Readers
often wonder where story ideas come from. They come from many places, but
rarely from as deep a place as Gilbert’s Cake.
As author Emily Mir explains, ‘Our first baby, Gilbert, was
stillborn in 2010. Two years later, we welcomed Gilbert’s twin siblings. As
young children, the twins wanted a party, complete with balloons and a cake, to
mark Gilbert's birthday. It was painful at first, but an annual tradition
began. Gilbert’s Cake is the story of our story.’
After working with families who have experienced miscarriage and stillbirth, Emily was inspired to share her family’s story of love, loss . . . and pelicans.
Emily is both a counsellor and a bereaved
mother, and hopes her story sparks joy and love as well as evoking holistic ways
of healing in the face of loss and trauma.
Moving further down on the path through beautiful bent and twisted trees, they follow their normal route to the place where the blackbird sings.
They look everywhere for the bird, but he can’t be found.
They come across it lying under the dark, curving tree trunks on the yellow ground.
So much life pulses around them, but the bird is still.
They move closer.
They assume it must be sleeping. They stand still and quiet, just looking. Waiting for it to awaken.
It is a twenty-five-year-old cold case, about seventeen-year-old Corey Armstrong, who was hit and left to die just outside of town.
The podcast is nearing the end with the mystery still unsolved.
Leo is smart, athletic, and popular. Alex is a single-friend person, with few interests outside of his art.
Their constant bickering concerns their single mother a great deal. She suggests that they team up to see if they can find any clues about Corey’s death that may have been missed, before the last podcast.
She hopes that doing something important together will bring them closer to one another.
They reluctantly agree although it is a challenge for the boys to both agree to anything.
At night they go with torches, to the tree where Corey’s memorial cross was hammered, but has now been removed. Here they find their first clue.
Slowly and through crafty questioning and casual conversations, they uncover unknown information.
Harry is Alex’s only friend. A highly intelligent individual, she discovers what the boys are up to, and wants to join in. Her intuitive and lateral thinking proves valuable.
Slowly truths are uncovered. The past becomes the present as personal issues concerning their estranged father, are stirred up. Prominent names of the town surface under the list of unanswered questions.
They find themselves wading in dangerous waters.
Can the brothers discover the truth about Corey’s death?
Within the mix of mystery and the search for truth, is the underlying evolving relationship between the brothers, who, until the decision to investigate together, had no time for each other.
Red herrings lead the reader astray at times, but it is exciting to follow the detailed trail of clues about what really happened to Corey so many years ago.
Multi- talented A.I. Tait has created a riveting mystery/adventure. Although she writes in varied genres, crime is her favourite and is something at which she excels.
Title: Danger Road
Author: A.L. Tait
Publisher: Scholastic, $ 17.99
Publication Date: 1 July 2025
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761646270
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction
For it is
this father’s undying love that has borne magic, mystery and wonder in
abundance with the birth of picture book, Tiny Dancer.
‘Tiny Dancer
is about making each moment count and living life to the full.’
A tortoise may live for over one hundred years. An olive tree, up to five thousand. But a mayfly lives for just one day.
This accessible,
thoughtful rumination on the nature of life’s biggest mystery explores both life
and death.
Long or
short, every life on earth comes to an end some day.
But what
happens when we die?
The last
few years have seen a number of picture books that broach the subject of death,
grief and loss in various ways. Gone adds to this list with its
wonderful, clear message and bold illustration style.
While it deals with an episode of history that is
both terrifying and confronting, the format and the narrative from a child’s
perspective means it is less so for younger readers, while still delivering
factual information.
Peter Lantos, a Hungarian Jew, was 5 years old when he and his parents were deported to Bergen-Belsen, where his father subsequently died.
Through many adverse and frightening situations, Peter and
his mother survived Belsen, and while they were liberated by the US Army, they
were, by that time, in Magdeburg which became Soviet occupied territory.
