Reviews

Spooky house by Sally Rippin

Billie B. Brown series. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2013. ISBN 9781742976518.
(Age: 6-8) Recommended. In this, another starring the very popular Billie B Brown, Billie and her friends form a Secret Mystery Club and their quest for mysteries to solve leads them to the spooky house at the end of her street. Just who lives there? Unfortunately, Billie's imagination is a bit too much for her friends and they threaten to leave. Undaunted, Billie is determined to find out and sets up a plan - one which puts her in a very awkward situation with her family! Trying to dig herself out of that hole means visiting the spooky house, accompanied by her friend Jack for security but what happens there sets up a heart-thumping situation, and teaches Billie a sound lesson about friendship.
This book is the first in a new series featuring Billie B Brown, a character familiar to many already through the Billie B. Brown series. It is probably best described by teachers as a "beginning chapter book". With its short chapters, large font and monochrome illustrations, it is a perfect bridge between the structure of the instructional reader and a novel, enabling independent reading. The storylines of that series are engaging and at the right level for the 6-8 year-old girl. They could imagine being in Billie's circle of friends and empathise with her. Now that Miss 7 is becoming more independent with her reading she is loving this series and was thrilled that this was a new one to explore.
The Billie B. Brown series is a must-have on your library shelves to cater appropriately for those 6-8 year-old girls who are still little girls and this spin-off series will be eagerly anticipated.
Barbara Braxton

The Stone Lion by Margaret Wild

Ill. by Ritva Voutila. Little Hare, 2014. ISBN 9781921894855.
(All ages) The stone lion crouched on his pedestal guarding the entrance to the town's library. Lifelike in size and appearance, he was 'so real, so fierce and cold that small children scuttled past at the sight of him' and in stark contrast to the warm, inviting environment that the concept of a library portrays. Only Sara, homeless and alone, weeping gently and cuddling a small bundle that is her baby brother snuggled into his paws, while Ben the librarian leaned against him at lunchtime while he ate his sandwiches and read, laughing occasionally. Even though the gargoyle perched on the portico above his pedestal explains Sara's distress and Ben's delight, the stone lion has no understanding of such feelings. He just wants to come alive so he can run and prowl and leap - to just move. He imagines himself strolling along the street in front of the library and running in the park across the road.
'Sometimes, stone animals are granted a chance to become warm, breathing creatures' the gargoyle tells him, 'But it is for a very short time only, and they must desire it greatly, with a generous heart.' Even though the lion does desire it greatly with no apparent ability to feel, it seems like a dream that will be unfulfilled. Then winter comes and it hits hard. Snow falls and lies deep, and once again Sara comes to the lion's feet, sinking onto the steps and going limp. A snowflake falls on the baby's nose and he wails, waving a tiny fist, and a stab of pity pierces the lion's heart . . .
This is a picture book for all ages with many levels of complexity. Accompanied by evocative pictures created with oil pastels on grey velour paper which portray the mood and atmosphere perfectly, this story is a mixture of fantasy, fairy tale and fable. The lion at the end of the story is not the lion of the beginning, much like the key characters in The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince opening the way for in-depth and comparative studies of these texts. How can a single act of kindness make such a difference to so many? Teaching notes are available at the publisher's website.
Barbara Braxton

Run by Gregg Olsen

Hot Key Books, 2014. ISBN 9781471401855.
(Age: Teens) Gregg Olsen knows how to create a page turning crime thriller mystery but in Run the main character is fifteen, an unlikely hero for this genre. Somehow he makes it work. What could be improbable becomes probable, the unbelievable believable.
The novel starts at a zipping pace and doesn't let up. Rylee comes home from school and finds her father dead with a knife through his chest, her mother missing and the word RUN scrawled in blood on the floor. Far from breaking down Rylee heeds the advice and together with brother Hayden flees the scene. We learn through Rylee's flashbacks that 'running' is part of her everyday experience - her family has been running all their lives. This fact helps the reader accept Rylee's actions throughout the story. Her mother has taught her 'not to trust anyone' as well as a few other not so legal means of surviving.
At the beginning of each chapter Rylee lists the state of her situation: Cash, Food, Shelter, Weapons, Plan. This clever device provides the reader with the changing nature of Rylee's circumstances. Very early in the story Rylee leaves Hayden with a newly discovered Aunty and becomes the chaser instead of the runner as she searches for her mother and the man who has taken her. The plan becomes 'find mum, kill dad'.
The novel then turns to one of vengeance and retribution, with gruesome results, many of which are committed by the young girl who we first met when she was contemplating whether to have spaghetti for dinner and counting how many texts she had received from her boyfriend. Yet we still support her: she has justice on her side.
Needless to say there is resolution to this story but not without a few twists at the end which explore, though not deeply, the actions of Rylee's mother and the motivation behind the man she has discovered is her real father.
A disappointment of the novel came right at the end when Olsen so blatantly sets the stage for a sequel or even a series with his last lines, 'The people who understand where I come from are the people who matter. The ones . . .  I can help'. Do we now have a new super-hero in the making? The probable has now become the improbable - however I can see such a series having wide adolescent appeal.
Barb Rye

