Craig Glenday (editor-in-chief), Guinness World Records 2016, Self-published, 256pp., $29.45 (hbk), ISBN: 9781910561010 This book is, of course, officially amazing, and you will be reading it while standing upon a Guinness World Record: Australia is the largest island-continent on the planet, with the largest monolith at Uluru. You can read it to be amazed, or you can read it to become informed, or you can read it to become formidably trivial, or you can read it as a history of what inspires us and what no longer inspires us. Guinness WR, for instance, will no longer monitor how many worms you can…
Author: Admin
Warren Brim, ABC Dreaming, Magabala Books, Nov 2015, 32pp., $17.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781922142627 Magabala Books are supported by the Australia Council, funded in part from Western Australia lottery funds, and this publication was supported by the Shire of Broome. Warren Brim lives in Far North Queensland, and his alphabet is illustrated with full page full colour depictions of the plants and creatures found in his environment. The style of illustration is a version of the aerial, x-ray Aboriginal art that Australians have come to recognise as indigenous. Warren Brim is himself a descendant of the Djabugay people, and his art is…
Anita Heiss, Matty’s Comeback, Scholastic Australia, Feb 2016, 96pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760152031 Anita Heiss is an acclaimed author of adult novels, a respected academic and a prominent Aboriginal leader. This novel is part of a move by the publisher, Scholastic Australia, to celebrate diversity and promote Aboriginal fiction and Aboriginal writers. The novel begins with Nita reluctantly going to a Rabbitohs’ rugby game (the tem Russell Crowe owns) with her family. She doesn’t understand why her family boos so much, what is actually wrong with the opposition’s colour scheme, why the cheer squad is so scantily dressed, and…
David Harding and Izzy Folau, Pushed to the Limit (Izzy Folau #3), Random House Australia, 1 Sept 2015, 176pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780857986658 David Harding and Izzy Folau, Standing Tall (Izzy Folau #4), Random House Australia, 1 Sept 2015, 176pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780857986672 I came to these books with some concern because I live in an area where rugby does not have a strong following and so I have very little familiarity of the rules and finesse of the game, and no real interest in developing that understanding. However David Harding and Israel Folau have created a series of books which…
Mark Wilson, Vietnam Diary, Lothian Children’s/Hachette Australia, 24 Feb 2015, 32pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780734412751 This paperback version of the book originally published in 2013 maintains the high quality of production. The message has not lost its power since the first edition was published. Leigh and Jason are inseparable brothers growing up in Brunswick, playing cricket on the streets and dreaming of playing for Australia. After Leigh goes to college his views about the war in Vietnam undergo changes and the boys find themselves with differing points of view: Leigh strongly against Australia’s involvement in Vietnam but Jason influenced by the sacrifices…
Mark Wilson, Digger the Dog Who Went to War, Lothian Children’s/Hachette, 10 March 2015, 32pp., $24.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9780734415745 Mark Wilson has created a series of war stories, including My Mother’s Eyes and Angels of Kokoda. This one is as successful as previous stories. This time Wilson has been inspired by the true story of Driver, a puppy smuggled on an Australian troop ship during World War One. Matthew names the adventurous new pup Digger and they become constant companions around the farm. Matthew goes away for a few months and then in October 1916, the family visit Matthew accompanied by…
Andy Griffiths (text), Andrew Daddo (text), Frances Watts (text), Sam Bowring (text), Randa Abdel-Fattah (text), James O’Loghlin (text), Judith Rossell (text), Tristan Bancks (text), Lollie Barr (text), Andrea Innocent (illus.), Laugh Your Head Off, Macmillan Australia, 1 Oct 2015, 228pp., $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781743537879 I was immediately drawn to this book for many reasons – it is a compilation of short stories, that are funny, that are by authors on the A list of Australian humour for kids, and I wasn’t disappointed. As I am a teacher librarian I had the perfect opportunity to try out the stories across the…
Dav Pilkey, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot (Captain Underpants #12), Scholastic Australia, 1 Sept 2015, 208pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780545504928 The Captain Underpants series is a very whacky part comic book and part novel series about two long suffering but very cool primary school boys named George and Harold who had previously played a part in turning their mean principal Mr Krupp into a super hero called Captain Underpants. In this novel, George and Harold and the doubles, which they created using a time machine in the past, are living a pleasant life by swapping daily so…
Louis Sachar, Fuzzy Mud, Bloomsbury, 29 July 2015, 184pp., $19.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781408864746 Every school day, Tamaya Dhilwaddi and Marshall Walsh walk to and from Woodridge Academy: it’s a long walk because they have to circle around rather than go through the woods. In the early stages of the book, their problems are school yard politics and, in Marshall’s case, staying away from bully Chad Hilligas. However, this all changes when the three of them, for different reasons, end up in the woods facing the terrifying dangers of fuzzy mud – a mutated organism can multiply and cause horrible injuries.…
Rachael Craw, Stray (Spark #2), Walker Books, 1 Sept 2015, 425pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN:9781922179630 Stray is the 2nd in series about Evie and the terrifying Affinity Project. The Affinity Project created a synthetic gene which is used to manipulate and modify human DNA in the development of lethal combatants. Spark, the first book, introduces Evie, a teenage girl, who finds out that members of her family and friends are victims of a DNA project. Evie is a ‘shield’ which means she is genetically programmed to act as a defender / protector. Her twin brother, Aiden, is a ‘stray’ which means…