omnibus books – Page 4 – Aussie Reviews

Larrikin Lane by Kate Darling ill Ben Wood

I live in a farm house. There’s no farm here any more though. Before I was born, this house sat in the middle of paddocks. They stretched from Cooper’s Creek to the top of the ridge. My granddad had hundreds of sheep, and a few horses too.

Over time, the farm shrank like wool in the wash. Now there are houses where the sheep used to graze.

Over time, the farm shrank like wool in the wash. Now there are houses where the sheep used to graze.

A young boy narrates the story of his home, explaining that it was once part of a large grazing property, and that even though it is now part of suburbia, a little bit of the old farm remains. There’s Mum, Dad and Arkie; the vegie garden; the big gum tree and the tree house. And there’s Delilah the crazy-eyed goat and Lola the hand-reared black sheep. Unfortunately, grumpy Mr Meyer who lives next door is less than relaxed about his neighbours. There’s the noise, and the wandering animals. When Delilah eats some of Mr Meyer’s prize roses, he declares war. It’s up to the narrator and his little sister Arkie to find a solution.

Larrikan Lane is a new offering in the ‘Mates’ series from Omnibus Books. These are short, fully colour-illustrated chapter books with fast-paced over-the-top stories. Each opening also features header and footer borders. Words that might be difficult or unusual are presented in different fonts. At the completion of the story is a spread about the story or the idea being explored. In Larrikan Lane this spread explores the notion of larrikins and urban vs rural living. ‘Larrikin Lane’ shows how hostility between neighbours can be converted into cooperative living with just a little understanding and compromise. As with all Mates titles, Larrikan Lane is a humourous and rewarding read for newly-confident readers.

Larrikan Lane, Kate Darling ill Ben Wood Omnibus Books 2013 ISBN: 9781862919891

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Hammering Iron by L.S. Lawrence

Paramon and his brother and widowed-mother, are poor but of noble lineage. Paramon has been apprenticed to the storeman and his brother is shield-carrier to the Lord. That may have been the plan, but fate would have it otherwise. An unfortunate accident sets Paramon on a journey he could not have imagined. But he is a canny and resourceful young man. With a little luck, a quick mind and a sense of caution, he travels his destined road almost safely. But this is the Bronze-age and safe is a relative term. Along his journey, he makes a discovery that may just cost him his life.

‘… and of small bronze ingots, twenty and three,’ called Master Onesimos. Then, a moment later, and much louder: ‘Paramon!’

Paramon started sharply, and wrenched his mind away from the horses that were being led past the open door of the storehouse. He groped for his writing stick, found it, dropped it, picked up the soft clay tablet he had let fall in his lap, found his writing stick again, smoothed out a random scratch or two in the clay, poised the stick to write, saw that he had chewed the end of it into useless splinters, reversed it, and found that he had forgotten how many bars there were.

Start by writing ‘bronze’. If he could get that right, maybe he’d escape the usual reward for not paying attention.

Hammering Iron takes the reader into a world very different to now. Bronze is the choice of kings and lords when it comes to battle. But it is expensive and time-consuming to produce. And it’s flawed. Like the society that values war above most other things, and considers the common people expendable. Families must tread warily if they are to stay in favour and be able to earn a living. Even the ‘good’ lords think mostly in terms of their own gain rather than the good of their people. Despite the challenges of this world, Paramon shows there are ways to not only survive but to thrive. He works within the flawed parameters of his existence. His strength of character enables him to survive an adventure that could well have cost him his life, many times over. Recommended for early secondary readers, particularly history and adventure fans.

Hammering Iron, L.S. Lawrence
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862919716

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

Drongoes, by Christine Bongers ill Dan McGuiness

Jack has bully trouble. Nothing he has done in the past has succeeded. Rocket Robson seems to have it in for him. Not only is he faster and stronger, he’s just plain tricky. This year Jack, with the help of Eric, is determined to beat him. So he and Eric train and train, encouraged and supported by Jack’s mascot birds, the drongoes. But Rocket Robson beats him in all the athletic events, until there’s only the cross country to go. Colour illustrations appear on every opening, with header and footer illustrations, and differing font sizes to break up text.

It’s the Year Five cross-country tomorrow – the biggest day ever for me and my best mate, Eric.

