Abbas Kazerooni, The Boy with Two Lives, Allen & Unwin, Sept 2015, 256pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781743314838 Wow! On so many levels – just wow! Rarely does a book render me speechless but this second book from Iranian refugee Abbas Kazerooni has managed exactly that. Tears, anger, frustration, relief, horror, pride, delight and disgust – emotions described within, but also felt by the reader on experiencing this beautifully written story of hardship, struggle and determination. The Boy With Two Lives is a memoir, and reflects Abbas’ life in England from ages ten through thirteen. This is the time in which his…
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Lisa Kerr, Sorry (Cheeky Monkey Manners), Five Mile Press, Jan 2016, unpaged, $9.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781760069773 Lisa Kerr, Excuse Me (Cheeky Monkey Manners), Five Mile Press, Jan 2016, unpaged, $9.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781760069780 In previous Cheeky Monkey books by Lisa Kerr, the jungle animals have been on adventures. This new series explores manners. In Sorry, Georgina Giraffe is having a birthday party and Cheeky Monkey causes havoc with his bad manners. Mr Owl points out Cheeky Monkey’s rudeness and amends are made. In Excuse Me Mr Owl, and then the jungle friends, take turns to remind Cheeky Monkey to excuse himself…
Tony Wilson (text) Lucia Masciullo (illus.) Emo the Emu Scholastic Australia, 1 Nov 2015, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781742834382 Told in rhyming verse, this is the story of a grumpy emu who is moody, mopey and sad. He complains about everything to all his family until one day he meets Katie kangaroo. She takes him around Australia showing him the major attractions “Let’s travel the country by foot, car and bike, Until you admit there’s something you like”. The travel theme is reinforced by the design of the end papers and the illustrations are quirky with added background details to…
Emily Rodda, Two Moons (Star of Deltora #2), Scholastic Australia, 1 Nov 2015, 176pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781742990637 Having not read Book One in this series was not an issue as the background is cleverly woven throughout the story. Britta is competing against Jewel, Sky and Vashti to win the Trader Rosalyn Apprenticeship. They have a trading quest to fulfil by sailing to three islands aboard the Star of Deltora. There is intrigue, mistrust and anxiety as each main character tries to outwit the others. There are surprise twists in the plot and supernatural forces at work that other people…
Patrick Loughlin, State Showdown & World Domination (Glenn Maxwell #3&4), Random House, 2 Nov 2015, 384pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780857988881 The large print and simple language heralds this as a book for the reluctant readers among those sporty boys, particularly if they are mad on cricket. Glenn Maxwell has given his name and his tips for a better game to two stories. In the first story he helps the fictional Will to overcome his fear of his own inability when he plays for his State, and in the second Will is playing in the Youth World Cup, and again Maxwell steps in…
Margrete Lamond (text), Ritva Voutila (illus.) The Nutcracker, Little Hare Books/Hardie Grant, Nov 2015, 32pp., $24.95 (hbk) ISBN: 9781742977782 This retelling of Hoffman’s classic Christmas tale of the friendship between a girl and a nutcracker who magically becomes a boy, is beautifully and evocatively written and sumptuously illustrated. In the traditional style, it has a page of writing alongside a full page illustration, each of which is a work of art. Voutila’s illustrations ooze opulence in heritage colour tones and period dress and furnishings. The richness, depth and detail are eye-catching, as are the grotesque and creepy elements – all perfect…
Jacqueline Harvey, Alice-Miranda in the Alps (Alice-Miranda #12), Random House, 1 Sept 2015, 384pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780857982742 Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones. The triple, double-barrelled name of the heroine of the Alice-Miranda series is, undoubtedly, over the top – but it helps set the tone right away. This girl does not have an ordinary lifestyle. In her latest adventure, Alice-Miranda and her parents take the family’s private jet on a skiing holiday to Switzerland. They take their cook and housekeeper with them and she gets to invite friends from her exclusive ladies boarding school along too. If that’s not every young girl’s dream…
Anh Do (text), Jules Faber (illus.), Totally Weird (WeirDo #5), Scholastic Australia, 1 Oct 2015, 160pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760155346 New kid at school Hans Some is, as his name dictates, totally and freakishly perfect. Clothes, hair, teeth, handwriting – all immaculate. He speaks an odd shorthand of LOLs and BFFs which Weir has never heard before but all the kids adore Hans or want to be him and Weir Do is no exception. When Weir tries out the new language (and a new wardrobe) at home, he quickly realises that actually laughing is more fun than lol’ing and being who…
James Roy & Noel Zihabamwe, One Thousand Hills, Omnibus/Scholastic, March 2016, 240pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781742990750 Pascal and his family live in Rwanda, where his father works in Ruhengeri, the nearest town to their small village, Agabande. His eldest brother is studying in Belgium, and it is in a secondary school in Belgium that the novel begins. It is 1999, and Pascal is being interviewed by a counsellor, to whom he relates his experiences. He recalls his calm and normal life until April, 1994. Pascal plays with his friends, annoys his little sister, Nadine, and is teased by his older brother. There…
Brigid Kemmerer, Thicker than Water, Allen & Unwin, Jan 2016, 338pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781743318638 This novel is a combination of teenage lust and pressure to behave as society expects. It opens with James’s mother’s murder, with James the prime suspect. Before his mother’s funeral James meets Charlotte, whose father and brothers are detectives and police officers. They are (unsurprisingly) always ready to shoot anyone they think may have done anything even slightly unlawful. This is America, after all. For instance, when James carries Charlotte out of the woods, she unconscious in an hypoglaecemic coma, he is greeted by two policemen pointing their guns…