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Review :: DRY :: Neal & Jarrod Shusterman
The drought – or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it – has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t take long showers, don’t panic. Until the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return, she and her younger brother must team up with an unlikely group in search of water. Each of them will need to make impossible choices to survive. Ok, confession time – Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman has…
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Review :: The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker :: Lauren James
What if death is only the beginning? When Harriet Stoker dies falling from a balcony in a long-abandoned building, she discovers a world of ghosts with magical powers – shape-shifting, hypnosis, or even the ability to possess the living. As she learns more about their community, Harriet is willing to do anything to unleash her own power, even if it means destroying everyone around her. But when all of eternity is at stake, the afterlife can be a dangerous place to make an enemy. Because who knows what grudges people have been holding onto for millennia, just waiting for a reckless girl to give them the chance to get vengeance.…
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kidlit :: Dogography :: Maree Coote
I absolutely adore Maree Coote’s amazing typographic books. I just think they are so clever and fun – they are perfect for littlies just learning their letters, and also wonderful entertainment for older kids. I have previously raved about Animology and Letters from Australia here, and we also have Letters from Melbourne, and they all get pulled off the shelves regularly. In this latest book we meet some cute canines. Every part of me’s a letter Does that help you see me better? Look very closely, Can you see the hidden letters that spell me?How do you spell DOG? In this brand new collection of typographic doggy delights this award winning illustrator…
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KIDLIT :: The Pony Question :: Jackie Merchant
I’m pretty sure I’m already on record here somewhere talking about how much I love a pony story – in fact I read a bunch of horsey middlegrade last year (and raved about them here), including Jackie Merchant’s first book – The Promise Horse. I ADORED The Promise Horse and was thrilled to see Jackie had a new novel coming out – The Pony Question. I read this one in a single sitting last week, and it gave me all the feelings! Essie doesn’t believe in signs or wishing on stars. She likes facts, and the fact is she’s left her love of horses firmly in the past. She doesn’t…
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Kidlit :: The Good Hawk :: Joseph Elliot
Middlegrade fantasy is my favourite thing to read at the moment. There are just so many great stories coming out in this category at the moment. One of the things I’m loving is the increasing amount of diversity I feel like we are seeing in stories for kids (or perhaps I’m paying more attention?). Joseph Elliot’s recent novel The Good Hawk, is a great example of middlegrade fiction that is about a young person with a disability, without being a story about that disability. Agatha is a Hawk, brave and fierce, who protects her people by patrolling the high walls of their island home. She is proud of her job,…
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Kidlit :: The Threads of Magic :: Alison Croggon
Something about the cover of Alison Croggon’s new middlegrade/upper primary fantasy novel – The Threads of Magic – caught my attention the very first time I saw it, so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on an early copy (kindly sent to me by the team at Walker books). Pip lives on his wits in the city of Clarel. When he pickpockets the wrong man, he finds himself in possession of a strange object – a heart in a silver casket. What’s more, the heart seems to be trying to communicate with Pip, and the royal officials who lost it will stop at nothing to get it…
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77 Saturday :: The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliot
Ok, so this week I meant to join in with 77 Saturday and completely forgot because it was the second day in a row that the temperature was over 40C and I think my brain might have melted a bit. In any case, I am aware that today is in fact Sunday, but I’m going to go ahead and join in with 77 Saturday today anyway. First, here are the Seventy-Seven Saturday Rules: Pick up a book (your current read, or the closest book to you, or your next read, etc) Turn to page 77 Find a snippet, sentence or paragraph you like. Share it on your blog or Twitter…
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Kid lit :: Letter Art Books by Maree Coote
Today I wanted to share a couple of gorgeous books that have been some of our favourites in the second half of this year, and that I think would make lovely gifts for the small people in your life (we’ve actually bought one for A to give her teacher too). The books feature letter art by Maree Coote, and they are just so clever and beautiful… The idea is that each picture is made up of the letter that spell it out – isn’t that genius?! The illustrations are big and bright and just gorgeous, and the books have lovely hard covers, and I just don’t think I could love…
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kidlit :: Dream Riders: Storm :: Laura Bloom and Jesse Blackadder
I really enjoyed Dream Riders: Frankie, the first book in the Dream Riders series, when I read it during my Aussie Middlegrade binge in May so I was really pleased when the team at Walker Books sent me a copy of Dream Riders: Storm. This one picks up where Frankie left off – when Frankie and Storm met – and we get the story from Storm’s perspective. Here’s the synopsis (from Goodreads) Living in a remote reach of The Pocket, twelve-year-old Storm is a hippy home-schooler Medievalist who knows almost nothing about the modern world. After taking out the archery prize at the local show, Storm spots the horse of…
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kidlit :: The Secret Lives of Unicorns
Now that we’re inside of 50 days to go until Christmas I wanted to start sharing some books that I think would make beautiful gifts for kids, starting with the gorgeous The Secret Lives of Unicorns by Dr Temisa Seraphini and Sophie Robin (from Walker Books) If you thought unicorns were strictly imaginary, think again. Anatomy, evolution, life cycle, magical properties: prepare to learn just how much you didn’t know you didn’t know about unicorns. Dive into the life’s work of famed unicornologist Professor Temisa Seraphini with this beautiful, fully-illustrated encyclopedic volume of unicorn knowledge. Meet species from the fjords of the north to the unforgiving deserts of the equator…
