Review: The Book for Marvellous Minds

A joyful book made for kids to keep and treasure, The Book for Marvellous Minds is a goldmine of fun between two gorgeously illustrated covers.

It’s a follow up book to The Book for Happy Hearts and brings together two of Australia’s greatest children’s literature creators — Maggie Hutchings and Jess Racklyeft. 

Packed full of stories, poems and activities for kids, it’s a superb collection of things to inspire, entertain and challenge busy minds.

With idea sparks for creating your own comfort creature or fairy garden, mindfulness stretches and activities, making an indoor tent, and creating bookmark gifts, it will provide hours of things for kids to do and make. 

But those are just the activities. Between these are pages and pages of glorious short stories and poems to keep kids reading and entertained.

I love that there’s no contents for this book. It invites readers to jump in, flick through the pages and find a treasure. But there are three different sections (morning, noon and night), which help theme up the content and lead kids to particular activities depending on their mood, and they’re easy to find using the different coloured page borders.

There’s also a lovely bright neon ribbon attached to the book, so you can mark a page if you need to remember where it is.

Racklyeft’s illustrations are, as always, completely stunning. Funky, colourful, inviting and so so ‘kid’. They come alive on every page in a gorgeous pastel-y colour palate.

The Book for Marvelous Minds is the perfect best friend for creative kids. It would make a wonderful gift this Christmas for all the busy minds in your life.

Title: The Book for Marvellous Minds
Author: Maggie Hutchings
Illustrator: Jess Racklyeft
Publisher: Affirm, $35.00
Publication Date: 26 September 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781922806796
For ages: 6+
Type: Junior Fiction, Activity Book

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Review: Copycat

Skye and her cat Admiral Mittens, live in Seagulls Nest with her young-at-heart and very active grandmother, Sheila, the town’s head Librarian.

But it is chickens that are the most popular things in the area. 

So are egg sandwiches, a priority at every meal, and in every café, the town having been founded by an egg farmer.

Over three years ago, Skye’s parents left and never returned. The reason is still unknown.

Skye has written a mystery novel. 

She leaves her manuscript overnight on a shelf in the library, in a corner she frequents. 

Returning at opening time the next day, it is gone. Now she must become the sleuth she writes about, to track down the thief.

Her first suspect is Bailey, a volunteer who shelves books in the library.

He is ruled out when he admits he took it to read, but it was taken by someone in the cafe, when he left his seat for a minute.

The two become a team, determined to uncover the culprit even if it means spying on the whole town. They find they have a lot in common and quickly become friends.

Excerpts of Skye’s manuscript are shared with us as the investigation progresses.

When Skye’s novel crimes are copied, things become serious.

Who is doing this and what do they hope to achieve? Everyone is now a suspect. The pair hide, follow, and make lists to compare information. Finding any real clues becomes almost impossible, for situations seem one way, but are found to be the total opposite.

Things take a turn for the worse when Skye and Bailey are accused by the Head of Police, of working together on the crimes to call attention to themselves for reasons of their own.

When the animals in the Zoo are set free, things come to a head. New Policewoman Penelope is determined to help solve the mystery. This leads to other mysteries surfacing.

Terrific characters and lots of suspense keep the pages turning in this creative novel full of ups and downs, twists and turns.

Title: Copycat
Author: Anne Hawkins
Publisher: Harper Collins, $16.99
Publication Date: 6 September 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781460763315
For ages: 8+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction

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Review: Solve Your Own Mystery: The Transylvanian Express

Solve Your Own Mystery: The Transylvanian Express is one of four titles in the series, and is a bit like the Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular in the 1980s.

The idea is to start reading, and at certain points you're asked a question. Your choice of the available responses will direct what happens next. That means there are lots of permutations for the plot, so you can read and re-read the book and get variations on the story each time.

In The Transylvanian Express, as the central character (who has magic powers!), you work with a yeti detective named Klaus. 

Following the delivery of a mysterious letter, you and Klaus are aboard a train travelling to the home of Count Fledermaus, a vampire whose castle will be opened for an annual public event.

The trouble is that a VIP, Night Mayor Franklefink, has gone missing while on the train, and one of the suspects is his arch nemesis, Bramwell Stoker.

The story is written so the narrative speaks directly to the reader. This makes it feel like you are right in the middle of everything that happens. When your help is sought to find the missing VIP, your first decision must be whether to explore the last place he was seen, which was the dining carriage, or to examine his cabin. 

The Transylvanian Express sometimes seem like a kind of mash-up of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, and the world of Harry Potter. Illustrations are scattered liberally throughout.

As you progress through the story, and try to solve the mystery of the Night Mayor's disappearance, you'll find yourself trekking all over the train, looking in its nooks and crannies, and speaking to the eclectic bunch of passengers. Will you be able to work out what happened?

