Review: A Light on the Rocks

The SS Admella was shipwrecked off the coast of South Australia in1859. 

It is one of the worst disasters in Australian maritime history.

Building on the facts of this disaster, Helen Edwards presents two brilliant stories, a  century apart,  in two voices and alternate chapters.

Daisy is fourteen years old at the beginning of August 1859, when she travels on the SS Admella.

She is studying her much-loved Botany, intending that to become her future. 

With her parents and little sister Marigold, the family plans a journey to Melbourne by ship.

Daisy is initially reluctant to board another ship as her journey from England to Australia at three years old, was a terrible experience which remains a beacon of fear in her mind.

Reviews: The First Easter

With it’s happy yellow cover adorned with primary colours, embossed stars, people, animals, doves and little floaty things, this book is impossible not to pick up!

‘A beautiful book for every family who celebrates the Easter holiday.’

The First Easter, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, is indeed a beautiful and accessible narrative, depicting the events and special symbols of Easter in a child-centric and compassionate way. 

Review: My Brother Otto

Everything changes for Quinn from the moment she is told her mum is having baby Otto. Ultrasound photos and baby talk irritate her. 

Her stepfather Alex has set up the cot in her room. Now it is hers no longer. Mum is always tired and going to appointments. All the things they use to do, they can’t do anymore. 

Quinn doesn’t want a baby brother. Experiencing the behaviour of her friend Mem’s baby brother, has her believing babies are destructive and bothersome. 

Quinn’s only interest now is her determination to win the Grade Five story competition consisting of three rounds.

When Mum goes to hospital to give birth prematurely, Quinn mulls over the changes that have occurred in her life, and the ones that will  come with Otto’s entrance into the family. 

Junior Review: My Wild Garden Zoo

My Wild Garden Zoo is a rhyming picture book that invites children to view a garden as a shared habitat rather than a controlled space. 

Through playful language and detailed watercolor illustrations, the book follows a day in which wild animals wander through a family garden, interacting with vegetables, berries, and flowers in humorous ways. 

The story concludes with an evening calm that reinforces themes of observation, coexistence, and respect for nature. 

Review: Our Marvelous Memory

No memory is an exact copy of the original event. It is always slightly distorted. 

What is memory? It is a storage place for all the things which form an individual – memory, body and genes.

This informative book about the brain and memory will excite readers as it answers questions that may have been a floating fog in their mind. 

Suitable for all ages, it consists of animated illustrations, and  entertaining prose in a light-hearted tone.

Where do memories go? In Our Marvelous Memory, we can solve these complex queries surrounding the brain and its functions.

Junior Review: Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale

Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale is a fiercely insightful coming-of-age novel by Allayne L Webster. It delves into the judgement teens face and the price tag labelled upon their worth.

Maisy Hayes feels like the background character of her life. Never the prettiest, the smartest, or the coolest in the room. Never with the newest phone, most expensive shoes, or designer bag. Her special treat only ever came in the form of a dollar slushie from the mall.

Maisy faces a situation no teen, let alone adult, wants to encounter. The Hayes family is deep in financial trouble, struggling to make ends meet. 

With Maisy’s absent father lurking in the back of her mind, she is determined to make a future for herself. She’s not sure what yet — though she is positive she wants anything but a life like her mum's.

She dreams of having enough money not to live paycheck to paycheck. To buy things without thinking of the cost. 

Review: Up, Up and Away: The History of Aviation

Those interested in the history, mythology and legends surrounding aviation will be impressed by this publication; this journey through aviation. 

 Presented in immense detail, the contents will delight and fascinate both children and older people. 

Stunning front, end papers depict the sizes of the flying machines, featured together with their length and wingspan, beginning from the largest to the smallest.

Review: This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds

‘Oooooo … doo-doo-doo-whipp!’

‘Pew pew.’

That's the call of an eastern whipbird, one of the many wonderful birds I hear living in the Blue Mountains in NSW. 

Also full of vibrant native birds is a new book called, This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds, created to help identify and celebrate birds in our backyards, local parks and streets. 

This Bird is written and illustrated by Astred Hicks in collaboration with Dr Holly Parsons, an ecologist and community educator. The book is a stunning way to connect with nature and be in the present moment.

Review: The Observologist

Observology: the process of carefully watching and analysing the world around you. 

This is a Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions. That means, setting out to find hidden creatures in places not previously thought of, and learning how to identify them. 

Boring is a word often repeated by children. But it is one that can be silenced simply by looking down to discover a fascinating, alive world at one’s feet.  

