The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl

Melissa Keil is the author of the CBCA shortlisted My Life in Outer Space and the 2014 recipient of the Australian IBBY Ena Noel award given to an outstanding young writer or illustrator. So my expectations were high. The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl did not disappoint.

Alba wants things to stay the same. She is comfortable and content with her small town life in Eden Valley, her close group of friends and even herself. She doesn’t want anything to change.

But change is inevitable. School has ended and after one last holiday break, some of her friends will be leaving town. Job offers, study plans and hooking up – nothing is staying the same – no matter how hard she tries to keep it that way. Her best friend Grady, who she thought she knew inside-out, is acting strange. Even Cinnamon Girl, her latest comic book character, won’t do what Alba wants.

When the self-styled prophet Original Ned announces the world is about to end and provides Eden Valley’s co-ordinates as the place to be, even greater changes engulf Alba. The town’s population swells and a never-forgotten childhood friend returns. Dominic is no longer a chubby boy but a muscled soapie star. Alba welcomes a return to the friendship triangle but once again, something is shifting.

The world might not be ending but the world as Alba knows it, definitely is.   

There’s so much to love about this book. It’s easy to identify with Alba who is both gutsy and vulnerable. The small town setting of Eden Valley comes to life in a personally familiar way for me. Eddie makes me laugh and Grady makes me sigh.

Finally, no review of this book would be complete without a shout-out for the cover – absolutely eye-catching.

Reviewed by Sandy Fussell

Title: The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl

Author: Melissa Keil

Publisher:  Hardie Grant Egmont $19.99 RRP

Publication Date: September 2014

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781742978307

Type: Young Adult Fiction

Spurt: A Balls and All Story

At fourteen, Jack still hasn’t emerged from his child body. He is the joke of the Year 8 locker room. At sports time he has nothing to show that puberty has changed him, in comparison to the other boys’ metamorphosis by testosterone. All he has on his side to boast about is the memory of a win in the reality show Bigwigs, where children go into the workplace and do adult jobs.

All Jack wants to do is fit in with his group again. He falls into the trap of ‘fake it until you make it’. But this can sometimes turn on you. Things get complicated when language and meanings are misinterpreted, and when things are not what they appear. He has to do something about it before he turns into a social outcast. Can the revival of Bigwigs be Jack’s saving grace? And what is going on with his friends who seem to have changed since the holidays?

This witty, cheeky but candid approach to puberty and the changes it brings - or doesn’t bring, is full of truth and the angst of adolescence. It’s about fitting in and friendships, told with hilariously clever word play, in a light-hearted and entertaining fashion. Suitable for the 14+ age group, 

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Spurt

Author: Chris Miles

Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, RRP $ 16.95

Publication Date: July 2014

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781742974651

Type: Teenage Fiction

Bloodlines 2: Reckoning

by Kate Cary

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult, Fantasy, Supernatural. Paperback rrp $16.95

Reviewed by Barbara  Brown 

Reckoning is the story of the heir to Dracula’s bloodline, Quincey Harker. The book begins in November 1917 and finishes just over a year later. But in the world of vampires and early 20^th century England, a lot can happen in a year.

Quincey Harker has turned to become the man his father wanted but Quincey loses the only thing he truly loved and cannot forgive his father for that. He now wants to escape his destiny. But how do you escape something that has never been able to be undone?

Mary Seward is the best friend of Quincey’s true love and is engaged to Quincey’s cousin. Mary is also the one that escaped Quincey’s and her own beloved fiance’s transformations. But how? How could a mere mortal flee from the castle in Transylvania along with a young baby? Quincey believes Mary is the answer to his controlling his lust for blood. He will do anything to get Mary to help him.

After months hiding in her small town, looking after the injured from the battlefields, Mary starts to feel safe… But when her nightmares become reality, she must once more flee from the pursuit of Quincey and his terrifying, yet seductive charm. But is she running into the arms of someone more powerful than Dracula’s heir?

