Review: 11 Ruby Road 1950

The third book in the fantastic Our Australian Girl series, 11 Ruby Road 1950, throws open the doors of history on the post-war years. 

Light is shed on the lives of the people living on Ruby Road; lives well-lived with love and kindness shared, entwined with one another, regardless of their differences.

Mum Betty has not been herself since the birth of baby Maria. 

Gran arranges for her to spend some time in the country to recuperate from what she tells everybody, is a bout of influenza.

Twelve-year-old Patsy is sent for her summer holidays to Ruby Road where Uncle Alex and Aunt Mary own a Milk Bar. 

She hopes to keep busy to prevent becoming bored, while filling her sketchbook which is her constant companion, with whatever she sees. 

Review: OceanForged - The Wicked Ship

It is a Dark Age for the Realm of Aquinta. Before the Prime Council, in the Age of Glory, the Champions ruled. The Radiant Palace belonged to those heroes who wore OceanForged armour - a set of magical artifices shaped with extreme heat and cooled by the salt water of their sea.

The Prime Council takes over the Radiant Palace.  New laws suppressing the citizens are enforced till they are unable to survive. The burrows become their home. 

Poverty prevails.

Warnings are not circulated before the cyclone hits. The burrows flood. All those caught within, drown, including eight-year-old Cori’s parents. 

Life is preparing Cori for a great adventure when she discovers information about the artificers that created OceanForged Armour. 

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: Luna's World Bk #2 - Friendship Fail

Friendship Fail is the second title in the excellent series, Luna’s World. 

Luna is a wonderful, relatable character.  

She is smart, loves books, writing and the diary she is encouraged to keep, helps to centre her when her mind is whirring. 

It has been five weeks since Luna’s last entry. So much has happened during that time.

Luna and her Mum have become dog walkers. 

Their persistence and lots of advertising found them customers.

Review: The Bin Monster

With a warm welcome in the bold and bright end pages, this book could easily have been be inspired by happenings on any street in any suburb. 

The narrator is an unnamed young girl who loves where she lives. 

All the neighbours are her friends, and she plays a meaningful part in each of their surrounding lives, and they in hers.

But their neighbourhood’s almost perfect life, is being shattered by a monster.

Review: The Pull of the Moon

Coralie, an intelligent and outspoken teenager on the cusp of early adolescence. 

She lives with her parents on the ghostly and remote Christmas Island. 

Located in the Indian Ocean, the area is famous for its red crab migration and the small and threatened bat species, the pipistrelle.

It is also known for its countless arrivals of boat people.

Mum is a bat specialist, currently researching the disappearance of these tiny bats from the previously over-populated area. 

She is dedicated to her work and due to this, her family takes second place in her life, which includes lengthy absences from home. 

These absences have psychological consequences for Coralie, and her dad who runs a small diving business for tourists. 

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.  

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: 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

Review: Ghost Detectives - Terry Fide and the Bakery Ghost

Ghost Detectives is a new series of ghostly stories with interesting and funny characters. 

Terry Fide and the Bakery Ghost introduces nine-year-old timid Terry, who wants to be a ghost detective and follow in the footsteps of his father and his ancestors.  

 Unfortunately, he is terrified of ghosts and other scary things.

Mum and dad run a ghost detective service and are constantly inundated with requests to solve the reason for ghostly hauntings. 

This is a job at which they are highly skilled.  

Dad, Horry Fide, has commitments interstate to solve other ghostly issues. 

Review: Looking for Imani

Dianne Bates’ latest book brings us into the life and customs of a Middle East family and the trauma experienced at the disappearance of the youngest child, Imani. 

It is told through the narrative voice of Nabila. 

Beautifully portrayed in Bates’ minimalistic and perfect prose, it opens with a bold scene that informs the reader of their family situation.

The father has died, and mother cannot speak English as it was forbidden by her husband. 

At twenty-seven years old, she appears a lot older. 

Due to her lack of language, she has been unable to assimilate into a new life, leaving her with only her children to translate when necessary, and to lean on for help. 

Review: Higher Ground

A unique and stunning graphic novel, Higher Ground presents the issue of floods, the destruction caused by Nature, and the abandoned places flooding creates. 

It focuses entirely on a family - a grandmother, two children, and a rabbit, and the choices they make. 

Survival is utmost. As they move to the top of their apartment building, a shed becomes their refuge. 

The entire building is transformed into an immovable object in the flooded waters.

Their wait for help proves futile and after many days, they realise that help isn’t coming.

Review: Friday Barnes: In Plain Sight

News headlines announce that Crown Princess Ingrid of Norway, and her fiancé Binky, have been abducted. 

In no time at all, young Interpol agent Friday Barnes, takes up the investigation. Together with her friend Melanie, they set out for Oslo, where the couple’s car has been discovered abandoned. 

They are met by Magnus of the Norwegian Secret Service, who has been fired from his job as bodyguard, due to Ingrid’s disappearance. 

Although Magnus and Friday have little likeness for one another, Magnus believes that Friday has better investigative skills than the Oslo police, so turns to her for help. 

As soon as Friday begins her search, a ransom demand is made.

Nothing eventuates. Is it a sham? 

Friday continues to examine evidence, encountering obstacles and dead ends, but always way ahead in thought and possibilities from other active sources. 

The search leads them to overpopulated New York.

 From where does Friday start? Her clever and determined nature and belief in never giving up on a mystery, will find a way. 

Where are the young couple? Why would anyone want to abduct them? 

Is it possible that’s not what happened? 

The story-line flows smoothly allowing for the insertion of many unexpected and deviating paths that force the pace to change.

R.A. Pratt’s usual impressive use of words is again at play. She has a way of sliding stories into the main story-line that seem unconnected to the happenings, but create interest for the reader. 

Factual and educational, these divergent issues add spice to the narrative, allowing the reader to come away satisfied that they have learnt a great deal more than they knew when the story began. 

This is an entertaining series, always interesting, with an intelligent, strong and proactive female protagonist who shows that age has no bearing on ability.

Title: Friday Barnes: In Plain Sight
Author: R. A. Spratt   
Publisher: Penguin Random House, $ 16.99
Publication Date: 10 June 2025
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761349713
For ages: 11+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction