Text Publishing, 2022. ISBN: 9781922458926. (Age:12+)
Cursed by Marissa Meyer is a dark romance/thriller fantasy book set in Germany, where a girl, Serilda, is trapped in a large castle betrothed to the evil Alder King, while she is a spirit separated from her pregnant, human body. She, and her secret lover/best friend Gild, who is also separated from his body, try to find their bodies to put themselves back in their human bodies and escape the Alder King. Meanwhile, they try to escape twisted beasts, demons that roam the hallways, and looking after children that Serilda is connected to, and try to stop the Alder King from collecting his monsters to resurrect his huntress wife.
This novel is quite captivating, always keeping you on your toes, trying to guess the mysteries that will keep you up at night. Cursed is impossible to put down, and it is extremely entertaining, and I can guarantee that you will love this book. This book is recommended to those who enjoy mystery, thriller, and dark romance.
Themes: Thriller, mystery, dark romance, fantasy, and myths.
Ella-Rose D. (Student)
Heist: The remarkable robot robbery by Joel McKerrow
The oddball collection of heisters introduced in The Great Chocolate Caper are back again to protect the world. Or are they? In the good tradition of magical sleight-of-hand tricks they use all their talents to take the attention away from the ‘magic deception’ they are about to perform. These pre-teenagers use their planning skills and their robotic talents to save the aliens from destruction by humans. How the tides have turned! The Sydney Opera House becomes both the site for the National Robot Battle and possibly the biggest news story ever. But will they all survive to overcome the enemy?
This is an adventure story that kids will love. The small band of friends are weird and intelligent, just as likely to throw funny verbal barbs at one another as they are to save the world (or the aliens within, including Saph who lives symbiotically within Andy McGee, one of the hapless crew). This story involves incredible cooperation, intelligence and planning to enable the young team to outdo adults who are intent on eliminating alien life. With all the complications of an Oceans 11 story, this is just an action-packed adventure with a culmination that is set within the Sydney Opera House. It is a book that 10-14 year old readers will devour eagerly, and will be delighted that there is another Heist story in the pipeline (as will I!). It is both funny and exciting, a combination that young readers will love.
Themes Robots and robotics, Aliens, Friendships, Heist stories, Computer programming, Ability and disability.
Carolyn Hull
The shadow bride by Shelby Mahurin
Electric Monkey, 2025. ISBN: 9780008582524. (Age:15+) Highly recommended.
The Shadow Bride, written by Shelby Mahurin, is the second book in The Scarlet Veil duology, following The Scarlet Veil. This fantasy novel continues the story of Célie, who awakens as a vampire after sacrificing her life. She must now navigate a haunting new existence filled with darkness, power, and emotional turmoil. As old enemies rise and the boundaries between life and death collapse, Célie and the vampire king Michal are forced to confront their pasts while fighting to save their world.
Mahurin’s writing style is one of the strongest aspects of the novel. Her language is beautifully detailed, creating vivid imagery that allows readers to feel as though they are standing beside the characters. The world she has crafted feels alive, rich with atmosphere and emotion. Each scene is written with such precision that it becomes easy to sense the characters’ feelings and perspectives, making the story deeply immersive and emotionally engaging.
However, despite its strengths, The Shadow Bride can be quite confusing if read on its own. The plot heavily relies on the events of The Scarlet Veil, which establishes the characters, world, and conflicts. Without that background, it is difficult to follow certain developments or understand the emotional weight behind the characters’ actions. The pacing can also feel intense at times, with many revelations and emotional shifts occurring in quick succession.
Overall, The Shadow Bride is a beautifully written and emotionally charged conclusion to Mahurin’s duology. Her storytelling and character depth are remarkable, and her ability to blend fantasy, romance, and tension makes the novel stand out. However, it is not a book that can be fully appreciated without reading its predecessor first. I would highly recommend it to readers who enjoy dark fantasy and character-driven stories, as long as they begin with The Scarlet Veil to truly understand and enjoy the journey.
Rating: 3/5
Shubhrang (Student)
Childish by Morris Gleitzman
Penguin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761343759. (Age:Yr4-8 Middle School, Age 8+) Very highly recommended.
