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: The Escape Game

Reality TV, escape rooms, quirky characters with a side of murder? Yes please! The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss is an exciting YA novel that follows a group of teenagers selected to compete on the latest season of the renowned TV show, The Escape Game. But the only thing is - the last season didn’t go so well…. Season four ended in tragedy, with a contestant brutally murdered on the day of the grand finale - and the mystery is still unsolved. 

As the new group of contestants step into the game, what begins as a high-stakes competition quickly takes a darker turn. Suspicion lingers, tensions rise, and it becomes clear that the danger may not be confined to the puzzles. With secrets lurking beneath the surface and everyone a possible suspect, the contestants must navigate not only the challenges of the game, but the chilling possibility that history could repeat itself if the murder is not solved. 

I really, really enjoyed this book! It was great fun, and such a unique concept. I loved that it was a mystery within a mystery - each escape room bringing more clues, and adding more layers to the murder from previous season. 

Review: The Girl and the Ghost #3: Grand Opening

The Girl In the Ghost: Grand Opening is the delightful third book in the Girl in the Ghost series by Jacqueline Harvey. The story follows Josephine (Jet) as her family prepares for the long-awaited opening of their chateau-turned-hotel in France. However, the grand opening soon takes an unexpected turn. A series of mysterious events threaten to derail the grand opening, leading Jet to suspect that these incidents are not simple accidents, but acts of deliberate sabotage.

Before everything is turned to chaos, Jet must figure out who is behind the sabotage - all the while navigating her budding romance with Gabriel and protecting her precious locket (also home to her ghost companion Louis). As tensions rise, Jet begins to fear that her old enemy, Anastasia, may be behind it all.

With the help of her ghostly best friend Louis and her furry companions Daisy and Tiger, she must solve the mystery before the everything falls apart. 

Review: Freddie Jones: The Mystery of the Troublesome Trees

Kate Foster has become such a leading light in middle grade novels featuring neuro-diverse characters. In this, she brings her own personal experience, so always there is such authenticity and wonderful voice. With this new series, she hooks into the ever-popular mystery genre and, more especially, kid investigators which will have great appeal for such a wide readership.

Along with that, this new narrative also has a strong family theme and, in particular, the connection between quirky grandchild and equally quirky grandmother. Freddie Jones is autistic and quite matter-of-fact about that. He is very self-aware and is generally able to self-regulate. His great asset in this is Hobnob, his assistance dog. 

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.

Review: Grave Robbing and Other Curiosities

Thirteen-year-old Alex lives in a room above where the corpses are kept. But don't panic - it's fund in the mortuary and crematorium of Steeple and Son, the family business run by his Mum. 

You can imagine why this accommodation is the cause of the ceaseless bullying and mortician jokes that Alex is subjected to at school - where he's all but an outcast.

Business at the mortuary is going badly. Customers are being stolen by another new and flourishing company.

Noises frighten Alex at night, and checking always puts his mind at ease. This night, they are preparing for the burial of the wealthy Horace Grant. Alex is forced to check the corpse to establish that he is indeed dead and not a cause for concern.

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.

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.

Review: The Official Agatha Christie After School Detectives Club

The Official Agatha Christie After School Detectives Club is a fantastic puzzle book for kids, published in conjunction with the Agatha Christie Estate. 

50 puzzles are spread across five cases undertaken by the four sleuths of the After School Detectives Club. 

There's Agnes and Quentin who are 11, and Sophie and Luca who are ten. They have skills that complement each other in their sleuthing. 

Sophie's got a great memory and finds patterns, and Quentin is a fantastic code breaker, while Luca can blend into the background and observe quietly. Then there's Agnes who can talk suspects into revealing clues.  

The children are inspired to begin their sleuthing after finding books by the renowned, real life writer of mysteries, Agatha Christie.

Review: The Girl and the Ghost Bk 2: Family Secrets

The Girl and the Ghost – Family Secrets, is the second installment in this wonderfully absorbing series by Australian author, Jacqueline Harvey.http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2025/07/review-girl-and-ghost.html

It is a work of historical fiction mixed with a considerable amount of historical fact! 

It isn't long since Josephine (called Jet), and her family made the move from Australia to an old chateau in France. 

Her dad Matt and step-mother Ellie, fulfilled Jet's longing to live in the country where her deceased mother was born. 

She is eager to explore and learn what she can about her. 

The renovations have progressed, and the chateau is almost totally refurbished. So no diary entries or story writing has been undertaken by Jet for a

Review: Danger Road

Danger Road is the current true crime podcast absorbing Mum in the car, forcing brothers Leo and Alex to listen also, as she drives them wherever they need to go.

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

Junior Review: When We Were Monsters

Jennifer Niven’s When We Were Monsters explores the dark depths of ambition and morality. 

The novel follows a group of students, selected to join an exclusive writing workshop. When secrets unravel and tensions rise, the students begin to realise nothing is as it seems.

Centred at The Moss, an isolated estate where the storytelling workshop takes place, the characters explore themes of power, manipulation and pressure. 