The Solve Your Own Mystery series, including The Transylvanian Express,  has been created by author Gareth P Jones, and is illustrated by Louise Forshaw. It's packed with a cast of kooky characters (think goblins, monsters, and werewolves and you'll get the idea), and has a touch of magic. Be prepared for anything when you start reading!

Title: Solve Your Own Mystery: The Transylvanian Express
Author: Gareth P Jones
Illustrator: Louise Forshaw
Publisher: Walker Books Australia, $ 16.99
Publication Date: October 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760656591
For ages: 8+
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Vlad: The Fabulous Vampire

As any vampire worth his garlic salt will tell you, vampire-esque activities are not wholly confined to Halloween. 

Indeed, for Vladislav Varnaby Roland Dragul,Vlad for short, being a stylish vampire is a year-long occupation.

Vlad is a horrifically huge fashionista you see. Fashion is his passion. However, Vlad harbours a toe-curling colourful secret.

Vlad's physical anomaly sets him far apart from his black haute couture counterparts. He is loathe to tell his vampire mates what lurks beneath his mysteriously black veneer for fear of the ridicule he is sure they will unleash upon him.

Going out on a limb (literally), he attempts to confide in his best friend, Shelly but falls short of full disclosure when inspiration propels him in a new direction. He reasons if he can't change who he is, he can at least camouflage the fact. All goes swimmingly for a while but as plans to conceal are want to do, things eventually unravel until Vlad decides he is better off alone. Just as he is about to sink into a quagmire of despair, Shelly reveals a stunning secret of her own and that, my friends, changes everything. 

I won't giveaway the colour-induced secret here, although clever readers will deduce that for themselves from the outrageously audacious cover. Suffice to say this is a lovely, Halloween flavoured take on the corrosion of self-esteem when ones identity is in question. Vlad is beset with feelings of failure and non conformity because he sports a unique and, it has to be said, very fetching feature which does set him apart from his contemporaries. That is part of life - or life after death if you're a vampire kid. What's more important is that with the help of an understanding and kind-hearted friend, he finds a new kind of confidence and sense of pride in his difference rather than shame. A useful life affirmation if ever there was one.

Engaging text is portrayed with the most delicious array of pecilled illustrations. Rich in detail, the monster-suffused drawings begin in muted shades of deep purples, greys and of course, elegant blacks but gradually develop into a lollypop land of bright fuchsia entoned fabulousness. It's like the most riotous trick or treat night imaginable which ensures a fun experience for young readers outside the message to love the skin you're in whether it be deathly shades of pale or otherwise.

Get your spook on with Vlad. 

Title: Vlad: The Fabulous Vampire
Author Illustrator: Flavia Z Drago
Publisher: Walker Books Australia,$27.99
Publication Date: 4 October 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781529509175
For ages: 3 - 7
Type: Picture Book

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Junior Review: Lily Halfmoon: The Magic Gems

Lily Halfmoon is a normal girl like everyone else, until her birthday cake explodes on her 9th birthday, and her pencils start levitating in art class. Something isn’t right, but Lily doesn’t know what it is until two girls from school (Gigi and Mai) tell Lily she’s a witch and has magical powers.

Lily has to go to a school for witches and wizards with Lily and Mai, where their teacher sets them a special assignment — find out who’s eating his precious flowers.

Each witch has a magical crystal that stores their witch powers. They also have a special animal sidekick who helps them along the way. Lily has to discover all of this, plus build new friendships, plus solve the mystery her teacher has set.

There are lots of twists in this book and it ends on a cliffhanger, which made me want to read more.

I like how the book explains how everything works. There’s a page about the crystals and what they all mean and do. And there are pages that tell you how to do spells. I also like the special pets everyone gets. They’re cute and really fun.

This is a graphic novel so there are lots and lots of illustrations. They’re detailed, colourful and mystical.

Kids who like magic, mystery and like to get hooked on a book are going to love this story. It's a perfect book for Halloween time, and I’m looking forward to book 2.

Title: Lily Halfmoon: The Magic Gems
Author/Illustrator: Xavier Bonet
Publisher: Allen and Unwin, $16.99
Publication Date:  29 August 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761180354
For ages: 7 - 11
Type: Junior Fiction, Graphic Novel

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10 Quirky Questions with author/illustrator Inda Ahmad Zahri

1. What's your hidden talent?
Juggling household objects. I learned to juggle from friends at uni who even gifted me a set of juggling balls one year. I’ve since lost them, but found that juggling things around the house or from the pantry is just as fun. My favourites are onions, as they have a lovely way of peeling off midair.

2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
Miss Trunchbull from Matilda by Roald Dahl, because she is so committed to her villainy! She is confident and proud, inspiring (even if she inspires fear) and cares so deeply about crushing souls that she embodies it from head to toe.  

3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
I started drafting a list that was several times longer than this question permits, but I’ve narrowed it down to these 5 because I think there would be a nice dynamic of humour, world-bending, deep conversations about humanity and poetic genius: Ahdaf Soueif, Gerald Durrell, Haruki Murakami; George Saunders; Elizabeth Acevedo. 

