Review: Sagittarius Rising

Every kid wants a pet. Some will go to great lengths to get one, not realising, perhaps, that owning a pet is not always fun and games. (Although, mostly it is.)

Tip is desperate for a dog. Her parents are cautious, though.

Undeterred, Tip tries one tactic after another until – BINGO! – a tiny puppy is left abandoned at the markets. Tip and her parents can’t just leave it there, can they?

As expected, and despite her parents’ insistence that they need to find a home for it, this puppy worms its way first into Mum’s heart and then Dad’s.

Lo and behold, the puppy has a home. Let the fun begin!

Review:Max and the Haircut

Meet Max, who is just about to experience his very first visit to the hairdresser.

Before we even begin reading, Samareh Azadi invites us into Max's world through the adorable front cover. I loved the way hairdressing tools are cleverly woven into the title design and continue throughout the endpapers. These thoughtful details immediately set the scene and encourage readers to look closely.

This relatable story is told from Max's point of view, allowing readers to step into his shoes and experience the world through his eyes. One of my favourite moments appears on the very first page when Max proudly introduces himself: "I look like a lion! Roar!" It is a delightful opening that instantly captures Max's personality and draws readers into the story.

As Max arrives at the hair salon, he quickly discovers that it is much brighter, noisier and busier than he expected. For many children, this experience will feel very familiar. What makes this story particularly special is the way it gently shows how Wendy, the caring hairdresser, takes the time to understand Max and support him through the experience. Rather than expecting Max to simply cope, Wendy adapts and innovates, helping to reduce his anxiety and build his confidence. The result is a positive experience where Max leaves feeling proud of both himself and his new haircut.

The illustrations are engaging and full of meaning. Throughout the story, Samareh uses animals to represent Max's emotions. This visual technique helps readers understand what Max is experiencing internally and opens the door for rich conversations about emotions.

At home and at school, this sensitive and thoughtful story provides many opportunities for discussion. Readers can explore the powerful message that we are all different, and sometimes we simply need to discover what works best for us. It also encourages conversations about the wide range of feelings we experience, making connections to past experiences, preparing for new experiences, and celebrating the strategies we can use when we feel anxious or overwhelmed.

Max and the Haircut is a warm, reassuring story that offers comfort when we face something new, uncertain, or challenging. It reminds readers that understanding, patience and flexibility can make all the difference. A wonderful book for families, classrooms and anyone supporting children as they navigate new experiences.

Title: Max and the Haircut
Author/Illustrator: Samareh Azadi
Publisher: Otter-Barry Books
Publication Date: 7 May 2026
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781915659798
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book

Review: Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery

Detective Beans is back in another full length graphic novel and no doubt his fans will be rejoicing. 

If you haven’t met Detective Beans yet it is time to join him and his sidekick, Biscuits, in their quest to solve a tricky mystery.

Decked out in his trench coat and using his newly acquired walkie talkie, this loveable kitten once again stumbles upon clues that will take him on an exciting treasure hunt and distract him from cleaning his room! 

Beans visits Captain Scuttlebeard, the reluctant pirate, to return a letter mistakenly delivered to his house. Whilst aboard his ship, Captain Scuttlebeard gives him a treasure map and Beans decides to put his detective skills into action. He begins to unravel each clue in the hope of finding a real treasure. 

Interview: Charlie Archbold

Charlie Archbold's The Sugarcane Kids series has become a favourite with young readers for its blend of mystery, adventure and authentic Far North Queensland settings. 

In her latest instalment, The Sugarcane Kids and the Mystery at Angel Bay, Andy and his friends find themselves investigating a new puzzle that threatens both their community and the natural environment they love. Combining page-turning suspense with themes of friendship, courage and environmental stewardship, the novel offers readers another engaging adventure with the resourceful Sugarcane Kids taking charge. 

Kids' Book Review spoke with Charlie about the inspiration behind the story, creating memorable mysteries for young readers, and what lies ahead for the series.

Review : Come Home, Bigibila

Bigibila, the echidna, entered the world when Gawarrgay, the Dark Emu, was high in the sky. Surrounded by love, smells and sounds, she instantly knew this was her Country and this was her Place.

Bigibila grew into an inquisitive little animal and one day decided she would like to explore more of her Country. 

But such an adventure brings dangers she did not predict and suddenly finding her way home is not easy at all.

Review: Mary Fowler: Mary's Game / Mary Fowler: Beach Party

Mary Fowler, one of our inspirational Matilda football stars, has co-written with Jasmin McGaughey a four-book series to bring young readers a fun and exciting new series about friendship, school, sporty tales and celebrating special events.

These short chapter books with simple texts and beautiful black and white illustrations by CBCA notable illustrator Cate James, are ideal for emerging readers transitioning from school readers to independent reading.

