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Children's and YA book reviews and interviews

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Feature review

47 Degrees
Justin D’Ath, Puffin, January 2019, reviewed by Lian Hingee

Interview

A right royal romance: Emma Grey on ‘Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess’

When the wind changes: Justin D'Ath on ‘47 Degrees’

Picture books

The Day We Built the Bridge
Samantha Tidy, illus by Fiona Burrows, MidnightSun, February 2019, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg

Samantha Tidy and Fiona Burrows take the creation of a national icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and strip it back to a streamlined, succinct story of a need, an idea... Read more

Mallee Sky
Jodi Toering, illus by Tannya Harricks, Walker Books, February 2019, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg

The Australia of Mallee Sky is a familiar one—wide, red-brown, drought-stricken, unforgiving, yet strikingly beautiful—but never a cliche. The book avoids patronising children, instead welcoming them into a mature literary... Read more

Queen Celine
Matt Shanks, Walker Books, February 2019, reviewed by M H Alessandrino

Matt Shanks’ latest picture book introduces us to Celine Beaufort. Celine lives a fairly ordinary life, doing ordinary things, but sometimes she gets to be the queen of a very... Read more

Younger readers

Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja
Kylie Howarth, Walker Books, February 2019, reviewed by Stefen Brazulaitis

Bodhi is a boy who travels the world with his parents (a scientist and a photographer) as they study marine environments, in this case the Galapagos Islands. He would much... Read more

Gorski’s Bitemare
Robert Favretto, illus by Danny Willis, Ford St, February 2019, reviewed by Heath Graham

Gorski Dragonovski lives with his mum and dad and his sister Drusella. Their home is a castle outside of town and they sleep all day, in coffins. Gorski and his... Read more

Melody Trumpet
Gabrielle Tozer, HarperCollins, January 2019, reviewed by Angela Crocombe

Melody’s parents are world-famous musicians (and narcissistic bores) who expect their only daughter to have inherited their incredible talent, but poor Melody can’t play any instruments and sounds like a... Read more

Stella the Unstoppable: The Talent Show Fiasco
Richard Newsome, Affirm, February 2019, reviewed by Hannah Cartmel

Richard Newsome is known for action-packed adventure tales like his Text Prize-winning ‘Billionaire’ series, but his newest series, ‘Stella the Unstoppable’, is a little bit of a departure. Aimed at... Read more

Young adult

Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess
Emma Grey, HarperCollins, January 2019, reviewed by Lorien Kaye

Author Emma Grey declares this gloriously soapy book an ‘unapologetic fairytale’. Grey has fun with classic fairytale elements as well as modern pop culture: indeed, the book features run-ins with... Read more