Ross Montgomery, The Chime Seekers, Hachette Australia, November 2021, 384 pp., RRP $21.25 (pbk), ISBN 9781406391190 (Taken from Teams) When an evil faerie steals Yanni’s baby sister and swaps her for a Changeling, Yanni is swept into a dangerous race against time to get her back. For faeries delight in tricks and rescuing her won’t be easy. With the help of his cousin Amy and the reluctant Changeling, Yanni must travel to goblin palaces and battle-swept oceans, discovering ancient treasures and secrets along the way. Yanni will need every drop of courage and even a few tricks of his own,…
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Sarah Speedie (text) and Rebel Challenger (illustrator), Mozzies Vs Flies, Larrikin House, November 2021, 32 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922503534 Larrikin House, the publisher of Mozzies Vs Flies, are known for publishing humorous books and this one is no exception. The tale centres on a small (presumably Australian) town that is beseiged by flies during the day and mozzies during the night. Each group is happy with this arrangement until the fateful day a school barbeque is announced. The event is to be held at 5.30pm and both groups believe this time of day to be rightfully theirs. Their…
Freya Blackwood, The Boy and the Elephant, HarperCollins, November 2021, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781460759998 As you would expect from a Greenaway Medallist and seven-time CBCA winner, the latest picture book from Freya Blackwood is stunning. The illustrations are warm and immersive, with a muted colour palette. The wordless story is told through a combination of panels, vignettes, and full-page spreads. Readers are likely to spot new details each time they engage with this story. The story centres on a lonely young boy who lives in a bustling city. His place of refuge is a spare block next…
Nola Smith, Enough is Enough, Dixi Books, November 2021, 240 pp, RRP $30.95 (pbk) ISBN 9781913680275 This is Nola Smith’s first young readers’ novel, and it is a charming, fast-paced, uplifting story. Set in Perth, it follows the life of twelve-year-old Leroy Jones, a boy you might think has little going for him: his single mother is struggling to pay the bills, he is left at home with his two younger siblings nearly every night, his school work is suffering, his mother seems to blame him for the break-up with her last partner, who was a slob and a bully…
Margaret Owen, Little Thieves, Hodder & Stoughten, October 2021, 512 pp., RRP $22.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781529381702 Recent young adult fantasy novels have included many attempts at retelling fairy tales in any number of different ways. Not all have been successful, however, Little Thieves is an example of a very effective take on an old classic, The Goose Girl. In this version, we jump back and forth in time and are told stories within stories. One clever element sees the beginning of each section in the third person ‘Once upon a time, a princess lived in a castle with her best…
Mark Smith, If Not Us, Text Publishing, September 2021, 272 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922330796 Passionate surfer Hesse has always just accepted the coal mine and power station that is a part of his small coastal town and has never given a second thought to the topical issue of climate change. Despite his mum, accompanied by a group of townsfolk, having spent years campaigning to close the mine and shut down the power station and even being assigned a school presentation on the dangers of climate change Hesse has his mind on other things. Thoughts of one day surfing…
Christopher Cheng (text) and Lucia Masciullo (illustrator), The Imagineer, National Library of Australia, May 2021, RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780642279682 Titles are important and the title of this book beautifully captures the wonder and joy of imagining and then creating. Penny loves to daydream and then to make her imaginings. She likes to pull things apart and put them back together. If her imaginings don’t quite work out the way she wants the first time she starts all over again until they appear the way she pictures them in her head. The ponderous pace of the narrative, supported by beautiful,…
Emma Allen (text) and Lisa Coutts (illustrator), The Great Book-Swapping Machine, National Library of Australia, September 2021, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780642279736 The Great Book-Swapping Machine is an imaginative tale about an outback community library bringing people together. When a piece of ‘space junk’ lands in Fabio’s yard, he’s frustrated that it won’t fly, but soon discovers an even better use for it. With the help of a neighbour, Fabio sets it up as a book swapping machine. Diverse members of the community use the machine to swap books, start clubs and bridge differences. When the Space Agency…
Jack Heath (text) and Max Rambaldi (illustrator), Kid President Totally Rules!, Scholastic Australia, September 2021, 304 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760976095 Jaxxon Mauriz is a pretty ordinary kid until a mix-up over his name leads to him becoming president of the country of Buttock. (Buttock was once part of Australia but seceded after a falling out with Queen Victoria over a plate of iced vovos.) Jaxxon is an unlikely politician. He spends a lot of time sleeping in class and doesn’t know much about anything. The class president, Tiara Cupcake, would have been a much better option as she…
Kat Mcleod, The Tiny Explorers, Thames & Hudson, August 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760761158 Four small people who are quite tiny set off to explore the garden looking for treasure. Following a silvery trail, they move through, past, under, around, between, over and into various plants and places, collecting items as they go. Some of these are named in the text and some are shown in the pictures but at the end, the readers are invited to look for all the treasures at the party. The illustrations are in beautiful colours and are created in mixed media,…