September Reviews

30 new reviews have been added to the site so far this month. You can read them by clicking on the links.

Children's Book Review: April, by Gabrielle Lord Reviewed by Sally Murphy

The next instalment in the Conspiracy 365 series.

Book Review: Blue Skies, by Fleur McDonald Reviewed by Sally Murphy

A tale of love, loss and renewal.

Children's Book Review: A Ute Picnic, by Lorraine Marwood Reviewed by Sally Murphy

An outstanding poetry collection.

Picture Book Review: Look See, Look at Me, by Leonie Norrington Reviewed by Sally Murphy

A celebration of childhood and community life.

Children's Book Review: Get a Grip, Cooper Jones, by Sue Whiting Reviewed by Sally Murphy

What do you do when life's spinning out of control?

Children's Book Review: Where There's Smoke, by John Heffernan Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Stay to fight. Fight to stay.

Non Fiction Book Review: The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, by Chris Coulthard-Clark Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Invaluable reference for students of Australian history

Nonfiction Book Review: Australian Classics, by Jane Gleeson-White Reviewed by Sally Murphy

50 great writers and their celebrated works.

YA Book Review: Moment of Truth, by Michael Pryor Reviewed by Sally Murphy

The fifth title in the Laws of Magic series.

Picture Book Review: Peeking Ducks, by Krista Bell & Sally Rippin Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Curious ducklings.

Children's Book Review: Bindi Wildlife Adventures - Trouble at the Zoo, by Chris Kunz Reviewed by Claire Saxby

It’s Bindi’s birthday.

Children's Book Review: The Littlest Witch, by Martine Allars Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Birthday surprises.

Children's Book Review: Hanging Out, by Catherine Bateson Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Ben's cousin is coming.

Children's Book Review: Barnesy, by Allayne Webster Reviewed by Claire Saxby

A 'Mates' story.

Book Review: Thrill City, by Leigh Redhead Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Simone Kirsch is back.

YA Book Review: The Innocents, by Nette Hilton Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Small town secrets.

YA Book Review: Guardian of the Dead, by Karen Healey Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Beyond the myth and the mists.

Children's Book Review: Alice Miranda on Holiday, by Jacqueline Harvey Reviewed by Claire Saxby

It's holiday time!

Children's Book Review: Tikki the Tricky Pixie, by Tiffany Mandrake Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Tikki wants to be bad.

Picture Book Review: There's a Goat in My Coat, by Rosemary Milne Reviewed by Claire Saxby

A poetry collection.

Children's Book Review: Sucked Out, by John Parker Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Eyeball on the loose!

Children's Book Review: Diary of a Soccer Star, by Shamini Flint Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Soccer is easy, right?

Children's Book Review: Our Australia Alice Springs, by Phil Kettle Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Touring around.

Children's Book Review:The Dragon's Lie by Kym & Oliver Lardner Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Friendship and freedom.

YA Book Review: Flyaway, by Lucy Christopher Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Saving the swan changes everything.

Picture Book Review: Tatiara, by Jo Oliver Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Healing comes.

YA Book Review: India Dark, by Kirsty Murray Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Based on a true story.

YA Book Review: Water, by Geoff Havel Reviewed by Sally Murphy

Secrets always float to the surface.

Book Review: Eric, by Shaun Tan Reviewed by Sally Murphy

A little treasure.

YA Book Review: Happy as Larry, by Scot Gardner Reviewed by Sally Murphy

An extraordinary tale of an ordinary family.

Today I added 13 new reviews to Aussiereviews. You can read them by clicking on the links below:

Picture Book Review: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, by Sue Whiting
YA Book Review: Dougy, Gracey and Angela, by James Moloney
Children's Book Review: Out of the Blue, by Michael Panckridge and Pam Harvey
Children's Book Review: Dinosaur Knights, by Michael Gerard Bauer
Children's Book Review: The Little One, by Kaitie Afrika Litchfield

Children's Book Review: The Floods - Better Homes and Gardens
Children's Book Review: Bad News for Milk Bay, by Moya Simons
Children's Book Review: The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble, by L. M. Moriarty
YA Book Review: Exchanging Lives, by Kathy Buchanan
Children's Book Review: Freak Street on Holiday, by Knive and Packer
Book Review: Deep Water, by Peter Corris
Children's Book Review: The Gimlet Eye, by James Roy

Children's Book Review: Star Jumps, by Lorraine Marwood

Author Interview: Sue Whiting

Recently, I reviewed the children’s book Freaky on the Aussiereviews site. Today, I am delighted to have the author of Freaky, Sue Whiting, drop in for an interview.

Welcome Sue.

Where did the idea for the story come from?

I was sitting in the staffroom at the school I used to teach at, when the school secretary came in with an email she received from a friend. The email told how a “friend of the friend” had bought a rare cactus from Mexico and planted it in his garden. Everything was fine until the day the cactus exploded and revealed huge spiders nesting inside it. Being arachnophobic, I was horrified – aghast! When I discovered the story was a hoax, an urban myth, I felt rather foolish – I had been totally sucked in by it – but I also had a rather delicious idea for a new story …

I’m not best fond of spiders, and recently had a scary encounter with a huntsman. Do you have a spider story of your own you can share?

I’m not particularly fond of spiders either – so it is kind of weird that I have written about gigantic tarantulas. I have many spider stories to tell, including the one where I totally freaked out when a spider walked across my windscreen when driving on the freeway. Screaming your lungs out and taking your hands off the wheel to wave them wildly around like a loon is not recommended when cruising at 110kph. Luckily my husband took control of the steering wheel and that is probably why I am here today to tell the story. I also have the huntsman down the front of my blouse story and the huntsman sitting on my head one and …

The Lightning Strikes series is a great format, especially for reluctant readers. Can you explain the series for those readers who might not have come across it yet?

Lightning Strikes is a series of high-interest, fast-paced short novels for kids 9+ who haven’t yet been struck by the reading bug. They are fun, quirky stories that reflect the interests and concerns of Australian pre-teens. They have great cover effects, so they look really cool too. They are published by Walker Books Australia. To date, there are twelve books in the series, with more planned for the future.

Was Freaky written especially for the series? If so, was it difficult to write a story specifically for a series?

I actually wrote Freaky several years ago and adapted it to the series brief. This wasn’t too difficult as it was already the right word length and pitched to the Lightning Strikes readership. I merely polished it up, added some informal text types (posters, signs, notes, internet articles) and ramped up the action and humour.

What advice can you give other writers about writing or shaping stories for existing series?

· Read as many books as possible already in that particular series to get a feel for the types of stories that work and to also know what has already been covered.
· Follow the guidelines / brief as closely as possible, taking care to keep to suggested word length and to pitch to the intended age group.

If you want to know more about Sue Whiting, you can visit her at her website, or her new blog. You can read my review of Freaky here or buy the book online at Fishpond.

Thanks for visiting, Sue.

Six New Reviews

Have added six new reviews to Aussiereviews tonight:

YA Book Review: The Kings of Clonmel, by John Flanagan

Children's Book Review: Freaky, by Sue Whiting

Shadow Queen, by Deborah Kalin
Nonfiction Book Review: Allergy Safe Family Food, by Suzanna Paxton

YA Book Review: A Small free Kiss in the Dark, by Glenda Millard
Picture Book Review: The Cloudchasers, by Steven Hunt & David Richardson

Enjoy.