Junior Review: The Majorly Awkward BFF Dramas of Lottie Brooks

The novel, The Majorly Awkward BFF Dramas of Lottie Brooks by author and illustrator Katie Kirby, is one book in the incredible seven  book Lottie Brooks series, additionally working as a standalone read. 

Having sold 650 000 copies of the Lottie Brooks series internationally, it is clear that tween girls around the world hold Lottie Brooks and her awkward life dear in their hearts. 

Through a sense of relatability, Kirby touches on topics of friendship, puberty, identity, and crushes.

It’s the beginning of a new year and everything in Lottie Brooks’ life seems to be going unusually well: Daniel as her boyfriend, the ‘Fun Police’ (Lottie’s Parents) becoming less anti-fun, and The Queens of Eight Green are better than ever. 

Meet The Illustrator: Mirelle Ortega

Name: Mirelle Ortega

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Colourful palettes, emotive characters, magical realism and vintage vibes.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Pen and paper, artbooks and my Cintiq and computer.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love being able to create digital work, I think it gives me a kind of freedom to experiment or change things around that I really enjoy.

Review: Ferris

There is a ghost in the house – a female wearing a long dress. Ferris’ grandmother Charisse sees her standing at the door. Boomer the dog feels she is there.

Uncle Ted has moved into the basement to draw the history of the world and father believes that there is a racoon in the attic.

Pinky, Ferris’ six-year-old sister is determined to become an outlaw.

Ferris knows that she wants to hold Billy Jackson’s hand forever.

Kate DiCamillo sets out with no rules. The beauty of her singular style is that she can mention something, then drop it to write about something else, and return to the previous issue without losing a beat.

Review: Forbidden Journal Of Rufus Rumble #1: Worst Space Crew Ever

This funny, clever and exasperating journal of 11-year old Rufus Rumble’s outer-space travels, will entice both reluctant and voracious readers.

Stamped on the front with shiny gold bits that emphatically state ‘Must Not Be Talked About,’ this book - with its hand-written feel and engaging line drawings - will definitely be talked about.

Rufus Rumble lives more than a hundred years in the future, and this alone is enough to pique reader interest and intrigue.  Also, Rufus has a ticket to SPACE. And if that’s not enough, he’s also on a quest to find his mother who simply vanished one morning, leaving Rufus to live with his grumpy old Grandad.

12 Curly Questions with author Sarah Luke

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I have camped overnight on the ice in Antarctica. It was magical – even though our ship, which was
anchored nearby, did look for a while like it was floating away...

2. What is your nickname?
Sarah the Dark (because one of my best friends is also called Sarah, but she is blonde – she is, rather fittingly, Sarah the Fair).

3. What is your greatest fear?
Losing my writing notebooks, where I keep all my ideas simmering away until they are ready to be cooked into stories.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Fast-paced, funny, heartfelt, dramatic, full of deliberate echoes and caricatures.

Guest Post: Sandra Bennett on Researching An Adventure Story?

Adventure series writer, Sandra Bennett, visits today to highlight the importance of setting in stories. Learn how she is inspired to research her settings to create authenticity.

For me, research is absolutely essential before I start writing any book in my Adamson Adventures series. 

The first part of that research is deciding where to set the story. Many authors begin with an idea of a character, but for this series, it has always been about the location.

Right from the beginning, many years ago when I was in Bali, I knew I wanted to write an adventure story set on this exotic island. 

Review: The Book Star

Written by Bec Nanayakkara and illustrated by Joanna Bartel, The Book Star is a story which will resonate with many children and parents. 

Grace has lots of books about her favourite subject, space. She can tell you all about planets, stars, and the solar system. She'd love to travel into space, too.

When it's time for Book Week, and everyone is asked to come to the school party dressed as something bookish, Grace is inspired.

Junior Review: Two Sides To Every Murder

A thrilling page-turner, with plot twists so good you won’t see them coming. Two Sides to Every Murder is perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson, and Cynthia Murphey.

From two teenage girls' point of views, the novel Two Sides to Every Murder is impossible to put down, utilising alternating timelines between 2008 and the present day; it contains plot twists around every corner that keep you hooked.

