Seadog is not well-trained, well groomed, trip-performing dog. Instead he is a fun lvng puppy who loves the sea and everything about it: the sounds, the sights and even – perhaps especially – the smells. And it is the smells that get him in trouble, because after he rolls in smelly fish he has to be taken home and washed. Seadog does not like the suds and water of a bath but he endures it, and is soon clean and fluffy – but only until someone opens the door.

Seadog is a delightful romp of a tale about a dog who loves the sea. In turn he is loved by his family and will be loved by young readers. The text is rhythmic and uses repetition, alliteration and internal rhymes to create something fun to read and to listen to. Kids will love joining in, especially on repeat readings, which will be in demand. Illustrations, by Tom Jellett, are a delight, and the big red Seadog comes to life against sandy yellows and watery blues which really capture the feel of the beach.

Perfect for early childhood, this is a book which warms the heart with its zest for life.

Seadog, by Claire Saxby and Tom Jellett
Random House, 2013
ISBN 9781742756509

Available from good bookstores and online.

Desi Priest is coming home – but it’s not a joy filled homecoming. Two years ago she made a terrible mistake which shattered the lives of her family and that of her best friend, Rebecca. Some people are happy to see her – especially her good friend, Pete, who has been there for her for years. Others, like her daughter Maya have mixed feelings. It’s hard to forgive a mother who ahs missed so man important milestones. And others Desi is sure will not be happy to see her.

One person, though, Desi doesn’t expect to be waiting for her. There is a woman she has never met who shares a bond with Desi and with Maya. She has come seeking Desi’s help. If Desi helps her, she is risking her life and her already fragile future. If she doesn’t she may be turning her back on her beliefs, and placing Maya at risk. As she struggles with both her past and the present, Desi and her family come to grips with what has happened and face some uncomfortable truths.

Shallow Breath could easily have been an overcomplicated novel – there are seven or eight viewpoint characters, settings in five continents, and a slew of issues being addressed. But Foster draws them all together beautifully, and the switches are part of the layering of understanding which takes the reader on a journey towards understanding what has gone on and what is happening now. Several of the ke characters are animal lovers, keen to rescue or help animals including dolphins, whale sharks, elephants and kangaroos, and this is linked too to issues of domestic abuse and violence, ensuring that the various subplots link. Foster also has a keen sense of place, and West Australian readers will love the setting of Yanchep and Atlantis Marine Park both during its years of operation and now, abandoned as it is.

Shallow Breath invites breathless anticipation, building towards a shocking climax. It is a really satisfying read.

Shallow Breath, by Sara Foster
Bantam, 2013
ISBN 9781742753997

Available from good bookstores and online.

Max is back. He charmed readers in Duck for a Day, and now this wonderful little duck, and his human friends Abby and Noah (and their classmates) are back in a new adventure. If you haven’t yet met Max, what you should know is that he is a special duck – because he’s the class duck. He waddles around the classroom, curling up on the feet of the children and brightening their lives. He’s especially made a difference to Noah, helping him build in confidence and bringing Noah and Abby together as friends. Now, though, Max is in trouble. Someone – or something – has destroyed the class Antarctica display, and the principal says he will have to go. Abby and Noah are determined to prove that Max is not the culprit. If they don’t they’ll lose him.

Definitely No Ducks! is as compassionately quirky as its predecessor.  The concept of a class duck, and a teacher with a touch of Mary Poppins magic about her, is one which will amuse young readers, but the messages about honesty and acceptance and friendship, are important ones, and ones which McKinlay handles deftly.

This is a delightful little offering which will appeal to readers ages six and up,  and would be perfect for sharing in a classroom setting – though it may lead to pressure for a new classroom pet!

Definitely No Ducks!, by Meg McKinlay & Leila Rudge
Walker Books, 2013
ISBN 9781921977855

Available from good bookstores or online.

1. Give us the details – title, publisher, illustrator, release date.

My latest book is Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present; Random House released 1 May 2013.  This is my third book for the year and it’s the third book in the Clementine Rose series.

2. Why did you write the book?

Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present is the third book in a series about a very sweet little girl and the adventures she has with her family and her teacup pig called Lavender.

3. How long from idea to publication?

I started writing the book in November 2012, although the idea had been percolating for a couple of months before that.  It has been a very fast turnaround as there are eight Clementine Rose books currently contracted with Random House and the release dates are only three months apart.
4. What was the hardest thing about writing it?

