What's on my reading pile?

My reading pile has grown so tall recently. I am feeling a little overwhelmed. At least I will have plenty of good reading over the festive season.

Books from Beachside Bookshop - many of these are advanced reader copies so I can't say too much about them yet. Here are three which are on top of my pile. (There are six more titles!)

Bren MacDibble The Dog Runner
You will remember I loved How to Bee. I even moved the copies in bookshops so that people would buy it.  I have read 70 pages of this new title, which is due for publication in February 2019, and I am loving it. I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction. The plot reminds me of an old book from UK called Chance of Safety but The Dog Runner has an Australian setting and the world catastrophe relates to food not oil.

Karyn Parsons How High the Moon
This one is due for publication in March 2018. The notes on the back cover link this story with Wolf Hollow and To Kill and Mockingbird so this is sure to be a powerful story.

Meg McKinlay Catch a Falling Star
Take a look here to read the inspiration behind this story about the Skylab space station.

My recent book purchases:

Sharon Creech Saving Winslow
When I saw this video with Colby Sharp I knew I wanted to read this book and the bonus is author Sharon Creech.  Colby talked about the urgency of getting books into the hands of kids. Someone in the audience decided to buy this one book for every child in fifth grade. That's eighty copies. I can hardly wait to read Saving Winslow.

Anna Sewell Black Beauty
Yes I know this is old. Yes I know this is a classic. And YES you probably expect I have read this famous book. BUT no I haven't.  I was the kid in Primary school who read all the dog books not the horse books. I help with a volunteer reading program in a local school and last week they found a pack with 20 abridged classics each with a CD.  I offered to read a selection and listen to the audio. Sadly they are awful but listening to Black Beauty has made me curious to read the original.

Alex T Smith How Winston delivered Christmas
This book is my Christmas gift to myself. The idea is to read one story each day through December. There are twenty-four-and-a-half chapters interspersed with craft and other activities. I am only up to December 4th the date of this post but so far this is an enchanting book with delightful illustrations by Alex T Smith (think of Claude and Mr Penguin).

The Great War: stories inspired by objects from the First World War illustrated by Jim Kay
I talked about this book recently in my post about the wonderful title Captain Rosalie. There are eleven short stories in this book so I am taking my time and reading one each day. So far every story has been splendid. This would be a fabulous book to share with a Senior Primary or Junior High class. It includes one story by Australia author Ursula Dubosarsky.

Books I want to read (now)

Today our local Beachside Bookshop presented a terrific selection of books at a District Teacher-Librarian Conference.  Here are few that caught my eye and that I would like to read over the coming weeks.

A Good Day for Climbing Trees by Jaco Jacobs
This appeals to be because it is about activism, it is a translated book (originally in Afrikaans) and for the simple reason I do like the cover.

Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
Everyone seems to be talking about this book - seeming to sigh with happiness. It must be special because these two writers are at the top of their game. Rebecca Stead is the author of the Newbery winner When you Reach me along with Liar and Spy which is a book I adored. Wendy Mass is the author of the intriguing series that began with 11 Birthdays along with many other titles which I also need to explore.

Among the picture books they shared was this gem Leaf by Sandra Dieckmann. This is her first book. Kirkus gave this book a Star review and said "Dieckmann beautifully weaves together some of today’s most difficult themes into a deceptively simple tale."  Danica from Beachside also made particular mention of the publisher of Leaf - Flying Eye Books and clicking on their site has given a whole new set of books to explore.

The Infamous Ratsos by Kara LaReau - she is also the author of books about the Bland Sisters. Kirkus says this is "A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers." The sticker you can see on the front shows this book was an Honor book in the Theordor Seuss Geisel award in 2017.

Coming later in the year a new book illustrated by the very talented Cheryl Orsini called The Magic Bookshop by Natalie Jane Prior. This is a larger format illustrated book which looks delightful. You could dip into my review of Boat of Stars also by Natalie.

Elliot Perlman is a award winning Australian writer for adults. You may have seen the television adaption of his story Seven Types of Ambiguity. The Adventures of Catvinkle is his first book for younger readers. 

Finally one more book which is recommended for children who have read and been moved by books such as Wonder and Out of my mind.  The new title is  Lenny's Book of everything by Karen Foxlee. I think this will be a book for mature readers in Grade 6 and beyond. The plot sounds a little like Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick but I cannot confirm this until I read it and it is not due for publication until very late this year. I am excited to see an endorsement on the cover by Anna Fienberg.