Albert Street Books, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180606. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
Right from the engaging front cover, with its smiling dragon and paper wings, readers will be intrigued enough to open the book and peruse its contents. Turning over the endpapers are a bright collection of scribbles, the sort of scribbles that you might see from a toddler, or from an adult doodling while listening in a meeting. Then comes the question "What are you drawing? A dragon.” And the answer “It doesn’t LOOK like a dragon. A dragon looks more like…” encouraging the reader to inspect the drawing in detail and work out just what they believe a dragon looks like: a joyful use of imagination. The next page shows the original body with a piece of paper and a green cartoon-like head drawn on it, and then the book continues giving wings, fire and the cutest drawing of a baby dragon complete with cap, sucking on a dummy and playing with blocks. Children can guess what an underwater dragon might be called and learn about the Komodo dragon. Finally, there is an exuberant drawing of a dragon with a pirate’s hat, mermaid’s tail and roller skates! And a fire breathing dragon with a surprise!
I loved the originality and humour in How to draw a dragon. It is lots of fun just to start at the beginning and read to the end, but children, and adults, will want to start drawing their own versions of a dragon and pressing them onto the bodies that the talented Kate Talbot has drawn. I can see this becoming a family favourite with caregivers and children joining together to use their imaginations and really enjoy themselves. There would be lots of opportunities for rereading and redrawing too. How to draw a dragon is a keeper!
Themes Dragons, Drawing, Imagination.
Pat Pledger
The sweetness between us by Sarah Winifred Searle
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761181245. (Age:14+) Highly recommended.
What do a diabetic and a vampire have in common? Blood, of course! Perley is a recently diagnosed diabetic and has to constantly monitor sugar levels in his blood, and Amandine is a young newly-turned vampire who struggles to maintain energy levels on a vegan diet. After meeting in tutoring sessions after both having had time away from school, they gradually become entwined in a co-dependent relationship, with Amandine taste-testing Perley’s blood sugar levels. Whilst this gives each of them a temporary boost, they reluctantly come to realise that they each have issues they need to work on separately, alone.
Searle’s graphic novel is a winner, with its intriguing initial concept, and with the way she captures facial expressions and inner feelings with her lightly coloured fine line drawings. It is easy to read and follow along, a boon for reluctant readers, but also a great way to present essential information about diabetes to the YA audience. It’s not just health issues that are explored, but the whole teenage world of anxiety and feeling like an outsider. Perley has to negotiate tensions in his school’s knitting club and learn how to be more accepting of different styles and abilities, whilst Amandine deals with harassment and has to find ways to fit in with her schoolmates.
I love how Searly presents all her characters, going against stereotypes. Perley is long-haired, thin and girlish looking, and shorter than Amandine, whilst Amandine is a solid black girl. Their tutor, Mx Bythesea, is non gender-specific and referred to as ‘they’. Perley’s best friend Lexy is also ‘they’. And then there is a whole cast of unusual characters in the bizarre world of the vampires, talking about how to obtain their blood requirements via volunteer blood donations or the newly cultivated bloodroot plants. It’s fun and serious at the same time.
There is a strong emphasis on family support and peer-group support. Before Perley and Amandine become too intensely involved with each other, they each need to work out their personal issues. Friends are there to help them. The humour that runs throughout helps to put that essential message across in a very positive way.
A masterfully written crime story, Witness 8 is a page turner which will keep you up way past your bedtime and remain with you giving you the creeps! The front cover tells us that the witness is more twisted than the killer so there is no secret about that right from the beginning. Ruby Johnson is a chameleon; wealthy people trust her as nanny to their most precious possessions-their children - but ..."There's something wrong with Ruby Johnson." Cavanagh makes this clear from the get-go. The reader is given access to the cold, brutal, heartless and manipulative workings of Ruby's mind. She is clever and she has no remorse. What she will do keeps the reader in horrified suspense as it is clear that she is capable of anything. Two older women see through Ruby. There is a surprising twist in the Epilogue when she is recognised by someone else but most people see her as a sweet, pretty, reliable young 22- year-old girl - a lovely nanny for their children.
Witness 8 is the eighth book in the Eddie Flynn series. It can be read as a stand alone. Eddie (the main character) was a conman in the past, brought up street savvy and with many useful contacts on the street. Now a trial lawyer, he has to defend an innocent man accused of murder. Eddie has an unconventional approach to working his cases. He is blisteringly brave and whip-smart and heavy prices are put on his head by both the underworld and corrupt police. Hitmen abound, danger lurks at all moments and Eddie must stay one-step ahead to save his own life and to clear the name of the accused.
