While I wait for the first batch of CBCA Picture Books from 2022 to judge for the 2023 book awards my pile of Middle Grade books has exploded.
Advance Reader Copies (thanks to Beachside Bookshop)
The Lost Ryu by Emi Watanabe Cohen (Allen and Unwin) due for release 15 June, 2022
Blurb: Kohei Fujiwara has never seen a giant dragon in real life. The big ryu all disappeared from Japan after World War II, and twenty years later, they've become the stuff of legend. Their smaller cousins, who can fit in your palm, are all that remain. And Kohei loves his ryu, Yuharu, but he has a memory of the big ryu. He knows that's impossible. In his mind, he can see his grandpa - Ojiisan - gazing up at the big ryu with what looks like total and absolute wonder. When Kohei was little, he dreamed he'd go on a grand quest to bring the big ryu back, to get Ojiisan to smile again. But now, Ojiisan is really, really sick. And Kohei is running out of time. Kohei needs to find the big ryu now, before it's too late. With the help of Isolde, his new half-Jewish, half-Japanese neighbour, and Isolde's Yiddish-speaking dragon, Cheshire, he thinks he can do it. Maybe.
I have read about fifty pages of this one and so far it is good but I think the suggested age of 8+ is way too low. I'm suggesting at least 10+.
Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe by Ashleigh Barton (UQP) due 5th July, 2022
Blurb: You’ve never met a vampire like Solomon Macaroni before – he’s friendly, polite and makes a mean tofu Bolognese. Understandably, when his parents go on a one-hundred-year cruise without him, Solomon is not impressed. Especially because it means having to stay in creepy Transylvania with his six cousins, who are the rudest and naughtiest vampires in existence. (Well, apart from Lucy. He likes her.) Not even his uncle, Count Dracula, the oldest vampire in the world, can stop their pranks. Solomon wishes he could spend the next hundred years alone at his own house with his spider friend, Fred, instead. But when his cousins venture into the spooky Wildwood on a dangerous mission, Solomon – against his better judgement – agrees to help Lucy rescue them. At least, that's what he thinks he's doing. In the forest, Solomon must draw on all he knows – about old magic, wet wipes and the importance of a well-timed entrance – to save his catastrophic cousins and possibly the world.
Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu (Simon and Schuster) due June 2022
Burb: Onyeka has a lot of hair – the kind that makes strangers stop in the street. She’s always felt insecure about her vibrant curls, until she makes an important discovery: she can control her hair with her mind! Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari – children with superpowers – are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the Academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves caught up in an epic battle . . . one that puts the future of all Solari at risk.
The Detectives Guide to New York City by Nicki Greenberg (Affirm Press) due July 2022
I loved The Detectives Guide to Ocean Travel and I was thrilled to see it listed as a CBCA 2022 short listed book.
Blurb (Booktopia): Pepper Stark could not be more thrilled to return to New York City with her father, the Captain. Not only will she be back in the place where her late mother once lived but also she'll reunite with her friends Norah and Sol. But Pepper's excitement for her trip fades when the Captain invites along his new friend Emmaline and her son, Elliott. Still, Pepper is determined to make the most of her time with her friends in the Big Apple, revelling in the energy of the city that never sleeps.
But when dinner at the swanky restaurant where Sol is working ends in the suspicious illness of notorious food critic Anthony 'the Shark' Sharkey, Pepper finds herself entangled in yet another crime.
With only a week before she has to return home, Pepper, Sol, Norah and a reluctantly recruited Elliott are facing an even bigger challenge than the Saffron Diamond mystery, and the stakes have never been so high. If they don't find the culprit, Sol's chef career could be over ... or worse. And New York City might become the place where all of their dreams turn to dust. From the bright lights of Broadway to back-alley speakeasies, Nicki Greenberg has brought 1920s New York City to life in this delightfully thrilling mystery set in the same world as The Detective's Guide to Ocean Travel.
I'm excited to read this new instalment - I do like the cover!
Books I picked up at the Lifeline Book fair:
Danni's Desperate Journey by Ann Grocott first published in 1987 (and of course out of print)
Ann Grocott is the author of one of my top five best Middle Grade books of all time - Duck for Danger. I read Danni's Desperate Journey in 1987 but I am excited to revisit this book.
Blurb: Nobody in her right mind would touch a Mold Flizzard's egg. Unfortunately, Danni doesn't know this when she kicks and breaks the large, smelly object near the duckpond. She soon finds out, though. Slime from the egg touches her foot. A greeny-grey mould grows from the spot, spreading fast and there's nothing she can do to stop it! ... With the help of a couple of extraordinary aliens she meets along the way, she flees through the universe to escape the loving, scaly clutches of the Mold Flizzard and to find a cure for the mould before it is too late.
Heroes of the Secret Underground by Susanne Gervay (published in 2020 so not out of print)
Publisher blurb: Louie lives with her brothers, Bert and Teddy, in a hotel run by their grandparents. It is one of Sydney's grand old buildings, rich in history ... and in secrets. When a rose-gold locket, once thought lost, is uncovered, it sends Louie and her brothers spinning back in time. Back to a world at war: Budapest in the winter of 1944, where their grandparents are hiding secrets of their own ...
Sky Song by Abi Elphinstone published in 2018
Publisher blurb: In the snowy kingdom of Erkenwald, whales glide between icebergs, wolves hunt on the tundra and polar bears roam the glaciers. But the people of this land aren’t so easy to find - because Erkenwald is ruled by an evil Ice Queen and the tribes must stay hidden or risk becoming her prisoners at Winterfang Palace. Join Eska, a girl who breaks free from a cursed music box, and Flint, a boy whose inventions could change the fate of Erkenwald forever, as they journey to the Never Cliffs and beyond in search of an ancient, almost forgotten, song with the power to force the Ice Queen back. This is a story about an eagle huntress, an inventor and an organ made of icicles. But it is also a story about belonging, even at the very edges of our world . . .
Books I purchased recently:
One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi
Publisher blurb: Nadia Hashimi’s first novel for young readers is a coming-of-age journey set in modern-day Afghanistan that explores life as a bacha posh—a preteen girl dressed as a boy. Obayda’s family is in need of some good fortune, and her aunt has an idea to bring the family luck—dress Obayda, the youngest of four sisters, as a boy, a bacha posh. Life in this in-between place is confusing, but once Obayda meets another bacha posh, everything changes. Their transformation won’t last forever, though—unless the two best friends can figure out a way to make it stick and make their newfound freedoms endure.
When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle
Publisher blurb: 1941. War is raging. And one angry boy has been sent to the city, where bombers rule the skies. There, Joseph will live with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no fondness for children. Her only loves are the rundown zoo she owns and its mighty silverback gorilla, Adonis. As the weeks pass, bonds deepen and secrets are revealed, but if the bombers set Adonis rampaging free, will either of them be able to end the life of the one thing they truly love?
The blurb from this reminded me of An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo.
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
Publisher blurb: Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the townsfolk to lose their library, their school, their park, and all sense of what it means to be generous, and kind. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever orphans of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town's problems are. When one of the orphans goes missing from the Orphan House, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The orphans, though, know this can't be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen. But how can the orphans tell the story of the Ogress's goodness to people who refuse to listen? And how can they make their deluded neighbours see the real villain in their midst? The orphans have heard a whisper that they will 'save the day', but just how, they will have to find out ...
I am a huge fan of Kelly Barnhill. I loved these:
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