Above all though, this is a book about courage, and Phoebe’s courage is present throughout the book, in her refusal to allow injustice, and her instinctual responses to danger and discord. Once again, Justin D’Ath has created an inspiring and engaging book that young readers will enjoy and parents will welcome (a combination that doesn’t always happen in sync!).
Author:
A review of At the Beach With Bucket and Spade by J.R. Poulter
Author of the award-winning Mending Lucille, Poulter has constructed a pacy tale with an uplifting twist at the end—a story that young children will have no trouble relating to. Told in rhyme, which, of course, kids love, this is a story that at its heart is about family, highlighting such concepts as co-operation and cause and effect.
A review of Brain Cuttings by Carl Zimmer
Zimmer conducts us through a world that possesses many of the qualities of fantasy. For example, we keep track of time, more or less through the medium spiny neurons eavesdropping on the cortex. This could easily be the subject of a ballet by Merce Cunningham and John Cage.
A review of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow
If Hawking and Mlodinow are proved to be utterly wrong within the next decade, then I’m sure that, being the consummate scientists that they are, they will thrill to the answer and accede to those that will have used their theories to step up to the next level. In the meantime, I’m all for cracking the champers and toasting the multiverse. There’s so much more to love.
A review of Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Winter Garden is a novel with many layers. Hannah uses a fanciful fairy tale as the link between a mother and her daughters—this is the key that will unlock the secrets that have been hiding in Nina and Meredith’s mother’s past for decades.
A review of Being Light by Helen Smith
Without a doubt, Smith is a master storyteller. A novel with this jig-saw structure couldn’t possibly work without skill. To make such absurdities as fly-away castles and alien abductions so utterly believable is a testament to Smith’s talent. In less experienced hands this story would have been a farce.
A review of Pirate: The Barking Kookabura by Adrian Plitzco
The Australian bush is vividly described as the team goes on their little quest, taking the reader through swimming holes, caves and Eucalyptus forests. Children will love little Pirate best of all, conjuring up the little barking bird in their imaginations – which makes a nice change from the video screens and televisions that tend to take over the modern household.
Interview with Mayra Calvani
The author of How To Turn Your Book Club Into a Spectacular Event talks about her latest book, about book clubs and their benefits, about why writing for middle-grade readers is so much fun, her darker talents, and lots more.
The Abundance of Your House: Spoon’s Transference
Spoon has become one of the most engaging and significant bands of its era; and Spoon’s Transference, a very good album, is one informed by loneliness—and makes loneliness less damning, more understandable, the beginning of a true relationship.
Modern Mythologies: Galactic’s Ya-Ka-May
Daily life as a celebration is the atmosphere the musicians wanted to capture; and they have done that in Ya-Ka-May—National Public Radio’s music critic Ken Tucker called Ya-Ka-May an extremely thoughtful party album. It is the spirit of New Orleans, the spirit that keeps its residents joyful despite difficulties, loyal in the face of other options, and full of memory as they walk the streets of faraway towns.