Effie lives and works in Scotland. She has tried to leave her traumatic childhood behind, but one phone call from her old friend Lewis has her uprooting her life to return to a community near the isolated place in New Zealand where she grew up. A small scruffy child has turned up in the town who reminds everyone of Effie, and Effie fears for her family members who she left behind in isolated wilderness in New Zealand. Lewis was Effie’s trusted friend and is now a police officer, but she left him and her past life behind. But now they both are afraid of what they might find back in the place that Effie had to leave. Effie is not willing to leave the young child without security and must face the past. Trauma is dripping from the child’s silence, something Effie remembers too well, but there are others to be considered. Can she face the darkness again and uncover painful secrets?
This is a multi-generational tale of abuse, distressing beyond measure, and it is heart-breaking. The complication of a warped religious sect and a twisted family structure have wreaked havoc on the lives of the young children living in desperate circumstances in the dense wilderness in New Zealand. Effie’s current situation, as a carer for her niece, is woven with her own childhood history and occasionally with her father’s story. In all the generations there is a discomfiting heaviness, so this book is not for the faint-hearted and perhaps is not for anyone who has lived through abuse. Despite that, there is a rediscovery of love, some wonderfulfriends, and a possible restoration for Effie and Lewis that lifts the book from its tension and the pall of fear that readers will encounter on almost every page. I loved the atmospheric grip of this story; at every turn of the page I hoped for a better outcome for the characters, but first there was the agonising tension and hopelessness and neglect to endure. This is definitely a book for mature readers as the violence, abuse and psychological trauma do not sit comfortably, but the book will trap you and make you want to read more.
Themes Isolation, abuse, sects, deprivation of liberty, family, romance, trust.
Carolyn Hull
The set-up girl by Sasha Vey
Allen & Unwin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761181542. (Age:14-18) Highly recommended.
What a tangled romantic web Sasha Vey weaves! Amalia is trying to set up her best friend Mae with popular heart-throb Kasun, a boy Amalia herself secretly has a crush on, yet at the same time she finds herself captivated by the beautiful Leili . . . and then there is also the enigmatic Jake who strangely causes her heart to flutter.
Vey convincingly portrays the uncertainties and insecurities of the teenage years. Her characters are in their final year of school, but both Amalia and Mae have grown up in the Slovenian community under strict parenting rules: no dating, no drinking, no partying, just focus on study. But the girls are ready to covertly rebel and explore the dating world, including misadventures with alcohol, and much confusion about relationships.
Threaded throughout is an account of Amalia’s experience with her extended family book club. Perhaps the books they read have some pertinence to her life: the blinkered obsession of Moby Dick, match-making Emma, Agatha Christie’s mystery, the passion of Wuthering Heights, and the journey of The Odyssey. The book club episodes add to the whole comedy of errors.
There is so much to enjoy in this book. It’s an honest account of the kinds of mistakes and misunderstandings we’ve all experienced, told with warm-hearted humour. The cover images perfectly capture the romantic scenarios. This debut novel is a delight; hopefully there will be more in this vein from Sasha Vey.
As a nominee for fantasy in the Goodreads Choice Award 2024, I knew that The tainted cup would be an interesting read and when I realised that it was also a murder mystery, I couldn’t wait to read it. An Imperial officer has been killed when a tree spontaneously erupts from his body, an impossible death. Ana Dolabra, an eccentric investigator is called to probe into the murder. She is accompanied by Dinios Kol, an engraver who has been altered by magic, giving him a perfect memory to record and observe events. With the brilliant Ana always wearing a blindfold, his memory is essential to solving the case. As danger approaches with Leviathans invading the shores, the pair must match wits with unknown killers and stop a scheme that threatens the Empire.
Bennett effortless brings the reader into a fantasy world that is vivid and unique. The descriptions the opulence of the mansions of the wealthy, contrasting with the lives of the ordinary soldiers, the corruption of power and the use of magic to give humans extraordinary powers provide a wonderful background to the story.
