Fantasy

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll & Robert Ingpen (Walker Books)
This gorgeous hardback book is a joy to hold, to read, and especially to look at the illustrations again and again. This new complete and unabridged edition of the classic Lewis Carroll tale of Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy land where she meets characters like the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Puss and the Queen, has the wonderful illustrations in Ingpen's renowned style. This is a book to treasure for children young and old.

the East Wind (The Cloudchasers 2) David Richardson & Steven Hunt (ABC Books)
This is a very different book, part picture book, part graphic novel, part movie stills this adventure fantasy title is a good read (even the with the frightening Lopper) and the illustrations are well worth close examination.
At the end of the first book, Alice, Thomas and Spinner were sailing aloft in a balloon, no longer citizens of Bankertown but as the Cloudchasers. Now they continue their quest, Still they are chased by the catcher and his army, who are determined to catch the escapees at all costs and by any means, as the trio continue their quest to restore imagination and freedom and to draw! Strange creatures inhabit the pages, from the really small bookworm to the gargantuan sand-monster, and the survival of the trio is continually threatened.
This book is full of unexpected twists and turns and results in a thrilling and satisfying conclusion to the Cloudchasers saga.

Have fun with these ....

A little break but we are back and reading lots of books ....

One, Two, Cockatoo Sarah Garson (Random House)
A delightful counting featuring some of the most amusing cockatoos. I especially love the illustrations of the eight cockatoos hanging upside down drying off in the sun. This is just perfect cockatoo behaviour. Young children will love couting the cockatoos in each picture and of course the 'surprise' at the end.

Baby Wombat's Week Jackie French & Bruce Whatley (HarperCollins)
Mothball, from the amazing picture book Diary of a Wombat is back ... but this time Mothball is not alone. Now Mothball has a baby and once again craziess and havoc follows. There are friends to play with and time to sleep, food to eat and faces to see, and tunnels to dig to create the best hole ever - big enough for a mother wombat and her baby. But where do they find the most enormous hole?

Mascot Madness! & Robot Riot! Andy Griffiths (Pan Macmillan)
Two books in the Schooling Around series that have been out for a little while but which kids just adore. It’s all about class 5C and their teacher Mr Brainfright. These books are full of humour and jokes that younger readers really enjoy.
In Mascot Madness Mr. Brainfright finds a brand new banana suit
"Why anyone would want to throw away a perfectly good banana suite is completely beyond me!" but of course the class teacher didn't know what Gretel knew about that banana suit.

And in Robot Riot ... Henry is suspicious about the new girl in class - Roberta ... could she be a robot? He is quite sure he is but the trouble is convincing his friends! After all she writes amazingly good stories and she certainly does not think Robot jokes are funny!

These books will have kids giggle all the way to the next one!

Grace

Grace Morris Gleitzman (Penguin Books)
This is one of the best books that I have read this year. It was consumed on a recent Sunday morning in one sitting. This is a powerful, rivetting read and just absorbing.
Grace is eleven years old. She lives in a strictly religious community where much of what happens to its members, including her family, is decided for them. Like many eleven year olds Grace is asking questions and becoming an independent thinker ... traits that get her into very deep trouble. Her loving father, who answers his daughter's questions honestly, causes the elders to brandish him as evil and expell him from the church. Grace, though, attempts to right the wrong (with the aide of a tow truck driver and his son), to stay in the church and to keep her family together.

See Morris speak at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ANChOBUE8

Popular Series titles

These are the latest titles in really popular series and of course they are books that I really enjoy reading - and very importantly the kids are enjoying reading them too.

On the Case (Walk Right In Detective Agency Book 5) Moya Simons (Walker)
They are at it again. The Milk Bay school-aged detectives have some very intriguing cases to solve. Like the case of Jake, the new kid in Milk Bay who has drawer full of stolen things that he swears he didn't steal and now he's being charged. There's also a really bad smell (a killer really) that needs solving and a missing lorikeet that needs to be found.
Great fun reads for kids that they might not even put down.

Monkey Fist (Samurai Kids #4) Sandy Fussell (Walker)
The Samurai kids are back and this time they are venturing deep into China and confronting the advisor to the Emperor - Secretary Lu Zeng. Kyoko has been kidnapped, and sensei knows by whom. But what reason would the Secretary have for this - surely there is only evil in his mind. Could it be to further his search for eternal life?
As with the other titles there is still much to be learnt for the Little Cockroaches in this is a riveting read.

Battle for Rondo Emily Rodda (Scholastic)
This is the thrilling climax to the Rondo books.
Leo and Mimi return for one final time to the magical world of Rondo with its talking creatures and magic and mystery. But the evil Blue Queen herself has become more powerful. This time she has an almighty powerful dragon by her side and the queen has revenge firmly on her mind. A defence shield encompassing the Blue Queen's castle is not enough to protect the world of Rondo. A quest is begun, a prediction whispered from the Tideseer that must be unravelled, a ferocious battle engaged, a name denied, and once again ... the key to Rondo is vitally important and enables the final resolution.
This series has been a joy to read. Rondo readers who love this book and will not be disappointed. Just right for competent readers.

These books are great reads and should be thoroughly enjoyed along with teh other titles in various series.

Picture Book Treats for Youngsters

Fearless Colin Thompson & Sarah Davis (ABC Books)
Lots of folks think bulldogs are scary looking animals ... so naming a bulldog Fearless would usually be just right. And just like people are sometimes given the wrong names it was especially the same with Fearless -- Fearless wasn't! If a car backfired in the street - so did Fearless. He knew there were scary things everywhere, like dangerous black handbags and stairs and monsters! But eventually Fearless does live up to his name when a not-too-nice visitor arrives at the house one night!
Kids will love the story and adore Sarah's fantastic illustrations - especially of the dangerous monsters and the facial expressions of Fearless.


