Reviews

The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Simon and Schuster, 2016. ISBN 9781471116612
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Emma Carstairs is a shadowhunter, a half angel warrior sworn to fight demons. She has a parabatai Jullian Blackthorn. They are best friends and can be everything to each other as long as they never fall in love. When Julian returns from England he is distant towards Emma and just when she needs him to be himself more than ever Emma uncovers bodies that have been murdered the same way her parents were when she was a child and an uneasy alliance is formed with the faeries.
After reading the first two books of Cassandara Clare's Mortal Instruments I thought this book was going to be the same style but surprisingly it wasn't. It took a while to get used to the new characters in a new world but knowing many of the older characters made it easier.
Once I started the book I couldn't put it down. It was fast paced and never left you feeling you wanted more and since finishing this book I have gone back and read The Infernal Devices series. I loved how she made you feel the characters and they weren't stereotypical. It has been a long time since a book has made me laugh out loud and cry from the same story.
I would recommend this book for readers 14 years and above and have loved her other series Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices. I look forward to reading Lord of Shadows due to be released in April 2017 and followed by The Queen of Air and Darkness.
Jody Holmes

Basket Cat by Katie Abey

The Five Mile Press, 2016. ISBN 9781760402303
(Ages: 1 - 4) Board book, homes. Katie Abey, English author and illustrator, has created this bright, bold and glossy board book with textured illustrations (woven baskets, furry cats, patterned wallpaper, and wooden floorboards). The humorous illustrations, showing the cat looking very out of place in a hanging flower basket and dreaming of a basket-weave rocket ship, will amuse young readers. Basket Cat just loves baskets. Basket Cat even dreams about baskets. She makes herself comfortable in any basket she can find, from picnic baskets and flower baskets to washing baskets. But none of them are just hers . . . until one day she wakes up to her very own cosy cat basket. The simplicity of this book (perfect for its target audience) means that the text doesn't tell us everything (e.g., what the cats are dreaming about), leaving opportunities for children to point things out and infer meaning from the illustrations. Young children will be able to relate to this short text about having a place (home, bed, etc.) where you feel comfortable and cosy.
Nicole Nelson

From Burma to Myanmar by Lydia Laube

Wakefield Press, 2015. ISBN 9781743053928
(Age: Adult) Recommended. Lydia Laube has been 5 times to Burma, now called Myanmar, and this book tells of those travels, from the first two trips with her sister, to the most recent solitary journey (at the age of 66, I calculated), on a freight ship, the Buxstar, sailing from Adelaide to Sydney then around the bottom of New Zealand, up through the Torres Strait, past Indonesia to Singapore then overland to Bangkok and a short flight to Yangon.
Lydia often chooses unconventional travel - boats, buses, trains, tuktuks, horse carts and motorbikes - and it seems that half the fun is negotiating transport and time schedules and language misunderstandings. There are many misadventures that I am not sure I could handle as coolly as she seems to. She describes arriving at one train station in Burma in the early hours of the morning -
'there were six men standing in a half circle around me all telling me the train to Yangon left at nine in the morning and that I should wait there until then as there was no taxi. 'No sleeper' they shouted like a Greek chorus.'
She ends up sleeping in the stationmaster's office under their continued observation.
Lydia often finds herself in bizarre circumstances, the lone foreign woman, an object of much curiosity, but she always seems to take everything in her stride with a cool unflappability. One young 'Friend' who commandeers her transport arrangements attempts to extort extra money from her . . .
'He said the taxi driver wanted another five thousand kyat. He could not look me in the eye when he said this so I knew it was a con. He also entered my room, shut the door and lay on the bed to deliver the message, which is not done in polite circles, Burma or anywhere. I paid him the five thousand to get rid of him.'
And that is all she says about it! Nothing seems to unnerve her.
Generally, however, she meets with curiosity, kindness and extraordinary generosity and helpfulness; people she encounters seem willing to go out of their way to help her with accommodation, transport and advice.
In her usual understated way she tells of challenges with plumbing, toilets and strange unidentifiable food that never seems to get the better of her appetite. She clearly loves travelling alone, finding her way without fear, and in the process we share in her adventures and learn about the many treasures of Burma and other out of the way places in the world.
Helen Eddy