Meredith Graffam is an eccentric director, writer and actress and serves as the student’s mentor. Her character portrays the influence of power and highlights the imbalance she holds over the students. 

Effy Green is a central character in the novel, alongside Arlo Ellis-Noon, both ambitious participants throughout the workshop, who, along with the others, are manipulated by Graffam. 

Issac carries a legacy throughout the book, faced with the pressure to live up to his family expectations and Ness, an overlooked wallflower, struggles with belonging. Throughout the novel, the characters confront their past traumas and question what they believe is true.

Review: Promises and Other Lies

It is a year since the bush fires at Wangaroo Bay destroyed all the area, including most of the houses. 

Immie’s father, a firefighter in the Rural Fire Service, lost his life.

The decision to investigate the probability of arson, is activated by an anonymous call  to police. 

Who could the person be? 

Was it a male or female voice? 

The police are keeping silent.

When further calls are made to police, and a local podcast begins to follow the proceedings, the town becomes reactive.

Fletch is Immie’s best friend. 

His elder brother, Cooper is accused, then arrested as the arsonist. An additional charge is also considered against him for the death of Immie’s dad.

Review: Willow Bright's Secret Plot

Twelve -year-old Willow is sent by her dad to stay with Aunt Cressida and cousin Fleur while he works to fulfill the promise of a home for the two of them.

Dad secretly realizes that she needs be taught girl things that he is unable to explain, as her mum died years ago but is still alive in Willow’s daily thoughts. 

There is no warm welcome at her aunt’s place. 

Fleur resents having to share a room with Willow, whom she views as a country bumpkin, so mostly ignores her.

At school, she must stand against the bully Miles, and his band of followers, that have the power to make her feel more alienated than Fleur does. 

Raised on a cattle farm, Willow is the total opposite to her cousin. She is vocal, active, intuitive and raw in her approach to city life and its expectations.

Review: Dragon Forged: Sword of the Champion

It is a century since the passing of the last Champion. The Day of Legend is drawing near when a new hero will arise, and Goddess Draela’s Champion will restore Draeland to the locals, after years of captivity by the Fiendlord.

Orin is courageous and modest. With his friends Beatrix and Pascal, he goes in search of a missing villager. They are well equipped for any attack by the goblins who have recently overrun the village, due to their their mentor Bruno, who has been training them for the Village Guard.

But life has other plans for them all.

When Orin and friends lead an attack on the fiends sent to destroy Draeland, a power is released in Orin. 

Review: The Silken Thread

The Silken Thread by Garielle Wang, Australian Children’s Laureate, 2022 -2023, is an outstanding story of family unity, love, kindness and courage.

The setting is Melbourne, 1932. 

The Depression has imposed poverty on most of the population. But 12-year-old Moonie’s family have a comfortable income. 

Their thriving fruit and vegetable business also supports De Di’s generosity to door knockers and the homeless. 

Right at the beginning of the book, Ma Mi is sent away to recover from an unnamed illness. 

The children are not told where she is so are unable to communicate with her.

 Moonie, with her mother's gift for sewing, believes if she makes her a dress in time for her birthday, it will bring her home.  

Review: The Girl and the Ghost

Thirteen-year-old Josephine, her brother Teddy, father Matt, stepmother Ellie, and dog Daisy, move from Australia to the French countryside 

They have bought a 300-year-old chateau that needs extensive renovation. 

Their intention is to convert the country building into a luxury boutique hotel.

Matt’s personal assumption is that his ability to renovate is equal to his award-winning film-making skills. He backs this up with countless cameras for recording his progress, and drafted charts and timelines to keep him on schedule.

The rest of the family fear for his safety.

Ellie has prepared the two children for this time, by teaching them French and lots about the country where their mother lived. 

Unfortunately, she died very young, and the children have very little information about her life. The need to discover something of her background life is the main reason for the move.

Josephine loves her new home. Its disrepair holds mysteries and secrets, and her writer soul thrills in anticipation to uncover hidden gems of time and place.

The first thing she finds is a locket hidden in a secret panel in the wardrobe of her bedroom. When she finally manages to open the clasp, the ghost of a boy appears.

He claims to be Louis, the Dauphin of France, 1785. He thinks she is someone he knew, and she becomes the channel through which he learns about his past.

This opens great adventures for Josephine. Meeting Louis, the mystery connected to him, and meeting the very attractive Gabriel, are all her dreams come true. 

Then there is Harriet, her best friend from Kindergarten, day one, with whom she shares all her secrets and thoughts via email.

The device of using diary entries to fill in the background information is a perfect choice. 

The Girl and the Ghost is a marvelous beginning to a promising series by the talented Jaqueline Harvey. 

We experience beautifully descriptive areas seeped in history and architecture; almost taste the luscious French food they indulge in and smell the country air through Harvey’s perfect prose. 

Make time for this book with its fantastic characters and its mixture of so many themes and stories, that readers won’t be able to put it down. It is open-ended and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

Title: The Girl and the Ghost
Author: Jacqueline Harvey
Illustrator: Anne Yi
Publisher: Penguin, $16.99 
Publication Date: 29 April 2025
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761349409
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction