Spydus Search Results - CBCA Book of The Year Notables - Younger Readers

Always [Paperback] / Morris Gleitzman.

Always stay hopeful. That's my motto. You're probably thinking, He's a dreamer, that Wassim. What's he got to be hopeful about? He's ten years old and look at his life. Thanks, but it's not so bad. I've got a lot to be hopeful about. Specially now there's a person who can help me. A person called Felix Salinger.
Author: Gleitzman, Morris, 1953-
Published: [North Sydney, New South Wales] : Viking, 2021.
Published: ©2021
300 pages ; 22 cm.
Felix and Zelda ; 7.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J GLE - Onloan - Due: 20 May 2024 - 010459316
Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J GLE - Onloan - Due: 14 May 2024 - 010372714

Huda and me [Paperback] / H. Hayek.

Huda's sitting in the airport lounge, fiddling with our tickets. I can tell she's excited because she has a little smile on her face and she keeps glancing at her pink digital watch. I can't believe we're doing this. I can't believe we're running away from home. Well, we're not really running away. We'll come back. We're running to our parents. On the other side of the world. When their parents have to travel to Beirut unexpectedly, twelve-year-old Akeal and his six siblings are horrified to be left behind in Melbourne with the dreaded Aunt Amel as their babysitter. Things do not go well, and Akeal's naughty little sister, Huda, hatches a bold plan to escape. After stealing Aunt Amel's credit card to buy plane tickets to Lebanon, Huda persuades her reluctant favourite brother to come with her. So begins Huda and Akeal's hair-raising and action-packed journey to reunite with their parents half a world away, in a city they've grown up dreaming about but have never seen. A fresh and funny story of sibling love, adventure and courage, Huda and Me is one of a kind.
Author: Hayek, H.
Published: Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2021.
Published: ©2021
193 pages ; 20 cm
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J HAY - Available - 010278597

Fozia and the quest of Prince Zal / Rosanne Hawke ; illustrations by Briony Stewart.

Set in the aftermath of the 2010 floods in Pakistan, this is a sensitive tale of community spirit, kindness and the magic of family. Fozia stiffened when she saw the familiar brick-kiln chimney loom ahead. Black smoke spewed into the sky - so it was working again. What if the owner recognised her? Twelve-year-old Fozia has survived the worst flood in Pakistan's history. But her life will never be the same. With her parents missing, Fozia now lives with Jehan's family in a new village. As she slowly rebuilds her life, she fears everything could fall apart if her secret is uncovered . . . or if the brick-kiln owner finds her. To keep the memories of her family alive in her heart, Fozia tells her friends a fairytale. Prince Zal rides a magic carpet on a quest to find his little sister, battling leopards and dangerous fairies along the way. But can he succeed if the truth behind Fozia's story is revealed?
Author: Hawke, Rosanne
Published: St Lucia, Qld. : UQP, 2021.
Published: ©2021
161 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 3 and 4

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J HAW - Available - 010278603

The detective's guide to ocean travel [Paperback] / Nicki Greenberg.

The first middle-grade novel from award-winning author Nicki Greenberg, this book is a classic whodunnit mystery set aboard a grand ocean liner in the 1920s. With first-class glitz and glamour and a deliciously plotted intrigue featuring an uppity stage star, a missing diamond, a leopard and a loveable cast of child sleuths, The Detective's Guide to Ocean Travel is an exciting romp on the high seas, perfect for fans of Murder Most Unladylike and The Good Thieves.
Author: Greenberg, Nicki
Published: South Melbourne, Boonwurrung Country, VIC : Affirm Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
309 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J GRE - Onloan - Due: 03 May 2024 - 010258841

A glasshouse of stars / Shirley Marr.

