Monster School by DC Green

Monster School by DC Green

 

Publisher: Ford Street

Publication Date: October 2013

ISBN: 9781925000078

Pages: 291

 Format: paperback

Price: AUD $18.95

Category: Fantasy

Age Guide: 10 +

 

Blurb:

‘Beware! You are entering The City of Monsters.

All tourists will be eaten. Have a nice day!’

 

PT, the swamp boy, is terrified. During his first class at Monster School, mafia goblins threaten to murder him. He is saved ... by the meanest monsters in school –

·         A vampire with attitude

·         A socially challenged zombie

·         A giant spider called Bruce!

Now PT is really sweating. If the Dead Gang learns his secret, he’ll spin on a kebab stick before recess, imagine what will happen if the dragon finds out!

 

Review:

Monsterrific!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Monster School. It was well written and I also loved the illustration at the beginning of every chapter. The illustrations help bring the book alive and also will encourage young readers to keep reading.

 

It’s defiantly a book worth reading. Boys will enjoy reading all about PT and his Monster friends.

DC Green really has written a marvellous book to encourage young people to read. I may be well over 10 years old but I did really enjoy it and it would have been something I would have enjoyed reading when I was younger.

 

There should be more books written to encourage boys to read.

 

 Being about Monster’s it’s aimed at boys, but I do think girls who are into vampires will be interested in this book too.

 

5/5

 

About the Author

DC Green:

Surf journalist DC Green has won multiple big awards, had thousands of articles published in over forty countries and roamed the world’s greatest surf spots with the likes of eleven-times world champion Kelly Slater. Children’s author DC Green has won two very small awards, had five children’s novels published in one country and Kelly Slater no longer returns his calls, DC doesn’t mind. he loves motivating even the most reluctant of readers and writers. His school shows, that have toured every Australian state, have been acclaimed as ‘bizarre. Egotistical, enthralling, funny, and not to be missed’, while DC’s humorous fantasy Erasmus James series has been hailed ‘the finest written in the history of English literature about mutants chooks and ninja horses’.

 

Also by DC Green:

·         Erasmus James and the Galactic Zapp Machine

·         Erasmus James, King of Kid’s Paradise

·         Erasmus James and the Grat Siege

·         Three Little Surfer Pigs

·         Stinky Squad

The Maximus Black Files – The Only Game in the Galaxy by Paul Collins

The Maximus Black Files – The Only Game in the Galaxy by Paul Collins

 

Publisher: Ford Street

Publication Date: September 2013

ISBN: 9781925000061

Pages: 333

 Format: paperback

Price: AUD $19.95

Category: Science Fiction (space opera)

Age Guide: 12 +

 

Blurb:

In a galaxy of cutthroat companies, shadowy clans and a million agendas, spy agency RIM barely wields enough control to keep order.

Maximus Black is RIM’s star cadet. But he has a problem. One of RIM’s best agents, Anneke Longshadow, knows there’s a mole in the organisation.

And Maximus has a lot to hide...

 

Review:

 

An epic finish to a fantastic trilogy!!

 

Such a thrilling read! Paul has written an exceptional trilogy, and I never imaged so much could happen to both Anneke and Maximus in such a short time.

 

I highly recommend The Maximus Black Files to any Science Fiction Fan. All school libraries should have many copies for their students to read.

 

The Maximus Black Files is by far the most advanced Science Fiction read you’ll find. It’s set way into the future. Travelling through the universe is much more advanced than what you see on any episode of Stargate SG1.

 

It was very exciting to learn more about Maximus Black in this book. More of his history was revealed in The Only Game in the Galaxy than the previous two books.

 

5/5

 

About the Author

Paul Collins:

Together with Michael Pryor, Paul is the co-editor of the highly successful fantasay series. The Quentaris Chronicles: he has also contributed seven titles to the series as an author. Paul’s other work’s include The Jelindel Chronicles, The Earthborn Wars Trilogy and The World of Grrym trilogy written in collaboration with Danny Willis.

Paul has been the recipient if several awards, notably the inaugural Peter McNamara, the A Bertram Chandler, the Aurealis, and the William Stheling. He has been short-listed for many others inclcuding the Speech Pathology Australia and Ditmar awards.

Paul has worked as a pub bouncer, served time in the commandos, has a black belt in both tae kwon do and ju jitsu, was a kick boxer, and trained with the Los Angeles Hell Drivers.

 

Visit him at www.paulcollins.com.au or www.quentaris.com

 

 

Also by Paul Collins:

• Cyberskin
• Dragonlinks
• Dragonsight
• Wardradon
• The Wizard’s Torment
• Swords of Quentaris
• Slaves of Quentairs
• Princess of Shadows
• The Forgotten Prince
• Vampires of Quentaris
• The Spell of Undoing
• The Earthborn
• The Skyborn
• The Hiveborn
• Allira’s Gift (with Danny Willis)
• Lords of Quibbitt (with Danny Willis)
• Morgassas’ Folly (with Danny Willis)
• Trust Me! (editor)

 

The Maximus Black Files – Mole Hunt by Paul Collins

The Maximus Black Files – Mole Hunt by Paul Collins

 

Publisher:  Ford Street

Publication Date:  2011

ISBN:  9781921665264

Pages: 347

 Format: paperback

Price: AUD $19.95

Category:  Science Fiction

Age Guide:  Young Adults

 

Blurb:

In a galaxy o cutthroat companies, shadowy clans and a million agendas, spy agency RIM barely wields enough control to keep order.

