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.

Glorious Picture Books

After a little hiatus it is back to it with some of the lovely books that have come across my desk.

King Jack and the Dragon Helen Oxenbury & Peter Bently (Puffin)
How do toddlers construct a castle?
How do they fight dragons and ogres and beasts?
What happens when giants come and take two of the fighters home?
What happens to King Jack?
Will he be able to stay all night in his castle – alone, like a brave knight would?
This is a beautiful picture told in rhyming verse with lovely soft illustrations that makes this magical, make-believe adventure perfect for little boys and brave children everywhere!

Nana's Colours Pamela Allen (Viking)
Children are bringing presents to Nana for her birthday and each flowery present is a colour.
Pamela Allen creates some of the most luscious picture books for the very young and this continues that long tradition. This book is perfect for toddlers investigating colours with each new colour (in word and colour) introduced on individual black and white spreads. The paper is strong and the book is solid and suitable for small hands. And the characters – Nana and children are delighful.

Prudence Wants a Pet Cathleen Daly & Stephen Michael King (Scholastic)
Prudence desperately wants a pet. But when her parents refuse, she finds a pet of her own. First a branch that tripped dad over so he had to break it into bits. Then a twig that gets lost in a washing machine and then an old shoe … but Prudence soon got tired of walking the shoe. –and it doesn’t lick or jump into her lap either. Prudence attempts at getting a pet continue until eventually on her birthday she gets a big pink birthday present – the perfect pet!

For All Creatures Glenda Millard & Rebecca Cool (Walker Books)
This is the second creation from the team who also created Isabella’s Garden.
It is a celebration of life in all its many and varied forms. For the winged and the walking, the singing and the silent, the insects, the camels, the elephants, the frogs … for all creatures great and the small - we are thankful.
Bold colours with delightful rhyming text.

The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon Aaron Blabey (Penguin)
For the village of Twee, seven miles from the sea. Life was not very good. In fact they were cursed because all over the tow and any hour the ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon could appear – and she had a very, very unpleasant appearance that scared everyone in the town. That was until young Herbert kettle decided that they should ask the ghost why it was in there town. This doesn’t quite go as Herbert planned but friendships are made and the town is saved.

A Bus Called Heaven Bob Graham (Walker Books)
Another master of the picture books is Bob Graham and this one I just adored.
When a broken, old bus appears one morning, in a neighbourhood it really creates a kerfuffle causing traffic to slow and people to stop and talk and very soon it is transported to a house where it gets a community transformation and becomes a focus piece for the whole neighbourhood. But it doesn’t last and when the tow truck arrives to removes the obstruction the whole neighbourhood sets off in pursuit. Will it get scrapped or returned – its all up to a game of table soccer!
Beautiful text and illustrations.


These are just beautiful picture books - enjoy sharing them.

Picture Books for many ages

Thoroughly lovely picture books ....

Look, A Book! Libby Gleeson & Freya Blackwood (Little Hare)
This is beautiful. a wonderful exploration of the imagination and all it can offer.
In a run down area, two children discover a book, much like the book itself, lying face-down on the ground. They take it to the top of a shed and start reading the book - and imagining ... they shelter from the rain and escape the flooding in a teacup, they can sail the skies with the aid of a used plastic soft drink bottle, and their surrounding landscape is constructed from recycled cans and bottle and cartons. And as the story tells, this book can be read again and again enabling imagination.
With beautifully creative and evocative illsutrations you never know where a book might take you!

Captain Congo and the Klondike Gold Ruth Starke & Greg Holfeld

(Working Title) A gorilla and a penguin ... who would have imagined them as an adventurous duo but they are wonderfully exciting as they team up in the Captain Congo books. In their third adventure Captain Congo and Pup are sent on a mission by The Agency, to the Klondike, the Yukon, the Great North west to investigate strange happenings in a gold camp. There are ghosts and monsters, including Sasquatch, skeletons in mines, and film crews making movies. Then when an attempt is made on Pup's life the mystery deepens.
This is a fantastic book for readers who like adventure and love reading in graphic novel format. The illustrations are perfect for this adventure.
Also discover Captain Congo and teh Maharaja's Monkey.