Heart-twisting and hopeful, bursting with big feelings and gentle magic. This is a special book from a powerful, compassionate new voice in children's literature, destined to be read and loved for generations and held close in many hearts. Meixing Lim and her family have arrived at the New House in the New Land, inherited from First Uncle who died tragically and unexpectedly while picking oranges in the backyard. Everything is vast and unknown to Meixing and not in a good way, including the house she has dubbed Big Scary. She is embarrassed by the second-hand shoes given to her by the kind neighbours, has trouble understanding the language at school, and with fitting in and making new friends. Her solace is a glasshouse in the garden that inexplicably holds the sun and the moon and all the secrets of her memory and imagination. Her fragile universe is rocked when tragedy strikes and Ma Ma refuses to face the world outside. Meixing finds herself trapped within the shrinking walls of Big Scary. Her parents said this would be a better life for them all, but it feels like the worst and most heart-breaking experience of Meixing's entire existence. Surviving will take all the resilience and inner belief of this brave girl to turn their world around.
Author: Marr, Shirley
Published: Camberwell, Victoria : Puffin Australia, , 2021.
Published: ©2021
280 pages ; 20 cm
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J MAR - Onloan - Due: 17 May 2024 - 010442455

Eliza Vanda's button box [Paperback] / Emily Rodda.

"Buttons three, attend to me! Take me where I want to be!" No one saw Eliza Vanda arrive in Tidgy Bay that rainy winter afternoon. The sign advertising 'Cabins for Rent' was almost hidden by a pile of builder's rubble, but Eliza Vanda didn't seem at all put out by the mess. Life hasn't been much fun for Milly Dynes lately. There seem to be problems everywhere she looks. She's always loved her home in Tidgy Bay, but at the moment she wishes she was somewhere - anywhere - else. Then Eliza Vanda turns up - and magic comes with her.
Author: Rodda, Emily, 1948-
Published: Sydney, NSW : Angus & Robertson, 2021.
Published: ©2021
271 pages ; 22 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 3 and 4

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J ROD - Onloan - Due: 02 May 2024 - 010444046

Listen, Layla [Paperback] / Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

Exploring the diaspora experience, race, politics and identity, Listen, Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an own voices novel for young readers, which bursts with passion, humour and truth.Layla has ended the school year on a high and can't wait to spend the holidays hanging out with her friends and designing a prize-winning Grand Designs Tourismo invention. But Layla's plans are interrupted when her grandmother in Sudan falls ill and the family rush to be with her. The last time Layla went to Sudan she was only a young child. Now she feels torn between her Sudanese and Australian identities. As political tensions in Sudan erupt, so too do tensions between Layla and her family. Layla is determined not to lose her place in the invention team, but will she go against her parents' wishes? What would a Kandaka do?
Author: Abdel-Magied, Yassmin
Published: [North Sydney, New South Wales] : Penguin Random House Australia, 2021.
Published: ©2021
284 pages ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 7 and 8

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Teen Fiction - T ABD - Available - 010256915

The edge of thirteen [Paperback] / Nova Weetman.

Thirteen-year-old Clem deals with fitting in and falling out in this authentic story of friendship, from a beloved middle-grade author. Clem Timmins can't wait to see her best friends after being apart all summer holidays. But when they get back together, things have changed. Bridge is boy-crazy and acting like a different person. Ellie is wearing a bra and having a real-life romance. Clem feels left behind. When she makes friends with Tom, suddenly everyone's gossiping about whether they're going to be a couple. Clem's got no interest in having a boyfriend. Or does she? At school camp, Bridge crosses the line and Clem has to ask herself - can she keep growing up with her friends when they're growing apart? This story of fitting in and falling out perfectly captures how it feels to balance on the edge of who you are and who you want to be.
Author: Weetman, Nova
Published: St Lucia, Queensland : University of Queensland Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
249 pages ; 20 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J WEE - Onloan - Due: 13 May 2024 - 010372363
Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J WEE - Onloan - Due: 17 May 2024 - 010217848

Cuckoo's flight [Paperback] / Wendy Orr ; map by Sarfaraaz Alladin.

If she had stayed to load the kiln as she should have, she'd never have seen the ship. Mama said the ship still would have been there, so everything had to happen the way it did. But that's not true. Clio saw it, and the world changed. When a raiders' ship appears off the coast, the goddess demands an unthinkable price to save the town - and Clio's grandmother creates a sacred statue to save Clio's life. But Clio is torn between the demands of guarding the statue and caring for her beloved horses. Disabled in an accident, she must try to put aside her own grief at no longer being able to ride - and in the process, save a friend's life and stop a war.
Author: Orr, Wendy, 1953-
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2021.
Published: ©2021
265 pages : map ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J ORR - Available - 010257028

Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows / Denis Knight, Cristy Burne.

