Danielle Valentine’s How to survive your murder was an ALA Best books for young adults 2023, so I was happy to pick up Two sides to every murder. Set in Camp Lost Lake, which was a murder scene seventeen years earlier, it features two young women, Olivia and Reagan. Olivia was born during the infamous murders and has returned seeking answers about her biological father. Reagan is the daughter of the woman accused of the murders and the pair have been on the run ever since. Convinced her mother is innocent, Reagan returns determined to uncover the culprit. But is the real murderer lurking in the campsite, determined to keep the past a secret?
Two sides to every murder is gripping and I quickly finished it in a couple of sittings, trying to work out who committed the murders. Both girls face danger when they start investigating and neither can be sure of who they can trust. There are clues and red herrings scattered throughout the story, with some information gradually being revealed about both Olivia and Reagan. Then there are wild chases through the dark trees, the sound of twigs snapping as the hooded murderer pursues the girls, a bear trap, and deadly arrows, all to keep the reader glued to the page. What more can be asked of a terrifying mystery set in a forested lakeside campsite?
This is an exciting story, one to enjoy while relaxing in the holidays. The characters are likeable, there is a touch of romance and the setting is terrific. Fans who enjoy danger set in campsites might like to pick up The Lake by Natasha Preston or the thriller The fear by Natasha Preston.
To the future generations of our beautiful planet, may you remember us not for what we didn’t do, but what we did, as you set out to do even better.
Planet Ark Environmental Foundation is a not-for-profit Australian organisation renowned for leading environmental change and educating individual, communities, businesses and governments. In their newly published book, Now for the Good News, they are thoughtfully providing positive moments to be shared with children aged from eight years old but may be highly beneficial for upper primary/early secondary.
Now for the Good News is divided into the five clearly defined chapters with the problems occurring in each followed by a blue section that shares the good things that are happening.
Chapter 1: Blue Planet. This chapter mentions oceans, the water cycle, the greenhouse effect and how our oceans are suffering from human abuse. In the blue section it mentions the Seabin, ocean clean up, how Australian schools are taking action plus other innovative ideas including 11 year old Ned Heaton who set up a company called The Turtle Tribe to erase plastic from oceans.
Chapter 2 The Power of Nature. This chapter looks at nature’s cycles: rock, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. It looks at the earth and the importance of soils and how is being mismanaged. In the good news section, we hear about regenerative farming, seed banks and the importance of trees and the habitats they provide.
Chapter 3 The Human Cycle. This chapter is more complex and considers the now overuse of resources by humans. There is an excellent diagram in this chapter, simple in its design using the words; Take / Make / Waste (p71). The good news section looks at solar energy, poo power and innovations in schools, councils and businesses to reduce waste
Chapter 4 Social Innovation. Further develops the circular economy discussed in Chapter 3 and the desire to make money at the expanse of the environment i.e. the coal industry in Australia. The good news section features a small school in Manyallaluk that is doing amazing things in recycling, wildlife monitoring and the planting of trees. This is a remote community working together to make change.
Chapter 5 The Future. The message is out. We need to take action. The good news section gives further information on plastics, electric cars plus social media influencers who are advocating for change.
This is a positive book to share with children who do worry about the world they are living in. For younger middle grade children sharing the information with adults may be of benefit as some of the ideas and facts mentioned may need further explanation. Now for the Good News contains clearly labelled diagrams, infographics and illustrations that will add to understanding many of the issues discussed. Teaching notes are available.
Themes Environmental Issues, Solutions, Global Community.
When his teacher announces that there will be a timed maths test the following Monday, Arun goes into meltdown. Even though he is bright and attentive, tests, especially timed ones, make him feel extremely anxious as he feels the pressure to perform. And so he is determined to get out of it by any means possible staging a protest about tests altogether (which only gets him into more trouble) and even pretending to be sick. But then a conversation with his neighbour helps him see things in a different light....
