The Koala Bounces Back

by Jimmy Thomson, illustrated by Eric Löbbecke

Random House Australia. Australian, Children’s Picture Book. Hardback RRP $19.95

Karri the bouncing koala is a hero who helped save children from a fire. Now he lives in an area protected from men with dogs or saws, cars or trucks. It’s peaceful in Karri’s Corner.

That is until some cats move in. The small animals and birds are now frightened and ask Karri to move them on.

Karri asks the cats to move on but the cats refuse. They have nowhere else to live. When Karri threatens to turn to the humans for help, the cats get scared. Jinksy, the cat leader, realises there is need for compromise. So he initiates a game of footy… if the cats win they stay, if they lose they will move on.

And so the game begins.

This is a wonderful Australian story. It will teach young children about the Australian bush and what happens when native and domestic animals are forced to co-exist.

The illustrations are cute and cuddly like Karri, or scratchy and scary like Jinksy. Children will love reading the story and identifying native Australian animals. I loved the big, tall emu.

http://www.jimmythomson.com/

http://www.tinpotstudio.com.au/

About Face

Words by Robert Moore, Pictures by Monkeystack

IP Kidz. Australian, Children, Picture. Hardcover RRP $26.00

About Face is a funny, quirky and definitely colourful story of a boy who has a dream that his facial features leave his face and roam the house.

                “My eyes jumped out of their sockets.
                My nose fell on the floor.
                My ears unscrewed themselves.
                Then my lips slid off my mouth.
                And opened the door.”

The adventures of six appendages (two eyes, two ears, a nose and lips) making pies, listening to music and sneaking about the house will delight children. The wonderful 3D graphics will mesmerise the reader and I was just waiting for the eyes to blink.

A wonderful and different story that is soon be turned into an animation film. Now that will be one to keep your eyes and ears posted out for…

http://www.moorethemerriest.com/
http://www.monkeystack.com.au/

I Love You Book

by Libby Hathorn, illustrated by Heath McKenzie

IP Kidz. Australian, Picture, Children’s. Hardcover RRP$26.00

A wonderful romp along with Libby Hathorn’s words and Heath McKenzie’s funny and colourful drawings, I Love You Book tells the story of a young girl and the books she meets.

‘The pictures that you show me,
The stories that you tell.’

‘Yes, book you are my friend,
And though you take me far away,
You always, always, always, book,
You bring me home again!’

This is a book that children will enjoy reading, because it is just that… a book about reading and the stories that you discover along the way. For any child that doesn’t like to read, this may just be the right book to get them started. For others, it is a gentle reminder of why we love to read.

http://www.libbyhathorn.com/
http://www.heathmck.com/

Lily’s Wish

by Barbara Pyett and Illustrated by Serena Geddes

New Frontier Publishing. Australian, Children’s Picture. Soft cover RRP $9.95

Lily writes to Santa asking for just one Christmas wish. Santa writes back to Lily with suggestions for her wish. The correspondence continues until Christmas Eve when Santa pays Lily a visit to grant her wish.

Lily’s Wish is primarily a book for young children but it is also a book grandparents all over the world will love to be given from their grandchildren for Christmas.

A beautiful story with captivating yet simple watercolour illustrations that will become a favourite in many families.

Serena Geddes - http://www.reeni.com.au/

Diva Series

Girls Stuff/Girls at Sea

by Sue Lawson

black dog books. Australian, Children’s. Paperback RRP $7.99

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Girls Stuff and Girls at Sea are the fifth and sixth books in the Diva Series originally printed in 2007 and rereleased this year with new eye catching, silver foil jackets.

The Diva Series follows the adventures of teenager Micky Farrell as she pursues her dream to become a singing star. Each book is a complete story on its own and can be enjoyed independent of reading the complete series.

Within the first few paragraphs of Girls Stuff, the reader learns Mickey was previously in the finals of the Diva singing competition and now is embarking on a new job working as the co-host of a television show called “Girls Stuff TV”.

In Girls at Sea Mickey completes her first real assignment for Girls Stuff TV. Mickey and her co-hosts go to the ocean to whale watch and interview people and along the way she learns about keeping secrets and looking out for your friends.

Both books contain unexpected twists and turns to keep the reader intrigued. There are simple, unpatronising life messages for young girls about friendships and trust. At the end of each book is a quick quiz which is fun. You can find out if you are a good friend or a worry wart.

Diva books are a particularly suited to girls aged 8 to 12 years.

