BOYLE, Josie (text) Fern Martins (illus.) The Spotty Dotty Lady Magabala, 2014 unpaged $17.95 pbk ISBN 9781922142108 SCIS 1655087 ‘Once there lived a sad lady whose only friends were the pretty flowers in her garden, until, one day, she discovered in the garden a strange new plant sporting a huge, spotty bud. Intrigued, she watered and watched it, eager to see what sort of flower it would produce. One morning she was astonished to find a huge, beautiful and extravagantly spotted bloom. So delighted was she with the spotty dotty flower, that . . .’ Word spread quickly and soon…
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BEAVIS, Paul Mrs. Mo’s Monster Gecko Press, 2014 unpaged NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9781927271018 SCIS 1657405 What do you think might happen if there was a knock on the door, you opened it and a monster rushed in? This is what happened to Mrs Mo and this monster has a compulsive obsessive disorder: it needs to constantly crunch, munch, and chew! Whatever Mrs Mo is doing, the monster must also do what it does. Now Mrs Mo finds this somewhat distasteful and suggests a new idea. This puts the monster into frenzy; there is no way it wants to be subject…
ABBOTT, Damian (text) Stacey Joseph (illus.) The Place Far Beyond Stanton and Abbott, 2013 unpaged $14.99 pbk ISBN 9780987478467 Princess Amika and the peaceful villagers from The Place Far Beyond are preparing for a celebration but a warring tribe is on its way. Amika’s pet wolves warn her that something is amiss. She readies the village for war and goes to confront the chief of the tribe. Fearlessly she stands up for her village. But her message goes unheeded by the chief and the tribe draws its weapons. Just when it seems all will be lost, Amika notices that .…
MILNE, Patricia, ALDERMAN, Belle, Showcasing Treasures, Lu Rees Archive of Australian Children’s Literature, 2014, $30.00, 96pp, ISBN 9780992443603 Lu Rees Archive is a national treasure. Situated on the campus of the University of Canberra, it houses an astounding array of material which documents the history of Australian Children’s literature. It includes original manuscripts, original artwork, examples of foreign language versions of books, picture books, novels, audio books and many other types of publications. The documents it holds, catalogues and preserves include many priceless artefacts, such as original sketches and drafts with notes between authors, illustrators and publishers still attached. This…
THOMPSON, Gordon (text) Anne Galbraith (illus.) Scarlett and the Winter Faeries Clouds of Magellan, 2013 94pp $24.99 ISBN 9780987403759 SCIS 1655437 This collection of 12 stories each involving a little girl named Scarlett, is an interesting variation on the usual fairy tales. Scarlett is visited regularly by three fairies who teach her to fly so that they can share numerous adventures on land and sea during which they encounter many other fairy folk and a dragon. While there are the typical elements of traditional fairy stories, there are several contemporary references in each story, including making blankets for the Asylum…
THOMAS, Hilary Rupert (author’s contact details available on request) unpaged $12.00 pbk This charming self published book is an absolute gem. Rupert is a dog and the simple and sparse text with its clear font tells who he is and what he likes doing. The illustrations are quite vibrant and uncluttered but with both text and illustrations combined this small hand held book with its double page spreads brings it to the top of its class. I can’t speak too highly of this publication and it is an absolute winner for the under fives. reviewed by John Cohen
BATES, Dianne The Girl in the Basement Morris Pub, 2013 182pp $24.95 pbk ISBN 9780987543417 SCIS 1637259 In recent years, there have been a number of high profile cases of girls being discovered in and rescued from captivity, often in houses in ordinary suburban neighbourhoods. These cases have caught the public interest and have had a lot of media coverage. Now, prolific author Dianne Bates brings us this timely novel of a teenage girl kidnapped and kept in a basement. Libby has just turned sixteen, and she is abducted after leaving a party alone. Her captor takes her to his…
BARR, Lollie The Adventures of Stunt Boy and his Amazing Wonder Dog Blindfold Pan, 2014 256pp $14.99 pbk ISBN 9781742613673 SCIS 1652278 Thirteen year old William (aka Stunt Boy), his amazing stunt-dog Blindfold and his older sister Jemima are part of his dad’s Stokes’ Stunt Circus (featuring all-human performers). Stunt Boy is convinced the recent, calamitous accident which has left Dad in a coma, was actually no accident but something more sinister, so, along with friend Benny, he is determined to find out what is really going on. With falling audiences, no ‘star’ act and financial deadlines looming, something drastic…
BANCKS, Tristan Two Wolves Random House, 2014 288pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9780857982032 SCIS 1644044 Ben is moved out of his comfortable life playing computer games in his room into an adventure not of his own making. His parents, Mum, who appears as if she cares about her kids, and Dad, who doesn’t, urge the kids into the car for a spontaneous holiday. Never having experienced a holiday before, Ben isn’t sure what to expect but the events that unroll around him seem stranger than anything he could have imagined. When they finally make their destination, the old cabin full of…
NELSON-ROYES, Andrea M. Success in School and Career Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2014 229pp £21.95 pbk ISBN 9781475801828 Although this text relates specifically to the use of Common Core Standards in language arts K-5 in the US context, it will be of interest to educators, particularly those working in the area of literacy, who want to understand or compare the directions of their own experience with those in another country. It provides an historical context, a comprehensive explanation of different aspects of the process of understanding the standards, their implementation and their use for assessment, as well as an extensive…