Reckoning is the sequel to Bloodline. I have not read Bloodline and I didn’t need to. Reckoning is a gripping story on its own. There are so many twists that several times I had to re-read snippets to confirm that my guesses were wrong. A brilliant and wonderful twist on the theme of vampires. And to answer the unasked question, I am going to read Bloodline next.

Tweenie Genie

Genie in Charge

by Meredith Badger

hardie grant EGMONT. Australian, Junior, Fantasy. Hardback rrp $16.95

Genie in Charge is the long awaited book three in the Tweenie Genie series. And, like the other two books, I was not disappointed.

Poppy, our young Tweenie Genie, is now in her stage three of training and to graduate she, and the other stage three tweenies, must mentor a stage two tweenie. When tweenies graduate they are granted a special wish to work in the job they want. Poppy, of course, wants to work in the royal stables looking after all the magic carpets.

On Mentor Day the Velodrome Bottle has been transformed with balloons and banners. Poppy is excited. She hopes she will get a wonderful match since she is a “golden” genie (a genie with a good heart). She doesn’t mind who it is just so long as they love flying. Poppy loves taking care of the Royal magic carpets and can’t wait to go flying with her new student.

But things don’t seem to go as planned. Everyone is matched perfectly except Poppy. Her student, Aggi, hasn’t turned up for the matching process. Why would she miss this important day? When Poppy finally meets Aggi she is confronted with a rude genie who doesn’t like riding magic carpets at all.

What happens if Poppy doesn’t graduate? How will Poppy ever get her wish if she can’t mentor Aggi? And why doesn’t Aggi want to dress like all the other tweenies?

Tweenie Genie fans won’t be disappointed in this next exciting instalment of the adventures of Poppy and her friends. And if you’ve ever wondered what happens when a genie’s bottle is broken … you will have to read Genie in Charge.

The Reading Stack reviewed Meredith Badger’s Tweenie Genie. Genie in Training in May 2009 and Tweenie Genie. Genie High School in February 2010.

douglas

by g.n. Hargreaves

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Children. Paperback RRP  $17.99.

douglas is the story of a dog. Not just any dog but a very clever dog. Douglas likes to do things that humans like to do, such as playing the tuba, sorting his stamp collection and driving his car. He doesn’t care for things such as chasing cats and balls, or drinking out of a bowl and going for walks.

Douglas was very clever indeed, however, he was very sad as well. Douglas could do anything he put his mind to except for one thing.

Douglas could not wag his tail.

And this is where douglas the story begins. How does a smart dog who can do anything set about to do the impossible? With the help of a bird named Basil. That’s when the fun begins.

A cute story of a dog reader’s will fall in love with. The drawings are simple, colourful and children will delight in seeing all the different poses Douglas can do. Included at the back of the book are over 20 stickers of Douglas and Basil.

Revived

by Cat Patrick

hardie grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $22.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Daisy Appleby is stung by a bee. Daisy Appleby is allergic to bees. Daisy Appleby dies.

Daisy is only 15 when she is tragically stung by a bee at school, on a day when she has forgotten her epipen. But then Daisy Appleby isn’t her real name. And this is Daisy’s fifth death.

Every time Daisy dies she is brought back to life by a secret government super-drug called Revive. If she is killed by damaging vital organs she cannot be revived, and she must always have her “parents” close by so they can administer the drug quickly. But there are rumours that Revive doesn’t always work.

Daisy has always been a loner, never getting too close to others just in case she has to leave abruptly. Every time she dies, she must move to another city and change her name. She is, after all, a government secret. She has a number of friends who are also in the same program but she rarely sees them and only gets to chat to them over the internet.

Now Daisy is 15, discovering friendship and first love. Can she stop dying and be a normal teenager for a while? She can… until her past catches up and she realises that her life is in danger… danger of dying for good.

A unique story that was a race to the finish to see if Daisy’s next death will be her last.