Arkie’s opening thoughts are of the new sensory delights he’s rapidly come to appreciate at the local Chinese takeaway - owned by his new best friend’s family. Arkie is a self-reliant 11 yr old country kid living temporarily with his Nan while his parents try to sell their drought-stricken farm. But chaos greets him when ordering dinner for he and Nan.
Dot’s badly injured on the restaurant delivery bike and while Mr & Mrs Chen and Phyllis race to the hospital, Mr Liu the cook, holds the fort. Arkie helps by going to retrieve the bike. Morris Gleitzmann uses Dot’s traffic accident in Chapter 1 to introduce us to the narrator and so many of the characters in the book.
While Mr Liu prepares Nan and Arkie’s order, Arkie notices a dangerous flaw in the local roads including one near the crumpled bike. He will learn that challenging his local government and several other departments is a convoluted bureaucratic barrier. How will they stop being childish, and share responsibility to coordinate repairs to unsafe roads that endanger the community? The hopeless lack of interoperability means several attempts at advocacy but his whole school is behind Arkie, Dot and the Chen’s.
The timeless and particularly Australian themes are as prolific as our giggles when unpacking any Gleitzman’s book – each one capable of sustaining meaty classroom discussions. Childish is no different as Gleitzman weaves an amusing yet plausible narrative based on the premise that kids can fix anything – a hook which has dominated children’s books for centuries. Arkie and Dot have the determination and growth mindset to tackle any problem step-by- step and see it through, proving that children are often not childish or in fact the only childish characters.
A delightful tale of a child overcoming his misgivings at having to dance at his auntie’s wedding, while also shining a light on the customs of the Samoan community. Many Samoans live in New Zealand and Australia, as well as other countries around the world. Keeping their customs alive is a large part of their socialising, and here a wedding takes central stage.
The wonderfully bright illustrations showcase many of the customs of the Samoan community, and eager eyes will seek out these differences to weddings we know. Filo’s house is being transformed into a wedding venue with every pair of hands working to put up garlands of flowers, setting tables for the feast, while Filo and his cousins practise their part in the ceremony: presenting the siva fa’ataupati, a dance which emulates killing mosquitoes. But this is the first time Filo has been old enough to be part of the performance. The group has been practising for two weeks, but Filo keeps having butterflies in his stomach. He asks his father who tells him that he had butterflies before the first time he danced, as did his grandma. But when his auntie walks down the aisle, he has butterflies. Then when Aunt Rosie and Aunty Eve say their special vowels, he has even more.
They throw petals over the women, and everyone sits down to eat, until the time comes for Filo and the others to dance. The children dress in their special necklaces, and have makeup put on their faces. The butterflies are everywhere, but Dad gives Filo the thumbs up. The group stamp their feet, slap their thighs and work together to present their dance. When the dance is finished then the whole wedding party joins in. Filo’s butterflies have all flown away.
This delightful tale about courage and sharing concerns, will appeal to younger readers as they learn about Samoan customs as Filo learns to suppress his concerns about doing something for the first time.
Crimson Velvet Heart is an unusual, perplexing and enigmatic novel to describe. While it is a story that imagines the life of Princess Marie-Adelaide of Savoy, a shadowy historical figure, it is unusual for an historical novel because it leaves a kind of shimmering and visceral after-taste - even a bad taste in the mouth... The book has been described variously as "visionary", "astounding" and "extraordinary" and these descriptors are apt.
Carmel Bird is a multi award-winning Australian writer (three times short-listed for the Miles Franklin award and winner of the Patrick White Literary Award). In Crimson Velvet Heart she has wrought, out of the mists of time, a story about the mother of King Louis XV that is both imaginative, grounded in research, conveying love and devotion and somehow delivering an atmospheric power that is quite hard to describe. Partly this may be due to the oddness of the narrative voice. In part, the story is told through the voice of one of the sisters in the convent of Sainte Odile in Paris. As Bird tells us, "Her name is Clare, and she believes herself to be chosen by God to document the life of Princess Adelaide of Savoy." Sister Clare begins her story at its end, four years after the death of Adelaide..."The good sister is a most trustworthy storyteller," states Bird. Sister Clare calls Marie-Adelaide "her dearest childhod friend"... They spent their childhood together at the college of Saint-Cyr. Despite Marie-Adelaide's capricious nature (which could be described as extremely manipulative and very cruel at times) Clare remains a staunch defender.