Both Mary and Jasmin have drawn upon their own childhood experiences in Northern Queensland to create stories that will not only will feel familiar to their young readers, but also engage and entertain them.

Review: Sunny and Storm

Meet Sunny and Storm, two nine-year-old girls opposite in names and opposite in nature. 

Sunny is quiet and shy from a large family, where being heard is difficult, whilst Sunny is larger than life, verbose and impulsive. But they are friends, in fact, besticles, their creative word to describe themselves as the best, best, best-ever friends you can be. 

They become the centre of mysterious events that all seem to lead to them and they are determined to prove their innocence.

Set in a small country town brimming with unique human and animal characters, Sunny and Storm face many everyday challenges from random cow pats in unexpected places, to cranky teachers who do not seem to understand them.

Ella and the Sleepover Safari

In this delightful second instalment of the Ella series, Cassy Polimeni and Hykie Breeze once again capture the emotional challenges and natural curiosity of childhood with warmth and flair. 

Ella and the Sleepover Safari brings readers back into Ella’s world — this time for an unforgettable birthday sleepover at the zoo. What should be a dream night of adventure quickly becomes complicated when Ella’s old friend, Viv, and new friend, Mai, struggle to get along. 

Polimeni sensitively explores a familiar childhood tension: How do you balance different friendships without anyone feeling left out? It's a situation many young readers will recognise, handled with empathy, humour and just the right amount of wild animal mayhem.

The backdrop of the zoo adds an extra layer of magic and the story is bought to life with Hykie Breeze’s vibrant and expressive illustrations.

Review: Ariana Treasure: The Missing Book; The Secret Ingredient

In Ariana Treasure: The Missing Book, we are introduced to the Treasure Chest, the best thrift shop in town, and meet Ariana and her mum, who run the store. They help people in their friendly community find what they need, through the donations delivered every Wednesday.

Ariana is a kind, clever and always optimistic problem-solver. Her mum trusts her implicitly.

Alex Baker and his mum are new in town. Mrs Treasure meets them and asks them to pop in and have a look around the store.

Ariana has a favourite book inscribed by her late Grandpa, which they read together constantly.

When mum inadvertently sells the book, Ariana is desperate to get it back.

But there must be an exchange for it. What can Ariana give to get her book back? 

Review: Sabina and the Cats of Rome

Sabina and the Cats of Rome is an action-packed adventure perfect for to younger readers.

A feisty young heroine up to any challenge, leads an imaginative cast of characters.

Sabina lives in Rome in a house with magical surroundings. 

She doesn’t realize how magical until the day she meets the talking cat.

The cat is the only daughter of the King of Cats of Rome. 

They can communicate because all royal cats learn to speak human.

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: Ratbags: Dummy Spit

The Ratbags are back in another action-packed, humour-filled adventure created by Tim Harris and Shiloh Gordon. 

Just like the other four books in the series, it has plenty of clever jokes and illustrations that leap off the page.

In Dummy Spit the Ratbags find themselves landed with an unexpected problem. A very naughty toddler rat.

Jigsaw is the first to encounter Blitz, who literally crashes into his life. He’s a whirlwind of destruction and determination.

Review: A Case with a Bang

A Case with a Bang is part of the Detective Gordon series of books (number five), able to be read as a stand-alone story.

A simple, gentle, slightly quirky mystery novel for younger readers, it features two animal friends who are both detectives. 

Detective Gordon is a toad, and an older and more experienced police officer. He's also retired, currently spending time reading books about trolls. Detective Buffy is a mouse. Both of them love cake.

Detective Buffy is trying to uncover who has been making the noise that's keeping Badger awake. Ironically, Badger is hard of hearing and takes some convincing when Buffy arrives to investigate.

Meanwhile, Detective Gordon is meeting with Helmer, an enthusiastic young squirrel who is interested in being a police officer.

Review: Ratbags: Naughty For Good

Naughty For Good is book one in the new Ratbags series, written by Tim Harris and illustrated by Shiloh Gordon, which features Jigsaw the rat (that's him in the middle of the front cover).

Jigsaw is unusual compared to the other rats. He likes to be good (he doesn't chew through cables or make a mess) and he likes humans (more than likes them, actually).

The other rats definitely don't like humans and do like making trouble. They're ratbags.

When Jigsaw bumps into Ripple and Onion he discovers just how different from the other rats he is.

Review: A Whole Lot of Lemonade Jones

A Whole Lot of Lemonade Jones by Davina Bell and Karen Blair, is a collection of three short stories about a mischievous six-year-old girl.

Lemonade Jones lives with her mum, dad, and baby brother Walter. She has a big personality, and you can expect the unexpected when Lemonade arrives on the scene.

