Review: Twinning: BFFs (NOT); Twinning: Skipping Stars

These are The Top Secret Diaries of Twin Sisters. 

A fantastic read, they are part of a series with wonderful characters, light-hearted narratives, and a focus on multicultural - people and customs.

Ten-year-old Grace and Izzy are identical twins. But that’s where the likeness stops.

They love each other very much, but there is friendly sibling rivalry between them. 

 Sharing a bedroom is challenging.

Totally different in character, Izzy is untidy, loud, feisty, and loves hamburgers.

Grace is quiet and thoughtful. She loves to read, art, wear fashionable clothes, and eat vegetarian food.

Review: Such Charming Liars

This book by bestselling ‘Queen of Teen Crime’ author Karen McManus, is touted as an explosive new YA thriller. And yes, McManus well and truly earns the label – Such Charming Liars gives generously!

It’s told from the perspective of two teenagers, Kat and Liam, who were step-siblings for just 48 hours when they were five and their respective parents briefly married in Vegas.

This story contains all the important elements of a teen thriller: action, thrills, lust, spills, twists, power, fortune, fame. And of course, a little bit of gender-fluid snogging on the side.

With a complex storyline that will reward readers’ attention to detail (I suggest an intensive rather than extended reading period for this work), the book is pacy and well-written. 

Review: My Brother Finch

It has been three years since Wren’s brother, Finch, disappeared. 

Another girl vanished on the same day.

Finch’s disappearance changes the life of each family member, physically and emotionally.

Wren now lives in fear of everything. Her mother finds escape from her pain through work. 

Dad cries behind the bathroom door. 

Withdrawn and unable to talk about her loss and grief, Wren's group of friends back away, unable to know how to comfort her.

When Freddie, a too tall girl from a wealthy family approaches Wren in friendship, the grieving Wren hopes that this new presence will restore something in her.

Review: Into the Blue

It is always a challenge for mum to find things for Blair to occupy himself during school holidays. This time, she decides on a snorkelling event.

Blair and his cousin Drew, with a group of other children under the supervision of an instructor, go diving to explore an old shipwreck. 

Blair has done an unforgivable thing.

He has taken his elder brother Marcus’ Go-Pro to film the wreck underwater, without permission.

It is a ‘don’t touch’ item as it contains valuable footage of Marcus skating, which he intends to enter in a competition for the best outdoor video for a good amount of prize money.  

Blair loses the camera while underwater, and returns to search for it time and time again, even with Drew, but there is no sign of it.

Review: Grace the Amazing

Eleven-year-old Grace is on the cusp of adolescence. She sees herself as many things. All of them negative.

She hates school, is friendless, mocked by her classmates because she wants to be a magician, and doesn’t get along with her seven-year-old brother.

Unhappy and angry all the time, Grace is unable to see in herself, all that she is capable of with her artistic gift, nurtured by her art teacher Pamela.

Mum Coco works at the Zoo, and on weekends has her own animal show, Party Pets, with which Grace helps out.

Dad is away a lot for work, and alone, Coco is at wits end with her daughter’s inexplicable attitude.

This pushes her to seek help for Grace from a Child Psychologist.

Review: A Room for Ryel

Ryel and his dad officially become a blended family when they move into Lonnie’s house. 

Luckily, her twins Harry and Darcy, are already close friends with Ryel as they go to school together.

Sharing a room has many challenges and becomes something Ryel can’t come to terms with after having his own room for so long. 

Darcy talks and shouts in his sleep, while Harry’s breathing noises are epic, and keep Ryel awake all night. Half asleep through the day, his performance at school drops.

The only solution to the problem is the storeroom that houses the twins’ sports equipment and other stuff not currently being used.

Ryel comes up with a plan that could work.

On the 7th day of Christmas: You’re Not Ugly, Duckling!

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven swans a-swimming…and You’re Not Ugly, Duckling!, written by Steve Smallman and illustrated by Neil Price.

A fairytale with a twist!  

Mother Duck is shocked to discover that one of her ducklings looks a little different to the rest. 

He's large and grey, with a funny quack and an even funnier hair do! It's not just Mother Duck who has noticed - poor Ugly Duckling is bullied by the other farm animals and his siblings too!

Ugly Duckling decides to run away, but when he spots one of the farm animals in danger he rushes to the rescue. Are his actions enough to prove that you should never judge a book by its cover? 

Title: You're Not Ugly, Duckling!
Author: Steve Smallman
Illustrator: Neil Price
Publisher: QED Publishing, $ 24.99
Publication Date: 2016
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781784935337
For ages: 4+
Type: Picture Book

Review: Granbad

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason.

In this funny picture book adventure, sibling protagonists introduce us to their grandad, who they affectionately call Granbad?

Why? Because Granbad likes to break the rules. He eats the wrong things. He doesn’t listen to his doctors, and he’ll do whatever it takes to save the forests and the greater gliders who live there.

Review: Elegy For An Elephant

Elegy For An Elephant is, quite simply, magnificent. The words. The illustrations. All of it.

‘Those who leave live on through our living…’

We all have questions that need to be answered when someone we know dies, and quite particular questions when that death is from suicide. 

This book asks questions from a child’s perspective and answers them clearly, with a reassuring sense of strength and comfort.

Elegy For An Elephant pays homage to a family who are looking to understand their great loss. It’s powerful, beautiful, visceral and totally appropriate for children over seven years old. Supported and endorsed by child grief professionals, this book fills a vital gap in helping children to understand - and to navigate – their own grief and loss.

