One bookclub, two bookclub, red bookclub, blue bookclub

There are changes afoot in the Younger Sun.

From September there will now be TWO bookclubs.

The Teen Bookclub will continue as is, with the group reading fantastic, fast-paced stories aimed at girls and boys aged 9 to 13 and featuring books like The Golden Day, the Percy Jackson series and When You Reach Me.

For the Saturday 3rd September bookclub (meeting at 2pm) we will be reading Northwood by Brian Falkner. It's in stock now, with a 20% discount, as usual. Come on in!




In October we are thinking about reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.




The Young Adult Bookclub is a new offshoot, aimed at slightly older readers who still want to read well-written stories but those that explore themes for older readers aged 14 to 18. Think Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Sarah Dessen, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part time Indian and Generation Dead.


For the inaugural Young Adult Bookclub on Saturday 3rd September (meeting at 3pm) we'll be reading Lili Wilkinson's rom-crime novel A Pocketful of Eyes. In stock now, 20% off.

If you have any questions at all, please send us an email at youngersunbookclub@gmail.com or call Kate on 9689 0661.

Claude is back!

Remember Claude?

Well, look what we got!

Claude on Holiday, Alex T. Smith, Hodder

In this fabulous new adventure Claude and Sir Bobblysock are off to holiday at the beach. Claude makes sure to pack his tambourine and some underpants, a lampshade and some sticky tape.

At the beach the sun is bright and while Claude quite fancies a tan, he makes sure to wear sunscreen as sunburn would make him clash terribly with the wallpaper.

--clare&kate--

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--

Solomon Crocodile

Solomon Crocodile, Catherine Rayner, Macmillan

Solomon wants to play. But everyone else wants to relax in the morning sun.

When Solomon starts leaping and splashing about the frogs

and the dragonflies and the storks and the hippos

get cranky...

Catherine Rayner (creator of the wonderful Ernest, a moose too big for his book)

brings us another great story with illustrations from beyond the valley of the marvellous.

This one even comes with a subtly sparkly cover.

New Jackie French! Nanberry: Black Brother White

Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie French (Harper Collins)

For really, really good Australian young adult (and middle-grade) historical fiction, Jackie French has always been a winner - just look at titles such as Somewhere Around the Corner, The Night they Stormed Eureka, and her recent A Waltz for Matilda. With Nanberry: Black Brother White she delivers an excellent fictionalised account of the First Fleet’s settlement at Sydney Cove, spanning the years 1788 to 1823, and using real historical figures to do so. Nanberry is the young indigenous boy who grew up half-English, half-Aboriginal, adopted by the Chief Surgeon John White when Nanberry’s entire people were killed by an outbreak of smallpox. French gives us such a rich view of the colony and its everyday workings, weaving them into the story effortlessly and without the dreaded information “dump”. She also doesn't gloss over the nasty parts of first fleet colonial life, such as the treatment and plight of Aboriginals, the terrible treatment of women in the colony, the drunkenness and violence of both soldiers and convicts (they are the real ‘savages’ in this story), malnutrition and the ‘tyranny of distance’. All of the characters are well drawn, with distinct voices, and French offers two strong female characters in Rachel and Maria. Nanberry: Black Brother White is a powerful novel; it would fit excellently into the Australian schools curriculum but it will also satisfy any reader from 11 up, including grown-ups.

--Kate--

This review originally appeared in Bookseller+Publisher magazine.

Nobody Owns the Moon

Nobody Owns the Moon, Tohby Riddle (Puffin)

Clive the fox lives in the big city and has managed to make a nice little life for himself in a place where animals generally find it hard to fit in.

Humphrey the donkey is finding it harder, just living day to day, but he has a friend in Clive and one night they happen upon tickets to a play, to the glittering premiere.

For children and adults to peel back the layers, discovering all its meanings, Nobody Owns the Moon is a beautiful, bittersweet story with remarkable and detailed illustrations.

This wonderful book is NOW IN PAPERBACK!

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Philip and Erin Stead, Allen and Unwin

Amos McGee has a routine. He wakes up to his clangy alarm, puts on his uniform, has his tea and oatmeal and hops on the 6 o'clock bus to the City Zoo.

There are plenty of things for Amos to do at the zoo, but he never neglects his friends. There are games of chess to be had with Elephant, races to be run with Tortoise and a quiet sit to be had with shy Penguin.

Until a terrible cold brings about some unexpected happenings.

This is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and my favourite new picture book.

--clare--