Meet Alice and Nellie...

There are two new installments in the wonderful Our Australian Girl series! 

Introducing Alice, a talented young dancer from Perth. With the Great War raging on the other side of the world, will her dream of becoming a ballerina ever come true?

Meet Nellie O'Neill, an orphan girl arriving in South Australia from Ireland who just wants to learn to read, find a family to love and leave the troubles of the famine behind. 

Happy New Year!

Here is a happy little story to go with your happy new year...

Once upon a Yesterday, I sold a copy of Gangsta Granny to a bright young customer. 

Today the very same customer appeared in my shop to tell me that he loved it so much that he read ALL of it ALL at once and it was so very funny that he had to come in to let me know. 

It warmed the cockles of my heart. 

The End. 

Ruby who?

Ruby Redfort!

Clarice Bean never used to be much of a reader, but then her granny gave her a book about a girl named Ruby Redfort and Clarice's mum says that is when she turned into a bookworm. 

According to Clarice Bean in Utterly Me, Clarice Bean (Lauren Child, Orchard Books) Ruby Redfort is an amazing girl a bit like a detective who sometimes drives to school in a helicopter. 

So here is a brand new book entirely about Ruby Redfort! 

It is called Look Into My Eyes (Lauren Child, Harper Collins) and it is ace. 

First Ruby's beloved house keeper Mrs Digby goes uncharacteristically AWOL. Then the house is robbed so completely that nothing is left save the telephones and the hardwood floors (even the dust is gone). And Ruby has been receiving irritating phone calls that may in fact be clues...

With her best friend Clancy Crew and the slightly annoying but seriously suave new butler Hitch by her side, newly recruited Ruby has to prove to Spectrum, super secret agency, that they have in fact hired the right girl for the job. 

Ruby is a banana milk drinking, code and wise cracking school girl turned secret agent that fans of Clarice Bean, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden or pretty much any kind of mystery story with cool gadgetry and plenty of adventure will love. 

Complete with creepy villains, a toaster that imprints messages from HQ onto toast to be read before devouring and some seriously big sunglasses, this is not to be missed. 

One Dog and His Boy

One Dog and His Boy, Eva Ibbotson, Scholastic

Hal lives in a nice big house with his very rich parents. He has all the latest toys and his mother proudly tells her equally rich friends that he has ‘everything a boy could want’. But she is wrong, because all Hal really wants is a dog. Luckily for Albina, Hal’s mess detesting mother, Easy Pets offers the loan of pedigree dogs for an hour, a day or a weekend for a large fee.

Convinced that Hal will get sick of a dog after a day or two, his parents allow him to choose a dog from Easy Pets, neglecting to tell him of course that the dog is in fact on loan...

I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I have ever read by Ibbotson (special mention to Which Witch). Her books are a pleasure to read, and this one is no exception.

Crow Country

Kate Constable's latest book Crow Country just arrived in stock on Wednesday and by Thursday evening I had finished it. It is beautiful.

It's the story of Sadie, who has moved to a country town (which was NOT her idea of a good move) with her mum. Her weekend are apparently going to involve watching the local footy team get beaten and her mum forcing her to make friends.

Then when Sadie is exploring the cracked, dried bed of what used to be a lake she happens upon a curious circle of boulders. Drawn to them, she can sense their importance. A crow speaks to her and sets into motion an exciting, frightening time-slip mystery. If she can correct some old wrongs she might just be able to make amends in her present.

The characters are all brilliant, it's beautifully written and has Dreaming stories woven through the narrative. With mystery, love, feuds, family and friendship and a bit of magic Crow Country is a must read for 11+.

The Naked Boy AND 13-Storey Tree House

It's not August, it's Andygust. Ummmm. Andy-fest?

Andy Griffiths has two fantastic new books out this month and both are IN STOCK at the Younger Sun.

there's The Naked Boy and the Crocodile, which is a brilliant collection of short stories written by young Indigenous kids from some remote communities. Even Andy said he couldn't have come up with such hilarious and original tales.

And ahead of our launch party TOMORROW NIGHT, we have hundreds of copies of 13-Story Treehouse written and illustrated by everyone's favourite pair Andy and Terry Denton. Imagine if you lived in a tree house with thirteen floors, with a bowling alley, a huge pool, Tarzan vines to swing on, evil kissing mermaids...

Andy will be at the Sun Theatre (by way of the bookshops) tomorrow night -

TUESDAY 23 AUGUST

at 4.30pm

- so come on down and celebrate his latest book! It's a hoot, trust us. RSVP here or call us on 9689 0661.

The Accidental Princess

The Accidental Princess, Jen Storer & Lucia Masciullo (Viking)

In this gorgeous hardback book Matilda is angry with her big sister so she hides Iris's special coin in the lilac hedge. Soon though, Matilda is sucked into the hedge and identified as royalty! The hedge people, little mouse Binny Trinket, King Arden and the pillywiggins (fairies!) need Princess Matilda's help to defeat the terrible imps who threaten the magic of the hedge.