4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
The Alethiometer from Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Messy, intuitive, ebbs and flows.

6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Emotive, truthful, poetic, loving, bright.

7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
I made an illustration of my dream writing space for my website, and it had: a guitar, a dinosaur figurine, sketches and favourite photos tacked up on the wall, a mug of coffee and a shelf full of books.

8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!)
Instead of muesli and oats, how about we have ice cream for breakfast today?
(Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus)

9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
I would ask (on behalf of my daughter who has often speculated on the answer) Mem Fox what her real name is.

10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
Ooof, this question is cruel! I’m tempted not to answer it as an act of self-care! But if I absolutely had to choose, I’d rather ‘never write another story’ – there are other ways to tell my stories, but to be deprived of the stories of others might make this world a little too hard to bear. 

 
Inda Ahmad Zahri writes and illustrates stories that are often imbued with her fervent wish for a kinder world. Originally from Kuala Lumpur, she now splits her time between her garden home in Meanjin/Brisbane and a sandy spot in the Middle East. She counts books, languages, Malaysian rice dishes and the ocean as some of her greatest loves. Inda's debut book, Salih,was a Notable Book in the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Awards. She has written several other picture books and received an ASA/CA Mentorship Award in 2021 to develop a middle-grade novel. The Month That Makes the Year is her first author-illustrator title. Inda is also a surgical doctor, a vocation that has taught her to be meticulous while embracing chaos, and to appreciate the gentler moments in life. For more information, see www.indabinda.com.

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Review: Eddie Woo's Wonderful World of STEM

Eddie Woo made his name as Mister Wootube, the high school maths teacher who records lessons and shares them online, amassing millions of subscribers and views.

Eddie Woo's Wonderful World of STEM is an activity book, the kind that you can write and draw in. It takes a stack of STEM concepts and demonstrates them using simple explanations and activities. 

This is fun stuff and features marble runs, paper planes, and building with spaghetti.

Learn about the Fibonacci sequence and how to find patterns in nature. A photo and diagram of a sunflower demonstrate the spiral patterns which can be counted to discover a Fibonacci number.

Explore robotics with an experiment that helps explain balance and its importance to the movement of robots. It's a simple experiment using a pair of skewers and a bag of marshmallows. Another one uses paddle pop sticks to demonstrate the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy.

Other topics featured include shapes, fractals, symmetry, space, letters and words, clouds, building materials, and lots more. There’s also a 'top secret' section of the book with the answers to the activities.

It’s been a while since I was at school and learning these concepts myself, and this book is a great refresher. It’s the kind you can browse and dip in and out of. 

STEM is everywhere.
It's the Science that helps us understand the natural world.
It's the Technology that uses knowledge and principles to invent tools.
It's the Engineering that solves problems and builds our modern environment.
It's the Maths that explores the patterns in the universe.

Eddie Woo is passionate and gifted in helping to make sense of STEM concepts, and Eddie Woo's Wonderful World of STEM is a great book to have at home or school, for both children and adults to learn about and see the concepts in the world around us. Highly recommended.

For your chance to win a copy of this title, enter our Giveaway. Competition opens 4 November 2023.

Title: Eddie Woo's Wonderful World of STEM
Author: Eddie Woo
Illustrator: Alissa Dinallo
Publisher: Macmillan, $ 19.99
Publication Date: October 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761266843
For ages: 7+
Type: Activity Book

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Review: Ruby and the Pen

Ruby loves to draw.  Following in her artist father’s footsteps, she uses comic art as an escape from her poor relationship with her mother, Adelaide. 

She’d like to correct that problem but doesn’t know how. 

Since Ruby’s dad died four years ago, there has been a series of boyfriends in Adelaide’s life, and the current one is Dodgy Dave.

Another boyfriend, another school. Dodgy Dave has pulled strings somewhere and Ruby is now on her way to boarding school. It is his way of getting rid of the twelve-year -old as he has plenty to hide.

Ruby buys an old pen from a market stall, inscribed in Latin with the words, the future is in your hands. Seeing this as an omen, she feels optimistic about the path her life is now on.

 But nothing is as Ruby imagined.

She is constantly bullied by several teachers and her roommates, who throw her pen out of the window. Bad behaviour against Ruby continues and she can’t find support where it’s expected.

 The pen turns up in Ruby’s pencil case. It has a mind of its own and Ruby is determined to get the bullies back.

 Her drawings become real life. They help her through difficult situations but only for a while.

 When the pen gets out of control, and is no longer acting in Ruby’s best interests, she must find a way to rein it in. But the pen falls into the wrong hands.

 Many discoveries await Ruby. She uncovers Dodgy Daves connections involve personnel at the school, and secret dealings that threaten the environment, through destruction of the surrounding forest.  

 Ruby’s attempts to draw attention to the pending catastrophe sees her expelled.

