HarperCollins, 2015. ISBN 9780008141233
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Demon Road by Derek Landy is an
exciting novel that makes it hard to put the book down as you follow
the story of Amber whom is not quite the normal girl with not quite
the normal family. Amber is a teenage girl with a seemingly quiet
life, or so it seemed to others as she struggled to fit into the
cool and flawless 'family' dynamic that are her parents. She always
knew that they were powerful people, but what they will do for more
power will shock Amber to the extreme as more family secrets unravel
in this fast-paced adventure that will keep you on your toes.
Enemies become friends and the people in Amber's life, both new and
old, aren't quite what they seem. Amber needs to learn to adapt, be
and trust herself as she travels the Demon Road in search for a
solution to all of her problems as well as solve others. Demon Road is a book of many themes and many surprises that
would appeal to a large audience. It presents horror, thriller,
gore, action, adventure and mystery to its readers and continues to
shock and astound as you sink further into the life and adventure of
Amber. The story itself is told from the third person point of view
and allows the reader to follow Amber's thoughts and feelings as
well as her personal development as her adventure progresses. The
characters themselves are presented in a relatable and realistic way
with emphasis on their own individual personalities and traits. The
relationships and dialogue Amber has with each one is interesting to
witness as a reader over time as their paths cross throughout the
novel. Demon Road is a very exciting novel that has the
ability to keep its readers captivated with fresh and interesting
events as well as its vivid characters.
This novel would be better suited to an older audience (14+) due to
themes of violence and gore. With its fascinating ending, I can't
wait for the next book!
Sarah Filkin (University student)
A, You're Adorable (with CD) by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise and Sidney Lippman
Ill. by Nathaniel Eckstrom. CD Recording by Justine Clarke.
Scholastic Australia, 2015. IBSN: 9781743626382
(Age: 2-5) From the appealing cover, this alphabet book based on a
popular 1940's song seems like it should be a clear winner. The
addition of talented children's entertainer Justine Clarke
performing the song on a bonus CD makes it seem even better. On
opening, it greets you with soft, playful illustrations, each with
an animal and other things beginning with that letter. What is nice
is that the pages are not overcrowded (three or four things for each
letter, for example, elephants wearing earmuffs and having an
exciting egg and spoon race). Children will enjoy helping to point
out the things that start with that letter. Integrated throughout
the letters of the alphabet is a list of reasons why the listener is
wonderful, for example, 'B you're so beautiful, C you're a cutie
full of charms'. The CD accompaniment is jazzy and upbeat and the
lyrics flow quite well. Singing along with the recording is just
achievable and it is possible to make up your own tune to sing to
the book without the music, as most readers won't be familiar with
the original song. Read rather than sang, the text doesn't flow
quite as well. This is really a love song from parent to child and
could work as a bedtime story, read or sang. However, while it may
be suitable for letter recognition and initial sound awareness, and
children may like the illustrations, the actual text will probably
please parents more so than children.
Nicole Nelson
Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R. A. Spratt
Random House Australia, 2015. ISBN: 9780857986993
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Ace amateur super sleuth Friday Barnes
just gets busier and busier! In the third of the series, young
Friday finds a perfect swarm of mysterious goings on at Highcrest
Academy. Firstly, there is the unexpected visit from her
absentminded father when he brings the dreadful news of the the
disappearance of Friday's mum. Has she been kidnapped? Has there
been some kind of terrible accident? Friday's mood is not helped by
having her father installed at her school until things have been
sorted out. This is particularly so because the Headmaster also
needs her help. Not only is there a huge kerfuffle with the arrival
of new student, Princess Ingrid of Norway but it seems a thief is at
large. The elusive Pimpernel is leaving calling cards everywhere and
personal items are disappearing at rapid rate.
Friday's relationship with her nemesis Ian Wainscott seems poised on
the edge of a change after she helps Ian's mum thwart her
ex-husband's attempt to leave her in financial ruin. Certainly some
of her classmates are eagerly awaiting a shift in the dynamic!
