They say nobody does spooky like Holly Black. Oh, boy, were they right. In this middle-grade fantasy by Holly Black, Doll Bones delivers a bittersweet combination of friendship, growing up and the price of story weaving. And a ghost. Zach, Poppy and Alice are best friends, a friendship which feeds on the worlds created in a role-playing saga of pirates, queens and quests. But they … Continue reading Doll Bones

This book was gifted to me by The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Reading Time in exchange for an honest review. There’s an old saying that goes something like this: You can tell a lot about a person from the shoes they’re wearing. From the bestselling author of Tom Gates comes this brand new hilarious stand-alone novel. We meet Ruby and Bear Foot. They are … Continue reading Shoe Wars

This book was gifted to me by The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Reading Time in exchange for an honest review. Eric the snot loves his life of peace and quiet, up there in the nose. Eric is clever, he knows exactly how to stay out of nose-picker’s grips. And since so many snots want to know his tricks, Eric starts a snot school! But … Continue reading The Incredible Runaway Snot

Apparently there’s a Neil Gaiman book for every member of my family. Yay! They’re never too young to start, and though my 6-month-old son prefers chewing Chu’s Day to reading it, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Chu is a panda with, we are told, a very dangerous sneeze. When Chu sneezes, bad things happen. We follow little Chu through his day as he manages to keep … Continue reading Chu’s Day

My daughter, who is unequivocally a fantasy-genre girl, came home from school telling me about a historical fiction book she was reading. It’s a story, she said, about a Jewish boy in a Polish orphanage in WWII.
I bolted to the library. Continue reading Once

By Kelly Gardiner Hold onto your hats, kids of all ages; this one’s double the fun. In her new children’s fiction series, The Fire Watcher Chronicles, Kelly Gardiner introduces us to not just one period of history, but two! For someone who loves historical fiction as much as I do, this was an incredible experience. As a writer, it is a novel to envy and … Continue reading Brimstone (The Fire Watcher Chronicles #1)

Sarah Mlynowski sends sister and brother team Abby and Jonah into the middle of our favourite fairy tales in her Whatever After series. But no damsel spends very long waiting for her knight in shining armour once Abby and Jonah show up. Mlynowski manages to pay homage to the classic fables but still adds a modern twist. Continue reading Whatever After – Fairest Of All

By Glenda Millard. Illustration by Stephen Michael King Reading The Duck and the Darklings is a dramatic venture. There is a yearning, like the moment before cool water enters thirsty lips. Relief, perhaps, and a longing. Something magnificent is about to unfold. “Reading The Duck and the Darklings is a dramatic venture.“ Yes. I do know I’m talking about a picture book. But this is … Continue reading The Duck and the Darklings

“When was the last time you really read it?“ If you’re anything like me, you have a favourite of the Harry Potter series. This is mine. My copy of The Prisoner of Azkaban has been so well read that every page is dog-eared. We take Harry Potter for granted; I’m guilty of it too. We know how much fun it would be to go to … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban