Victoria Hislop (text) and Gill Smith (illustrator), Maria’s Island, Walker Books, June 2021, 128 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781406399073 A young girl, Rita, visits her grandmother in Crete and notices a faded family photograph. Curious, Rita asks her yiayia (grandmother) about the picture and what became of those in it. As she learns about her Greek heritage, Rita discovers a family history she never expected. As a child, her grandmother, Maria, grew up in a small village in Crete named Plaka. While life in Plaka was mostly good, a shadow hovered near the town causing fear and discrimination –…
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Matt Okine, Being Black ‘N Chicken, & Chips: Teen Edition, Lothian Children’s Books, March 2021, 320 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780734420671 Mike Amon just wants to fit in. He wants to be a star athlete. He wants his African dad to stop embarrassing him. He wants his first kiss (preferably from Zoe Ingham, the Year Eight Girls’ Athletics captain). He also wants his mum to survive. Being Black ‘N Chicken, & Chips is comedian Matt Okine’s debut novel. It has been so popular with younger readers since it was released in 2019, that Lothian Books have recently released a…
Lois Murphy, You’ve Let Them In, Transit Lounge Publishing, April 2021, 256 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925760699 Scott is in shock when his family – his father Leo, sister Natalie, the twins, and their eccentric stepmother Sally – move to a rundown old house on the outskirts of town. The garden is a menacing jungle that refuses to be tamed. An ancient gnome in its midst supposedly stands guard against lurking secrets, much to Scott’s disgust and Sally’s delight. When strange things start occurring and the creatures from the trees begin to invade the house, Scott must face the…
Denis Knight and Cristy Burne, Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows (Book #1), Lothian Children’s Books, April 2021, 256 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780734420190 Wednesday Weeks never wanted to be a sorcerer’s apprentice. She loves science, not magic. But when a power-hungry goblin king captures her master, the Protector of the Realms – also her grandfather – Wednesday must embrace her magical potential to save him. Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows is the first in a new series by Denis Knight and Cristy Burne. It is an utterly fantastical story – the Alice in Wonderland for modern readers. This…
Alexa Moses, Michaela Mason’s Big List of 23 22 Worries (Michaela Mason’s Worries, #1), April 2021, 192 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781743838754 Michaela is a girl who worries a lot and doesn’t like change. It’s just been Michaela and Mum, living in the city, for most of her life, but after breaking up with “Dodgy Darryl”, Mum has gone for a new start, buying a house in an affordable country town. She works remotely as a copywriter and is feeling happy and secure. Michaela, somewhat less so. Back in the city, Michaela was used to her very big primary…
Lesa Melynczuk (text) and Veronica Rooke (illustrator), Baba’ s Chooks, Serenity Press, May 2021, 28 pp., RRP $36.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780645080766 Baba’s Chooks and the Magic Yellow Laying Box takes young readers into a horrible part of Ukraine’s history but uses chooks to help explain what happened. Lesa Melnyczuk is a Perth author, for whom this book is a personal story. Baba is her children’s paternal grandmother, and the book’s human character is Baba Helen, a lovable grandmother whose chickens are worried for her when she doesn’t appear one day. Hapka, Zirka, Alla and Tekla are worried – they haven’t…
Puffin Little Historian: Dinosaur, Penguin Random House Australia, May 2021, 96 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761041716 Puffin Little Environmentalist: Gardening, Penguin Random House Australia, May 2021, 96 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761041709 The Puffin Little Series is continuing to expand with new titles Little Environmentalist: Gardening and Little Historian: Dinosaurs. In the very same style and format as previous titles these non-fiction minis, written in second person, are well planned and will make for a great resource for younger primary school aged children. Little Historian: Dinosaurs gives readers the absolute basics of dinosaurs – it seems to have been written with the…
Katharina von der Gathen (text) and Anke Kuhl (illustrator), Do Animals Fall in Love?, Gecko Press, April 2021, 144 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781776572915 This book made me blush! It landed on my desk and I was immediately enchanted by the cover illustrations and production quality. I had a quick flick through and was further impressed by the quality of the information presented. I handed it to a colleague who patiently listened to me gushing about delightful children’s books and then she promptly opened to a double-page spread featuring illustrations of animals copulating and a page entitled ‘Ingenious Genitalia:…
Angela McAllister (text) and Charles Fuge (illustrator), Found You, Little Wombat!, Walker Books Australia, May 2021, 24 pp., RRP 16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760653491 Little Wombat is playing hide-and-seek with his friends, rabbit, and koala. But when Little Wombat has trouble counting down, his friends recommend he count flowers. This relatable scenario, sends Little Wombat off-track and a storm blows in, leaving him lost in the rain. The story highlights that familiar moment of panic kids feel when they’re momentarily lost. And, unlike many picture books where characters are shown sometimes unrealistically solving their own problems, in this story a smiling…
Jenny Blackford, Fil and Harry, Christmas Press, May 2021, 103 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780648815402 Fil is having a bad time: her best friend Kirsten has been avoiding her, her step mum seems at war with her visiting grandma and her brother barely speaks to her. Nothing seems to be going right, when one afternoon, Fil’s cat Harry, begins to talk! She’s always suspected he could, if he made the effort, but now that he is, she’s doesn’t always agree with what he has to say! This is a charming junior fiction novel for younger readers about navigating friendships,…