Review: Honey and the Valley of Horses

Sickness has enveloped the world. To find a safe place, Honey’s family escapes the city in their converted ice-cream van, with enough supplies to last them for some time. 

It is Honey’s fourth birthday. Her brother Rumi is still a baby.

They drive into a rainforest which seems the perfect place to camp. As they fear there is no entrance visible, one is opened by a herd of enchanted horses. 

A bridge magically appears, which they cross into a secret valley, which then closes behind them.

In this valley of horses, the family begins a new, self-sufficient life. 

They learn to forage for food, fish, live day by day in nature, and make do by repurposing everything that is at hand to use as clothing and tools. Lessons and daily chores fill the children's days.

Review: Shadow Catchers

This playful, delightful and captivating book is all about the joyful wonder of movement and shadows.

When you’re a child, there is never-ending fun to be had in chasing and catching shadows. 

Shadow Catchers harnesses a sense of abandon by following two small children from daybreak to bedtime, and immersing young readers in a magical world.

On sunshiny mornings, we go shadow catching.

Shadows in the early morning, shadows from wandering down the street, from sipping a drink and from playing in the local park. Funny, playful shadows and sometimes, darker, scary shadows. Wall shadows, tall shadows, long shadows, pong shadows - there’s nothing that a shadow cannot be or do or turn into!

Review: Pippa And The Troublesome Twins

Pippa is an independent and resourceful pigeon. Filled with adventure and a strong need of freedom, she longs to swoop and swirl in search of new destinations far beyond her home space.

This has not been possible since her twin brothers, Pepi and Penn, joined the family unit. All they seem to do is squeal and demand food.

Review: A Giant's Trek

This middle grade debut novel, which began as a bedtime story, encompasses a world of giants, fantasy and adventure. 

The focus of the story is Ash, the main character, whose father is chieftain of their village. 

Ash doesn’t meet his father’s expectations of a son, and is always measured against his twin brother, Oak, who will take his father’s position as leader when the time comes.

At twelve years old, the giants must embark on a rite of passage known as the Trek.

It is time for the Selections to be made, with a guardian chosen to accompany and mentor each young giant on their journey.

Ash is unconventional in looks and beliefs. He doesn’t want to follow training with traditional spears, bows and arrows and shields.

Review: When I'm Big

Many children struggle to understand what becoming BIG means. 

The girl/main character in Karen Blair’s stunning picture book, When I’m Big, questions and imagines what this could mean.

Just how big will I be?

Will she be bigger than others? What adjustments will be needed to accommodate her size if she is? 

A bigger bath? A bigger bed? 

12 Curly Questions with author Brooke Hill

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I was 80 per cent deaf until I had an operation on my ears about 10 years ago. My hearing must have gradually declined and I never knew how deaf I really was – it turns out I’d been getting by with lip reading and reading body cues. It probably explains why I’ve always been more comfortable buried in a book!

2. What is your nickname?
Chickers (my maiden name was Chicktong).

Review: The Wish Sisters: The Party Wish

Nearly all of us desire the ability to ‘get what we want, when we want it’. Condense this wanting desire into a wish and suddenly the improbable becomes possible. Lack becomes dreams fulfilled and heart’s desires are met.

Imagine this implication for a baby, someone who’s very existence revolves around their ‘demands’. So, when young Flick discovers her baby sister, Birdie has a gift for wishing things true, her best big sister status is instantly elevated to something altogether more serious.

The Party Wish is the first colourful caper in Aussie author, Allison Rushby’s latest junior fiction series, The Wish Sisters. Flick and Birdie, aka the Wish Sisters, have inherited a very special and powerful gift from their recently departed Granny Aggie; the ability to fulfil their own wishes. 

Review: The Lorikeet Tree

I grew up reading Paul Jennings and watching addictive episodes of Round the Twist. Jennings is Australian kid lit royalty and many 80s and 90s kids will be familiar with his work.

But The Lorikeet Tree is new. The Lorikeet Tree is different. It’s a sideways step from the quirky Jennings stories you might remember, but it’s no less stunning or addictive. 

A true gift to the middle grade genre, this is a story about family, hardship and heart. It doesn’t stray away from truth or hard issues, but Jennings approaches the subject matter sensitively as well as honestly. His talent is immense, and I see this book featuring in many Australian classrooms (as it should).

So let me tell you about it…

Junior Review: Letters From Cuba

Esther has been yearning for her Papa ever since he left Poland to live in Cuba in the midst of World War 2, to provide for the family. 

After 3 years distant from the family, Papa has finally saved enough money for one child to come and stay with him. Therefore, the eldest, Esther travels across the large ocean from Poland to Cuba to visit her Papa. 

From the moment Esther steps down from the boat, she is in love with all the vibrant colors and aromas that meet her, and she falls in love with Cuba, her new home. 

To Esther’s surprise, her home won’t be in the heart of Havana, but in the small farmers village of Agramonte. In her tiny wooden house, Esther finds her inner talent for sewing and is able to help her father by providing extra income. 

Review: Four Bad Unicorns

Inspired by her own childhood, Roald Dahl prizewinning author and illustrator Rebecca Patterson has created a quirky fun story that tackles the theme of disability and inclusion with warmth and humour that will resonate with both children and parents.

Unicorn mad sisters Frankie and Connie love playing everything with unicorns - unicorn cereal for breakfast, unicorn speed, unicorn yawning and dreaming of unicorns when they finally go to sleep at night.

Review: Bluey a Jigsaw Puzzle Book

The Heeler family star in Bluey a Jigsaw Puzzle Book.

There are four puzzle pages, each 9 piece puzzle accompanied by a single narrative page that introduces the jigsaw image.