Kathy Kozlowski

Kathy Kozlowski is a former children’s book specialist

Review — 23 Sep 2018

Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

Though Louisiana, our plucky young heroine, appears in Kate DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale, this is a standalone novel and, in my opinion, even better than the first!

Louisiana is woken…

Read more ›

Review — 25 Sep 2016

Home in the Rain by Bob Graham

One of the many reasons I love Bob Graham’s books is that, for all their simplicity, his observations of the natural world and family life are always profound and loving…

Read more ›

Review — 25 May 2014

Blake Collider by June Laurie

Blake is a laid-back high school student who surprises himself by accepting the chance to be an exchange student in a small town in Italy. On the plane he sits…

Read more ›

Review — 24 Mar 2014

Popular by Maya Van Wagenen

New to her rough, seriously disadvantaged school on the Texas–Mexico border, Maya has quickly worked out the social hierarchy. She is in the ‘Social Outcasts’ group, third from the bottom…

Read more ›

Review — 22 Apr 2014

Presto Change-o! by Édouard Manceau

French artist Édouard Manceau has had a lot of fun playing with simple, cut-out cardboard shapes to work a little visual magic. Turn the shapes on each page to change…

Read more ›

Review — 2 Feb 2014

The Children of Green Knowe Collection by Lucy M. Boston

It was such a delight to re-read this past favourite for this review and find it still as spellbinding and full of enchantment as I remember.

Tolly, the young hero…

Read more ›

Review — 29 Sep 2013

Kissed By The Moon by Alison Lester

What a magical, perfect picture book. Alison Lester has done it again and this must be her most tender and lyrical. Part poem, part lullaby it celebrates the natural world…

Read more ›

Review — 25 Jun 2013

The Fairy Doll and Other Tales From The Dolls' House by Rumer Godden

This satisfyingly hefty pink hardback gathers together seven magical stories, all of which were previously published as much-treasured separate volumes. It is so good to see them all available again…

Read more ›

Review — 6 May 2013

Julius and the Watchmaker by Tim Hehir

This is a fast-paced time-slip story about a boy, Julius Higgins, caught between a revered member of the Guild of Watchmakers and the cunning but dastardly Jack Springheel. In another…

Read more ›

Review — 24 Feb 2013

New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable

This is a wonderful coming-of-age story set in the exotic and racially divided world of New Guinea just before Independence.

Julie is 16 and has asked to spend the holidays…

Read more ›