Brian Selznick, The Marvels, Scholastic Australia, Oct 2015, 672pp., $34.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9780545448680 Genius – pure, creative, complex, intriguing genius. From the moment of taking The Marvels in hand, the weight of impending mystery and awe was palpable. Gold-edged pages and a cover design reminiscent of old-world fairground posters begin to set the mood for the adventure cocooned within. Anticipation becomes further heightened upon realisation that the first 400 pages of the story are told purely in drawn images; beautifully crafted, detailed and engaging illustrations that not only hook you into the story, but generate wonder by the pure volume and…
Author: Admin
Lani Yamamoto, Stina. V&A Publishing/Bloomsbury/Allen & Unwin, Oct 2015. 44pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN9781851778584 Stina is a little girl who really, really doesn’t like the cold. Who does, one might ask. But Stina’s dislike means she misses out on games with other children, she won’t eat ice-cream and her safest, cosiest place is in bed. The illustrations are in muted colours, mostly variants of green and brown. One double-page spread suggests scientific drawings as Stina tries to design ways ‘to protect herself from the cold’. These include long-handled tong, a bit like those used to pick up rubbish, so that she…
Jennifer Donnelly, These Shallow Graves. Hot Key Books/Allen & Unwin, July 2016, 496pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781471405174 Josephine Montfort is 17, from one of New York’s oldest and most wealthy families. She is still at school when her father dies, allegedly in an accident. But was it? Jo is not one to fit into the mould of simpering, obedient society miss, waiting for the right marriage to be arranged by her mother. She is highly intelligent and a keen writer. She has written extensively for her school magazine and would like to continue with what we would now call ‘investigative…
George Ivanoff, Maze of Doom/The Haunting of Spook House (You Choose 3 & 4 flip bindup), Random House, 1 Dec 2015, 153/151pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780857989550 The compelling element of the You Choose books is that the protagonist is the reader. Told in second-person narrative, and with multiple pathways and endings, the reader has the choice to determine their fate. The Haunting of Spook House scenario begins with ominous clouds looming above a creepy two-storey house at the top of a hill. You are remembering the house’s diabolical history and must decide whether to enter. This story has a ghost hunter…
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1), Allen & Unwin, Nov 2015, 608pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760113803 The year 2575. Kerenza – illegal mining colony somewhere on the fringe of the universe. Kady Grant is in class dreaming up nasty things to say to her now ex, Ezra Mason, when her world starts to explode around her. Kerenza is being invaded by BeiTech Industries, instigating an intergalactic war. Somehow the teens make it to the evacuating fleet and onto separate ships. With the mighty dreadnought Lincoln bearing down on them, the fleet’s AI gone awry and a…
Alison Goodman, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1), HarperCollins, 1 Jan 2016, 448pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780732296094 Lady Helen Wrexhall lives an elegant life in the stately home of her aunt and uncle; waiting for her Season to begin and suitors to call. But lately Lady Helen has been feeling less than demur and somewhat overly energised, as if something is happening inside her that can’t be stopped. Will she become wild like her disgraced mother before her, a fate that Uncle broods darkly upon? Lord Carlston seems to know the answers to her unseemly manner but he can’t…
Rick Yancey, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, Bloomsbury/Allen & Unwin, Jan 2016 (new Australian edition), 368pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781619639164 Alfred Kropp is just your regular boy with no parents and a greedy uncle who wants Alfred’s help with a robbery. It’s not that easy, though. Stealing the sword from its hiding spot at Samson Towers triggers sword-fighting action from brown-robed defenders and Uncle Farrell is killed, smote with Excalibur itself. Mr Samson explains about the destructive power of the Sword of Kings and the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table sworn to keep it safe, but afterwards leaves Alfred…
The Stella Prize is delighted to announce the six extraordinary books on the 2016 Stella Prize shortlist. The Stella Prize celebrates Australian women’s contribution to literature. It was awarded for the first time in 2013 to Carrie Tiffany for Mateship with Birds. In 2014, the winner was Clare Wright for The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, and in 2015 the winner was Emily Bitto for The Strays. The prize is worth $50,000, and both fiction and nonfiction books are eligible for entry. In just four years, the Stella Prize has become an influential and much-loved feature of the Australian literary calendar, significantly boosting book…
The Storylines Children’s Literature Trust is delighted to announce the 31 outstanding New Zealand children’s and teens’ books selected for its Notable Books listings for 2016. The 2016 Notable Books (published during 2015) comprise 4 Novels for Young Adults 10 Children’s Novels 10 Picture Books 7 works of Non-fiction. The list for 2016, for books published is 2015, can be read here. There are also two excellent visual posters, that can be downloaded for display purposes available as PDFs. The 31 titles selected represent a mix of many of New Zealand’s well-established authors and a significant number of new authors…
Justine Larbalestier, My Sister Rosa, Allen & Unwin, Feb 2016, 398pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760112226 Seventeen year old Che wants to go home to Sydney and his three best friends, that’s number three on his list. Sick of travelling the world because of his parent’s business concerns, their recent arrival in New York is anything but exciting. When opportunities present themselves however and he gets the chance to ‘spar box,’ number one on his list, instead of just doing boxing training and then meets the beautiful Sojourner, a girl friend at last, number two on his list, it looks as…