The plot is full of unseen twists and the end - though right in most ways is also wrong but strangely satisfying in its wrongness. The characters are rounded. Even the most unpleasant possess flaws, ambiguities and complexities that build sympathy and empathy in the reader. This reader for one will be waiting to see if any of the characters (beside Eddie) in Witness 8 reappear in a subsequent novel in the Eddie Flynn series. Two of these characters in particular could well have much further misadventure and rotten work to get on with in the fertile world of crime and corruption where they operate. Is it possible to ask an author to keep on working with certain characters? What better commendation could be given to a book than a request for a sequel.
Ultimately Witness 8 could be about brokenness and belonging. It could be a meditation on the horrors created by violence and trauma and lack of acceptance- of how a mind can be broken and what that brokenness can lead to. Hope and restoration is also a theme.
Steven Cavanagh is a critically acclaimed Sunday Times best-selling author of the Eddie Flynn series. A million copies have been sold in the UK. Addictive reading!
Gucci is a rescue dog, saved from a Singapore shelter when his new Korean-born owner sees his profile and has him brought to Australia, believing he is a reincarnation of her dog from a previous life.
In my Name is Gucci, Jung deftly blends the dog’s account of his rehoming and several previous lives, with various literary references, and many aspects of Korean philosophy, religion, and cultural beliefs. Central to the novel is the belief in destiny, and the concept of inyeon, a Buddhist term for the connection between two beings in their previous lives. Gucci recounts how he was connected to his current owner in several previous incarnations, where they both encountered difficult situations. Gucci was once a loved pet but also involved in puppy farming and dog fighting. His past-life-owner learned, as a young girl, to navigate a rocky relationship with her mother, step mother and villainous grandmother.
In present-day Sydney, Gucci and his owner becomes the target of a resident’s hostility in the high-rise apartment they live in, and move to a housesit where they have a running battle with an entitled cat. In an interview, Jung says that like her, Gucci had to learn new tricks in foreign environments. My Name is Gucci has the air of a fable in which characters attempt to reduce the impact of the past on the present, while accepting that destiny will influence the degree to which they can make a fresh start.
The plotline is not straightforward as the narration switches between generations, countries and reincarnations, but is generally engaging as we see the world from the viewpoint of a wise but slightly bewildered dog, trying to find his way in the strange world of humans.
For newly independent readers or those a little older who like a laugh, or younger who need help to read and are happy to ask, then this graphic novel with laugh out loud content will suit many young readers. One of the Tater Tales series, the novel is full of interest as it has text and graphic sequences, lists, cartoons, a host of comic illustrations and several pages of fun facts and quizzes, including a page on how to draw Tot.
The story is told in five chapters each of a dozen or so pages making it most accessible for early readers and those who do not like a lot of text.
Rot the mutant potato is ready or another adventure in this wholly amusing, laugh out loud story of a family of potatoes. Laden with lots of puns (bootiful boots, for example) we see an excited Rot the Tater on a spudlunking trip. Spudlunkig in the world of potatoes means you dig a hole, or just find one to explore. So Rot goes hard at it. He digs and digs, hoping his friends will join him, but their interest lies elsewhere. Rot keeps digging and eventually finds a shiny golden crown. He is excited and puts it on, wanting to show his friends just who he is. The story then goes through the misgivings held by the potato folk, questioning the right of Rot to declare himself king. Some very funny episodes ensue as the potato people learn about friendship and power.
Themes Humour, Potatoes, Friendship.
Fran Knight
The dentist by Tim Sullivan
Head of Zeus, 2021. ISBN: 9781801107716. (Age:Adult - Senior secondary) Recommended.
The first in a series, The DS Cross Mysteries, introduces the reader to DS George Cross, who is investigating the murder of a homeless man who has been strangled. Cross’s investigations lead him to look at a cold case, the murder of the homeless man’s wife many years before. He is convinced the two are linked and with his special set of skills, his obsession with detail, logic and patterns sets about to prove that the man initially charged for murder was innocent and that the police made some fundamental errors. This does not make him popular but his record of solving cases ensures that his boss Carson, leaves him to investigate the cases.
Cross is on the spectrum with poor social skills, and this makes it difficult for his colleagues to relate to him. DS Josie Ottey has been assigned to him and now knows his way of proceeding with an investigation, and tries to help Alice Mackenzie, a recruit who is given menial tasks by Cross. His background is gradually revealed. He experienced bullying in the Police Force particularly while under the supervision of a retired Superintendent who Cross is convinced did not examine every avenue at the time, but this does not deter him from pursuing the case.
This a strong police procedural with an interesting detective showing the reader how important even minor details can be. The mystery of the two murders was gripping and there were enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about who the murderer could be – a surprise for me!
