Our Australian Girl - new series

Here's a fabulous new series for younger readers from some of our favourite Autralian children's authors. In thenew Our Australian Girl series you'll meet Grace, Letty, Poppy and Rose and you'll experience life in early Australia from transportation to the freee settlers in a developing colony, the Gold Rush and Federation.

Here at the Younger Sun we're a bit in love with history and when it comes with plucky young girls at the helm we can't go past it.

Perfect for 6 or 7 + and would be ideal in the classroom.


Meet Grace, Sofie Laguna and Lucia Masciullo
It's 1808...

and Grace is living with her uncle in London. They have no money, and Grace is always lonely and often hungry. The best part of her day is going to Fleet Street to talk to the horses that she loves so much. One afternoon Grace can't resist taking a shiny red apple from a grocer's cart - and then another... Before she knows it, Grace is being chased through the streets! Will she be caught and sent to prison - or worse?

Meet Grace and join her adventure in the first of four exciting stories about a convict girl who is given a second chance.

Look out for the second book A Friend for Grace in May 2011!




Meet Letty, Lucia Masciullo and Alison Lloyd

It's 1841...

and Letty is on the docks in England, farewelling her bossy older sister who is about to take a long sea voyage to Australia. But then there is a mix-up,and before she knows it Letty finds herself on the ship too, travelling to New South Wales! How will Letty manage when her sister doesn't even want her on the ship? And what will it be like on the other side of the world?

Meet Letty and join her adventure in the first of four exciting stories about a free settler girl and her new life in a far-off land.

Look out for the second book Letty and the Stranger's Lace in May 2011.

Meet Poppy, Gabrielle Wang

It's 1864...

and Poppy lives at bird Creek Mission near Echuca. Poppy hates the Mission, especially now that her brother, Gus, has run away to pan for gold. What is Poppy escaped, too? Would she survive alone in the bush? And would she ever find Gus, whom she loves more than anything in the world?

Meet Poppy and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a Gold Rush girl who dream of a better life.

Look out for the second book Poppy at Summerhill in May 2011!




Meet Rose, Sherryl Clark and Lucia Masciullo

It's 1900...

and Rose lives with her family in a big house in Melbourne. She wants to play cricket, climb trees and be an adventurer! But Rose's mother has other ideas. Then Rose's favourite young aunt comes to town, and everything changes. Will Rose's mother let Aunt Alice stay? And will Rose ever get to do the things she loves?

Meet Rose and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a Federation girl who's determined to do things her way!

Look out for the second book Rose on Wheels in May 2011!

All published by Penguin and the first books in the series are in stock at the Younger Sun now!

Pop-Ups!

Pop-Up: A Paper Engineering Masterclass, Ruth Wickings and Frances Castle (Walker Books)

If you are a fan of intricate and amazing pop-ups like the Robert Sabuda Alice in Wonderland or Encylopedia Mythologica and want to make a pop-up book yourself, then here is your chance!

Pop-Up: A Paper Engineering Masterclass teaches you how to make the right bends and folds to create impressive pop-up masterpieces. There are four pre-prepared projects to practice on before you're ready to start from scratch.

Here is one we prepared earlier, Doctor Frankenstein's lab:



It wasn't too difficult to put together (although we made some little mistakes) but as long as you follow the clear instruction sheet you shouldn't have any trouble and it shouldn't take very long. A great solo or family activity!

Picture This!

13 Words, Lemony Snicket and Maira Kalman (Harper Collins)

A wonderful new book from the delightful Lemony Snicket (author of The Series of Unfortunate Events and Younger Sun favourite The Composer is Dead) with beautiful, somewhat surreal illustrations by Maira Kalman. Mr Snicket plays with weird and wonderful words that sound odd but feel very interesting in your mouth. A bird is feeling despondent, there's cake, a haberdashery run by a baby, a goat who drives a convertible. It's a riot of words and colour from beginning to end.

The Runaway Hug, Nick Bland and Freya Blackwood (Scholastic)

Honestly, what could go wrong? Take the words of Nick Bland - author and illustrator of The Wrong Book, The Very Cranky Bear, When Henry Caught Imaginitis - and the gorgeous pictures of Freya Blackwood - only the illustrator of Amy and Louis, Harry and Hopper and Clancy and Millie and the Very Fine House - and smoosh them together for this superb bedtime story. Lucy's mum gives her the very last hug to borrow before bed and Lucy shares it with Dad, the twins, baby Lily (who makes the hug a bit peanut buttery) and also with Annie - who runs off with the hug! Oh dear! Mark our words - this will be one of the best books of 2011. My personal favourite bit is how gorgeous and chaotic Lucy's home is, and how perfectly home-like.