The Reading Stack has reviewed Sue Lawson’s Finding Darcy in Issue 9, August 2008, After in September 2009 and Dare You in October 2010.

http://www.suelawson.com.au/

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

by Tom Skinner, illustrated by Annie White, Audio CD read by Antonia Kidman

New Frontier Publishing. Australian, Children. Hardback with CD RRP $27.95

Music Box Series is an excellent way to introduce young children to classical music and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the third book of this series.

Rizwan is a young apprentice at the Wizard Car and Camel Wash. Rizwan is like most children – looking for an easier way out, and when he starts to cast his own magic on the mayor’s camels and long car, you just know it isn’t going to

end well for him.

The story is a funny tale that has some lessons gently embedded in it. The narration will help young readers follow the words with Paul Abraham Dukas’ music playing in the background – perfect for car travel. The tension rises as the magic and Rizwan’s mistakes reach a crescendo. The illustrations by Annie White tie the story together into a wonderful package. Readers and listeners will want to repeat the experience. Fantastic!

The Reading Stack reviewed Flight of the Bumblebee in March 2009 and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in August 2009.

Bobo, My Superdog

by Michael Salmon

Ford Street Publishing. Australian, Picture, Children. Hardback RRP $19.95

Bobo is a typical dog. He burys his bones in the garden, has his own doggy kennel in the backyard and barks at the possums at night but Bobo has a secret and only his young human owner knows it. Bobo is Super-Bo, a dog with super powers that spends his days fighting to save princesses from dragons, explorers from ferocious snakes and the city from a slimy monster.

Bobo and his owner have to keep his secret hidden from the boy’s parents and everyone else so Super-Bo wears a mask and an old striped beach towel for a cape. When the parents think Bobo is sleeping all day in his kennel, he is being a super dog.

When the mayor wants to reward this super dog with a medal, how will Bobo ever hide his secret?

A funny story of one super dog and his master with wonderfully detailed illustrations.

http://www.michaelsalmon.com.au/

Spaced Out/Camp Croc

Lightning Strikes Series

Walker Books. Australian, Middle Reader delights. Paperback RRP $12.95

Guest reviewer Jo Burnell

It’s often really hard to find spell-binding stories for middle readers, but Walker books nail it with their Lightning Strikes Series. Of their most recent releases, Spaced Out and Camp Croc are my favorites. How can you choose between the two? Don’t. Enjoy them both.

Spaced Out

by Moya Simons

Jessie lives hundreds of years in the future, but he’s no different to any 12 year old I know. Impulsive decisions get him into trouble regularly. However, instead of getting detention or being grounded, he travels clear across the Universe to Centuria, the Shopping Capital of the Universe. All he has to do while there to keep out of trouble is stay inside the city borders. How hard could that be?

Jessie isn’t very good at forward planning or self control so the situations he encounters stretch him to the limit. It all starts when he buys a life-like robot boy, only to watch it walk ‘home’ to the dodgy salesman.

Things get complicated when robot boy wants to find his own kind. Rumour has it they all live in the Farlands. You guessed it. The Farlands are outside the city walls. Will Jessie break the rules again? There’s only one way to find out. Get ready for a fast-paced story with intrigue and unexpected twists. Perfect for anyone who wonders what the world might be like in a few hundred years.

The Reading Stack has reviewed Simons’ Let Me Whisper You My Story, Walk Right In Detective Agency Series and Hello God.


http://www.moyasimons.com/

Camp Croc

by Trudy Trewin

This is it: the camp that the whole class has been waiting for. Set in tropical outback Queensland, the boys can’t resist exploring just a little bit further than the actual camp boundary. A rope dangling over a trickling creek is too tempting to pass up.

However, life is never that simple and one thing leads to another. A close encounter with a giant crocodile is just a blip in the boys’ series of heart thumping exploits.

An extra bonus in Camp Croc is Dak’s Fact boxes with a difference. Dak’s words of wisdom are not quite like any I have come across before. They make even the most serious reader crack a grin. For example, ‘teachers with names like Longbottom should just suck it up. I mean, do they really think kids can let a name like that go un-messed with?’