This is a story that nearly every reader will relate to. The anxiety that comes with the expectation of being tested, and being expected to do well, no matter how often teachers and other adults try to reassure you that it is 'just a test' to let them know how you're coping and that they can know where you need support. The fact is that the fear of not living up to expectations, particularly your own, can become bigger than the test itself and that is what distorts the results, not your lack of knowledge and understanding.
But even though we, as teachers, know this and that there are better ways of assessing a student's progress and program, boffins wanting to protect their positions insist on imposing tests to measure achievement as though a score on a paper on a particular day indicates anything other than that, and using the results to make all sorts of high-stakes claims and decisions. So until there is enlightened leadership, such as the implementation of the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate, which does not require a final exam, our students are going to find themselves in Arun's position, sadly from their Kindergarten year. And so this is a worthwhile addition to every teacher's toolkit, especially those who teach that middle primary area where the fear and anxiety really start to take hold, so it can be shared over and over, especially the conversation that Arun has with Mr Patel on pp 48-49. Sometimes just turning up for something that we are afraid to do is the biggest achievement, and, having done that, the rest is not so hard.
This is a little book that has the potential to have the most enormous impact.
Themes Minority groups, Examinations, Protests.
Barbara Braxton
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Pan Macmillan, 2024. ISBN: 9781035042333. (Age:15+ - Adult) Recommended.
The Spellshop is a lovely feel-good cosy cottage fantasy, perfect to read on a cold winter’s day, or when the reader is feeling down. Kiela is a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, content to live in a small cubicle with her sentient spider plant, Caz. She rarely speaks to anyone, happy to catalogue the spellbooks in her collection. When rebels set fire to the Library, she and Caz, with crates of precious books, set sail for the distant island where she was born. Arriving there, she realises that she will have to make a living for herself. The nobles of the city have been draining the island’s magic for years and using the spells from the stolen spellbooks she quietly sets up a jam shop and tries to improve the islanders’ lives. With nosy and helpful neighbours like the good looking Larran, she discovers that self-imposed isolation is not always possible.
The Spellshop initially reads like a slow burning romance, but once I become immersed in the story the fantastic setting and fabulous creatures took over. I loved Caz the sentient spider plant, who makes funny and helpful comments and is the best of friends. The merhorses that frolic in the bay are delightful and the idea of cute, winged cats lounging on rooftops brought a smile to my face. It was easy to understand why Keila decided to research her stolen spellbooks to help the island’s inhabitants. The portrayal of the shop, with Keila’s delicious raspberry jam and Bryn’s baked goods, was mouth watering and it was delightful to see Keila gradually emerge from a solitary young woman to a helpful, kind neighbour.
Keila knows that sharing magic with common people is punishable with death, but their need is so great that she does so under the guise of selling herbal remedies that heal trees and make plants grow. When danger comes from the imperial capital the islanders’ ingenuity will be tested as they try to keep their home safe.
Perfect for fans of Travis Baldree’s Legends & lattes, fans may also like to read Durst’s Queens of Renthia fantasy series, starting with The queen of blood.
All About the Brain, written by Dr Gabriel Dabscheck, a paediatric neurologist at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, is the second book in the All About the Body non-fiction series. In this latest release readers are introduced to the brain as the boss of the body. It controls our senses, out movements and our thoughts. The brain stores our memories and gives us our personality.
Most living creatures have a brain with the octopus having a mini brain in each of its eight arms. Sponges and jellyfish do not have a brain but the sperm whale has a brain that weighs about 9 kilograms. Our human brain weighs about 1 kilogram and is the size of a grapefruit. Throughout this engaging book are interesting facts that young readers will enjoy hearing, especially about what makes up our brain, what it looks like and how it works. The information about our senses and how the brain triggers each one to play a different role is fascinating.
The highly accessible information presented on each page is in large font and well-spaced. It is surrounded by vibrant images and diagrams using a consistent colour palette of green, purple, orange, pink and white. There is short glossary at the end looking at challenging key words such as hippocampus and cerebellum.
This is a wonderful companion to All About the Heart, CBCA 2024 Eve Pownall Notable book, and a perfect addition to library shelves.
