With the end of term almost upon us, there’s no better time to drop into the library and get your holiday reading sorted! Check out the latest Library Scoop for recommendations and more.
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Category: READING
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Celebrating Library Lovers’ Week in the Potter Library
It’s no secret that we love our library at AHS, but did you know that February 14 is International Library Lovers’ Day?
Here in the Potter Library, we celebrated all week long, with Blind Date Books for the students to borrow and a “guess how many gummy hearts are in the jar?” competition open to everyone who checked out a book to read. (Spoiler: there were 165)
The Blind Date Books were so popular, the shelves needed to be restocked three times in a single day!
Check out all the fun and our competition winner below:
I Heart Reading Lapel Pin image courtesy of https://www.jubly-umph.com/collections/lapel-pins/products/i-heart-reading-lapel-pin
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AHS Staff read too!
The end of the school year is a great opportunity to relax and recharge with some great books, so the library invited all staff to a casual breakfast and book chat around the Christmas tree.
Over croissants and coffee, attendees were introduced to the newest titles in our collection and had the opportunity to chat all things books and reading with our staff, before borrowing their favourites to enjoy over the summer break.
We loved seeing so many of our staff sharing their love of books and can’t wait to do it all again mid-year!
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24th October, 2022
During Term Four the students from year 5 and 6 were treated with a visit from popular Young Adult and Middle Grade author, Tristan Bancks.
Tristan gathered with the students in our new Potter Room, where he chatted animatedly about his books, the Tom Weekly series, The Fall, Two Wolves, Detention and of course his new release Cop & Robber.
Year 6 classes were also involved in small writing workshops, where Tristan explained his writing processes and how he uses his own life experience as inspiration for characters and story.
The students were encouraged to share an embellished experience (similar to the game, two truths and a lie) and have others guess which part they had made up. This kind of hands-on learning was a fabulous example of how the students can weave a lived experience with fiction to create their own stories.
Tristan also took time out to answer questions, sign books and have an impromptu photo shoot.
Thank you to Tristan for such an engaging and fun learning experience. We look forward to seeing him again at AHS.
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New From Hereby Kelly YangWhen the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox’s blurting-things-out problem. As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you’re feared; can you protect if you’re new? And how do you keep a family together when you’re oceans apart? (Goodreads)
The Detectives Guide to New York Cityby Nicki GreenburgPepper Stark could not be more thrilled to return to New York City with her father, the Captain. Not only will she be back in the place where her late mother once lived but also she’ll reunite with her friends Norah and Sol. But Pepper’s excitement for her trip fades when the Captain invites along his new friend Emmaline and her son, Elliott. Still, Pepper is determined to make the most of her time with her friends in the Big Apple, revelling in the energy of the city that never sleeps. But when dinner at the swanky restaurant where Sol is working ends in the suspicious illness of notorious food critic Anthony ‘the Shark’ Sharkey, Pepper finds herself entangled in yet another crime. With only a week before she has to return home, Pepper, Sol, Norah and a reluctantly recruited Elliott are facing an even bigger challenge than the Saffron Diamond mystery, and the stakes have never been so high. If they don’t find the culprit, Sol’s chef career could be over … or worse. And New York City might become the place where all of their dreams turn to dust. (Publisher)
When I See Blue
by Lily Bailey12-year-old Ben has a bully in his brain who tells him what to do. It makes dealing with a new school, new town and parents who are falling apart seem impossible. This heartfelt story about a boy with OCD celebrates how friendship can make you brave and find the strength to overcome anything. (Publisher)
Onyeka and the Academy of the Sunby Tola OkogwuOnyeka has a lot of hair—the kind that makes strangers stop in the street and her peers whisper behind her back. At least she has Cheyenne, her best friend, who couldn’t care less what other people think. Still, Onyeka has always felt insecure about her vibrant curls…until the day Cheyenne almost drowns and Onyeka’s hair takes on a life of its own, inexplicably pulling Cheyenne from the water. At home, Onyeka’s mother tells her the shocking truth: Onyeka’s psycho-kinetic powers make her a Solari, one of a secret group of people with super powers unique to Nigeria. Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves embroiled in a momentous battle between truth and lies… (Goodreads)