In a world of magic, can science save the day? Wednesday Weeks never wanted to be a sorcerer's apprentice. She'd rather study science than magic. But when her cloak-wearing, staff-wielding grandpa is captured by a power-hungry goblin king, Wednesday must find a way to embrace her magical heritage and rescue him from the dreaded Tower of Shadows. Luckily, she's not alone. Her best friend Alfie is a prime-number fan and robotics expert who's all-in on Wednesday's epic plan involving parallel universes, swords of power, and a wise-cracking talking skull. But it's going to take more than science, magic, and the world's cutest robot to take down this bad guy. Because the goblin king is playing for the ultimate prize - and Wednesday and Alfie just walked into his trap...
Author: Knight, Denis
Published: Sydney, NSW : Lothian Children's Books, an imprint of Hachette Australia, 2021.
Published: ©2021
249 pages ; 20 cm.
Wednesday Weeks ; 1.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J KNI - Available - 010428206
Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J KNI - Available - 010428213

Elsewhere girls [Paperback] / Emily Gale & Nova Weetman.

Cat has recently started at a new school on a sports scholarship, and she's feeling the pressure of early morning training sessions and the need for total commitment. Fanny loves to swim and she lives for racing, but family chores and low expectations for girls make it very hard for her to fit in even the occasional training session. Cat and Fanny have never met. They both live in the same Sydney suburb, but in different worlds, or at least different times: Cat in current-day Sydney, and Fanny in 1908. But one day, time slips and they swap places. As each girl lives the other's life, with all the challenges and confusion it presents, she comes to appreciate and understand herself and the role of swimming in her own life. Narrated in alternating chapters by Cat and Fanny, Elsewhere Girls is a moving and funny story of two girls with a deep connection, one based on the Australian Olympic champion, Fanny Durack. It's a fresh and engaging exploration of the challenges and pressures for young women growing up in the past and today.
Author: Gale, Emily
Published: Melbourne, Victoria : Text Publishing, 2021.
Published: ©2021
312 pages ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J GAL - Available - 010444763

The Right Way to Rock / Nat Amoore.

This is the rockin' story of two new friends, one arts fiasco and a whole lot of music. Without music, the world is just blah. That's my take on life, anyway. Mum says rock is the only music worth listening to, but I think everyone should find their own beat. When I hear that Principal Keiren plans to cut all of the arts classes at Watterson Primary, there is no way me and my new mate Flynn are gonna let that happen. We are dragging our secret Broadway appreciation society into the spotlight. It's time for Watterson: The Musical!
Author: Amoore, Nat
Published: North Sydney, NSW : Penguin Random House Australia, 2021.
Published: ©2021
337 pages ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J AMO - Onloan - Due: 14 May 2024 - 010349365

Are you there, Buddha? / Pip Harry.

Bridget 'Bee' Ballentine is 12 and starting her first year of high school in the beach suburb Crescent Bay. Still reeling from the departure of her mother for an ashram in India, Bee talks to Buddha and begs for her first period not to arrive. She's not ready to become a woman yet, whatever that means. Although Bee's yet to find her tribe at school, her best friend forever is surfer Leon McKay, also known as the hottest boy in Year Eight. As long as Leon has her back, Bee can survive the mean girls, her meddling step-mum, Kath, and her swimming nemesis, The Piranha.
Author: Harry, Pip
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : Lothian, 2021.
Published: ©2021
280 pages ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J HAR - Available - 010686804

Footprints on the moon / Lorraine Marwood.

Humans are about to leave footprints on the moon, but what sort of mark can one girl make here on earth? It's 1969 and life is changing fast. Sharnie Burley is starting high school and finding it tough to make new friends. As the world waits to see if humans will land on the moon, the Vietnam War rages overseas. While her little cousin, Lewis, makes pretend moon boots, young men are being called up to fight, sometimes without having any choice in the matter. Sometimes without ever coming home. Dad thinks serving your country in a war is honourable, but when Sharnie's older sister, Cas, meets a returned soldier and stars getting involved in anti-war protests, a rift in their family begins to show. Sharnie would usually turn to her grandma for support, but lately Gran's been forgetting things. Can she find her own way in this brave new world?
Author: Marwood, Lorraine, 1953-
Published: St Lucia, Queensland : UQP, 2021.
Published: ©2021
249 pages ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J MAR - Available - 010439349
Hampton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J MAR - Available - 010439370

Night ride into danger [Paperback] / Jackie French.