Another in the fine series written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley will inform readers asked to follow its path of destruction. Starting with the willy willy, then on to a twister, the places that the tornado hits are various, from Bangladesh to Sydney, Missouri to Beenleigh.
But each has the power causing flying debris to strike with powerful rain and wind. Do not try to outrun them, because they travel at 400 kilometres an hour. And after the chaos is the widespread rubbish, houses overturned, cars upside down, people in shelters not knowing what they will come back to. The destruction made by the tornado is monumental, and one thing that it is known is that it will return.
Powerful words, presented in four lined rhyming verses, will take the breath away as they are read. Each verse presents a detail of what a tornado is. At the end of the story is a page of facts that will inform and interest readers, and they will be able to link those facts with the story they have just read.
Stunning illustrations cover the pages with images of the tornado and what it looks like in its many guises. The pages where it changes from the wind itself to the destruction it causes will stop readers in their tracks, as they see the mishmash of furniture, household goods, books, toys, cars and building materials all mixed up together.
We often see this mayhem on the screen, but Whatley’s masterful images of the destruction make it far more real. The child coming out of the shelter could be them, surviving after a tornado. It could be them trying to outrun one, it could be them whose house and everything inside is tossed about into a mess of concrete, wood and things once held dear.
Themes Tornados, Distraction, Natural disasters.
Fran Knight
Tennis Camp diaries: Doubles disaster by Ash Barty with Jasmin McGaughey and Jade Goodwin
From the team that created the very popular early readers Little Ash series comes a new series that is sure to engage young middle grade readers. The first book in the Ash Barty Tennis Camp Diaries has the title Double Disasters and is full of fun, worries, diary writing, talent quests, outdoor activities and lots of tennis.
Ten year old Ash is at her first ever tennis camp for two weeks. She is feeling nervous but finding out her roommate is Zia, an opponent from tennis competitions, helps her to feel at home. Ash and Zia make friends straight away with Richie, Nat and Ollie and Ollie is even chosen to be Ash’s doubles partner. They do not particularly gel well as doubles partners at first but work hard to make progress on how they play.
Each day, Ash writes in her secret diary about many of the things she has done and said, and how she learns something new each day. She has difficulty with a boy called Max but out on the water without one of their oars she and Max sort out their issues. Zia and Ash perform a dance at the Talent Contest and unfortunately Ash is involved in a rather abrupt ending to the contest.
This engaging and entertaining read is perfect for readers who love sport, tennis, going on camp, making new friends and having fun. Written in a similar format to other popular diary-style books, it has illustrations throughout as well as highlighted key words and phrases. Ash Barty Tennis Camp Diaries #2: Superstar is coming soon.
An Nebula Award Nominee for Middle Grade and Young Adult Literature (2023), and Lodestar Award Nominee (2024), Liberty’s daughter is a fascinating foray into a near future where separatists escaping the taxes and rules of the US have set up seasteads - old cruise ships and platforms to make a country. Beck Garrison lives on Min, short for New Minerva, a seastead in the Pacific Ocean She is a finder - she finds articles that people want and when she is hired to find a missing woman, an indentured worker, she uncovers things that she did not expect. Her father, a powerful man on the archipelago, is not happy with these discoveries which lead her into danger.
Liberty's Daughter is divided into seven parts and appears to be based on a series of short stories, some previously published. The parts hang together to form a coherent whole and make it easy to read. Beck is an intrepid young woman, who is very skilful at finding things. What she uncovers about the worlds of the seasteaders is shocking. There is a biotech world, a sin city and bond workers are chained to desks performing highly dangerous work. The world that Kritzer describes is well fleshed out and it was easy to picture the different places, especially those built up on cruise ships.
A coming-of-age story, Beck faces the task of freeing bond slaves that have been tricked into signing contracts. She becomes an advisor for a reality TV show based on the seastead and connects with illegal workers' fights organisers as well as facing a pandemic that threatens everyone lives. With a dysfunctional family setting and some difficult choices for Beck, Liberty's daughter is a thought provoking and intense read.
Well-known award-winning Australian author Emily Rodda has been writing for 40 years. Her debut novel Something Special was written in 1984 and was a CBCA Book of the Year in the Younger Reader Awards category in 1985. To celebrate the 40-year anniversary, HarperCollins Publishers have re-released this short novel for a new generation of readers.
The story is centred on the school fete and Sam and her mother Lizzie are involved in organising the second hand clothing stall. There are bags of clothes spread throughout the house with Sam’s younger baby brother Toby causing some mischief. When the clothes are finally tidied and packed away in boxes ready for the fete, Sam falls asleep in the large chair. When she awakes she finds that some of ‘The Special’ items are being worn by their previous owners. Sam is bewildered by how this could have happened and interesting conversations take place between Sam and the visitors. When it begins to get out of hand, Sam wakes up screaming and is soothed by her mother. All is as it was in the room. Was Sam dreaming? At the fete, the second hand clothing stall does very well, with those items known as ‘The Special’ all going to the right fit person. But there is one particular customer who has a connection to Sam and Sam is left wondering if it really was just a dream.
This is an engaging story with a touch of fantasy and magic but was written 40 years ago and some of the references to children’s discipline may not be what would happen now. Teacher's notes are available.
Themes School Fete, Second hand Clothes, Dreaming, Fantasy.
Kathryn Beilby
Milly's mind: a peek inside autism by Colin and Milly Armstrong. Illus. by Jo McGivern
Little Steps, 2024. ISBN: 9781922833167. (Age:8-12+) Highly recommended.
Milly’s Mind: a peek inside autism, is a refreshing and engaging explanation of how a child with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) sees their world. Written by Milly and her dad Colin in clever, carefully constructed rhyme, the reader is taken on a journey that explores how Milly lives with ASC on a day-to-day basis. She explains how her brain responds to things, how sometime her words do not come out how others would like, how she reacts to situations, and how she struggles socially at times.
ASC is a natural variation in how the brain grows It affects how I think, learn and, I suppose, It probably explains why I have no filter. And why sometimes I seem a little off-kilter
Milly is an energetic and vibrant child with a winning personality who has wonderful support and understanding from family and health professionals but more importantly provides those in her life with immense joy. Milly also has a vital message to share with others to enable them to show kindness and acceptance of those with ASC. As all children struggle with emotions, often those are heightened for those with ASC. As Milly says:
When something goes wrong, or I make a mistake, I get gripped by emotions I cannot shake. The wave of feelings can build up in me quickly, I get lost in the anger rolling in thickly.
Those who are quick to judge children who may not always ‘fit society’s norms’ are just being themselves on their own journey and deserve our respect and understanding.
Milly’s Mind is an essential book to share with both children and adults and has a place in all libraries.
Thank you Milly for being so open and honest. You are incredible and have an amazing story to tell. Visit Milly’s website for further information.
Our planet is a colourful place...white ice caps, green trees, blue oceans and skies, brown soil . . . and more! And each crayon is delighted to share their part in keeping it colourful, especially Beige who pops up constantly to highlight his contribution, like a little toddler desperate not to be overlooked.
This is a funny addition to this series for young readers, as they are encouraged to look at the world around them and its colours and begin to develop an appreciation for their environment and their responsibility towards it. It opens up opportunities for some elementary data collection as natural elements and objects are classified according to colour as well as art appreciation as they discover the myriads of tints, tones and shades of the hues of the colour wheel represented in Nature.
As well as being lovable characters in themselves, the Crayons always have adventures and experiences that can lead to greater learning, and this one is just as promising as all the others in the series.
The wrong hands sees the return of Detective Declan Miller following his first appearance in the Sunday Times bestseller The last dance. The wrong hands is London based detective crime writer Mark Billingham's twenty-third crime novel. Billingham is well known, for the Detective Inspector Tom Thorne series (two of which were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1) and another series broadcast on BBC1 based on the novels In the dark and Time of death. Billingham has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculiar Award for Crime Novel of the Year and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective (Tom Thorne) created by a British writer. Detective Declan Miller is a new and different central character. The crime writing remains in good hands. Be prepared - one of the greatest aspects of this book is the play on words. The twists, turns, false trails and false assumptions of the plot lead the reader on a merry ride. The clues are made available to the reader but concentration is needed or they will be missed. (This reader missed them).
