Book Review: The Boy From the Mish

Author: Gary LonesboroughPublisher: Allen and Unwin (2021)Genre: Contemporary fiction (for a YA readership)   Image sourceID: A drawing of two boys with dark skin and white paint across their foreheads, nose and cheeks. One has short hair and one has shoulder length dreadlocks “It's a hot summer, and life's going all right for Jackson and…

Book Review: Sensitive

Author: Allayne WebsterPublisher: UQP (2019)Genre: Contemporary fiction (for a middle grade readership) Image sourceID: Close up of a girl's face. She has white skin, green eyes and auburn hair. Her mouth and nose are obscured by a yellow flower. “When thirteen-year-old Samantha moves to a new town, she decides to reinvent herself. She wants to…

Book Review: The Good Daughter

Author: Amra PajalicPublisher: Text (2009)Genre: Coming of age/contemporary fiction, for a YA readership “Is she Sammie or Sabiha? Is she Bosnian or Australian? Muslim or..? And why is her mother so hard to deal with? Sabiha is fifteen, fierce and funny. She can’t think straight about boys. Girls bully her and she fights back. Whose…

Book Review: Eye of a Rook

Author: Josephine TaylorPublisher: Fremantle Press (2021)Genre: Historical fiction “In 1860s London, Arthur sees his wife Emily suddenly struck down by a pain for which she can find no words, forced to endure harmful treatments and reliant on him for guidance. Meanwhile, in contemporary Perth, Alice, a writer, and her older husband, Duncan, find their marriage…

Book Review: Eating With My Mouth Open

Author: Sam van ZwedenPublisher: New South (2021)Genre: Essay/Memoir “Eating With My Mouth Open is food writing like you’ve never seen before: honest, bold and exceptionally tasty. Sam van Zweden’s personal and cultural exploration of food, memory and hunger revels in body positivity, dissects wellness culture and all its flaws and shares the joys of being…

Book Review: Ghost Bird

Author: Lisa FullerPublisher: UQP (2019)Genre: Horror/ Historical (for a YA readership) “Stacey and Laney are twins - mirror images of each other - and yet they’re as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey works hard at school, determined to get out of their small town. Laney skips school and sneaks out of the…

Book Review: Everything I’ve Never Said

Author: Samantha WheelerPublisher: UQP (2018)Genre: Contemporary fiction (for a middle-grade readership) Image sourceImage description: Book cover, blue water of a swimming pool, close up of a young white girl's face as she floats. “Ava wants nothing more than to tell her family she loves them, particularly her big sister, Nic. But Ava has Rett syndrome…

Mini Book Reviews: March 2021

Welcome to the third month of the year! And to another round of mini reviews! Two out of the three books I chose to review this month were written by Australian authors. I enjoyed all three books for different reasons. First up - Impossible Music Author: Sean WilliamsNarrator: David LinskiPublisher: Blackstone Publishing (2019)Genre: Contemporary fiction…

Book Review: As Brave As You

Author: Jason ReynoldsPublisher: Simon & Schuster (2017)Genre: Contemporary fiction (for a middle-grade readership) Image sourceImage description: a light blue cover. At the top, there is an old house with a tree growing in the middle. One boy is facing the house, at the bottom of the page, and another boy is running towards him. “Genie’s…

Book Review: Show Me Where It Hurts

Author: Kylie MaslenPublisher: Text (2020)Genre: Memoir “Kylie Maslen has been living with invisible illnesses for twenty years - more than half her life. Its impact is felt in every aspect of her day to day existence: from work to dating; from her fears for what the future holds to her difficulty getting out of bed…