Hillary: a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Karen Blumenthal

Bloomsbury, 2016. ISBN 9781408873922
(Age: Senior secondary to adult) Recommended. This biography is a very readable linear account of Hillary's life so far. It describes her achievements and her obvious qualities - she's intelligent, driven, and strategic, and now she is a presidential candidate.
She was educated and formed her political opinions during the volatile 1960s. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jack and Robert Kennedy as well as the Vietnam War and the battle for black equality were significant at this time.
While describing the progression of Hillary's legal career the book gives an insight into inequality in the United States and how that society is fragmented.
Inevitably it arrives at how Hillary met Bill and their contrasting characters - her somewhat dour nature, his charismatic charm, but also his failings. One is left wondering whether Hillary has been helped or hindered by her link with Bill.
Undoubtedly Hillary is a role model to many women, not only in the US but worldwide. Will she be the first female president of the USA? Only time will tell. However no one can doubt her ambition.
Robert McNair

The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

Harper Collins, 2016. ISBN 9780008115067
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. For a girl who didn't leave her house for three weeks, a road trip to save her best friend is almost too much - thankfully the anxiety-ridden Wylie is much better in an emergency than at home. Despite beginning like a typical YA drama, McCreight's novel quickly progresses into something more sinister.
Cassie is missing. No one knows where she is. Her mum suspects that she's taken off. Cassie hasn't been the same since she started dating Jasper and got accepted into the 'Rainbow Coalition'. While Wylie has tried to be a good friend and keep Cassie safe, Cassie refused to listen - now she's missing and Wylie is worrying whether she could have kept Cassie around had they been speaking. Already blaming Jasper, Wylie is shocked when he shows up claiming that Cassie has sent him. Soon enough Wylie too receives a mysterious text from Cassie, pleading for help and providing directions to an unknown location. What choice does Wylie have but to fly to her friend's rescue? But leaving the house is a bigger deal than just walking out the front door - with anxiety so crippling she had to switch to homeschooling and a father who is keeping a big secret. Soon Wylie, Cassie, and Jasper will learn that they are part of something bigger than just Cassie going off the rails. She was kidnapped 'for her own safety'; will they be able to save her before she becomes just another missing person?
A fast-paced mystery thriller with elements of speculative fiction, this novel is both easy to read and engrossing. I finished the book in a single sitting, continually promising myself 'just one more chapter'. Well written, The Outliers explores the importance of honesty and loyalty in friendships - without a prominent romantic sub-plot for Wylie, there is nothing to distract her from her battle with anxiety, and her desire to keep her friends safe. I would highly recommend this novel for readers over the age of fourteen who enjoy mystery with a hint of speculative fiction.
Kayla Gaskell (University student aged 20)

The Fizz series by Lesley Gibbes

Ill. by Stephen Michael King. A police dog adventure series. Allen and Unwin, 2016.
Fizz and the show dog jewel thief. ISBN 9781760112882
Fizz and the handbag dognapper. ISBN 9781760112899
(Ages: 7+) Highly recommended. Dogs. Police. Adventure. This wonderful series, full of fun and humour, with laugh out loud illustrations will tantalise younger readers. The first two in the series, Police dog tryouts and Police academy rescue showed the perseverance of Fizz, a fluffy lap dog and his efforts to achieve his dream, that of being a police dog.
Now that he has passed his training, he is about to take up his first position at the Sunnyvale City Police Station where his rival, Amadeus, is also employed, ready as always to bully and intimidate Fizz. Fizz and the show dog jewel thief has a jewel thief causing concern at the Pemberley Show Dog Trials, and Fizz is sent as an undercover dog. Much fun follows as Fizz must do something he has avoided all his life, that of being made ready for a show at the Gorgeous Groomers Show Dog Salon. Some great action ensues as our hero achieves his goal and even Amadeus steps in to help, working with Fizz rather than against him.
Fizz and the handbag dognapper has poor old Fizz yet again being an undercover dog, this time posing as a handbag dog in a celebrity's handbag, complete with tracking collar, ready to be dognapped and then followed by the police to attempt a rescue.
This series is perfect for the early reader, someone who has just managed chapter books. There are eight chapters in each book, each about five pages long with many funny illustrations to ease the way. The humour is infectious and will delight the readers and being about a dog will win hearts.
Fran Knight