The Thief who Sang Storms
by Sophie AndersonThe Island of Morovia is shaped like a broken heart. The humans live on one side of the island, and the alkonosts – the bird-people – live on the other. But it wasn’t always this way… Linnet wishes she could sing magic, like her father, Nightingale – and bring the two sides of her island together again. For her land has been divided by a terrible tragedy, and Linnet has been banished with her father to the deepest swamps, leaving behind her best friends, Hero and Silver. So when her father is captured, Linnet must be brave and embark on a treacherous journey. Through alligator pools and sinking sands, she finds new friends. Yet without her singing magic, Linnet discovers something even more powerful. Something that could save her father, and heal the broken heart of her island once more… (Goodreads)
Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastropheby Ashleigh BartonYou’ve never met a vampire like Solomon Macaroni before – he’s friendly, polite and makes a mean tofu bolognese. Understandably, when his parents go on a one-hundred-year cruise without him, Solomon is not impressed. Especially because it means having to stay in creepy Transylvania with his six cousins, who are the rudest and naughtiest vampires in existence. (Well, apart from Lucy. He likes her.) Not even his uncle, Count Dracula, the oldest vampire in the world, can stop their pranks. But when his cousins venture into the spooky Wildwood on a dangerous mission, Solomon reluctantly agrees to help Lucy rescue them. In the forest, Solomon must draw on all he knows – about old magic, wet wipes and the importance of a well-timed entrance – to save his catastrophic cousins and possibly the world. A fang-tastic tale about loving your family, even when they drive you batty. (Goodreads)
The Midnightersby Hana TookeEma Vašková has always felt different. In a family of famous scientists, there’s not much room for superstition or omens – but they seem to follow Ema wherever she goes. It doesn’t help that she appears to predict events before they happen, and has a peculiar fear of shadows. . . When Ema is sent to stay with her eccentric uncle in Prague, she fears she’ll lose the chance to ever fit in. But then she meets Silvie – a girl who finally sees Ema for the extraordinary person that she is. Soon the girls are meeting for secret midnight adventures, and facing Ema’s fears together. But then disaster strikes. Silvie goes missing – and it’s up to Ema to find her. Now she must gather the courage to hunt the city, find her friend, and uncover the secrets of the one clue Silvie left as to where she might be – inside the mysterious Midnight Guild . . . (Goodreads)
The Silver Seaby Belinda Murrell
Team Trouble!by Eddie Woo & Dave HartleyEddie Woo Super Sleuth is ready for action and mystery. With a mind for maths and a nose for adventure, he is about to skateboard into danger. When Eddie receives a cryptic message from Mr Appleby, a Woo family friend and resident of Sunny Side Aged Care, he is soon on a mission to thwart the evil plans of smugglers. It’s up to Eddie to crack the clues and improve his skateboarding so that he can enter the annual school Triple Threat Quest with his best friends Rusty and DT. (Publisher)
Crash Course (Wolf Girl #7)by Anh DoAs the train Wolf Girl is driving hurtles towards the locked gates of an enemy city, the last thing Gwen expects to see out the window is her long lost sister! Soon the pack are on an epic chase, encountering deadly enemies and plenty of prehistoric surprises. But just when things seem most dire, help arrives in an unexpected form! (Back cover) -
Take your reading outside these holidays with a book from the library!
#AHStimes20
dRAMA
Anything but Fine by Tobias Madden
Luca is ready to audition for the Australian Ballet School. All it takes to crush his dreams is one missed step . . . and a broken foot.
Jordan is the gorgeous rowing star and school captain of Luca’s new school. Everyone says he’s straight – but Luca’s not so sure . . .
As their unlikely bond grows stronger, Luca starts to wonder: who is he without ballet? And is he setting himself up for another heartbreak? (Goodreads)
Exit Through the Gift Shop by Marayam Master
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 . . . (Goodreads)
Ballad for a Mad Girl by Vikki Wakefield
Everyone knows seventeen-year-old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She’s a prankster and a risk-taker, and she’s not afraid of anything—except losing. As part of the long-running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe.