The Reading Stack reviewed Cat Patrick’s Forgotten in April 2011.

 http://www.catpatrick.com/

Why We Broke Up

 by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $24.95

Reviewer - Barbara Brown

A very interesting tale of love, lies and deceit. It’s a wonderfully written, quirky novel that is easy to read.

Girl meets boy. Boy likes girl. Boy and girl start dating. Girl thinks it’s a long term relationship. Girl finds out there is another. Girl dumps boy. The end.

Or is it?

The book begins with Min and a box of things she is delivering to Ed’s place. Each chapter starts with a wonderful illustration of the next item in the box and the next item in the relationship. Every item has a story and the items are in chronological order so we, the reader, get to experience the relationship of Min and Ed from flourishing, awkward beginnings to brittle, upsetting end. Some chapters are complicated. Others funny and brief. But to sum up a relationship in a box is brilliant.

Handler’s use of very old movie metaphors in all the actions Min does is somewhat confusing since I’m not a movie buff however, it makes me understand Ed since he has no idea what Min is on about in the beginning. That is why he falls for her and the reader starts to understand her personality. Kalman’s artwork is simple and colourful and every piece could be torn out and framed.

A great book that was fun to read.

www.whywebrokeupproject.com
http://www.mairakalman.com/

Skin Deep

by Laura Jarratt

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $22.95

Reviewer - Barbara Brown

Skin Deep’s byline - Ugly people don’t have feelings – explains the story behind this book. I felt sad and angry at the beginning but then my emotions were taken on a trek up and down hills and valleys until my journey ended in the last pages. This is a book I couldn’t put down.

Jenna is a fourteen year old who was disfigured in the car crash which killed her best friend. She has been transformed from an average pretty girl to a person that children gawk at and adults try not to notice. A person that is stared at for all the wrong reasons.

After several months of staying at home recovering, Jenna returns to school but not life as she knew it. People are mean and treat her like a freak. She retreats further into her own world and it looks like she will never come out.

But then Ryan arrives. A sixteen year old who travels the waterways on a long boat living with his mother. Not usually accepted in the villages and towns, Ryan has dealt with hatred and stares all his life. He hopes this place will be different as he tries to integrate. He is honest and easily gets his first paid job, which he loves. His mother said they may stay longer in this lovely place. Ryan hopes so.

Ryan shows Jenna how to ignore and believe in herself. Jenna shows Ryan how to love. Everything seems perfect. Jenna learns to cope with the stares and Ryan learns to cope with his mother’s mood swings.

But then a body is found and all eyes look towards the travelling boy.

Skin Deep encourages you to guess. I thought I knew the murderer … but I was wrong. A book I would like to see on the big screen.

http://www.laurajarratt.com/

Plague

by Michael Grant

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult, Mystery, Science Fiction. Paperback RRP $19.95

Guest Reviewer - Ian Brown

This is the fourth book in the series; Gone, Lies, Hunger and now Plague.

It’s been eight months since all the adults have disappeared, from FAYZ, the Fallout Alley Youth Zone centred on Perdido Beach. You need to have read the previous books, to be up-to-date with what has happened in the FAYZ.

In Plague, fresh water is running out and a fatal flu hits the town, killing many of the children.

The series of books are filled with dark, violent and sometimes gory action. There is a large cast of characters, and multiple storylines to keep the reader in suspense. While Plague does answer many questions, others remain, to keep the reader intrigued. Each new book in the series brings new stories within a complex main story.

If you are a fan of authors like Stephen King and love a good horror story, but have yet to discover this series of books, check them out. As for me I can’t wait for the next instalment, Fear out in 2012.

The Reading Stack reviewed Michael Grant’s Gone in October 2009.

http://www.egmont.co.uk/gone/

http://themichaelgrant.com/  

Zelah Green

Who says I’m a freak?

by Vanessa Curtis

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult, Humour. Paperback RRP $16.95

Reviewer - Barbara Brown

Zelah Green has a problem. Zelah doesn’t think that it’s that big of a problem but her stepmother has decided it is.

