Reviews

The emu that laid the golden egg by Yvonne Morrison

Ill. Heath McKenzie. Little Hare, 2012. ISBN 978
(Ages 5+) Warmly recommended. Picture book. Rhyming text. Based loosely on the fable, The goose that laid the golden egg, this picture book shows an emu inadvertently coming into the range of two rotten scoundrels. The emu is one of several foraging for food in an increasingly difficult environment, the end of the town, grabbing what they can from the roadside and rubbish bins, but our hapless emu follows a beetle. She looks everywhere, finally spying some golden grains of corn at the bottom of the creek. She scoops these up and the very next day lays a golden egg. In finding this amazing egg the scoundrels plot to kidnap the bird, thinking that she may produce more golden eggs and so enact their plan. Incarcerated by the men, the emu eats what she can find, an old boot, a cushion, part of the chandelier and the knobs form the old bed. Next day the men find she has laid eggs that closely resemble the things she has eaten. She returns to her flock content now to forage for her food along with the others.
In rhyming stanzas, the humour of the words will add to the glee of the listeners as they hear of the emu and her efforts to gain food, and the scoundrels in trying to get another golden egg from her. Read a loud or read in a small group the stanzas add to the fun of the story with readers predicting what the next words will be.
And all along the story is reiterated in the glorious illustrations, helping the readers gain a larger helping of humour and wit. Readers will have great fun with this story, contemplating why the emus have moved into town and what the illustrator is representing in his drawings of what the emus are forced to eat. The comparison with the fable will add another level of meaning to the tale as it is read.
Fran Knight

Ghost Buddy: Zero to Hero by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 9781407132280.
Recommended 8-12years. Henry Winkler (yes The Fonz from Happy Days!) and Lin Oliver have collaborated on the Hank Zipzer series since 2003. This book begins a new series starring eleven year old Billy Broccoli.
Billy has just gained a new stepfather, stepsister Breeze, and moved into an old house in a new neighbourhood. He is reluctantly about to start at Moorepark Middle School where his Mother is Head Teacher.
After a less than welcoming meeting with neighbour Rod Brownstone, the last thing Billy expects to find in his pink bedroom is a ghost coming from his wardrobe wearing his baseball top and smelling of oranges. Enter Hoover Porterhouse the Third, aka 'The Hoove', a 14 year old boy who for ninety nine years has been haunting the property and is invisible to all but Billy.
The Hoove helps a far from confident Billy navigate his issues around starting in a new school and making friends and together they manage to handle the bullying of neighbour Rod, with more sensitivity than Hoove had planned.
Readers will relate to Billy's struggle to be accepted by his peers and enjoy the humorous situations and witty dialogue as Hoove does his best to help Billy become cool. There are echoes of The Fonz in the voice of Hoove, not that the targeted audience will recognise it.
With a sneek peek chapter of the next Ghost Buddy book included to whet the appetite, Billy and The Hoove are destined to become popular characters as we see if Hoove can achieve a passing grade in Helping Others.
Sue Keane