War is a constant background to the human story. The young princess was married to secure strategic alliances between countries and to provide a male heir. This was Adelaide's lot. The hardship of multiple pregnancies and still births and loss are par for the course. Court gossip is vicious, behaviour is debauched and alliances are shaky. Adelaide appears to play a strategic game herself but she is enigmatic. She wears a mask. A parallel love story exists for Clare the narrator - a tale of love and loss and behind that tale is the struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism. Another underlying influence running throughout the story is the telling of folk tales and fables including the tales of Charles Perrault. Parallels can be drawn between these stories and the court lives of the protagonists. Clare keeps a crimson, heart-shaped velvet pincushion and in it she places a pin for every time she prays for her love just as the old queen's pincushion marked every Protestant conversion. The kestrel is a motif that throughout the story seems to represent the freedom that these women do not have.
The young princess lives in a gilded palace. The thrilling and delightful Versailles with its Hall of Mirrors and enormous menageries and gardens and the constant round of royal parties is a luxurious backdrop, yet poverty is rife, war decimates the population and disease and filth are barely masked by perfumes. Adelaide herself has a mouthful of rotten teeth and Louis IV has a hideous fistula connecting his mouth to his nose. Medicine and dentistry were at a primitive stage.
Crimson Velvet Heart is an interesting book which leaves us with many questions. Some are very big questions. Was Adelaide a spy - born and trained to be as slippery as her father Victor Amadeus of Savoy? What was the nature of the relationship between Adelaide and Louis IVth? Much is insinuated... the story ends with a very strange dream. What is Bird suggesting really happened?
Bird brings grotesque and magnificent 17th century France to life and places her protagonists within the historical events in this time of dynastic, religious and imperial war. Intrigue within and bloodthirsty fighting outside are rife as Louis XIV aims to expand French territory across Europe. The constant warfare subjects his people to poverty whilst he maintains a lavish lifestyle. On his deathbed he tells his heir..."I have loved war too well; do not copy me in this, nor in the lavish expenditures I have made." Carmel Bird places this (in part) as an epigraph in the front matter.
At the back of the book, a list of the historical characters accompanied by their birth and death dates and principal relationships and roles is included. A timeline from 1140CE - the birth of Peter Waldo, known as the first Protestant to 1719CE - the death of Madam de Maintenon (the secret wife of Louis 1V) is included. An extensive list of sources is testimony to the extent of Carmel Bird's research.
Crimson Velvet Heart is recommended for those who enjoy books about the lives of historical figures that are both literary and imaginative and underpinned by historical research.
Themes 17th century France, Louis X1V, Princess Marie-Adelaide mother of Louis XV.
Wendy Jeffrey
Immortal consequences by I.V. Marie
Electric Monkey, 2025. ISBN: 9780008694203. (Age:16+)
Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie is a dark academia fantasy book in a boarding school that’s situated somewhere between life and death, where six students compete in a dangerous competition known as the Decennial for a chance to leave purgatory and ascend to a new life. Marie beautifully captures the moody, mysterious and eerie vibe of what dark academia is, paired with wonderfully haunting moments that further draw you into the book. The main themes throughout this book includes identity, ambition and power, as every character is fighting for their chance to ascend no matter the costs while also battling with the past memories of themselves and battling who they were and who they want to become. While the storyline and premise of the book kept me engaged, throughout reading it felt as though there were fragments missing as the world-building seemed incomplete, making it hard to fully grasp the academy’s purpose and functions of the world they are in. The romance element was also a bit weak as it was obvious which characters would end up together, so there wasn’t much chemistry or build-up throughout the book in the making of these relationships. However, it was an interesting book to read, it kept me engaged in the sense that it does keep you on your toes especially in the beginning and towards the end as there are scenes filled with tension and makes the reader wonder what’s going to happen. This book it best suited for readers 16+, as it deals with some violence, emotional trauma and mature undertones.
