Hi Everyone
In the past week or so we have received a lot of new stock in readiness for Christmas. There are rich pickings for the children and teens in your life.
Ape by Martin Jenkins
with breathtaking illustrations by Vicky White is a mix of fact and fiction detailing the lives of the world's great apes - orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and ... you and me. The conservation message is a strong (almost didactic) one but all is forgiven as the illustrations are a feast.
Tiddler
by Julia Donaldson is a wonderful celebration of the enduring power of story. Tiddler is always late for school but never fails to have a story to explain his tardiness. A number of his classmates dismiss his stories as trivial but John Dory relishes them and shares them with his grandmother who in turn shares them with her friends. When Tiddler is caught in a fishing net his many stories lead him home.
The newly found confidence of young toddlers is captured to perfection in Andrew Daddo's new book
I Do It. Whether it's cooking, driving, changing a tyre, dancing or myriad other activities, our confident young miss has a go. Jonathan Bentley's illustrations reflect the child's delight in her many successes.
A less light hearted title is
The Enemy by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch. Story and illustrations are simple and yet powerful.
Two enemy soldiers concealed in their trenches wage a never ending battle, understanding little of its origins or little of their opponents. Each believes implicitly in the manual which describes the other as a heartless killer and yet each longs for hostilities to end. When the weather changes and the rain threatens, both soldiers leave their holes under cover of darkness and discover some unsettling truths which lead them both to surrender. A timeless story of the senselessness of war, this picture book for older readers is a great stimulus for discussion.
Odo Hirsch is at his best with
Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp. A rare bronze lamp hangs outside Amelia Dee's bedroom door. It intrigues Amelia who longs to know its history and origins. When she meets Princess Parvin Kha Douri the puzzle of the lamp becomes even more perplexing. As Amelia sets out to solve the mystery she encounters many memorable characters.
Another name who seldom disappoints is Emily Rodda.
Her new book
The Key to Rondo will take readers on a thrilling quest to a new kingdom. The story begins with a music box, handed down through generations. Leo is its custodian and he conscientiously follows the rules of ownership. Not so his visiting cousin Mimi however who flaunts the rules and plunges them both into danger. A great fantasy adventure from the creator of Rin and Deltora.
George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking is an entertaining and informative mix of fact and fiction.
When George's pet pig breaks through the neighbour's fence, he meets Annie and her scientist father and discovers a new way of looking at the world...from outer space. This is in essence a gripping adventure story but the inclusion of fascinating facts about the universe and planets plus full colour photos of real images from space takes it to a new plane.
My three suggestions today from the many new arrivals for teenagers are
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin,
Michael Sweeney's Method by Sean Condon and
The Declaration by Gemma Malley.
In
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac we meet Naomi, who wakes up in a hospital bed with no recollection of the immediate events which have brought her there or of the people and events of the last three and a half years of her life. On her return to school she must begin the painstaking task of putting her life back together but it soon becomes clear to her that she may not wish to be united with the past quite as she left it.
Michael Sweeney's Method is Sean Condon's first book for teenagers.
Condon is the author of the adult novel
Film, and of the travel books
Sean and David's Long Drive,
Drive Thru America and
My Dam Life, as well as a collection of his articles,
The Secret of Success is a Secret.
Michael Sweeney and his friend Dud are just two of the many invisible nothings at their expensive school. They come from deep in the suburbs and they're not cool or tough or even that brainy. So they're pretty much left alone, until they make friends with the new American guy. And before lone, Michael Sweeney is somebody. But that's just the beginning of his troubles.
If you had the choice between living forever and never having children, or living for the natural term of your life and having kids, which would you choose? Such are the questions posed by Gemma Malley in
The Declaration which is a gripping, powerful, move-you-to-tears dystopian novel.
The publishers provide this description: Anna Covey is a 'surplus'. She should not have been born. In a society in which aging is no longer feared, and death is no longer an inevitability, children are an abomination. Like all surpluses, Anna is living in Grange Hall and learning how to make amends for the selfish act her parents committed in having her. She is quietly accepting of her fate until one day when a new inmate arrives- a boy, who claims to know her parents. Anna's life is thrown into chaos. Is she brave enough to believe this mysterious boy?
A tense and utterly compelling story.
Happy Reading.
Jane
The very popular Tomorrow When the War Began series by John Marsden has been re jacketed. This series began with Ellie and her friends back in 1993 and seven books and fourteen years later continues to have great appeal with the new jackets offering a fresh look for a new group of fans.
A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove, The House on River Terrace, Crossfire and Touch Me by James Moloney have also been reprinted with new jackets. Each jacket gives only a hint of what is to come. It's great to see James' first book, Crossfire, published in 1992, back on the shelves for a new generation of readers. 
James Gurney has published a new book in the adventures. Journey to Chandara is as breathtaking in its execution as Dinotopia was when introduced to readers in 1992. In this edition we read of the discovery of a new journal and once again embark on an adventure in which science, art and the imagination converge.The illustrations are stunning. This is a must for those fascinated with the world of dinosaurs and the world of "what if".
