There are fifteen books on my January pile (plus I am trying to read six novels by Jane Austen in readiness for an adult education course which begins in February!). I guess I won't get through all of these in four weeks, but I will try because quite a few of these could be selected as our Children's Book Council of Australia Younger Readers Notable titles. These are announced at the end of February. I also like to make these lists from time to time because not every book I read makes it into this blog but a list like this is a useful reminder of titles. It also allows me to make a choice about which book to read first.
You can see I borrowed quite a few of these from a school library. The others are either from my Melbourne shopping or our Lifeline Bookfair.
Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog by Claire Barker illustrated by Ross Collins
This one is not in my book pile picture. I forgot include the junior chapter books I borrowed in December from the library of Kinderbookswitheverything.
Blurb: Knitbone Pepper has made lots of new animal friends since becoming a ghost dog. But his beloved owner, Winnie, is missing him. Can the ghostly gang come up with a plan to help Winnie see Knitbone again?
There are five books in this series. Book One has nearly 250 illustrated pages and looking at the library copy I can see it has been borrowed over thirty times since it was purchased.
Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
I have had this one on my to read list for a long time so I was very pleased to see a copy at the Lifeline Charity book sale for just AUS$2. Actually, I can see I first mentioned it here on this blog back in 2018. I previously loved their book The Lost Library.
Blurb by Wendy Mass: It’s been five years since Livy and her family have visited Livy’s grandmother in Australia. Now that she’s back, Livy has the feeling she’s forgotten something really, really important about Gran’s house. It turns out she’s right. Bob, a short, greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit, didn’t forget Livy, or her promise. He’s been waiting five years for her to come back, hiding in a closet like she told him to. He can’t remember who—or what—he is, where he came from, or if he even has a family. But five years ago Livy promised she would help him find his way back home. Now it’s time to keep that promise.
Dr Boogaloo and the girl who lost her laughter by Lisa Nicol
I borrowed this one from the Westmead Children's hospital Book Bunker library because I really enjoyed a previous book by Lisa Nicol - Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth. I also recently read The What on Earth institute of Wonder.
Publisher blurb: Dr Boogaloo was no ordinary doctor. Not at all like the one you might visit if you had a sore tummy. No, Dr Boogaloo was a very different type of doctor. He treated folks who suffered from rather unusual complaints. And how did he treat them? Why, with the most powerful medicine known to mankind . . . Music! Blue was no ordinary girl. For starters, her name was Blue. But what was truly extraordinary about Blue was the fact that she hadn’t laughed for 712 days. Not a hee hee, a ho ho or even a tiny tee hee. According to Dr Boogaloo, music can cure anything. (Of course, you need the right dose of the right music. No point listening to a jive if you’re in need of some boogie-woogie, and you can’t just substitute a toot for a blow!) But no laughter was definitely a case for alarm. Can Dr Boogaloo compose a cure before Blue loses her laughter forever?
Thunderbolt by Wilbur SmithThis book was donated to our library at Westmead Hospital. I was intrigued. On the back cover it says "not suitable for very young readers". This will be the first Wilbur Smith book I have ever read. This is the second book in a series.
Author blurb: Jack and his friends Amelia and Xander are in Zanzibar diving for lost treasure to support Jack's mother's coral protection project. Going further than usual on their last day, their dive boat is lured into a trap and captured by Somali pirates. Determined that his mother shouldn't pay a ransom for their release, Jack won't give up his attempts to escape. Transferred to a militia training camp for boy soldiers, the trio's only hope is the resourceful Somali boy Mo who befriends them. Can they outwit the ruthless General Sir and his merciless troops in the second gripping adventure from the authors of Cloudburst?
Faceless by Kathryn Lasky
I have read about half of this one. It is such a harrowing holocaust story I have taken a break. Many years ago I read a few books from her Guardians of Ga’hoole series and I loved them. And more recently I read The Secret of Glendunny Book One The Haunting.