Can she find a way to stop the felling of the trees to make way for a theme park?

 Will she be able to expose Dodgy Dave or revive her relationship with her mother again? Shall Ruby’s distanced friends rally around in her time of need?

 Fantastic artwork by Cherie Dignam enhances David Lawrence's story full of humour and clever prose. Xander and the Pen is Bk 2 in a highly entertaining series full of important themes.

Title: Ruby and the Pen
Author: David Lawrence
Illustrator: Cherie Dignam
Publisher: EK Books , $ 19.99
Publication Date: 5 July 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781922539380
For ages: 10 – 14
Type: Middle Grade Fiction

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Meet The Illustrator: Helen Milroy

Name: Helen Milroy

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whatever works at the time, lots of colour and movement

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Mess. I do like a lot of things to look at like cards, books, paintings, photos. I also like a lot of stuff like toys, pencils, paints, material, craft, canvases. I also like drawing in the garden. When travelling all I need is my iPad. I also love it when my cat sits with me.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love acrylic paint on canvas but now I use the digital medium. It is great to be able to take your artwork with you wherever you go.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Shaun Tan
Shirley Purdie
Leonardo Da Vinci

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I would love to go back and visit my ancestors and understand the stories from the cave and rock paintings.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I was always a visual reader and loved picture books more than words. I wanted to live in the images created so wanted to be able to create illustrations that stimulate imagination. I grew up on stories and drawings. Even if there was no paper, we would go down the backyard and pull a bit of paperbark off the tree and draw on that or draw in the sand. I also loved Aboriginal peoples art and the idea of painting stories.

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
This photo is fairly typical of my work space. My cat Smokey, is asleep on his cat tower, my favourite puppet, Honey Possum (who always comes with me for storytelling) is on the desk, and there are papers, books, pictures and paintings easily visible. There is also one of my scarves which I may put on for zoom calls. I like to be surrounded by familiar things and I like a lot of colour. If I am painting, I will clear a space as I am a bit of a messy painter. Probably why I like using digital art now so there is less to clean up. I also feel inspired by what I see, patterns, shapes, textures and forms and how odd bits and pieces somehow fit together.

 

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
I some times find it hard to get started but once I am in the creative mind space, the illustrations literally fall onto the page. I love this process of allowing the images to draw themselves, it is a beautiful space to be in where everything around you just fades away and I can enjoy the moment. I also love looking at the finished image and smiling. Best of all though, is seeing how kids respond to the illustrations.

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia but was born and educated in Perth. She is Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and child psychiatrist. Currently Helen is the Stan Perron Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Perth Children’s Hospital and University of Western Australia and Honorary Research at the Telethon Kids Institute. Helen is the Chair of the Gayaa Dhuwi Proud Spirit Australia organisation and a board member of Beyond Blue. Helen is also an artist and published author and illustrator of children’s books. She has been shortlisted for several children’s literature awards and received the 2021 Whitley Award for best early childhood reader for Backyard Birds. Helen loves storytelling and promoting imagination and creativity as part of social and emotional wellbeing.

 

For more information, please visit Helen's website.

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Review: Millie Mak the Maker

Many readers will associate closely with the contents of this imaginative book by Alice Pung. Gorgeous black pen illustrations accompany the text.

With several interesting underlying themes racing through it, it is the doll’s house on the nature strip in the hard rubbish collection, that starts it all.

Story One introduces Millie and Granny, who are passionate curb side collectors. When they see the doll’s house, they can’t wait to get it home and restore it. 

But they are not the only ones who want it. First there gets it!

Most of the book is about seeing beauty in discarded things and repurposing, re-using and recycling pre-loved things that are treasures to the finder, but rubbish to those that discard them.

 

Against the background of Millie’s life, surroundings, and family situations, we discover that being without, is a state of mind.

Milly’s two Grannies have taught her how to find extraordinary objects of beauty and usefulness in the ordinary world, and teach us, how life can be beautiful with handmade things designed and created with imagination and know-how.

Each creative thought gives birth to a new adventure for Millie as she learns to search in op shops for things that she can reuse, renew, or remodel.

Story Two sees dad injured after being hit by a car while riding his bike and life becomes harder for Millie and family. They have to find a way to manage with less.

The background stories speak of acts of kindness, difficulties in creating new friendships, being responsible, and ways of overcoming unkindness meted out other children, whose reasons appear to be due to dissatisfaction in their own lives. These are threaded through beautifully with creative initiatives discovered by Millie or the Grannies.  

Easy-to-follow instructions for sewing lots of useful objects, clothes, and hair decorations from items you never imagined, will be invaluable to any budding Maker. 

How to produce something new from something old becomes easy, and the satisfaction of using your hands to create, can bring great pleasure.

I loved this book and the fact that it reflects the way many people have lived and still live today – by using things that others don’t need or want anymore, to create, restore or remake something necessary and meaningful to them.

Another stunning cover reflects the contents of the book.

