Once in a while, a truly great picture book comes along. Maudie and Bear (HB $29.95) by Jan Ormerod is one such book. This beautiful story, composed of five short chapters, makes the perfect bedtime companion. Maudie is cheeky and playful, Bear is her dependable friend, and together they will charm your socks off.
Freya Blackwood’s illustrations, as seen before in the award winning Harry & Hopper (PB $16) and Amy & Louis (PB $16), are absolute perfection.
Filed under Picture books (0-5 years)
With their obvious rapport on show every Sunday night – it was only a matter of time before Masterchef judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan teamed up on a cookbook. Your Place or Mine? (HB $49.95) is the result of their latest culinary collaboration and is full of recipes you can actually cook, even if you’ll never be a masterchef.
If the haloumi and mint ravioli with burnt butter and raisins to start or grilled quail with cannellini beans for middles don’t take your fancy, then make like sweet lover Gary and jump straight to dessert with the chocolate honeycomb or panna cotta with roasted apricots and honey.
The boys have picked 43 of their favourite ingredients, from dried beans and asparagus to honey and figs. There is a recipe for each ingredient from both Gary and George and you will want to cook and devour every single one!
Filed under Uncategorized
A Reliable Wife isn’t a new book, but I’ve only just read it, and it really wasn’t what I expected it to be at all.
It is set in Wisconsin in 1907, and Ralph Truitt is a wealthy, lonely businessman living in the country. He advertises for ‘A Reliable wife’ and Catherine Land answers the ad. But when she arrives on the train, Ralph finds that she is a beautiful woman, and not the homely one whose photo Catherine had sent when she replied to him by mail. He feels duped, and the reasons for her subterfuge take a while to come to the surface, and are quite surprising.
This is quite a sexy book. Catherine had for years indulged in the ‘pleasures of the flesh’ and Ralph himself is a very sensual man. As their tangled histories are revealed Ralph’s reaction to Catherine’s motive is not what I expected.
The whole story is set during a harsh Wisconsin winter, and you really get a feeling of the cold, the stark beauty and the isolation of the house they live in. The writing is very descriptive while not being overburdened with adjectives.
Another bookseller had told me how much she had enjoyed this book, and it took me a while to get to it, but I’m glad I did.
Paperback, $33
Filed under Fiction Reviews, Reviews
These touching stories take their words from the lyrics of three iconic Australian songs about the people who lived on our fair country first. One was written by a white man for a black man, the next is the story of one man’s anger at the injustice he saw right in front of him, and the last is the tale of one of the stolen.
The powerful stories are accompanied by illustrations by children who belong to the same land the the songs do, with the beautiful addition of artwork from Peter Hudson.
All three picture books carry an important message and are introduced with a short history of the song and the people it was written about, as well as a preface by the songwriter themselves.
Solid Rock (Sacred Ground) by Shane Howard, My Island Home by Neil Murray and Took the Children Away by Archie Roach are well worth a look. A percentage of the profits from each book will go to Ian Thorpe’s Fountain of Youth charity. All are paperback $19.95
Filed under Picture books (0-5 years)
Hardback $ 79.95
This is a lovely book of photographs that, although taken recently by New Zealand’s Jane Ussher, take you back in time to the early years of the last century when men, dressed in wool and fur and housed in wooden sheds, endured years in the Antarctic, again and again, to be the ‘furthest south’ and try to be the first to reach the ultimate goal, The South Pole. The huts the men built, in which to survive the worst winter climate on the planet, are preserved by the cold and extensive restoration and preservation work done by the Antarctic Heritage Trust over the years. This book brings them to attention again just as the work of 
Ponting and Hurley did at the time.
It’s amazing to realise that so much is preserved as it was, with much help from the AHT, little changed or deteriorated after nearly 100 yrs!! It’s the Centenary of Scott and Amundsen’s race to the pole next year. Amundsen was first on Dec 14, 1911 but Scott made it too, tragically perishing with some of his companions before getting back to base.
Jane Ussher presents beautiful, emotive photographs of some flimsy ‘civilisation’ in a desolate, dangerous wilderness. The text describes the scenes but also draws on the diaries of the explorers to enhance the sense of history.
A lovely book and a great gift, coming up to Christmas. HB $79.95
Filed under Dads' books, Non-fiction Reviews, Reviews, Xmas Gift Ideas
Author of much loved Australian classics like Magic Beach and more recently the beautiful Running With the Horses, Alison Lester’s latest picture book, Noni the Pony (HB $25) is as cute as ever.
Noni is friendly and funny with a tail the colour of honey. Spending her days dancing and prancing at her home at Waratah Bay, Noni is entirely happy. But when the thunder roars and the wind shakes the trees, Noni and her friends are scared, spooked by monsters in the night. But together, with a story to make them brave and the comfort of a snuggle and a song, Noni and her friends survive to dance and prance another day.