It was Eric’s big chance to finish a race. And it was my big chance to finally beat Rocket Robinson.

In Year One, Rocket Robson tripped me on purpose in the egg-and-spoon race.

I might have forgotten about it. If it hadn’t been for what he did in Year Two.

‘Hey, Jack, your shoelaces are undone,’ he said. ‘Here, let me help. I’m good with shoelaces.’ He was good, too. Good at tying them together.

Eric was even more upset than I was. ‘We need to shut that Rocket down,’ he muttered. ‘We need to beat him.’ He said ‘we’ but he meant me.

Drongoes is a new offering in the Mates series published by Omnibus. Each is uniquely Australian and offers realistic and tall-tale fiction for newly independent readers. Word styles and colours vary throughout, although the majority of the text is in a uniform font. Text variations and illustrations intersperse and add to the story and provide an accessible story for readers transitioning from fully illustrated books. Drongoes also explores friendship and competitiveness. It presents ways to deal with bullies without intervention from teachers or parents. Recommended for newly-independent readers.

Drongoes, Christine Bongers ill Dan McGuiness
Omnibus Books 2013
ISBN: 9781862919822

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or here.

Time Vandals by Craig Cormick

Mai didn’t even have time to scream. The two men grabbed her at the end of her street and threw her into the black van. One had half-shoved a gag over her mouth before she started lashing out. She looked into the eyes of the man in front of her, a near-bald bulky thug, who was trying to get a sack over her head. She kicked him in the middle of the forehead, and then spat the gag free.

The black van pulled up down the street from Jacque’s house and the three men had a clear view of him standing halfway up a wobbling ladder, trying to reach his bedroom window. He had stopped climbing momentarily and looked around. An odd feeling that something wasn’t quite right had filled him.

Two very different teenagers from opposite ends of the world (Sydney and London) are kidnapped and taken to Switzerland. Mai is an Olympic athlete and academic. Jacques loves computer games. For reasons that take some while to be clear to them, they are particularly suited to time travel. Their first surprise is that they are not French. But there is no time to spend understanding, only time to be travelling. Mei and Jack, accompanied by knowledgeable if unexpected others are off to the past to save the world. Along the way there are challenges that need their disparate skills. Time changes everything.

Time Vandals is a crazy romp through time and history. Mai and Jack appear to have very little in common beyond eye colour, but it is important that they find ways to work together if the world is to be saved. There is very little about any of their worlds that can be taken for granted, and they must be constantly adjusting their perceptions and expectations. Each character has the opportunity to shine. There is also the opportunity to see what could have happened if the outcome of historic military encounters had been different. From Napoleon to zombies, from cats to gargoyles, ‘Time Vandals’ is action-packed and hilarious. Sure to appeal to upper primary and early secondary readers.

Time Vandals, Craig Cormick
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862919471

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

The Terrible Suitcase, by Emma Allen & Freya Blackwood

Because I got a terrible suitcase for my going-to-school present instead of the red backpack with yellow rockets and a silver sipper, I was mad.
M A D, mad!

When the young narrator gets a suitcase instead of a backpack for school, she is unhappy. And why wouldn’t she be? Her friend Max has the rocket backpack she wanted, and all the other kids have backpacks too, with attachments and pockets and stickers. Starting school should be fun, but how can she be happy with a terrible suitcase? Change comes when she hides away with her suitcase and makes a friend. Soon, their game draws in other children, and the suitcase comes in useful for all kinds of things.

The Terrible Suitcase is a beautiful picture book about the power of imagination, friendship and starting school. The terrible suitcase proves to be a tool for bringing children together in a gentle story brought to life in the tender watercolour, gouache and pencil illustrations by Freya Blackwood.

Perfect for reading with youngsters about to start school, but also lots of gentle fun for younger and older children too.

The Terrible Suitcase, by Emma Allen & Freya Blackwood
Omnibus, 2012
ISBN 9781862919402

Available from good bookstores or online.

Raven Lucas 1: Missing by Christine Harris

Raven’s heart jumped. She felt her face flame. Her eyes were glued to the felt hat and black coat worn by a man walking in the opposite direction. the footpath was crowded and Raven, standing still, was jostled in the seething flow of people rushing for trains or buses and the warmth of their homes.

