The Magic Hat by Mem Fox

True to Mem Fox style, quirky and with repeated rhymes designed to get your child to read, this picture book is the full package. It is a funny, dynamic read-aloud book which both entertains and allows for prediction from page to page. The illustrations by Tricia Tusa brings to life both the magic and the unpredictable nature of the marauding hat which flies into town out of the blue. It adorns a toad, a baboon, a kangaroo, a bear and then suddenly its wizardly owner appears...This book is now part of my grandson Archie's collection.

My Haunted House by Angie Sage

This is an enchantingly beautifully, but straight forward, little hard back that is aesthetically pleasing to hold and which focuses on Araminta Spook, affectionately known as Minty who lives with her Aunt Tabby. The ink drawings are certainly a winning point in the book. Her aunt  Tabby is definitely not right in the head and spends a large part of the novel  yelling at and complaining about the boiler in the basement of the humungus, gothic house which they share with Sir Horace, a somewhat boring, but secretive,old suit of armour. Araminta's uncle Drac, who is also somewhat dysfunctional, sleeps upside down in a sleeping bag suspended from the ceiling along with some random bats. We don't hear a great deal from him I might add.  Why is Araminta there? Well, it seems that her parents have strangely disappeared whilst hunting for vampires in Transylvania. Her aunt desperately wants to sell the house and to a find a  more comfortable and less sooty abode. This is a very quirky story which has some simplistic elements of a Tim Burton production. Araminta  is reminiscent of Wednesday Adams and spends the majority of her spare time searching for ghosts and laying traps for unsuspecting visitors who come to inspect the house. Araminta attempts to sabotage the house sale and much to her delight, discovers a strange key which leads the reader on through the rest of the plot to the balconie!. This is a basic and reasonably satisfying read but not much decoding is required. Truthfully, it was  the illustrations by Jimmy Pickering which kept me turning the pages.

Stopwatch by Sally Morgan Ambelin, Blaze & Ezekiel Kwaymullina

A stopwatch has sixty thin black lines, each one marking off the seconds in a minute. However Tom's stopwatch is special and each line is a gateway to a different world. There are therefore sixty worlds in all which he can explore. In this book Bilby misses his friend Mother Bird, so the stopwatch takes Tom and Bilby to the Land of Leevan to cheer him up. Soon, the two discover a kind family of Beeres and Tom joins them on their quest to find an adventure. But when they stumble onto another human visitor, the joyful land is in danger. Could it be the evil Illian and can Tom save Leevan in time?

The Incredible Steam-Driven Adventures of Riverboat Bill by Cliff Green

This book is by famous author, Cliff Green, who wrote the big seller, Picnic at Hanging Rock. It has a large cast of characters, is set primarily of the Murray River and moves quickly through from one adventure to another. Riverboat Bill has lost his ferry, is destitute and, has just been unceremoniously thrown off another riverboat called The Sentinel skippered by the ruthless Barnacle Blowall. A young lad, Dave, rescues him from the river and together they restore an old steamer called  the Mystery. The steamer comes with its very own bunyip who turns out to be a fire-making bunyip who is quickly exploited to power the boat.  Harry, an Australian-Chinese cook leaves his miserably job in a cafe  to join the crew along with Fred Clinker an engine driver who is  desperate to escape his domineering wife. All is progressing reasonably smoothly, apart from them having an illegal bunyip on board, when a bush ranger, Black Ben commandeers the steamer to use for his own dastardly deeds and gain. I must admit I had to push my through this book as it was just a bit convoluted and ridiculous and is not really my cup of tea. However, it does have an interesting ending and some children may well enjoy this riverside rigmarole.

Graffiti by Dirk Strasser

This small novel is set in Melbourne, Australia and is all about Steven, who comes to the city by train to see his orthodontist. New to the streets of Melbourne, he becomes disorientated and finds himself encircled by a gang of youths who are quick to see that he is lost. Steven then finds himself enmeshed in some kind of fantasy world, wherein graffiti artists have been abducted into a strange world which exists on the other side of the walls around the city. They can  only be rescued by reaching in through their individual tags which embellish the walls and which only disorientated people have the ability to see. Author, Dirk Strasser has written many novels for teenage students and is well-known for his fantasy novels  Zenith and Equinox which have been published in both Australia and Germany.