Rojda Z. (Student)
The girl and the ghost: Family secrets by Jacqueline Harvey
French chateaus, a first kiss, friends and cave paintings all combine with a ghostly touch in the second book in The Girl and the Ghost series. I loved the first book in the series, and this is equally delightful. Josephine (aka Jet) is feeling more at home in her new surroundings in France. The chateau she lives in has progressed in its restoration and she is looking forward to a visit from her friend Harriet (aka Hat) - but will Hat be able to communicate with Jet’s friend, the ghost Louis? Jet and Gabriel are also acknowledged for their solving of the art mystery from book 1 in the series. Her growing connection to Gabriel is giving her tingles. Her desire to find out more about her late mother also sets her on a strange path into the past. And Louis, the late Dauphin Prince, is joined by another mysterious figure from French history. And all the time it seems that the threats to their lives have not disappeared.
Jacqueline Harvey has written a gentle mystery set within the wonders of French life and history. It also includes the naive delight of the coming-of-age growth of Jet and Gabriel. The ghosts are never scary, and their existence has unusual rules that are delightfully fascinating. I love Jacqueline Harvey’s ability to craft a story that is intelligent and mysterious but also totally appropriate for a pre-teen or early teen audience, with the introduction of a growing romance meaning the series can appeal to readers beyond pre-teen years and avoids the worst of teen angst. (A healthy relationship with a step-parent is also a pleasure to read.)
Themes French history, Ghosts, Family, Friendship, Mystery, First romance, Pre-historic art, Palace of Versailles.
Carolyn Hull
My story, Our Country by Ryhia Dank
Harper by Design, 2025. ISBN: 9781460765531. (Age:5+) Highly recommended.
“Our most important book is our Country. Our stories live in the land, which is why our lands are sacred.”
Gudanji/Wakaja artist and author Ryhia Dank has created a vibrant and engaging picture book of First Nations history and culture by reflecting and sharing her own family story. The bright blue cover with the depiction of a river flowing through, references the big songline and importance of water for the Gudanji family. This river image continues throughout the book but there are also contemporary influences in the artwork alluding to the present day and in the words of Ryhia Dank… “It’s a way of showing that our stories are ongoing and still alive.”
The narrative of this gentle book flows smoothly beginning with the meaning of stories and how in the old days when there was no paper or books, First Nations people used ceremony, rock carvings, drew patterns in the sand, painted cave walls and sheets of bark to pass on their stories. For Ryhia and her family living with Country and how it is taken care and what can be learnt from it, is of vital importance. While many stories are shared of past times, the book also talks about the present and how to look after Country for the future.
My Story, Our Country is a significant book to share with younger students about First Nations history and culture. A valuable resource for a school or public library.
After reading The Very Stinky Fly Hunt, you may rethink how you feel about those pesky annoying insects. This fabulous light-hearted story is a treasure trove of simple facts shared in an entertaining story full of poo and places to find it. The topic of bodily functions is always a great hook for young readers and is the perfect way to engage the audience with important new information.
This story is written about Dr Keith Bayliss a dipterist who studies Australia’s flies at CSIRO’s Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra. There are over 25,000 fly species in Australia but fewer than 7,000 of those have been named scientifically. This is Keith’s job. To find out everything he can about flies and in this particular book, Keith is researching the Clisa australis, a unique fly that eats poo. His journey to find this elusive fly takes him to many different environments both inside and out. He sets up special traps, chases flies with nets and visits pit toilets in national parks. At first he does not have any luck but eventually traps one in a rainforest.
Throughout this book there is an opportunity for children to learn new facts, follow Keith’s journey, think about the questions Keith is always asking himself and perhaps change their mind about the value and benefit of flies in our daily lives. The appealing full page colour illustrations complement the well-spaced text and add visual interest to this highly engaging factual story.
In the final pages there is further information about Dr Keith Bayliss, Searching for the Clisa australis, a glossary, and the equipment needed by a dipterist.
Rock the Boat, 2025. ISBN: 9780861549528. (Age:Grade 9-12) Highly recommended.
13 yr old Gwen is the protagonist of Jack Mackay’s debut novel, Gloam. Like the rest of her family including step-dad Henry, Roger aged 10 and the 6yr old twins, Hazel and Hester, the Oakworths have sold their home to pay for their late mother’s medical bills. They'd be destitute without inheriting Grandma Fenn’s old house on Gloam Island. That's where they’re headed to grieve and move forward.