Friday's giftedness is never grating, probably because it is
balanced so delightfully with her social ineptitude. Her gauche
geekiness is really very endearing and Spratt's characterisations
are always a triumph.
Another very positive aspect to Spratt's writing is her ability to
weave a more sophisticated vocabulary into the text with a full
expectation that her tween readers will correctly interpret it. And
they do! These books are proving very popular in our library with
our new-to-high-school Year 7 girls. For that reason it is just
wonderful to see that the next volume will be published in early
2016.
Find a fun Friday Barnes Scavenger Hunt kit for libraries here
and don't forget that previous books had teaching notes provided.
Highly recommended for your budding detectives from around 9 years
upwards.
Sue Warren
The natural way of things by Charlotte Wood
Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781760111236
(Age: 16+) Highly Recommended. 'Oh, sweetie. You need to know what
you are.' This book was read in one sitting, as it was just
impossible to stop reading. Long after the first reading the story
haunts the reader, and current stories in the media continue to
bring this story to mind.
The cover (pink, with flowers) encases a gripping exploration of
misogyny and power that includes ten young women, and each of these
women has been involved in some highly publicised sexual scandal.
Each has woken from a drugged oblivion to find themselves imprisoned
in the middle of nowhere in Australia. They are guarded by three
violent, yet in some ways equally powerless, characters.
The Australian environment is described evocatively and leaves the
reader in no doubt as to the harshness of their circumstance. As the
story unfolds and wraps around the reader, many questions jump to
mind. Why are these women the scapegoats? Why do women judge each
other with the same standards they revile in men? Why are women
dazzled and bribed by 'shiny things'? What don't women use the power
they have, even when it might save their life?
This book compels the reader to think and has the reader seeking out
others to discuss their reading of the book. This is an ideal book
for a book group or for study.
Linda Guthrie
Scarlett, starlet by Emma Quay
Scarlett, starlet by Emma Quay
ABC Books, 2015. ISBN 9780733331589
(Age: 4-6) Recommended. Ballet, Dance, Performance, Achievement.
Scarlett dances just everywhere. She dances when she gets up in the
morning, dances in the kitchen, dances around the house, into her
clothes and out again. She tippy taps everywhere with her little
dog, Jazzy Jo-Jo. They dance around Dad, who taps his feet on the
floor, sometimes they dance on six legs, sometimes four, and Mum
smiles.
Her Mum and Dad are very appreciative of their talented daughter,
but she wants a bigger stage. So Mum makes her a costume and they
all go off to the dancing school together. But without Jo-Jo.
Scarlett is upset because she feels that she cannot dance without
Jo-Jo.
Mum tells her that dogs are not allowed on the stage, and sure
enough when initially Scarlett takes the stage, she finds it
difficult to perform without Jo-Jo.
But instead of the tip tip tapping of Jo-Jo's feet she hears her
Dad's feet keeping time in the audience, and so dances and shines
with all the other children.
She is a star, and when she gets home, she dances with Jo-Jo, and
sees herself shining in her parent's eyes.
This is a charming tale of being part of a family, of shining in the
light of parents' eyes, of being the apple of their eyes. It is
about striving to do your best, and taking a plunge into the
unknown. The cute illustrations suit the tale well, of a young girl
besotted with dance, and the whole will be looked for in the school
library.
Fran Knight
Santa Claus is coming to town by Haven Gillespie and J Fred Coates
Ill. by Nathaniel Eckstrom, performed by Human Nature. Scholastic,
2015 (1934). ISBN 9781743626405
(Age: 4+) Recommended. I was surprised reading in the publications
page that this was first recorded in 1934. It is such a well known
song, heard often in supermarkets, shopping malls and shopping
venues at Christmas time, that I assumed it was much older. The
jauntily performed version by Human Nature that accompanies the book
will be well used in the classroom, and will provide the opportunity
for the children to compare it with older, European carols and
songs.
The song, asking the animals to be careful as Santa is about, tells
them that they must be on their best behaviour. He is making a list
and checking it twice to ensure the children have behaved well over
the past twelve months.