In 2008 at Camp Lost Lake, two adults were murdered and one disappeared. Reagan’s mother, Lori Knight is deemed guilty of the murders, leaving her with the name ‘The Witch of Lost Lake’ due to the mask she wore whilst murdering her victims with a notorious bow and arrow. 

Review: The Complete Cleo Stories

The Complete Cleo Stories are assembled here in one volume for lovers of this adorable character and her family, and new explorers of Cleo’s life.

Exquisite illustrations by Freya Blackwood bring Cleo’s creative imagination to life.

Cleo and the Necklace: Cleo is engrossed in making a birthday card for her friend Nick. She carefully chooses the colours and decorations.

At the party, the other girls show off the necklaces they are wearing. Cleo doesn’t have one.

Later, she asks mum if she can have one too, but when she doesn’t get the answer she wants, she uses her incredible imagination to get one regardless. But it isn’t in the usual way.

Review: Emma Memma Little Library

Emma Memma Little Library is a tiny box set of four board books in a cardboard slipcase. The books are: Colours, Animals, Numbers, and Auslan.

Concept books suited to the very youngest of readers, they have a single picture focus on each page, accompanied by text naming the picture.

For example, in Colours a picture of an apple has the words apple and red. Being a board book, there are not too many colours explored – there's a brown wombat and a green plane amongst others.

Animals has pictures of animals along with their name and a noise or movement they make. For example a butterfly flapping, and a quokka squeaking.

Review: What Stars Are For

A breathtaking cover with little twinkly, spinkly silver stars and featuring a snail gazing into the night-time sky, tells us that this is rather a special book. 

Emerging author/illustrator Margeaux Davis has created a delightful, poignant and tender story.

Henry spends his nights exploring the world alone and wondering one thing: what are stars for?

Review: Everything Anxiety Ever Told You Is a Lie

If you're a teenager, adult, parent, teacher, or just someone who wants to better understand anxiety, this is a good place to start.

Everything Anxiety Ever Told You Is a Lie is written by Dr Toni Lindsay, a psychologist who has extensive experience working with adults and young people, particularly those who've had a cancer diagnosis. 

Through her practice, Dr Lindsay has observed the growing prevalence of anxiety and wanted to provide advice in an accessible format for people who might never visit a psychologist.

Everything Anxiety Ever Told You Is a Lie explores what anxiety is, starting with the simple explanation of it meaning being fearful and letting it get in the way of life. Then how it can appear in our lives in different ways and at different frequencies. 

Review: Pavlo Gets The Grumps

This book is glorious. The words, the illustrations, the feelings, the humour, the vibe. All of it!

Pavlo gets the grumps shows us that no bad day lasts forever. And it reminds us that there are always new and different ways to deal with big feelings.

Pavlo does not feel like going to the park. Not today.

He does not want to go swimming.

He even says no to the cinema.

What’s going on, Pavlo?

Pavlo’s got the grumps.

Ukrainian-born author/illustrator Natalia Shaloshvili has created a feast for the eyes and a hug for the soul, with this delightful and moving children’s book. It ventures into both deep melancholy and unbridled joy- sometimes both on the same page! 

Meet The Illustrator: Andrea Zupcsan

Name: Andrea Zupcsan (Zoop-shawn)

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Digital with chunky shapes and painterly textures.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I need either a good sketchbook and a soft pencil or my ipad! I also love having access to my art books for inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I do most of my work digitally but my favourite traditional media is coloured pencil.

Review: Insectopia: The Wonderful World of Insects

Czech entomologist, Jiri Kolibac, presents his life’s work in this large format encyclopedia of insects, of which there are possibly between 6 to 10 million insect species.

The dawn of insects is estimated at 410 million years. The oldest insect-like fossil was discovered in 1919.

Stunning and superbly presented, Insectopia: The Wonderful World of Insects is compiled of forty-seven, double-spread entries, with incredibly beautiful, full-page illustrations. Pavla Dvorska must be complimented, as her entire work adds elegance to the book.