Edited by Emily Larkin and Lynne Stringer who each have
stories included, the anthology also contains a fantastic offering from KBR’s
own Shaye Wardrop among other excellent narratives.
Reading this book is a little mind-blowing, and kind of like riding a roller-coaster (in the best ways of having the breath sucked out of your lungs for fun).
Most of the stories combine fantasy with mechanics,
allowing readers to explore the wonders and horrors of science, technology and
magic.
It’s told
from the perspective of two teenagers, Kat and Liam, who were step-siblings for
just 48 hours when they were five and their respective parents briefly married
in Vegas.
This story
contains all the important elements of a teen thriller: action, thrills, lust,
spills, twists, power, fortune, fame. And of course, a little bit of gender-fluid
snogging on the side.
With a complex storyline that will reward readers’ attention to detail (I suggest an intensive rather than extended reading period for this work), the book is pacy and well-written.
Thank you to ALL who entered. We were moved by your your feel good answers.
Grief, loss, depression, anxiety, uncertainty. Big hard-to-deal-with feels that demand big help.
This Is Not A Sad Book is that help. In short, it’s a lighthouse of hope, explanation and tactics to apply when one finds oneself or someone they know, in a dark, scary, perilous place.
In a scrap yard filled with abandoned vehicles and all manner of broken items, a young girl tinkers with bits and pieces.
Although the word death is not used, it's fairly clear what's happened.
The narrator describes the journey the girl and her dog take as they walk through the scrap yard, over mountains of junk, across water, searching for memories and leading to a place hiding something special.
A Leaf Called Greaf takes these concepts and weaves a narrative full of symbolism. It's one that can help prompt discussion of topics that can be complex.
Kelly Canby has written and illustrated the story, featuring a bear as the protagonist.
When one day a leaf lands on Bear, he names it Greaf.
She lives in a very unprepossessing block of flats, which look out over an equally unprepossessing yard, in an even more unprepossessing part of town.
The whole town has an unloved, unkempt and barren look and feel about
it, despite its ironic name of The Gardens. Yet, within this dreary landscape,
there is still life and colour, certainly to Hettie’s mind, and as the
narrative unfolds, that life begins to revive and restore the colours and
happiness it was once designed to hold.
Grief and loss can be a difficult subject for anyone. Duck, Death and the Tulip, written and illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch, is a unique exploration of these often challenging subjects.
In a strangely heartwarming story, a duck strikes up an unlikely friendship with Death. 'Who are you? Why are you creeping along behind me?' 'Good. You've finally noticed me,' said Death. 'I am Death.' Duck was startled. You couldn't blame her for that. Death, Duck and the Tulip is the much anticipated translation of Wolf Erlbruch's latest masterpiece. Death, Duck and the Tulip will intrigue, haunt and enchant teenagers and adults. Simple, unusual, warm and witty - a picture book version of The Book Thief. This book deals with a difficult subject in away that is elegant, straightforward, and thought-provoking.
Take a peek inside Duck, Death and the Tulip in this video.
Little
Ted’s friends Jemima, Humpty, Big Ted and Kiya are coming to visit, because he
is very sad about the death of his pet goldfish and friend, Swish.
His friends
bring Little Ted a scrapbook with photos of Swish to stick into it, along with a
picnic for when they get hungry, a ball to play with outside together, and the
reassurance that they will come back another day to play again.
Author Rebecca Lim has fictionalised historical events in China, namely 1958 – 1960’s Great Leap Forward campaign, to create a novel that is both clever and engaging.
Economic disaster, widespread famine and millions of deaths don’t immediately scream ‘this will be a fabulous book’ but in Lim’s capable hands, they become one.
Non-gratuitous bloodshed and violence co-exist with the kind deeds of strangers, which are intentionally smattered throughout the narrative.
In her notes, the author reveals that she deliberately sought to include small, unsung acts of bravery to highlight the impact that every individual human being can have on the world around them.