There are no Rainbow Magic style fairies here. Matilda might have a pretty princess dress and hat but she can also defeat a troll by using her smarts and make her way through dark, dank, muddy tunnels to rescue kidnapped pillywiggins and fight off scary dribbling creatures.

With short chapters perfect for bedtime reading, this is a book not to be missed!

--Kate--

DEPARTMENT 19

WILL HILL’S

DEPARTMENT 19

is an amazing futuristic fantasy novel about a kid called Jamie Carpenter whose dad gets killed (in the prologue). After a while Jamie’s mum gets taken by a vampire named Alexandru Rusmanov who wants Jamie dead because his father (Julian Carpenter) killed his wife (Ilyana) who was the only thing he loved. The plot is Jamie trying to rescue his mum from Alexandru. Jamie joins DEPARTMENT 19 so that he can save his mum.

DEPARTMENT 19 was made to kill Dracula the oldest vampire ever but he turned others, lots of others, into vampires and they turned even more, so there are heaps more vampires in the world.

I really like this book because, well, it’s a really good book - I just can’t explain it. I can’t wait for the next one to come out because DEPARTMENT 19 was the best book I have ever read.

--Ned Pearson, nearly 10

CON-NERD

At the Younger Sun, we love Oliver Phommavanh. His first book:

...was hilarious and fabulous. Lengy's parents own the local Thai restaurant but Lengy just wants to eat normal food. But when he starts year seven all his new mates think it's really cool that Lengy's Thai.

And now! Introducing:

IT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR NERDS, ONE GIANT LEAP TO BEING COOL.

Mama tells me I'm gifted and talented. But I know the truth. I'm just a nerd.

Kids call me Con-nerd - half Connor and all nerd.

I'm supposed to become a doctor but i have this deep, dark secret: I want to be a cartoonist.

And all of a sudden my mega-cool comics are getting noticed at school - I might even get into a special art class . That would sure impress this girl I'm keen on . . . and it might just be my chance to show the world my true destiny.

But I'm not sure Mama will see it quite that way . . .

Surface Tension

Surface Tension, Meg McKinlay (Walker)

The day that I was born, they drowned my town.

The town of Old Lower Grange was flooded to become a catchment on the day that Cassie was born. The town's Mayor pulled a lever, let the water in, and now all their houses are at the bottom of a lake and they all live in New Lower Grange in new houses that look just like the old ones.

Cassie is twelve now and she has to swim laps of the pool every day to help her lungs, which didn't develop properly on account of being born too early. One day, sick of swimming in the town pool (after a particularly disgusting "seven-bandaid swim") she goes down to the lake, to a spot that no one goes to - so she can swim in peace.

Liam, about the same age as Cassie and with a past that also distances him a little from people in their town, joins her at the lake and the two of them form a fast friendship and act as sounding boards for one another's theories when strange truths start to appear from the murky depths.

For the water level is dropping - revealing dead trees, forgotten objects and one humdinger of a mystery. Cassie is smart, she questions things, she has insight and listens to what isn't said - more so than any adult within these pages.

This is an eerie tale, a real page-turner and a wonderful read for anyone about ten and up.

First Light - Rebecca Stead

First Light, Rebecca Stead (Text Publishing)

What was actually Rebecca Stead's first book, First Light has arrived to our Australian shores as the follow-up to her Newbery Medal-winning stunner When You Reach Me.

First Light is a dual-narrative novel for readers around 10 and up that explores environmentalism and politics through a cracking adventure - and slightly sci-fi/fantasy-ish - set in Greenland.

Peter has gone to Greenland with his parents, who are studying climate change. He begins to spend time with the sled dogs, exploring his new icy home. Having suffered from headaches in the past year or so, Peter also begins to have strange visions...

Thea lives at Gracehope, an underground city her ancestors built after they fled England, a people persecuted for 'gifts' and 'talents' they possessed. Gracehope is a model of sustainability, but its ruler is less than receptive to any questions or suggestions that young Thea puts forward.

Of course, these two curious, intelligent characters are destined to meet and it's when Thea and her cousin find a passage to the surface that the plot changes gear and pitches forward at an exciting pace. The themes are accessible and the language perfect. Highly recommended. 10+

The Friendship Matchmaker by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The Friendship Matchmaker, Randa Abdel-Fattah (Scholastic)

The first middle-grade fiction from the popular YA author. It is the story of Lara Zany, an eleven-year-old grade fiver who is the Friendship Maker of her school. Following the strict rule book she devised, her goal is to help students make and keep friends. Never deviating from her rules, Lara herself has no friends as she feels that would compromise her role at school. Then Emily Wong arrives and turns the rule book upside down.

A book about friendship, bullying, fitting in, and expressing one’s true nature.

A lovely fun read for 9+ girls.

A little bit like the fantastic Hating Alison Ashley (Robin Klein)

--Sarina--

Angel Creek, Sally Rippin

Our very own Clare wrote a lovely review, published in Magpies magazine, of Sally Rippin's latest novel Angel Creek.

The days stretch out long and hot and restless, Year Seven lurks in a vaguely intimidating manner on the horizon, and the summer holidays just aren’t the same when you are ten suburbs away from all your friends and familiar surroundings, with only annoying boy cousins to hang out with. So Jelly spends a lot of her time in the branches of the apricot tree or down by the creek, the only good things about the crumbly old weatherboard that is the new house.

On Christmas Eve though, Jelly, Gino and Pik find a broken angel in the creek, and everything changes. This is lovely, just lovely. The characters are instantly likeable and perfectly formed, making it impossible not to care about scruffy little Pik, with his chewed nails and determination to keep up, or Nonna, with her velvety cheeks and wrinkled hands, fierce hugs and attitude. Jelly herself is easy to relate to, because while she is a down to earth, resourceful kid, she isn’t perfect. The tiny, clever details the angel is given makes it just as real as the other, human, characters, and very likeable, with the lack of the traditional, simpering angel stereotypes making this screechy, snarly, demanding (grape peeling) otherworldly creature a force to be reckoned with.

I think this would appeal to fans of Martine Murray’s The Slightly True Story of Ceder B Hartley, as the flavours are reminiscent, but still wholly original, and the story bounces tangibly out of the page. Absolutely delightful, I loved it.

We all loved Angel Creek. Congratulations, Sally! And congratulations to Clare for such a wonderful review.

Fairytale detectives? YES!

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

If you want to read a book that’s funny, really really cool and full of action-packed adventures I would recommend this.

The Sisters Grimm is an amazing book about two girls who catch up on their local ancestry and find out that they’re related to the famous brothers Grimm. When their parents disappear, and a red handprint is found on the car that they were driving in, they get moved to a place called Fairy Port landing to live with there grandmother and her mysterious butler Mr. Canis.

Soon they realise that all the stories that the brothers Grimm wrote are based on actual fact. Then they discover that this little town is home to every fairytale creature that was ever written like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and pretty much everything else. But some of the fairytales aren’t actually true, some of them are mixed and twisted and EVIL!

So it is up to the sisters to whip them back into shape and stop them from destroying the town and getting out of the secret barrier that seals them off from the rest of the world. So if you want to embark on this amazing adventure that involves cracking open this book and laughing and maybe a little bit of crying as well as being on the edge of your seat or bed or anything this is the book for you.

The Sisters Grimm books in the series:

1. The Fairytale Detectives
2. The Unusual Suspects
3. The Problem Child
4. Once upon a crime
5. Magic and Other Misdemeanours
6. Tales Of the Hood
7. The Ever after war
8. The inside story
9. Coming soon...

Review written by: Harrison John Clark
Age: 11

Pigeons in the Post

Pigeon Letters is an in-school letter writing exchange linking school students with Australian authors. Run over two school terms, the project facilitates a creative collaboration between the author and student, resulting in a piece of writing such as a short story, poem or comic. The final pieces are published in a professionally printed and bound book.

The Younger Sun is very pleased to be selling this marvellous book. There are 21 fantastic short stories

The authors involved this year are Kirsty Murray, Sally Rippin, Meredith Costain, Michael Pryor, Paul Collins, Gabrielle Wang, Andrew McDonald, Jen Storer, Michael Hyde, Martine Murray, Jackie Kerin, Robert Greenberg, Claire Saxby, Tony Wilson, Bernard Caleo, Mirranda Burton, Alison Lloyd, Jen Breach, George Ivanoff, Stephanie Brotchie and Sherryl Clark. Wow!

Not to mention 21 fantastic emerging authors from Footscray City Primary School. Yeah!

Visit the Pigeons website here.

You're in the museum now and anything can happen!

Museum of Thieves 1: The Keepers, Lian Tanner (Allen&Unwin)

Blurb: In the city of Jewel, impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime and Goldie Roth is both impatient and bold. When she escapes the clutches of the Blessed Guardians to find haven at the Museum of Dunt, an unforgettable adventure begins that will unlock hidden mysteries, dark secrets and awaken dangerous enemies. The thrilling first book in The Keepers trilogy.

What we think: Well, to be honest I am only a chapter in. But already - totally gripped. The children of Jewel are attached, by chains around their wrists, to their parents when at home or the Blessed Guardians at all other hours - apparently to protect them from the dangers of the world. Goldie is instantly a likeable character - gutsy and curious - and I know I'm going to love her.

Now please excuse me so I can get back to reading...

--Kate--