SAUNDERS, Kate Five Children on the Western Front A&U, 2014 318pp $19.99 ISBN 9780571310951 SCIS 1686786 Although this book can be read alone it is enriched for those who have already read Nesbit’s Five Children and It written at the turn of the last century. Saunders, in this bitter-sweet fantasy, has successfully captured the mood of British society and its interaction with the horrors of World War I. The children from Nesbit’s world have now grown into adolescence and young adulthood when the Psammead, the sandfairy, who can grant wishes is found and awoken. Saunder’s writing is true to the…
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PLANT, Andrew The Poppy Ford Street, 2014 unpaged $26.95 ISBN 9781925000320 SCIS 1642315 Facing the title page of this handsome book is the image of a red poppy against a black background, with the name Villers Bretonneaux France inscribed below. The opening pages take the readers into the heart of the text through the multiple images of an episode from World War 1, ‘Across northern France, poppies bloom in the fields where once, many years ago… millions of men fought and died’. Not only does this book drive home the reason why a red poppy has remained a national emblem…
MILLARD, Glenda (text) Phil Lesnie (illus.) Once a Shepherd Walker, 2014 unpaged A$27.95 NZ$29.99 ISBN 9781921720628 SCIS 1676268 Once Tom Shepherd’s flocks, green fields and world were all at peace but then his darling Cherry sewed a greatcoat. He ‘wept ten thousand footsteps’ and ‘marched right into hell’. He knelt to help an enemy. Once the war was over, the man Tom had assisted came to return Tom’s great coat. Cherry ripped the seams apart and made a new lamb as a toy for Tom Shepherd’s fatherless son. Poetic narratives and old songs are evoked by the words and rhythms…
LANDSBERRY, Belinda Anzac Ted EK Books, 2014 A$19.99 NZ$24.99 unpaged ISBN 9781921966569 SCIS 1683246 A simple verse story with powerful, evocative illustrations that balance the loving care for a rather damaged Teddy bear against the trenches in World War I. The watercolour spreads move from full colour to sepia as the story shifts from the child and the bear at home to the impending horrors of war and back again. Ted is taken to war by the child’s grandfather and is brought home scarred but safe at war’s end. What is particularly poignant is that we come to know of…
GLEITZMAN, Morris Loyal Creatures Viking, 2014 160pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780670077427 SCIS 1661285 It is the beginning of World War 1 and fifteen year old Frank Ballantyne wants to volunteer for the new Light Horse Regiment. When his father receives a white feather in the mail, they both ride their horses, Daisy and Jimmy, to Sydney to volunteer even though Frank is underage. Told in Frank’s own colloquial style, complete with the Australian idioms of the day, this story is a convincing tale of war experience. The innocence and enthusiasm of the young men who were part of the desert…
JONES, Adele Integrate Rhiza Press, 2014 192pp $17.99 pbk ISBN 9781925139099 SCIS 1677875 Blaine has a severe genetic condition which will cause an early death unless he continues to take Ramer’s Cure. This is a medication developed for his unique condition by Professor Ramer, pills which have enabled Blaine to leave a wheelchair and have a normal life. But Professor Ramer seems to have disappeared, and Blaine has fallen into the hands of an evil scientist, Dr Melissa Hartfield, who wants to advance herself rather than her patients. It takes almost half the book for Blaine to escape from her…
Francesca HAIG The Fire Sermon Harper Voyager, 2015 417pp $29.99 pbk ISBN 9780007563067 The Fire Sermon introduces twins one is always an Omega mutation, either physically or mentally, while the other is an Alpha. It is the Alpha who will be part of the elite. Cass is an Omega but it is not until she reaches adolescence that she is branded on the forehead. Cass’s mutation is the ability to reach into minds but it is her twin Zac who is destined to reach the top of the powerful Council. This is the first of a trilogy which will define Cass’s…
DAVIES, Anne Wrath JoJo Pub, 2014 316pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780987607737 SCIS 1680497 This is a simply told and powerfully compelling novel for the lower secondary school age range of readers. Like many, or perhaps most Young Adult novels, its mode is the first person voice. Luca is a fifteen year old boy, bright and ambitious, a talented runner, a twin to his loyal sister, Katy, and deeply disturbed by his parents’ separation and divorce. The novel takes us in to the world of a youth detention centre, its limited opportunities for friendship and education, as well as its dangers…
Isobel Crnkovic and Josephine Crnkovic The Scales of Time (The Spellcaster Chronicles #1) Green Olive Press, 2014 209pp $19.95 pbk ISBN 9780987321725 SCIS 1693013 Lian Mage has run from slavery, and has been hiding in the caves above Ablit. Natalia (Tali) Overseer lives in Ablit with her little brother Marty, hiding their magical skills from those who would like magicians eradicated. When Lian and Tali meet, they realise that they have the same purpose: to make Ayurom again a land where magicians are welcomed and magic not feared. Their journey together to find help, and their quest for dragon scales, is full…
BUICK, Nikki Sandy Feet UQP, 2014 257pp $19.95 pbk ISBN 9780702253157 SCIS 1676284 Nothing has been the same in Hunter’s family since the accident. Since his father disappeared and his mother became depressed. Since Step tried to take his father’s place and the new baby came along. And now his mum has decided that it is time for a family road trip, away from Hunter’s school and friends and X-Box. There are things that they don’t talk about; things that Hunter doesn’t even think about. And that is all going to change. Sandy Feet explores how fallible people can be…