Paul Collins, James Gong: The Chinese Dragon, Hybrid Publishers, February 2022, 168 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925736793 James Gong is the young star of the recent movie Ham Solo: Revenge of the Fist and he is quite pleased with himself and his fame. But in James’s family, there are no special privileges for himself and his sister Caitlin who are expected to pitch in with jobs around the house, shopping and to keep a steady focus on their schoolwork. This would all go along smoothly except James is rather obsessed with virtual reality and martial arts—in combination—and even more…
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Aleesah Darlison, Courtney Little, Plots & Potions, Big Sky Publishing, September 2021, 176 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922488381 Courtney Little, Plots and Potions is the latest instalment in this appealing new series for young girls. Adventure and intrigue lie in wait for Courtney and her friends as they ready to set off for an upcoming school trip. Initially, on receiving the news of the impending camp, Courtney presents every reason, to her mother, for why she should not attend. Basically, she argues that the outdoor experience is just not her ‘scene’. But what is a camp without a few…
Corey Tutt (text) and Blak Douglas (illustrator), The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s First Peoples, Hardie Grant Publishing, October 2021, 96 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781741177527 Written by the NSW Young Australian of the Year in 2020 and founder of the not-for-profit organisation Deadly Science (which aims to equip and encourage young indigenous students to study STEM subjects), this book sets out to show young readers the wealth of knowledge and technology that Australia’s first nations peoples have acquired over the millennia. The book opens with the AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia showing the hundreds of…
Amanda Wood (text) and Bec Winnel and Vikki Chu (illustrators), Goodnight, Little Sloth, Wlaker Books, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781913520335 As the parrots hurry about the jungle, eager to see wonderful things, Little Sloth takes life slowly. He sways, snoozes, and watches the world go by. In doing so, he sees many wonderful things – including the once-a-year event all the animals have been waiting to see. Goodnight, Little Sloth is a charming bedtime story for young children aged 2+ as the simple and soothing story is engaging, but not so exciting it will rile them up before…
Steve Heron, One Thousand Snapshots, Shawline Publishing, November 2021, 200 pp, RRP $21.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922594747 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a thousand pictures are worth a million words. So begins One Thousand Snapshots, a heartwarming story of a young girl navigating grief and loss in a world of confounding emotions. Convinced she had some part to play in the death of her father a few years earlier, eleven-year-old Maddy sets out to take one thousand photos of moments in time, wishing she could share them with the people she loves. Along the way, she encounters…
Shannon and Dean Hale (text) and LeUyen Pham (illustrator), The Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess, Candlewick Press, February 2021, 96 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781536209778 The Princess in Black is back and this time she is sailing the Lively Turnip with her two best friends, the Princess in Blankets, and the Goat Avenger. They’re looking for monsters, but instead meet Princess Posy, a real mermaid! But they soon learn, she is a princess in a pickle. Looking after her kingdom involves fixing lots of problems and on top of that, a trench has opened up in the…
Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman, Roxy, Walker Books, November 2021, 400 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781406392128 Above our world is a toxic wonderland where the Party has raged for centuries. Humans know the partygoers simply as “narcotics”, “opioids”, “drugs”. But here they are malevolent gods, toying with the fates of mortals. Roxy and Addison have made a wager to see who can be lethal the quickest. Isaac and Ivy Ramey are their targets. Ivy is understimulated and overmedicated. Isaac is desperate to recover from a sports injury that jeopardizes his chance of a scholarship. This is the start of…
Tim Miller (text) and Matt Stanton (illustrator), Read This Book and Never Fart Again, HarperCollins Publishers, November 2021, 48 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780733339042 Some of us have rumblier tummies than others, but what do you do if your farts are getting out of hand? What if they’re too powerful to be stopped? Enter Fart Monster, the green pal who knows a thing or two about how to stop cutting the cheese. In this hilarious dialogue between the fart monster and a concerned tooter, readers will be clutching their sides (hopefully from laughs) at the absurd solutions the characters…
Kevin Crossley-Holland (text) and Chris Riddell (illustrator), Arthur, The Always King, Walker Books, February 2022, 240 pp. RRP $39.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781406378436 This is a masterly telling of the Arthurian legends. It is as much a resource book as an engrossing, shocking and compelling series of medieval legends. It is the Game of Thrones dialled up to eleven. Between these pages we meet the mysterious and troubled Merlin, his ‘creation’, Arthur, and Arthur’s love Guinevere, the treacherous but equally loyal Lancelot, the great Sir Gawain, slayer of the Green Knight, and Percival who solved the mystery of the Holy Grail.…
Mark Greenwood (text) and Frané Lessac (illustrator), Our Country: Ancient Wonders, Walker Books, 40 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), February 2022, ISBN 9781760652241 Our Country: Ancient Wonders takes readers on a road trip to discover some of Australia’s stunning and unique ancient wonders. From megafauna fossil caves to glacier carved mountains and gravity defying boulders, there are a range of geographical features to discover. Each spread explores what visitors see today and explains how the wonder was formed. Vibrant illustrations bring each attraction to life and entice readers to visit. A map, timeline and glossary provide further information. Although this is…