The colourful, exciting illustrations certainly add to the known
words, as the animals make their way through the book. The bear
beats his drum, sometimes balancing on a toy train as he warns the
other animals. A lion with an amazing explosion of hair shakes the
tambourine, while a giraffe peers down from on high. Children will
laugh out loud watching the antics of the various animals through
the book, love to play instruments along the journey taken by the
illustrations, and yell out the refrain, Santa Claus is coming to
town, when it appears. I can imagine children joining in from the
start, reading the words loudly, tapping their feet and singing
along with the CD, the whole a joyous cacophony of sound between
children, CD, the book and teacher.
So popular was this little song that when first performed on Eddie
Cantor's radio show in 1934, it sold 100,000 copies of sheet music
and 20,000 records within twenty four hours.
This book will join all the others produced at this time of the
year, and be well used.
Fran Knight
The Skunk by Mac Barnett
Ill. by Patrick McDonnell. The Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN
9781760067823
(Age: 4+) Recommended. An American author and illustrator have
created this slightly absurd tale, best suited to a read-aloud and
robust discussion. The sentences are short and the book has an
old-fashioned film noir or detective story feel to it. Because of
their comic strip quality, and the simple nature of the story, the
pictures tell the story perfectly without the text.
It begins with a man opening his door to find a skunk on his
doorstep staring at him. From there, the skunk follows him
everywhere and the man starts to become paranoid - what does this
skunk want? He tries offering him things - an apple, milk, his
pocket watch. The skunk is not interested. It keeps following him.
The man becomes so panicked by the constant presence of the skunk
that when he finally manages to lose him he buys a new house in a
new part of the city. In an attempt to move on with his life he
throws himself a party with dinner and dancing. However, he cannot
help but wonder where the skunk is and he leaves his own party to
find him. The followed then becomes the follower.
There is a restrained colour palette of red, black and white except
for a couple of pages with blues and yellows when the skunk is no
longer around. The black and white tuxedo and red bow-tie of the
main character mirror the black and white colouring and red nose of
the skunk. The illustration style is perfect for showing the
expressive body language and exasperated actions of the man.
Humourously, the skunk remains nonplussed and maintains a similar
expression throughout the entire book. Interestingly, nobody but the
man appears to notice the skunk.
This seems to be a children's book unashamedly written to please
audiences of all ages and it should succeed.
Even older students will enjoy the challenges it poses to their
reasoning. Perhaps it is about only realising how great something
was when it is no longer there. Perhaps there isn't an answer!
Teachers may not be able to explain this to children but that is
what makes it wonderful for sparking rich discussion-why was the
skunk following him? What did the skunk want? Why did the man try to
get away from him? Why wasn't the man happy when the skunk stopped
following him? Why did the man start following the skunk? Children
will come up with lots of interesting reasoning and different
interpretations, and in addition, they will probably find it wacky,
humourous and fun.
Nicole Nelson
The Royal Bake Off by Clementine Beauvais
The Royal Bake Off by Clementine Beauvais
Ill. by Becka Moor. Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN 9781408863923
(Age: 8-11) Themes: Sibling Rivalry; Competition; Baking; Comedy. A
family of bizarre Royals get involved in an international Baking
Competition as part of their sibling rivalry, fuelled by jealousy
iced with incompetency. The 'Americanadian' and 'Britislander' teams
headed by their reigning brothers plus other 'royal' teams including
the team from Downunder, the Easter Island and the Emirate of
Antartik, all with their cooking assistants, are forced to create
unusual cooking items in a 'Cake or Death?' television extravaganza.
The young children who support the Britislander royal are the ones
who do all the daring acts and put themselves in danger - fighting
crocodiles, rolling barrels before a giant waterfall, hanging upside
down from a multi-storey building, walking on a tight-rope. Reality
Television is the medium for sharing the drama and the scenarios
that are created defy description. 'Unbelievable' comes to mind.