The Taliban Cricket Club by T. N. Murari

Allen and Unwin, 2012. Pbk. 325p. ISBN 978-1-74237-804-6.
Under the Taliban, Kabul is a dangerous place for Rukhsana, a 23-year old journalist, sacked from her newspaper by the Minister for the propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Like all her countrywomen, she is trapped in her house unless her Mahram, younger brother Jahan, accompanies her. She is also completely hidden by her Burka and she is trapped in Afghanistan, unable to leave to marry her fiance in America until her beloved mother's fatal illness plays out.
Her subversion takes the form of news items published in the foreign press about many of the human rights violations she witnesses - mostly against women. The feisty young journalist becomes the obsession of Zorak Wahidi himself after a press conference announcing a national cricket tournament. The winning team will be sent to Pakistan for training so that Afghanistan may succeed in their membership bid to the International Cricket Council. Jahan and his cousins view the tournament as their chance to flee tyranny, yet nobody in Kabul can play cricket - except Rukhsana who played at University in Dehli. Cricket becomes a metaphor for responsible citizenship - something lacking in the government. Rukhsana begins coaching with philosophy:
'Think of cricket as theatre . . . It's dramatic. It's about individual conflict . . . It's a relationship between the one and the many. The individual and the social, the leader and the follower, the individual and the universal.'
In order to teach her family, Rukhsana assumes the masculine disguise of Babur. She uses it to avoid Zorak's marriage proposal too but becomes conflicted by news of her American beau's marriage. Now she is free to marry her Dehli sweetheart but in reality, in more danger of becoming one of Zorak's wives. Will they win the tournament and escape?
The Taliban Cricket Club has a lovely tempo and purpose. The dutiful daughter, sister, friend, lover and citizen attempts to be true to herself in a brutal, sexist homeland. Young adults aware of their multicultural landscape would find this novel engaging. In Bollywood style, Rukhsana and the other characters are lacking in depth but this undemanding writing is delightful. Like Cricket, this is an unassuming narrative of worthy themes with the power to become legend in the style of Slum Dog Millionaire.
Deborah Robins

Fizzlebert Stump - The boy who ran away from the circus (and joined a library) by A.F Harrold

Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978 1 4088 3003 1.
This is a quirky story with an unusual storyline.
Fizzlebert had grown up in a circus. His father was the circus strongman and his mother a circus clown. His days were spent engaging with the variety of people who live and work in the circus.
After an unexpected meeting with a group of local school children Fizzlebert finds a book. The advice from his circus friends is to return it to the library. But Fizzlebert doesn't know what a library is so he sets off one morning to try and locate it in the local town. Locate it he does however in his enthusiasm to join the library he is deceived by a couple whose intentions are not good. The remaining story has us following Fizzlebert through some adventures until his parents realise he is missing and come to find him. The format of the text and storyline will not appeal to everyone however good triumphs over evil in the end.
Tracy Glover

Alphabet town by Bryan Evans

Ill. by Kimberley Moon. New Frontier Publishing, 2012. ISBN 192192 827 7.
(Ages 4+) Picture book. Maths themes. On the town where the numbers zero to nine live, each number is quite pleased with itself. But poor Zero feels neglected and so wanders over the hill to the town where the letters live. There are far more people living here, and Zero is invited to join them. She asks how many letters there are but as they cannot count, they do not know. So a cute idea is born, the Zero teaching the letters to count and the letters teaching Zero the alphabet. But counting to nine is not enough, so Zero puts herself with other numbers so that they can count more than nine, and the letters align themselves together to make words.
This is an interesting way to introduce the number system and letters of the alphabet to young children. The bright, busy illustrations will intrigue younger readers as they search for all the numbers and letters shown on each page.
Fran Knight

Ned Kelly's Secret by Sophie Masson

Scholastic Australia, 2012. ISBN 9781742830322.
Highly recommended. Ned Kelly's Secret is the second of Sophie Masson's novels to focus on Ned Kelly. The first, The Hunt for Ned Kelly, concerns itself with the more familiar Kelly Gang period; Ned's last stand at Glenrowan and his all too familiar demise. While Masson's assured writing and careful research make the first book a worthwhile read, it is this second book, a prequel that for me holds much greater promise. Ned Kelly's Secret explores the teenage Ned Kelly's family life and his seemingly inevitable slide into crime in a believable and engaging way.
Masson uses a twist on a now tried and tested formula, the teenage spy (Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider, Charlie Higson's young James Bond, Robert Muchamore's Cherub bunch or Eoin Colfer's juvenile super villain Artemis Fowl) which is sure to delight. She employs historical figures and events from the Kelly history to weave a narrative that explores the factors that led Ned into the life of an outlaw. We gain an insight into the tensions between squatters and selectors, police and citizens, the English and the Irish in colonial Australia. Well-paced and extremely readable, Ned Kelly's Secret is a welcome addition to this prolific and consistent author's collection.
Stephen Bull

