Reviews

Heroes of the Valley

Older Readers

Jonathan Stroud (author)

Corgi, UK: 2009; 390pp

ISBN: 9780552557931 13+

Issues: family, identity, truth

Genres: legends, myths

Halli, the short and apparently ordinary second son of a clan leader, longs for the past - a time when his valley was a wild place peopled by great heroes and beset by terrible dangers. He loves to hear the stories of the bloodthirsty Trows and the legendary men who banded together to defeat them. But life is much quieter now and fighting of any kind is forbidden. The only swords are the rough ones made for the dead, sitting in their cairns on the valley wall, protecting the people from the dangers of Outside. Halli gets into constant trouble for his practical jokes and impatience with the boring demands of farming.

Grim and Grimmer: the headless highwayman Bk1

Older Readers

Ian Irvine (author)

Scholastic, Australia: 2010; 275pp

ISBN: 9781862918580

Issues: ethics, friendship, identity

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Through a mischief not of his making - at least he's pretty sure it wasn't his making - Ike finds himself slipping through a non-existent doorway into another world. A world, what is more, that is at war. The Emajicka, also known as the Fey or Nightmare Queen, is stealing children from the Grimmery for her Collection.

The Night Fairy

Books for Pre-Readers

Laura Amy Schlitz (author)

Angela Barrett (illustration)

Candlewick Press, USA: 2010; 117pp

ISBN: 9780763636746

Issues: identity

Genres: fairytale, fantasy

Born a little before midnight, Flory the night-fairy at first enjoys the glorious mysteries of the darker half of the day, delighting in her beautiful wings and gradually learning how to use her powers. In Flory's world, fairies raise themselves and as they age spells and the ability to use them gradually unfold in their head. Then the worst possible thing happens - a bat mistakes Flory's wings for those of a moth and bites them off, nearly killing the tiny fairy.

Stick Dudes: the Secret Four-ce

Beginner Readers

Felice Arena (author/illus)

Scholastic, Australia: 2010; 80pp

ISBN: 9781741695502

Issues: bullying, friendship, ethics

Genres: adventure, crime, school

Ben, Marty, Johnno and Tubs are best mates. They always hand around together, like the three Musketeers, only there are four of them. But a thief seems to have moved in on their school and students' precious things are being stolen every day. When the thief targets the boys, they decide that they can't possibly leave it upto the teachers - they must take action themselves.

Mirror

Books for Pre-Readers

Jeannie Baker (author/illus)

Walker Books, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9781406309140

Genres: picture book

Issues: cultural differences, family, tolerance

Any new book from Jeannie Baker, creator of Where The Forest Meets the Sea and Window is an event to be celebrated. But in Mirror, her latest release, Baker has set the bar even higher for both herself and those that follow.

Graffiti Moon

Older Readers

Cath Crowley (author)

PanMacmillan, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9780330425780 14+

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: differences, gifted, identity, relationships

Lucy has just finished Yr12 and she and her two best friends are celebrating by spending all night wandering the city streets. What Lucy wants most of all is to meet Shadow and Poet, two graffiti artists who've been brightening the dingy walls of ramshackle train sheds and the bleak grey of the concrete jungle.

The Heart of the Forest

Beginner Readers

Barry Jonsberg (author)

Craig Phillips (illus)

Scholastic, Australia: 50pp

ISBN: 9781862918139

Genres: adventure, realistic fiction

Keely hates the monthly bushwalks her parents insist they take in the Blue Mountains. They're supposed to be stress-free and peaceful - which is pretty hard when her parents are arguing and her twin brother, Aaron is always tagging along behind. Keely decides to take an alternate route and surprise her parents when she gets ahead of them. But she falls and loses her way.

The Sky Is Everywhere

Older Readers

Jandy Nelson (author)

Walker Books, UK: 2010; 360pp

ISBN: 9781406326307 15+

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: family, friendship, grief, identity, loss, relationships

Lennie Walker: poet, clarinetist, quiet child of an eccentric family, is unquestioning of her life. Then her beloved sister dies suddenly during a rehearsal. She was nineteen. How can Lennie come to terms with her new reality? Her mother abandoned the girls to their grandmother's care when they were very young and now Lennie feels she's been abandoned again.

The Word Spy

Younger Readers

Ursula Dubosarsky (author)

Thoby Riddle (illus)

Random House, Australia: 2008; 240pp

ISBN: 9780670072279

Genres: English, non-fiction, factual, information text

English is a funny (as in strange) language. Very few people would deny that. It's a mish-mash of cast-off bits of other languages with a number of inventions of our own. There are rules - but most of them have exceptions.

Dream Land

Younger Readers

Lily Hyde (author)

Walker Books, UK: 2008; 278pp

ISBN: 9781406307658

Genres: historical fiction, realistic fiction

Issues: cultural differences, identity, racism, war

All her young life, Safi has heard her parents and grandparents tell her tales of home - home being the Crimea. The Crimean Tatars were deported from their homeland by the Russians in 1944. The time now is 1992 and Safi and her family leave their comfortable house in Uzbekistan to rejoin her father, who went ahead to try and reclaim his father's home.