The eccentricity of the characters is paralleled by the weird twists
in the plot, and the attempts at humour are what can only be
described as lame. This is the third in the series involving the
far-from-normal Royals, with a fourth book advertised. Obviously
someone thought children might enjoy the oddity that Beauvais has
half- baked! Scattered humourous cartoon-style illustrations help a
young reader to see the comedic ridiculousness of the storyline.
This reviewer is not wowed by this book. It certainly is not high
quality literature, but there may be some children who might enjoy
its quirkiness, although some of the humour is based on knowledge
that they may not yet have (geo-political implications - eg
Americanadia!!). It is relatively easy to read, but does leap from
place to place so may confuse some less able readers.
Reserved recommendation for Readers aged 8-11.
Carolyn Hull
How to catch Santa by Jean Reagan
How to catch Santa by Jean Reagan
Ill. by Lee Wildish. Hodder Children's Books, 2015. ISBN
9781444925463
(Age: 3-8) Recommended. This is sure to become a Christmas
read-aloud favourite. Do not expect a heart-warming tale about the
true meaning of Christmas. This is pure fun and unashamedly about
Santa and presents. Set loosely as a how to guide (following the
formula of other books in the series including How to Babysit a
Grandad this picture book humourously tells the reader ways
about inventive ways to catch Santa - and what to do when you've
caught him. The team behind this book are American so it portrays a
northern hemisphere Christmas, however, this does not detract from
its appeal to Australian audiences. The end papers with please and
thank you letters to Santa are a nice touch. The illustrations are
bright, simple and effective.
The two young children showing us all their Santa catching tricks
are bouncy, happy and full of energy. They start off telling us
about what to do once we have him; questions we need to ask him such
as 'how do you find children who are away on trips?'; things we have
to tell him like 'I'm trying very hard to be good' and things we
should give him such as a headlamp for going down chimneys. Then the
fun really begins. They tell us that crazy schemes like tying nets
between palm trees and distracting him with giant candy canes will
definitely NOT work. Instead, they suggest crafty things like
leaving glitter in an envelope so that Santa leaves a trail and
clever things like getting your whole family to watch for him at the
window. As they are easy to implement parents should prepare for
children to put these ideas into action and cover the house in
carrots and glitter! Luckily, the last and most important piece of
advice given is that Santa definitely will not come until you are
asleep . . .
Nicole Nelson
Crowns and Codebreakers by Elen Caldecott
The Marsh Road Mysteries series, Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN
9781408852712
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Themes: Mystery; Grandparents;
Friendship; Adventure; African culture. When Minnie's Grandma
arrives from Nigeria she picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport
which sparks a mystery that the police do not seem to respond to,
and that Minnie and her friends must solve to give the superstitious
grandmother some peace. The wrong suitcase contains some evidence
that is initially curious, but proves to be increasingly dangerous
as the young 'crime solvers' set out to unravel the mystery and
rescue a small boy. Along the way, Minnie and her friends use all
their personal talents to good effect to slowly solve the problems
that arise; and to solve the dilemmas that arise in Minnie's family
as an extra person in her house creates family complications.
This is an excellent Mystery adventure for younger readers - the
young crime-solvers are adept at untwisting the clues without adult
intervention. It also addresses friendship issues, and family
cohesion in an English context, with cross-cultural influences. It
would be suited to a talented younger reader aged 8+ all the way to
a young teen. It does not patronise younger readers, nor does it
ignore some of the factors that the young characters need to
consider eg gaining permission to leave the house, or the
difficulties of sharing a room with a Grandmother - particularly
when the room is too small for two beds! The cross-cultural
information is also low-key, but interesting as a complicating
factor.
Carolyn Hull
The epic book of epicness by Adam Frost
Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN 9781408862346
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Subjects: General Knowledge. Adam
Frost's The Epic Book Of Epicness is filled to capacity with
an incredible array of quirky scientific facts. Did you know that
fish can climb trees, there's a frog with claws and a flying snake?
Each turn of the page introduces a new topic, with diagrams, graphs,
speech bubbles, comparative measurements and a multitude of colours.