The Witches and the Singing Mice by Jenny Nimmo

Glenmagraw has three new residents. Three witches have renovated the once tumbled down building on the hill, it's now a solid brick structure with only a peephole for a window. It turns out that they are particularly evil, especially when they don't get their own way and, it's not long before the tradesmen of the village are in real trouble. Tam and Rory, two cats, watch horrified as the witches put the blacksmith's daughter and the carpenter's son into a deep sleep. When the weaver's baby is threatened with a similar fate, the cats decide it is time to act and to track down the singing mice whom the witches are using for their own evil purposes. This book, which retells an old Celtic tale, is complemented with illustrator Barrett's eerie paintings wherein the witches are never more than elusive shadowing images, which makes them more intriguing and sinister. The illustrations of the townspeople, on the other hand, are filled with warmth and light. Visit author, Jenny Nimmo's website to find out more about her life and her other books:

http://www.jennynimmo.me.uk/books02.html

Thalia the Failure by Robin Klein

Thalia Birtles isn't really interested in being a witch but her dominating mother sends her to Aquila's Academy anyway promising the school a planetarium when Thalia graduates. Despite all her best endeavours, Thalia can only sweep with a broom, fails at cauldron cookery, and can only see her own reflection in a crystal ball. To make matters even worse, the other students comprised of gremlins, hemlocks, genies and Count Dracula 11 despise her wealth and ridicule her efforts, and the Madame Aquila, head of the academy, isn't exactly encouraging. Hectate, the teenage witch is particularly nasty and relentless in her bullying of Thalia. Thalia just want to go to a normal school and be with normal human beings. This book is a quick little read and the text is accompanied by full page ink drawings which bring the characters to life.

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage by Odo Hirsch

I had not heard of author Odo Hirsch until I picked up this tongue-in-cheek quest tale, and I was pleasantly surprised given it's somewhat ho hum cover. His writing style is reminiscent of Roald Dahl and bit like David Walliams. Odo is an Australian born doctor who has worked for Amnesty International and many of his novels have been short-listed for the Children Book Council of Australia Awards. This novel is about a snooty queen who owns seven countries and who is far too busy to leave her home country to visit the others. She constantly receives gifts from the people in these countries but becomes exasperated when the tasty melidrop fruit cannot be delivered before it goes rotten and starts obsessing about it, causing everyone in her kingdom great misery. You see there is no modern fast forms of transport and the tree or its seeds will not grow in her country. Thus the challenge for Bartlett, the famous explorer, is to transport this fruit to The Queen before it turns to mush. Boys may need encouragement to persevere through the first three chapters which focus on The Queen, in order to enjoy the sea adventure of Bartlett, which in fact makes up the majority of the novel.

The soft pencil illustrations by Andrew McLean help bring the characters to life and depict life in the royal court and at sea.

Selby Screama by Duncan Ball

This is the third book in the Selby series and Selby is still trying to keep his secret about his ability to talk. But, in this book he needs to scream out as he flees the Beast as Bogusville or when he finds himself face to face with an Egyptian mummy. The Trifles now have photos that could prove he is no ordinary canine. Are Selby's days of freedom numbered? Read the book to find out. As with the two preceding books in this series, the book is made up of short chapters each containing an amusing Selby moment and all are beautifully illustrated by Allan Stomann. Below is a link to Duncan Ball's website. It is a very extensive one and lots of fun.

http://www.duncanball.com.au/

Selby's Secret by Duncan Ball

This book used to belong to my son, Travis. My daughter Nicola also enjoyed the Selby series and I have a tape of her reading aloud from one of the books which I must find some time. Selby's secret is that he just happens to be the only talking dog in Australia and maybe even the world. The book is made up of a series of adventures that he has so you can just read one or two stories in a quiet reading period or settle down to read them all in one sitting when you have more time. They are quite entertaining and not a super challenging read if you are looking for something light.

The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide

I read this book in my first year of teaching at Edith Creek; it was part of a reading kit. It could be read in one silent reading session. Treehorn, the main character, discovers he is shrinking and how very inconvenient that proves to be. When he tries to tell people in his life of his predicament he just keeps getting inane and unrelated comments back. "Heaven knows I have tried to be a good mother,"sniffs his mum. "We don't shrink in this class," says his teacher. This humorous story will delight any child who has felt ignored by grown-ups. It is an easy read with quirky illustrations done by Edward Gorey which set the stage for Treehorn's helplessness and dratically dimishing stature. Treehorn eventually finds his own solution.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

This novel comes next after Over Sea, Under Stone, which is also in the Little Library of Rescued Books. This series will get you in once you start reading it...and there is the film which can watch. I have The Seeker: the Dark is Rising DVD for any student who wishes to watch it. You can have a sneak preview by watching the trailer below. In this book the main character is eleven year old Will who is the seventh son of the seventh son, and he learns that he is an Old One whose destiny is to struggle for The Light(the good) against The Dark(evil). It contains elements of realistic fiction as well as fantasy. If you liked Harry Potter series, or books by the author C.S. Lewis, then I imagine you will enjoy this series too.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindren

This book is a classic and is popular across the world. Eight-year-old Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) is somewhat eccentric, knows her rights and has superhuman strength. For example, she can lift a horse without any trouble, and that's only with one hand! She isn’t always respectful of her elders and frequently mocks them, especially those adults who are condescending, unkind or just plain stupid. You know when she’s angry as she turns white around the nose. She never wants to grow up, in many ways she is like Peter Pan. This book has been made into many a movie and television series. You may wonder why the lip-synchronization is so bad in the clip below, it’s because it has been dubbed in English. As always, the original language, Swedish, is the best. There are three full length Pippi Longstocking books.