Detective Declan Miller is a larger-than- life character. He is described by the omniscient authorial voice as having a 'butterfly mind'...'easily distracted'.This is irritating for both his colleagues and the crims but it points to an unusually active mind - capable of making connections that others don't see. And of course this is exactly what makes him the unashamedly, not-so-humble best detective. Probably, one could think that he is 'on the spectrum' because of his single-minded crashing path through social situations. He is abrasive, rude, says what he thinks and is inclined to operate solo with scant regard for his offsider and/or any of his colleagues. He has a big mouth and unpredictable responses and the reader learns to wait in trepidation for whatever he will say or do next.The storyline is drenched in dry and hilarious English idiomatic dialogue that is liberally sprinkled with swearing and rough banter - the language of the police and criminal underworld in Blackpool. Miller is the funniest of all.. 'you dozy donk', 'Bloody Nora'. There are many laugh out loud scenarios and conversations. If you open this book at any page the wit is there. However Miller has a softer side. Real friends in his ballroom dancing group understand him. He regularly describes his ongoing casework to them. This parallel retelling is a clever authorial strategy as it aids reader understanding of the multiple characters and strands. Crucially, Miller's detective wife has been recently murdered, and though he is officially banned from the case, he cannot help himself from intervening, using his trademark unconventional and unsanctioned methods.
Blackpool is an English coastal town which has its fair share of low-skilled, disaffected people. Billingham's descriptions of the overcrowding, the sleazy guesthouses, the homeless druggies, the down-market dance halls, the late night drinking and the criminal network are drawn from real life. Blackpool, which in The wrong hands, follows rival criminal kingpins morphing from operating sleazy burger joints to drugs and paid killers, has in real life a crime rate that is 155% compared to the national crime rate so this detective/ crime novel is set in the perfect location.
A briefcase figures large in this story. In the briefcase is a pair of severed hands - proof of a contract killing. A host of characters enter the plot: local shonky business owners, criminal gang leaders and their disenchanted wives, a hitman, petty thieves, homeless druggies, a psychotic welder, various police officers and detectives and more. The briefcase is wanted and people are killed in the collateral damage caused by the search. Stakeouts are arranged and fail until the startling finale.
The crimes are significant and on-going. A killer must be caught. Miller is memorable - a fully drawn character complete with flaws. Despite his idiosyncrasies he has greater powers of observation and a superior mind compared to the police with their unsuccessful, possibly past-caring investigation of his wife's death. The clues are there; the red herrings are there. Both the reader and the investigators trip up and follow false trails but the ride and the denouement are worth it. The action is so visually evocative that it is no wonder that Billingham's books are of great interest to screenwriters. Until Detective Declan Miller launches onto the screen though, he will inhabit your mind for a while.
Felix and Grandma have always lived oceans apart - until the day Grandma arrives in the city from Vietnam. Felix is so excited to meet Grandma and spend time with her. But it's tricky when he speaks no Vietnamese and she speaks no English. They get by with both showing each other special things like Felix's pet iguana Pete and Grandma showing him how to care for the garden but one day, when Felix and Grandma are visiting a big festival, Grandma gets lost and doesn't know how to ask for help. It is then that Felix decides to teach her English, and by working together and teaching each other, they bond closely as they learn to share words as well, culminating in their shared love of pizza.
With end papers that have flashcard translations of common words, (and Grandma's recipe for pizza), this is another story like I Hear a Buho and Giovanni that allows us to share and celebrate the languages spoken by our students as they take the opportunity to teach us the common words for the things that unite us regardless of our heritage. Having bilingual books in our collections and actively promoting them is a way that we can build bridges and open doorways for those who are not native English speakers by showing them that we value what they can bring to the teaching and learning experience.
