Beck Stanton and Matt Stanton, This is a Ball, ABC Books/HarperCollins, 23 March 2015, $19.99 (hbk), 32pp., ISBN 9780733334351 With a subtitle saying “Books That Drive Kids CRAZY!”, this book is sure to drive the adults who share it with children a little crazy too! All the humour starts with the front cover illustration that is not a ball at all. It is a box and the mayhem continues inside. Brightly coloured background layouts on the left hand pages contain white text and white pages on the right have clear black text, which helps make the print accessible and prominent…
Author: Admin
Susan Whelan (text), Gwynneth Jones (illus.) Don’t Think About Purple Elephants Exisle Publishing, 1 July 2015, $24.99 (hbk), 24pp., ISBN 9781921966699 During the day everything is fine for Sophie as she learned things at school, in the afternoon when she plays or draws, or at weekends when she reads or bakes or helps in the garden. But at night she worries abut all sorts of things and is often tired in the morning. All her family tries to help and in the end it is Mum who has the best idea. It is a feel good solution and it works for…
Damean Posner (text), Jules Faber (illus.), Helix and the Arrival, Random House, 1 July 2015, $15.99, 288pp., ISBN 978 0857 986 535 Helix is a caveboy about to undergo the tests, called the Arrival, which will move him forward into caveman status. Things don’t look good for Helix. He is week and weedy, finds it difficult to raise a club above his head, and runs away from anything that is possible prey for his family to eat. The practical test is likely to defeat him. The oral test, however, is no problem, as it is based on a set…
Sophie Masson, Hunter’s Moon, Random House, 1 June 2015, $19.99 (pbk), 336pp., ISBN 978 0 85798 603 0 Sophie Masson has retold other fairy tales in Moonlight and Ashes, Scarlet in the Snow and The Crystal Heart. This is her take on the Brothers Grimm tale Snow White. In the Grimm version Snow White’s cruel stepmother tried to have her killed when the mirror told her Snow White was more beautiful than she, but the woodcutter spared Snow White who then found refuge with seven dwarves. The stepmother finally got her comeuppance and had to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she was…
Louis Nowra, Prince of Afghanistan, Allen & Unwin, March 2015, $16.99 (pbk), 173pp., ISBN 978 1 74331 482 1 Casey, Mark’s best friend, is a dog handler. The two Australian soldiers and other Americans are dropped in to Afghanistan to rescue three doctors who have been kidnapped by the Taliban. The mission goes awry, and Mark finds himself alone in enemy territory with Casey’s dog, Prince. Both dog and man have temporarily lost their hearing in the affray, so Mark has to care for Prince, earn his affection and obedience, and survive himself. Prince has been wounded, as has Mark,…
Uncle Joe Kirk and Greer Casey (text), Sandi Harrold (illus.). Bun Bun and Milby go Walkabout. Scholastic Australia, 1 March 2015. $14.99 (pbk), 32pp., ISBN: 9781760152000. Bun Bun and his little sister Milby are out camping at night with their family group, telling stories around the campfire. But when they go to bed, Bun Bun hears a mob of kangaroos go bounding past. Too excited to sleep, he wakes Milby and they set out to track the kangaroos deep into the bush in the dark. When they realise they are lost, Milby is scared but Bun Bun calmly takes charge…
Ruth Starke (text) Robert Hannaford (illus.). My Gallipoli. Working Title Press. 25 February 2015. $29.99 (hbk), 48pp., ISBN: 9781921504761. Going well beyond Anzac Cove and the eight months in which the ANZAC and allied troops occupied the Gallipoli Penisular in 1915, this engrossing picture book carries the story from 1914 up until 1919 and then 1990. Each dated double-page spread carries the story from the point of view of many different characters, giving personal accounts of their Gallipoli experiences. It begins with a Turkish shepherd boy just called up to the army, and thereafter explores the Gallipoli Campaign from many perspectives –…
Kate Forsyth, The Beast of Blackmoor Bog (The Impossible Quest #3), Scholastic, 1 February 2015, $14.99 (pbk), 192pp., ISBN: 9781743624081 The Beast of Blackmoor Bog is the third book (of five) in The Impossible Quest series. The reader learns that the series has begun with mysterious bog men attacking Wolfhaven Castle and enslaving their people. Four young residents escape and seek help. With the fearsome Lord Mortlake now chasing them they decide to seek help from Lady Ravenna of Crowthorne Castle. It is necessity that drives the foursome to split up, however, even divided, each learns of the fearsome Blackmoor Bog Beast, for…
Suzanne Main. How I Alienated my Grandma Scholastic NZ, 1 April 2015, $AU14.99/$NZ17.00 (pbk), 280pp., ISBN 978-1-77543-306-4 Winner of The Tom Fitzgibbon Award (2015), a NZ prize awarded by Storylines Children’s Literature Trust for the best manuscript from a previously unpublished author, this intriguing science fiction fantasy works at many levels. Firstly, the story is absolutely engaging. When young Michael uses a metal detector for the first time at his home and locates a strange unearthly object, he is intrigued. However, when he accidently activates this beaming “beacon” and causes his grandmother to be suddenly taken over by a lizard-like…
Kate de GOLDI (text), Gregory O’Brien (illus.). The ACB with Honora Lee Longacre Press (Random House), 1 April 2015, $AU22.99/$NZ24.99 (pbk), 120pp., ISBN 978-1-86979-991-5 Perry is a quirky young girl who lives a complex life. Her parents are fulltime workers (Mum is a psychologist) so that afterschool time is filled up with piano and clarinet classes, after-school tutoring, and a music and movement class. Perry doesn’t easily fit into all these groups and is something of an unconventional outsider. However, on Fridays she loves having time with Nina (her nanny) and Nina’s young son Claude. He seems to be…