Title: Millie Mak the Maker
Author: Alice Pung
Illustrator: Sher Rill Ng
Publisher:Harper Collins, $ 22.99
Publication Date: 30 August 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781460763773 
For ages: 8+
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Monster Island

There’s a mysterious island off the coast of Australia. No one knows it's there and no one knows how to find it. 

The only people who go there are researchers and scientists working for MeierCorp, because the island is full of… monsters.

Well, not exactly monsters, but certainly monstrous beasts. And also interesting beasts and absolutely whacky beasts that defy all logic — like giant toads, dinosaurs with apposable thumbs and a whole lot of strange fungus.

It’s probably a place you want to avoid, but when Bernie’s mum gets a new job with MeierCorp, it’s exactly where Bernie ends up after following her to the top-secret location.

There he meets Ivy Meier, daughter of Hugo Meier (the owner of MeierCorp), and eventually Mr Meier himself. Meier isn’t exactly happy about Bernie being on his secret island, and he plans to send him home.

But everything changes when Bernie and Ivy discover suspicious drones spying on the island’s creatures. Something fishy is happening on Monster Island, and Bernie and Ivy are determined to find answers.

Supernatural story fans are going to love this JF novel. It bends reality in the best ways possible and takes readers on an action-packed adventure from start to finish.

Title: Monster Island
Author: George Ivanoff
Publisher: Puffin, $19.99
Publication Date: 30 May 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761047244
For ages: 8 - 12
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Millie Mak the Maker

Many readers will associate closely with the contents of this imaginative book by Alice Pung. Gorgeous black pen illustrations accompany the text.

With several interesting underlying themes racing through it, it is the doll’s house on the nature strip in the hard rubbish collection, that starts it all.

Story One introduces Millie and Granny, who are passionate curb side collectors. When they see the doll’s house, they can’t wait to get it home and restore it. 

But they are not the only ones who want it. First there gets it!

Most of the book is about seeing beauty in discarded things and repurposing, re-using and recycling pre-loved things that are treasures to the finder, but rubbish to those that discard them.

 

Against the background of Millie’s life, surroundings, and family situations, we discover that being without, is a state of mind.

Milly’s two Grannies have taught her how to find extraordinary objects of beauty and usefulness in the ordinary world, and teach us, how life can be beautiful with handmade things designed and created with imagination and know-how.

Each creative thought gives birth to a new adventure for Millie as she learns to search in op shops for things that she can reuse, renew, or remodel.

Story Two sees dad injured after being hit by a car while riding his bike and life becomes harder for Millie and family. They have to find a way to manage with less.

The background stories speak of acts of kindness, difficulties in creating new friendships, being responsible, and ways of overcoming unkindness meted out other children, whose reasons appear to be due to dissatisfaction in their own lives. These are threaded through beautifully with creative initiatives discovered by Millie or the Grannies.  

Easy-to-follow instructions for sewing lots of useful objects, clothes, and hair decorations from items you never imagined, will be invaluable to any budding Maker. 

How to produce something new from something old becomes easy, and the satisfaction of using your hands to create, can bring great pleasure.

I loved this book and the fact that it reflects the way many people have lived and still live today – by using things that others don’t need or want anymore, to create, restore or remake something necessary and meaningful to them.

Another stunning cover reflects the contents of the book.

Title: Millie Mak the Maker
Author: Alice Pung
Illustrator: Sher Rill Ng
Publisher:Harper Collins, $ 22.99
Publication Date: 30 August 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781460763773 
For ages: 8+
Type: Junior Fiction

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Review: Monster Island

There’s a mysterious island off the coast of Australia. No one knows it's there and no one knows how to find it. 

The only people who go there are researchers and scientists working for MeierCorp, because the island is full of… monsters.

Well, not exactly monsters, but certainly monstrous beasts. And also interesting beasts and absolutely whacky beasts that defy all logic — like giant toads, dinosaurs with apposable thumbs and a whole lot of strange fungus.

It’s probably a place you want to avoid, but when Bernie’s mum gets a new job with MeierCorp, it’s exactly where Bernie ends up after following her to the top-secret location.

There he meets Ivy Meier, daughter of Hugo Meier (the owner of MeierCorp), and eventually Mr Meier himself. Meier isn’t exactly happy about Bernie being on his secret island, and he plans to send him home.

But everything changes when Bernie and Ivy discover suspicious drones spying on the island’s creatures. Something fishy is happening on Monster Island, and Bernie and Ivy are determined to find answers.

Supernatural story fans are going to love this JF novel. It bends reality in the best ways possible and takes readers on an action-packed adventure from start to finish.

Title: Monster Island
Author: George Ivanoff
Publisher: Puffin, $19.99
Publication Date: 30 May 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761047244
For ages: 8 - 12
Type: Junior Fiction

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12 Curly Questions with author/illustrator Peter Cheong

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
When I was very little in school, to go to the toilet you had to have a ‘buddy’ to walk with you to and from the toilet. I was chosen as a buddy for another kid, walked her to the toilet and waited outside for maybe 30 minutes. I finally came back to class by myself and discovered she had been back for ages. I was convinced for the longest time she could teleport. She probably still can actually.

