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The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast: Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters #3 – Karen Foxlee. Illustrated by Freda Chiu.
Allen & Unwin January 2024 ISBN:9781761470226 RRP: $15.99 Imprint:A & U Children Awards: For one reason or another, I had not yet been introduced to Mary-Kate but that really didn’t preclude any enjoyment of this fun adventure. She comes from a long line of monster hunters – not the kind that want to get rid…
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The Peak: Spy Academy #1 – Jack Heath
Scholastic Australia February 2024 ISBN: 9781761290473 ISBN-10: 1761290479 Series: Spy Academy RRP: $17.99 Way back in 2005, I went to the ASLA Conference in Canberra. What a fun three days that was: made new friends, fancy-pants dinner at Parliament House, late-night escapade to the casino, my first visit to Jackie French, and listening to the hottest new author…
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Chasing the Stars: Moonlight Dreamers #4 – Siobhan Curham
Walker Books Australia November 2023 Imprint:Walker Books ISBN13: 9781529504026 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Don’t think for one moment, that though this came out in November and I’m not reviewing it till now, that I put it off. In fact, I didn’t receive at the time of its release but only last week (as of…
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Time Travelling with a Tortoise – Ross Welford
Harper Collins Australia January 2024 I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of Ross Welford’s books that I have read. These adventures are chockful of adventure, humour, heart and a sense of the absurd, and every time I’ve pushed one into a reader’s hands they have come back for more. That, for me, says it…
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Mermedusa – Thomas Taylor
Walker Books Book 5 of An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery Series September 2023 ISBN13: 9781529502138 Australia RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 When you’ve loved every minute of a series, it’s hard to say goodbye to it. So it is that in reading this fifth and final in the wonderful Eerie-on-Sea sequence, I tried hard to make it…
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Lani and the Universe – Victoria Carless
Harper Collins Australia January 2024 I really enjoyed Victoria’s earlier book, Gus and the Starlight, so the invitation to write teaching notes for this new one was a great pleasure, and, of course, gave me a very early read of another fresh, funny and poignant MG novel. It’s been patiently awaiting review time for a…
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Wonka – Sibéal Pounder: Roald Dahl, Paul King and Simon Farnaby
Penguin Australia When I first found out about Wonka I was a little apprehensive, I admit. How could Dahl’s anarchic magic possibly be recreated? And then I saw that Timothée Chalamet was cast as Wonka, and I relaxed quite a bit. Then I saw the first official trailer, and knew it would be alright. We haven’t…
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The Christmas Wish (The Wish Sisters series) -Allison Rushby. Illustrated by Karen Blair.
UQP October 2023 ISBN: 9780702266362 RRP: $12.99 The Wish Sisters series has already established a following among those young newly independent readers who respond well to everyday family life with an added twist of fantasy and humour. These stories have a flavour that strongly reminds me of E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It, in which…
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Always Never Always – Meg McKinlay/Leila Rudge
Walker Books Australia October 2023 ISBN13:9781760655204 Australia RRP:$25.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 Always follow secret tracks –the paths that wind and wend through cracks.Never worry where they go.When you get there, then you’ll know. For everyone who could use some poetically pithy life-advice, this creative pairing has delivered a blueprint for quirky wanderings along the byways…
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Butterfly Girl – Ashling Kwok and Arielle Li
EK Books October 2023 9781922539564 RRP: $24.99 Butterflies have been very important to us since we lost our Jen. And we have lost count of the number of times they appear at significant moments. So it was little wonder that this lovely picture book had special appeal for me. Olivia is the butterfly girl and…
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