Jessica Walton (text) and Aśka (illustrator), Stars in their Eyes, Fremantle Press, September 2021, 216 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760990718 Stars in their Eyes is a graphic novel about fourteen-year-old Maisie who has faced cancer and lost a limb to an amputation. Maisie is excited about going to her first Comic-Con, Fancon, to meet her favourite amputee actor. Maisie’s mum is funny, embarrassing and Maisie’s biggest advocate in everything, including Maisie’s bisexuality. Their witty banter throughout the novel reveals their open and supportive relationship. She helps Maisie to feel ok about her emotional and physical needs when she begins…
Author: Admin
AViVA, self/less, Pan Macmillan Australia, Semptember 2021, 416 pp., RRP $29.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760984892 I was excited when self/less came across my desk and I read the promotional blurb accompanying it. A world where self-expression is banned. A world where survival is everything. A girl who will be heard. However, after reading this title I am largely disappointed. The plot reads like a mash-up between The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale with ideas borrowed from other post apocalytic, dystopian YA series such as Divergent. The story is told from the point of view of 17 year old Teddy Veodrum,…
Kiran Millwood Hargrave (text) and Tom de Freston (illustrator), Julia and the Shark, Hachette Australia, September 2021, 240 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781510107786 Ten-year-old Julia (and her cat, Noodle) finds herself on a remote Shetland Island for the summer, thanks to her eccentric parents. Her father is there to automate the lighthouse and her mother to search for a rare Greenland shark, believing it may hold the key to forestalling the ravaging effects of dementia. Before long, Julia’s world is unravelling as her mother’s scientific enquiry becomes an inexplicable obsession. Can Julia save her mother and her family? Or…
Sally Morgan (text) and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr (illustrator), The River, Magabala Books, August 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922613028 I love the river near my home.I look with my eyes,I listen with my ears,I learn about the life of the river So writes Sally Morgan in this most beautiful book about the life of a river as a home to animals who are introduced in the part of the river they love best. In this book, we are encouraged to look and to listen; get to know each fascinating creature by the sounds that identify their uniqueness. This…
Chelsie Hardie (text) and Olya Badulina (illustrator), The Magic Ball of String, Richmond Publishing, October 2021, 36 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781875613069 Princess Chelsea and her sisters want to accompany their father on a journey to explore the kingdom. So excited to get on their way, they quickly lose sight of their father. Lost in the dark forest, the princesses must fend for themselves. With the help of a kindly stranger, a tiny hedgehog, and a magic ball of string, Princess Chelsea and her sisters are on their way to living happily ever after. Reminiscent of stories as old…
Cat Rabbit, How to Make Friends, A Bear’s Guide, Berbay Publishing, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780645069600 Bear wants to make some new friends; real friends, not toy friends and she isn’t really sure how to go about it. Bear is also unsure if Koala and Lamb, who she is keen to befriend, would even like her and the things she likes to do. So, Bear writes down all the things she has noticed that Lamb and Koala like to do and then places herself nearby to she can join in with them. But this plan doesn’t…
John Flanagan, Escape from Falaise (Ranger’s Apprentice The Royal Ranger, #5), Penguin Random House, September 2021, 384 pp., RRP $18.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760890476 Royal Ranger, Escape from Falaise, is the fifth book, in the second series of John Flanagan’s Rangers Apprentice, involving well known ranger Will Treaty. It is guaranteed a SUBURB read. After Will and Maddie’s plan to save the spoilt Prince of Gallica’s butt is flouted, they are taken to prison and are left to wonder who betrayed them? As time progresses in the cells they soon discover the horrible life in this foreign country. To survive, they…
Shappi Khorsandi, Kissing Emma, Hachette Children’s Books, September 2021, 272 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781510106994 Inspired by the untold story of Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson’s mistress, acclaimed comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi has produced a most gripping novel. Kissing Emma tackles timely issues such as poverty, abusive relationships and toxic masculinity in a most brutally honest manner. The novel follows the life of beautiful, yet vulnerable, Emma from childhood into her late-teens. Plagued by her abusive father’s death, Emma lives a poverty-stricken life with a mother who teaches that money is the answer to all their problems. Emma discovers…
Megan McKean, Seasons in the City, Hachette Australia, September 2021, 64 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780734420442 Megan McKean takes readers on a colourful and captivating journey around the world to various cities during different seasons of the year in this lovely junior non-fiction book. A double-page spread is dedicated to one city in a particular season, with illustration taking up a good three quarters of that space. McKean uses a bright colour palette that reflects the mood of the season, and bold images are set within a detailed city scene. Iconic buildings, places, foods, and vegetation are all…
Vincent Namatjira, Albert Namatjira, Magabala Books, August 2021, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925936216 This picture book biography about Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira is written by his great-grandson, Vincent. Vincent is the first indigenous artist to have won the Archibald prize, which he did in 2020 with a portrait of Adam Goodes. However, Vincent has also painted a series of portraits of Albert which were acquired by the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. Some of these are used as illustrations in this book. Albert Namatjira was born in 1902 in the Northern Territory. He took up landscape painting…