2. What is your nickname?
Bababababa. My son is nine months old.

3. What is your greatest fear?
When the nappy leaks.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Chaotically, with a lot of Nutella, tea and hot showers.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Sometimes it’s actually all right.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Because he has access to Wonka-Vites and Vita-Wonks, so everyone could live forever. Also he has a chocolate factory.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
The future! A thousand or ten thousand years. I’d love to see the technology.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. No, not really. He’d actually be pretty stoked that he would get to make books for a living. He wouldn’t say anything though, he’d be too shy.

9. Who is your greatest influence?
There are so many artists I’m influenced by, but Bill Watterson would be the biggest one. Calvin and Hobbes is just too good.

10. What/who made you start writing?
I’ve always loved creating characters and stories. But I had been focusing on illustration as a career and thought I was not good enough as a writer yet. But after seeing my portfolio, an editor said they’d love to see any of my own stories I had been working on. And I realised that, much like with illustration, I would just have to go for it and learn as I go. So I did.

11. What is your favourite word and why?
I’ve never thought about it. Probably ‘actually’ actually. It feels and tastes delicious.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Is this hell? Why can I only read one book? What have I done to deserve this? Can I have my Kindle? Is there a chance of parole? I’m imagining a prison where inmates are given one single picture book and told to read it out loud over and over again. When they ask why, they are told, ‘this is your life now’. Wait. Will this be my life when my son can choose his own bedtime story? Oh no. Oh dear.

Peter Cheong lives in Perth with his very understanding wife and less understanding cat. He is the illustrator of I’m a Hero Too and the Pow Pow Pig series. Every Night at Midnight is his first book as both author and illustrator. Peter unfortunately cannot turn into a wolf himself but is still trying. For more information, see www.petercheong.com.


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Review: Guinness World Records 2024

Guinness has been regularly publishing books about world records since its first edition in 1955. 

Fastest, tallest, first ... you'll find lots of them, and more, in Guinness World Records 2024.

This year's book has the theme of 'blue planet' and features records related to subjects like the earth and sea, and their landmarks and animals, along with many new world records. There are more of them than you could count.

In keeping with the theme, one of the featured records is the largest octopus, the Giant Pacific Octopus, also known as the GPO, which can travel at up to 40km/hr. The largest GPO on record weighed in at 71 kg and was 4 metres in length.

As well as the world records themselves, there are also 'explainers' in each chapter, like a fabulous labelled diagram of the octopus, and a range of additional information, including the name of a new octopus species.

Many records are wild and wacky. Records like 'Most Smarties eaten with chopsticks while blindfolded in one minute' (the answer is 25). There are twelve records involving pogo sticks (including the highest back flip), records about collections (like the largest collection of Pokemon cards which stood at 32,809), and records about robots (the fastest bipedal robot can run 100 metres in 24.73 seconds). World record sporting achievements are included, and historical records are a special feature. There's also a special double-page spread highlighting some of the people aged under sixteen who set records.

Photos and diagrams provide an important illustrative element of Guinness World Records books and make for a busy visual experience. The cover and end papers for the 2024 edition are bright and beautiful, incorporating some of the record holders.

Guinness World Records 2024 is packed full of enough trivia, facts and figures to keep most readers entertained (and recounting what they learn) for a good long while.

Title: Guinness World Records 2024
Author/Illustrator: Guinness World Records
Publisher: Guinness, $ 46.99
Publication Date: September 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781913484408
For ages: 8+
Type: Non-Fiction

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12 Curly Questions with author/illustrator Peter Cheong

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
When I was very little in school, to go to the toilet you had to have a ‘buddy’ to walk with you to and from the toilet. I was chosen as a buddy for another kid, walked her to the toilet and waited outside for maybe 30 minutes. I finally came back to class by myself and discovered she had been back for ages. I was convinced for the longest time she could teleport. She probably still can actually.

2. What is your nickname?
Bababababa. My son is nine months old.

3. What is your greatest fear?
When the nappy leaks.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Chaotically, with a lot of Nutella, tea and hot showers.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Sometimes it’s actually all right.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Because he has access to Wonka-Vites and Vita-Wonks, so everyone could live forever. Also he has a chocolate factory.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
The future! A thousand or ten thousand years. I’d love to see the technology.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. No, not really. He’d actually be pretty stoked that he would get to make books for a living. He wouldn’t say anything though, he’d be too shy.

9. Who is your greatest influence?
There are so many artists I’m influenced by, but Bill Watterson would be the biggest one. Calvin and Hobbes is just too good.

