Keris Stainton, Counting Stars, Hot Key Books, 1 Sept 2015, 324pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781471404634 Leaving home is a major milestone in any young person’s life and Anna cannot wait to move to a share house in Liverpool. The eighteen-year-old has been promised a job in the theatre she worked in as an intern, but on arrival discovers there are no vacancies. Deciding to stay, she finds part time work while she settles in to the house, getting to know her house mates and their friends. Anna is a keen vlogger under a fake name, Anna Sparks, and posts of her…
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Emerald Fennell, Monsters, Hot Key Books, 1 Sept 2015, 288pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781471404627 Set in the Cornish coastal town of Fowey, Monsters is told in the first person from a twelve-year-old girl’s perspective. Every summer she stays with her aunt and uncle at their hotel. She knows the town well, often visiting her favourite places, such as Mr Queen’s sweet shop and the aquarium. The seemingly sleepy town is shocked when a body of a young woman is found in the water. The unnamed narrator takes it upon herself to solve the crime. When thirteen year old Miles Giffard…
Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller, The Sleepwalker Tonic (Nightmares #2), Corgi/Random House Australia, 1 Oct 2015, 368pp., $17.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780552571029 I’m hooked! In this second installment of the Nightmares! series things are once again getting freaky in Cypress Creek and a group of kids must face their fears to save their town. As soon as our hero, Charlie Laird, finds out that his stepmother’s customers have been getting a herbal remedy to prevent nightmares from another town called Orville Falls, Charlie’s fears for the Netherworld grow. Filled with monsters like zombies (or are they sleepwalkers?), gorgons, harpies, goblins, crazy clowns, scary…
Katherine Rundell (text), Gelrev Ongbico (illus.), The Wolf Wilder, Allen & Unwin, Oct 2015, 256pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781408872352 This engrossing book is a love song to wolves and Russian winters. It is an idealised and romanticised depiction of human and animal interaction. Rundell writes so convincingly that you have to keep telling yourself that this is fantasy –people can’t really ride wolves – but in this wonderful heart-warming story you believe anything is possible. Set in pre-revolutionary times in the bleak landscape near St Petersburg its main character is 12 year old Feo, a dark and stormy girl, whose mother…
Ursula Dubosarsky (text), Sue deGennaro (illus), Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise, Allen & Unwin, Nov 2015, 24pp., $19.99 (hbk) ISBN 9781760113025 I love reading Christmas books with my kids as December 25 approaches – it’s a lovely way to get into the festive spirit. It’s also a prompt for me to explain to my Little Man all about Santa and reindeers and why he should aim to be on the “nice” list. We’ve been enjoying Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise, which is set in Australia, yet brings in the traditional reindeer and a hint of the jolly man in red. It tells the tale of…
Jack Heath, 300 Minutes of Danger, Scholastic Australia, 1 Sept 2015, 192pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781760154035 This book consists of 10 short stories written by an award winning YA author of the thriller genre. In each of the ten stories there is a young person in life threatening peril who has thirty minutes to escape. Each story is designed to be read in 30 minutes in concurrence with the story’s events. A time countdown schedule is shown in the page margins, which adds to the sense of urgency. In one story a boy must escape from a falling aeroplane. The pilot…
Jedda Robaard, The Little Koala Who Lost His Tree, Five Mile Press, Oct 2015, unpaged, $12.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760069223 Jedda Robaard, The Little Joey Who Lost Her Bounce, Five Mile Press, Oct 2015, unpaged, $12.95 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760063467 These are two board books in the Little Creatures series by Jedda Robaard, suitable for 2-5 year olds. In one of the books Koala is uncomfortable and miserable because he has lost his tree. In the other, Joey feels restless because she can’t find her bounce. The storylines follow each animal’s quest to locate the missing item. The text has a repetitive pattern as…
Sergei Prokofiev, Ayesha L Rubio (illus and adapted by) Peter and the Wolf, The Five Mile Press, 1 Oct 2015, 32pp., $19.95 (hbk), ISBN9781760067816 This entrancingly illustrated version of Peter and the Wolf conveys the significance of the wolf that casts a dark shadow of fear in many European traditional tales. The characters, Peter, his pet cat, the bright little bird, the duck, and the wolf are captivatingly depicted in a contemporary style but in keeping with the qualities they were attributed by the melodies Prokofiev created in 1936. The scenes of deep snowbound countryside and great tree trunks are relieved…
Aunty Ruth Hegarty (text) Sandi Harrold (illus) Pip and Pim Scholastic Australia, 1 Oct 2015, 24pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760151973 Written by Aboriginal elder Aunty Ruth Hegarty, this is a gentle tale about Pip and Pim – a pair of ringtail possums – and their first night exploring the forest floor. There is a nice symmetry to this story beginning and closing with the call of the Kookaburra. Other Australian wildlife feature as Pip and Pim ignore their parent’s pleas and push the boundaries of exploration. The pair come across echidnas, bandicoots and finally, herons – where Father Heron tells…
Garry Fleming, Bollygum (20th Anniversary Edition), Scholastic Australia, Sept 2015, 42pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760157661 Standing the test of time, this 20th anniversary classic that is Bollygum still enchants and delights its readers to this day. Now in its12th reprint, the ecological issues addressed in the book around conservation are just as prevalent and relevant today. And with its strong, personable characters, the humour, and concepts of friendship and loyalty, its appeal is, and always will be, enduring. Author illustrator, Garry Fleming’s book has touched and inspired many people and communities; was given as a gift to Prince George, was…