HACKETT, Dave The Summer of Kicks UQP, 2014 279pp $19.95 pbk ISBN 9780702253362 SCIS 1678626 Starrphyre is a sixteen years old who dreams of making the beautiful and popular Candace McAllister his girlfriend. In an effort to impress Candace he decides to form a band with school friends, however, they have no real musical talent and spend most of their time arguing over the best name for the group. In the meantime Starrphyre finds a job working in a music store where he meets Ellie with whom he starts to form a close friendship. Complications arise when Starrphyre finally gets…
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GORDON, Kate Writing Clementine Allen & Unwin, 2014 180pp $15.99 pbk+e ISBN 9781743316634 SCIS 1666657 At high school in Tasmania Clementine feels at odds with her friends who try to set her up with a boy and encourage her to lose weight and be cool. She is intrigued by a strangely dressed new boy called Fred. He is able to transfer to her Year 9 philosophy class and introduces her to the Burnie Steampunk Society. In spite of the family anxiety about her older brother, a young chef who lost his job and has not left his room for a…
GOLDBERG SLOAN, Holly Counting by 7s Scholastic, 2014 351pp $14.99 pbk ISBN 9781743626535 SCIS 1666648 The author has created a story around the sudden and unexpected deaths of 12 year old Willow Chance’s adoptive parents in a car crash. This premise could herald a sad story but it is the opposite. We certainly travel with Willow through her grief, but there are many elements of her quirky personality that shine through with humour and hope. She has been assessed as highly gifted, and we observe her reclusive personality and obsessions about counting by 7s, medical conditions and growing plants. She…
FORNASIER, Kylie Masquerade Penguin, 2014 340pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780143571070 SCIS 1670609 It is 1750, and the eve of Carnivale when 18-year-old recently orphaned Orelia Rosetti arrives in Venice. All she knows of her and her mother’s past is contained in an old, unsent letter addressed to her mother’s brother, Giovanni Contarini. But the questions are many. Why did her mother leave Venice in haste and why did she never return? Who was her father? What sort of reception will she receive from the uncle who does not even know she exists? Does she have any other family? Orelia is…
de ROO, Elena The Name at the End of the Ladder Walker, 2014 268pp A$14.95 NZ$16.99 pbk ISBN 9781922244475 SCIS 1672458 This engaging debut novel is set in a world where everyone has to choose their real name when they turn twelve. People go to the Name Bank where they are helped by a Name Counsellor to make the correct choice. September is determined to choose an original name, something totally different from the boring flower or tree names all her friends have. Names have power as September soon finds out when she tries out a few. At the Name…
BLACKFORD, Jenny (text) Michael Robson (illus.) The Duties of a Cat Pitt Street Poetry, 2013 23pp $12.00 pbk+e ISBN 9781922080240 This is a small but utterly charming publication of beautifully crafted poems about cats. It has a crisp card cover, measures 16x11cm, and is printed on cream paper. Poem titles and fine borders around the illustrations appear in elegant burnt orange to contrast with the black text in the body of each poem. The line and wash sketches of the cats capture the creatures to perfection. The poems indicate that the author can rely on an extensive appreciative observation of…
BLACK, Holly & Cassandra Clarke Magisterium: The Iron Trial Doubleday, 2014 295pp $22.99 pbk ISBN 9780857532497 SCIS 1668421 Faintly echoing the preliminary scenario of Harry Potter, a group of students is selected to sit an entrance test for admission to the Magisterium, a labyrinthine underground boarding academy for apprentice mages. 12yo Callum Hunt, a reluctant candidate tries to fail but is nevertheless selected. Moreover, his father, a widowed lapsed mage, tries to dissuade him from fronting up for the test. Once the reader puts aside this apparent anomaly and proceeds with Call into his Iron Year, the first year of…
Amie Kaufman shares the beginnings of her fascination with Science Fiction, and what it’s like to co-author novels. When I was eleven, I got a copy of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea for Christmas. Nobody saw me until December 27th, and when at last I emerged, I knew something important had changed. I’d grown up reading voraciously, and I’m sure 20,000 Leagues can’t have been my first science fiction, but it had lit a spark in my brain that refused to go out. This was a story like the fantasy I loved so much… but this one took…
Walker Ophelia Wild #2 Deadly Detective Elena de Roo/Tracy Duncan; Kitten Kaboodle Mission Two The Lightning Opal Eileen O’Hely/Heath McKenzie ($14.95 pbk); #4 (& conclusion) Princess Betony and the Hobgoblin Pamela Freeman/Tamsin Ainslie (A$17.95 NZ$19.99); Graphic novel The Bloodhound Boys 2 The Monster Truck Tremor Dilemma Andrew Cranna (A$19.95 NZ$24.99 pbk) Text The Billionaire Series #5 The House of Puzzles Richard Newsome (A$16.99 NZ$21.00 pbk) Random House Alice–Miranda 10 At Camp Jacqueline Harvey ($15.99 pbk); #2 My life & other stuff that went wrong Tristan Bancks ($15.99 pbk); Lulu Bell and the Sea Turtle Belinda Murrell/Serena Geddes ($9.99 pbk) Penguin/Puffin…
WEBSTER, Allayne L. Paper Planes Omnibus, 2014 183pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9781742990699 SCIS 1674138 Eleven year old Niko and his family live in Sarajevo. One day, with little warning, the bombing starts. Niko’s father refuses to leave and young Niko begins to learn things about war, frightening things. At first the family believe the war must end soon, but the days wear on, food grows scarce, the phone, electricity and water supply is cut. It becomes normal for Niko to fear open spaces and he and his best friend, Nedim, learn the hard way that strangers are not to be…