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4088-3233-2.
(Age: Teenage - Adult) Recommended. If, as a reader, you're tired of the frequently male heroes of typical fantasy novels, then Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas, is the choice new publication for you; its main character Celaena Sardothien is ardently feminine and yet strong, capable, intelligent and feisty. In a world torn apart by the selfish, power-hungry desires of the King of Adarlan, Celaena is nothing but unusual: a former captive and a trained assassin, she alone seems uncowed by the brutal, awesome displays of power the king uses to crush all opposition against him in Erilea.
Orphaned at eight and trained by Arobynn Hamel, the King of the Assassins, the eighteen year old Celaena is known as the Adarlan's most notorious assassin, until she makes a fatal mistake and is caught. Her punishment, like all those who openly defy the invading King of Adarlan, is to be sent to work in the salt-mines of Endovier, where the average life-expectancy for prisoners is one month; after surviving a whole year, including a foiled escape attempt in which she kills twenty-four guards, Celaena is offered a chance she cannot refuse, even though she would like to.
The Crown Prince of Adarlan, Dorian Havillard, selects her to be his competitor in a series of trials designed to choose a Champion to fight for his father as the official Assassin of Adarlan. Not only must Celaena defeat warriors and criminals double her size, using her skills and her wits, but then she will be required to serve the King of Adarlan for six years to earn her freedom. However, with her only other option an almost certain death in the Endovien salt-mines, Celaena must overcome her adverse hatred of all the king stands for - death and destruction - to win her only chance for a free life.
Written in a descriptive style reminiscent of Australia's own Juliet Marillier and the legendary Terry Brooks, Throne of Glass follows the enigmatic character introduced in Sarah J. Maas' four e-novels (available for download from Amazon) and is well-worth the weekend it takes to read. True fantasy lovers will find all they are looking for in this excellent novel.
Kate Hall

Baby bilby's question by Sally Morgan

Ill. by Adele Jaunn. Little Hare, 2012. ISBN 978 1 92174 85 6.
(Ages 3-5) Recommended. Picture book. Animals. Family. Baby bilby has just one question of his father, 'How long will you love me?'After that each double page shows one of his responses, each beginning with the word, 'until'. Smaller children will simply love to hear Dad's responses to the baby's question as they turn each page, nestled warmly in the arms of a parent or sibling. Each response underlines the fact that love between a father and his young is forever, the days are beyond counting, it is infinite. Each response will elicit other comparisons form the audience as they too try to formulate the time of a father's love.
Each line is alliterative, adding to the fun of reading it aloud, and eliciting other words from the readers which begin with the same letter. Each page's illustrations are wonderful, full of colour and humour as the animal in question is shown doing the fantastical thing stated in the text. I love the lazy lizard lying back on the rainbow, legs crossed, arm behind his head, watching the sky above. Adele Jaunn's illustrations are understated and will hold the readers' attention as they seek out the small things in the landscape.
The reassurance the father's words bring to the baby will add to the feeling of contentment the book brings to its readers, the words used will add to the vocabulary of the younger readers, encouraging them to add to the words used in the book, while the illustrations will amuse and delight as well as inform. A charming book for early readers to listen and read and talk over with their family members.
Fran Knight

Dads - A field guide by Justin Ractliffe and Cathie Glassby

Random House Australia, 2012. Hardcover, full colour illustrations. ISBN 978 1 74275 549 6.
Recommended. Picture book. Find out what kind of Dad you have with this handy field guide, which is a celebration of the many and varied types of Dad. There are sporty Dads, scruffy Dads, work Dads and holiday Dads, and more besides.
Written and illustrated in a manner which gives as much to the young audience as it does to the adult reader, this book is a quirky hit in my book. The author, a Dad himself, got the idea for the book after watching the different Dads at school drop off. Although the concept is simple, the clever illustrations of Cathie Glassby add so much to the field guide.
There is the perennial child favourite gag (a Dad in undies! UNDIES!), as well as more subtle nods to the different sterotypes of Dad we grown ups recognise (like nerdy Dad in his skivvy, throwing up the Star Trek salute, or clumsy Dad, trying to put together furniture, while his young observer looks on, Ikea manual in hand), which makes the book, simple though it may be, relateable on so many levels.
The book includes all ethnicities of Dad, which is nice to see, as well as Dads with and without facial hair, which is also a nice touch. All too often, Dad is depecited as Anglo saxon, slightly balding and clean shaven.
All in all, a book with something for everyone who has had a Dad, been a Dad, or notices Dads out in the world.
Freya Lucas