If all the dead people on earth returned as zombies, there would be
101 billion in the world! Pet noises are different in France,
Germany, Greece and Spain - woof, ouah ouah, wau wau or bau bau are
all the sounds of a dog barking. An elephant's trunk is handy for
fighting, swimming underwater, drinking, talking and comforting. Of
course, there are the shocking facts as well, constipation, food
fights, insect-eating plants - there's something for everyone to
enjoy.
There are exotic places to visit - the Blood Falls in Antarctica
where the water is stained by the element iron, the deepest cave
shaft in Mexico - the Cave of Swallows and the wettest place in the
world in Hawaii.
Frightening, funny and bizarre facts, this general knowledge book
has something for well, nearly everyone. The Epic Book Of
Epicness is just right to dip into again and again.
Rhyllis Bignell
How to Fight a Dragon's Fury by Cressida Cowell
How to Train Your Dragon #12. Hodder Children's Books, 2015.
ISBN 9781444916584
(Age: 10+) Without doubt the How to Train Your Dragon series
has been a runaway success with avid readers from all over the world
eagerly anticipating each subsequent instalment. The Dreamworks
franchise which produced the movies has only built on the huge
popularity of the books.
When I speak of the reader fans, I'm not just talking about children
here. For those of us who love dragons, nonsense, crazy characters
and absurd humour these books are pure delight.
The latest in the series is How to Fight a Dragon's Fury and
once again Cressida
Cowell has provided us with a saga worthy of the
Viking tradition as our intrepid hero Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the
Third continues his quest to protect his people and their dragons in
the face of the revolting and conniving Alvin the Treacherous.
You will no doubt remember the cliffhanger ending of the last
episode when we were all left wondering if Hiccup truly was dead.
But we all know that would be impossible - I mean to say, he's the
HERO! Yet his father Stoick the Vast and all his tribe saw him fall
from the sky and believe that he is lost to them. Luckily that
tenacious little Bog-Burglar Camicazi refuses to accept what would
seem to be evidence and knows in her heart that Hiccup is alive and
must be found. Not only must he be found he needs to get to the
island of Tomorrow and be crowned the King of the Wilderwest. How
can this happen when Alvin the Treacherous now holds all King's
Things.
As usual the adventure is full of twists and turns, danger and
despair, surprises and secrets and above all, laugh-out-loud humour
as we follow the exploits of all the characters we've come to know
and love - or loathe!
Far be it from me to give away too much of the plot but suffice to
say devotees will adore this book and Cressida's quirky
illustrations as much as ever.
Definitely a must for your shelves for adventurous readers from
around ten years and up - read an excerpt here
Sue Warren
Sing a rebel song by Pamela Rushby
Scholastic, 2015. ISBN 9781742991344
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Historical novel, Shearer's Strike,
Unions, Queensland, Shearing. Sitting on the wharf at Sydney
Harbour, Maggie takes out the notes she kept during her life at
Barcaldine in Queensland. She has written bits and pieces on scraps
of paper and kept them in a hat box along with other mementos, and
now with time on her hands goes through them, sorting them into a
diary. This book has chapters beginning with the scraps of diary
accounts and these are filled out with some hindsight as to what
happened in 1891. Her father, a shearer, has become involved with
the developing union in that area, bargaining for better wages and
conditions for the workers. She is friendly with Clara and James the
children of the local station owner, as well as Tom who joins the
lowest ranks in a shearer's shed after leaving school.
With the union becoming more active, Maggie and her mother copy out
posters to put up around the town, so she begins to feel very much
involved, much to the chagrin of her friends, the Averys. When Mr
Avery declares that to work in his shearing shed the shearers will
need to sign an agreement giving them lower wages and little control
over their work, they refuse and the strike of 1891 begins.
This is an intriguing story which Rushby tells well, introducing the
reader to all facets of the strike, its lead up, the event and its
aftermath. Through Maggie's diary entries we see both sides of the
story, that of the pastoralists doing it tough with the drought,
that of the shearers notoriously underpaid and often exploited.
Rushby shows us the impact of the work on the old shearer, come to
live with Maggie's family, consumptive with no place to go. And how
the strike affects the families. Tom has no choice but to leave
school and support his mother and although a member of the union,
must become a non union worker to stop his family starving.