But without Grandma Fenn the old house including ‘The Well’ and the ‘Rickety Den’ treehouse are derelict and spooky – they love all her antique collectibles but don’t quite remember so many painted eye amulets in every room. Henry and Gwen haven’t finished arguing about whether a babysitter should be necessary while he’s at work daily off-island, despite Gwen demonstrating capable and responsible care-giving throughout their mother’s long illness. In no time at all Esme Laverne arrives offering her services, which Henry accepts.
Gwen knows something is not quite right about the attractive new babysitter but her instinctive mistrust is dismissed by everyone in the family as an understandable defiance toward a ‘mother replacement’. It doesn’t take long for Esme to show her true colours to Gwen only; and the rest of the book sustains the tension, everyone else being enamoured by Esme. Esme is skilled at gaslighting and blaming Gwen to divert from the truth. Transcendental talking trees, cats and natural elements assist Gwen in convincing her clueless family about the evil which had prompted Grandma Fenn to fill her house with protective amulets.
First Gwen saves her own amulet when Esme insists they all be removed. With every new scare or tragedy in quick succession, will the captivating Gwen succeed in convincing her siblings and Henry that they are all in danger. The demon and the reanimated monsters drawn from the children’s dreams are spine-chilling to weaken them for consumation. Gloam can get pretty dark but it is also heart-warming. We are horrified but hopeful that Gwen’s family, individually or collectively, can confront their darkest fears with the courage to defeat evil. 256p.
Kelly’s novella begins with the sense of touch, the relaxed warmth of an arm across her body in the bed, the sense of safety and peace. Further on in the text, she considers the different meanings of ‘touched’, from gentle fondness to being a little crazy in the head. The craziness in the head is what her memoir explores, the panic attack that assailed her over a period of three days preparing for her graduation day, from her hairdresser appointment to the grasping of the valedictory parchment. All passed in a heightened state of anxiety, a fear from which she would have preferred to retreat.
Touched is a record of her thoughts and feelings across those three days, but it is more than a memoir. She interrogates the whole question of anxiety, what it is and where it comes from: the anxiety of deep-rooted trauma in a Jewish family, the anxiety of a parent’s fears, the anxiety of a child’s imagination, and the anxiety of not being deserving enough of the good things life brings. But above all she lets us in to her personal experience of the fishhooks that catch her, and the steps she takes to breathe through the moment and to continue on.
The novella is a memoir of Kelly’s personal truth. She takes us into her thoughts, her exploration of words and their meaning, the world of philosophical ideas, and the feelings that alternately overwhelm or sustain her. She is a person who has courageously and unhesitatingly become a kidney donor to her partner, but is stricken with nerves at the idea of a book launch or a graduation ceremony. Touched is not a self-help book, but it offers the opportunity to empathise and experience ‘compassionate understanding’.
Kim Kelly’s Touched is one of this year’s winners of the 20/40 Publishing Prize awarded by Finlay Lloyd. She was a previous winner in 2023 with Ladies’ rest and writing room a fictional account of two women each struggling in their own way, adrift in 1920’s Sydney post-war celebrations. It is an equally insightful description of inner turmoil.
Themes Anxiety, Panic, Love.
Helen Eddy
Peculiar parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder. Illus. by Ingrid Bartkowiak
National Library of Australia, 2025. ISBN: 9781922507822.
Each of us has parents that we regard as peculiar in some way, but on the whole they're all pretty much the same in the way they meet, mate and raise their offspring. While they might put on their best dress to catch the eye of a prospective partner, it's unlikely they change colour completely like the giant cuttlefish, play follow-the-leader and emit a strong smell like the echidna or, having attracted a mate, give birth to thousands or raise their offspring in mud nests and feed them vomit!!
But these are just some of the behaviours of the 60 birds, beasts and insects that inhabit Australia that are explored in this intriguing new book. Focusing on the parenting habits of creatures as different as the humpback whale to the spinifex hopping mouse, young readers learn about the diversity of picking a mate, making a home, having babies, finding food and looking after one another. as they seek to continue the species through generations. Using images that are artworks held by the National Library of Australia (which can all be then viewed online by following the instructions on p65) as well as portrait-style illustrations in watercolours that echo the landscape, Reeder offers an introductory insight into the unusual ways that these particular species have managed to adapt to their surroundings, situation and circumstances so they have been able to survive and thrive over the millennia.