Zelah can’t touch people. She doesn’t like dirt and hates germs. She has to keep her bizarre and strange routines correct otherwise something bad happens, like when her mother died and her father left.

When Zelah’s stepmother sends her to a special hospital, Zelah realises her quirks may be a little bit strange, but not as strange as the other inhabitants, Alice the anorexic, Caro the self-mutilator and Sol the silent but cute guy.

Zelah Green is a funny yet touching story of modern-day problems that are very real for many children. An easy read recommended for the high school library book shelf.

http://www.vanessacurtis.com/

Whisper

by Chrissie Keighery

Hardie Grant Egmont. Australian, Young Adult. Paperback rrp $16.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Demi is a normal teenage schoolgirl. She’s attractive, friendly and is struggling with schoolwork and family issues. But Demi’s circumstances have changed in the past two years and her and her friends and family have had to make a lot of adjustments. A lot of adjustments because of Demi.

At fourteen-and-a-half Demi contracts meningitis and ends up near death. She survives but she loses one sense. Her sense of sound. Her whole life has evolved around her hearing and talking and now everything is silent … totally silent.

After struggling for two years, Demi feels that no-one really understands her anymore and she ends up attending a school for the deaf. After one day Demi feels like she belongs. Everyone is open when they talk and they all know how she feels. And so Demi’s life starts to take an upward turn. Her grades are getting better, she has new friends and she also has the admiration of a hot looking guy from the hearing school next door. What could be worse?

Whisper is a wonderful tale that could be telling a story about racism and misunderstanding. Deaf people versus hearies. Speaking versus signing. Laughing with or laughing at. Couldn’t put it down!

The Reading Stack reviewed Chrissie Keighery’s outside IN in September 2009.

Kangaroo and Crocodile

My Big Book of Australian Animals

by Bronwyn Bancroft

Hardie Grant Egmont (Little Hare Books). Australian, Picture. Hardcover RRP $24.95

Reviewer - Sandy Fussell


I’ll confess it up front. I collect Bronwyn Bancroft’s beautiful picture books. I often give them as gifts. They are a wonderful way to introduce young children to indigenous art.

The bright coloured pages are filled with Australian birds, animals and insects. My favourite colour is purple, and I was immediately drawn to the purple pages – the purple and blue of the bottlenose dolphin, great white shark and the purple and blue of the gecko and frog.

The pictures will lead to lots of questions and parents will be pleased to find the answers in the fact pages at the back of the book.

http://www.bronwynbancroft.com/

Forgotten

by Cat Patrick

hardie grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $22.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

London Lane forgets her past. At precisely 4.33am her brain resets ready for a brand new day. But London never forgets her future – and the future of all around her. She sees the future in bits and pieces and it is something that London cannot forget.

Every morning the first thing London does is check her bedside table and the notes that are there to remind her of what has happened in the past couple of days and things she may need to do today. Most of the mundane things like eating, dressing, her room and school, teachers, best friend and her mum are firmly entrenched into her future memories that she knows what to expect and there are never any real surprises. But when London meets Luke she realises he isn’t in her future memories, therefore she won’t remember him. And Luke is someone London really wants to remember.

Everyday London meets up with Luke and even though she knows they are going out, Luke always takes her breath away. Why isn’t Luke in her future? Yet months into their relationship he is still there in her past and present but nowhere in her future memories.

Then London starts to dream of a funeral. Whose funeral is it? She sees a person who must be her grandmother and the father that she has never remembered. She wants to ask her mother but her mother has been hiding a secret from London and with the help of Luke, London starts to get answers. But the funeral must be in the future so whose is it? When she starts to see that Luke isn’t in her future does that mean this funeral is his? Is that why he isn’t in her future memories?

