'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Sunday 30 June 2013

KBR Recommends: New Junior Fiction, June 2013

Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin by Belinda Murrell and Serena Geddes, Random House, $9.95, 9781742758770, ages 6 - 8

Meet Lulu Bell. Where there's Lulu, there's family, friends, animals and adventures galore!

It's a hot day and the Bell family is going for a swim. But when a runaway dog chases a little penguin that is waddling up the beach, Lulu has to leap into action!

Is the little penguin hurt? And as if that's not enough for Lulu to worry about, where is Pickles the cat, who's about to have her kittens? Let the search begin!

Also in this series Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn. (see KBR review here)

Vanishing Acts by Leslie Margolis, Bloomsbury, $15.99, 9781599909813, ages 6 - 10

When a movie starring tween heart throb Seth Ryan starts filming in Maggie's neighborhood, everyone gets movie mania.

Maggie manages to capture Seth's attention, but then he disappears! Everyone thinks he's been kidnapped, but Maggie knows better. She's on the case.

Lina at theGames (Our Australian Girl) by Sally Rippin, Penguin , $14.95, 9780143307020, ages 8 - 10

It's 1956 and the Melbourne Olympic Games have finally arrived! The whole city is buzzing with excitement and Lina can't wait to go along as a reporter for the school magazine. Now is her chance to prove to everyone that she's a real writer, and nothing could be more important – until Lina makes a new friend, who changes the way she sees the world . . .

Follow Lina on her adventure in the third of four exciting books about a passionate girl finding a place to belong.

How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli and Snake Hill (Middle School) by James Paterson and Chris Tebbetts, Arrow, $19.95, 9780099567554, ages 8 - 13

Rafe Khatchadorian, the hero of the bestselling Middle School series, is ready for a fun summer at camp – until he finds out it's a summer school camp! Luckily, Rafe easily makes friends with his trouble-making cabin mates and bunkmate, a boy nicknamed Booger Eater, who puts up with endless teasing from the other kids. Rafe soon realises there's more to a person than a nickname, though, and Booger Eater might be the kind of friend you want on your side when the boys from the Cool Cabin attack.

This fourth book in the massively popular Middle School series is an unforgettable summer of hi-jinks, new friends, and surprises, all told with the hilarity and honesty readers have come to expect from blockbuster author James Patterson.

Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door by Julia Donaldson and Hannah Shaw, Scholastic, $9.99, 9781742837109, ages 5 - 8.

Monkeys! Tigers! Bird-eating spiders!

Elmo and his sister love to play in the jungle house next door. But then mean old Mr Birdsnest moves in.

Will the jungle house be Out of Bounds forever?