As well, there are explanations of how the first European settlers viewed, described and portrayed these strange creatures and tools to help the young reader navigate the text including a glossary of peculiar words, an index of creatures by name as well as by the animal group they belong to, the various names given to animal babies, and where the reader can go to find out more, including access to teachers notes from the book's homepage on the NLA website. Both content and presentation have kept the intended audience firmly in mind.
Despite the doom-and-gloomers who declare that kids today don't read, the fact that publishers continue to invest books such as this, and that they remain successful demonstrates that our young ones are curious about and are interested in the real world around them and are very willing to read about it, particularly when it is written in such an accessible way as this one and accompanied by real-life illustrations that can lead them on all sorts of new investigations and adventures.
Maybe our parents aren't so weird after all!
Themes Animals - Australia, Animal behaviour.
Barbara Braxton
Waiters in elevators by Dylan and Amanda Shearsby
Little Hare, 2025. ISBN: 9781761213816. (Age:4+) Highly recommended.
This wonderful creation will entice the imaginations of young readers as their eyes scan all the details of the elevator, exposed as each page is turned. The day’s work by Franz and Hanz, the waiters in the elevators at the Rigantoni Hotel is revealed as the facade is taken away to show the internal workings of the hotel. Readers will love seeing the way the two elevators work together each of the two hard working waiters having a part to play in the successful running of every day. From dealing with the grumpy concierge, a clock watching manager, to Lady Spongecake having her dog toiletted by one of the waiters, to playing the opening bars of Beethoven’s fifth to wake Professor Tiramisu and straightening the picture of Colonel Strudel, their days are long and hard. Not a smile, thank you or a kind word from anyone.
On their break they decide to write a letter of resignation despite their saving Lady Spongecake’s dog, Popcorn, for which again, no thanks were offered. The next day, mayhem erupts when the two do not appear for work. The concierge searches the kitchen and storeroom for the two men, and tries to accommodate the needs of his guests. But the phones keep ringing, people keep calling out for help, as the hotel’s guests are hopeless left to their own devices.
The concierge writes an abject letter of apology, and calls on Franz and Hanz, asking them to return to work, offering a small increase in pay. They arrive at work the next day, noticing some differences. The concierge smiles, the baron and the colonel ask them to stay for breakfast, and Professor Tiramisu plays his cello for the guests.
But most of all, Hanz and Franz see lots of smiles and hear many thank yous. Everything is running at it should.
The detailed illustrations showing the internal workings of the hotel and its elevators is fascinating and young readers, and others will enjoy looking at how things work.
The book itself is a different size from most, allowing the portrait of the hotel the whole page, making it easier for younger readers to see the workings of the hotel and its guests.
The story of the two waiters will encourage young readers to think about how others see them, and how saying thank you and being kind is a necessary part of their interaction with others.
Adam Cece’s The Locked Room is an engaging and adventurous book that features four teenagers who are trapped in an escape room. Sixteen-year-old Andy is locked in that room with three other students from school: the boy who had bullied him for the past year, the girl he has a crush on, and a girl who he has seen around school. The biggest question is whether they will be able to escape before choking gas is pumped into the rooms?
What I found especially interesting about the novel was how the teenagers had to work together despite their complicated relationships with each other. The escape room is designed with a complex sequence of red and green doors, and the characters must look for patterns and clues to survive. This forces them to communicate and rely on each other’s strengths, even if they did not trust one another at first. The story is told from a third-person perspective, focusing mainly on Andy.
One of the best things about this book is the suspense. Adam Cece creates a lot of tension, making you want to keep reading to find out what happens next. The puzzles in this book are creative and clever. The characters are different from each other, making it interesting to see how they grow and change throughout the book.
At times, the story could be a little hard to follow because there were so many twists, but I think this adds to the mystery and thrill. Overall, I would recommend The Locked Room to people who enjoy mysteries and puzzles.
Themes: Teamwork, Puzzle Solving, Trust and Deception, Isolation, Survival