The Mystery of Wickworth Manor by Elen Caldecott

Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978 1 4088 204803.
On a school camp to Wickworth Manor students from a variety of schools are thrown together.
Paige is a bright student with leadership qualities who arrives on a bus load of children and Curtis is a shy reclusive student whose mother drops him off at the manor . As their surnames end in the same letter they are roomed on the same floor. On the first night Curtis seeking some solitude stumbles across a small room in which an old painting is stored. Paige follows Curtis and in continuing to explore the room locates a mysterious letter that seems to link the painting to some tragic event many years before. So begins an adventure that sees both students nearly removed from the camp and also uncovers untold stories from the past.
The manor becomes a trove of secrets and mysteries and much of the sleuthing that Paige and Curtis do takes place under the cover of darkness.
Tracy Glover

Anna dressed in blood by Kendare Blake

Orchard, 2012. ISBN 978-1-40832-072-3.
(Age: Teens) Recommended. Anna Dressed in Blood is a brilliantly written novel, the author, Kendare Blake, has combined spine tingling thriller and horror, sweet romance and delicious mystery into one excellent novel. The quote 'Get ready to sleep with the lights on because this book has teeth, sharp ones,' made by author Stacey Kade describes this book to the last page: it keeps you hooked and you can't put it down.
The book bases on Theseus Cassio Lowood, (also known as Cas) a teen ghost hunter who lives with his mum (a white witch, the nice kind) and their black cat, Tybalt. This family travel around America looking for ghosts, sending the harmful ones into the unknown and leaving the harmless ones to spook their domain harmlessly. The story begins with Cas in mid hunt, after this hunt he moves far away with his family to Thunder Bay, residential small city to a reasonable quantity of ghosties, but one of them Cas is really here to take, Anna Korlov, or as the locals call her, Anna dressed in blood. The battle against Anna begins after the Edge of the World party that the Teens hold before the next school year. Cas has a run in with a pretty girl called Carmel, nerdy boy Thomas and the Trojan Army, Mike, Will and Chase. They go to Anna's old house, trying to spook Cas, not knowing that he has seen so much more than they could ever imagine.
The way this book is written stops you from putting it down and grabbing another, it has been beautifully written and just keeps you reading. It is by far the best action book I have ever read.
Sarah Filkin (Student)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

PanMacmillan, 2012. ISBN 978 0230762886.
(Ages: 12+) Highly recommended. Fantasy. Yukiko, the daughter of the hunt master, has to come to terms with personal and physical demons in this refreshingly different fantasy. Jay Kristoff has created a world based on the Japan of the Shoguns called Shima but also created layers of difference, especially with the technology based on the Blood Lotus, which is used to fuel the machinery of the Shogunate but also used as a narcotic to subdue and pacify the populace.
When Shogun Yoritomo hears about the sighting of an Arashitora, or thunder tiger, a mythical creature half eagle half tiger he must have it brought to him so it can be tamed and he can ride it like the heroes of legend. Masaru the blood lotus addled hunt master is summoned to undertake the task. He is still a capable hunter, but the cultivation of the blood lotus has poisoned the land and increasing demand has meant the ruin of the environment. There has been very little to hunt in Shima's recent history. Loyalty to the Shogun means Masaru and Yukiko have little choice but to obey in a quest they see as impossible. No one believes there are any storm tigers left.
The Lotus Guild which has control of the production of lotus fuel or chi and distribute inochi fertilizer which is made from the bodies of prisoners. They are a powerful force in Shima they control the technology and religion of the country and they do this with zealous fervor.
The quest to capture the Arashitora does not go to plan. The sky-ship cannot cope with the wild weather they encounter and it crashes in the last of the virgin forest in all of Shima. It is a fight to survive for Yukiko and the guild member who crashes with her. But they discover some allies one of them the Ashitora itself with which Yukiko can communicate by thought.
Stormdancer is a great read especially for the fantasy fan, but anyone can appreciate the well paced story which twists and turns through some 430 pages, but its no hard slog and worth the effort. There are many messages in the book the most obvious being environmental, but there is the message about drug use and corruption of power.
This is is one of those books hotly contested in a global auction and planned to be simultaneously released world wide. A steam punk novel by Australian author, Jay Kristoff, this is the first in a new series called The Lotus Wars.
Mark Knight