An engrossing read this tale has a thrilling context as the heat on
both sides builds up and the army is called in, while some of the
shearers take the law into their own hands, setting fires and
leaving debris on the rail tracks, designed to slow down the advance
of reinforcements.
The Barcaldine Strike saw the beginnings of the Labour Party and is
a momentous time in the history of Australia. And as Maggie sets off
for South America with her family, part of a group of people
determined to set up a free colony, she knows she will return.
Fran Knight
Breath of the Dragon by A. L. Tait
The Mapmaker Chronicles, bk 3. Hachette, 2015. ISBN:
9780734415813
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Themes: Adventure, Sailing,
Cartography, Pirates, Monsters, Friendship. The Map-Maker
Chronicles, A.L. Tait's action-packed fantasy adventure series
concludes in Breath of the Dragon. Quinn, Ash, Zain and the
crew of the Libertas risk life and death as their ocean voyage leads
them from the edge of the world back to Verdania. Quinn's memory is
affected by his fall from the mast and he's concerned about his
mapmaking skills as well as dealing with troublesome Kurt. Luckily
he's hidden the real map in a safe spot as the fake one has been
stolen. Whose map and treasures will please the King?
When the hungry crew lands on a mysterious island that rains fire,
the unfriendly inhabitants, prisoners who mine the precious stones,
are coerced into helping them. With a new supply of food and a bag
of starstones the ship sails away just as the killehorn rains fire
down from the mountain.
Captain Zain saves the large white sea animal Nammu's baby from the
Deslonder warriors. In a daring manoeuvre, he sails his ship
directly into the path of the dragon boat, saving the creature. A
fierce battle on board ensues with the angry Deslonders overpowering
the crew, their captain is shot by an arrow.
There are so many twists and turns in the story with daring jail
rescues, stolen maps, theft and deceit and treasure collection.
A.L. Tait's fantasy narrative delivers strong, feisty characters who
learn resilience, perseverance and the importance of friendship. The
map-making race to chart their world provides a rich and rewarding
setting. She has populated the kingdom with an incredible array of
people and animals and her attention to detail engages the reader in
the story. As the trilogy concludes dramatically, the audience is
left wanting more. Will there be a new adventure for Quinn, Ash and
Zain?
I highly recommend this series for use in schools, for narrative
writing, geography and for visual arts lessons.
Rhyllis Bignell
Clementine's bath by Annie White
New Frontier Publishing, 2015. ISBN 9781925059427
(Age: 5+) Warmly recommended. Dogs, Pets, Smell,
Family. Wrapped in gentle rhyming stanzas the story of Clementine
and her days will delight younger readers. She loves to smell
the trees and the flowers, roaming around the garden, but finding
something a little smellier, rolls vigorously in it. Readers will
love looking at the rubbish bin and its content, knowing full well
that the smell coming from the discarded house rubbish will cover
the hairy dog with a stiff pong.
And it does. Once back with her family, they all decide that she
needs a bath and drag out the bath designed just for her. But
Clementine is most unwilling and hides in all sorts of places, only
her smell giving her away. But jumping onto a skate board sees her
rolling towards the bath and eventually she lands in it realising
that she has no other option than to be washed.
This is a sweet story of one dog and children will laugh
uproariously at the smell and how she got to be so smelly, as well
as her attempts to avoid the bath. The old fashioned illustrations
suit the family oriented story, redolent of days gone by. The poetic
nature of the writing invites readers to predict what words will
rhyme, and read the lines they recognise out loud. New Frontier uses
a font that seems fuzzy to me, but the story and illustrations is
sure to attract a wide audience, particularly amongst dog owning
children listening to the tale.
I love the picture of the dog sailing through the air, covering two
pages, before she lands in the bath and the mess of stuff falling
from the rubbish bin and the toy box. Each picture gives lots for
younger readers to talk about and the map at the last endpaper will
engender lots of thinking about maps and house layouts and trails.
Fran Knight