10. What/who made you start writing?
I’ve always loved creating characters and stories. But I had been focusing on illustration as a career and thought I was not good enough as a writer yet. But after seeing my portfolio, an editor said they’d love to see any of my own stories I had been working on. And I realised that, much like with illustration, I would just have to go for it and learn as I go. So I did.

11. What is your favourite word and why?
I’ve never thought about it. Probably ‘actually’ actually. It feels and tastes delicious.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Is this hell? Why can I only read one book? What have I done to deserve this? Can I have my Kindle? Is there a chance of parole? I’m imagining a prison where inmates are given one single picture book and told to read it out loud over and over again. When they ask why, they are told, ‘this is your life now’. Wait. Will this be my life when my son can choose his own bedtime story? Oh no. Oh dear.

Peter Cheong lives in Perth with his very understanding wife and less understanding cat. He is the illustrator of I’m a Hero Too and the Pow Pow Pig series. Every Night at Midnight is his first book as both author and illustrator. Peter unfortunately cannot turn into a wolf himself but is still trying. For more information, see www.petercheong.com.


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Review: Guinness World Records 2024

Guinness has been regularly publishing books about world records since its first edition in 1955. 

Fastest, tallest, first ... you'll find lots of them, and more, in Guinness World Records 2024.

This year's book has the theme of 'blue planet' and features records related to subjects like the earth and sea, and their landmarks and animals, along with many new world records. There are more of them than you could count.

In keeping with the theme, one of the featured records is the largest octopus, the Giant Pacific Octopus, also known as the GPO, which can travel at up to 40km/hr. The largest GPO on record weighed in at 71 kg and was 4 metres in length.

As well as the world records themselves, there are also 'explainers' in each chapter, like a fabulous labelled diagram of the octopus, and a range of additional information, including the name of a new octopus species.

Many records are wild and wacky. Records like 'Most Smarties eaten with chopsticks while blindfolded in one minute' (the answer is 25). There are twelve records involving pogo sticks (including the highest back flip), records about collections (like the largest collection of Pokemon cards which stood at 32,809), and records about robots (the fastest bipedal robot can run 100 metres in 24.73 seconds). World record sporting achievements are included, and historical records are a special feature. There's also a special double-page spread highlighting some of the people aged under sixteen who set records.

Photos and diagrams provide an important illustrative element of Guinness World Records books and make for a busy visual experience. The cover and end papers for the 2024 edition are bright and beautiful, incorporating some of the record holders.

Guinness World Records 2024 is packed full of enough trivia, facts and figures to keep most readers entertained (and recounting what they learn) for a good long while.

Title: Guinness World Records 2024
Author/Illustrator: Guinness World Records
Publisher: Guinness, $ 46.99
Publication Date: September 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781913484408
For ages: 8+
Type: Non-Fiction

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Review: The Observologist

If you've ever wanted a book for kids who are curious about the small creatures easily found in the backyard, on a walk around the neighbourhood, or even inside your house, then this is it.

The Observologist is a 'handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions'. It's packed with interesting and useful information and well-labelled diagrams and illustrations galore.

There are five main sections to dip into. The first is all about 'observology', or as the book explains, the study of looking. It can brighten up any number of situations including when waiting for your turn at something, or when there's a power cut.

When observing the natural world, you can look in all kinds of places, and that's where the principles of observology come in handy. In just one example, always be careful, but look carefully at and turn over leaves on the ground and you might discover a stink bug, or ladybird, or see that a caterpillar has been having lunch.

The Observologist will take nature explorers through a variety of concepts such as taxonomies and how they work, scientific names, life cycles, and the anatomy of invertebrates (because that's what many of the creatures found in your backyard will be). 

Other sections discuss different places you can be a good observologist: a damp corner, the pavement, a weedy patch, and behind the curtains. These are the places to uncover things like slugs and snails, fungi and lichen, ants, worms, butterflies, and many other creatures. There's information and diagrams about droppings, larvae, and a whole bunch about bees, plus lots more.

It's not all about animals, though. Plants are important as food and homes for them, too. Learn about seeds and leaves, as well as getting advice on how to look after nature, including how to save a worm that's in danger from human feet, helping an exhausted bee, and relocating a spider. There's also humour which will appeal, like how to sneak up on a bug.

Giselle Clarkson has done a marvellous job with this informative and inspirational visual book. The Observologist is fabulous for kids of all ages and I can't wait to share it with the younger readers in my family. Highly recommended.

Title: The Observologist
Author/Illustrator: Giselle Clarkson
Publisher: Gecko Press, $ 37.99
Publication Date: October 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN:  9781776575190
For ages: 7+
Type: Junior Non-Fiction

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Review: The Observologist

If you've ever wanted a book for kids who are curious about the small creatures easily found in the backyard, on a walk around the neighbourhood, or even inside your house, then this is it.

The Observologist is a 'handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions'. It's packed with interesting and useful information and well-labelled diagrams and illustrations galore.