I enjoyed The dentist and intend to read more in the series. People who liked the TV dramas Professor T and MacDonald and Dodds, are likely to want to read this well written book.
Themes Murder, Detectives, Dentists.
Pat Pledger
Ultra Violet: Down to business by Cristy Burne and Rebel Challenger
Scientist and journalist Cristy Burne works hard to provide young children with engaging, meaningful stories, often throwing in a science twist. Her other books include the Takeshita Demons series and Into the Blue. Ultra Violet is a graphic novel aimed at the reluctant reader crowd but also anyone over 7 who still finds toilet humour amusing. The first page sets this precedent really, as we are introduced to Violet, second name Butt. Violet is a scientist who works for Butt Laboratories, the only problem being that she frequently takes her experiments too far...
Varied text, humurous dialogue and oblivious parents make for a riotous and fun read. Violet is pampered with everything she wants but her parents are largely absent or glued to a screen, ignorant of her dangerous scientific escapades and close shaves with death. Her favourite things are her cheese-eating, talking hermit crab Leo and her best friend Izzy Kelly, believer of aliens, UFOs and conspiracy theories. Trying to solve the problem of the broken toilet on the day of the school bean-eating contest is definitely a job for these three, the self-named Butt Squad. An alien interloper, fun facts, great puns, an invention called a Butt Sucker and an unplanned sewer adventure make this a rollicking read.
Cleverly separated into Chapters named Intro, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion and lots of science vocabulary make this a sciency book without it feeling like you're learning anything at all. Although if you're not a plumber, you might learn about fatbergs for the first time! This is very clever and the illustrations are fabulously full of life.
Thankfully, there's a reference to a book number two, so we can have more ridiculous science adventures with Violet, Leo and Izzy soon.
We do not welcome our ten-year-old overlord by Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180491. (Age:10+) Highly recommended.
I am a fan of Garth Nix’s writing and couldn’t wait to read his latest middle school book with the intriguing title We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord. Set in Canberra in 1975, Kim, his younger sister Eila, Bennie and her younger sister Madir are on a bicycle ride to the lake. Suddenly the world goes dark for a second and they spot an orb amongst weeds in the water. Kim takes it out and it unsuccessfully tries to take over his mind, and he warns the others to stay away from it. But Eila, a know-all prodigy, grabs it, names it Aster and is happy for her to come into her mind. Kim is convinced that it is dangerous, but Eila disguises it as a basketball and takes it out at night, where they experiment on ants, thousands of which die the next day. They also reduce an injured kangaroo to pulp. Eila is convinced that she is doing good when she manipulates her parents, living an alternative lifestyle on an Experimental Farm, persuading them to buy a colour television. Bennie and Madir’s neglectful parents suddenly become caring and Mrs Benison’s pain is stopped. But what will Aster do next? Why is she going out alone at night? Are Kim’s fears justified?
Kim has always been in the shadow of his younger sister, Eila, who speaks many different languages and is very smart. Eila is stubborn and believes that she is always right and their parents usually take her side in any argument. However Kim knows that he has common sense and that the orb’s attempt to take over his mind was not a good thing. He is determined to save Eila from manipulating more people and he may have to save the world as well. There is danger to face and complex decisions to make as Kim and his friends battle Aster’s influence.
Nix brings in some of his own background to the novel. The group love to play Dungeons and Dragons, as Nix did in his teenage years; many families do not have colour TVs, and children were free to cycle miles without parental supervision.
The theme of a 10-year-old becoming an overlord is fascinating, raising questions about the maturity of children to make decisions. The possible outcomes of such decisions will leave readers thinking long after they finish the book. Older readers may want to move onto Nix’s Abhorsen series, starting with Sabriel.
Themes Aliens, Canberra, Science fiction.
Pat Pledger
Helping Little Star by Blaze Kwaymullina and Sally Morgan
Walker Books, 2024. ISBN: 9781760658700. (Age:3+)
Moon warned Little Star not to go near the edge of the Night Sky but Little Star didn't listen. Down he fell, right into a creek! Now how is he going to get back into the sky again? Luckily, Python, Dingo and Kangaroo are there to help but neither can do it on their own.
This is a wonderful story for our youngest readers who are probably already aware of what can happen if you don't listen to the wiser, more experienced grown-ups around them as they begin to push the boundaries to explore the wider world around them. But it is also one of working together to solve a problem as Mother Kangaroo comes up with a solution that involves the help of Python and Dingo.
