This story is brilliant! It is endearing and disquieting, and absolutely worth reading. In many ways it feels like a fantasy Dickensian drama (Oliver Twist-esque), in which a young girl named Duck, has been watched over by the Gargoyle in the unfinished and crumbling cathedral in the riverside town of Odierne. In fact, even when as an infant Duck fell from the cathedral walls into the river, the gargoyle watched powerlessly. Rescued and ‘adopted’ by the local gang of thieves (the Crowns) she lives in poverty and uncertainty, stealing and struggling to survive. When the Crowns’ leader, Gnat, plots to have her apprenticed to the local Baker, her life and concept of ‘family’ changes, but her thieving continues for the benefit of the Crowns. Trying to juggle her allegiance to her thieving family and her new employer creates many challenges for the young girl. Can she resolve where her loyalty should lie, or is it only about where the next meal comes from?
This book won me over immediately as it began with the unusual voice of the stone Gargoyle – the stolid and grumpy carved statue who can only watch and never act. His grumpiness is quaint and his view of the world before him gives unique setting detail and adds an intriguing voice to the tale of Duck (her name has been lost, so she keeps the nickname gifted to her by her thieving troupe). Most of the story is told in the voice of Duck (although the Gargoyle contributes occasionally), and we see inside the sadness of the homeless youngster, but we also see loyalty and friendship. Her time as an apprentice to the local baker, an almost blind and generous widow, gives her new opportunities for connection and practical skills, and the chance to keep her friends from starvation. This young girl changes from a fearful 6-year-old to a feisty and intelligent youngster and the transformation is not just about size and age. Letting down her ‘original family’ is not in her vocabulary, and hurting her new loving employer is also unappealing, but it is inevitable that she will not be able to keep all of them happy. I loved the journey back in time to a fictional place, but also into the heart of the homeless orphan. I will be recommending this book to confident readers aged 10 - 14. It is not hard to read, but neither is the story light-hearted – light-fingered, but not light-hearted. There is sadness and struggle, danger and gang-related crime, but it is infused with heart!
A welcome reissue of the wonderful series of stories about kids in the playground at ’little lunch’, recess time, will enthral a new generation of early readers. Each story in the easily held books concerns a group of kids in the same class: Manny, Attica, Rory, Melanie, Max and Elsa, Batty, Amba, Debra-Jo Woo and Tamara Noodle. Sometimes several of their parents appear as well, as in the first story, when Mrs Gonsha turns up with an inedible pavlova for her children’s birthday. The whole class is invited to attend under the tree near the oval, and when she goes off and they sample the pavlova, the problem then is how to get rid of it. But her children are the twins, Max and Elsa, so another Pav appears.
The second story involves the lost and found box, a receptacle for all things missing from the classrooms., while the third, 'The bubblers', has the children making up and telling jokes ranging from riddles to knock knock and word substitution jokes. Each will delight and amused and encourage readers to think about appropriateness of jokes and who to tell them to, as poor of Mrs Gomsha again becomes the recipient of a less than savoury joke. Disgusting jokes, head turns that end with losing your glasses and getting rid of an abominable pavlova, all happens in the fifteen minutes morning break.
Each story is about twelve pages long, liberally sprinkled with very funny illustrations, and the whole is ended off with a little lunch bag of puzzles and spot the difference pages, jokes and word finds.
Sure to please, especially as there are three more in the set, the Little lunch series was made into a TV series as well and is available on Youtube and Netflix.
Themes Recess, School, Humour, Jokes, Family.
Fran Knight
Nesting by Henry Cole
Katherine Tegen Books, 2022. ISBN: 9780063021709. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
This beautiful book will stay with children long after they have finished reading, The simple story of robins pairing up, building a nest then raising four chicks will enthral. Each moment of their courtship, nest building then raising their chicks is a step along the way for the survival of their species, with glimpses of obstacles which may hinder their progress.