Forgotten kept me reading until the end – several hours later. A very interesting and yet gripping novel that could be classed as a love story but also could be classed as a suspenseful thriller. Neither classifications are correct. It’s the story of a girl with an interesting abnormality. This is Cat Patrick’s debut novel and it is good – truly not to be forgotten.

http://www.catpatrick.com/

Henry the Goat

by Ella Watkins

hardiegrant EGMONT. Australian, Children’s Picture Book. Soft cover RRP $16.95

Henry the Goat is a very enthusiastic goat. He lives with his parents and grandpa. The problem with Henry is that he loves to play and he doesn’t realise the mess he makes.

When his friends come over to play, everything goes wrong. But Henry is enjoying himself and doesn’t notice when the garden is upset and the washing gets wet and his friends and he get muddy.

A fun story with wonderful illustrations of Henry – you just have to love Henry.

Ella Watkins is only fifteen years of age and Henry was created when she was eight. She self-published her first book, Henry’s Holiday, when she was twelve.

http://www.henrythegoat.com.au/

The Kooky 3D Kid’s Cookbook

Hardie Grant Books. Non-Fiction Cookbook. Hardcover rrp $24.99


If you are on a diet – beware! The Kooky 3D Kid’s Cookbook is not to be looked at by hungry readers, you may just find while trying to grab a Superstar Sundae or a Chicken Coleslaw Burger that you end up with thin air. Take the 3D glasses off and the craving will, hopefully, abate long enough for you or your kids to cook up a storm.

The Kooky 3D Kid’s Cookbook is a wonderful and quirky addition to the bookshelf of any budding Masterchef. Not only are there some healthy, easy meals and desserts for children to cook (or eat), but each recipe is individually displayed in 3D and the preparations are laid out in easy steps some with helpful hints at the bottom.

This is a cookbook that kids will be fighting over to decide who wears the glasses. A great holiday treat for the children. Look out for the poor Shortbread Person who has lost his arm. I did say quirky!

101 Things to do on the Holidays

by Anna O’Donnell (aged 12) and Tessa Wilson (aged 13)

Hardie Grant. Australian, Children's Non-fiction. Paperback rrp $14.95

With the way the weather is shaping up for the summer holidays in New South Wales, this book could be the answer to a lot of parents’ prayers. I flicked through and found, to my absolute delight, the recipe for a volcano AND home-made lemonade. So one adult is really happy about 101 Things to do on the Holidays, how about the kids?

There are some simple ideas that could occupy a child for considerable time. From recycling clothing (Number 86) to creating a new drink (Number 2), to try and not talk (Number 44) to playing with eggs (Numbers 46 and 71). There are plenty of other things that may appeal to the dangerous or cheeky. All areas are covered. Once 101 Things to do on the Holidays is opened, it will be hard to close.

Anna and Tessa have created a successful book which started from being bored in the school holidays. Maybe your child could end up as a published author (Number 101). And our favourite, Number 49 of course, but I can’t tell you what it is, you’ll have to buy the book.

Kisses for Lula

by Samantha Mackintosh

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback rrp $17.95
Tallulah Bird (aka Lula, Lu, Tatty, T-Bird, Tatty Lula) is about to celebrate her sixteenth. Her good friends reckon it’s time to ensure that the jinx of boyfriends past disappears and that Lula doesn’t become an old spinster. It’s time to turn “Sweet Sixteen and BE kissed”.

So begins the wonderful, funny, sometimes scary story of a fifteen, soon to be sixteen, year old girl’s saga at trying to get her first kiss before the toll of bells ring for her sixteenth.

The main problem is to find someone worth kissing, and if that can’t be done, at least someone unafraid of her jinx problem and willing to kiss her. In the past every boy who has ever come near Tula has needed the services of the local doctor, and being a small university town, everyone knows! From bumped heads to fingers being cut off by an ice skate! Tallulah Bird is accident prone and boys are fearful for their lives.