Observology encourages children to explore the natural world through short excursions to find not only what is above

Review: The AR in Sydney Harbour

The AR in Sydney Harbour is a new book from Judith Barker and Janie Frith who won a Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award in 2019.

It takes “the various spelling patterns of the bossy 'r' (ar) sound in the different and various words”, and spotlights them on a journey around Sydney Harbour.

There’s lots to see on this exploration. Ferries are the main form of transport, joining other vehicles – tour boats going whale spotting, and seaplanes travelling overhead.

Review: Lottie Brooks Vs The Ultra Mean Girls

This book is one of those middle grade reads that this (ahem) middle-aged reviewer could not put down.

Just when Lottie thought life might be going back to normal, everything goes wrong again!

All the things that could possibly go wrong in a tween girls’ life, do go wrong in this book. And it’s a hoot. 

Written in diary form, with literal stick figure pictures and a tween vernacular to die for, the book’s main character Lottie Brooks is the type of kid that every tween or teen who reads this book wants to be like. Or at the very least, wants to have as a BFF.

Lottie is flawed and a little bit slow to catch on to things that her squad know instantly. 

She’s naïve and funny, clever and endearing, unashamedly herself, and embarrassed at things that other kids don’t give a rip about.

Review: Once I Was A Giant

I was fortunate enough to see the drafts and incomplete storyboard of Once I Was A Giant when meeting Zeno Sworder in person for the first time some eighteen or so months ago. Both experiences were profoundly moving and memorable.

Which pretty much sums up this extraordinary picture book. With no preamble, the Giant’s story begins, at the ending, with a premise that could easily reflect a reoccurring dilemma for many creators; a stymie of creative flow. 

When the picture book maker, with a strong resemblance to the author himself, experiences this impasse, his trusty pencil inexplicably springs to life.

The wee stub shows him her life’s journey from germinating seed to grand dame of her forest kingdom. We are taken through life cycle after life cycle. From a sapling’s view point to that of a towering giant’s, residence to a whole eco-system of invertebrates, animals and birds. It is a wondrous and all-encompassing experience to stand before this giant and gaze skyward at her unfathomable brilliance, so strong, so assured, so steadfast.

Review: Powerful Like A Dragon

A dragon is proud, strong, kind. Be powerful like a dragon.

Words that bolster and build incentive to never give up. Never give in. Especially to the ravages and horrors of war. 

One would think that stories centred around this theme would be a thing of the past and yet, the plight of refugees displaced by senseless conflicts remains a global concern to this day.

Powerful Like a Dragon is a compelling piece of storytelling based on award-winning author, Christopher Cheng’s real-life family history. Caught in the grips of invasion in the midst of World War II, many of Cheng’s extended family made the life-saving decision to flee their homeland in Hong Kong and seek refuge in China.

Review: An A-Z of Ocean Creatures

How many ocean creatures can you name? How many could you recognise?

Your knowledge will increase exponentially when you read An A-Z of Ocean Creatures.

This is another beautiful creation by Myke Mollard, packed with stunning, detailed illustrations in full colour.  

A different letter of the alphabet features across pages, each with a list of creatures, and an underwater picture featuring them. 

The names of some of the creatures may surprise or amuse you.

Review: The 113th Assistant Librarian #2 - Lost in a Book

Oliver Wormwood is Assistant Librarian in the magic library where nine cats keep watch and characters in books, mainly animals, come to life.

The cats are the alter personalities of Oliver’s best friend and co-worker, Agatha, the result of a spell cast on her which has shortened her life span. 

Oliver receives a request from a law firm managing the affairs of the deceased, Phillip Thomas, to examine an immense collection of books, and choose those appropriate for the Library. 

While searching through the editions and comparing their condition with the old library copies, Agatha discovers discrepancies in several historical titles regarding the borders of their Kingdom, Hallarum, a fault, if discovered, could endanger their safety.

Junior Review: For No Mortal Creature

The novel For No Mortal Creature follows Jia Yi through her adventures in both the real world and the afterlife. Having lived her whole life believing she has no magic, she discovers her ability to travel between the living world and the multi-layered death realm after her own death when she learns her power of resurrection. 

The protagonist is forced to uncover the truth of her powers to save her beloved grandmother, driven into a quest involving ghostly realms, a legendary weapon and allies she trusts, yet remains cautious of, including a deceased childhood friend and a rival prince. 

Inspired by Chinese folklore and Western fantasy tropes, the novel blends gothic fantasy, romance and myth to build a legendary world.