That night she experiences something she can’t explain. The funny girl isn’t laughing anymore. She’s haunted by voices and visions—but nobody believes a girl who cries wolf.
As she’s drawn deeper into a twenty-year-old mystery surrounding missing girl Hannah Holt, the thin veil between this world and the next begins to slip. She can no longer tell what’s real or imagined—all she knows is the ghosts of Swanston, including that of her own mother, are restless. It seems one of them has granted her an extraordinary gift at a terrible price.
Everything about her is changing—her body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends don’t understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness? (Goodreads)
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling. Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off. Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist. Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.(Goodreads)
The Gaps by Leanne Hall
When sixteen-year-old Yin Mitchell is abducted, the news reverberates through the whole Year Ten class at Balmoral Ladies College. As the hours tick by, the girls know the chance of Yin being found alive is becoming smaller and smaller. Police suspect the abduction is the work of a serial offender, with none in the community safe from suspicion. Everyone is affected by Yin’s disappearance-even scholarship student Chloe, who usually stays out of Balmoral drama, is drawn into the maelstrom. And when she begins to form an uneasy alliance with the queen of Year Ten, Natalia, things get even more complicated. Looking over their shoulders at every turn, Chloe and Natalia must come together to cope with their fear and grief as best they can. (Publisher)
Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer
The 2:00 a.m. call is the first time Lexie Vidler has heard her sister’s voice in years. Annie is a drug addict, a thief, a liar—and in trouble, again. Lexie has always bailed Annie out, given her money, a place to sleep, sent her to every kind of rehab. But this time, she’s not just strung out—she’s pregnant and in premature labor. If she goes to the hospital, she’ll lose custody of her baby—maybe even go to prison. But the alternative is unthinkable.
As weeks unfold, Lexie finds herself caring for her fragile newborn niece while her carefully ordered life is collapsing around her. She’s in danger of losing her job, and her fiancé only has so much patience for Annie’s drama. In court-ordered rehab, Annie attempts to halt her downward spiral by confronting long-buried secrets from the sisters’ childhood, ghosts that Lexie doesn’t want to face. But will the journey heal Annie, or lead her down a darker path? (Goodreads)ROMANCE
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
“Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.
“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.
“I’m not kidding,” he says.
“You should be,” she says, “we’re 16.”
“What about Romeo and Juliet?”
“Shallow, confused, then dead.”
“I love you,” Park says.
“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.
“I’m not kidding,” he says.
“You should be.”
Set over one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. (Goodreads)
Don’t Hate the Player by Alexis Nedd
By day, Emilia is a field hockey star with a popular boyfriend and a mother obsessed with her academic future. But by night, she’s kicking virtual ass as the only female member of a highly competitive eSports team. Emilia has mastered the art of keeping her two worlds thriving, which hinges on them staying completely separate.
When a major eSports tournament comes to her city, Emilia is determined to prove herself to the male-dominated gaming community. But her perfectly balanced life is thrown for a loop when a member of a rival team—Jake—recognizes her . . . (Goodreads)
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.
But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy… (Goodreads)FANTASY
Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee
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? (Goodreads)
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life…until now.
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read. (Goodreads)
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, untrained, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the Crown Prince, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the emperor’s son. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. When treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, however, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream–striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos. (Goodreads)
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
Here at Zalindov, the only person you can trust is yourself. Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer. When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals. Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: Don’t let her die. We are coming. Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom. But no one has ever survived. With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun. (Publisher)
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Eighteen-year-old art student Susan Arkshaw arrives in London in search of her father. But before she can question crime boss Frank Thringley he’s turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin. Merlin is one of the youngest members of a secret society of booksellers with magical powers who police the mythic Old World wherever it impinges on the New World – in addition to running several bookshops, of course! Merlin also has a quest of his own: to find the Old World entity who arranged the murder of his mother. Their investigations attract attention from enemies of the Old and New Worlds. Soon they become involved in an even more urgent task to recover the grail that is the source of the left-handed booksellers’ power, before it is used to destroy the booksellers and rouse the hordes of the mythic past. As the search for the grail becomes strangely intertwined with both their quests, they start to wonder… Is Susan’s long-lost father a bookseller, or something altogether more mysterious? (Publisher)
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.
Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.
Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . (Goodreads)MYSTERY & CRIME
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
On a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced mother. But when she wanders off by herself, and then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fears. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio’s reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her — protecting her from an all-too-real enemy who has left a trail of slaughtered animals and mangled trees in the dense, dark woods….(Goodreads)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her — her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy. (Goodreads)
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions – including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.
As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture – by any means necessary. (Goodreads)SCIENCE FICTION
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war—and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. (Goodreads)
The Selection by Keira Cass
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. (Goodreads)
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
The first book in Lauren Oliver’s New York Times bestselling trilogy about forbidden love, revolution, and the power to choose. Now with a brand-new cover and an exclusive-to-this-book sneak peek at her next novel for teens: the ambitious, wholly original masterwork Replica.
In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn’t about to make the same mistake.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the Wilds who lives under the government’s radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love? (Goodreads)MANGA
Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge
Tanjiro sets out on the path of the Demon Slayer to save his sister and avenge his family!
In Taisho-era Japan, Tanjiro Kamado is a kindhearted boy who makes a living selling charcoal. But his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His little sister Nezuko is the only survivor, but she has been transformed into a demon herself! Tanjiro sets out on a dangerous journey to find a way to return his sister to normal and destroy the demon who ruined his life.
Learning to slay demons won’t be easy, and Tanjiro barely knows where to start. The surprise appearance of another boy named Giyu, who seems to know what’s going on, might provide some answers…but only if Tanjiro can stop Giyu from killing his sister first! (Goodreads)
Anonymous Noise by Ryoko Fukuyama
Nino Arisugawa, a girl who loves to sing, experiences her first heart-wrenching goodbye when her beloved childhood friend, Momo, moves away. And after Nino befriends Yuzu, a music composer, she experiences another sad parting! Luckily, Nino reunites with Momo and Yuzu in high school, but things haven’t played out the way anyone expected…
Nino Arisugawa, a girl who loves to sing, experiences her first heart-wrenching goodbye when her beloved childhood friend, Momo, moves away. And after Nino befriends Yuzu, a music composer, she experiences another sad parting! Both boys promised Nino that they would find her one day through her singing, so she holds on to that hope and continues to reach out with her voice. Now in high school, Nino serendipitously reunites with Yuzu, but she yearns to see Momo again… (Goodreads)
Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama
In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch…until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem… (Goodreads)NON-FICTION
Olive Pink: Artist, Activist & Gardener presents a superb selection of original paintings of the iconic flowers of the Central Australian region, alongside a fascinating biography featuring beautifully reproduced memorabilia of a colourful and unconventional historical Australian figure.
A fiercely independent woman ahead of her time, Olive Pink is best known for her staunch support of the Aboriginal people of Central Australia and for her often feisty encounters with anthropologists, missionaries and local pastoralists. Olive fought hard not only for the rights of the local Arrernte and Warlpiri people, with whom she forged a strong connection, but also to recognise and protect the diversity of the local flora about which she was so passionate.
Olive Pink’s many beautiful paintings express her intimate knowledge and love of the region’s flora: a love that led to her establishing, with the support of Aboriginal gardeners, a flora reserve in Alice Springs, now known as the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. (Goodreads)
From the author of the internationally successful How to Grow Microgreens, this companion volume is all about growing edible plants when you only have limited space. Fionna grows a huge range of crops throughout the year on her apartment balcony and, as with her previous book, she writes candidly about the successes (and failures), those plants that crop well or not, and she introduces some more unusual varieties such as water chestnut, ginger and tatsoi. With over 45 edible plants described, there is something for all tastes and seasons. Fionna again includes delicious recipes with suggestions on how to use the produce you grow so that you can enjoy salads and cooked vegetables from your garden all year round. There is a chapter on encouraging children to grow their own favourite container edibles (children enjoy vegetables so much more when they have grown them themselves), troubleshooting any issues with your container plants and easy instructions on watering and plant nutrition. (Goodreads)
Is there a book you’d like us to add to our collection? Add your suggestion below!