His characters are strange and have secrets but lovers of mysteries will enjoy the Holmes – Watson aspect of their investigation and are likely to enjoy trying to unravel the mystery of the deaths and how people can be killed with strange poisons and trees erupting from their bodies.
This is a fascinating combination of fantasy and mystery and the first book that I have read by Bennett. It will not be the last as I am sure to pick up A drop of corruption also starring Ana and Dinios.
Little Hare, 2025. ISBN: 9781761214929. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
What a fun picture book! The reader is sure to pick it up just from looking at the front cover with its appealing illustration of numerous Scottie dogs all with slightly different expressions and continue to read that ‘Scotty had known that a scottie was a scottie no matter what they looked like'. But Scotty was sometimes bothered that no one could tell them apart – they all liked making sandcastles, playing pillow-fights, and singing. Sometimes Scotty liked to do his own thing, like making a new friend, or getting a new hat, but when he did, the other scotties copied him and he no longer felt different. No matter what new idea he produces, the scotties copied him. ‘It was impossible to be different around them.” Then one day he asked a stranger to explain why he wanted to be different – and here the reader is in for a great surprise, one that I didn’t guess, but very astute readers may have noticed the little detail that eluded me. And then like me will eagerly spend time poring over the illustrations to find the surprise that is lurking on every double page spread.
The humour in the illustrations will have readers chortling quietly to themselves, picking out the slightly different expressions on the faces of the scotties, and the page showing the scotties making a pyramid is gorgeous.
Young children will relate to the theme of wanting to be different, especially if they have siblings, but will also recognise that loyalty to your family group is also important. Scotty and the Scotties is a book that reads aloud beautifully and one that is likely to become a firm favourite as children search and find the surprising plot twist.
Themes Dogs, Search and find, Difference, Loyalty.
Pat Pledger
Friday Barnes: In plain sight by R.A. Spratt
Penguin Random House, 2025. ISBN: 9781761349713. (Age:9-14) Recommended.
Friday Barnes is nearly 16 and has refined her problem-solving and detective skills to a high standard - a standard that makes her useful to the King of Norway when his daughter, Princess Ingrid, goes missing with her fiancé, Binky. (Friday has solved many problems and mysteries over the course of the 12 books that precede this one.) With her friend Melanie (who is Binky’s sister) she travels to New York to find the Princess and unwittingly gets involved in solving a plot to steal an artefact from a museum. As always she is able to discern truth from the confusion of misdirection and solve mysteries that police have no clue about.
Because this is Book 13 in the Friday Barnes series and Friday has grown considerably, with romance in her life and even a role with Interpol, this is more than a pre-teen story. Readers who began the series with Friday would have outgrown her exploits, and the younger readers (in the 9-12 age bracket) who are now binge-reading the series are almost too young to connect to Friday’s romantic teen life and turmoils. Despite this, readers who enjoy mysteries and quirky characters will keep reading. Although I have read at least one Friday Barnes story, I did find it initially challenging to step into Book 13, as the preamble indicating background details was light in detail. So it is not recommended that a reader starts their journey with Friday Barnes with this book, but it is not impossible to discover character traits and background without having read other stories. R A Spratt writes with a light touch, with a hint of ironic humour at times, and this is why her Friday Barnes series is well-liked.
Themes Mystery, Museums, Theft, Royalty.
Carolyn Hull
How to be a (fantastic sensational) good enough kid by Alice Peel
New South, 2025. ISBN: 9781761170188. (Age:8+) Highly Recommended.
Grow Your Mind (GYM) is an Australian mental health initiative built on the belief that starting early is key. Beyond Blue statistics show that half of all serious mental health issues start before the age of 14 years old. Co-founded by Alice Peel, GYM uses neuroscience and storytelling to help children, educators, and families improve social and emotional wellbeing from age 4.
This new book by Peel offers relatable, practical advice on being resilient, brave, kind, and 'enough'. It is an absolutely jam-packed 250 pages, containing advice, facts, humour, comics, examples, brain breaks, ideas, flowcharts, tables, and more - all supported with bright illustrations. Written in a quirky, conversational style, the book makes readers feel like the author is speaking directly to us, especially in everyday challenges like giving a speech or resolving conflict with a friend.