For many newcomers to this country not speaking the common language can be a very isolating experience, compounding the difficulties of what must have already been a difficult decision, but if we can reach out to families through stories - perhaps even inviting them into the library to share the stories of their childhood in their own language to encourage those of the same background to hear them and learn about them - we show the parents, particularly the mothers, that we care and that their child will not be lost. And, in return, we all gain so much!!!
This sweeping look at twentieth century Russia is seen though the eyes of Count Rostov, a member of the aristocracy, sent to trial and relegated to house arrest at the Metropole Hotel in Moscow. He stays there under pain of death and finds in the hotel, a kaleidoscope of fascinating characters, intrigues and tensions to keep himself amused. The reader is taken from Czarist Russia, through the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, to World War One, and then the aftermath of upheaval to the time of Stalin and the chilly relations with the West.
Relegated to a room ten feet square in the attic of the hotel, Rostov carves out a life for himself, which he finds surprising. All of his needs are met, and he is early bewitched by a young girl, Nina the daughter of an official resident in the hotel, leaving the girl to fend for herself. She has a pass key to all the doors, and they explore together, Rostov learning that those who work behind the scenes are worth the trouble of getting to know. When Nina’s father is moved on, Nina leaves and Rostov helps in the restaurant, eventually becoming head waiter. Surprisingly Nina reappears with her young child, giving her to Rostov to keep until she returns. Her husband has been sent to Siberia, and it is where she is headed to support him. Rostov knows they are unlikely to return, such is the fate of many who are sent that way.
Through Sofia, Rostov learns more of the world, and it is against this background that the reader is made aware of Stalinist Russia and the Cold War. As Head Waiter, he meets many different people, from those who work for the American embassy, to journalists and members on the ruling elite in Moscow. He is staggered at the maturity shown by Sofia, and becomes aware that she loved music and is learning the piano. Her skill matures and she is chosen to perform in Paris.
Count Rostov makes plans for them both to escape the confines of Russia.
I loved this book, particularly the machinations behind the scenes. Rostov is there when petty bureaucrats make wholesale decisions that can ruin people’s lives, and is there to watch the jostling for position when Stalin dies, the main players eating dinner at the restaurant. The running of the hotel once in the safe hands of an experienced manager, is now taken over by a man absorbed by protocols and time management, with every thing accounted for. He makes sweeping decisions about the running of the hotel, the restaurant, the bars and the rooms, and as he hoovers up misdemeanours of the staff, they are all in his thrall.
A most rewarding book, one which allows the reader to laugh at the pettiness of bureaucracy while being made aware of the life and death struggles behind the facade.
Themes Russia, USSR, Stalin, Cold War, World War One, Russian Revolution, Humour.
Fran Knight
Unreal. Can you tell fact from fake? by Kate Simpson and Leila Rudge
Allen & Unwin, 2024. ISBN: 9781761180347. (Age:8-12) Highly recommended.
Unreal! Can you tell fact from fiction? is an absorbing oversized hardcover book that will immediately hook young readers from the very first pages. The introduction advises them that some mythical displays have ended up in the Natural History area and help is needed to sort them out. This then leads into a page discussing real or unreal, and sorting fact from fiction with five important questions asked:
Who is providing me with this information? Do they have evidence for their claims? Why are they telling me this? How recent is the information? Do other sources agree?
Following this is a contents page beginning with a chapter called ‘Into the Deep’ with the final chapter called ‘It Was THIS Big!’ Each chapter discusses a number of creatures and the reader can try to guess from the information which of those are real and which one is unreal. It is not always obvious but the answers are provided on the following pages with further fascinating facts. From Australia there is mention of the drop bear, a predatory marsupial that can drop on unsuspecting tourists. Real or unreal? There is also a delightful story about the spaghetti tree broadcast on BBC television April 1, 1957, which may have tricked some of the viewers! In the final pages is a thank you for helping to sort out the creatures plus a handy index. There might also be one last creature: werewolves - unreal…Right?
Throughout this book are all sorts of wondrous creatures that will captivate and engage readers. Complemented by striking illustrations in soft pastel tones that are cleverly presented amongst the well-spaced and accessible information, this special book is a must-have for all libraries.
