's story is spoken by journals that Loretta finds. Her mother is the child of circus owners and is a performer in many ways, maddeningly unpredictable both in everyday life and in the stories she tells about circus life. She resolutely refuses to conform to the stereotype of a mother, and eventually of a woman. She has affairs, performs in plays thought to be scandalous and shaves off all her hair. However, her eccentricities give Loretta the ability to see through claptrap and to ignore stifling middle class sensibilities. She endures her mother's capriciousness by day and at night escapes from it by retreating into her great-great-great-grandfather's journals. A mercantilist forced into commerce by greed for ivory he journeys into the South Australian hinterland as one of the earliest explorers but is thwarted by the nature of the outback and is rescued by Aboriginal people. Loretta's brother inherits his mother's disruptive spirit, even at one point physically demolishing the family house. The mercantilist is driven mad by the outback, Loretta's mother by the nature of the city, perhaps, and conformity seems to be the way to survival. Yet the novel is not dark or depressing; it is quixotic and unpredictable and entertaining, like a good circus act. The language is at times poetic and surprising, while nonetheless apt. It is recommended for older readers.
Jenny Hamilton

Desolation by Derek Landy

The Demon Road trilogy bk 2. HarperCollins, 2016. ISBN 9780008156961
(Age: 14+) Desolation by Derek Landy is the second in a trilogy about a girl named Amber whose family issues are considered more supernatural than most. As discovered in Demon Road, the first novel in the series, Amber was born and raised by her parents so that she may (unknowingly) aid their efforts to gain power after their centuries old agreement was made with Astaroth, one of the great demons of hell. The only catch in such a role is that Amber was destined to become a feast as soon as she became of age and her own demonic powers started to develop and show. Still on the run from her parents' enormous appetites, both for flesh and for power, Amber and Milo (Amber's gunslinging bodyguard and friend) find themselves being chased by Astaroth's hounds of hell as they make their way towards the town of Desolation Hill where refuge potentially hides. While seeming a lovely mountainside town, Desolation Hill is hiding a large and evil secret, the closer Amber gets to feeling safe from her parents and the Hounds of Hell, the more she finds herself tangled in the mysteries and evils in this town.
Desolation provides a refreshing point of view, gaining an insight to Amber's mind and thoughts as she struggles with complications from both the outside world and her own mind as her chaotic life gets thrown in every direction. The characters that are introduced in this book are quirky and vibrant, allowing the reader to imagine them while reading and to realistically understand their relationships and feelings. Desolation is better suited for an older audience due to the mature nature of some of the content. Overall, Desolation is a fantastic read that keeps the audience trapped in its pages due to its individuality and realistic characters.
Sarah Filkin

When I grow up by Andrew Daddo

Ill. by Jonathan Bentley. ABC Kids, 2016. ISBN 9780733333422
(Age: 3-6) Recommended. A young teacher poses this question to her class: 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' Their creative answers will delight and surprise you. Standing on a student chair at the front of the class, each child states their goal, their future dreams. Little Miss Goldy Locks asks the class to imagine the buns, braids, bobs and beehives she will create. 'So much hair, so many stories.' What about an inventor - a invention to clean a bedroom, clear the table, stack and unstack the dishwasher? Floating in space, the astronaut will see the stars, she will photograph new worlds and meet strange aliens.
Daddo writes expressively; he uses alliteration, imaginative descriptions and rhyming text. He also presents strong female role models, no stereotypes - the princess can rescue herself, thank you! The last little girl has a wildly creative list and ends with a special message, she just wants to be herself.
Jonathan Bentley's mixed-media images are lively, and bring Daddo's story to life. As each student shares their future dreams, the colourful illustrations show the astronaut swept into space in a fiery whizz-bang rocketship and into a fantasy adventure with green goblins and magical wizards.
Andrew Daddo's When I grow up is a delightful story to share with a family. This entertaining and enjoyable picture book is suitable for engaging young learners in thinking about their future careers, creating artworks or a class big book.
Rhyllis Bignell

Once upon a dream by Liz Braswell

A twisted tale bk 2. Disney, 2016. ISBN 9781484707258
(Age: 12+) A twisted tale series written by Liz Braswell explores the idea that 'a key turning point in Disney movie didn't work out as planned.' These dark stories are suited to a young adult audience as they explore themes of revenge, the forces of evil, greed and the misuse of power.
In Once upon a dream, the story questions what would happen if Sleeping Beauty did not wake up. When Prince Phillip falls asleep as he kisses Aurora, this fairy tale's crowded plot takes a radical turn. The mind of the princess is controlled by a bad fairy's curse and Aurora has to escape from a different thorny castle and travel through a dangerous magical kingdom created from her dreams. Together with the prince, she traverses the land, with Maleficent's spies following them. The three good fairies are now evil, Aurora's parents are unkind, and they greedily rule their kingdom, eliminating the good witches and fairies. Maleficent is portrayed in a very different light as well.
Written in the third person, Liz Braswell has changed a significant amount of the story, switching roles for so many of the familiar characters. At times, the plot is difficult to follow because of all the changes. Her graphic, descriptive writing style includes scenes of death and violence. In the background, the pages are smudged with ink to heighten the dark feel of the story. Once upon a dream is definitely written for fans of this genre.
Rhyllis Bignell