Radical Take Offs by Glyn Parry

Radical Take Offs is a versatile collection of short stories whose range of storylines will absorb young adults. Some great use of idioms in this book and its structured prose catches adolescent bravado and the usual anxieties teens pretend they don’t have. This is author Glyn Parry’s second book and it won The Western Australia’s Premier’s Award. Glyn has his own blogspot and it’s an interesting read:

http://www.glynparry.blogspot.com/

Witch Music and Other Stories by Gillian Rubinstein

Again, if you like the pleasure of reading a story in a sitting this may be a book you would enjoy. It contains eight short stories which mainly deal with social situations. They are like magical realism in many respects; very typical of this author. My favourite magical realism author is Isabel Allende, a Chilean writer, who has written three books for children in recent years.These stories from Rubinstein are in fact magical stories set in ordinary settings such as primary school, at the beach and at home. Each story is prefaced by a detailed ink depiction of the story by artist Malcolm Liddell. My favourite story is The Unproper Father about Mr Williams who drank, never became violent, but was a bit hazy. Once he came to your house it was hard to make him leave. One scene is reminiscent of the times when I used to put my ear to the rails of the tracks of the very narrow train bridge which ran over the Leven Bridge in Ulverstone on the north-west coast of Tasmania, to check for the possibility of a train before scurrying across it with athletic-speed. Hopefully kids don't do dumb things like this these days. Many incidents in this story remind me of my childhood. so maybe that it why it appealed to me.

Captain Cobwebb and the Red Transistor by Gordon Boshell

I was really intrigued by this little book I purchased for a mere 20 cents. It's in great condition. I set about trying to find out about the author, Gordon Boshell. Gosh, how elusive is this author! Almost nothing exists about him on the internet. This is the only book by him I have ever come across and I have just started reading it. So what have I found out so far about the author? From what I can gather, there are ten books in this series. This book gets four or five stars in reviews, but nobody writes about it. It’s not cheap to buy anymore around $30 a copy. But since I have contacted this books it’s probably worth a drop in the ocean. The Million Pound Randsom is worth a hell of a lot more. Gordon Boshell was a journalist for more than 40 years. He also worked as a scriptwriter and a feature editor for the BBC. He wrote two adult novels. In 1951 he left Fleet Street to join The World Health Organisation as an information officer, whatever that is. He worked in South East Asia and the Western Pacific, as well as in the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, returned to Britain in 1967 and he and his wife live in Wells, Somerset, where he wrote the stories about David and Toby Green, which were his first books for children. He illustrated his own books with cute little ink drawing of the characters. More on this once I have read the book

The Long Patrol (A Tale of Redwall) by Brian Jacques

Author Brian Jacques sadly passed away in February this year but he has left a wealth a wonderful literature behind. I think this is the best of the Redwall books. In this story Tammo, a young hare, runs away from home only to find himself in the Long Patrol, a group of hares who fight evil. Damug Warfang , an evil rat is endeavouring to take over a peaceful woodland region known as Mossflower. Damug and his thousand vermin attack the Long Patrol. There are many battles in the book and good doesn’t always win out! The characters are developed well and the book abounds with descriptive narrative. Some of the books in the Redwall series were made into a television series. Here is episode 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02w6Uz-yhBM

And... look at his website to find out more about him and his other books:http://www.redwallabbey.com/

The Games Board Map by Stephen Elboz

This is quite a bizarre book, so beware. It is not straightforward. Hebe receives a snakes and ladders board game from Grandma Behan, but it turns out to be more like a map of the world. This novel is a fast-moving mixture of humour, crazy puns, and weird happenings. Hebe has to share the games board with all kinds of creatures: the bishop from the chess game who complains about 'those confounded draughts', various pawns (or prawns?), and probably snakes too - after all, there are ladders. What Hebe really wants to do is to get home, eventually. But it's not as easy as all that.

Silas and the Winterbottoms by Stephen M. Giles

Hey, here is a brand new addition to our little library. Silas and the Winterbottoms is a gothic tale of intrigue, adventure and humour, complete with evil relatives, orphans, crocodiles, secret schemes and great escapes. If you enjoyed the Lemony Snicket series, chances are that you will enjoy this one, the first in a series. Click on the link below to check out the website about the book:

http://www.stephenmgiles.com/silas.php

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

The Bad Beginning is the first of thirteen novels in North American author Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was released in paperback (this one) under the name The Bad Beginning; or, Orphans! The novel tells the story of three children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, who are orphaned by an fire lit by an arsonist and sent to live and sent to live with their distant and conniving cousin Count Olaf. I have the DVD which is probably best viewed after reading all the books in the series. Click on the link below to see a trailer of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWB1HGnA3tA