Henry Cole’s illustrations showcase the tree in which the nest is built, its forked branches providing a safe anchor for their efforts. They bring twigs and dry grass to make a nest suitable for the four eggs she will lay. Here is their home, made personal by Cole’s wonderful black and white pencil drawings. We see how the twigs and grass intertwine, we watch as four eggs appear in the bottom of the nest, kept warm by the female while the male flies off to get food for the chicks that later hatch,.
Children will be in awe of the near miss by an opportunistic snake and be relieved when the pair of robins scare it away. When the feathers grow our readers will have their hearts in their mouths as the chicks take their first flight out of the nest and onto the ground below.
Now it is autumn and the robins must feed up for the coming winter. They put on a layer of fat to keep them alive during the cold months and seek out other birds to spend their winter months with.
An incredible story of the survival of a species through the spring in which mating and reproduction takes place then the nurturing of the chicks in summer to be ready to take flight in autumn and feed up for winter will inform and delight younger readers. The American robin makes a small nest with twigs and grass which the female covers in mud to make it more secure. It is a haven for the family and lasts just for that season, the pairs building a new nest in the spring.
I love the illustrations, Cole seems to just sketch with his pencil, but it builds into something fantastic, each page showing a different aspect of the year, from trees newly flush with leaves, then with blossom, later the wind blows away the blossom and leaves, the apples appear, and the robins fly off to eat the autumn berries before finding the group to stay with in winter.
A former science teacher, Cole presents the world of nature with an eye to teaching, and I can see this book being well used in the classroom and at home where the family loves to watch what is going on outside their window.
See here for more information about Henry Cole and his work.
Readers will be thrilled to follow the adventures of Koffi and Ekon after the cliff-hanger ending of Beasts of prey. Koffi has been taken by Fedu, the god of death, to Thornkeep where he intends to try and use all her powers as a daraja. Here she learns about her inheritance and meets the other darajas, some of whom become her friends. Meanwhile Ekon is determined to rescue Koffi and joins a caravan of traders travelling towards the realm of death. Both will have their powers and loyalties tested and learn much about themselves.
The story is narrated in separate chapters, in three distinct voices, that of Koffi, Ekon and Binti, Koffi’s mother. Koffi gradually learns about her gifts and what she can do with them, while gathering a group of darajas around her, all determined to escape from Thornkeep, even though it means forcing their way through the dangerous Mistwood. (A fabulous map of Thornkeep is provides at the front of the book.) The reader is kept in suspense, holding their breath, as the allies face action and danger. Ekon has to face that he is no longer a member of the elite fighting group from the Temple, and his loyalty is torn when he has to face his brother. He finds friends in the caravan, but again his loyalty is tested and he must decide which path he will take. Binti’s story is perhaps the most harrowing and memorable as the reader learns about the discrimination that she and her mother faced, and the trials that led to her and her family working as indentured servants in the Zoo.
Thrills and suspense pervade the story as Koffi faces the undead in Mistwood and tries to hide her powers from Fedu. Ekon must evade the soldiers from the Temple and fight his way out of the city, while Binti’s gradual fall into the hellhole that is the Zoo is heartrending. In the author’s note Gray details the African origin of some of the mythical and fascinating beasts that feature in the story and which add so much to the interest of the narrative.
Beasts of ruin ends on a cliff-hanger that will have the reader waiting for the next in the series.
Themes Magic, Monsters, Travel, Hunting, Good and evil, Fantasy.
Pat Pledger
Berani by Michelle Kadarusman
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761068027. (Age:10 -14) Highly recommended.