High action and debacles combine with Dak’s fact boxes to make a surprisingly quick read. I wondered where all the pages disappeared to.

http://trudietrewin.com/

Vinnie’s War

by David McRobbie

Allen and Unwin. Australian, Children’s Fiction. Paperback RRP $15.99

Guest Reviewer - Anastasia Gonis

Hitler’s first air raid hits London just as children are being sent away to the country as public evacuees. Vinnie is amongst them. Or

phaned at 11 years old, he was allocated by welfare to a sterile and emotionless home environment. Vinnie secretly worked at the local pub. Befriended by the pub owners and Isaac, a Jewish refugee, he got a taste of the laughter and warmth that had been missing from his life. He learnt about music and it became an integral part of his life. But those temporary joys ended with his evacuation.

Vinnie, siblings Kathleen and Joey, and Dobbs, all travel, arrive and stay close at Netterfold where they are billeted out to families. Vinnie goes to the ageing but aristocratic Miss Armstrong who initially remains unseen. But he is content to be enveloped in the kindness and caring of the housekeeper.
Vinnie is always warring with someone or something in his search for a place to belong. In Netterfold he finds himself in a more confronting war than the one he’d escaped. This war is declared by the town’s children who see the evacuees as usurpers to their established way of life. They bully and ridicule the newcomers who also have to cope with separation from family, home, and everything dear and familiar.

Rationing becomes everyone’s way of life. Others find rorting the system and using children to their advantage, another alternative to surviving the austere measures enforced by the war effort. But Vinnie’s life is transformed when Miss Armstrong turns out to be more than he had dared hope. As the war ends, he realises that he is not who he was, that he has found his place in the world.

The ‘Afterward’ allows the reader into the writer’s life as a child during the war years. These experiences were the starting block for this book; a book about displacement and separation, about war and its casualties which were more than the wounded. It is a book about strength and courage; about compromise and community.

The Goannas of No 1 Martin Place

Vicki Steggall and illustrations by Danny Snell

ABC Books. Australian, Picture, Children. Hardback RRP $24.99


Moreton and his parents, Go-ma and Go-pa live in the beautiful Sydney Botanic Gardens. Their life is perfect except more and more of those pesky humans are invading their home. So Go-pa goes out searching for the perfect spot – sunny, away from humans and high.

Finally Go-pa comes home one evening with the exciting news of a new home - No 1 Martin Place is the GPO clock tower and at the top is a little glass room. Perfect for a goanna family - quiet, sunny and away from humans.

Soon after Martin is born and life for Moreton becomes even better with a little brother to play with. But they learn that there is someone who doesn’t like the goanna family living on his turf, the Pitt Street Cat.

Moreton befriends some unlikely helpers in the quest to get rid of the mean and nasty Pitt Street Cat so everyone can live a safe and happy life in No 1 Martin Place.

The Goannas of No 1 Martin Place is a story of unusual friendships and life in the big city told from the unusual perspective of a goanna. With the eye-catching illustrations you can enjoy the story even more. The Pitt Street Cat is a mean looking fellow!

A book that children will treasure. When you take them to Sydney the first sightseeing stop will be the GPO clock tower – where they might just catch a glimpse of a little goanna.

http://www.dannysnell.com/flash.html

Odd and the Frost Giants

by Neil Gaiman

Allen and Unwin. Children Fiction. Hardback RRP $22.99

This freezing cold Viking tale complete with Norse gods and a trip to Asgard tells the story of Odd, a young crippled boy.

Life is not easy for Odd. His father was killed in an accident and his mother has remarried Fat Elfred, who is not interested in a crippled stepson.

Odd spends most of his time in the woods. He loves the warm seasons and waits for winter to pass. But this time it goes on forever.

The Frost Giants have invaded Asgard and banished the gods – Thor, Loki and Odin to Midgard where humanity lives. When Odd saves a bear, a fox and an eagle he finds himself caught in the struggle to free the world from winter.

Can a crippled boy be any help to three powerful gods? Can he return the hammer that is beyond even Thor’s mighty reach?

With Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman has ice-carved a new adventure in Norse mythology.

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book was reviewed in Issue 14 of The Reading Stack and Instructions in July 2010.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/

The Cat in the Hat

Knows a Lot About That! Series

Random House. Children. Paperback RRP $6.95

Dr Seuss books have been a big favourite in our house for many years, in fact I remember growing up with them and that was a very long time ago.

When I brought these books home, my seven year old son grabbed them with glee, went into his bedroom and started to read! The rhyming is catching. I asked what he thought of them and his words fell out all over the place, the story, the pictures and even the glow-in-the-dark stickers.

I sneaked a peak and thought that for $6.95 it is a quality treat – the stickers are really good quality as is the book itself. Brightly coloured pictures with stories that are fun and will have children engaged in reading for hours.

