More Great Fiction

Dangerous Games: Fletcher Smith, Sports P.I. Jonathan Harlen, (Scholastic)
This is sport, criminal investigations and detective work all rolled into one great read.
How did Don Bradman have a test average of 99.94? Was it because he had a good luck charm that the Don had now passed to Tom Baker who was scoring remarkably well until he lost the charm. Now it is the task of Fletcher Smith PI to find the lucky charm and restore it to its rightful owner ... but how do you find a lucky pig's foot when it was lost in a crowd of cricket enthusiasts? Will soemone new grab hold of it and become a sporting megastar?


One Beastly Beast, Two Aliens, Three Inventors, Four Fantastic Tales! Garth Nix (Allen&Unwin)
Garth Nix writes wonderful stories and this book is a collection of four shorter stories. there are stories about a pirate and a beastly beast, strange inventions, rats, aliens, enchanted penguins and of course a princess, and a serpent and a dragon.
These are magical adventures and wonderful reads.



White Crane: Samurai Kids Book 1 Sandy Fussell & Rhian Nest James (Walker Books)
Set in the time of feudal Japan this is the story of Niya Moto a one legged boy training to be a great samurai warrior. When all other samurai schools reject him, the Cockroach Ryu, headed by Sensei Ki-Yaga, takes him in to join other rejected students -- Kyoko an albino girl, Mikko a boy with one arm, Taji a blind boy, Yoshi a huge boy who refuses to fight and soon Nezume. Under their legendary samurai warrior training they develop their skills in all of the samurai arts from sword fighting to calligraphy. Together, they make the treacherous journey to the Samurai Games and confront the mighty Dragon Ryu to compete for the trophy and the honour of being the best Ryu. Will the students master their strengths and their weaknesses and work as a team?


UFO Afloat Dave Hackett (Penguin)
The family is at it again on another unavoidable family outing and this time they end up on an ocean liner ... Jess has taken off with Brad (a wannabe rock star who is off to film a music video in front of a live volcano) on their 'love' journey. When the family chase the love birds and end up on the ocean all matter of craziness sets in ... and a little nausea too for mum who is struck with a contagious virus that confines her to her cabin for the cruise.
This is a ship load of fun and laughter and giggles.

Grab these wonderful books for fun reads.

Fun Fiction Reading

Three new fiction titles for fun reading!

The Detachable Boy with One Loose Foot Scot Gardner (Allen&Unwin)
This book is truly funny. a great read that will have kids in stitches ... stacks of kids have asked the questions what if my body parts could come apart ... well this book is one example of what would happen!
John Johnson's body parts fall apart he can be dismembered quite easily ... a sneeze can blast his head off, his feet can wriggle free and his hands can walk around all by themselves. So when Crystal, one of his best mates is kidnapped by men in vinyl suits and ends up being held in the USA as a prisoner what does John do ... he packs himself into a suitcase and is posted to the USA to rescue Crystal - aided by his other best mate Ravi.
A crazy wonderful read full of silliness and body bits!


10 Rules for Detectives Kierin Meehan (Penguin)
In a small country town its hard being an awesome private detective - there's nothing to be detecting at first. Soon Boris and Kev and the 'worst girl in the universe' Julia - are on the search for a bushranger's hidden treasure, find out about a horse riding ghost appearing, discover creepy bats appearing in town, find ancient letters and caves and mysterious people and of course come up with ten rules for detecting along the way.
Another fun read.


Don't Kiss Girls Pat Flynn (Penguin)
Tony Ross is in lurve with the most popular girl in school. Unfortunately for Tony he is not the best looking guy, girls don’t like him much and he's not too smart either. And as often is the case the path of true love is not too smooth! There is the school musical and kissing and braces all are part of Tony's story. And as Tony learns the art of kissing ... things go from bad to worse!
The six small stories that make up this book are fun! As well as the great read kids will be flipping pages to see the kids run at the top of the page!

Don't be surprised if there is lots of laughter and giggles when kids read these books.

New Picture Books for younger and older readers

Here we go with new picture books - including one for Christmas .... it's not that far away!

An Aussie Day Before Christmas Kilmeny Niland (Scholastic Australia)
Before the NIGHT before Christmas comes the DAY before Christmas and this is the book that explains everything that happened on that day. This glorious picture book is from the creator of the hugely successful An Aussie night Before Christmas.
'Twas the day before Christmas and in his beach shack,
Santa was snoozing flat on his back.
'Shake a leg, love,' Sheila Claus said.
'Time to get ready for the big night ahead.'
This is the book that tells how Aussie Santa gets ready to deliver his presents.

Cheeky Monkey Andrew Daddo & Emma Quay (ABC Books)
Cheeky monkey, sleepy head, funny bunny, lucky duck, silly billy ... they are all names that adults call their children and these words (and more) are all part of this delightful book. Explore life for a family as they move through the day beginning with a 'cheeky monkey' pretending to be asleep. This book comes from the team who created the award-winning Good Night, Me.

A Little Bit Christine & Peter Maniaty & Claire Richards (Scholastic Australia)
This book is a little bit of fun that celebrates growing up!What make up a three year old ... a little bit of everything rolled into one! it looks at all the little bits that go into making a person - the good and the bad, the kind and the mean - and there is story in the art work too for each 'pair of bits'.

And a picture book for older children that will surely pose many questions and much discussion...

Home And Away John Marsden (Lothian)
The refugee situation in Australia is well known. Many refugees arrive here from war torn lands or from lands where their lives are threatened.
Here is a different presentation of the refugee situation shown in a very different and shocking light. What if the refugees were a typical Australian family? How would they cope surviving the harsh realities of living life as refugees? What would happen? How would we feel? This book begins with an ordinary family on a typical day which rapidly changes the next day when the war begins -- the family soon become refugees.

Picture books are great for sharing - reading the words and exploring the wonderful artwork - enjoy!

National Literacy and Numeracy Week

Yes ... it is. It is National Literacy and Numeracy Week.

Follow the link to find out more about National Literacy and Numeracy Week.

Do make sure you also check out the Reading to your Children page especially compiled for parents that links to my new list - Wonderful New Australian Kids Books for 2008 - my favourite books that I have seen published since NLNW last year.

Book lists from previous years are also there along with the Read Aloud Hints for Parents and Caregivers.

And don't forget that on Wednesday it is National Reading Day READ!!!

Have a great National Literacy and Numeracy Week.