New Series Titles ... and a new series!

In the last few months a few wonderful new series titles for younger readers have popped onto the shelves. Here are some of the ones that I enjoyed.

This new series Animal Rescue, from the amazing Jackie French, is sure to be devoured by young readers. It is full of adventure and excitement and just a little amazingness thrown in (there is a boy who can talk to animals) which will have readers searching for more. Each title is devised around an animal being in danger and needing to be rescued. There are also factual end-notes that give facts and explain the present day danger faced by the animals.

Elephant Alert (Animal Rescue Series #1) Jackie French (Scholastic):
Leo can talk to animals and his best friend's a guinea pig! One moment he is in his backyard staring at his guinea pig and the next moment he is on a beach in Indonesia as part of a recue team, getting there in a rocket that is made from recycled plastic bottles and piloted by Mozz, a very clever girl who lives with her mad scientist grandmother.
Leo talks to the elephants on the island but they elephants won't move to higher ground. If they don't a fast approaching tsunami will wash them out to sea and soon the elephants and Leo are in deep trouble. The elephants are there for a special reason, but will they get away in time?
also available Gorilla Grab.

The kids love the titles that are in these and the librarians tell me they can’t keep enough of them.

Meet the Vampiresons (Freak Street #13) Knife & Packer (Scholastic)
This is the thirteenth title in this series about a very freaky group of families that live on Freak Street and this family flies around the neighbourhood on wings. It could be frightening having a blood sucking family on the street, although with aliens and zombies on the street it couldn’t be too more frightening, but these vampires have given up their blood sucking ways! This book continues the fun of Freak Street with well designed pages and lots of bright colour throughout.
Mrs Vampireson is a dentist specialising in the treatment of fangs and ‘monster dentistry’ so when the shark at the local aquarium needs a special set of razor sharp teeth it is this dentist who is charged with the job of supplying them. Crazy adventures happen - the gigantic teeth are stolen from the back of the car they are being delivered in; the star chef for Junior Superchef has fallen from grace; and there is a werewolf – with missing teeth.

Torlavasaur (Boy vs Beast Battle of the Mega-Mutants #13) Mac Park (Scholastic)
Beasts have escaped from the Outlands and are back in Beastium and fighting in the fire land. These beasts are new, not those encountered by Kai in earlier battles but there are similarities. They are Mega-mutants. And this time Kai must join forces with Jay and together they must defeat the new beasts.
These books are wonderful reads for young boys wanting to read their first chapter books. The print is large, and they are filled with illustrations and all the technical gadgetry they can imagine to help them defeat the creatures. Two new Boy vs Beast titles, Torlavasaur and also Chillteratan, are sure to be popular.


Enjoy the reads!

Fiction for Junior Readers

Its been a slow start to the year but we are now back on track with some delightful new fiction titles that appeared late last year and early this year. these are wonderul reads.

Selby Sprung Duncan Ball (HarperCollins)

A book about a dog that can talk? Well that can only mean one thing – there is a new Selby book and here it is. For quite a while kids all over the country have been enjoying the exploits of Selby the talking dog and this new book continues his wonderful adventures. He has had many close shaves keeping his talkative nature a secret from the world but with this new Selby adventure his number could be up. The world’s richest man, Evil Genius, who Selby has encountered before, is on a mission, at whatever it costs and his company already owes billions of dollars, to get that dog! With thousands of agents compbing Australia – wide in search of Selby maybe this will be it!

But in the meantime Selby is hurled out of the world’s only sky-writing embroidery aeroplane to what should be certain death, he encounters Vampires that invade his peaceful town, and he is captured by a Shark Man on Death Island.

The 13-Storey Treehouse Andy Griffiths &Terry Denton (PanMacmillan)

For young readers who are ready for laughter and giggles and the comic cleverness of these literary funsters then this is the title to grab.

Andy and Terry, two new characters who just happen to have the same name as the creators of this book (even the likeness of the characters in the illustrations is remarkable) live in a tree hours that is 13 storeys high. It comes bowling alley, see-through swimming pool, a tank full of sharks, a library full of comics, a secret underground laboratory, a games room, self-making beds, vines you can swing on, a vegetable vaporiser and a marshmallow machine that follows you around and automatically shoots your favourite flavoured marshmallows into your mouth whenever it discerns you're hungry. And in this treehouse is where they now create their books. The problem is that they have forgotten the looming deadline for their latest title and have till 5 o’clock the next day to get it to him. Things go a little crazy as they try and come up with ideas and write the book!

Read the story AND the illustrations for a time full of laughter and giggles and fun!

And two new series:

The Secret of the Swords (Sword Girl Book 1) Frances Watts & Gregory Rogers

This is a new series that is just perfect for younger readers requiring early chapter books.

Tommy, which is really short for Thomasina, is a feisty kitchen hand who longs to be a knight. She loves watching the knights learn how to fight and when she intervenes to stop a young boy from the armoury jabbing the tip of a wooden practice sword at one of the castle cats her life is changed when she is promoted to Keeper of the Blades, But then Sir Walter's most valuable sword goes missing from the sword room will Tommy be able to find it before her life be ruined and she is sent back to the kitchen in disgrace?

Also out now – the Poison Plot.

The New Kid (Ghost Club Series Book 1) Deborah Abela (Random House)

Ghosts, ghouls and poltergeists can be a real problem but the ancient Ghost Club, an agency dedicated to solving the countless ghostly problems, the solution is at hand.

Angeline and Edgar are the two youngest members of the agency and with Dylan now joining them as the newest recruit they have a pesky ghost to track down and sort out. The real problem though is that Dylan, even though he is the grandson of the leader of the ghost club and well known ghost catcher, isn’t sure that he wants to be part of the agency. He is a little wary of ghosts and all things paranormal. With special Ghost Club gadgets and tools and the assistance of some well established older members of the Ghost Club the three are out to find why a ghost is causing all the ghostly chaos at Castle Koszmar.

This series is funny and a little spooky but will keep readers turning the page right till the end … and waiting for the next Ghost Club instalment.

View the trailer here: http://deborahabela.com/site/Ghost_Club_1.html

More new titles soon.