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Spring into these great books over the holidays!
If you’re too busy to come into the library, just email us at library@ahs.qld.edu.au and we can reserve your book and leave it in your pigeon hole.
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bIOGRAPHY & NON-FICTION
Riding the Black Cockatoo
by John Danalis
This is the compelling story of how the skull of an Aboriginal man, found on the banks of the Murray River more than 40 years ago, came to be returned to his Wamba Wamba descendants. It is a story of awakening, atonement, forgiveness, and friendship. “It is as if a whole window into Indigenous culture has blown open, not just the window, but every door in the house,” says John Danalis. Part history, part detective story, part cultural discovery and emotional journey, this is a book for young and old, showing the transformative and healing power of true reconciliation. (Goodreads)
Daughters of Durga by Manjula Datta O’Connor
In the early 2010s a spate of domestic violence-related murders in the Victorian Indian community compelled psychiatrist Manjula Datta O’Connor to investigate the causes of patriarchal abuse in South Asian families. As a practitioner with many decades experience in the field, Datta O’Connor questioned whether a better understanding of history and culture could help these communities implement measures to prevent family violence.
But the most powerful lessons came from those she met through her practice – survivors of transnational abuse and of sexual and dowry exploitation. These women taught Datta O’Connor about human resilience and strength and the myriad ways women find the inner power to survive. (Goodreads)
Elizabeth Macarthur’s Letters by Kate Grenville
This book offers an edited selection, with commentary from Grenville, of the many letters Elizabeth Macarthur wrote ‘home’ from colonial Sydney over her long life—letters in which we can hear the voice of a remarkable woman. Circumstances confronted her with huge challenges, but also gave her opportunities unknown to most women of the time. It was a life of tumult, of griefs and joys—all faced with spirit, and recorded in this lively and engaging correspondence. (Goodreads)
How Not to Die by Michael Greger
The vast majority of premature deaths can be prevented through simple changes in diet and lifestyle. In How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-renowned nutrition expert, physician, and founder of NutritionFacts.org, examines the fifteen top causes of premature death in America — heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson’s, high blood pressure, and more — and explains how nutritional and lifestyle interventions can sometimes trump prescription pills and other pharmaceutical and surgical approaches, freeing us to live healthier lives. (Goodreads)
Lessons from History by David Lowe,et al
In Lessons from History leading historians tackle the biggest challenges that face Australia and the world and show how the past provides context and knowledge that can guide us in the present. Does history repeat itself in meaningful ways, or is each problem unique? Does a knowledge of Australian history enhance our understanding of the present and prepare us for the future? Lessons from History is written with the conviction that we must see the world, and confront its many challenges, with an understanding of what has gone before. (Goodeads)
Courage Under Fire by Daniel Keighran VC
On 24 August 2010, in battle in Afghanistan, Corporal Daniel Keighran risked his life in a hail of gunfire to save his fellow soldiers. His actions saw him awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia, making him the 99th Australian to receive our country’s highest award for bravery. Courage Under Fire is an outstanding military memoir, packed with tales of multiple tours, accounts of extraordinary camaraderie, and a reflection on the unseen cost of service. Most of all it is a testament to the idea that anything is possible if you know what you stand for. (Goodreads)dRAMA
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.
But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things – her mind.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (‘combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride’) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. (Goodreads)
Friends Like These by Meg Rosoff
New York City. June, 1982. When eighteen-year-old Beth arrives in Manhattan for a prestigious journalism internship, everything feels brand new – and not always in a good way. A cockroach-infested sublet and a disaffected roommate are the least of her worries, and she soon finds herself caught up with her fellow interns – preppy Oliver, ruthless Dan and ridiculously cool, beautiful, wild Edie.
Soon, Beth and Edie are best friends – the sort of heady, all-consuming best-friendship that’s impossible to resist. But with the mercury rising and deceit mounting up, betrayal lies just around the corner. Who needs enemies … when you have friends like these? (Goodreads)
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.
Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.
When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst. (Goodreads)MYSTERY & CRIME
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home.
Ronnie’s going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can’t be gone, Ronnie won’t believe it.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it, she has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible.
Lewis can believe it too. But he can’t reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret.
Five days later, Esther’s buried body is discovered. (Goodreads)
10 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath
20 stories. 20 dangerous situations. 20 brave kids. 10 minutes to escape. Dodi is in the blast radius of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
Gary is stuck up a tree with a giant tsunami wave fast approaching. Tatum is climbing a caldera when an earthquake makes the volcano erupt.
Read 20 new dangerous stories in 10 minutes of reading time each! (Booktopia)
The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves
Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship, and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion.
Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . .
But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible. (Goodreads)FANTASY & SCI-FI
Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller
Eighteen-year-old Ziva prefers metal to people. She spends her days tucked away in her forge, safe from society and the anxiety it causes her, using her magical gift to craft unique weapons imbued with power.
Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims’ secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord’s intentions to use the weapon to enslave all the world under her rule, Ziva and her sister set out on a quest to keep the sword safe until they can find a worthy wielder or a way to destroy it entirely. (Goodreads)
Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Andry, a former squire, continues to fight for hope amid blood and chaos.
Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath.
Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth.
Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power.
And Corayne, a pirate’s daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she’s destined to be.
Together they must assemble an army to face Queen Erida and Taristan’s wicked forces. But something deadly waits in the shadows, something that might consume the world before there’s any hope for victory. (Goodreads)
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
n 1912, eighteen-year-old Edwin St. Andrew crosses the Atlantic, exiled from English polite society. In British Columbia, he enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and for a split second all is darkness, the notes of a violin echoing unnaturally through the air. The experience shocks him to his core.
Two centuries later Olive Llewelyn, a famous writer, is traveling all over Earth, far away from her home in the second moon colony. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.
When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in time, he uncovers a series of lives upended: the exiled son of an aristocrat driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe. (Goodreads)
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Cosy up these holidays with some great reads from the library
Don’t forget to read for 20 minutes a day – #AHStimes20bIOGRAPHY
Unbound
by Tarana Burke
From the founder and activist behind one of the largest movements of the twenty-first century, the me too movement, Tarana Burke debuts a powerful memoir about her own journey to saying those two simple yet infinitely powerful words and how she brought empathy back to an entire generation.
(Goodreads)
We Were Dreamers
by Simu Liu
Marvel’s newest recruit shares his own inspiring and unexpected origin story, from China to the bright lights of Hollywood. An immigrant who battles everything from parental expectations to cultural stereotypes, Simu Liu struggles to forge a path for himself, rising from the ashes of a failed accounting career (yes, you read that right) to become Shang-Chi. (Goodreads)
The Woman They Could Not Silence
by Kate Moore
Elizabeth Packard was an ordinary Victorian housewife and mother of six. That was, until the first Woman’s Rights Convention was held in 1848, inspiring Elizabeth and many other women to dream of greater freedoms. She began voicing her opinions on politics and religion — opinions that her husband did not share. Incensed and deeply threatened by her growing independence, he had her declared ‘slightly insane’ and committed to an asylum. Fighting the stigma of her gender and her supposed madness, Elizabeth embarked on a ceaseless quest for justice. It not only challenged the medical science of the day and saved untold others from suffering her fate, it ultimately led to a giant leap forward in human rights the world over.(Goodreads)nON-FICTION
Catholica
by Suzanna Ivanic
Focusing on a carefully curated selection of Catholic art and artifacts, this volume explores the influence of iconography and the mystic power of a range of ritual objects. Expert Suzanna Ivanic identifies hidden visual symbols in paintings and examines them close-up, building a catalog of key symbols for readers to use to interpret Catholic art and culture. (Goodreads)
The Law of Love
by Richard Leonard
Meditations on the sources of formation in Christian approach to law, its application to contemporary living, and how our approach to the law should set us free, not bind us up. This is a positive contribution to the present and lively debate about the tension between Christian liberty and obedience. (Book Depository)
The New Climate War
by Michael E. Mann
A renowned climate scientist shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet.