The last dance by Sally Morgan

Little Hare, 2012. ISBN 978 1 921714 84 9.
Warmly recommended. Picture book. Environment. On each double page spread, an Australian creature is presented, telling the reader in a short, pithy Haiku of the animal and its fate. Bordering the double pages are pictures of each animal and the central panel contains the poem, the animal and its environment all rendered in the strong lined, highly coloured, decorative illustrations we resognise instantly as Aboriginal Art. And with Sally Morgan as the author illustrator, we know we are in for a treat.
The Haiku tell in a brief few lines something about the creature. So we have the Flatback Turtle, for example,
'Covered by slick oil
He swims
Searching for clear ocean.'
In so few lines we see the animal degraded by pollution, swimming almost helplessly against the probability that his ocean will be always polluted, searching for a clear patch in which to live. The pictures show the animal dismayed at the rubbish seen in his once pristine ocean, trying swimming through it. Similarly, the Swift Parrot searches the clear blue sky for his blue gum nectar once available but now almost destroyed by land clearance. And on it goes, each double page presents the creature and the reason it is endangered, dancing its last dance.
Each of the ten creatures is reiterated at the end of the book, where a small outline of their habitat is given and what is making its life difficult. These include the Corroboree Frog, Carnaby's Black Cockatoo, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Gilbert's Potoroo, Broad-headed Snake, Numbat, Flatback Turtle, Swift Parrot, Yellow-snouted Gecko, and the Dugong.
A whole range of things which have had an impact upon these animals are given in the Haiku: fire, fishermen, drought, destruction of habitat, pollution and introduced species. Each could initiate discussion about these animals in the classroom and what has hampered their survival in Australia, as well as providing a list of endangered species to further research. This beautifully produced book will service the classroom well, particularly with the greater emphasis on sustainability promoted in the new curriculum, while work on Aboriginal Art and Haiku will be greatly enhanced.
Fran Knight

Dragonquest by Allan Baillie and Wayne Harris

Walker Books, 2012. ISBN 9781921977848.
(Ages: 5+) Highly recommended. How wonderful to see a reprint of the award winning picture book Dragonquest (Short-listed, Book of the Year, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, 1997. Short-listed, NSW Premier's Awards, 1997). A courageous young boy sets out on a bold adventure in search of the last dragon. His companion is a brave Dragon Fighter and together they face many perils: 'the sting of scuttling scorpions, the hundred bites of the banded wasps . . .' and then finally they confront the dragon, 'green glass gleaming in the eye, claws flashing in the smoky sun, fire curling from its mouth . . .'
Here is a book to appeal to any children with a rich imagination and who can imagine themselves as dragon slayers. Baillie's story is rich in description and stunning in its language. The alliteration is superb making this book ideal to read aloud, again and again.
With each nail biting episode, Wayne Harris's illustrations bring alive the dangers that the Dragon Fighter and his brave companion face all the while letting the reader know that the hazards will be overcome. His pictures are a visual feast, with dark and mysterious scenes coloured in deep blacks and greens. Often scary faces peep from behind tree limbs and will send a shiver up the spines of the readers. The final secret denouement, when the last dragon appears and the boy triumphs, is especially appealing and makes a wonderful conclusion to the book.
It is also a book that will appeal especially to boys. Wayne Harris explains in the information at the back of the book, 'Underlying this adventure is the passing on of the mantle of manhood . . . . So in Dragonquest we see the old and the new, one needing to conquer, the other happy to understand.'
Pat Pledger

Judy Moody and the NOT bummer summer by Megan McDonald