This is a wonderful story of hope lost and found. Malia has grown up in Indonesia. Her father has died and her mother, a Canadian academic, is planning on taking 13-year-old Malia back to Toronto. The pain of leaving her home, friends and her grandmother is the sad back story to the decision she makes to stand up for the plight of Orangutans in her loved home of Indonesia. She begins the process to become an ‘activist’ to raise awareness of how Palm oil production is impacting rainforests and the homes of the orangutans. Unfortunately, the presentation that she gives at school creates unintended negative consequences for others. Ari, is a young teen from a rural area in Java, and has been given the opportunity for high school education in a bigger community in Malang where he stays with an uncle and his captive orangutan. Ari’s chance encounter with Malia while attending a chess competition at her much larger private school in Surabaya opens his eyes to the need to return the large primate to his natural world, and also to the dilemma of being given education while his female cousin, Suni, must remain in the rural village working on the rice paddies. Berani is the orangutan who needs rescuing before it is too late. Will the stories of Malia, Ari, Suni and Berani reveal that there is hope for them all, or will their lives end in a stalemate?
Written in the voices of Malia, Ari and even Berani, we discover the inner turmoils of each as they individually reflect on their life and the changes that they have to deal with. There is real beauty in this tale - a gentle insight into cross-cultural life in Indonesia, the value of education, and the plight of the vulnerable orangutans. Like the animal narrator in Katherine Applegate’s The one and only Ivan, the voice of Berani is naive and his language is simple and there is an appealing innocence to the young orangutan’s understanding of his past and present life. I absolutely loved this story and can highly recommend it for young readers with a passion for Indonesia or the environment, or even for those who want their eyes opened to the world. This book is charming and the setting has all the joy of a culture that is warm and endearing. Indonesian speakers will understand the title has another layer of meaning that is only revealed to English speakers at the end of the novel. Teacher's notes are available.
Themes Orangutans, Indonesia, Environmental activism, Grief, Bravery, Chess, Hope.
Carolyn Hull
Little lunch: The slide by Danny Katz and Mitch Vane
Another trio of short stories in this eminently collectable series of tales set in a school at recess time will delight early chapter readers. Katz’s perceptive look a the goings on in the playground during that most important fifteen minutes of escape from the classroom will have students laughing with glee as they recognise situations and people they have come across. And the funny take Katz puts on events will see a lot of sharing as kids want to read bits aloud, particularly words not normally come across in print. Vane’s accompanying equally hilarious illustrations give faces to the events, and in one case a very big bottom, that will make sure everyone is focused on what happens to that bottom.
The first story, The Slide, tells us that Mrs Gonsha has the most gigantic bum: one so large it looks like a bean bag filled with porridge. The description was enough to have me scream with laughter and the illustrations will further entreat readers. So what happens to this mammoth behind? Stuck in the playground slide. So a solution is needed, one that involves a banana skin. The very next story, not to be outdone in humour, has the children finding something absolutely gross in their sandpit. Finding it was horrid enough but having to dispose of it after some of them used it as a soccer ball, will ignite readers’ imaginations and invoke the problem solving skills of the glorious Mrs Gonsha.
And the third story, The principal’s office will sit well with many students for whom that place is a place not often frequented. But Rory is one of those students who has a place in the corner of this office with his name on it. Not only does he pick his nose and squirt water at the others, but he incurs the wrath of Mrs Gonsha which sees him spend the morning in the corner. Here he receives messages of support from the class when they are out at little lunch and he is not.
First published in 2003, this series is a very welcome reissue. The humour in the telling and the zaniness of the stories, captured by the wonderfully apt illustrations will engage a new audience, willing to see the very funny side of their time in the playground at little lunch.
This sequel to This is not the Jess show updates us on Jess’s escape from a ‘Truman’-style (1998 film) reality TV program in which she had grown up from childhood, deceived into believing it was her real life. Now she and her boyfriend Kipps are in hiding. As an 18 year-old, the show no longer has a legal hold on her, but Kipps is only 17 and his parents had signed a contract for him to stay.
The first chapters bring us up to speed on past events and characters, so the book could be read on its own, but it is no doubt really intended for the fans of the last book, hungry to know what happens next.
As events unfold and Jess becomes aware of the ruthlessness of the deception perpetrated by Like-Life Productions, and the unknown fate of other uncooperative participants, she makes the decision to step back into the show, determined to reveal the extent of producer Chrysalis’ unscrupulous control.
