Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve After reading the promotion to the publication of this book, I supposed that Harry had to be a very exceptional dog. Jill Baker, the author and devoted owner of Harry, suffered within a year, the death of her beloved husband, George, and a diagnosis and subsequent treatment for breast cancer. For
Reviewed by Gerard Healy The very talented illustrator and author Graeme Base has given us another agreeable tale, this time featuring three long-eared, white-furred, unassuming heroes. The story, when read to younger preschool children, should appeal because of its gentle charm, familiar settings and quirky characters. The vocabulary used (e.g. racquets, usual, disappeared and
Reviewed by Rod McLary This rather quirky title gives a good idea of what is within the book. It is a re-imagining of the well-known film Grease but with a LGBT twist. Ollie, when on holidays with his family at a lake in North Carolina, meets and falls in love with Will. Ollie and Will
Reviewed by Gerard Healy This is a charming picture book for younger readers (from 3 years) from the well-credentialed writer Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley. The book’s concept is credited to Ben Smith Whatley, Bruce’s son. Jackie French’s long interest and concern for wombats, going back at least to ‘Diary of a Wombat’ (2002),
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Professor Henry Reynolds has described Cassandra Pybus’s Truganini as “a book of unquestionable national importance.” I could not agree more. It is a compelling book for Australians, for its stance on the human rights that aborigines would have expected, but were denied as a consequence of the blatant self-aggrandisement of George
Reviewed by Angela Marie “I have in my time sailed around Britain, canoed across Africa and crossed both America and Europe not once but several times. Yet the 7.71-mile route of London’s Number 12 bus stands equal to all those journeys. I cannot think of a trip with greater diversity or a more wonderful sense
Reviewed by Ian Lipke In 1941 the Allies are in a desperate situation. They require a new type of offensive weapon to level at their Nazi opponents. They need a way to demonstrate that Hitler was not the clean, fine character that his propaganda portrays. Posing as a wealthy industrialist, Tom Wilde enters Germany to
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The title gives pause. Spinster is a word that may appear in novels of past centuries, but is rarely used today. It carries an aura of sadness and loneliness, even failure. Failure to be married, to bear children. Sections of this book are deeply affecting and do convey powerful feelings of
Reviewed by Rod McLary Return Ticket is the third book in a ‘loose trilogy’ entitled One Boy’s Journey to Man and tells the final part of the story of Jack Muir. The earlier books Boy on a Wire and To the Highlands respectively relate Jack’s experiences at an exclusive private boys’ school in Perth, and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Pandora English – the protagonist of this novel – is a living human being. The word ‘living’ is used advisedly as the area of New York in which Pandora lives is populated by the living, the dead and the undead. She lives in Spektor – an area of Manhattan where the
The Australian Publishers Association presents the longlist for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). The longlist introduces the titles, publishers and authors in the running for the 2020 ABIAs. Two of the lists appear below. For all the lists, please go to abiawards.com.au/news A number of these books have been reviewed by our reviewers.