A key GYM teaching is that 'there are animals in our brains'. This metaphor makes neuroscience accessible, fun, and memorable for children. For example, the amygdala is the part of our brain that takes note of surroundings and alerts us to danger - it's our guard dog. At times the guard dog gets confused and can overreact. Kids learn how to recognise when their guard dog is in attack mode unnecessarily and use strategies to calm it down and train it for future scenarios.
Other parts of the brain covered include the pre-frontal cortex (the wise owl), hippocampus (the elephant), insular cortex (sensitive octopus) and reticular activating system (sifting sooty).
The book can be read cover to cover or dipped into as needed. It encourages readers to take notes, jot down ideas, and interact with its many features: icons mark sections such as stories from real kids, research prompts, and curated recommendations (including podcasts and songs).
This is a brilliant resource for children and for the adults who support them. It reinforces the message that you are already enough, while offering tools to build resilience, navigate tough times and find joy.
The Grow Your Mind website offers additional support and is well worth visiting for both book-specific resources (including teacher notes, a reflection journal and links to researchers) and more.
University of Queensland Press, 2025. ISBN: 9780702268984. (Age:16+ - Adult) Highly Recommended.
Megan Daley distils all the truths and motivations of my own journey in a school library. I loved her simple overview of the joys of reading, the power of a picture book, the role of a school librarian and the opportunities to add joy, meaning and empathy in the life of a reader through placing the ‘just right’ book into the hands of a child or teen at just the right moment. For parents there are suggestions and overviews of how to raise a reader in the early years, but also there may be insights into the importance of a passionate librarian or teacher-librarian in the life of a child reader. (Always encourage parents to be advocates for good library staff!) For teachers and for library personnel (particularly those in early career mode) this is a gem of a book with wisdom shared in easy bite-sized pieces, about the practice of reading promotion and the amazing ways that library staff can value-add to education and personal development. With book titles recommended and even Bookweek costume ideas (although only a minor section) this book touches on all the areas of library practice.
I read this updated edition of this book in Bookweek, and although I am now retired I loved revisiting all the joys and challenges in the teacher-librarian role. Her reflections on the rigours and science of reading, the challenges for readers in accessing literature when reading is not easy, and the value of diversity in literature are brief but worthy of consideration. What I loved was her personal stories of using books to tackle difficulties and to create relationship growth. It is always sad to hear of school library staff being undervalued and this book demonstrates that there is so much to be applauded and appreciated in the role of ‘reading ambassador’. Students in Senior School Child Studies classes would also benefit from the first chapter about books and the development of ‘readers’ under the age of two. I loved this book … every librarian should revisit this book on a regular basis to keep best-practice at the forefront of their service. It is easy to read cover-to-cover or to visit in bits and bites.
Fans of mystery thrillers will be enthralled by We won’t all survive with its nail-biting suspense and exciting action. Mercy Gray is a teen heroine, lauded for saving lives during a mall shooting. She is recruited by billionaire Damien Dare to compete on his survivalist reality TV show and needing the money to help pay for her clever sister’s education, she agrees to go to an isolated mining town. When she arrives with seven other contestants, she knows things are not right but the gates close without warning trapping them inside the empty set. Then one of them turns up dead and without resources it becomes a race to survive.
The story is told through the eyes of Mercy, a young woman who no longer trusts in her instincts about people. She trusted the ‘nice’ Ryan who was interested in her sister but who attacked them in the mall, killing several people and now bears the scar from a bullet. Now she is not sure who she can trust. Along with Mercy all the contestants have suffered real life drama, including a shooting, survival at sea and a train wreck but some are hiding secrets. Who is the killer?
Marshall ramps up the tension with cliff-hangers ending many of the chapters which kept me turning the pages to see what happens next. There are exciting moments as the contestants work through puzzles to retrieve water from a deep well, search through dark tunnels with warning about dangerous chemicals, arsenic in drinking water and barricade themselves in an old chapel.