The book becomes a fast-paced thriller, with the kind of tense moments seen in this film genre: avoiding the surveillance of hidden cameras and microphones, uncertainty about who can be trusted, the pressure of downloading computer data as seconds tick away in a race against time.
This is not the real world is also a clever expose of the manipulation of viewers by reality TV productions where the goal is to create drama and hook in the viewers – in a similar vein to Sophie Gonzales recent book Never ever getting back together. Carey’s story, however, is much darker: the lives of Jess and Kipps are in danger. Like-Life Productions will stop at nothing to maintain their deception – even murder.
While the novel comes to a satisfying conclusion, some threads offer themselves to the possibility of another sequel. I’m sure readers would grab the chance to read more.
Pan Macmillan, 2023. ISBN: 9781529070514. (Age:Adult - Senior secondary) Recommended.
A stand-alone first published in 2001 and now republished with an attractive cover, The sleeping and the dead has stood the test of time. Detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake where the body of a young man has been uncovered due to sinking waters in a drought. Porteous is a meticulous police officer who enjoys examining files and when sorting through records of missing persons, discovers that the murdered teenager is Michael Grey, a secretive boy who disappeared twenty years previously. Meanwhile Hannah Morton is shocked to hear of the discovery of his body. Michael had been her boyfriend and she had seen him on the night he disappeared and long suppressed memories come to the surface.
Cleeves brings together connections from the past and the present, to give the reader a suspenseful psychological thriller. There are numerous red herrings and suspects and the finale was surprising. As with her Vera and Shetland books, the characters are well drawn and The sleeping and the dead could well have been the first in a series. Porteous is quiet and methodical, making sure that the correct procedures are in place. Hannah Morton is a librarian in a prison and this setting adds colour to the story. Her home life coping with her divorce and rebellious teenage daughter Rosie are easy to relate to while Rosie’s experiences are vividly described.
Ann Cleeves is a CWA Gold Dagger award-winning writer, and her early work is very readable.
Themes Murder, Detectives.
Pat Pledger
Elizabeth of York: The last white rose by Alison Weir
Alison Weir has created a fascinating and riveting story of the English Royal families, beginning in 1470 and taking us through to 1503.p Weir begins her narrative in a time of rivalry and anger, a time when unwanted upstarts, according to certain other royal families, should be taken prisoner, even simply killed to prevent their taking over the throne of England. Outstandingly vivid, thoughtful, and richly developed as a narrative, this gripping novel plunges us into what life would have been like in these unsettled times.
Elizabeth was expecting to be Queen of England, but the death of her father does not lead into her claim of Queen, and rather she flees the capital, seeking sanctuary for a time, hiding in an unexpected place, and planning how to ensure that her reinstatement as Queen is done in a proper and royal manner. In fact, it is her uncle who plans to marry this claimant, but Elizabeth decides instead to marry Henry Tudor. Life does not settle down to any sense of normality, but Elizabeth acts wisely, seeking to rule as the rightful heir, but ensuring that her country returns to something like normal, run by a person of intelligence. Indeed, her marriage keeps her as the Queen in an unexpected way, with both her husband as King and she as Queen, ruling calmly and thoughtfully to make England a safe and good country.
This narrative is brilliantly constructed to enable readers to consider how the ‘royals’ could be fair and decent people, running the country in a considerate and thoughtful way, seeing themselves as people who are royals, thus exploring how such a political situation could be decent and considerate of all who lived in these times.
Themes Great Britain - Kings, queens and rulers, Great Britain - History -1485-1603, Tudor period, Queen Elizabeth.
Fans of Wakefield’s YA fiction will be excited to read her first adult novel, a gripping psychological thriller. How far would you go to find your missing child? Abbie, a single parent, is exhausted and releases 6-year-old Sarah’s hand in a busy market. Sarah disappears and six years later Abbie is finally trying to get her life back together with marriage to an older man when she gets a phone call. The caller appears to know what has happened to Sarah, but Abbie must follow his instructions and let no one know what is happening.
Told in three time frames, Before, Now and After, the reader is taken on a trip through Abbie’s life as a rebellious young teen, an exhausted single parent and a traumatised woman wondering what has happened to her daughter. The thought of losing a child is a nightmare one that Wakefield explores deftly and with empathy.
The story is as much about family relationships and friendships as it is about a dreadful crime. It is easy to relate to Abbie and the difficult feelings she has with her mother, which left me thinking about what makes a perfect mother and how difficult mother/daughter bonds can be. If Abbie is ever going to find her child, how will that relationship end? Is finding out what happened to her child worth losing everything in her life - marriage, reputation and sanity?
Vikki Wakefield is the author of several outstanding YA novels, including the award winning This is how we change the ending and she has made a successful and unforgettable transition to the world of adult crime writing with After you were gone. Fans of The lost man by Jane Harper will find this just as hard to put down.
Themes Child abduction, Family relationship, Single parents, Crime, Psychological thriller.
Rosie Raja is a feisty half English, half-Indian Princess who is lonely and upset with her father. Her mother has recently died in India and her English father has taken her to live in his childhood mansion in the English countryside. He is concerned that her aunt, (the queen) Rani-K is becoming too involved with the independence movement in India which was led by Gandhi at that time. Rani is bored and frustrated by her father’s frequent absences and so when she overhears a conversation that reveals his true identity as an English spy, she is determined to follow him on his next mission. She finds herself in Nazi occupied France during World War II where she tries her best to help him with his mission. The book does not shy away from the harsh realities that would have been faced by the resistance movement in France at that time and the risks they faced in opposing the Nazis. Smart and capable, Rosie launches herself into learning all she can about being a spy while facing the tragedies that befall her father’s unit as they move around France. There are some brilliant discussion points regarding the role of women in war, the Indian independence movement, the actions of those in British empire, and the WWII conflict itself. It would be perfect to read alongside a study of WWII for pupils in Year 5 and above. An additional inclusion could have been some suggested reading material about these issues. There is another book, also set in Nazi occupied France, called Mohinder's War by Bali Rae, featured on the back pages of this book.
Themes World War II, India, Gandhi, Spies and spying.
Gabrielle Anderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Titan Books, 2022. ISBN: 9781803361321. (Age:15+) Recommended for fantasy devotees.
When a fantasy world is so different from your own there are large imagination hurdles to overcome before you can gel with the text. That was the case when I began this book by an author that had previously been recommended to me. I was impressed with the complexity of the imagined world and the way humanity interacted with the characters from different magical realms, who regularly morphed and displayed intensely unique qualities utilising powers that were beyond the workings of my mind. The intricacies of political and magical rules created complications to the quest story involving Rysn, an intelligent human who some years before had lost the use of her legs. Her rise as ship-owner and expedition leader is woven with her own need to restore to health her companion pet (a magical creature) named Chiri-Chiri, and to resolve issues in the entire Cosmere. Rysn’s self-confidence grows as she learns to trust her judgement even against opposition. Perhaps she is more capable than she thinks.
With the complications of the plot and the magical world’s features also comes a unique language for these magical intricacies. Consequently, this is a book that should be read in big chunks, rather than as a pick-up and put-down book. The uniqueness of the language and the magical characters and their skills means it is hard to rely on an assumed knowledge of the world and it can be confusing. But capable devotees of the fantasy genre will see the richness and complexity as an attraction rather than a distraction. This author has written other books in the Stormlight Archive, and this book falls between two other books (Oathbringer and Rhythm of War). It can be read as a stand-alone story, but I am sure that enthusiasts of Brandon Sanderson’s writing will be happy to read this book in sequence. The complexity of the fantasy world means that this can be recommended for readers aged 15+ with an appetite for sophistication in their imaginary tales.
Themes Fantasy, Fantasy creatures, Overcoming difficulties, Disability, Magical powers.