The Beast within: A tale of Beauty's prince by Serena Valentino

Disney Paper Rocket, 2016. ISBN 9781474840828
(Age: 9+) This novel presents a very different point of view to the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, Belle is a minor player and the central characters are the Prince and Gaston who begin as childhood best friends.
Valentino begins with the Beast reminiscing about the curse that places him in his enchanted castle, disfigured and alone. In his teenage years, he became vain and bigheaded, even with his best friend and hunting companion Gaston. The Prince's fiancee, beautiful Circe, is really the daughter of a pig farmer, therefore she is rejected. Circe is actually the youngest sister of three witches and she reaps her revenge by cursing him, and he must find true love by his twenty-first birthday or remain a beast forever.
The Prince searches for a bride selecting Princess Tulip Morningstar as the perfect candidate. Here the story deviates greatly from the original, he treats her cruelly, belittling her, happy that she does not read and thinks only of himself. Some of this is difficult to engage in, the more astute reader may be confronted by the Prince's actions, when he sends her off in disgrace with a promised dowry.
The cruel witches, Lucinda, Martha and Ruby, send Circe off to help poor Princess Tulip who had jumped off a cliff into the sea, deeply hurt by the Prince's rejection. Ursula the sea witch had taken Tulip's beauty and voice, leaving the poor princess to live a life of ugliness and muteness. The story switches back to Belle finally and her hurried escape from the castle. The evil witches summon wolves to chase her and 'scratch, bite her until she bleeds and kill her.' As the story ends, Valentino returns to the original plot, Gaston hunting the Beast and Belle's tender kiss breaking the curse.
This twisted fairy tale reads as fan fiction, overly dramatic and descriptive, dark and macabre, with the Prince's sexist comments and attitude distasteful.
Rhyllis Bignell

Literature to support the Australian curriculum: HISTORY. Foundation - Year 10 by Fran Knight and Pat Pledger

LinksPlus, revised 2016. ISBN 9781876678265
Highly recommended - for educators. Subjects: History curriculum; Fiction; Annotated bibliography. Fran Knight and Pat Pledger are committed to providing educators and librarians with excellent reference tools that support the Australian curriculum. This LinksPlus resource highlights popular picture books, junior and senior novels and non-fiction books suitable for the Foundation to Year 10 Australian History curriculum. Each book listed has a review available on the ReadPlus online database and relevant web links.
Set out in an easy to read format, each year level and history topic is covered with the listings presented in alphabetical order of the author. A comprehensive index of authors and titles is included as well. Literature specialist Fran Knight has selected each title from both newly published and familiar titles with both familiar and new authors included.
Phil Cummings, Libby Gleeson and Bob Graham's picture books support the Foundation Year curriculum of Personal and family histories. The cycle of life, family relationships, grandparents, Aboriginal and migrant family stories are included. Bob Graham, Kylie Dunstan and Katrina Germein's familiar stories support students' learning about how family stories are communicated.
Year 5 learners study Australia's colonisation, migration and democracy in the 1800's. Sofie Laguna and Gabrielle Wang's novels written for the Our Australian Girl series, provide insight into colonial life in Sydney and life on the goldfields.
Secondary students investigate historical perspectives from the Ancient to the Modern World. Fiction novels are an invaluable tool for introducing a new subject, for critical thinking, developing understandings of different worldviews and cultural insights. A diverse range of novels by a wide range of authors including Jackie French, Rosanne Hawke, Anh Do and Charles Dickens, support the development of historical understandings.
Literature to support the Australian curriculum: HISTORY. Foundation - Year 10 is a valuable resource for educators, secondary school HASS departments, curriculum specialists and school libraries.
Rhyllis Bignell
This is available here.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and others

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy bks.1-10. Walker Books, 2016. ISBN 9781406362848
(Age: 13+) Highly recommended. Fans of Cassandra Clare's series will be delighted with this compilation of ten illustrated stories previously published individually as e-books. The stories by Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman follow the adventures of Simon Lewis, star of The Mortal Instruments, as he trains at the Shadowhunter Academy. Simon doesn't know who he is anymore as he has lost most of his memories so he decides to train really hard to become a Shadowhunter, hoping that he will regain his identity as he goes.
This compilation is very clever and engrossing. People who have read all the books will gain insights into the backgrounds and what has happened to different characters as Simon progresses through his training. I was particularly interested to read about Tessa Gray and what happens to her as an adult, revealed in one of the stories when she is a guest lecturer at the academy. Other characters appear, like Jace Herondale and Magnus Blane, but each story grows on the back of the previous one, and the reader gets to know and sympathise with Simon as he struggles with his memories of Isabelle, his feelings of worth and his friendships at the Academy. It makes for a complete view of the Academy and what is involved in training to become a Shadowhunter.
Some big themes are touched on - class and privilege, stereotypes and duty of care, all done in an engrossing way, with Simon having to make some difficult decisions about who he is and where he belongs. Each story is illustrated at the beginning, with graphic novel type of illustrations, which are interesting to peruse.
For readers who are not familiar with the Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, and Dark Artifices series, there is enough in the stories to ensure that they will pick up the series, just to find out what has happened in the past and readers familiar with the books will be eagerly awaiting the upcoming Last Hours series. Readers may also want to go on and read other books by Brennan, Johns and Wasserman.
Pat Pledger

Malkin Moonlight by Emma Cox

Ill. by Rohan Eason. Bloomsbury, 2016. ISBN 9781408870846
(Age: 9+) Recommended. Emma Cox's Malkin Moonlight won the 2015 New Children's Author Prize for the National Literacy Trust. Cox delves deeply into the cat's world, and she creates a believable society, where cats can communicate, read, marry and support each other. Similar to Watership Down and Guardians of the Ga'Hoole, we follow the path of a young kitten as he grows into cathood, learns life lessons and ventures far from home.
Black cat, Malkin Moonlight is the narrator of this carefully crafted tale, his story begins with a narrow escape from an unkind owner. As a kitten, Malkin talks to the Moon who recognises his special traits and marks him with a beautiful white collar. The Moon's advice guides his path, and influences the life choices he makes. He is a kind, brave feline who will make sacrifices for his friends and use his skills to be a peacemaker.
Malkin's friendship with a beautiful domestic kitten Roux is mutually rewarding, she teaches him to read and he encourages her to venture further from her home, to experience the feel of sand on her paws and the salty sea spray. Malkin's sixth sense assists him in protecting a swan's eggs from a hungry vole and leads him to rescue the father swan trapped in netting.
On the night of the Blue Moon Malkin and Roux are married, but happiness turns to sadness when Roux's owners sell their home and pub and move across town. A month later, the cats meet again on the seawall and Horatio the seagull guides them to their new home the Recycling Centre. Here amidst the sections of Newspapers and Aluminium and Tin Cans, they settle in to life with the friendly cats that sleep on the mattresses, read the papers and play amongst the recycled goods.
On the other side of the wall in the toxic wasteland live the Putrescibles, evil cats with scarred bodies who eke out their existence in a dirty disgusting environment. They fight the cats of the Recycling Plant carrying on a deep-seated feud. Malkin's rescue of a Putrescible kitten, Calica is the turning point. As the wasteland is cleaned up and the rubbish removed, Malkin brings both groups of cats together to live in the safety of the Recycling Plant.
Emma Cox explores a range of themes including caring for the environment, sustaining animal life, the impact of pollutants on the land and waterways. Malkin Moonlight celebrates the power of love, being courageous, facing your fears and living life to the fullest. Rohan Eason's line drawings add drama and liveliness to the story. This is a wonderfully written text, full of descriptive imagery and well-developed characters perfect for a Middle Primary class novel.
Rhyllis Bignell.

Nothing short of dying: A Clyde Barr novel by Erik Storey

Clash of the worlds by Chris Columbus, Ned Vizzini, Chris Rylander

House of Secrets series. HarperCollins, 2016. ISBN 9780007465859
(Age: 9+) Clash of the Worlds concludes the action-packed adventure House of Secrets trilogy. Chris Rylander co-authored this final novel with Chris Columbus after the death of Ned Vizzini in 2013.
The Walker children are once again in the midst of a difficult situation; their father's gambling addiction has led to the selling of their mansion and their subsequent return to their previous small apartment. Eleanor and Cordelia sneak out in the dark of night; spend all their birthday money on raw meat to feed their friend Fat Jagger, a huge colossus who has escaped from his book into their world. Unfortunately, other book characters have also crossed over and it is up to the Walkers to remedy the situation. Brendan's attempt to raise Denver Kristoff the author of the book worlds has released a Zombie Apocalypse.
Of course, Brendan, Cordelia and Eleanor must return to the story worlds to right the wrongs and pursue the three Wordkeeper objects needed for permanently sealing off the fantasy world from the real one and rescuing Fat Jagger. The evil Wind Witch needs to be stopped, before she leads her army into San Francisco.
For the best outcome, the three Walkers need to split up, each paired with a book character. They race through Western world, the science fiction and fantasy books, to Atlantis, endure epic battles, frightening life and death situations, with the action continually switching focus. Unbelievable events occur; Cordelia and Adie's dramatically escape from the blue whale, Brendan encounters animated mummies, dealing with duplicate treasure maps and aliens and Eleanor needs rescuing from Castle Corroway.
The authors have written a nonstop action, fantasy adventure suited to fans from 9 years, as their offsiders pay a high price for assisting the Walkers.
Rhyllis Bignell