Carla Fitzgerald (text) and Rebel Challenger (illustrator), Keeping Up with the Dachshunds, Larrikin House, April 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922503756 The Perfect Pooch Park was the place to be. It was cool. It was now. It was totally bow-wow. And with that, we are introduced to the competitive arena of the local dog park, where the spoilt and entitled dachshunds set the trends for the other dogs in the park. After many attempts to keep up with the dachshunds’ latest cool thing, be it diamond collars, super snazzy shoes or deluxe rubber chickens, Jet finally finds her…
Author: Admin
Morris Gleitzman will release his next book Digging up Dad, tomorrow, October 18. To celebrate this milestone, Penguin Random House have interviewed Morris and posted this to their website. Here it is! We will publish our review soon!
Jennifer Bell, Legendarium (Wonderscape, #2), Walker Books, May 2022, 320 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406391732 Play the game. Brave the legend. Arthur, Ren and Cecily are stuck in Legendarium in the year 2493, where the secretive villain Deadlock has discovered dangerous time-travel technology. To save the universe, the friends must enter the deadly Irontide Tournament, where legends are real and one wrong move could cost them their lives… Legendarium is the follow-up to 2020’s Wonderscape, a thrilling new instalment in Jennifer Bell’s expanding universe of excitement and adventure. I did ask for a sequel when I reviewed the…
Russell Irving, The Lonely Jacaranda, Russell Irving, March 2022, 24 pp., RRP $25,99 (pbk), ISBN 9780645238228 The Lonely Jacaranda is an uplifting fable which celebrates acceptance and the importance of embracing our unique gifts and differences. Author and environmental educator Russel Irving uses this charming story of the spectacular Jacaranda tree to explore the alienation and prejudices experienced by those far from home and how it is that small acts of acceptance and friendship can lead to truly spectacular outcomes for everybody. Jaca, the lonely Jacaranda tree, lives far from home, dropping her flowers and leaves like teardrops. The nearby…
Jacqui Halpin (text) and Gavin Scott (illustrator), It’s Time All Possums Went to Bed, Affirm Press, March 2022, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922400864 At first glance, It’s Time All Possums Went to Bed is quietly unassuming. The cover of a sleepy little girl surrounded by soft toys with her mother, hints at a bedtime story. But turn to the first page and readers are introduced to an adventure featuring an array of Australia’s most well-known animals, albeit stuffed and fluffy! Milly is not yet ready for bed, and before she falls asleep pretends to be a possum, bilby, echidna, emu, kangaroo,…
Gabrielle Wang, Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon, Puffin Books, May 2022, 272 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761046513 I could write this review in four words: I love this book. Make that six – I love everything about this book. Longing for a dog of her own, shy Zadie writes a story about a pooch called Jupiter who’s just waiting to be rescued. Her younger brother Teddy is excited because Zadie has a knack for writing stories that come true. Set in 1950s Melbourne, the book delicately explores complex themes including friendship, war, Chinese culture, racism,…
Chris Smith (text) and Kenneth Anderson (illustrator), Frankie Best Hates Quests, Penguin Random House, April 2022, 400 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780241522110 Frankie Best hates quests. And being called Princess, silly kids’ games about Spingle the Elf, being stuck at her Grandpa’s place with her nerdy brother Joel, and being away from her phone for too long. So, being forced to go on a quest with her annoying brother and the overly cheerful knelf (no, that’s not a typo), Garryn, to rescue her Grandpa from the gnoblins who kidnapped him, in a strange land where her phone doesn’t work…
Imogen Greenberg (text) and Isabel Greenberg (illustrator), Gaia, Goddess of Earth, Bloomsbury, July 2022, 64 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781526625700 Gaia: Goddess of Earth has a simply exquisite cover: it’s a deep blue, with Gaia taking centre stage in all her glory. On first glance, I assumed this was a history book aimed at children and introducing them to the story of Gaia. In reality, this is in essence a graphic novel in hardcover, detailing how Gaia created the world and all its beauty, and did her best to save It, to maintain the peace she thought the world…
Craig Cormick (text) and Cheri Hughes (illustrator) Colonial Settlement: France vs Britain (What If History of Australia) Big Sky Publishing, May 2022, 254 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922615763 I’m all in favour of encouraging students to think laterally and ‘outside the square’. This zany alternative history book does exactly that by pondering a whole lot of ‘what if’ questions about the colonisation of Australia. However, this book covers more than just asking what Australia might be like if the French had set up the colony first. It begins by contemplating what may have occurred if Captain Cook’s Endeavour had…
Phillip Gwynne (Author), Liz Anelli (Illustrator) Song of the White Ibis, June 2022, RRP $24.99 (hbk), Penguin Random House, ISBN 9781760897949 Song of the White Ibis is a beautifully written picture book which invites young readers (5 years +) to think more deeply about the affectionately named Bin Chicken, our environment, and where humanity is headed. Call me Bin Chicken Call me Tip Turkey Call me Picnic Pirate… But… there is a lot more to my song than you might think. And maybe I’ve got something to teach you too. At the beginning of the book, Liz Anelli’s detailed and deeply textured multi-media illustrations depict…