Time!  I’ve got two characters, Clementine Rose and Alice-Miranda on the go at the moment and this year there will be 6 new books including the Alice-Miranda diary for 2014.  Until  November last year I was working full time as the Director of Development at a school for girls in Sydney and writing on the weekends, in the evenings and during my holidays (basically anytime I wasn’t asleep or at work).  When I finished up at work I went on tour with Random House straight away so it really wasn’t until early December that I could get my teeth into the book properly.  Then it was incredibly intense with lots of writing and re-writing over the next month or so – I basically locked myself away for the summer and wrote.
5. Coolest thing about your book?

I think the coolest thing about my book is that there is a wedding at Clementine’s house in a huge marquee in the back garden.  Many of the guests are Sri Lankan and wear beautiful saris.  Clementine is very impressed by the fact that there is a wedding and with her penchant for clothes, she adores seeing the bride and guests.  The wedding planner, Sebastian Smote is pretty funny too.
6. Something you learnt through writing the book?

I had to do some research about Sri Lankan customs and what their flag looked like too.  I also learned about different types of cicadas but I can’t tell you why or it would give away the surprise.

7. What did you do celebrate the release?

Alice-Miranda in Paris was launched on the 1^st March and we had a huge afternoon tea party at Shearer’s in Leichhardt with delicious French food, a fashion parade and craft activities where the girls fashioned colourful berets for Alice-Miranda to wear.  We had a second party at the Children’s Bookshop at Beecroft a couple of weeks ago.  Clementine’s book, coming hot on the heels of Alice-Miranda has been a little more low key but I’ve been touring schools and last weekend spent a couple of hours at the PLC Croydon Fair promoting both books.  In a couple of weeks we’ll celebrate at the official reopening of a lovely bookshop in St Ives called Book Review.
8. And how will you promote the book?

On my blogs and website, the Random House website, touring schools, visiting bookshops and any other publicity opportunities that come along.
9. What are you working on next?

I have just finished the structural edits for Alice-Miranda Shines Bright and Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco a week apart.  Now I am starting on the ninth Alice-Miranda title but at the moment I’m still debating exactly what it’s going to be.
10. Where we can find out more about you and your book?

I have a website www.jacquelineharvey.com.au and two blogs, http://alice-miranda.blogspot.com and http://jacquelineharvey.blogspot.com They are all linked and I try to update the blogs as often as I can.

Thanks Jacqueline. Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present is available now in good bookstores or online.

1. Give us the details – title, publisher, illustrator, release date.

Seadog, illustrated by Tom Jellett, Random House. Release date was 1 May.

2. Why did you write the book?

I’ve always wanted to write a book about a dog, but even though we’ve had one for the past 6 years, it has taken until recently to find a way to do it. I wanted to capture the boundless joy that dogs seem to have for life. They don’t always do what we might like them to do, but there’s something about they way they are at the beach that is so free. I think children are the same, particularly at the beach. The beach is calming, energising, fun, messy, and hot/cold. And joyful.

3. How long from idea to publication?

This was a short one by picture book standards. I think it was less than two years from concept (in this form) to release. Although I confess to multiple previous attempts that fizzled before even becoming complete horrible first drafts.

4. What was the hardest thing about writing it?

Trusting myself. Letting go and just having fun with it. Getting close in, getting far enough away from the facts to find the fiction.

5. Coolest thing about your book?

To share the joy that a dog can bring. Tom’s illustrations are amazing. Seadog is so expressive.

6. Something you learnt through writing the book?

Not so much learnt but reinforced how much fun there is in playing with words.

7. What did you do celebrate the release?

I’ve had a ‘coastal launch’ for Seadog, but the official launch is yet to come. That’s 2 June at the 10th Williamstown Literary Festival. 2 pm. All welcome.

8. And how will you promote the book?

I’ve a few school visits planned, I’ll visit bookshops and libraries for story time. I’m also doing some promotion online via my blog.

9. What are you working on next?

I can’t quite decide. I have several projects I’d like to tackle, just can’t decide which one …

10. Where we can find out more about you and your book?

At my website www.clairesaxby.com, or my blog www.letshavewords.blogspot.com. Seadog can be seen in bookshops EVERYWHERE!

Thanks for dropping in, Claire. It’s always a pleasure to chat with you.

1. Give us details: title, publisher, illustrator, release date.

My latest title is  Guinea Pig town and other poems about animals. Published by Walker Books Australia, illustrated by Amy Daoud and the release date was 1st April 2013.