These new smaller paperback series are just the right size and format for newly independent readers to enjoy the adventures of the Cat in the Hat. The books are a tie in with a brand new animated television show.

http://www.catinthehatbooks.co.uk/
http://www.seussville.com/

Walker Stories

Walker Books. Australian, Childrens. Paperback RRP $11.95

Guest Reviewer Jo Burnell

Move over Aussie Nibbles, you’ve got company.

The Walker Stories have arrived. Three short stories in each book dovetail to make irresistible early readers. Layers of meaning, plenty to smile about and satisfying endings are sure to hook even the most reluctant reader to these pages.

The Lost Treasure

by Jan Stradling, illustrated by Cassandra Allen

Pirate Ruby is happy most of the time and loves to help people, while Pirate Hamish is nearly always cross. He loves taking treasure. Short sentences with lots of action lead to a surprise ending. Of course, there’s a moral to the story, but can you guess where the treasure is? All is not as it seems.

http://www.cassandrallen.com/

Mr Tripp Smells a Rat

by Sandy McKay, illustrated by Ruth Paul

Mr Tripp is round like a teddy bear until he goes on a diet. He’s scared of rats too, but he’s very brave and he’s good at telling jokes. Mr Tripp insists that everyone is good at something and his students don’t let him down. So much is packed into this little chapter book, it left me breathless. There are no less than 10 jokes, advice about nits and head lice as well as plenty of action. Who wouldn’t want to visit this classroom where there is so much fun and so much to learn?

http://www.ruthpaul.co.nz/

You are a Star

by Michael Parker and Judith Rossell

ABC Books. Children’s Picture Book, Australian. Hardcover RRP $24.99


Inspired by Michael Parker’s lifelong love of cosmology and his desire to explain scientific concepts to his young children, You are a Star explains how everyone has a piece of the stars inside them. A star is a celebration of a child’s place in the universe.

As the reader floats through space, fires burn and stars are born. They continue to burn until they explode. Tiny pieces fly across space to cool to become part of planets, rocks, plants, animals, trees … and the child reader.

The book is written in conversational storytelling style promoting the intimacy of a wonderful magic secret shared. The magic continues in Judith Rossell’s illustrations, with the clever use of light and dark. Stars glimmer, taking on many different shapes as they drift through space, tails streaming behind.

The story is beautiful encapsulated by this one line: “But remember, that sky way, way above your head is not cold and dark. It is the cradle from which you came.”

Recommended bedtime reading – a little magic, a little science and a strong sense of belonging.

The Reading Stack reviewed in April 2010 Judith Rossell and Mark Macleod's book Wrong Way.

http://www.michaelparker.com.au/

Mirror

by Jeannie Baker

Walker Books. Australian, Adult Other, Picture Book, Children Other. Hardcover rrp $39.95

Guest Reviewer Jo Burnell

Jeannie Baker’s illustrations are works of art. Every picture invites the fingers to explore texture and detail even though you know the page is flat. Mirror is Jeannie’s latest masterpiece and it surpasses all she has done in the past.

The unusual format opens doors to new worlds, literally. This two-in-one simultaneous read requires no written words. The book on the left opens in the traditional way to reveal suburban Australia, while the book on the right opens as its mirror image.

One boy sleeps in a typical western home while a mother prays and works under the same moon, far away in Morocco. Life in the two places is in constant contrast. Everything from household chores and breakfast foods, through clothing to modes of transport are juxtaposed. Can you see the man on the mobile phone in the middle of the desert market or the football streamers fluttering from a car aerial at the busy pedestrian crossing?

Bustling three lane highways could not differ more from the narrow mountain path where a donkey and its rider have no need for GPS. Call me a dreamer, but I was so absorbed in the intricate details on every page that I didn’t anticipate the delightful twist this story was leading to. The simple truths of contrasting lives were echoing in my mind when the final mirror image struck with clarity.

It’s easy to go shopping for a Moroccan rug in Australia, but what do you buy in Morocco?

Book lovers of all ages will enjoy exploring these two worlds. Every time I return to Mirror, new details surface, offering a deeper understanding of the way our lives echo those of others in different countries. My only regret is that I can’t touch the original images to feel rough clothing, slide my fingers along corrugated roofing, scratch possum fur or dip my finger in the flour that is ground and ready for bread baking.

http://www.jeanniebaker.com/mirror.htm