It's often a dark and dangerous journey for the Cobb and Co night mail coach, but when his coach-driver father is injured, young Jem Donovan must take the reins. Surely a boy like Jem can't handle a team of four horses and guide the coach on a rough bush track through fog and untold dangers? But there are six passengers on the coach tonight, each with a secret. And if Jem can't get them all to Goulburn by the morning, the seventh secret may be deadly.
Author: French, Jackie
Published: Sydney, NSW : Angus & Robertson, 2021.
Published: ©2021
242 pages ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J FRE - Onloan - Due: 18 May 2024 - 010354314

The travelling bookshop. Mim and the baffling bully [Paperback] / Katrina Nannestad ; illustrated by Cheryl Orsini.

Mim Cohen roams the world in a travelling bookshop, with her dad and brother and a horse called Flossy. Flossy leads them where she will, to the place where they're needed most ... the place where the perfect book will find its way home. Now Mim has arrived in a pretty Dutch village where she meets Willemina, a kind and gentle child, who is being bullied by a girl named Gerda. Mim knows they're here to help Willemina. To change her life. To make her strong and brave and happy. If only Dad would find her the right book. If only he would stop giving everyone else the wrong book!
Author: Nannestad, Katrina
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : ABC Books, 2021.
Published: ©2021
206 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Travelling bookshop ; 1.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 3 and 4

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J NAN - Onloan - Due: 18 May 2024 - 010448082
Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J NAN - Onloan - Due: 10 May 2024 - 010448136

My brother Ben / Peter Carnavas.

Luke and his big brother Ben spend the summer on the banks of Cabbage Tree Creek. Quiet Luke sketches birds, while Ben leaps off the Jumping Tree. The boys couldn't be more different but they share the same dream: winning a boat so they can explore the creek properly. Then Ben starts high school and the boys drift apart. When Luke catches Ben sneaking out at night, he knows his brother's up to something, but what?
Author: Carnavas, Peter, 1980-
Published: St Lucia, Queensland : UQP, 2021.
Published: ©2021
180 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J CAR - Available - 010416685

Save the Joeys! [Paperback] / Samone Amba ; illustrations by Lucy Zhang.

UGH! After-school care, again? It's official: they've finally reached grade six, and Sunday Moon and her besties Ockie, Kirra and Lottie are Legends of the School! But no matter how legendary they are, as soon as the end of day bell rings they are MAROONED in after-school care at Club Koala. Day in, day out, with only the karaoke-loving grade twos and nit-infested preppies for company. After the worst summer of bushfires ever, Sunday is determined to ditch the headstand competitions and use her time at Club Koala to make a difference. Sunday's parents might say NO! to getting a pet, but that won't stop Sunday from saving as many joeys as she can - with the help of her friends, a radio station, a whole bunch of wool from the op shop, and a LOT of animal memes. Welcome to The Good Times of Pelican Rise ... a fun series that explores growing up, getting involved, hanging out with besties and using your voice to Be the Change.
Author: Amba, Samone
Published: Mulgrave, VIC : Affirm Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
263 pages : illustrations, map ; 20 cm.
Good times of Pelican Rise ; 1.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6
Average rating: (1 review)

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J AMB - Available - 010449423
Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J AMB - Onloan - Due: 01 May 2024 - 010449393

Mina and the whole wide world / Sherryl Clark ; with art by Briony Stewart.

A powerful story about a young girl, Mina, and how she copes when her family take in a refugee boy and give away what was meant to be her first very-own bedroom. Mina wants her own bedroom more than anything else in the whole wide world. And it's almost ready! Just one more lick of sunny yellow paint and it's hers. But when Mina's parents take in an unexpected guest, they give her room away. At first, Mina is too upset to speak. She doesn't care that this new boy, Azzami, needs a place to stay. At school, the other kids call Azzami names, and Mina wishes he'd stand up for himself. Then she sees his drawings, and for the first time really thinks about the life of the quiet boy in front of her. Here is a story about finding friendship where you least expect it and making room for everyone across this big wide world.
Author: Clark, Sherryl
Published: St Lucia, Queensland : University of Queensland Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
107 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 3 and 4

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J CLA - Available - 010318231

Cranky chicken [graphic novel] / Katherine Battersby.