2. Why did you write the book?

I already have two collections of poetry with Walker and after discussion with my publisher we wanted a brand new collection of poems all about animals.

3. How long from idea to publication?

About 18 months of intense writing, re-writing, editing.

4. What was the hardest thing about writing it?

I think the hardest part was the whole nebulous idea of an animal poetry collection , but once the title poem was written (I wrote and sent poems in batches to be read by my publisher and editor) then the whole book suddenly took shape and direction.

5. The coolest thing about your book.

There were several cool moments- one was writing a flamingo poem after a visit to a restaurant garden several floors up in London (with flamingos)and after discovering the horn of a narwhal in Scotland. Also the way I wanted the cover designed and the breaking up of chapters into roads, crescents, avenues, all following the lead from the title poem ‘Guinea pig town’.

6. Something you learnt through writing the book?

That plunging in with an idea gradually takes shape and form and writing directs more writing. (Well I already knew this but it was reinforced.) Also that I love to research facts about an animal before writing. Very important for me as a poet.

7. What did you do to celebrate the release?

I had two fabulous launches on the one day sponsored by the local Bendigo library and the wonderful children’s librarian Tammy complete with an animal farm for kids to hold guinea pigs. There was a huge response.

8. And how will you promote the book?

Through facebook, school visits, my own blog and the writing of a poetry strategy to share the love of animals and poetry.

9 What are you working on next?

Ah, a bigger novel, another verse novel and of course I’d love to write another poetry collection- any ideas for themes?

10. Where can we find out more about you and your book?

Through my web site. www.lorrainemarwood.com
through the Walker Books website and through my blog.

Also I have a facebook author page

Thanks Sally for a great Aussiereviews site.

Lorraine Marwood

Thanks Lorraine. You can see my review of Guinea Pig Town here

The SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards is an award voted on by  SCBWI members and, as such, is an award made by children’s authors and illustrators  to one of their own. The winner of the Crystal Kite Award for 2013:

Ten Tiny Things, by Meg McKinlay and Kyle Hughes-Odgers

This book also features in the shortlist for the Wilderness Society’s Children’s Book Award which is as follows:

Preschool Category

Our Nest is Best By Penny Olsen and Penny O’ Hara (NLA Publishing)
Kangaroos Hop By Ros Moriarty and Balarinji (Allen & Unwin)
The Last Dance By Sally Morgan (Little Hare)

Primary category

Ten Tiny Things, By  Meg McKinlay and Kyle Hughes-Odgers (Fremantle Press)

Tanglewood ,By Margaret Wild and Vivienne Goodman (Omnibus Books)

Bizi the Musk Duck of Barren Box Swamp, By Ann-Maree Thompson (Ann-Maree Thompson)

Also announced recently were the shortlists for the Reading & Enjoying Australian Literature (REAL) Awards, which serve as shortlists for the state reader’s choice awards for children in Australian Capital Territory (COOL Awards), New South Wales (KOALAs), the Northern Territory (KROC Awards) and Victoria (YABBAs). The shortlists are:

Picture storybooks

• Baby Wombat’s Week (Jackie French, illus by Bruce Whatley, HarperCollins)
• Ella Kazoo Will Not Brush Her Hair (Lee Fox, illus by Cathy Wilcox, Lothian)
• A Giraffe in the Bath (Mem Fox & Oliva Rawson, illus by Kerry Argent, Viking)
• Hunwick’s Egg (Mem Fox, illus by Pamela Lofts, Puffin)
• The Jewel Fish of Karnak (Graeme Base, Viking)
• The Little Refugee (Anh & Suzanne Do, illus by Bruce Whatley, A&U)
• Mirror (Jeannie Baker, Walker Books)
• Pooka (Carol Chataway & Nina Rycroft, Working Title Press)
• Two Bad Teddies (Kilmeny Niland, Little Hare)
• The Very Cranky Bear (Nick Bland, Scholastic)

Fiction for younger readers

• Alice Miranda Shows the Way (Jacqueline Harvey, Random House)
• Andy Roid and the Field Trip Terror (Felice Arena, Puffin)
• Billie B Brown: The Copy Cat Kid (Sally Rippin, HGE)
• Bungawitta (Emily Rodda, Omnibus)
• EJ12: Pyramid Puzzle (Susannah McFarlane, Lemonfizz Media)
• Our Australian Girl: Meet Nellie (Penny Matthews, Puffin)
• Our Australian Girl: Meet Rose (Sheryl Clark, Puffin)
• Pizza Cake (Morris Gleitzman, Puffin)
• The Siege Scare (Frances Watts, illus by Gregory Rogers, A&U)
• The Golden Door (Emily Rodda, Omnibus)

