Jellybean
Tessa Duder
HarperCollins NZ
First pub. 1985, this edition: 2010
August 24, 2021
Jellybean aka Geraldine knows that her mother is different from the mums of the other girls at her school. Geraldine’s mother is a musician who sometimes plays in a jazz band and in an orchestra. Jellybean is a shy character but she also has some hidden courage that we see later.
When a stranger comes into their lives, it starts making her think about her dad who has been absent since she was a kid. Jellybean finds out that this stranger is someone from her mother’s past, which makes this stranger even more mysterious to Jellybean. Read more
Shackleton’s Endurance: An Antarctic Survival Story
Joanna Grochowicz
Allen & Unwin
Pub. 2021
August 24, 2021
Just imagine that you are sailing across the Antarctic ocean with snow and hail pelting down on you like needles from the sky. Then you hear a huge crack and suddenly the boat stops moving, you look over the side and the ocean is no more and all that is left is never-ending ice. You have 27 crew members on board and your boat is stuck… how are you going to survive?
Shackleton’s Endurance tells a story of the death-defying odds Ernest Shackleton’s crew had to fight against, during their renowned Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Read more
Spellbound Ponies 1: Magic and Mischief
Stacy Gregg
HarperCollins
Pub. 2021
August 23, 2021
Spellbound Ponies Magic and Mischief is the latest book by Stacy Gregg.
Seven year old Olivia has just moved to a new town. She is not too pleased about the new country side she lives in, however her mood changes when her mum says that she can do horse riding lessons. Olivia is so excited to be able to ride a horse.
It feels like everything is going great in their new house, until it is time for Olivia’s first riding lesson. In Spellbound Ponies 1, we follow Olivia’s journey in the magical and mysterious stables where she meets friends and foes. Read more
Red Edge
Des Hunt
Scholastic
Pub. 2020
August 23, 2021
Red Edge is a story about 12 year old Cassi and her friend Quin. Cassi and her dad Mike recently moved into a repaired house on the edge of Christchurch’s Red Zone. It’s quiet though. Just how Cassi likes it. She loves to run through the empty streets, letting off the tension that builds within her. Next door to Cassi’s new home is a seemingly abandoned house. She becomes suspicious about strange comings and goings at the broken-down house. When Cassi and Quin find a way into the garage, they think they know what is happening. Read more
Canterbury Quake
Desna Wallace
Scholastic
Pub. 2014
August 23, 2021
‘‘I think I am in shock and I’m almost too scared to write in my diary because then it would mean what happened today was true and I don’t want it to be true…’’
Canterbury Quake, a novel by Desna Wallace, is about an 11-year-old girl living in Christchurch during the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
Maddy and her best friend Laura are the main characters. Maddy is very hopeful and talented. I related to her very well because I am very talented at different things like dancing and singing. Read more
Somewhere a cleaner
Various poets
Landing Press
Pub. 2021
23 August, 2021
Laborious jobs create the best artists. While the body is at work scrubbing, vacuuming or wiping, the mind is free to play with words. If nothing else, Somewhere a cleaner could exist solely to prove this point.
Poetry anthologies are often susceptible to thematic clashes. Somewhere a cleaner could’ve fallen victim to this trap. It would’ve been easy for this collection to do so, because the poets themselves held conflicting emotions about the topic. Some hated the work, others loved it – a few identified themselves as cleaners first, people second. Read more
Just Remember
Donna Blaber
Lighthouse Media Group
Pub. 2021
August 16, 2021
The blurb on the back of the book Just Remember by Donna Blaber intrigued me, as it pointed to many different possible storylines: death of a parent, making new friends, magic, and mermaids… where was this story going?
The author quickly gives us the background of main character Em, who is coming to terms with the loss of her father in an accident. With her mother unable to cope, Em is forced to move, to live with her Nana in a quiet town in Northland. Em manages to make new friends, but finds she is also drawn to the Mermaid Pools – a place her dad used to tell her stories about. Read more
Nikau’s Escape
Kate S Richards
Green Room House
Pub. 2020
August 16, 2021
Nikau’s Escape is about a young boy who, since he was a toddler, has always dreamed of seeing his father again. He wants him to be released from prison and turn up at school one day unannounced, and for the two of them to go down to the beach and throw a rugby ball together. But Nikau’s vision of his father is far off from the man Axel really is.
This is the third book in a series by Kate S Richards. Even though each book in the trilogy are able to be read as standalone stories, I found some parts of Nikau’s Escape difficult to understand as it leads back to information in the first two books – Trainsurfer, and Saving Thandi. Read more
The Kiwi Runners’ Family Tree – Volume Two: 2000-2020
Dreydon Sobanja
Inspired Kids Ltd
Pub. 2021
August 11, 2021
With the Olympics coming up, it seemed a perfect time to read about some inspirational runners in Dreydon Sobanja’s latest book, The Kiwi Runners’ Family Tree – Volume Two: 2000-2020. I already have three other books by Dreydon Sobanja on my bookshelf: Jean Dreams of Flying, Bruce Wants to Go Faster, and my favourite, Ed Climbs a Big Hill. These books are great because they tell the stories of some of New Zealand’s most inspiring people in a way that is appealing to younger readers. Read more
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Maryam Master
Pan Macmillan Australia
Pub. 2021
August 03, 2021
Exit Through the Gift Shop is Maryam Master’s first book. It’s about a 12 and a half-year-old girl called Anahita Rosalind Ghorban-Galaszczuk (but you can call her Ana). Published by Pan Macmillan Australia in 2021, we see life through the eyes of Ana, who has been diagnosed with cancer. However cancer won’t stop the incessant bullying from the Queen of Mean, Alyssa Anderson, and Ana must find a way to push through the daily harassment and live her last days to their fullest.
With only one year left to live, give or take a bit, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is limiting the days of Ana’s life, but she still has a lot to do and is not about to let cancer stop her. Read more