The three stories are about everyday events, with somewhat unforeseen results.

The First Day Back is about Lemonade's first day at a new school for grade one. Lemonade is confronted with a new teacher, old and new classmates, and a bunch of new rules that she isn't sure she agrees with.

In The Zoo That Comes to You, Lemonade puts her own unique spin on her birthday party. Being dissatisfied with the lack of exotic animals brought to her house for the celebrations, Lemonade finds a way to dress up the family dog and cat, and disguise a parrot to appear more like a bat. And when the pirate rat gets loose, chaos ensues.

Review: The Bad Guys: Episode 1: Full Colour Edition

At last count there are fourteen books in the bestselling The Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey.

The first in the series, The Bad Guys: Episode 1, was originally released in 2015. Now there's a brand new edition in full colour, published to celebrate the forthcoming release of The Bad Guys animated movie.

In case you haven't heard about these books, here's what you need to know about Episode 1 in a nutshell. 

Mr Wolf, who is usually portrayed as the bad guy in stories, wants to turn everything on its head and rehabilitate his reputation. 

Mr Wolf wants to be a good guy, and to do that he really needs some help, so he gathers three friends who also tend to have a bad reputation. There's Mr Snake, Mr Piranha, and Mr Shark. They're animals who want to prove a point.

Review: Ella and Olivia: Fun Friendship Tales / Ella and Olivia: Sisters' Day Out Stories

Sisters Ella and Olivia star in these two story collections, which are being promoted as treasuries.

There's Ella and Olivia: Fun Friendship Tales, and Ella and Olivia: Sisters' Day Out Stories.

The adventures are great for developing and newly independent readers, with short stories, large print text, and lots of full-colour illustrations.

The stories feature subjects that will be familiar or relatable for young readers, and the main characters are a similar age to the children who will likely be reading about them. 

The sisters learn about responsibility and friendship, and the world around them.

Review: Cranky Chicken

This is Katherine Battersby's eighth illustrated story book and the first in a new series of graphic stories for junior readers.

Everybody needs someone like Speedy the worm in their lives.

Even Cranky, the super cranky chicken who gets cranky from things such as bright sunshine and dirty dirt.

Speedy's cheerful and funny and just wants to be friends with Cranky.

But does Cranky actually need a friend? Cranky is fine, fine, fine just fine on her own.

Well, kids will see that answer to that pretty much straight away, and will have fun waiting for the penny to drop.

In the three stories told in this beautiful book, Cranky and Speedy go on a journey and learn what it means to have a friend and to be a friend, and to push the boundaries of your fears.

Battersby's illustrations are simply gorgeous and gorgeously simple. She can even make eyebrows look natural on a chicken. I especially loved her little nod to the Very Hungry Caterpillar in the third story. Battersby's books have been shortlisted for many awards, and I hope this will be the one that cracks it for her.

Title:Cranky Chicken
Author:Katherine Battersby
Illustrator: Katherine Battersby
Publisher: Hachette, $14.95
Publication Date: September, 2021
Format: Paperback
ISBN:9780734420954
For ages: 4-6
Type: Junior Fiction

Review: Rosie-May Blue: Mayhem at the Pet Show

Ten year old Rosie-May and her family have moved to a farm. She owns Carrie, a Welsh Mountain pony that she loves more than anything.

Making new friends is hard for Rosie-May as she is small for her age. It is when Carrie breaks through the fence and enters their neighbour’s property, that Rosie-May meets Ellie, who returns Carrie.

Ellie’s pony is the same breed as Carrie. The two girls hit it off immediately and they will be in the same class when school begins in a few days.

Things do not go as smoothly as Rosie-May hoped. The popular Vivian with her group of followers, is rude and unkind. First she ridicules Rosie-May for her height, then for the fact that she lives on a farm, naming her Country Pumpkin to match Ellie’s derogatory Country Bumpkin. Both girls ignore her taunts.

Review: Stories on My Street

Stories on My Street is a collection of four stories from renowned British author and illustrator, Shirley Hughes, one of my favourite children's book creators.

The stories, which were first published individually between 1989 and 1991, are about young friends who live on Trotter Street.

The scenarios are familiar and the characters appealing and true to life.

New Wheels for Carlos is about the young boy who wants a new bike. Everyone else seems to have one, and his bike is simply too small to go fast and keep up with the others.

The Big Concrete Lorry features the Patterson family who have three kids and house that seems a bit small for them all. To improve matters, they decide to build an extension, and soon everyone is lending a hand.

In Angel Mae and the New Baby, Christmas time brings excitement for Mae and her family. There's not just the nativity play to look forward to, but also a new sibling expected.