The Little Refugee, the Inspiring True Story of Australia's Happiest Refugee Anh Suzanne Do & Bruce Whatley (Allen&Unwin)
This is the children's version in picture book format of Anh Do's award winning memoir The Happiest Refugee and it is a delight.
It is the story of how and why he and his family fled Vietnam in an old fishing boat they had bought, it stank of fish, of their brush with storms and pirates, how his family established a business and lived in their beautiful new country instilling in the children that you just always have hope and Ahn Do's early school days as friendships develop and he becomes class captain.
An inspirational story with bruce Whatley;'s throughtful and delightful illustrations.

Fiction Delights

Here are some delightful fiction reads.

The Golden Door (The Three Doors Series: Book 1); Emily Rodda (Scholastic)
A new series from Emily Rodda will always be devoured and this one is no different. I couldn't put this book down and just HAD to finish reading it!
This is another richly created classic fantasy delight that the author creates so well with hideous creatures, magical objects, a quest to be endured, villainous villains and a very unlikely hero.
Weld is a city surrounded by protective walls. These walls must be maintained but this season the deadly Skimmers are getting more and more resourceful and getting over the walls in their nightly search for food. The city warden has called for more young men - 18 and over - to go forth and defeat the Skimmers and be forever rewarded. Rye is too young and is waiting for his brothers to return but after they fail to do so, young Rye takes matters into his own hands and ventures forth. But first he has to choose the correct door to leave the city.
See more at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZY5yme7Nfw&feature=player_embedded\
http://scholastic.com.au/minisites/threedoors/

Harry’s War John Heffernan (Scholastic)
Harry loves spending time with his grandfather. They build model planes together and Harry loves listening to the stories about his grandfather's heroic World War 2 adventures. Harry even tapes the stories. He beams when he gets to share his grandfather with his class at school when he is asked to visit the school. They also build model planes and share time together, which is very important because Harry doesn't know his own dad and the adults in his life wont talk about him. He too was a soldier but in a different war.
Harry's own adventures start to cause problems and soon his grandfather's war stories begin to unravel revealing that not all is quite as it seems.

On Orchard Road Elsbeth Edgar (Walker)
After living as the only child for 13 years Jane has a brand-new sister. As well, her mother has to stay in the city with the prematurely born sibling while Jane and her father, who has just lost his job, live in the country.
As the tale unwinds Jane is bullied at her new school, she strikes up a friendship with a boy who assists her when she gets stranded after twisting her ankle, and they meet a mysterious and lonely old woman with a rambling garden who becomes entwined in Jane's and Michael's lives.
A story of friendship, hope and healing, growing up and coming of age, and families.

Another Picture Book feast!

Glorous picture books ready to be snaffled by yougner readers.

Bilby Secrets Edel Wignell & Mark Jackson (Walker Books)
Part of Walker's Nature Storybook series, these wonderful books are all true. they are non-fiction presented in picture book format. There are 'facts' written into the narrative as well as specifically included within the book. The books contain an index and are wonderful for any child with an inquisitive naturalist mind.
Bilby Secrets is a narrative non-fiction picture book following the life of the bilby, an Australian marsupial. It tells of a young bilby's birth, habitat, behaviour and diet and how he learns the secrets of his desert home.
Beautiful accurate illustrations accompany the well structured text.

The Jewel Fish of Karnak Graeme Base (Viking)
A picture books from Graeme Base has not just exquisite illustrations and wonderful text, it often has a puzzle or riddle that must be solved to gather even more information and The Jewel Fish of Karnak is another of these treasures.
This tale set in ancient Egypt follows two scruffy thieves, Jackal and Ibis, who, have been assigned the task of returning the golden Jewel fish by the Cat Pharaoh to receive his pardon. They are also instructed not to steal anything else ... which they find very hard to resist.
Entwined with a puzzle that is resolved online, this is a lusciously illustrated book and comes complete with hieroglyphics and sparkling jewels. And don’t miss the work on the inside of the book’s dust jacket.
See more and hear Graeme at the youtube clip.