Recycle. Fly less. Eat less meat. These are some of the ways that we’ve been told can slow climate change. But the inordinate emphasis on individual behavior is the result of a marketing campaign that has succeeded in placing the responsibility for fixing climate change squarely on the shoulders of individuals. (Goodreads)WELLBEING & LIFESTYLE
Thrive
by Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and one of the most influential women in the world, has written a passionate call to arms, looking to redefine what it means to be successful in today’s world.
She likens our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool. It may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we’re going to topple over. We need a third leg – a Third Metric for defining success – in order to live a healthy, productive, and meaningful life. (Goodreads)
Power Play
by Julia Banks
Julia Banks shocked Australia when in 2018 she announced she would stand as an independent MP, resigning from the Coalition Government’s Liberal Party, having experienced a toxic workplace culture in the country’s centre of power. Julia doesn’t just know what power looks like in a political sense; she made it to the top of her game in the legal and corporate sectors before running for parliament. And at every level, she had to navigate through the barriers and bias that can block, delay or deter women from attaining leadership roles. (Goodreads)
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
by Philippa Perry
In this absorbing, clever, and warm book, renowned psychotherapist Philippa Perry tells us what really matters and what behavior it is important to avoid–the vital dos and don’ts of parenting.
Her approach begins with parents themselves and their own psychological make-up and history–and how that in turn influences one’s parenting. (Goodreads)dRAMA
Trip of a Lifetime
by Liz Byrski
How do you get your life back on track after a sudden and traumatic event? This is the question Heather Delaney constantly asks herself as she eases herself back into her busy job.
Heather is not the only one who is rocked by the changed circumstances – reverberations are felt throughout her family and friendship circle. And then along comes Heather’s old flame, Ellis. Romantic, flamboyant, determined to recapture the past and take control of the future, he seems to have all the answers. But can it really be that easy? (Goodreads)
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. (Goodreads)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. As Evelyn’s life unfolds through the decades—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
(Goodreads)hISTORICAL
Hamnet
by Maggie O’Farrell
Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.
Award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history. (Goodreads)
The Young Alexander
by Alex Rowson
Each generation has peered through the frosted glass of history and come to their own conclusion about Alexander, be it enlightened ruler, military genius, megalomaniac, drunkard or despot. Yet the first two decades of his life have until now been a mystery – a matter of legend and myth. This extraordinary history draws on new discoveries in archaeology to tell the early story of Alexander and his rise – including detail on the tempestuous relationship between Alexander’s parents, Philip and the Molossian princess Olympias, his education by Aristotle and the strict military training which would serve him so well in later years. And more than ever, it emerges, the story of Alexander’s reign confronts us with difficult questions that are still relevant today – of the relationship between East and West, the legacy of colonialism and the impacts of authoritarian rule. (Goodreads)
The Betrayal of Anne Frank
by Rosemary Sullivan
Over thirty million people have read The Diary of a Young Girl, the journal teen-aged Anne Frank kept while living in an attic with her family and four other people in Amsterdam during World War II, until the Nazis arrested them and sent them to a concentration camp. But despite the many works—journalism, books, plays and novels—devoted to Anne’s story, none has ever conclusively explained how these eight people managed to live in hiding undetected for over two years—and who or what finally brought the Nazis to their door. (Goodreads)MYSTERY & CRIME
The Sorrow Stone
by Kari Gislason
After committing an audacious act of revenge for her brother’s murder, Disa flees with her son Sindri through the fjords of Iceland. She has already endured the death of her loved ones. Now she must run to save her son, and her honour.
In a society where betrayals and revenge killings are rife, all Disa has is her pride and her courage. Will it be enough for her and her son to escape retribution? (Goodreads)
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
by Benjamin Stevenson
I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder. Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up. The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone. My brother. My step-sister. My wife. My father. My mother. My sister-in-law. My uncle. My stepfather. My aunt. Me. (Goodreads)
Wake
by Shelley Burr
Mina McCreery’s sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family’s destocked sheep farm.