With Lester’s trademark charming illustrations, Noni the Pony is perfect for bedtime stories. Recommended for kids 1 – 4 yrs old.
Filed under Picture books (0-5 years)
This man, Jeremy Clarkson, may be dogmatic and obnoxious, but that’s really all just part of what makes him Absolutely Hilarious. Agreeing with Clarkson isn’t always easy but luckily it’s also not at all necessary if all you’re looking for is a laugh. Sometimes its nice to read something and not analyse it into a million pieces about how he’s wrong/uniformed/drastically over-generalising. How Hard Can It Be? is out now, and a great holiday read to giggle at on a beach/passenger seat/couch.
“If you have the money to spend on a boat and choose instead to spend it on a pension plan, then you have a plebian heart and a beige soul.”
Clearly. Trade paperback, $32.95.
Filed under Dads' books, Non-fiction Reviews, Reviews
To kick off our guest blog series, local young adult fantasy author Michael Pryor (creator of The Laws of Magic series) has some top tips for young fantasy readers. Ask instore to check out any of his recommendations!
Read his guest blog below…
We are living in joyous days for readers of Young Adult Fantasy. Recently, it was pointed out that most books read by Young Adults are Fantasy, which means that instead of being a small sub-section of the book universe, Fantasy is actually now the mainstream!
While this is wonderful for Fantasy readers, with so much being published the challenge is to find the gold, the best of the best. Fortunately, in Australia we a have some remarkable writers who are producing a vast range of dazzling and exciting books for all tastes. Here’s my sampling of some of the most recent gems for teen readers.
Cassandra Golds (www.cassandragolds.com.au) has written a number of gorgeous mystical novels such as The Museum of Mary Child and Clair-de-Lune and she has just released The Three Loves of Persimmon, a haunting and moving fable about life, and love, and talking mice.
Ben Chandler is a new young author who has arrived with a splash. Quillblade is the rollicking tale Lenis and Missy who are enslaved on an airship, but form a bond with the mysterious creatures that power it. With elements of steampunk and anime, Quillblade is a sure fire hit. See http://www.benchandler.com.au for more.
Did someone say Steampunk? I hope no-one has missed out on Richard Harland’s Worldshaker. Packed full of adventure with moving cities, dastardly villains and dark secrets, the sequel Liberator is coming soon! Details on Richard’s website: www.richardharland.net.
Another of our finest writers is Kate Forsyth and her latest book is The Wildkin’s Curse, which is a tale of true love and high adventure, set in a world of magic and monsters, valiant heroes and wicked villains. It tells the story of two boys and a girl who undertake the impossible task of rescuing a wildkin princess imprisoned in a crystal tower. This is a superb book for both girls and boys, 13+. Kate has more information on www.kateforsyth.com.au.
What a talented family Kate belongs to! Her sister, Belinda Murrell has just released The Ruby Talisman, her own fascinating Fantasy novel, a timeslip adventure set in 18th century France, full of fascinating historical detail, with characters that are lovable and memorable. www.belindamurrell.com.au
I’m afraid I’ve only scratched the surface. What about Jen Storer (Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children), Michelle Cooper (The Fitzosbornes In Exile), Catherine Jinks (The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group), Karen Healey (Guardian of the Dead) and Leanne Hall (This is Shyness)? All wonderful, all widely varied, all Australian and all well worth checking out.
We live in wondrous times when we have such riches before us.
Michael Pryor
Filed under Tweens (11-14 years), Young Adult (14+)
If you have been looking at our blog, don’t think we have abandoned children’s books. It’s quite the opposite. We found that we had so much going on with books for young people on this blog, that we decided to start a new one, just for them. The name is:
Fairfieldbooksonkids.wordpress.com
We currently have two competitions going for children, one is about reviewing a favourite book, and the other is creating a monster, which was inspired by local author Zana Fraillon’s terrific series Monstrum House. The books are aimed at the 7 ups, and they are great fun.
Check the blog for details.
As secret spy agent EJ12, Emma Jacks can do anything – save the polar ice caps from melting, defeat evil agency SHADOW and even foil a plot to take down a chocolate cake factory. It’s the normal stuff Emma finds a bit harder. Surely if she can save an entire rainforest, the school swimming carnival shouldn’t be much of a problem….
Feisty and fun, EJ is a great character for junior readers. Her adventures are packed full of exciting spy action but the books also tackle real issues every young girl will identify with.
Out now are Hot and Cold, Jump Start, In the Dark, Rocky Road, Choc Shock, On the Ball and Making Waves (all PB $13). Check out the book trailer below and click on http://www.ej12girlhero.com to find games and loads of other cool stuff! EJ12 is recommended for girls 8 – 11.
Filed under Junior Readers (8-11 years), Uncategorized