Fiction for older readers

• The 26-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
• Brotherband: The Outcasts (John Flanagan, Random House)
• Con-Nerd (Oliver Phommavanh, Puffin)
• Eric Vale, Epic Fail (Michael Gerard Bauer, illus by Jon Bauer, Scholastic)
• The Forgotten Pearl (Belinda Murrell, Random House)
• Just Doomed! (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
• Nanberry: Black Brother White (Jackie French, Angus & Robertson)
• Specky Magee and the Best of Oz (Felice Arena, Puffin)
• Thai-Riffic! (Oliver Phommavanh, Puffin)
• The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow (Aj Mackinnon, Black Inc.)

Fiction for years 7-9

• A Straight Line to My Heart (Bill Condon, A&U)
• After (Morris Gleitzman, Viking)
• The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak, Picador)
• Contact (Chris Morphew, HGE)
• The Dead I Know (Scott Gardner, A&U)
• Give Me Four Reasons (Lizzie Wilcox, Little Hare)
• Grace (Morris Gleitzman, Viking)
• The Invisible Hero (Elizabeth Fensham, UQP)
• Shift (Em Bailey, HGE)
• Stolen (Lucy Christopher, Chicken House).

Lastly (I think) the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award was also announced, with an all female-author list for the first time ever. The shortlisted books are:

Floundering, by Romy Ash -

The Beloved, by Annah Faulkner

Questions of Travel, by Michelle de Kretser

The Mountain, by Drusilla Modjeska

Mateship with Birds, by Carrie Tiffany

A few months ago, Bayley’s father died suddenly. Now, her mother has moved the shattered family to the country, to live in the house where Celina O’Malley grew up. Moving here is supposed to heal them, but Bayley feels the presence of Celina, her mother’s cousin, who disappeared forty years ago. Bayley is sleeping in Celina’s old room, is the same age Celina was when she disappeared and, she discovers, looks just like Celina. But that’s not the strangest thing. Bayley has memories of things she couldn’t possibly remember – because they happened forty years ago. Celina seems to want Bayley’s help – but giving that help could risk Bayley’s life.

Portraits of Celina is a spooky tale of revenge, love and family. Even without the ghost haunting her, Bayley has a lot to deal with – the loss of her much loved father, a sister who’s off the rails, a barely coping mother, a little brother who won’t change out of his Batman costume, and a boy who calls her Crazyeyes and seems to like her. Mostly she balances all of this, but as the story progresses she finds support not only from within but from those around her.

Whiting balances the supernatural, ghost elements with a story which deals with very real issues of grief, teen rebellion and family, offering a read which teens will love.

Portraits of Celina, by Sue Whiting
Walker Books, 2013
ISBN 9781922077479

Available from good bookstores or online.

Victoria Khoo is seventeen, and very sure of her destiny. She will marry Sebastian Boustead and become the mistress of the family mansion, next to her own family’s home in Amber Road. When she learns that Sebastian has arrived back from England with a fiancée in two, she is sure there is some kind of mistake. They are meant to be together. But within days, Victoria has more weighty issues to deal with, as the war reaches Asia and Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

Soon Victoria’s family is separated – her parents and sisters fleeing to the family rubber plantation, and Victoria living with her stepmother (her father’s number two wife), grandmother and half siblings in Singapore. Under Japanese occupation, Singapore is no longer the idyllic British colony of Victoria’s childhood. She must do what she can to survive the war and protect her family. Yet she will not abandon her dream of one day fulfilling her destiny as Sebastian’s wife, even though she is now responsible for ensuring his fiancée’s safety, and she herself has a new friendship with a charismatic Australian.

Amber Road is an absorbing tale of one woman’s experience of wartime Singapore. Victoria is, at the start of the story, a self absorbed teen and it is intriguing to watch her growth amidst terrible hardship. At the same time the reader is aware that much of the determination she shows is something she already possessed, and her self absorption is one of the tools which helps her survive.

With romance, suspense, history and more, Amber Road is a well told tale which leaves the reader wanting to follow the characters into their future to see what unfolds next.

Amber Road, by Boyd Anderson
Bantam, an imprint of Random House, 2013
ISBN 9781742759395

Available from good bookstores or online.