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Taking Tom Murray Home – Tim Slee
Harper Collins July 2019 ISBN: 9781460757864 ISBN 10: 1460757866 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU RRP $32.99 The inaugural Banjo Prize competition attracted 320 entries but it was Taking Tom Murray Home that took out the first prize with its truly authentic Australian voice. Tim Slee’s novel bristles with laconic wit, quirky characters and bitter-sweet emotions and underlines with eloquence…
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The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle – Sophie Green
Hachette JUL 23, 2019 | 9780733641169 | RRP $29.99 If you missed The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club which was a runaway success a couple of years ago you must make certain not to neglect this new novel from Sophie Green! Once again readers become heavily invested in the lives of the main characters; Marie,…
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The Pinballs – Betsy Byars
Harper Collins ISBN: 9780062881786 ISBN 10: 0062881787 Imprint: HarperCollins – US July 2019 List Price: 16.99 AUD Now in her 90s award-winning American author Betsy Byars first published The Pinballs in 1977. As I re-read this new edition I wondered if she thought that perhaps the fate of some children might improve over time. It seems that the…
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Animal Crackers
Now that the pile of review novels is finally getting to a stage that could be described as semi-tamed, it’s time to get stuck into plethora picture books. So here are some animal-focused ones to get into – because we all know that our little readers just love a great animal story and…
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Catch a Falling Star – Meg McKinlay
Walker Books March 2019 ISBN: 9781925381207 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It’s 1979 and Frankie is just finishing primary school. Her dad has been dead, after a light plane crash over the ocean, for six years and Frankie, her little brother Newt and her mum have been struggling along ever since. With their…
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The Middle of Nowhere [Usborne Modern Classics] – Geraldine McCaughrean
Harper Collins October 2018 ISBN: 9781409570516 ISBN 10: 1409570517 Imprint: Usborne – GB List Price: 14.99 AUD Rarely have I read a book which so captures the Australian landscape, isolation and the deep abiding racism of times gone past which has been written by a non-Australian but this is superb. Taut, thrilling and anxiety-making the narrative follows the friendship…
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The Whispers – Greg Howard
Penguin 9780241367087 January 22, 2019 Puffin $14.99 Riley has not been coping so well since his mother disappeared. Neither his father nor his brother seems as concerned as he is. Even his much loved grandparents appear to be disengaged from his urgency to solve the mystery. His seemingly never-ending meetings with the police…
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The Girl Who Thought Her Mother was a Mermaid – Tania Unsworth
Harper Collins Australia ISBN: 9781788547796 ISBN 10: 1788547799 Imprint: Head Of Zeus – Zehpyr – GB On Sale: 24/09/2018 RRP $14.99 This is a quite lovely blending of old selkie folklore, fairy tale and a young girl’s search for her own true self as well as her lost mother. Stella feels she is always the odd one out and…
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The Storm Keeper’s Island – Catherine Doyle
Bloomsbury Australia August 2018 ISBN: 9781408896884 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP :$14.99 What a simply sparkling debut novel! It did take me two nights rather than my usual one (but I confess a little tiredness even after a week of holidays) but it was simply page-turning and thoroughly engrossing. Fionn Boyle and his older sister…
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