Kids
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
On re-reading The Call of the Wild, I was struck by how powerful and evocative Jack London’s prose is. At times, I could almost hear the freezing wind whistling by the window: a chill, as if snow was on…
To the Lighthouse by Cristy Burne
When opposites meet, the chances are that things will come unstuck somewhere along the way.
Emmy and Isaac meet on a holiday island. Emmy is a dare-devil and Isaac is cautious, due to an over-protective mum. Slowly but surely their…
Is Bear Here? by Jonathan Bentley
The boy and the bear are back. Having delighted us in Where is Bear?, this companion volume sees the little boy returning home with a full shopping trolley, only to exclaim, ‘What happened to bear?’
He retraces his steps…
Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima
This is a delightful ugly duckling story about Kelp the unicorn, who is born in the ocean and believes himself a narwhal, but just can’t get the hang of swimming and doesn’t like the taste of octopus.
When Kelp pops…
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
Twelve year-old Tash lives in Tibet, where her village has been overrun by Chinese soldiers and everyone lives in fear of being thrown in jail. After a man sets himself on fire to protest the repressive regime, her parents are…
The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster by Sally Rippin
Polly is not very good at being a witch: she muddles up spells and has trouble reading her potions book, because the letters dance around the page. After a particularly disastrous day at school, Polly knows there is only one…
Storm Whale by Sarah Brennan & Jane Tanner
Storm Whale starts off on a windy day when three sisters walk into town and are confronted with the tragic sight of a beached whale. The girls valiantly spend the day bucketing water over the massive beast, until dusk and…
Summerlost by Ally Condie
Together with her mum and brother Miles, 12-year-old Cedar is trying to make sense of her life, a year after the accident that took the lives of her father and little brother. Summer in a new home in her mum’s…
Do Not Lick This Book by Idan Ben-Barak & Julian Frost
Do not lick this book doubles as a fun interactive picture book, and a fascinating science lesson about microbes. Readers are introduced to Min, a cartoon microbe, and encouraged to press the page with their finger to pick Min up…
Cannily, Cannily by Simon French
Simon French adapts the classic plot of the ‘blow-in’, the stranger in a small town, and lets us see it from the other side. Trevor Huon struggles to fit into a place where he finds he’d rather not belong. Trevor…
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