Ten Little Hermit Crabs Lee Fox & Shane McG (Allen&Unwin)
This is a delightfully bright counting book told in rhyming verse.
Ten little hermit crabs scuttle to the sea ... and of course something happens and the ten become 9, the 9 become 8 and so it goes until there is just one little hermit crab sitting on the pier all alone. But that little hermit crab shouldn’t worry ... all turns out well in the end when the nine reappear!
The illustrations are bright, especially with the hermit crab’s ever changing shells. And includes a nice note about hermit crabs in the world too. Great for youngsters starting to count and play.


To The Top End: Our Trip Across Australia Roland Harvey (Allen&Unwin)
Roland Harvey has been creating some of the best Australian picture books for ages and this one continues his outstanding tradition. Readers of all ages will delight in pouring over the illustrations examining all the action on the pages as they follow the twisty windy words.

This time the family is off on an adventure travelling from Tassie to the very tip of The Top End. And of rouse there are happenings in each of the environments that they visit. Lots of jokes in the illustrations too (beginning with the scale of the map on the end papers) ... and there is a football to find in every illustration - I missed one or two!


Halloween In Christmas Hills: The Legend of Stingy Jack Karen Tayleur & Heath McKenzie (blackdogbooks)
Just in time here comes this funny picture book. Everyone in the Johnson family has a favourite holiday and come Halloween time they all dress up and go trick or treating and for the first time Miles gets to join in! They can visit all the neighbour's houses in the street ... except for Stingy Jack's house. But Cameron doesn't listen and rings the doorbell and doesn’t run away! When stingy Jack opens the door Cameron is in for a really big surprise.



What Will Baby Do? Mike Dumbleton & Craig Smith (Working Title Press)
A beautiful rhyming picture book that is just great for babies and their parents to read and read and read again. It features the important things in a baby's day - eating, bathing, going on an outing, sleeping ... and of course being loved.
Bib ... Bowl ... and small spoon, too. Now what will baby do?

Delilah's Dream Ian Trevaskis & Janine Dawson (New Frontier)
Delilah is a hen and she dreams of adventure but her sisters in the coop laugh at her dreams. Still Delilah continues dreaming and one night, when Delilah senses an intruder is coming to threaten their existence she puts her dreams into actions and it is Delilah the dreamer who saves the coop!
With delightful bright illustrations this a lovely tale of dreams coming true and friendship.

Grandpa Baby Margaret Wild & Deborah Niland (Penguin)This wonderful storyteller and illustrator have teamed up to create a picture book that grandpas and their grandkids are just going to love.While Georgie's parents are at work she is looked after by grandpa but one day their roles are reversed and it is Georgie who decides that he is big enough to look after grandpa. Soon Grandpa baby is doing all the things that little kids love to do with their grandparents ... like walking on the fences and pressing traffic light buttons and hanging on the monkey bars. When Grandpa Baby trips over and hurts his knee, it's Georgie who kisses it better but when grandpa baby stops halfway to home Georgie has to be creative to get them both home. Just beautiful.

Glorious picture books to share with younger readers.

TASHI

AWESOME ...
I have been a Tashi fan since the books first dropped onto bookshelves and they continue to be just brilliant. Younger readers developing a love for books will just adore this!

The Amazing Tashi Activity Book Anna & Barbara Fienberg & Kim Gamble (Allen & Unwin)
This is fantastic.
Tashi lovers have been waiting for someting special like this - a Tashi activty book, and inside these pages there are heaps of things to do. Not only is there a wonderful NEW Tashi story (Tashi and the Strangers ... there's a new family in the village and General Zeng's soldiers too) but the activities include a board game, a Tiger pop-up card to make, word puzzles, recipes for some of the favourite foods in the books including Tashi's favourite - fish cakes, a crossword puzzle and Kim has even included a how-to- draw Tashi instuctions.
This has to be a sure fire hit for any Tashi lover.

Enjoy!

Picture Books

Picture Books an be for the very young as well as for the older children and here are three lovely new titles.

Finding Home Gary Crew & Susy Boyer (Ford Street)
A young boy, a lover of books, loves a tall ancient tree solitary standing proudly on his parents bush property. it is the home to a flock of cockatoos which he sees as truly beautiful. His parents though see the cockatoos as destructive pests and set about ridding the property of this last lone tree and to the boy's distress the cockatoos.. Inevitable conflict follows with a dramatic conclusion.
Set in the time of the early settlers with hand driven bush saws, and travelling library staff and ha'pennies, this is a book that will leave an impact on its readers in both the text and in the well created bush illustrations.
This is one of those special picture books for mature readers.


Never Ever Before Stephen Michael King (Scholastic)
Big dreams of drifting with the wind like the Smalls. Talls are wibbly wobbly and fall over in the wind. Smalls are carefree light and drift in the wind ... but when a breeze becomes a big wind all three team together and help each other as one. The Smalls are protected, the Talls, strengthened and Big gets to fulfil his wish.

This is not the usual book about small and big and tall ... this book has a very different treatment for them and has many different themes; about wishing for change, staying the same, safety, teamwork and friendship, security, shelter and wishes.

Beautiful 'shape' illustrations.


Princess and Fairy Most Charming Flower Girls Anna Pignataro (Scholastic)
The delightful bunnies, Princess and Fairy are back in their third look-and-find adventure.
Miss Joy and Princess Charming and getting married and Princess and Fairy are to be flower girls. But before they can attend the wedding they have to find everything on their list of charming things -- which will all be found inside the covers of this book.
With sweet illustrations and delightful rhyming verse, this book will be looked at again and again to find the items on the list and flower girls will especially love this glittery book!