The Bicycle Colin Thompson and others (ABC Books)
As the title suggests this book is all about bicycles. But this book is different to the usual picture book about a bicycle.
For a start all royalties from the sale of THE BICYCLE will go to Save the Children, an organisation that works to improve the quality of children’s lives around the world.
Then it has illustrations from some of the world's leading illustrations including Quentin Blake, Shaun Tan, Tony Ross, Sarah Davis and Freya Blackwood - all with a picture of a bicycle within and snippets of text and quotes about the importance of bicycles.
This is a beautiful picutre book exploring how bicycles fit into our lives in all different situations. It is a celebration of how much one bike can help - and change lives.

Come Down, Cat! Sonya Hartnett & Lucia Masciullo (Viking)
This is a lovely tale of friendship and bravery between a boy and his pet cat with delightful illustrations that beg for more investigation.
When Nicholas' cat decides to spend the night on the roof, even after he climbs a not too safe ladder to attempt a rescue, Nicholas has a restless and anxious night of attempted slumber. Then when it rains Nicholas hears the desperate calls and ventures outside to rescue his loved cat.

Once There Was a Boy Dub Leffler (Magabala Books)
This is a longer picture book, delightfully written and lovingly illustrated and showing the vastness of the landscape with exquisite double page spreads.
A young boy lives successfully and alone on an island until a young girl appears. As she enters his life things change and when she uncovers the boy's secret box under his bed, which she has been instructed not to, she is surprised and breaks the contents of the box, his broken heart. But the girl has a solution, which they both share.
A beautiful loving story of friendship and temptation and as the author states "... show(ing) kids that boys have feelings too (just like girls) ...."

The Carousel Ursula Dubosarsky & Walter Di Qual (Viking)

One winter's day my dad and I
Went down to see the carousel.
We stood and watched as round and round
The little horses rose and fell.

... begins the tale of a little girl experiencing for the first time the magic of a carousel with wooden horses, flashing lights, organ music, mirrors and the magical adventures (and sorrows) that are told by the carousel horses. Beautiful illustrations are covering every page. Girls who love horses will imagine too!


These are books to be deeoured and treasured.

Great Fiction Reads for Independent Readers

Mr Badger and the Magic Mirror Leigh Hobbs (Allen&Unwin)

Every day is full of adventures for Mr Badger at the Boubles Grand Hotel and none more amazing than when a new mirror (that had been in a private room) is hung above the stairs. Mr Badger, checking the mirror, suddenly found that he could leap right though the mirror. And when young attention getting and rather annoying Sylvia also discovers the mirror she pops on through the mirror to join Mr Badger and they both find themselves n Bouble Land where there is mystery and danger and a few surprises as well.

The Mr Badger books (this is number four) are delightful fun reads.

Neville No-Phone Anna Branford & Kat Chadwick (Walker Books)

Neville is the only kid in his class at his school who does not have a mobile phone - at least that is what he tells his dad. When repeated attempts at persuading his parents to get him a mobile phone have proved fruitless, their suggestions included using an old mobile phone or the baby monitor, and when Neville and his friend Enzo stumble across a fully functioning as mobile phone left in a bus shelter, the boys get into all sorts of mischief and adventure trying to use the phone and eventually seeing it back with its rightful owner.
A laugh out loud story about not giving up.

T-Wreck-Asaurus (Dinosaur Rescue Series: Book 1) Kyle Mewburn & Donovan Bixley (Scholastic)

Welcome to the Stone Age and the land of dinosaurs. This title in the new Dinosaur Rescue series is wonderfully funny and will have readers - especially boys - giggling with fits of laughter.

Arg is not like all the other Stone Age cave dwellers. Arg's brain is twice as big as everyone else's and that means he is heaps smarter so when an angry T-Rex is set to destroy Arg's village it is Arg who has to find a solution - and really quickly too. Of course to save the village Arg gets into quite a few pickles - especially when everyone else wants to kill the T-Rex, who has a very good reason for being in the valley anyway. The T-Rex is a talking dinosaur and together they embark on a mission to save the dinosaurs from extinction.

also available Stego-Snottysaurus.

Fun reading - perfect for the holidays.