--Kate--

Andy Warhol Colouring Book

Andy Warhol Colouring Book ($12.95 Prestel)
Andy Warhol was the superstar of Pop Art. He was an American artist who painted pictures of everyday objects: fruit, animals, banknotes, flowers, and comic heroes.

What a great way to get to know art! This colouring book gives you a bit of information about Warhol as well as pages and pages of pictures to complete and colour. What fun!

We also have Salvador Dali, Paul Gauguin and Jan Vermeer colouring books in stock.

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins (Penguin)

Left unceremoniously by her parents in a Paris boarding school, Anna is alone and scared in a country she doesn't know and with people around her speaking a language she doesn't understand. America seems very far away, and these Frenchies seem very different. Luckily Anna is quickly swept up by a friendly group of fellow students - a group that includes the gorgeous, charming and very friendly Etienne St Clair.

Anna and the French Kiss is a romantic and funny story about being independent, foreign cultures, cinema, friendship and love.

For readers 14+

If you're still unconvinced, here's John Green (yes, the Nerdfighter and author of Looking For Alaska John Green) having a little rant about it.

Wendy, by Gus Gordon

Wendy, Gus Gordon (Puffin)

NOW IN PAPERBACK!! ($14.95)

This one was an absolute favourite when it came out in hardback and now we can start recommending it again.

Wendy isn't the same as all the other chickens on the farm. She is a daredevil! She wants to be famous!

All her dreams seem to come true when she meets a Motorcyle Stunt Bear from Monty McFloos Mostly Spectacular Travelling Circus and starts her new, extraordinary job as Wendy the Flying Chicken!

In no time at all Wendy is leaping five double decker buses with a single leap on her motorbike and is famous throughout the land. But Wendy might just be setting herself up for a big fall...

With gorgeous illustrations and the best, most fiesty little chicken as the star you all must take a copy of Wendy home!

Teen Bookclub 2010 : FEBRUARY

SATURDAY 5th FEBRUARY at 2PM

Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati

He tossed her into the air as if she were weightless, and just for a moment she seemed suspended there, defying gravity. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I knew what she was feeling. It was in every movement of every limb.

Here was a power I had never seen before, a kind of haunting loveliness I had never imagined. Seeing it made me long for something, I didn't know what...

Ditty was born to dance, but she was also born Jewish. When her strictly religious parents won't let her take ballet lessons, Ditty starts to dance in secret. But for how long can she keep her two worlds apart? And at what cost?
A dramatic and moving story about a girl who follows her dream, and finds herself questioning everything she believes in.

The author, Robyn Bavati, will be at bookclub(!!) - so bring along all your questions to get answers right from the source!

I LOVE THIS BOOK

Fruitloops and Dipsticks, Ulf Stark (Gecko $14.99)

Things begin to wrong for Simone when her mother decides they are moving house to live with her new boyfriend Ingvar (known to Simone as the hat-idiot).

First they forget the dog and he disappears, and then Grandpa escapes from the nursing home and appears on the doorstep in (thieved) ladies high heeled boots and a hospital gown, snorting happily through the strands of hair in his nostrils.

And then the teacher at Simone's new school leaves the 'e' off her name and turns her into a boy.

And this is only the beginning.

A lovely, perhaps more-than-slightly mad, COMPLETELY enjoyable story. I laughed lots, and then I cried a bit but in the good way.

Highly recommended for 11+. This is one of my favourite books. Possibly ever, but at least for the last year.

--clare--

January YA releases...

Happy New Year!

Here's just a couple of the young adult new releases for January (a taster!):

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, Lauren Kate (Corgi $17.95)

Lauren Kate's irresistible first novel, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, features the most ruthlessly ambitious heroine since Lady Macbeth. Natalie is utterly determined to cement her position at the top of the high school social ladder by becoming prom queen. When it looks like an interfering ex-boyfriend might get in her way, she devises a little prank to humiliate him. But when the prank goes devastatingly wrong, Natalie starts to lose control of her life. Caught in a web of dark secrets, shame and abuse of power, it's not guilt that eventually defeats Natalie. It's fate: the only thing she can't control...

From the author of Fallen and Torment. In stock now.

Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins (Penguin $19.95)

Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris-until she meets Etienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Etienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

A much-acclaimed new release. Will be in store soon...


You against me, Jenny Downham (Daid Fickling $24.95)

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?If If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skilfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for one's family and for one another.

From the author of award-winning Before I Die.