With likeable protagonists and a twisty mystery, We won't all survive is sure to appeal to readers who enjoy mysteries by Karen McManus and Holly Jackson and survival stories like Wandering wild by Lynette Noni and The surface trials by H.M. Waugh.
You rock my world by Judith Barker and Chelsea Young
Woodslane, 2024. ISBN: 9781922800671.
When you tell me you love me, I'm over the moon. When you like what I do, I can reach for the stars.
The English language is full of idioms, that, when used in context, add to the richness and colour of our speech, but which, to someone unfamiliar with them, can be confusing and bamboozling. Most of us can recall a child reaching for their socks when told to "pull them up" while others delight in discovering the origins of phrases like "daylight robbery" (from the rich Brits who blocked up windows so they wouldn't be taxed more.)
So this book, described as a "a love letter from a child, ... to someone who means the world to them" and written almost entirely in idioms which are literally illustrated is going to be a great source of fun as well as the impetus to do some serious investigation into our language in a fun but meaningful way. Everyone will have a favourite saying to contribute to a word wall, complete with crazy, literal illustration, while delving deep to discover its real meaning, enriching their vocabulary, communication and writing making it one that spans the age groups as well as the curriculum.
With national and state curricula being a bit dry and boring when it comes to learning about parts of speech, figurative language and so on, this is one to have in the toolkit to have a bit of fun.
Teaching notes that not only list those used in the book but offer further suggestions for exploring them as well as suggestions for other sources like Simon and Garfunkel's classic Bridge over Troubled Water, will not only make the job easier but add to the enjoyment.
Themes Idioms.
Barbara Braxton
The enchantment of Golden Eagle by Margaret Wild. Illus. by Stephen Michael King
Allen & Unwin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761181078. (Age:5+) Recommended.
Ella and her brother Leif find a fledgling eagle with a broken wing, and take the wounded animal back to their house asking their father if it is possible to nurse him back to health. Magnus tells them that if he lasts the night he would survive as Golden Eagles are strong.
Over time the eagle improves, his presence keeping the wolves away from their little house on the edge of the forest. But Magnus warns them that the eagle is ready to fly away, and the children are concerned. The Golden Eagle promises to stay with them as they saved him, but he looks longingly skyward. One day Magnus needs to go away and the eagle promises to look after the children. But as the wind ruffles his feathers, whispering to him, he takes off and dives and soars in the sky, going so high he cannot be seen.
The children are scared and hear the wolves coming closer and hide under the wood pile. The eagle sees the wolves and calls out to the children who show themselves, and he tries to comfort them. Ella is concerned, and tells him that they may have died because he was not there and curses him to fly for a year and a day without landing.
And so Golden Eagle flies high in the sky, he flies in the heat and the cold, wanting to land and rest but unable. Eventually tired out, ragged and spent, he lands at the farm. Leif rushes out to greet him while Ella tells him the curse is not real. But he already knows this. Magnus takes the eagle inside, the family is together, the eagle is home.
This most unusual story of love, responsibility and forgiveness, which reveals touches of old fables and stories about abandoned children, of wounded animals and home, will encourage readers to think about the relationship between animals and humans, and how we live with each other.
The Golden Eagle owes his life to the children and as a result is tied to them, responsible for their well being. How far this responsibility goes is something children will talk about when the book is read.
The marvellous illustrations by King, reveal the things that frighten, menacing wolves lurk at the edge of the forest and are sometimes seen as shapes in the sky. There is a dragon on the house, while many clouds reveal different animals that readers will love finding and talking about.
Children will run their hands over each double page, seeing the eagle and his difficulties in dealing with his relationship with his saviours. Should he join the other birds or stay with the family on the edge of the forest?
King’s images of the Golden Eagle are breathtaking, a few feathers often seen on the page, but when the whole wing is shown, the gold shimmers. And the detail in the little house by the woods will engage readers who will love poring over the things seen. This book had me going back and forth while I read, both checking the fascinating text or running my hands over the illustrations while mulling over some of the ideas raised. Teacher's notes are available from the publisher.
