Yvette Poshoglian (text), Danielle McDonald (illus), Hair Disaster (Ella and Olivia #15), Scholastic, 1 July 2015, 64pp., $7.99 (pbk) ISBN 9781743627426 My twin girls lopped off each other’s beautiful hair when they were four, so the latest Ella and Olivia book, Hair Disaster, certainly struck a chord with them. In Hair Disaster, Ella, 7, is excited about having the lead role in her ballet school’s production of Sleeping Beauty. Little sister Olivia, 5, is helping her prepare, trying out mum’s make-up and styling her hair. All is going well until Ella hears the snip snip sound of scissors – and…
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Ambelin Kwaymullina, The Foretelling of Georgie Spider (The Tribe #3), Walker Books, 1 August 2015, 448pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781921720109 The Tribe is Ambelin Kwaymullina’s first foray into YA writing. And what a success it is. This is dystopian fiction for Australian teenagers, with references they will understand and accept. It might even force them to challenge their ideas about indigenous culture, the environmental debate, and the role young people can play in changing the world for the better. Kwaymullina clearly sees young people as a strong and positive force in the way society develops. Her main protagonist over the…
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Making Bombs for Hitler, Scholastic Australia, 1 August 2015, 186pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 978 1 4431 0730 3 This is an unrelenting and deeply felt portrait of slave labour during World War II under the Nazi regime. It is the sequel to this Canadian author’s Stolen Child which is about Larissa, the younger sister of Making Bombs for Hitler’s heroine, Lida. When Lida is separated from Larissa in 1943 she is transported to a labour camp, sparingly fed awful food, and kept filthy and cold for two years. The Germans mark her as a Russian, because she…
D Luckett, Sian: a new Australian, Omnibus/Scholastic, 1 August 2015, 232pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 978 1 74299 039 2 Sian traces the early life of a Welsh girl arriving in Australia in the early twentieth century, around 1910. Sian is the youngest of thirteen brothers and sisters. Her mother dies when she is born, something for which her father does not forgive her. She is cared for by her sister, Olive, fourteen years her senior. When Olive marries the carpenter, Ellis, Sian goes with them to Australia. A tragedy takes her to Darwin, where a better life begins to unfold.…
Sue Lawson, Freedom Ride, Black Dog Books/Walker Books, 1 July 2015, 367pp., $17.95 (pbk), ISBN 978 1 925126 36 5 The bus ride through the outback towns of New South Wales in 1965 opened a historic campaign to recognise the rights of Aboriginal people. Led by Charles Perkins and organised by students at Sydney University, the Freedom Ride has here been recaptured through the eyes of Robbie. Robbie lives in Walgaree with his father and grandmother, who bully him and squash any of his own opinions. He finds a holiday job at the local caravan park, where its owner, Barry, and…
Gennifer Choldenko, The Monkey’s Secret, Hot Key Books/Five Mile Press, 1 August 2015, 265pp., $14.95 (pbk), ISBN 978 1 471403 52 1 We are in San Francisco in 1900. Lizzie lives with her brother Billy and her doctor father, a few steps away from her aunt Hortense and uncle Karl. Aunt Hortense would like her to marry well, but Lizzie has other ideas. She wants to be a doctor. The one person in her father’s house she loves as much as her family is Jing, the Chinese servant, who, Lizzie discovers, has a secret upstairs where he lives. When San Francisco…
Christopher Richardson, Voyage of the Moon Child (Empire of the Waves #1), Puffin/Penguin Australia, 24 June 2015, 384pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780143307549 This carefully created fantasy is set in a marine world where cities float upon the waves which hide all manner of monsters. Anni is an orphan, a member of the famed Tidechild family, brought up by an acerbic nun and her adopted father, the Wavelord of the marine city of Pel Narine. Anni often gets into scrapes and mischief because she is incurably curious. This leads her to make friends with Duck Knifetooth, the son of the premier wavemaster…
Aunty Ruth Hegarty (text), Sandi Harrold (illus), The Creatures of Dryden Gully, Scholastic Australia, 1 September 2015, 24pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760151997 The narrative tells about the arrival of imported Royal red deer into the Australian countryside. Mopoke calls a meeting of the animals and officially welcomes the leader of the herd of deer. When invited to do so, the leader tells of the long journey these new creatures have made to Dryden Gully. Joey gets out of his mother’s pouch to watch the meeting. He comes face to face with a young deer that has soft eyes like his.…
David Miles (text), Natalie Hoops (illus) Book, Familius/Exisle Publishing, 1 August 2015, 32pp., $21.57 (hbk), ISBN: 9781939629654 Immediately the quality of the sturdy boards in the cover, carefully defined gutter, generous, beautifully designed fly leaves, and smooth texture of the dust jacket say much about attractive qualities the word ’book’ can encompass. The measurements of about 28.5 x 23.5 x 0.75 cm seem equally satisfactory here. Initially, when a reader opens the book two empty white pages are printed with only the words ‘This is a book.’ David Miles goes on to say that it is the most quiet, ordinary thing…
Matilde Toimil (text), Mario Fernandes (illus), Birdie and the Water, Amazon Digital, 16 August 2015, 10pp., $2.00 (ebook only), ASIN: B0141OB1BW Birdie lives in the desert. Whilst flying between cactus flowers, he hears a mysterious but calm and pleasant sound. It is a spring of water singing to him, and he is enchanted. He wishes aloud that he could sing the sound of the bubbling water to tell his friends from the desert of its wonder. The stream speaks to him and in exchange for giving him the gift of its sound it asks Birdie to go to the four…