Kids

Here Comes Mr Postmouse by Marianne Dubuc

Reviewed by Athina Clarke

Follow Mr Postmouse on his fun postal delivery, meet a variety of hilarious animal characters and explore their crazy habitats in a wonderful picture book full of the absurdity and silliness children love. Did you know rabbits grow carrots on…

Read more ›

Yong: The Journey Of An Unworthy Son by Janeen Brian

Reviewed by Athina Clarke

Award-winning author Janeen Brian has based 13-year-old Yong’s incredible journey on real incidents of the 1850s; famine forced many Chinese to seek their fortune in the goldfields of Ballarat. Yong’s reluctant expedition to the goldfields is a long and harrowing…

Read more ›

The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell

Reviewed by Isobel Moore

Ivy and Seb’s grandmother, Sylvie, has a mysterious past. She lost her memory long ago in a car accident and remembers nothing about her life prior to that night. Then one day, Sylvie ends up in hospital and Ivy and…

Read more ›

Metropolis by Benoit Tardif

Reviewed by Isobel Moore

Yet another beautiful illustrated nonfiction book from Big Picture Press, Metropolis takes the reader on a trip to thirty two of the world’s greatest cities. Whilst offering little in the way of straightforward factual information and instead relying on stunning…

Read more ›

Fabish: The Horse That Braved A Bushfire by Neridah McMullin & Andrew McLean

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

This is a true story from the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, written from the perspective of a brave trainer, John Evett, and a courageous horse, Fabish.

An ex-racehorse, Fabish’s retirement role was to look after the young horses (known…

Read more ›

Charlie and the War Against the Grannies by Alan Brough

Reviewed by Kim Gruschow

Charlie wants a paper round more than anything in the world, but his attempts to get one are met with mystery and bizarre, unexpected hostility from the elderly women are who currently on the job in his Melbourne neighbourhood.

Charlie…

Read more ›

The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken & Peter Bailey

Reviewed by George Delaney

This complete collection of Joan Aiken’s stories about the Armitage family is lovely reading for children and adults. Everything you wish your childhood contained – unicorns in the front garden, magic preschool teachers, ghosts for houseguests – happens for Harriet…

Read more ›

When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin

Reviewed by Dani Solomon

Ben Coffin spent 10 years in children’s homes before 67-year-old Tess adopted him. It was almost worth the wait. Tess is the kind of mum who, when Ben walks into the apartment one day with a stray mutt in his…

Read more ›

The Bolds to the Rescue by Julian Clary & David Roberts

Reviewed by Andrew Borg

Our favourite, outrageous, animal family from Fairfield Road have returned in this Julian Clary sequel! The Bolds to the Rescue reunites readers with the hilarious hyena family of four, along with introducing a gallery of new friends who dream of…

Read more ›

The Other Christy by Oliver Phommavanh

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

Christy is on the cusp of turning 11, and she is still struggling to fit in at school and find a true friend. In her school class there is another girl with the same name – a louder, more popular…

Read more ›