Someone’s bag knocked her leg, snapping her out of her shocked paralysis. She stood on tip-toe, dodging left then right.

A hand grabbed her arm.

‘Raven Lucas 1: Missing ’ opens as Raven thinks she sees her father. Her father who just days ago vanished without a trace, without explanation. Her fragile mother is griefstricken, her father’s partner is too helpful, and her little brother is too young to be much help. There seem to be no clues, and plenty of rumours. Raven will not believe her father is dead, or that he’s done anything wrong. The more she investigates, the more confused she becomes. She discovers that she didn’t know her father as well as she thought she did. And she also realises that it may not be as easy as she thinks to know who to trust.

‘Raven Lucas 1: Missing ’ is the first instalment in a new mystery series from Christine Harris. Raven is a feisty, inquisitive, questioning main character. She’s also in pain, yearning for her loved father. Her world is spinning and nothing she once was sure of can now be relied on. Until now, she’s been secure in the wealth and support of her family and friends. But she now realises just how fragile that security has been, and how little she knows about her own family. She is far from helpless or hopeless, however, and determines to discover for herself just what’s going on. This is a fast-paced, action adventure with short chapters and mysteries around every corner. Recommended for upper-primary and lower-secondary readers.

Raven Lucas 1: Missing , Christine Harris

Omnibus Books 2012 ISBN: 9781862919341

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Avaialable from good bookstores or online .

Raven Lucas 2: Dead Wrong by Christine Harris

Raven felt her mum’s hand quivering in hers.

‘I can’t do it,’ whispered Mum. ‘I just … can’t.’ She had lost weight recently and it made her eyes look huge.

‘It’s okay,’ said Raven. ‘I don’t mind going. It’s doing something for Dad.’

Actually, she did mind. Not because she was standing in for Mum, but because Gerald Rooney, her dad’s business partner, had pressured them. Her stomach knotted at the idea of having to smile and talk to people she didn’t know.

As though nothing was wrong.

It was becoming harder to pretend that Dad was only running late. That he’d turn up any minute with a laughing apology. Since he had disappeared there was a huge silence in their lives. The music had gone. The colour. The breath.

Raven felt her mum’s hand quivering in hers.

‘I can’t do it,’ whispered Mum. ‘I just … can’t.’ She had lost weight recently and it made her eyes look huge.

‘It’s okay,’ said Raven. ‘I don’t mind going. It’s doing something for Dad.’

Actually, she did mind. Not because she was standing in for Mum, but because Gerald Rooney, her dad’s business partner, had pressured them. Her stomach knotted at the idea of having to smile and talk to people she didn’t know.

As though nothing was wrong.

Raven’s dad went missing in Raven Lucas 1. It was the worst thing to happen in Raven’s world. But things are getting worse. Many people are trying to find him, besides the police who think he is responsible for several crimes. And many of those people think Raven knows where he is. Raven’s mum is still unstable, her brother is too young to help and her father’s business partner seems to have taken it upon himself to act in loco parentis. Raven is running. Running to stay ahead of the game, running to stay ahead of people prepared to do almost anything to find out where her dad is. And if she’s going to beat them to it, she’s going to have to up her pace.

Dead Wrong continues the twisting and turning of the first novel in this series. Raven is wealthy and smart, sassy and inventive. Time alone will tell if this is going to be enough to find out what’s going on. But she refuses to believe the worst about her father, just because others say so. She firmly believes in her father, just as she slips into the role of protector of her remaining family. But it’s not always easy to be sure who to trust. She has supportive friends but she’s reluctant to bring them into her troubled world. In many ways, she is on her own. A riveting mystery thriller for mid- to upper secondary-readers. Watch out for the third and perhaps final instalment in the Raven Lucas series.

Dead Wrong (Raven Lucas), Christine Harris
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862919280

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Avaialble online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Not Bog Standard (and other Peculiar Stories) by Mark Pardoe

I’ve always hated flushing the toilet.

I know it’s mad but I can’t stand the noise and the sloshing water. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been convinced that a poo-covered sewer monster is going to come flying out of the toilet bowl and grab me with its slimy claws.

Okay, it’s stupid, I admit it. But be honest, are you really sure there’s nothing living in your toilet?