Everything about Chicken is cranky. Cranky eyes, cranky eyebrows, super-sharp cranky beak, even cranky scratchy feet. And everything makes Chicken cranky. The sun is too bright, the dirt is too dirty. What Cranky Chicken is not is lonely. Nope, nope, definitely not. But then along comes a very cheerful worm named Speedy, who just wants to be friends.
Author: Battersby, Katherine
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : Lothian Children's Books, 2021.
Published: ©2021
103 pages : colour illustrations ; 21 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Early Childhood to Year 2

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Graphic Novel - J BAT - Available - Recently returned - 010456087
Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Graphic Novel - J BAT - Available - 010624844

Exit through the gift shop [Paperback] / Maryam Master ; illustrated by Astred Hicks.

Anahita Rosalind Ghorban-Galaszczuk (yes, that really is her name but you can call her Ana) is discovering that life is absurd. As if dying of cancer at the age of 12.5 isn't bad enough, she still has to endure daily insults from her nemesis, Alyssa (Queen Mean) Anderson. Ana's on a wild roller-coaster of life and death, kindness and cruelty, ordinary and extraordinary. And she's got a few things to do before she exits . . .
Author: Master, Maryam
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : Pan Macmillan Australia, 2021.
Published: ©2021
207 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J MAS - Available - 010449249

Dragon skin [Paperback] / Karen Foxlee ; [illustrations by Dale Newman].

How to save a dragon: 1) Assemble equipment. Water, Weet-Bix, sugar, syringe, sticky tape, scissors. 2) Believe in everything. Pip never wants to go home. She likes to sit at the waterhole at dusk and remember Mika, her best friend. At home her mother's not the same since her boyfriend moved in. They don't laugh anymore and Pip has to go to bed early, turn off her light and pretend she doesn't exist. When she finds a half-dead creature at the waterhole, everything changes. She knows she has to save this small dragon and return it to where it comes from. But how?
Author: Foxlee, Karen, 1971-
Published: Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2021.
Published: ©2021
325 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J FOX - Onloan - Due: 16 May 2024 - 010417217

Seven Wherewithal Way [Paperback] / Samantha-Ellen Bound.

Celeste is having the worst summer ever. Her parents are off on an adventure and she's stuck at Grans' house with her annoying little sister, Esme, and strict instructions to be responsible. Or, as Esme says, boring. So when their eccentric cousin Ferd crash-lands a flying bus in the yard, what choice does Celeste have but to follow Ferd back home to Seven Wherewithal Way? Wherewithal - Ferd's house, and the gateway to the many Realms unreachable from Earth - is bursting with magic and mystery and otherworldly creatures. It's Celeste's favourite place in any world. But when something tries to break in through the portal in the pantry - the door to the mystical Realm of Forests - Celeste learns that both Wherewithal and her beloved cousin are under threat. If Celeste wants to save her cousin, their home, its inhabitants and possibly even all the Realms, she is going to have to find her adventurous side. Fast.
Author: Bound, Samantha-Ellen
Published: South Melbourne, Vic. : Affirm Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
389 pages ; 20 cm.
Seven Wherewithal Way ; 1.
1 reserve

Hampton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J BOU - On Reserve Shelf - Awaiting collection within 10 days of this date. (Set: 15 Apr 2024) - 010416777

Rabbit, soldier, angel, thief / Katrina Nannestad ; with illustrations by Martina Heiduczek.

It's spring, 1942. The sky is blue, the air is warm and sweet. And then everything is gone. The flowers, the proud geese, the pretty wooden houses, the friendly neighbours. Only Sasha remains. But one small boy, alone in war-torn Russia, cannot survive. One small boy without a family cannot survive. One small boy without his home cannot survive. What that small boy needs is an army. A story of a young boy who becomes a soldier at six, fighting in the only way he can -- with love. But is love ever enough when the world is at war?
Author: Nannestad, Katrina
Published: [Sydney, NSW] : ABC Books, 2021.
Published: ©2021
305 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
Premiers' Reading Challenge Years 5 and 6

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J NAN - Onloan - Due: 13 May 2024 - 010551508
Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Junior Fiction - J NAN - Onloan - Due: 30 Apr 2024 - 010645283