There are five main sections to dip into. The first is all about 'observology', or as the book explains, the study of looking. It can brighten up any number of situations including when waiting for your turn at something, or when there's a power cut.

When observing the natural world, you can look in all kinds of places, and that's where the principles of observology come in handy. In just one example, always be careful, but look carefully at and turn over leaves on the ground and you might discover a stink bug, or ladybird, or see that a caterpillar has been having lunch.

The Observologist will take nature explorers through a variety of concepts such as taxonomies and how they work, scientific names, life cycles, and the anatomy of invertebrates (because that's what many of the creatures found in your backyard will be). 

Other sections discuss different places you can be a good observologist: a damp corner, the pavement, a weedy patch, and behind the curtains. These are the places to uncover things like slugs and snails, fungi and lichen, ants, worms, butterflies, and many other creatures. There's information and diagrams about droppings, larvae, and a whole bunch about bees, plus lots more.

It's not all about animals, though. Plants are important as food and homes for them, too. Learn about seeds and leaves, as well as getting advice on how to look after nature, including how to save a worm that's in danger from human feet, helping an exhausted bee, and relocating a spider. There's also humour which will appeal, like how to sneak up on a bug.

Giselle Clarkson has done a marvellous job with this informative and inspirational visual book. The Observologist is fabulous for kids of all ages and I can't wait to share it with the younger readers in my family. Highly recommended.

Title: The Observologist
Author/Illustrator: Giselle Clarkson
Publisher: Gecko Press, $ 37.99
Publication Date: October 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN:  9781776575190
For ages: 7+
Type: Junior Non-Fiction

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Review: The Fortune Maker

Twelve-year-old Maud is poverty stricken and lives in a tiny house near the bog with her father. 

It is 1913, when urchins fight for survival in rat-infested surroundings on the streets. 

Seers ply their trade to the poor and rich, who try to manipulate into being, the things they are foretold.

Suffragettes march for women’s rights with frequent arrests, while the split between rich and poor, grows wider.

Maud and her dad save their pennies to realise their dream of escaping out of Silvertown and their present condition.

Their house sinks into the bog and all is lost with the pennies.

Her father dies in a freak accident and Maud is now destitute, sleeping in the closet of a large family as needy as she.

Escaping to the tunnels where all sorts of Seers gather to scratch out a living, Maud swaps her mother’s shawl for a foretelling, but is told something she already knows.

Abducted off the street after she picks up a yellow ribbon which falls from a girl’s hair, she is thought to have special powers due to a foretelling from a seer for the wealthy.

Life takes many twists and turns for Maud. So does this magical novel with its delicious sub-stories that keep the reader enthralled.

While Maud wrestles with the Alfords whose business is quickly losing money through incompetent handling, she meets people who stand up for the poor, that believe and fight for equality using their own methods, and who take Maud in and protect her.

This is a mystical adventure about strength, determination and changing times. Full of optimism even in the most desperate of situations, it shows how survival can be achieved through the worst or best experience, depending on the strength within to face whatever you are dealt.

A stunning, eye-catching cover equals the fantastic read.

Title: The Fortune Maker
Author: Catherine Norton
Publisher: Harper Collins, $22.99
Publication Date: 2 August 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978146715727
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction

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Meet The Illustrator: Cherie Dignam

Name: Cherie Dignam

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Wow, I guess I would say that it is……” lively and expressive illustrations in a simplistic wobbly line style!” (I have never tried to summarise my style in ten words or less actually).

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Pencil and plain old copier paper.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Pencil, although I love a dip pen, but my ‘go to’ tool is always a pencil.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Hard to pick just three but my initial choices would be Ronald Searle, Quentin Blake, Sara Ogilvie

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?

I would probably like to have visited the Modern Period which had Impressionists like Monet and Degas, or perhaps the Art Nouveau period, I do love Gustav Klimt.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?

Initially Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake, but now I have lots of favourite illustrators, far too many to mention!!

Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Although I am very fortunate to have a designated art room at home I still manage to work in a very small cluttered area, I do tidy it regularly but it inevitably becomes chaotic again, that’s how I roll. I lose or misplace my pencils all the time and I have more than one favourite ‘2b’ on the go. If it gets too hot during the summer I move to my local library and use my iPad but I need my earphones as libraries can be very noisy nowadays!

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?

The initial rough process and researching characters and background settings. I love searching for objects in the library, online, even on walks in my neighbourhood.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Practice, Practice, Practice, be inspired by your favourite artist but don’t let their success deter you. Try not to look at too many fabulous artists as this can prevent you from even trying, so just be you and keep turning up and churning out your ideas.

Cherie Dignam has always loved drawing, nature, and all animals, especially cats. Cherie enjoys working with various mediums, including colouring pencils and watercolours. Still, she is happiest with a pencil and paper or an old-fashioned dip pen and ink. Cherie creates from her home, a short walk from the beach in sunny Perth, Australia.

For more information, please visit Cherie's website or follow her on instagram.

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