Australia & Oceania Books

Down and Out Down Under (Geronimo Stilton, No. 29)

Geronimo Stilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Another great Geronimo Stilton book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book series is really entertaining. I would highly recommend to children of all ages.

Highly recommend Geronimo Stilton books but not this one! 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My kids LOVE the Geronimo Stilton series, and eagerly await each new one. They are highly entertaining, amusing, and the pictures accompanying the text are priceless. The books have inspired my 7-year-old son to read because he enjoys them so much. The stories in the other books are generally very creative and original. Sadly, this is one of the few books in the series that does not live up to the others. There was no adventure in the book, just Geronimo going on a sight-seeing tour of Australia. Very, very disappointing. There were quite a few pages filled with facts about Australia, which had no appeal to either of my kids and were written in encyclopedia fashion. Skip this book and choose one of the others instead -- most of the others definitely rate 5 stars!

Editorial Review:

G'day, mate! I was searching for ideas for my new book, and my friend Petunia Pretty Paws knew just where to find them -- in Australia. Holey cheese, it sounded like a fabumouse adventure! But between surfing with sharks, being chased by poisonous snakes, and getting lost in the outback, I was beginning to wonder if this trip down under was really a good idea. Kangaroos and koalas and crocs -- oh, my! Would I ever see New Mouse City again?

Tomorrow, When the War Began (The Tomorrow Series #1)

John Marsden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 157 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I look forward to teaching this 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed this book and plan to buy the rest of the series. It has a good mix of adventure and romance so it will appeal to most of my high school students. The characters have distinct personalities and all of them show strengths in the story which could be a great jumping off point for a discussion on how we are all different and how our differences make society function better. Aside from thoughts about teaching, I simply couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know what happened next.

Editorial Review:

When Ellie and her friends go camping, they have no idea they're leaving their old lives behind forever. Despite a less-than-tragic food shortage and a secret crush or two, everything goes as planned. But a week later, they return home to find their houses empty and their pets starving. Something has gone wrong--horribly wrong. Before long, they realize the country has been invaded, and the entire town has been captured--including their families and all their friends. Ellie and the other survivors face an impossible decision: They can flee for the mountains or surrender. Or they can fight.

The Whale Rider

Witi Ihimaera

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent coming of age story 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent coming of age story for a young girl, or boy! Readers will find delightful lore and learn something of New Zealand. The movie wasn't a disappointment, though I'm glad I read the book first.
Chrissy K. McVay
author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

Editorial Review:

Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild--and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, it is Kahu who saves the tribe when she reveals that she has the whale rider's ancient gift of communicating with whales.
Now available in simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions.
Feature film in theaters in June 2003!

Tomorrow #2: The Dead Of Night (Tomorrow)

John Marsden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

absolutely fantastic 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I loved this series when I was younger and I love it now that I'm an adult. I re-read the entire series probably once a year. It is absolutely fantastic writing - Marsden deals with issues realistically and completely and somehow manages to make this scenario seem entirely real.

Every book in this series is on my favorite books list. If you are an avid reader, you MUST read this series.

The Fight Continues: Tomorrow #2 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is great for readers that are interested in action and tons of excitment. Elie and her friends are some of the only people not captured in the small town they live in. The war has become very fierce and deadly which makes it har for them. They try to fight back when ever they can so that the enemies are weakened a little bit.

Elie and her friends are now familar with what they do and what they need to do so they don't hesitate any more; they just move into action. They make big advancements in this book which caught me off guard because I didn't know it could happen.

This is so far one of my favorite series because I like the action and thriller it has just like I think it has in the Alex Rider series. I would consider this a great follow up book to the first one because it starts off with what it ends with in the previous book. I like that because it reminds you of what happened last. The characters all have thier special prons and cons which makes the book more realistic. There is one major twist that suprised me deeply. I never thought of it happening which made the book take a different turn. The characters also change and take different roles which is fun and exciting because you get to learn more and have new things happen. The author does this in a way so that they change by doing different actions, leaderships, and bravery.

This is just the second book of the series so don't forget to check out the rest of the books!

Editorial Review:

A few months after the first fighter jets landed in their own backyard, Ellie and her five terrified but defiant friends struggle to survive amid a baffling conflict. Their families are unreachable; the mountains are now their home. When two of them fall behind enemy lines, Ellie knows what must happen next: a rescue mission. Homer, the strongest and most unpredictable among them, is the one to take charge. While others have their doubts about his abilities, Homer has no choice but to prove them wrong - or risk losing everything to the enemy.

Does My Head Look Big In This?

Randa Abdel-Fattah

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Interesting and Relevant View of a Muslim Teen's Life 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book offers a timely look at the life of a Muslim teen struggling to live her life according to her religion while she is surrounded by prejudice and ignorance. Luckily, the author peppers the book with humor, so it never gets too depressing or heavy-handed.

While I thought this book was cute and a very good effort by a first-time novelist, there were a couple issues. The dialogue wasn't always as realistic as it could have been, and some characters seemed created solely to give the author an opportunity to present the reader with another issue facing Muslims. While the latter could occassionally cause the book to come across as a tad preachy, overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone interested in a different perspective on current affairs. I think this author's future novels will be even better, and I look forward to seeing more from her.

Editorial Review:

Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.

Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.

One Whole and Perfect Day

Judith Clarke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Ending too pat 3 out of 5 stars.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.