In contention for the great kiss are Fat Angus (but Tallulah’s younger sister snares him), Billy Diggle (he IS twelve years of age), Arnold (Arns) Trenchard (her workmate at the uni library) and Ben Latter (the boy she has had a crush on since she was six years old). It seems that Arns is the most likely one, until she helps him with a makeover and hooks him up to the girl of HIS dreams, Mona! Arns and Mona thank Tula for her matchmaking by organising a double date with Ben Latter – THE Ben Latter.

Maybe, with only one day to go, Lula will get the kiss she needs to cure the jinx and also get the man of her dreams. But Kisses for Lula isn’t going to make it that easy. With the stalker, the arsonist, her father’s supposed affair, her mother’s work issues, the historical witch site that was her and her grandmother’s favourite place about to be demolished, there are a lot of obstacles set in Tallulah Bird’s way before that kiss can happen. When Lula finds herself waking up on her sixteenth birthday to help with a covert operation to catch a thief, it isn’t what she expected.

Kisses for Lula is a great book for any girl, from sixteen to sixty. If you think you have problems, Tallulah Bird will convince you otherwise. I loved it.

Monstrum House

Locked In

by Z Fraillon

Hardie Grant Egmont, Junior Fiction, Paperback, rrp $ 14.95

Reviewed by Sandy Fussell

Monstrum House is a special kind of school. Its students are all troublemakers like Jasper McPhee, already expelled from three schools in one year. These students have exactly the talents necessary to hunt monsters. At Monstrum House hunting monsters and being hunted by them is what education is all about.

The teachers are harsh, the lessons are cruel and the prefects merciless. But that might be just the training Jasper and his new friends Felix and Saffy, require to survive a monster encounter. Beware the Snobleshriek, the Sizzleguzzler and the Bogglemorph. This book has black and white illustrations of them all.

Readers 9+ will love these in-the-real-world monsters and the idea that adults, their brains shrinking with age, are too small-minded to believe in the danger all around them. It’s up to kids to save the day.

This is the first book in what promises to be both a fun and frightening series. One small warning – it does prescribe to the incomplete cliff-hanger ending which can be disappointing if the next book is not readily available to the reader and the hero is left in monstrous danger. But I suspect most will agree with me – worth the wait!

The Bad Butterfly

Billie B Brown

by Sally Rippin

Hardie Grant Egmont. Australian, Junior. Paperback rrp $7.95

Feisty, exuberant and full of bounce. Sometimes too much bounce for ballet classes. That’s Billie B Brown, the star of the new Billie B Brown chapter books and The Bad Butterfly, the first book in the series.

Billie and her friend Jack, are going to ballet classes. Girls like Billie are soft, floaty butterflies and boys like Jack are energetic, stomping trolls. But even after extra practise with Jack, who’s very good at ballet, Billie knows something is not quite right. “Hey,” she says. “I’ve got an idea.” Could Billie stomp and Jack float?

Billie B Brown is a terrific role model, encouraging young girls to be themselves, explore their own strengths and challenge stereotypes. She’s the sort of girl who makes you want to cheer, go Billie.

The Bad Butterfly is easy to read and perfectly suited to emerging readers with short chapters, large text, humorous illustrations and lots of sound noises. Where Billie goes there is always action happening! Young girls will love reading about her adventures.

http://www.sallyrippin.com/

Family Forest

by Kim Kane and illustrated by Lucia Masciullo

Hardie Grant Egmont. Australian, Picture Book, Young Reader. Hardback rrp $26.99

Family Forest is about one young boy’s blended family. With his two dads and two mum’s, a ‘whole’ sister and a ‘half’ sister and brother, his family seems to be unusually complicated but when it is shown through the eyes of a child it is suddenly very simple.

‘While some kids have a family tree...

We have a family forest!’

Masciullo’s illustrations create a giggle and a gasp but equally as important, they decipher adult words and concepts into child thoughts and feelings.

A great book to help explain the latest in family heritage.