It covers a year in Juliet’s life and the year is 1975. Colour television was introduced in Australia, flared jeans were fashionable, and the landmark National Library of Australia building opened. It was also a time of political upheaval.
1975 brings lots of changes for Juliet, her family, and the whole country.
Juliet lives with her parents and grandmother, and has an older sister at university interstate. Her dad works in a quite senior position in the federal government.
She's entering her final year of primary school, and is expected to complete a year-long, individual project, one that she needs to choose for herself.
Juliet decides to compare her life growing up in the seventies, with her Gran’s at the end of the First World War and afterwards.
Maisy Hayes feels like the background character of her life. Never the prettiest, the smartest, or the coolest in the room. Never with the newest phone, most expensive shoes, or designer bag. Her special treat only ever came in the form of a dollar slushie from the mall.
Maisy faces a situation no teen, let alone adult, wants to encounter. The Hayes family is deep in financial trouble, struggling to make ends meet.
With Maisy’s absent father lurking in the back of her mind, she is determined to make a future for herself. She’s not sure what yet — though she is positive she wants anything but a life like her mum's.
She dreams of having enough money not to live paycheck to paycheck. To buy things without thinking of the cost.
Just when
Lottie thought life might be going back to normal, everything goes wrong again!
All the things that could possibly go wrong in a tween girls’ life, do go wrong in this book. And it’s a hoot.
Written in diary form, with literal stick figure pictures and a tween
vernacular to die for, the book’s main character Lottie Brooks is the type of
kid that every tween or teen who reads this book wants to be like. Or at the
very least, wants to have as a BFF.
Lottie is flawed and a little bit slow to catch on to things that her squad know instantly.
She’s naïve and funny, clever and endearing, unashamedly herself,
and embarrassed at things that other kids don’t give a rip about.
What better way to celebrate the milestone of 20 books in a series than to write a story about a birthday, Greg Heffley's birthday.
Greg's sure his family is planning a surprise party for him. Unfortunately, although he's excited about it, he's also a bit nervous, too.
What could go wrong? Well, his family forgetting his birthday is what.
How can that happen? Well Greg soon finds out what led to it, then in true Heffley style his family decides to make it up to him and plan a super dooper party.
That means decisions for Greg, or so he'd like to think.
Like whether to have a family party at a restaurant, or friend party somewhere like the trampoline park or an escape room or the museum.
Especially for Harry Potter fans come a set of books called the Pocket Potters: Little Guides to the harry Potter Stories.
There are three titles in the series out now: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. And they're like a special gift book. Hardcover, full colour, and packed with information.
Each book is focused on one of the characters (Harry, Hermione, or Ron).
Working your way through the 32 pages in each book, you're treated to a potted summary of the character's experiences throughout the Harry Potter series.
The books are highly illustrated, highlighting what's memorable or important about the character and their life at Hogwarts, and at home.
They progress through the school years with events like being sorted into their houses, playing quidditch, and learning magical spells.
‘A heartwarming and relatable story exploring change, following your instincts and finding your voice in a loud world.’
Fifth grader Martha Mayfield has a cooler than cool Grandma who, like other very cool women, goes by just one name. Stella. She also has a shy but crazily talented-at-dressmaking mum, and a gothic, European-soccer-loving sister.
And Martha herself? Well, Martha has good ideas. Great
ideas. Tremendous ideas. But, she’s also known as the apple that didn’t fall
far from the tree in that she inherited her mums shyness.
Told from Edie’s point of view (but not in the first person), Edie Tells A Lie feels very intimate because the reader is privy to her raw thought processes and dreams.
Like the story itself, the character of Edie is both vulnerable and strong. Ten-year old Edie and her bestie, Bowie, have grown up living next door to each other.
Each
knows the other so well, that even when life throws up challenges their bond
cannot be broken. That’s how it has always been.
Until now.
Because
Bowie has left town. She’s moved far, far away, and is not responding to any of
Edie’s messages. She is obviously having the best time without Edie.
Maybe it’s Pip Harry’s prodigious ability with words. Perhaps it’s Nate and Luna’s blossoming friendship. Perhaps it’s the bittersweet discomfiture of wanting more, missing what was and having to deal with an uncertain tomorrow that makes Drift so appealing.
Nate
is in his mid-teens, an ex-pat child of Singapore, recently rehomed along with
his physically challenged mother in Australia which he finds as alien and isolating
as being on the moon. Luna, his neighbour appears a sensitive and understanding
ally however is nursing her own darkness.
When over 20,000 swarming bees decide Nate’s home is the place to be, he and Luna unite to save them along with local surfy and ace beekeeper, Tyler.
This novel centres Alfie who believes he has found ‘the one’. Meet Maya, his best friend and girl of his dreams. Alfie and Maya share a long, intimate history together.
They spend both the highs and lows of their life together, their loves and
losses, their pains and gains. They share everything, right? Or that’s what
they both thought until they discover an underlying romance to their
relationship that blurs the line between friends and lovers.
Alfie’s
desperate search for love finds him falling for Gwen, one of the close members
in their friendship circle and becomes confused when she doesn’t share the same
feelings for him. It turns out Gwen was hiding a bigger secret of her own…
The story begins with Darcy travelling home to LA from a music festival, when the bus breaks down. Both she and Russell find themselves stranded at a fairly remote bus station, where she asks to borrow his phone charger. And so the adventure begins.
For a narrative set over the course of just 24 hours, a lot goes on. Without giving the storyline away, suffice to say that there are global rock stars, Mexican feasts, swimming pool break-ins and security interrogations … all while our two main characters get to know each other in a funny, intense and very visceral way.
A gorgeous, sometimes whimsical offering that provides
the seeds of good advice and encourages small people to stand in their power,
it shares ideas and thoughts on useful and fun stuff to know as you’re growing
up!
It’s easy to see why these books are delighting readers
young and old – the writing is fresh, funny and fabulous.
Lottie Brooks is one of those tween characters who is
sometimes all-bluff, sometimes all-heart, and you sort of fall in love with her
either way.
She is a frustratingly endearing creature who creates
crazy and embarrassing moments in every aspect of her life – the word ‘chaotic’
in the title is an understatement.
Lottie’s voice is clear and engaging, even when her
actions are heart-stoppingly ridiculous. She constantly gets herself into
awkward situations, giving readers the joy of watching her squirm out of them.