Dummie the Mummy and the Golden Scarab by Tosca Menten

Penguin, 2014. ISBN 9780143308287.
This may well be the Dutch answer to Roald Dahl! Tosca Menten has so far produced five books about Dummie the Mummy and they have gained a huge following in her homeland. They are now being published in several other countries and a movie version is in the early stages of production.
The silly ridiculousness of the whole premise and plot combined with some strange (and Dahl-esque) characters will have children from 8 years up in fits of laughter.
Darwishi Ur-atum Msamaki Minkabh Ishaq Eboni or DUMMIE for short, was the small son of an ancient Egyptian Pharoah thousands of years ago. After his brief illness and death, he was mummified as was the custom and his royal father insisted on placing the sacred scarab of royalty with the boy. The grieving parents sent their son into the afterlife with special spells and powerful charms.
Cut to a small town in modern day Holland and a truck transporting three mummies to a museum for a special exhibit. A sudden storm erupts and the truck is struck by lightning, the driver luckily escaping unharmed, but the mummies destroyed. Or are they? The unfortunate driver thinks he saw a small childsized mummy climbing out of the roadside ditch and running off.
Angus is an ordinary boy living with a rather unusual artist father, on their own since Gus' mum died but happy with their lives. Until, that is, Angus discovers a 'living' mummy in his bedroom and the mayhem begins!
Aside from the hilarity of the antics, this is a great book for exploring accepting differences, not judging on face value and friendship with some very funny adventures thrown in.
Very suitable for less able readers who could use something engaging and humorous to keep them wanting more and also very well suited to read-aloud episodes.
Read more about Dummie the Mummy and Tosca Menten here.
Tosca's trailer for this book is here.
Sue Warren

EJ Spy School series by Susannah McFarlane

Ill. by Dyani Stagg. Scholastic, 2014.
Secret Spy Bk 3. ISBN: 9781921931635.
Puppy Alert Bk 4. ISBN: 9781921931628 .
For readers from 6-8 years of age. Secret Agents, Spies, Friends. Susannah McFarlane's new EJ Spy School series introduces the reader to Emma Jack's beginning her training to become an agent. These emergent novels use age appropriate words, short chapters, a larger font size, simple concepts and plot, and build confidence in children making the transition from picture to chapter books.
In Secret Spy Emma learns how to use her new spy tools, a robotic butterfly cam, flying skateboard and a special lunchbox with a dial to choose sandwich flavours. Puppy Alert Emma begins to develop her code-cracking skills and test her abilities to rescue puppies for the animal training centre.
Dyani Stagg's cartoon style illustrations complement the text and bring EJ10 to life. The website has fun activities, games and additional stories.
This series is a great introduction to the much loved character EJ12.
Rhyllis Bignell

Dark Emu: Black seeds: Agriculture or accident? by Bruce Pascoe

Magabala Books, 2014. ISBN 9781922142436.
(Age: Secondary) Aboriginal History. Agriculture. Indigenous people. Land rights. This very readable non-fiction work examines the evidence for a revision of thinking about Aboriginal people at the time of European colonial settlement. Pascoe presents compelling arguments (often using the words of the early settlers and explorers - those who created many of the early views of the Australian indigenous people) to show that Aboriginal people did participate in agriculture, and did create housing that suggested more sedentary life styles, did engage in technological developments to assist them in living successful lives. He establishes this to challenge our education of current students that suggests that to be Aboriginal was to be 'only' a hunter-gatherer. This paternalistic, and self-promoting view at the expense of the Aboriginal success over many years is revealed through discussions of agriculture, the use of fire, the environmental wisdom of Aboriginal farming, and the advantage of peaceful trade and transfer of law in relation to the spiritual connection to land.
All teachers should read this book, to challenge their own thinking and to give opportunity to see Australia through different cultural eyes. To quote Pascoe, '...all of us must be alert to the greatest of all limitations to wisdom: the assumption.' If we assume that we know the history of Australia because of what we were taught, then perhaps we have failed to see prejudice in recorded history texts. Early explorers recording what they saw were often blind to the significance of their sightings, and perpetuated their racist/colonial ideas, or as Pascoe states, in referring to the explorer Giles, 'prejudice squeezed [his] racism like toothpaste from a tube...'
The author also suggests interesting ideas about the possibility of the return to successful Aboriginal farming practices and native species to replace unsustainable crops in marginal environments.
Secondary students studying Australian history and Aboriginal studies would benefit from this text.
Carolyn Hull

Goose by Dawn O'Porter

Hot Key Books, 2014. ISBN: 9781471400636.
(Age: 16+) Goose follows the story of Renee and Flo, best friends completing their senior year of schooling and about to head off down the path of adult-hood. Flo is the more conservative of the girls whereas Renee is promiscuous and outgoing. The girls have been planning to go off to university together however Renee is having second thoughts. She wants to get out into the world and discover herself first. Flo is devastated and feels as if Renee is just trying to find a way out of their friendship, trying to cope with this abandonment and still dealing with the death of her father Flo seeks comfort in religion where she meets Gordon, a fanatical church boy and Christian rocker who believes in abstinence. After a bad night with Dean, Renee's misogynistic boyfriend, the girls have an argument. Renee cannot accept Flo's new religion and the pair go their separate ways. Lost and alone Renee finds herself missing her friend and she needs to take some drastic actions to get her back.
Goose is the sequel to the highly praised Paper Aeroplanes but can be read just as well as a standalone novel. I would not recommend this book for people under the age of sixteen as it contains strong sexual content which may make some young readers uncomfortable. Similar to Puberty Blues this novel had themes of friendship and sexuality linked in with heavier themes of abandonment, death and dementia. Despite being directed at an audience of young women I feel that this novel is a little too mature for young adult fiction and a little too immature to fit into the adult category.
Kayla Gaskell (age eighteen)

The Dismal Daffodil by Ursula Dubosarsky

The Hunt for the Golden Book by Geronimo Stilton

Scholastic, 2014. ISBN: 9780545646499.
Recommended for readers from 7-9 years. Themes: Writing, Mice, Parties, Books and Reading, Theft. The Hunt for the Golden Book is a Special Edition Geronimo Stilton presented as a hard-covered novel with a gold-cornered dust jacket. This is a unique time for Geronimo Stilton the editor of The Rodents' Gazette, he's celebrating the tenth anniversary of his first book being published. This book differs from the tried and true travel formula, instead all of Geronimo's family, friends and Gazette colleagues rally to plan an enormouse celebration. Grandfather William the original newspaper editor throws a few spanners in the works as he intereferes with Geronimo's creative writing process. The deadline is extremely tight one week to write unfortunately Geronimo's laptop is stolen, party plans are sabotaged and mayhem occurs.
For an extra special read, a second mystery story The Lake Monster is also included. When a mysterious monster is seen rising out of the lake on Mouse Island, Geronimo and his team are on the case. Unfortunately, when they try to capture a photo of the creature everything starts to unravel and there's another mystery to solve. With the addition of the some cheesy jokes and the usual bold style of text and colourful illustrations, this is another great addition to the popular series.
Rhyllis Bignell

The haunting of Lily Frost by Nova Weetman

University of Queensland Press, 2014. ISBN 9780702250156.
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Mystery and suspense. Ghosts. Growing up. Moving house. Loneliness. The last thing Lily Frost wants to do is move to the tiny country town of Gideon. She is happy where she is and she has her best friend Ruby to smooth the way with friendships and life at school. But her parents are determined on a new beginning and have found a large, strangely inexpensive house to live in as their finances have become very difficult. On arrival at the house, Lily is drawn to the attic room, but when she enters it she is overcome by someone's secrets. It is haunted and Lily is determined to find out what happened to the girl who lived there. She is thrown in the path of gorgeous local boy Danny who was the ghost's boyfriend and she gradually builds up a picture of what has happened.
Weetman has written a totally engrossing story that has some very scary moments. Readers will be holding their breath in fear as the intrepid Lily continually goes back to the attic where messages and puddles appear on the floor. Water is a continuing theme in the book: Lily almost drowned in a neighbour's pool when she was five and the teens meet near a river.
Suspense is built up as Lily finds out why the house was so cheap, weaves her way through the politics of a new school, where she doesn't know who she can trust and learns the hard way about friendship without the crutch of her friend Ruby. There is a budding romance with Danny, but she is unsure about his motives. Lily is a complex character, on one hand unsure of herself but she has the ability to stand back and work out why she acts like she does. She gradually gains confidence in a new situation without the help of the charismatic Ruby to make life easy for her. Her snappy dialogue adds to the interest of the story.
A gripping ghost story set against a background of adolescent anxiety, this book is sure to appeal to its teenage audience.
Pat Pledger

What will hatch? by Jennifer Ward

Ill. by Susie Gharemani. Walker Books, 2014. ISBN 9780802723116.
(Age: Preschool) Warmly recommended. Animals. Offspring. Eggs are shown in their variety, small and large, round and pointy, hard and soft, in the ground, in a nest or on a leaf; each is shown in detail about its position in the environment and what it will hatch to become. One each double page spread is a picture of an egg, shown in its position on the earth's surface, cold or wet, hot or steamy, high or low, and the egg as the page is turned, becomes a cut out which reveals its parents. So the egg of an animal in a cold, mountainous place becomes the egg of a penguin the baby of which fits snugly on dad's feet.
In a lily pond small eggs float near the reeds,and over the page they become tadpoles with a frog nearby to show what they will eventually become. On a bright green leaf, small yellow eggs are hidden underneath and over the page the caterpillar emerges. Eight different sorts of eggs and their results are presented in this way, encouraging young readers to predict, to look through the holes in the pages before turning the page, to be excited and involved.
The illustrations are lively and bold with the little holes just begging the reader to peep through, and the page at the end showing the development of a chick in the egg most useful, while two pages are devoted to an extended explanation of the creatures depicted in the book.
Lovely to hold, fascinating to read, this will prove to be a favourite amongst small children eager to explore the world around them. The range of animals will invite curious minds to further explore where these creatures can be found.
Fran Knight

What's your favourite animal? by Eric Carle and friends

Walker Books, 2014. ISBN 9781406356519
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Animals. Asking his friends to illustrate their favourite animal has resulted in this lovely book of the illustrations of fourteen people, whose animals each cover a double page. Each artist uses their own style to create their animal, starting with Carle, using his well known block ink, cut out and crayon technique to create a cat. He goes on to say why he chose a cat as his animal.
The royalties from the sales of this book will be used to help support The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts. Photos of Carle working with children at the centre are on the last double page along with a photo of the centre itself and the double page before has biographies of each of the contributors. The biographical notes along with each illustration will recall for the readers the pictures and books they have seen by these illustrators, bringing a new recognition of the different styles and techniques used by these people. In a classroom where technique is discussed and noted along with the story this volume will be a boon, underscoring the relationship between the words and the pictures.
In a book crammed with a feast of talent it is difficult to pick out a few of note, but some that stand out for me include Lucy Cousins' leopard, Steven Kellogg's cows, Jon Klassen's duck and Lane Smith's elephant. Each is distinctive and recognisable, full of wry humour and the impulse is to then search out other books by these people. But that goes for the whole book. And an extra treat was taking off the sleeve to find the illustrations reprised on the hard cover beneath. Fran Knight