You know me well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

Text, 2016. ISBN 9781925355529
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. LGBT, Same sex relationships, San Francisco, Pride Week. When Mark goes to a gay club at the beginning of Pride Week in San Francisco, he is amazed to find a girl he knows there. She like him, is love struck, she for a girl she has not even met, he for the boy he came with but who is now with someone else.
Kate has had a date set up for her with a girl she has been fierce to get to know, but baulks at the last minute and runs away. She finds herself in a gay bar where Mark has watched the boy he loves going off with a stranger. Kate and Mark know each other vaguely from school, and they connect. Kate is at a crossroad. She has felt for a while that her friends are not as they were, that they are all growing apart. Kate and Mark both feel despondent and create a story about what happened to them that night, while Kate's friend uploads some of her art works and the pictures go viral, to such an extent that a gallery contacts her with the idea of a showing.
Pride Week is the impetus for some major changes in their lives not least of which is their growing friendship and ability to know each other well.
Each section of the book is headed with the day it is set, making the reader keep a chronology of overlapping events in their heads, and with alternate chapters written from the point of view of Kate and Mark, the story flows through Pride Week, taking the reader with it.
It is a classic tale of finding out who you are and where you belong, of trying out new experiences, of being brave, of reaching out to friends, of developing new relationships. The voices of Kate and Mark are excruciatingly real, revealing their deep fears of exposing themselves, of expressing their innermost thoughts. While both teens are mostly comfortable with their sexuality they reflect the concern of all teens in being themselves, of not following what others want, of treading their own path. I find Levithan does this so convincingly. In telling a tale of LGBT kids, he also tells a story that could reflect any kid and this ensures he will be read by everyone.
Fran Knight

Star struck by Jenny McLachlan

Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody

Ford Street, 2016. ISBN 9781925272185
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Alyzon feels like she doesn't fit in her family. She doesn't have her mother's artistic ability or her father's musical ability like her brother or sisters. She is just Alyzon. One day while holding her baby brother, the car boot falls onto her head knocking her unconscious. After being in a coma for a month she awakens with new sensations. She can smell feelings, her hearing and sight are heightened and being touched let her see other people's memories. At school she becomes friends with Gilly because she is drawn to her seaside smell, but the boy she has had a crush on for years smells like rancid rubbish. With these new heightened senses she uncovers dark family secrets and hidden ambitions that threaten to her family.
I have loved Isobelle Carmody's other books and was excited to read this one. I found the story line interesting and easy to follow but was frustrated with the interaction some of the characters had with Alyzon. However as the story progressed it is explained why these characters seemed so one dimensional. The way Carmody used Alyzon's new abilities to describe the characters gives the reader a new way through smells to bring them to life. This book could have been better with a sequel as it left many loose ends. It is a good story about good winning over evil and how a person can stand up to evil by staying true to themselves.
Jody Holmes

Flight of the honey bee by Raymond Huber

Ill. by Brian Lovelock. Walker Books, 2015. ISBN 9781925126266
(Age: 5+) Highly recommended. Bees, Environment, Honey. Scout's day spent searching for a new pasture from which to collect nectar to take back to the hive, ends happily when she finds a swathe of blue flowers. Through her flight she must avoid obstacles: strong wind, a hungry blackbird, a sudden rain storm, complete with hail stones and when arriving back at the hive, she finds that a wasp is trying to get in to eat the nectar and the eggs.
During her flight pollen in the flowers is attracted to her body and she then takes this to other flowers, where pollination occurs. She drinks the nectar from the flowers, using the tip of her tongue, shaped like a small spoon. Once back at the hive, she dances, giving instructions to the rest of her family about the place where these flowers are. They then go out to bring back more nectar.
All the features of a bee and its part in the pollination of plants is given in this amazing book, where every word is redolent with meaning.
One in the acclaimed Walker Nature Storybooks series, this like the others presents a story which is filled with information, so insinuated within the tale that the reader assimilates these facts readily. The story sits alongside a non fiction text, usually towards the bottom of each page. Both texts add to the knowledge of the reader, both compliment each other and are fascinating to read. The reader is involved in Scout's story as she avoids threats and searches for the flowers, while taking in the facts given about the bees and the hive.
As with others in this wonderful series, a brief index is given at the back of the book alongside information about the author and illustrator, with a small piece about the importance of bees and what we can do to help them survive.
The vivacious water colour and pencil illustrations serve the story well, giving all readers, young and old, a firm understanding of the look of the honey bee and making it so endearing without giving it human characteristics, as the story is followed.
Excellent teacher notes are given on the Walker Books website.
Fran Knight

