Sognia Vassallo (text), Jenny Wood (illus.), I Think My Dad is A Spy, JoJo Publishing, May 2015, 125pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780994183705 This little page turner has a tight plot, interesting characters and an unexpected conclusion. Sophie George, the narrator, has the reader diving straight into her world of postal delivery and intrigue in the first paragraph. As the plot thickens and the possibility of her dad being a Russian spy becomes more likely, the tension is wound up to the max. The book is set with a comfortable type, and interspersed with line drawings that successfully break up a very…
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N. J. Gemmell, Coco Banjo is Having a Yay Day, Random House, 1 June 2015, 192pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780857987334 Life at Banksia Bay school is put under the microscope by our heroine Coco who has plans to make it a more just and totally fun place to be. No detail is too small, no teacher able to escape the critical eye of our intrepid diarist. The pace is rollicking, the illustrations spot on and the humour is heartfelt yet never cruel. Nikki Gemmell has turned a very deft hand to writing and illustrating a jewel of a book that…
Michael Adams, The Last Place (The Last Trilogy #3), Allen & Unwin, April 2015, 410pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781743316740 Danby is taking on the collective Jack, the minions of the first psychotic Jack, in this new violent and ugly world. New South Wales is a place of internal war with Jack determined to locate and kill Danby, and Danby fighting back with cunning plans and brutal intensity. The events of the apocalypse have left Danby hardened and largely alone despite the company of a growing number of survivors. With Nathan’s support, she clings to the small hope that her brother…
Kristin Weidenbach (text) James Gulliver Hancock (illus.) Meet … Banjo Paterson Random House, 1 April 2015, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780857980083 Meet … Banjo Paterson is the seventh of nine titles (to date) in Random House Australia’s Meet series. The series is described by the publisher as ‘a picture book series about the extraordinary men and women who have shaped Australia’s history’. Previous titles in the series feature explorers and popular heroes including Sir Douglas Mawson (#5), Captain James Cook (#3) and bushranger Ned Kelly (#1). The publisher has chosen respected authors and illustrators for each book in the series. Meet…
Susan Berran Suck’d (Freaky #6) JoJo Publishing, March 2015, 167pp; $16.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780987609632 Suck’d is my first encounter with Susan Berran’s Freaky Series. It is the sixth book in the series and a seventh is on the way. Clearly, the series is hitting a mark. On her website, Berran describes herself as a children’s literacy advocate who ‘loves encouraging kids to read and write, particularly those reluctant readers so close to moving on to high school yet not at the required reading level’. In the Freaky Series, Berran seeks to draw in those ‘reluctant readers’ with scatological humour, mixed…
Darrel and Sally Odgers (text) Janine Dawson (illus.) Farm Rescue (Pup Patrol #1) Scholastic, 1 March 2015, 92pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 978174362299 Barnaby Station Stamp of Approval, Stamp for short, is inquisitive, polite, loyal, and eager to learn. He’s also a dog—a working border collie. Stamp is on a camping trip with his master, James Barnaby, when heavy rain starts to fall and the travellers are forced to take shelter with a farming family. The rain causes flooding in the nearby river, and several rescues—of humans and animals—ensue. Farm Rescue is packed with drama, adventure and humour. Along the way,…
Knife & Packer, Space Mash (Wheelnuts #3), Scholastic, 1 March 2015, 96pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781743627242 Welcome to the craziest race on Earth! Starring crazy modes of transport with all sorts of weird and wacky upgrades (including toxic farts, mega fluff attack and singing lessons) and their equally zany drivers. Space Mash is the third book in the series and involves Warren ‘Wheelie’ Wheelnut who has mounted the biggest, maddest competition ever. This book sees the teams’ race to the moon; a planet made of food, and pits them against maniac robots; with stops at unusual planets along the way,…
Karen Cross, Blown to Borneo (Banna and Bree #3), Self-published, 10 October 2014, 77pp., $9.95 (pbk), ISBN 9780994164537 Blown to the Great Migration, Kenya (Banna and Bree #4), Self-published, 14 December 2014, 87pp., $9.95 (pbk) ISBN These are books three and four in a series that sees Banna and Bree, two baboons from the Okavango Delta in Botswana travel from their native lands to explore foreign countries and lands. In Blown to Borneo a fire rages through an orangutan habitat threatening Banna and Bree’s friend, Remi, who has become separated from her mother. Banna and Bree risk their own safety in an attempt…
Bingbo (text), Gumi (illus.), The Pear Violin, Starfish Bay Publishing, 1 March 2015, 32pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780994100245 and Bingbo (text), Jianming Zhou (illus.), The Cowardly Lion, Starfish Bay Publishing, 1 march 2015, 32pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9780994100238 These books are written by Chinese author Bingbo, who has written more than 370 children’s stories. These two books carry messages about the importance of friendship and courage. The Pear Violin is about a small squirrel that finds a large yellow pear, he eats half of it and with the other half decides to make a violin. The music the squirrel plays changes the…
Ed Allen (text) Simon Williams (illus.) Aussie Animal Splits Scholastic, 1 July 2015, 32pp., $16.99 (hbk), ISBN 978 1 7436 952 9 This is an Aussie animal splits book reminiscent of one I spent hours pawing over on my bedroom floor as a child, laughing at the seemingly infinite silly combination of animals that I could come up with. So, I declare – I have a soft spot for this style of book! In this book, each page is cut horizontally, splitting each Aussie animal in half, its top from its bottom, to combine with other pages and make…