One Whole and Perfect Day is a pleasant story about a wish that Lily has that her dysfunctional family have "one whole and perfect day." Her grandmother is planning a party hoping to reconcile her grandmother and her brother. Her brother has a new Chinese girlfriend that no one has met. Her mother has promised not to bring home any more elderly people for the weekend, yet is tempted to break her promise. This story's main flaw is the happy ending that is too perfect and too coincidental to be real.

Editorial Review:

Sometimes Lily wishes she weren't so sensible. If she were less reliable, then perhaps she'd have more fun. As it is, her hardworking but flaky mom and her dreamy older brother count on her to run the house. She wishes things could be different, but how can she change her responsible ways? Perhaps, she thinks, she should fall in love!

Meanwhile, her scheming grandmother is planning a family party and, as is typical, Lily worries. Her fears are not entirely unfounded. Her grandfather has recently disowned her brother, and her brother has a new girlfriend who might not fit in. Her mother will probably bring the loony Mrs. Nightingale from the adult day care center where she works. And these are only the predictable complications. Lily is beginning to understand how easily unimaginable things can happen, too.

Back to the question of love, what is this new feeling Lily experiences when Daniel Steadman is near? Could it be the cure?

Are We There Yet?

Alison Lester

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

the varied landscape of Australia for children 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

A trip by a family with three children around Australia takes in wildlife, seacoasts, natural formations, and deserts, different inhabitants, tourist spots, and other points of interest. Most of these are pictured three or four per page. The youngest child, Billy, misses the family pets, and keeps asking when they are going to get home. The family is glad to be eventually home after the lengthy trip; but everyone appreciates what they have seen and learned about the large, diverse continent of Australia. For ages 4-8.

There is a world out there... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a fantastic book for fostering a child's interest in the world outside their own community. It doesn't matter that the topic is a trip around Australia - it could just as easily be any part of the world. The point is that this is a family of five that goes out and has an adventure together. In doing this, they are spending time together and discovering more about the country they live in.

There is a lot of information about Australia in the story, taken from a kids-eye-level which engages preschoolers to primary age children.

Young Billy's chant 'Are we there yet' is not a yearning for home, rather it's every child's boredom with the seemingly endless driving on a 10,000km+ road trip around a continent. All children can identify with this!

This book is definitely a favourite in our house!

Editorial Review:

Join Grace and her family as they hit the road camping, experiencing, and meeting all the people and places that make up Australia.

The Kitnapped Creature (Jack Russell: Dog Detective) (Jack Russell: Dog Detective)

Darrel and Sally Odgers

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Editorial Review:

Someone is imprisoned in a horrible cage! Jack is trying to get caught by Ranger Johnny Wolf! What is Foxie up to? And just who is sharing Jack's basket these days? Things are mixed-up in Doggeroo.

Everything was fine until Sarge got sick. Now Auntie Tidge is looking after Jack, but Foxie is being disagreeable (again). When will Sarge be back?

In no time, Jack has both a case and a moral dilemma or two. Is it right to leave his most dangerous enemy trussed up in a cage? And, who will mind the pup Preacher while he's off detecting?

Where the Forest Meets the Sea

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply stunning 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Jeannie Baker is a collage artist, and has created a beautiful book from a huge array of natural materials. The photographic illustrations of the collages have enormous texture.

An Honour Book in the Australian Children's Picture Book of the Year awards. It conveys a message of the need to care for the natural environment, and warns against the over-development of wilderness areas. Raises important issues in the most exquisite way.

Well-loved by children, and deserving of a place in every school, public and home library.

A beautiful depiction of an exquisite wilderness, the Daintree Rainforest of far north Queensland.

Also recommended for older children and adults who enjoy and appreciate innovative illustration and the art of children's books.

Editorial Review:

My father says there has been a forest here for over a hundred million years," Jeannie Baker's young protagonist tells us, and we follow him on a visit to this tropical rain forest in North Queensland, Australia.

We walk with him among the ancient trees as he pretends it is a time long ago, when extinct and rare animals lived in the forest and aboriginal children played there. But for how much longer will the forest still be there, he wonders?

Jeannie Baker's lifelike collage illustrations take the reader on an extraordinary visual journey to an exotic, primeval wilderness, which like so many others is now being threatened by civilization.

The Ghost's Child

Sonya Hartnett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Hauntingly lovely 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the most poignant tales of love and loss I've ever read. Full of sad regret and a mysterious, impenetrable mystique, it is a book I expect to reread many times.

An old woman, Maddy, tells the tale of her life to a young boy -- an unexpected visitor who shows up at her door. What she weaves for him is a beautiful, touching tale of a life full many beautiful experiences that shaped her. Her heart is lost early in her life to a windswept ocean waif, but their imperfect love casts a shadow on her entire life. There are bits of the fantastic -- though we almost wonder if they are only allegorical, metaphor -- and the bits are marked by a stunning, cold realism.

I honestly cannot do justice to this book in review. I have read few books more touching, and even fewer better written. An astoundingly beautiful tale that I am honored to have had the pleasure of reading.

Editorial Review:

This enchanting fable of a young woman and a wild boy is a haunting
meditation on the nature of love and loss.

Maddy, an old lady now, arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic and mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell painfully in love with a free spirit named Feather, who put aside his wild ways to live with her in a little cottage, conceived with her a child never to be born, and disappeared — leaving an inconsolable Maddy to follow after him on a fantastical journey across the sea. In a beautifully crafted tale, currently shortlisted for a 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Sonya Hartnett masterfully explores the mysteries of the heart, the sustaining power of memory, and the ultimate consolation that comes to souls who live fully and fearlessly.