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Read something you really liked.            

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Lily didn’t want to be a ‘Shine’. A school for performing arts. She’d finally agreed with her parents to go because she could leave after a year. Lily had to admit that she did want to go to Shine after making new friends and finding the classes interesting. Winning an audition for a favourite role was important o her.

Getting the role was also important to Lily’s mother, who insisted on ‘helping’ Lilly but caused Lily to lose her confidence in her ability. In tears, Lilly confides in her school friends. How does she sort the mess?

I enjoyed the dilemmas the girls had to address.

Recommended for readers aged eight to twelve years.

Published by Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group. 2019

Illustrated by Monique Dong.

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

  Ali finds a full-grown green turtle on the beach off the Egyptian coast. After ensuring the turtle wasn't injured, he pulled her onto his raft and paddled out to deep water to let her go. What he had thought about was the changing tide. Ali drifted further out to sea.

The tanker's captain was pleased with their progress but concerned for the safety of a boy lost at sea. The captain suggests the tanker follows the crow. Crows are curious and may have found the boy. Ali is rescued and spends two days on the oil tanker, discovering how they work and their important job.

I enjoyed the story of the boy rescuing the turtle and being rescued himself. The detail of the oil tanker was interesting too.

Recommended for readers eight years and above for self-reading. Younger with help.

Stacey International published this paperback version in 2012

Illustrated by Henry Climent.

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin.

Perry lives in a co-ed low-security jail with his mother in the small Nebraska town of Surprise. The jail superintendent is his foster mother and had a small bedroom built next to her office for Perry. Perry knows the rules and has an adopted family of friendly internees.

Middle school is new, and Perry is relieved to be met by his friend Zoey Samuels. They look out for each other, and Zoey is not bothered by Perry’s unusual living arrangement. A school assignment leads Perry to question his mother’s criminal history – why is she in jail? At the same time to local District Attorney asks why Perry is being raised in a prison. Perry’s world is turned upside down, and he must be strong and courageous to win the day. What does he have to do?

I enjoyed the rich characters and the what-if nature of the story.

Recommended for readers eight years and above.

Published by HarperCollins 2016

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

  Farah and her whole family like to play games, but there are rules. Farah must always lose to her brother Ahmad who has learning difficulties and doesn’t understand social rules like everyone loses sometimes.

Farah has changed schools and has invited friends from her old and new schools to her party. Her old friends arrive just after her auntie has given her a present. She opens it in her bedroom so Ahmed doesn’t see it. The game moves as she sets it up, and her brother hides in her room. He snatches up a piece and is sucked into the game.

Farah must rescue her brother, and her friends decide to help her. What must they do to find and save Ahmed?

I enjoyed the ‘otherworld’ of the game.

Recommended for readers ten years and older.

Published by Salaam Reads, an imprint of Simon and Schuster 2017

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

Viji and her sister Ruthu ran away from home after suffering a beating from their father, who also perpetually beats their mother.

Homeless and worried about the police and bad people in the large city, the children seek safety on a disused bridge. Two boys, Murthy and Arul, take the girls under their care, and the four children help each other seeking ‘treasure’ in rubbish piles and getting food wherever they can.

Sleeping rough means the children are not safe from people or insects. Ruthu gets Dengue Fever. What hard decisions must Viji make?

I enjoyed the vivid characters and story setting.

Recommended for readers ten years and older

Published by Puffin Books 2019

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

Billy dreamed of playing for Chelsea Football Club. His father and stepfather taught him all they knew, and Billy practised every day. Great skills and good luck meant Billy was picked for Chelsea juniors, developed his skills, and was eventually picked in the senior side.

Billy’s luck ran out when WW2 was declared, and he joined as a medic. What he saw and his injury left him mentally and physically scared. He was lucky to be adopted by the family who bought and renovated the ruined house he was living in. As the family grew, so did his involvement. What did the family do for him, and what did he do for the family?

I enjoyed the tone, pace and detail in this biography.

Recommended for readers eight years and above.

Published by HarperCollins Children’s books 2000

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

This non-fiction story based in Holland explores a family mystery. Jesje and her older sister know to keep quiet and follow Mam’s rules at home. If the curtains are drawn, and Mama is lying down, the world must be kept at bay. Noise, people, nothing must disturb Mama.

Jesje learns about the Second World War and works out that her parents lived through it. Jesje’s grandmother lives nearby in a nursing home. Jesje visits her grandmother with her mother. Her grandmother calls her Hesje. When she asks her mother who Hesje was, she is told never to talk about that, no questions.

Jesje sets out to discover who Jesje was, and maybe it will unlock the secret of her mother’s unusual behaviour. What does she find?

This book presents the dreadful impact of trauma from a child’s perspective.

Published by Allen & Unwin, 2022

Translated by Bill Nagelkerke

Recommended for readers 13 years and older.

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

Robyn, Aiden and Nora can see monsters that most people cannot. They are busy tracking them and killing them. Their distractedness makes people think they’re weird, but Robyn believes that’s a small price to pay for saving the world.

A huge monster rises out of the lake while Robyn and her family are having a picnic. She manages to escape its powerful tentacles but falls into the lake and is in trouble with her mother again.

Robyn and her friends report what happened to their magic teacher, Mr Cryptorum, but he is sceptical until more dark magic erupts in their town. A rival magic school tries to take over sorting the mystery and getting rid of the monster, but that’s not what Robyn wants. How does her decision to go after the mystery monster affect her friends and the survival of the world?

I enjoyed the dilemmas the characters, particularly Robyn, face.

Recommended for readers aged eight years to 10 years.

Published by Scholastic Children’s Books, an imprint of Scholastic UK 

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin.

Growing up in Punchbowl is complex. Loyalty is precious, family and mates are your rock, and trouble comes your way. Tariq is popular amongst his peers in Year 10, tight with his friends and has a clean school record. The arrival of a new principal striving to keep the school open in the face of criticism from the department, the media, and sometimes Punchbowl itself turns Tariq’s world upside down.

New ideas, change and new responsibilities take Tariq and, therefore, his friends on a challenging journey. If the school is to stay open, they must all change and pull their weight.

I loved the characters, was moved by the dilemmas they had to address and marvelled at the complexities Rawah Arja shared about the story world and Australia. 

Highly recommended for all readers aged 12 years and older.

Published by Giramondo 2020

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

Once Spencer gets an idea in his head, he's very stubborn. When searching for the football in the bush outside the oval, Spencer finds an unusual structure housing small animals. He rescues one that is bleeding and looks ill.

Spencer knows he'll be in trouble at school if he tells anyone he was outside school grounds, and he'll also be in trouble at home if his parents find out he's keeping an unusual pet in a box under his bed.

Spencer must decide whether or not to speak up or sort out the mystery himself. What does he choose?

I enjoyed the story world, the ethical dilemmas the characters addressed and the story's pace.

Recommended for Readers 8 years and older

Published by Fremantle press 2017

Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin

I read and I write.            

If you read why not write?            

More reviews coming from me and you.