Forgetting Foster by Dianne Touchell

Allen & Unwin, 2016 ISBN 9781760110796
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Alzheimer's disease. Families. When Foster's father begins to forget things, the family jokes about it, but soon, little notes appear on the cupboard reminding him of things he needs to do, and some of the customary routines within the house change. Foster is told little but realises that his father needs more attention than before. And when he loses his job and Mum has to take on more shifts, then things change considerably. Dad runs away from home when Foster is caring for him. Miss Watson from next door comes to sit them, and both Foster and his Dad have no liking for her. When she strikes Dad, she is sent away but Mum still has to deal with him, admitting that sometimes she feels like hitting him herself. The disease is ever present in Foster's life, his aunt Linda is often there, despite the two women not liking each other. Things escalate until Mum is forced to ask for help. She has tried to cope alone but now she must admit that his dementia is beyond her. The strangely comic scene when the two social welfare officers come had me laughing out loud, but the effect of their visit means that mum now has some respite.
Readers will sympathise with the whole situation seeing Fossie trying to understand his father's decline and his mother's situation. She is coping from day to day, not wanting to look at things in the long term, hoping that things will improve. She declines offers of help, wanting to care for her husband herself, but pushes Fossie away in the process.
This book is an amazing look at a disease which many more children will see as the population ages, and for some reason, younger people are being afflicted. Not only is it a most readable story, but gives readers a raft of recognisable events, symptoms and words associated with the disease to learn. Fossie learns that his father is no longer the man he was and needs to learn how to adapt.
Fossie's attempts to make sense of his world parallels those of his father as he goes from forgetting, needing a locked front door and then violence in a short period of time. Touchell recreates this family so sympathetically that we are drawn into the world wondering how we would react, how we would cope. This is a masterful story, beautifully told.
Fran Knight

On the river by Roland Harvey

Allen & Unwin, 2016. ISBN 9781760112455
(Age: All) Highly recommended. River Murray. Conservation. Humour. Each year as the snow melts in the Snowy Mountains of eastern Australia, small tributaries join other small streams, bubbling together down the mountains until joining to become the Murray River. Roland Harvey and his pelican friend traverse the river from its source to the sea in South Australia, and along the way inform the readers about the flora and fauna, man's uses of the river, the craft which sail on her, the people and towns which live on the banks, the industries, irrigation, locks and weirs. Sometimes the view is beneath the water, sometimes we are shown the river from the bank, sometimes a bird's eye view is given, but whatever perspective is shown, the pages are filled with information.
I love the double page spread showing the bottom of the river: a quiet wetland, where fish swim undisturbed, a Murray Cod hides in a tree root, some birds dart for a feed while a fisherman sets up on the bank and a small canoe winds its way between the trees. Along the bottom of the page some of the things you might find on the page are given with their names, urging the reader to find them. Over the page is the spectacular Echuca Wharf, built to still be used at times of flood, and we see more examples of human activity on the river, with paddleboats, canoes, power boats, tinnies and houseboats cluttering the pages. The endpapers give a view of the river from its source to the sea, and invite readers to read every word as they follow its journey.
Small hints are given along the way of the river's overuse, of its degradation, particularly in the pages about the Darling River joining the Murray. And some text is devoted to the Aboriginal use of the river, its history and some less well known stories. All of this is told alongside Harvey's very recognisable drawings, particularly the people as they go about their lives along the river, inviting all eyes to peer into the world presented, and marvel at how the river and its flora and fauna has survived. The book is a marvelous addition to the range of books promoting the conservation of this river inviting everyone to be more aware of its important place in our world.
Fran Knight