Maximus Black is RIM’s star cadet. But he has a problem. One of RIM’s best agents, Anneke Longshadow, knows there’s a mole in the organisation.

And Maximus has a lot to hide...

Review:

What a great start to an amazing trilogy. Anneke and Maximus are two main characters full of mystery. They are both RIM agents working against one another. They are great characters. I like how bit by bit we learn more about these two great characters.

 

It’s the best science fiction I have read. I love how it’s so far into the future and the technology is advanced. It makes you wonder what type of technology there will be in the future.

 

About the Author

 

Paul Collins:

Paul Collins sold his first professional fantasay story in 1977 to the US magazine ‘Weirdbook’. The best of his short stories have been collected in The Government in Excile (1994). A later collection, Stalking Midnight, was pubplished by cosmos.com.

His first fantasy novel for young readers was The Wizard’s Torment.

Paul also edited the young adult anthology Dream Weavers, Australia’s first heroic fantasy anthology. Fantastic Worlds and Tales from the Wasteland followed.

Together with Michael Pryor, Paul is the co-editor of the highly successful fantasy series, The Quentaris Chronicles; he has also contributed seven titles to the series as an author. Paul’s other works include The Jelindel Chronicles, The Earthborn Wars trilogy and The World of Grrym trilogy written in collaboration with Danny Willis.

Paul has been the recipient of several awards, notably the inaugural Peter McNamara, the Aurealis, and the William Atheling. He has been short-listed for many others, including the Speech Pathology Australia and Ditmar awards.

Paul has worked as a pub bouncer, served time in the commandos, has a black belt in both tae kwon do and ju jitsu, was a kick boxer, and trained with the Los Angeles Hell Drivers.

 

Visit him at www.paulcollins.com.au or www.quentaris.com

 

Also by Paul Collins:

• Cyberskin
• Dragonlinks
• Dragonsight
• Wardradon
• The Wizard’s Torment
• Swords of Quentaris
• Slaves of Quentairs
• Princess of Shadows
• The Forgotten Prince
• Vampires of Quentaris
• The Spell of Undoing
• The Earthborn
• The Skyborn
• The Hiveborn
• Allira’s Gift (with Danny Willis)
• Lords of Quibbitt (with Danny Willis)
• Morgassas’ Folly (with Danny Willis)
• Trust Me! (editor)

 

Review of Welcome Home by Christina Booth

Welcome Home  - Christina Booth

 

 

Publisher: Ford Street          

Publication Date: 1 October 2013 HC, 1 February 2014 PB

ISBN: 9781925000092 PB 9781925000085 HC

Pages: 32 pages

 Format: Portrait Picture book

Price:  AUD $26.95 HC AUD $16.95 PB

Category:  Children’s Fiction

Age Guide: 7 +

 

Blurb:

Welcome Home is the story of a young boy and a whale as she swims into the river harbour seeking safety and a resolution to the violent past relationship between whales and man. This prosaic journey, accompanied  with soft sketchy watercolour images, reveals how the past can impact our future. Can the boy make amends for the past? Can the whale forgive and return to what was once her ancestor’s home?

Whaling is a horrific image to portray in any literature yet this story offers its history and consequences to children and adults in a gentle, safe way. This story does not avoid the facts but ends with hope and reconciliation, using history to show the consequences of our actions and choices.

 

Review:

This is a really good book to teach primary school children of the effects of whaling. The watercolour images portray the story in a way that children can clearly see and understand.

 

I really like the last two pages in the book as it is the history of whaling, describes the whales, how the story came about.

 

This book should be in all schools as it’s a great educator tool to teach children and their families the effects of whaling.

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Christina Booth:

Christina Booth is an award winning Australian children’s author/illustrator. Four of her picture books have gained CBCA’s Notable Children’s Book Awards. Her picture book, Kip, the story of a crowing rooster living in the city, was awarded a CBCA Honour Book in 2010. Tow of Christina’s illustrated books (In The Deep Red Desert, Angie Lionetto-Civa; The Carrum Sailing Club, Claire Saxby), were selected to be read on ABC’s Playschool program in 2012.

 

Also by Christina Booth:

 

·         Potato Music

·         Kip

·         I Wish There Were Dinosaurs

Flora's War by Pamela Rushby

Flora’s War by Pamela Rushby

 

Publisher: Ford Street

Publication Date:  August 2013

ISBN: 9781921665981

Pages: 306 (est)

 Format: B format paperback           

Price: AUD $18.95

Category: Fiction

Age Guide: 11+

 

Blurb:

It’s 1915 and sixteen-year-old Australian, Flora Wentworth, is visiting Cairo with her archaeologist father. She watches with growing alarm as first a trickle and then a flood of wounded soldiers are shipped into the city from Gallipoli.