In David Walliams' mind there must be an alarming superpower to create idiocy! In this super silly and eccentric collection of short stories there are many opportunities to chortle, giggle, be disgusted and roll your eyes. In a collection that only a reader who loves extreme silliness would enjoy, there are many kid-friendly, impossible adventures involving unexpected ‘super’heroes and weird villains.
This is an extreme example of eccentricity from Walliams. He is happy to add farts and disgusting snot and ear wax into his stories, so you can expect this book to be enjoyed by young readers, who laugh at grossness and grot. Readers in the 9-11 age band will be reading this book and sharing its oddities with their friends. With quirky illustrations by Adam Stower there are lots of moments to laugh at as each page is turned. This is not the kind of book a teacher will read out loud (especially as teachers appear in one story as villainous dinosaurs), but it will be a book that even reluctant readers may enjoy. My favourite superhero was the boy with Scrabble superpowers who defeated the gods using his effective brain power (and his Scrabble dictionary). Not a book for adults … but if it gets kids loving reading and smiling while they turn the pages … It is a winner.
They say this world only has two types of people - those who love dogs and those who don't. And Rosie certainly doesn't. She just can't understand why anyone would want to pat dogs, play with dogs, cuddle dogs, talk to their dogs, jog with their dogs, even kiss their dogs - let alone be happy to carry around dog poop in little plastic bags like they've just gone shopping at a poop-supermarket!
And then her mum drops a bombshell - they are going to go to a rescue centre to get one because "a dog might bring a bit of fun and energy into our lives." And because she can't resist all the bribes her mum offers to get her to agree, Specky comes to live with them. But will Rosie ever become a dog person?
This is another hilarious story from the team who gave young readers the Little Lunch series, as well as Hairbrain saves the ocean, the inaugural story in this new series designed to appeal to its intended audience of emerging readers who prefer short and sweet stories. Given they are a married couple and have a dog called Specky, could it be that one of them is "mum' and the other Rosie? There's an interesting, easy-to-read article that tells the story behind the story - and given that Specky has now provided the material for a new book, perhaps there is even more regard for him than before!!!
Themes Dogs.
Barbara Braxton
How to train a dad by Sally Barns & Noémie Gionet Landry
Affirm Press, 2025. ISBN: 9781923046825. (Age:3+)
A manual for children to use when doing the most important job, training their father, is presented with a large dose of humour and tongue in the cheek. Two pages of illustrations showing how dads come in all shapes and sizes will cause lots of fun, as the readers gauge which group their dad fits. The first lesson is to get his attention. This can be done by pressing his ear or by calling out his name over and over. He then needs to be taught how to make a good cup of tea, and give the best hugs. He must look just great, encouraged to exercise to keep fit, sleep well and eat what is given him. When all these things are done, then the training can be fine tuned. He needs to learn to be a hair stylist, join a cheer squad, and tell the best dad jokes. If for some unknown reason he mysteriously disappears, then the child must be aware that he may be having a burn out, he may be very tired. When this happens he may need a nap, and this means he needs to hear a a story to help him relax, but the most important thing is to tell him how much he is loved.
The illustrations augment the text and will encourage laughs from the reader, as they see an increasingly worn out dad on the pages.
The sisterhood of Ravensbruck: How an intrepid band of frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp is a work of nonfiction by Lynne Olson, a New York Times bestselling author of ten books of history, mostly focused on World War 11.
Olson has retrieved her information from a vast research undertaking. The origin of each of the many quotes (newspapers, magazines, journals, speech transcripts, interview transcripts, videos, papers, chronicles, books, etc.) that appear in the text are noted in the end pages under chapter and page number. This is followed by a comprehensive Bibliography which reveals the archival material, biographies, books, films and periodical articles that Olson consulted. Photo credits (many from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial museum and the Germaine Tillion Association) are listed. These are followed by an extensive index. Olson's The sisterhood of Ravensbruck: How an intrepid band of frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp, is undeniably the product of thorough and distressing research.