Crooked Leg Road by Jennifer Walsh

Allen & Unwin, 2014. ISBN: 9781743316931
(Age: 10-12) Highly recommended. Both boys and girls who enjoy mystery/adventure stories will love this new book from Jennifer Walsh. Somewhat like a contemporary, fast-paced Famous Five but much edgier - a group of friends from Balmain become embroiled in a dangerous game of political intrigue and financial misappropriations. David, Martin, Kitty and Andrea are both friends and schoolmates, each with their own interests and strengths, who combine well as a group hanging together in the regular sense. When David mysteriously disappears, feared kidnapped, his friends pool their combined observations and knowledge with some startling results.
Parallel to this plot are timely ideas such as multiculturalism, ethics in positions of power, judgemental behaviour, tolerance and acceptance and friendships. New girl, Samantha, who is despised in general, because of her 'posh' background and ineffectual attempts to impress, and mysterious new boy, Skender, technically a 'boat person' and whose family comes under suspicion by the sleuthing teens, add a depth to the plot that leads the reader to examine initial perceptions of 'outsiders'.
Thoroughly engaging and completely compulsive reading (I read it in one sitting) - this is a real page turner with very plausible plot, characterisations and complications/resolutions.
Highly recommended for readers 10 and up, put this one on the shopping list for any of those readers who are looking for an exciting read.
Watch the trailer.
Visit the author's website.
Jennifer Walsh writes children's books under this name and adult books under Jennifer Spence (she is married to Bruce Spence, the actor) and lives in Balmain, Sydney. Her previous book The tunnels of Tarcoola featured the abandoned coal mines under that suburb and her new book Crooked Leg Road is also set in this lively and historic area. Stay tuned for a Q&A coming up soon on this blog!
Sue Warren

The year of the rat by Claire Furniss

Simon & Schuster, 2014. ISBN 9781471121715.
(Age: 14+) Grief. Death and Loss. Parent-Child relationships. It was not the death of Pearl's mother in childbirth that is revealed in the opening chapter that brought me to tears, it was the pain of Pearl's grieving that led me to finish this book with tears running down my cheeks. Pearl has regular encounters with her dead mother in the year following the tragic death, and Pearl's fiercely independent and feisty nature, and the horror of the 'tipped' world that she needs to balance on, prevents her from moving forward. Her downward spiral is both understandable and yet heart-stirring. Everyone close to her is aching to help her, but her grief has created a solid barrier around her, a grief that is consuming and self-destructive. Her distant relationship with the baby sister that she can't connect to is a symptom of her withdrawal from the world of love and care that is calling, if only she was able to listen. This is definitely a book needing the company of a box of tissues. (Although I did read this when away from work with a terrible cold, so perhaps my reactions were somewhat illness impacted!) The female relationships in this story are interesting, and particularly those across the generations; the responses of a grieving teen are neither polite nor trite (although bad language is rare); and the role of 'loving father/step-father' is also explored in an interesting way. A little tincture of romance is also added for the benefit of the teenage market. This will appeal to teenagers who enjoyed The fault in our stars. This is probably not a good book for someone battling with their own grief journey, although they would understand the emotions.
Target audience: 14+ (predominantly female). Some maturity required because of the theme.
Carolyn Hull

Two Selkie stories from Scotland retold by Kate Forsyth

Ill. by Fiona McDonald. Christmas Press, 2014. ISBN 9780992283827.
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Fairy tales. Folk tales. Selkies. Scotland. After the success of Two trickster tales, it is not surprising that more folk stories are being produced by this relatively new publishing house. Two tales of Selkies, one, The Selkie bride is not unknown, while the other, The kingdom of the seals is new to me. Both are contained within one volume, a slim, attractive book, easy to hold and with a soft rendering of the two tales on the front cover.
The naive illustrations are often framed by borders in which are intertwined all sorts of objects, reminiscent of Celtic forms. Some of the borders require closer inspection to see things talked of in the text, while other pages have scatterings of objects alluded to.
The Selkie bride is an old story of love and freedom, where a laird, on seeing a beautiful Selkie, stops her from returning to the water with her folk, trapping her in his castle. But one day walking near the ocean with her daughter, she dives into the sea and does not return, preferring her freedom to the imprisoned love shown by the laird.
The second story,The kingdom of the seals, similarly shows a laird going against the customs of the area, killing seals, with dire results.
It is good to see folk tales once again being published and offered to young children. This was my favourite part of the library in the middle years at school, when very little Australian fiction was published for that age group.
Fran Knight