Well-known Aboriginal writer and illustrator Sally Morgan, a Palyku woman from the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, has teamed up with her son to create this story, and indeed, it is the vibrant illustrations in her iconic style that bring it to life, deserving its reprint after 11 years since its first publication. Littlies will enjoy this, perhaps even going outside to see it they can spot Little Star in the night sky, while parents can use it as a reminder if their little one goes too close to the edge.
The ‘glass girl’ is Bella, a 15 year-old struggling to cope with her parents’ bitter separation, continually swapping houses between them, dealing with her younger sister’s neediness, feeling invisible at school, mourning the recent death of her beloved grandmother, and devastated by the break-up with her boyfriend Dylan. The only relief is that which comes with the Sprodka, vodka mixed in a bottle of Sprite, vodka scored from a person willing to take the money and buy it for the hooded teenager waiting outside.
Scoring grog is a group thing that she and her friends do after school. But for Bella, it becomes the release that she can’t do without. After all, adults use alcohol to wind down after a tough day at work, why not kids? Without ever acknowledging it, Bella descends deeper and deeper into addiction until the day her mother finds her, unconscious with a smashed face from falling drunk onto the doorstep, after being dumped there after a party gone wrong.
The narration is Bella’s internal voice, her thoughts and fears, her self-justifications and anxieties. It is a very convincing account of the lived world of a teenage alcoholic. In the author’s note, Glasgow describes how as a teenager she ‘really, really, really, really liked drinking’. And there are many kids that do. She draws on real cases as we enter the world of rehabilitation with Bella. Recovery is not easy, things don’t all magically get better, happy ever after. It is a very tough path, and there are frequent relapses. Glasgow presents it all.
The glass girl is a very powerful exploration of many teenage issues: all kinds of addiction, peer pressure, cyberbullying, anxiety and loneliness. Glasgow’s writing style draws the reader in, and we live through Bella’s experience. This is an important book for young people which helps to create empathy both for those with addictions and those who need to step up and be the real friend that is needed, one who is prepared to call things out. It would make a worthwhile addition to the school library.
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781760526061. (Age:8-Adult) Highly recommended.
Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica is a glorious coffee table-style book that will appeal to readers both young and old. The striking photographs and stunning illustrations will provide endless hours of engagement and enable younger readers who may not yet be ready to read the text to pour over the pages and images, thereby gaining a wonderful snapshot of this mysterious and magical land of big seas, ice, snow and the natural environment.
Author Alison Lester and illustrator Coral Tulloch share their memories of journeys to this southern continent with both candour and reflective thoughts. They have interspersed their own narratives with quotes and stories from the past, and discussions in the present. There are historical facts, journal entries, quirky titbits of information, diagrams, tables, illustrations and maps, plus superb photographs of varying aspects of Antarctica.
The book begins with the story of the trip in 2006 where they experienced a storm at sea. The reader can feel the anxiety and the fear but also the trust they have that the crew and the ship will keep them safe. The first sightings of an iceberg leave them in wonder of the majestic size and … 'heralding the entrance to an old, ancient world, seen new.' Through their eyes, there is so much newness to see, read and learn. Along with the weather, the landscapes and the history, the creators share their impressions and heartfelt emotions.
Into the Ice would make a beautiful gift to be treasured and browsed through time and time again. The text is highly accessible and it is a story waiting to be read and devoured. In the final pages are detailed lists of sources, images and acknowledgments. I cannot recommend this fabulous book highly enough. A fascinating read.
Mackenzie and her friends are in the supermarket ready to compete in the Supermarket Lottery for Macca’s 12th birthday. This is a competition to see who can find certain food items and get back to the checkout first. Vying to be the winner are Ryder, Otto, Sofia, Edwin and Smiley. The winner will receive two packets of chocolate biscuits and the loser has to eat a bag of spinach. Even Macca is playing and she is thwarted by her school principal casually perusing the ice cream section. Macca is agitated and wishing she would hurry up. Of course, Macca is last but is grateful to be celebrating her birthday with her friends. Hamish and Sage join the group at the park and more birthday games are played. The first game is called Dizzy Penalties and involves a lot of spinning and trying to kick a goal. This is followed by more games, party food and a sleepover. A huge birthday celebration.
As Ryder and Macca tied in the birthday games, there is talk of one more game to finally find the winner. A football game is organised and both Ryder and Macca need to select their teams. But Ryder is on to it early and Macca is not happy. She is also in charge of organising her class fundraising idea for the school leaving gift at graduation which she has not yet done. Unexpectedly in a History lesson, Macca learns about a charter for miners’ rights and decides to create one for the upcoming soccer match much to Ryder’s annoyance. Will they be able to sort this out amicably? Or does it have far-reaching effects on the school and community? Will Macca be able to organise a fundraising event in time?
Game Play provides readers with soccer terms and plays, visual clues for readers who prefer less writing on the page and important lessons about friendship, competition and teamwork. It is an engaging fast-paced story that will be enjoyed by middle grade readers.
The Animal Action Squad is a top secret organisation of superheroes dedicated to fighting crime, and Supersquirrel is one of its operatives. With her undercover occupation as a taxi driver, and her superpowers including being able to fly extremely quickly, x-ray vision and superhearing, she has to outwit the fiendish criminal mastermind Dr Drizzle and his sidekick Rocky who have stolen a top secret formula meaning danger if it gets in the wrong hands.
But she can't do it alone - she needs the reader's help, and this is what sets this remarkable little book aside from so many. Part stepping-stone novel, part graphic novel, it is packed full of puzzles and clues that the reader needs to solve, making it as interactive as a print text can be. Being directly involved as a character means the reader has to engage with the story, the text and its illustrations rather than a skim-read-what's next book. It can be read alone or shared as participants stop to consider what they have learned from a particular excerpt and how it fits into the overall scheme of things, encouraging deeper thinking, reflection and synthesising information. Although it doesn't require making decisions to determine the path of the story, it could lead to an interest in the choose-your-own-adventure genre.
This is the first in this series that I predict will become a must-have as it reaches out to newly independent readers, including those who are beginning to think that reading doesn't really hold much for them. So much more fun than pressing or tapping buttons just to accumulate a high score. A book trailer is available.
Themes Puzzles, Super heroes.
Barbara Braxton
Love requires chocolate by Ravynn K. Stringfield
Electric Postcard, 2024. ISBN: 9780593571545. (Age:14+) Recommended.
Love requires chocolate is American writer and professor Ravynn K. Stringfield's debut novel. It is written from the first person viewpoint of Whitney Curry as she arrives and spends a semester boarding at a posh Parisian lycée situated near the Sorbonne in le Quartier Latin, a short walk from the Seine. Whitney is determined to launch an artistic career by writing and performing a ..."fantastic one-woman senior thesis show...I've got to make a name for myself. The legendary Whitney Curry." She's a list maker and has a bucket list for Paris. The reader is taken on a trip through the real Paris as opposed to the tourist list that Whitney has prepared, guided by her handsome french soccer star tutor Thierry Morgan. Initially reluctant and grumpy, Thierry gradually changes and lovers of romance will not be disappointed. Progress in that department is not smooth. Will Whitney and Thierry's growing relationship just remain a Parisian romance that stays in Paris and lasts but a semester..?
Neatly, the story is bookended by, at the start, Monsieur Polignac (her escort from the airport to the Lycee International Des Arts a Paris) when he tells Whitney that the magic of Paris must be discovered by wandering-not through lists, guidebooks and websites and at the end when she realises that Monsieur Polignac..." was right all along. The only way to do Paris is not by list, but by love."
The reader cannot help but feel for Whitney as she stumbles well meaningly but clumsily through homesickness, schoolwork and friendships whilst struggling to master the french language. She grapples with the production of her play (which aims to honour the life of black American Josephine Baker- music hall artist, philanthropist and French resistance worker) and working through her Parisian bucket list along with the emotional rollercoaster of a first romance. Love of chocolate is an important ingredient of this novel.
Fresh, funny, and sweet, Love requires chocolate is a very enjoyable and recommended read for young people who like romance novels. Love requires chocolate navigates young people's emotions, aspirations and interests (especially mid- twentieth century theatre and soccer) through the eyes of Whitney-a feisty, black- American girl in Paris.
Themes Paris, Drama, Student life, Romance, Friendship, Coming of age, "The universal black girl struggle".
Wendy Jeffrey
My encyclopedia of very important dinosaurs by Dorling Kindersley
2024. ISBN: 9780241656549. (Age:5+) Recommended.
If there is one thing every teacher librarian knows about collection development, it is that you cannot have too many items in your 567.9 section - that's the section where you will find little and a-bit-bigger ones, gathered as they pore over the stories and information of those fascinating creatures that ruled this planet until 65,000,000 years ago.
So this publication from the non fiction experts will be a welcome addition as it is written especially for those who are almost independent readers but still need lots of illustrations and accessible text.
It includes everything from an in-depth exploration of the triassic, jurassic, and cretaceous periods and how fossils are made, to detailed profiles of popular dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, to more unfamiliar species such as Microraptor, Guanlong, and Spinosaurus.
For decades DK have had the best reputation for delivering quality non fiction for young readers and this is no exception. Pitched perfectly for its intended audience, it will satisfy the curiosity of those with a passing interest, while leading others on to more complex texts.