Fizz and the show dog jewel thief by Lesley Gibbes

Ill. by Stephen Michael King. Fizz series bk 3. Allen and Unwin, 2016. ISBN 9781760112882
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. Dogs. Thieves. Police. Fun and games abound with Fizz the police dog in the third book in this very funny and appealing series starring Fizz, the very cute little furball and his friends. This time there is a jewel thief at the Dog Show who is after the winning prize, a sparkling tiara. Fizz goes undercover as a show dog, styled exquisitely with curls and bows and with a show name, Angel, to impress the judges. He has to follow a number of clues before he is able to work out just who the thief is and how the tiara is hidden away before it is moved off the premises of the show.
Fizz is a most appealing little character - he is brave and clever and loyal to his friends and is happy to stand up to the bully Amadeus, whose snappy dialogue provides much of the humour in the book. The mystery is subtle enough to draw in the inquisitive reader who likes to follow clues but there are some surprises on the way!
A lot of fun can also be had from King's illustrations of the Dog Show, and the different breeds are depicted all beautifully styled in bows and jewellery. The reader will immediately sense that King just loves to draw different dogs in different disguises and costumes.
This is a wonderful series that will appeal to emerging readers, with its short chapters, intriguing plots and engaging characters.
Pat Pledger

Somebody stop Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp

Ill. by John Kelly. Bloomsbury, 2016. ISBN 9781408858677
(Age: 9+) Recommended. Caleb Krisp's quirky heroine returns in Somebody stop Ivy Pocket. She is now the adopted daughter of Ezra and Mother Snagsby, owners of a thriving business that offer generous discounts for pre-measured coffins. Ivy's role is to read a suitable, sombre funereal poem for the nearly departed and leave her parents to complete the transactions. Ivy is still guilty over the loss of her friend Rebecca and is helped by mysterious librarian, Miss Carnage, in her quest to find her whereabouts. Ivy must also protect the Clock Diamond from the evil Miss Always, who seems to be skulking around every corner!
Ivy's conversations are filled with irony, sarcasm and witticisms; she marches through her difficult life with aplomb. Being locked in her room is not a challenge, just the start of another adventure. She meets problems head on and always seeks to find the truth, even searching for the Snagsby's long lost daughter Adelaide. When the beautiful heiress Estelle asks Ivy to investigate the mystery behind her brother's death, of course she accepts the challenge.
Here is another fast-paced plot, filled with spies and villains, set against the backdrop of Victorian England, with dusty drawingrooms, solitary graveyards and a workhouse where Ivy is locked up. Magic and mystery abound, fate and fortune follow the brave heroine. This second book draws closely upon the threads of the first book Anyone but Ivy Pocket; they must be read in order. This narrative takes a little longer to engage with and is suited to a more confident reader who is happy to be drawn into the multi-layered plot.
John Kelly's fun black and white cartoons add a depth and insight into the difficult situations and quirky characters that Ivy Pocket faces.
Rhyllis Bignell

The square root of summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Macmillan 2016. ISBN 9781509808281
(Age: Adolescent) Grief. Love. Quantum physics. Time travel. Family. Gottie's mother died when she was born and she lives with her German Dad and older brother, uni student Ned, in a small seaside village in Norfolk. Her charismatic grandfather, Grey, had been the one to hold the family together until his sudden death and 17 year old Gottie has found it difficult to adjust, becoming withdrawn and isolated. '...ever since the day Grey died, talking exposes me. As though I'm the opposite of invisible but everyone can see right through me' For Grottie maths and physics offer answers to fundamental questions she has about the world and she starts to research spacetime, black holes, and wormholes for a pre-university essay suggested by her teacher. Trying to figure out quantum physics combined with a wish to wind back time to before her grandfather died starts to have some disconcerting effects. In revisiting last summer she gradually puts together a new perspective on the events, including falling in love and having sex with her brother's best friend Jason who rejected her when she needed him most after Grey's death. Working through her memories, reconnecting with her friend Sof and the reappearance of her childhood best friend Thomas who has been living in Canada, helps her to properly grieve, to fall in love again and to grow closer to her family. The narrative weaves together past events and alternate realities which can be confusing but Gottie's relationship with the other characters builds continuity and ultimately it all seems to fall into place organically resolving a complex story of grief, growth and love. Essentially a first love romance, it will appeal to adolescent girls looking for a bit more complexity. Marisha Pessl's Special topics in calamity physics has similar appeal.
Sue Speck