Author blurb: Over the centuries, a small clan of spies called the Tabula Rasa has worked ceaselessly to fight oppression. They can pass unseen through enemy lines and “become” other people without being recognized. They are, essentially, faceless. Alice and Louise Winfield are sisters and spies in the Tabula Rasa. They’re growing up in wartime England, where the threat of Nazi occupation is ever near. But Louise wants to live an ordinary life and leaves the agency. Now, as Alice faces her most dangerous assignment yet, she fears the threat of discovery, but, worst of all, she fears losing her own sister.
Leaf Letters by Lorena Carrington
I read this Australian children's book quite quickly because it only has 90 pages. I was curious to see if it might make the CBCA Notable cut. I am not sure that it will quite make it. I think there is an interesting plot idea here but the format just did not appeal to me. Take a look at this review.
Author blurb: Nine-year-old Hazel Bird is happiest on her own, photographing the tiny wild worlds in her neighbourhood bushland. But then she meets Cole, a boy with a hundred pockets and a strange and marvellous way of talking. Together they find hidden treasure and a handwritten book of secret codes. Can you help them solve the puzzles and discover the mysterious child who buried it so many years ago?
The Cave by Victor Kelleher
I have read several books by Victor Kelleher including The Forbidden Paths of Thual; Taronga; and The Hunting of Shadroth. More recently I read Wanderer which is from the same publisher as The Cave.
Publisher blurb: Irian, Ulana and their Clan have made the cave their home ever since they used fire to drive off the Beast – a sabre-toothed tiger that had been preying on them. Protected by an ongoing fire at the cave mouth, they continue to keep the Beast at bay… until one fateful night when the fire goes out! What happens next shatters the Clan and leaves Ulana badly injured and Irian too traumatised even to speak. Alone and adrift in their dangerous prehistoric world, they have little hope of survival. What saves them is a chance meeting with a prickly old woman called Trug. Grudgingly, she takes them on a strange, unexpected journey of discovery, flinging them into the many wonders and hard realities of ancient times. And that hazardous journey will eventually lead them full circle: back to the challenge of the cave, and the enduring reality of the Beast…. An exciting story set in a richly-recreated Paleolithic past, this novel for middle-grade readers is both an extraordinary adventure and a moving exploration of loss, survival and courage.
Six Summers of Tash and Leopold by Danielle Binks
The publisher makes a big claim with this book when they say it is perfect "for fans of Katherine Paterson's
Bridge to Terabithia and Nova Weetman's
The Secrets We Keep." This book is listed as 11+ so I wonder if it might actually be a Young Adult title. It is over 300 pages of fairly small print.
Publisher blurb: Alytash and Leopold - Tash and Leo - are neighbours who used to be best friends, but aren't anymore, for reasons that Leo doesn't entirely understand. But now it's the last week of Year Six and Tash is standing in Leo's front yard with a misdelivered letter - and a favour to ask. It's a request that will set off a chain of events in their little crescent in Noble Park, a suburb that is changing, and fast. As they solve an unfolding neighbourhood mystery and help Ms Shepparson, a reclusive neighbour with a tragic past, Tash and Leo each has to confront fault lines in their own recent histories and families. They will discover that friendships can grow and change, that bravery takes many forms, and that, most of all - whatever the future holds - friends and family are what matter.
My Brother Finch by Kate Gordon
Kate Gordon now has so many books. I spied another new one just today in a local bookstore - Esme in the Limelight - which was also published this year so I imagine it might be another book submitted to the CBCA judges. I have previously talked about many of her books (just pop her name into my search bar).
Publisher blurb for My Brother Finch: Finch and Wren were as close as a brother and sister can be. When he vanished, when they were nine years old, her world cracked in two. Finch was never found. On the same day that Finch disappeared, another girl was lost, too. Her name was Ava. Her parents were rich tourists, from Sydney. Ava’s story got all the media attention. And Finch was forgotten. But not by Wren. Never by Wren. Three years on, Finch is still with her, whispering in her ear, guiding her through life. As Wren begins high school and forms a new, bewildering friendship with a mysterious girl called Freddie, Finch is there, urging her on. To go bolder. To go braver. To grab life with two hands. When another girl goes missing – a strange girl called Johanna – Wren feels compelled to search for her. To her surprise, Freddie does, too. The two of them try and piece together who Johanna is and why she ran away. Or did she run away? Was the truth more awful? And was it all tied together with what happened to Finch and Ava? My Brother, Finch, is a story of family, of loss, of friendship and of grief, and of what it truly means to let go and move on.
Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream edited by Paul Collins
Borderlands is a book of over forty short stories by some of our big Australian children's book names such as Ursula Dubosarsky; Leigh Hobbs; Sophie Masson; Steven Herrick; Deb Abela; Gary Crew and Sherryl Clark. This book has 560 pages so it might be a while before I dip in. You can see all the contributors and find teaches notes here.
Tweet by Morris Gleitz man
I will need to wait a little while to read this as I have just finished two other books that feature birds and problem solving. My own favourite book by Morris Gleitzman is one most people don't know or haven't read but I think it is his best book by far - Too Small to Fail.
Publisher blurb: A boy and his beloved budgie are thrust into an epic adventure that could change everything. Absolutely everything. Birds. Lots of birds. The people of the world are puzzled. Their feathered friends are trying to tell them something, and they’re not sure what it is. Then a boy and his pet budgie discover the secret. Join Jay and Clyde, and their friends Maxine and Dora, on an exciting, funny, risky journey to save their families. And every other family too.
Something Somewhere by Richard YaxleyI am sorry to say I would not have picked up this book myself based on the cover and review Just So Stories agrees with me. Scholastic Australia have plenty of money - I do think this book could have had a way more appealing cover. It also does sound like it might be a Young Adult title.
Bookseller blurb: "Malt’s life is turned upside down when his mother announces they are moving yet again. But this time, it’s to her ome town of Pembrooke. And Malt will be meeting his grandmother for the very first time. But things aren’t all that they seem in Pembrooke, leaving Malt with many questions. Like, who is his father really? Who is the mysterious girl who keeps appearing in the trees? Why does a beautiful white owl keep coming to his window? And what sinister things lie within Bushman’s Valley? Will Malt ever find out the truth and a place to truly belong?"
Cora seen and Heard by Zanni Louise
Take a look at this review by The Book Muse.
Publisher blurb: Cora Lane gets tongue-tied, is often ignored and would rather hide in the library than step onto a stage. However, when her parents decide to renovate an old theatre in small-town Tasmania, Cora realises this is the perfect opportunity for her to reinvent her personality. Enter Cora 2.0, stage left. When Cora quickly slips back into her old ways and has once again made friends with the librarian rather than kids her own age, she feels lost. Frustrated she’s not the person she wants to be, she shares her deepest feelings with her imaginary pen pal. The last thing she’d expect is for her letters to go missing. And now, the real Cora Lane is about to go public, but is she ready?
To and Fro by Anton Clifford-MotopI am putting this here on my list but I actually finished this book yesterday while I was penning this blog post so it's not strictly a January book. To and Fro is sure to appeal to ten-year-old boys. At times the story has poignant and heartfelt moments, but I wanted more from these. I found all the 'cheap' jokes quite distracting. For me there was just one too many references to farts, body parts, and the dilemmas of puberty.
I have no plan to talk further about this book on my blog but you can read these positive review comments: Readings; What Book Next; Buzzwords; and The Bottom Shelf.
Publisher blurb: Sam thinks he's a weird-looking white kid with an afro. He lives with his white mum (annoying but not smelly) and brown dog Trevor (smelly but not annoying). He's never met his father. He just knows that his father is black. But a surprise visit has Sam questioning who he really is. Is he a white kid with a black dad? Or a black kid with white skin? Or half-black and half-white? Not only does Sam want to know these answers, he has to know them to finish his annoying homework and perform in the school concert. But how can he make his outside match his insides if he doesn't know who he is?
A better book than To and Fro, in my view, for more mature readers who want to explore these themes of identity, skin colour, parents, race and belonging is Blended by Sharon Draper.
There are other issues in this book - Caterpillar Summer - but it also explores identity and the feelings of a biracial child.
And for a way more serious discussion try to find Can I Touch Your hair?