The sisterhood of Ravensbruck: How an intrepid band of frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp is a story of the French resistance and the previously underplayed contributions of women. Olson researches the bond between four women: Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Genevieve de Gaulle and Jacqueline d'Alincourt, who though from separate resistance networks, all were arrested by the Gestapo, suffered severe interrogations and beatings, were jailed and sent to Ravensbruck - the concentration camp for women. The strength in facing down death and their captors and their will to survive, save others and tell the story (bear witness) is inspiring. That the human spirit and body could survive the extent of cruelty that these women faced is beyond belief. The barbarism of the medical experiments on women in the camp is a story that had to be told amongst all the others.
In the prologue, Olson tells of the fact that these women were resisters during the war but also lived in a patriarchal pre-war society under the authoritarian Vichy government of Marshal Petain - a society "eerily akin to the society portrayed ...in Atwood's dystopian novel The hand-maid's tale". However they still were prepared to die for their country and they proved it, refusing to divulge information even under the most obscene duress. Maia Wechsler, American film-maker and a correspondent for the U.S.News and World Report, after interviewing d'Alincourt, asked the question we all ask - What would I have done, given the same situation? Would I have been as brave and resilient? The Ravensbruck sisterhood refusing ..."to surrender to savagery and terror...demonstrated the extraordinary power of solidarity in fighting for freedom and justice." Olson, p. 315.
Noting the rise of right wing populism around the world, reminiscent of the fascism of the 1930s, Olson ponders on the problem of evil and the question of how a civilised country can stoop to this infection. The sisterhood of Ravensbruck: How an intrepid band of frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp is a story of great survival of a sisterhood against an evil regime and a warning to the next generation. These women managed to turn all of the horror of their experience into something good in the aftermath of the war.
Lynne Olson has written a compelling and important non-fiction narrative that honours and preserves the story of the indomitable, courageous and loyal women of the French Resistance.
Themes Holocaust, Concentration camps (Ravensbruch, Friendship, Courage, French Resistance.
Wendy Jeffrey
The bookshop on Lemon Tree Lane by Mike Lucas. Illus. by Sofya Karmazina
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, 2025. ISBN: 9781760506988. (Age:4+)
An old bookshop beloved by the young boy and his grandfather, which they visit each week is to be renovated. Inside all the good things about bookshops greet them. Rickety staircases, nooks and crannies to explore, old and new books to check out, a loud bell that rings when a new customer comes in. In rhyming stanzas, the story unfolds, the affection between the customers and the old bookshop a mainstay of the street. They arrive on the train, and walk to the bookshop where the old owner welcomes them inside. On the window a poster is being displayed, telling people that the bookshop will be closed for renovations.
The boy is dismayed, what will happen to all the stories and the books he loves. What will happen with Holly, the bookshop dog?
The following weeks see the bookshop being emptied, the boy peers inside, sees the skip full of the stuff they are throwing out; some favourites, the old chairs, the wooden shelves, the light fittings.
Walks down the empty and grey Lemon Tree Lane are now devoid of adventure and months later, the boy hears smashing and crashing as the inside walls are taken down. Whatever happens the boy thinks nothing will be the same as before.
At last the opening day is here and the boy ands grandpa go along to see the ribbon cutting and see what the new shop is like. And it is spectacular, Holly is there to welcome them, inside the old shelves are gone and sinuous new shelves cling to the walls. Bright colours welcome the customers and wonderful chandeliers hang from the ceiling.
The boy finds the old things he loves, but surrounded by new fittings. So change is good, but some things always stay the same. The boy’s misgivings are not realised as the new bookshop is the same but different.
Children wil love poring over the detailed illustrators, recognising bookshops they know and love, looking at the things which might change and equally surprised at the difference when the new shop is unveiled. I love the endpapers with the cracked tiles of the old shop on the first endpaper, to the gleaming tiles at the end on the new floor.
Little gems appear all through the pages of images, ensuring young eyes will take time over the illustrations as they read.
A charming tale of change is a great read aloud as children see why the boy has misgivings, but equally happy to see change happening and his acceptance of it.
