Thursday, March 28, 2013

Music and Magic

Looking for something to read this Easter? You could try one of these amazing novels.

From Jon Skovron (author of Misfit), we have Struts & Frets.



It's a story about Sam. He loves music, is trying to understand girls and wants to keep his family together. Sam's dream is to win the upcoming battle of the bands and turn his best friend into his girlfriend (without any weirdness).

First he must deal with a few issues; his Grandfather, the lead singer's temper, his hormones, and those catastrophes you can never plan for and that always seem to hit at the worst possible times.

Struts & Frets is a great book - it's very funny and well written. You might spot the the chapter titles are all names of songs. It's a great story about music, friendship and having the courage to live your dreams. (It's also very cheap, only $7.95!)


Secondly, we have The Zigzag Effect from Australian author Lili Wilkinson. (You might know her books Love-shy and A Pocketful of Eyes).



Sage has just moved with her family from Queensland to Melbourne.So that she can pay for a summer photography course, she gets a holiday job working for The Great Armand - an excellent but ageing magician. At the theatre she meets the beautiful assistant Bianca, and the very cute stagehand, Herb. 

One evening Sage, Herb and Bianca are staying late at the theatre and a wand gets broken on stage. Bianca sees this as a bad omen and is convinced that they have brought a curse upon themselves. Things start to happen, and when someone goes missing Sage must figure out who she can trust, who is keeping secrets and what is misdirection and trickery...

The Zigzag Effect is a fantastic holiday read. Plus it's set in Melbourne which is always a bonus. Sage is an awesome character, and you get to learn a bit about stage magic along the way. 


Sunday, March 3, 2013

Brilliant New YA - Life in Outer Space


Are you looking for something fun? Cute? Easy to read? Then Life in Outer Space is for you!



This story is about Sam, a nerd whose life revolves around Star Wars, horror movies, and World of Warcraft. He has a small but loyal group of friends and until Princess Leia turns up he's not interested in girls. That is until he meets Camilla. With her cute English accent and her op-shop dresses, she's definitely different from the girls at his school. For a start, she's determined to be Sam's friend, even when he tries to ignore her. Sam thought all the movies he'd watched had taught him everything he needed to know. Maybe he was wrong....

A wonderful debut from Melbourne author Melissa Keil. With great characters and hilarious dialogue, this is a novel to be enjoyed by both boys and girls. Think John Green, but no tissue box required. You won't want to put it down! We love it and think you will too. 

This is the first novel from The Ampersand Project (a division of Hardie Grant Egmont) which publishes the best manuscripts from first-time young adult authors.