Carolyn Hull
The lorikeet tree by Paul Jennings
Allen & Unwin, 2023. ISBN: 9781761180095. (Age:11-14) Highly recommended.
I loved A different land by Paul Jennings and was thrilled to receive a copy of The lorikeet tree, a heart-rending story with many intertwined themes. A sister and brother, Emily and her twin Alex, are devastated when they hear that their father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. They live on a bush property that their father has painstakingly begun to reforest. It abounds with native animals, especially the rainbow lorikeets, which Emily loves. Alex refuses to accept his father’s diagnosis, and tries to cope by adding increasingly elaborate additions to his treehouse, believing that will keep his father alive. Emily is the one who must be sensible and when Alex adopts a feral kitten that threatens her beloved lorikeets, she finds life very difficult.
Told in four parts, with an epilogue, as a school assignment by Emily, complete with teacher’s comments and grades, it is easy to relate to the tensions and grief that all the members of the family face. Emily has always been strong and capable, looking after Alex, and her journey as she grapples with her father’s illness and the introduction of a cat into the family dynamics is handled sensitively by Jennings through the medium of her memoir. The different ways that a family copes with a terminal illness are described with Alex pouring his emotions into making intricate buildings and loving a cat, while Emily tries to be the competent one keeping the bushland pristine, writing about her feelings in her memoir.
The theme of conservation is gripping. Both sides of cat ownership are vividly described by the author. It is heart-breaking when the cat Ditto escapes the house and kills a rainbow lorikeet, but Emily also can see the joy that her father has as he pets the purring kitten. The importance of keeping cats contained so that they can’t harm the wildlife is emphasised and the family’s dilemma is solved in the end.
Although the story is easy to read and relatively short, (182 pages), the themes of family relationships, grief, sibling differences and protecting the environment are complex. This would make a thought-provoking class novel or literature circle read and teacher’s notes are available from the publisher.
Grandparents for hire is the third book in a series for middle primary readers about a very enterprising 8-year-old girl called Willa and her large, albino wolf hound, Woof. The series started with Mimi is missing, followed by Birthday business in 2022. In this story Willa is concerned about the many children who are upset when their school principal announces that they are having a Grandparents Day. Many of them do not have grandparents nearby and Willa decides to help. She comes up with a plan to match some of the residents of the nearby retirement village to the children in need of grandparents for the day. Her scheme will also help the retirement village residents by providing an income to support their outings and afternoon teas, something the nasty director Mrs Wilson wants to get rid of. During her organisation of Grandparents for hire her four-legged friend Woof seems to be up to something and keeps mysteriously disappearing, especially when her teacher’s dog Lola is nearby. These easy to read, adventurous stories, from the author of the Alice Miranda and Kensy and Max books, are perfect for those readers ready to tackle slightly longer novels. The characters will appeal to most children and will be positive role models for this age group.
Anora can see the dead, is even able to turn the spirits she meets into gold coins. Moving to a new school, this is something she is keeping to herself, and needs to convince her mother that she isn't crazy - therefore, no more spirits into coins. But, by the end of her first day, she has managed to turn a spirit into a coin, and somehow lost the coin - which has never happened before. On top of this, Anora mourns the passing of her Poppa, and is fielding the advances and attention of two very interesting guys at the school. One of them is even in a secret society, whose sworn duty is to protect humans and guide the dead to the next part of their journey. Navigating all this in amongst the school gossip app and dealing with overly eager students, and the constant threat of being sent to an asylum if her mum gets any whiff of ghost talk, things aren't looking great.
This supernatural fantasy has an almost Twilight meets Wednesday (Netflix show) vibe. With interesting characters, drama and intrigue, the novel moves between the two main characters viewpoints, Anora and Shy, developing the story. The first in a new series, readers will eagerly await the next book as the series promises more twists and turns. Evenly paced with plenty of action and multiple layers to the story, Scarlett St. Clair has written a hit, which she kindly includes a trigger warning at the beginning of the book regarding suicide (suspected suicide in story).