 

Flora’s comfortable life is turned upside down when a hospital visit thrusts her into the realities of World War 1. She is soon transporting injured soldiers and helping out exhausted nurses – managing to fall in love along the way.

 

As Flora battles to save lives and find her own, a tragic misunderstanding changes everything...

 

Review:

I absolutely loved Flora’s War!!

 

Flora’s War for me is filled with so much detail and history.  Pamela has written a book full of great power. For me reading about how civilian’s helped out in World War 1 was inspiring and I never imagined how much young women actually did during the war.

 

It’s a book aimed at young girls and to teach about how civilians, especially women, helped during the First War.

I highly recommend every grade 10 student should read Flora’s War as it really shows the War in a new way. I believe I would have gained more reading this in grade 10 or even grade 6 when we learnt about World War 1 because there was so much depth in the story.

It shows how before the ANZAC’s first went to battle that there wasn’t much for the nurses to do but then once they did enter into the battle so many young men came back injured, diseased or died from their injuries or the diseases they caught.

 

Pamela you have really made me see the War in a new way and how women young and old did a lot more during the war than I ever first thought.

 

Thank you for such a beautifully written story. I hope one day to share it with my children as to me it’s more than just a story, it tells of something that happened almost 100 years ago.

 

Such a fitting tribute for all the young women such as Flora who did so much during World War 1 in Cairo.

5/5

 

About the Author

Pamela Rushby:

Pamela Rushby lives in Brisbane with her husband, son and six visiting scrub turkeys.

Pam has worked in advertising; as a pre-school teacher; and as a writer and producer of educational television, audio and multinmedia.

She has won several awards, including a Literature Board if the Australia Council grant to work on archaeological excavations in Egypt and Joprdan; a Churchill Fellowship to strudy educational television in Canada; the Ethek Turner Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literacy Awards; and a bag of gold coins at a film festival in Iran.

Her website is www.pamelarushby.com

 

Also by Pamela Rushby:

·         The Horsrs Disn’t Come Home HarperCollins 2012 (short-listed, Queensland Literacy Awards 2012)

·         When the Hipchicks Went to War Hachette 2009 (Notable Book CBCA 2010, winner Ethel Turner Award for young people’s literature, NSW Premier’s Literacy Awards 2010)

·         Millions of Mummies John Wiley & Sons 2006

·         Circles of Stone HarperCollins 2003

Gamers' Rebellion by George Ivanoff

Gamers’ Rebellion by Greg Ivanoff

 

Publisher: Ford Street
Publication Date: June 2013

Pages: 246

 Format: Paperback

Price: AUD $16.95

Age Guide: 11+

 

Blurb:

 

Tark and Zyra finally make it out into the real world... but things are not quite what they expected. When Zyra is captured by the Designers, Tark finds himself among a group of teenage rebels. It seems like everyone has an agenda and Tark and Zyra are to be pawns in other people’s power games. They soon discover the sinister uses to which the game is being put and the shocking way it is all operated – with dozens of kidnapped children wired directly into the mainframe, their brains keeping the whole thing going. Will Tark and Zyra be able to free these children? Will they be able to save the characters within the game from the people who created them? Will they even be able to remain in the real world? Or will the Designers’ plans for world domination win out?

 

Review:

Gamers’ Rebellion is the finale chapter in the  Gamers trilogy.

 

I absolutely enjoyed reading Gamers’ Rebellion by George Ivanoff. It had me hooked from the very beginning.

 

I may not have read Gamers; Quest and Gamers’ Challenge but after finishing Gamers’ Rebellion I defiantly intend on getting a copy of both books and reading. I found Gamers’ Rebellion full of excitement.

 

At times I did get confused about Tark and Zyra as I never fully understood the characters as without reading Gamers’ Quest and Gamers’ Challenge I found i had missed the most important thing of the story of how things began and where they actually came from. I eventually worked out that both Tark and Zyra are not from the real world but that of the world created by the Designers.

 

This book is aimed at young people 11+ and I truely believe all kids who are into the world of gaming would enjoy reading the Gamers’ Trilogy. It really brings the world of gaming into a whole new light.

 

I really loved the way George has written Gamers’ Rebellion. For me it’s a great was to get kids out of the gaming world and into the world of fiction through books.

 

Well done George Ivanoff for writing such a great book!!

 

5/5

 

About the author:

 

Greg Ivanoff

 

Greg Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. He has written over 30 books for children and teenagers, two of which are on the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge booklist. George has also written for numerous magazines and anthologies, including Trust Me! and Dr Who, Short Trips:Defining Patterns. Check out George’s website at http://www.georgeivanoff.com.au/

 

Also by George Ivanoff:

• Gamers’ Quest
• Gamers’ Challenge
• Life, Death and Detention
• Generation Slip
• Cory Jansen: Teen Spy
• House of Cards