Matthew has what everyone else in his house considers to be an irrational fear of flushing the toilet, particularly at night. Now, since his tenth birthday, for some reason he needs to use the toilet every night. Every night he has the same dilemma – to flush, or not to flush. But things are getting worse. His aim, apparently, is one of them. But that’s just the beginning. Next is a story about a birthday present cat. Then there’s the chatterbox bird, and a found diary. There are twelve stories in this collection of weird and wonderful tales, each more spooky than the last. There are spooky cats, dunnies of doom, magic tricks, diabolical diaries and Santa solutions.

Do you like to be scared? This is the collection for you. There’s something to horrify everyone, and to give you nightmares. Imagine the worst nightmare you’ve ever had, where inanimate objects come to life and things return from the dead. Then take control and see what you are capable of. Will you overcome your fears, or is more still expected of you? Ideal for the reader who likes their adventures wild, and their stories weird and twisty-turning. Recommended for middle-primary and beyond. Just don’t read them at night time!

Not Bog Standard and Other Peculiar Stories, Mark Pardoe
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862918634

Reviewed by Claire Saxby

Children’s writer

www.clairesaxby.com

The Ice-cream War by Edwina Howard

Everybody says the same thing: ‘That Jeremy Jones is one of a kind.’ That’s what everybody says. Well, everybody except for our teacher, Mr Buttsworth, who says that Jeremy is the bane of his existence and a nuisance to society. But Jeremy says two things made him the way he is: his grandpa and his mother.

Jeremy says the first piece of advice he ever got was from his grandpa who said: ‘Don’t bury your head in the sand, Jeremy, be responsible and plant yourself a money tree.’

So Jeremy did or at least he tried to. He asked his mother for two dollars which he planted, and when that didn’t grow he asked her for ten dollars. And then he got the second piece of advice: ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees.’

When Jake and his family move to a seaside town from the city, he isn’t sure it would be easy to make new friends. But he’s immediately ‘adopted’ by Jeremy, man of big ideas in need of willing labour. Or perhaps just labour. But although Jeremy’s ideas can be wild, Jake is a (mostly) willing participant and this summer holiday is no exception. Uncle Sunny, the ice-cream man at the beach has always been grumpy, but now it seems he’s serving up mouse poo in the ice-cream. So with Jeremy’s entrepreneurship, Jake’s hard work and a bit of help from friends and family, a new ice-cream business is off to a roaring start. But Uncle Sunny doesn’t take kindly to the new business and is prepared to do what it takes – fair means or foul – to run them out of town. It’s war!

Ah! Ice-cream and the beach. A winning combination. Add a bunch of upper primary boys with their mixture of enthusiasm and competitiveness, heedless of consequences and you have a riotous adventure that lasts all summer. Don’t forget the mad Shetland pony or the legend of the Headless Fisherman. Before Summer is over, readers will have met them all. This is a realistic (okay, hyper-realistic) romp through a small Australian seaside town. Sure to bring a chuckle, giggle or gaffaw to all mid- to upper-primary readers.

The Ice-cream War, Edwina Howard Omnibus Books 2012 ISBN: 9781862919563

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Raven Lucas 1: Missing by Christine Harris

Someone’s bag knocked her leg, snapping her out of her shocked paralysis. She stood on tip-toe, dodging left then right.

A hand grabbed her arm.

Missing opens as Raven thinks she sees her father. Her father who just days ago vanished without a trace, without explanation. Her fragile mother is griefstricken, her father’s partner is too helpful, and her little brother is too young to be much help. There seem to be no clues, and plenty of rumours. Raven will not believe her father is dead, or that he’s done anything wrong. The more she investigates, the more confused she becomes. She discovers that she didn’t know her father as well as she thought she did. And she also realises that it may not be as easy as she thinks to know who to trust.

Missing is the first instalment in a new mystery series from Christine Harris. Raven is a feisty, inquisitive, questioning main character. She’s also in pain, yearning for her loved father. Her world is spinning and nothing she once was sure of can now be relied on. Until now, she’s been secure in the wealth and support of her family and friends. But she now realises just how fragile that security has been, and how little she knows about her own family. She is far from helpless or hopeless, however, and determines to discover for herself just what’s going on. This is a fast-paced, action adventure with short chapters and mysteries around every corner. Recommended for upper-primary and lower-secondary readers.

Missing (Raven Lucas), Christine Harris
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862919341

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author