Younger Reader Fiction

Great new titles for those children just starting to gain confidence in their reading.

The Wombat And The Great Poohjam Jackie French & Andrew Marlton (Omnibus)
Mates - the new series of books for younger readers is just delightful. With short punchy chapters, small colourful illustrations and text clearly presented on white paper and generously spaced, these books are just right for helping those readers developing reading confidence.

In the Grand Poohjam there is a not so nice ruler, the grand Poohjam who wants to not only rule his kingdom but that of his neighbour. His plans come adrift when he is outwitted by a smart Princess and her singing wombat - and his own greediness and of course the fact that the wombat never sings!

Chook Shed Snake Phil Cummings & Greg Holfeld (Omnibus)
Mum's always right so when she tells dad to fix the chook yard fence dad fixes the fence ... but when a snake enters the chook shed the fixing task is not so simple and all sorts of chaos arises in the attempt to clean out the shed, find the snake and fix the chook shed! AND thankfully the snake escapes!!!

other titles include The Smartest Dog of All (Horrocks & Degennaro) and Thorpey (Starke & Jardine).

The Wand and the Sword Mike Zarb & Robin Gold (Random House)
The second title in the Belmont and the Dragon series is another fun read for younger readers.
This time the Redwitch has tricked the curator into revealing the secrets of Merlins magical wand on display in the museum so when she snaffles the wand she soon takes control of Old York! Of course it is up to Belmont to save the day ... but first he has to find Excalibur (Arthur's sword lying in Camelot) and then return to Old York to defeat the Redwitch.

These books will greatly assist younger readers gain confidence in reading and help move them to independent reading ... and they are also fun reads too!!!!

Great Fiction for younger and older readers

A stack of novels have come this way ... here are just a few with more to come shortly. These are terrific reads and will appeal to many readers.

Fire Song Libby Hathorn (ABC Books)
This is a great story - 24 hours in the life of a girl, Edith, who has been told by her mother to burn the house down that they live in to collect the insurance money. Things are desperate in her family. The family is split and life for Edith is exceptionally hard. with her mothers desperate demands echoing in her ears, Edith has to make her own decisions and to fight for what she believes in.


Dinosaur Knights Michael Gerard Bauer (Scholastic)
A really fun read that should have readers, especially boys, hooked!
This is time travel of epic proportions involving dinosaurs, wannabe knights and a scientist and a doubting journalist! Three different times are interwoven to bring this story to life.
A scientist conducts the most amazing experiment of anyone’s life. His experiment watched over by a dubious journalist is to stretch time and bring a living dinosaur from the prehistoric age to live in today's world. But not all goes to plan and the dinosaur is stranded in the middle ages where it is encountered by hopeful knights who must face this fearsome creature and the mystery must unravel.


A Ghost in My Suitcase Gabrielle Wang (Penguin)
Her Mama has died and 13 year old Celeste is taking her ashes back to China, her mother's ancestral home. Things are different in this country and her grandmother, her Por Por, is not what she expected. Her grandmother has a family gift - she is a ghost catcher. Does Celeste have this gift too? And there is also her Por Por's adopted child, Ting Ting whom Celeste must get to know and then unite with to confront the ghostly danger ahead.
A great story filled with wonderful Chinese culture.


Lighthouse Girl Dianne Wolfer & Brian Simmonds (Fremantle Press)
based on the true story of Fay Howe this book is part diary, part natrrative, part scrapbook. It tells the story of fay, who lives with her father and another keeper in a lighthouse, the last piece of Australia that the solders see boifre they set off for teh War to end all wars. Knowing semaphore, Fay is rapidly swept up into teh drama of war when she collects the semaphore messages of teh solderis on the troopships as they leave and sends them to their loved. she continues correspondence with one soldier while he is at war - until seh hears from him no more. A dramatic tale of harship and life and frienship.
This is a lovely book to hold and devour.

Wonderful fiction reads for wonter afternoons! Grab a copy from your local bookshop!

Delightful Picture Books

A very busy month -- but just in time here are 4 new picture books!

The Terrible Plop Ursula Dubosarsky & Andrew Joyner (Penguin Books)
Oh this is FUN and has to be one of the best this year! Just the title will have young readers giggling and ready to devour this great picture book told in rhyming verse!
Here is the story of the terrible PLOP,

with a bear and a rabbit and a hop, hop, hop.

But what is the PLOP?

Well this story starts with an apple and some very scared rabbits which soon becomes a multitude of stampeding animals running scared of the Terrible PLOP! including a Big brown Bear who thought that there was nothing stronger than he!
A rollickingly wonderful picture book.

The Great Rock Whale Christine Paice & Wendy O'Malley (Hachette)
This is a delightful modern Australian creation myth that tells the story of how Kiama blowhole in NSW got its name. A huge whale, after searching for his family for thousands of years becomes lonely and lost. He stops to rest under a cliff and over time as he transforms into rock he becomes one with the land. He still is able to blow air and as a result the Kiama blowhole is born.

Sarah's Heavy Heart Peter Carnavas (New Frontier)
Sarah knew the heavy heart would always be hers to carry. She just wished it wasn't so heavy so when she meets a boy whose heart is very, very light and floats away a solution might be not far away. A magical story about a little girl's search for friendship and love.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Sue Whiting & Sarah Davis (New Frontier)
This is the second title in the Music Box series, a great series that uses well known classical pieces to inspire terrific new stories. Each title contains the picture story book and a CD of the music with the story narrated by Antonia Kidman.
In this title Marcus and Mary are candy makers living in a fairytale land. They were the best of candy makers ... so when the king was passing by his incredibly sensitive nose tingled. Soon he was ordering 50 jars which could only be made with the help of the sugar plum fairy as she dances to Tchaikovsky's famous music from the Nutcracker Ballet! But this king was greedy wanting more and more. However would they solve this problem ... with a little help from the sugar plum fairy of course!

Do run (or hop) out and grab these great books.