When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer.
Lane wins her trust when his unconventional methods show promise, but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case, and his obsession with the answer will ultimately risk both their lives. (Goodreads)FANTASY
Book of Night
by Holly Black
In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own. (Goodreads)
A Deadly Education
by Naomi Novik
From the leading talent in fantasy, a magical coming-of-age trilogy with a hilarious female anti-hero – a darker more intelligent Harry Potter for adults.
Wry, witty, endlessly inventive, and mordantly funny – yet with a true depth and fierce justice at its heart – this enchanting novel reminds us that there are far more important things than mere survival. (Goodreads)
The Blood Traitor
by Lynette Noni
Kiva thought she knew what she wanted—revenge. But feelings change, people change… everything has changed. A fresh start will mean a perilous quest, forcing mortal enemies and uneasy allies together in a race against the clock to save not just Evalon, but all of Wenderall. With her loyalties now set, Kiva can no longer just survive—she must fight for what she believes in. For who she believes in. But with danger coming from every side, and the lives of everyone she loves at risk, does she have what it takes to stand, or will she fall? (Goodreads)
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In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.
Ben Aaronovitch#AHStimes20
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dRAMA
The Bravest Word
by Kate Foster
Do you hear that? You’re Cliff now, and your life is going to get better, I promise. When eleven-year-old Matt finds Cliff, a hurt, neglected dog abandoned in the bush, he knows the brave little pup needs saving. He wants to help. But can he? Lately, Matt has had way more bad days than good days. The pieces of his life just don’t seem to fit together any more and he doesn’t understand why. He’s finding it impossible to concentrate at school and has lost interest in the activities he used to love. Plus, he’s tired all the time. Matt’s too afraid to share what’s really going on in his own head with anyone. His friends and family will never understand . . . maybe it’s not only Cliff who needs saving. (Publisher)
Restart
by Gordon Korman
Chase doesn’t remember falling off the roof. He doesn’t remember hitting his head. He doesn’t, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name.
He knows he’s Chase. But who is Chase?Pretty soon, it’s not only a question of who Chase is–it’s a question of who he was . . . and who he’s going to be. (Goodreads)
Family of Liars
by E. Lockhart
The prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come.
A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars. (Goodreads)
Sugar
by Carly Nugent
Persephone is angry. Angry that her life revolves around finger-prick tests, carbohydrate counts and insulin injections. Angry at Alexander Manson. Angry with her mum for lots of things, for nothing and for everything.
But most of all, she’s angry with herself. For deserving it all. Because of what she did, or didn’t do. Because one year ago she did something and her dad died.
But then Persephone finds a body on a bush path, a young woman she doesn’t know but feels a strong connection to. And as she tries to find out what happened to Sylvia, Persephone begins to understand her own place in the complex interconnectedness of the universe. (Goodreads)
The Monster of Her Age
by Danielle Binks
Ellie Marsden was born into the legendary Lovinger acting dynasty. Granddaughter of the infamous Lottie Lovinger, as a child Ellie shared the silver screen with Lottie in her one-and-only role playing the child monster in a cult horror movie. The experience left Ellie deeply traumatised and estranged from people she loved. Now seventeen, Ellie has returned home to Hobart for the first time in years. Lottie is dying and Ellie wants to make peace with her before it’s too late. When a chance encounter with a young film buff leads her to a feminist horror film collective, Ellie meets Riya, a girl who she might be able to show her real self to, and at last comes to understand her family’s legacy. (Publisher)
Tiger Daughter
by Rebecca Lim
Wen Zhou is the only child of Chinese immigrants whose move to the lucky country has proven to be not so lucky. Wen and her friend, Henry Xiao — whose mum and dad are also struggling immigrants — both dream of escape from their unhappy circumstances, and form a plan to sit an entrance exam to a selective high school far from home. But when tragedy strikes, it will take all of Wen’s resilience and resourcefulness to get herself and Henry through the storm that follows. (Goodreads)ROMANCE
Counting Down with You
by Tashie Bhuiyan
Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything. Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back. T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal–but what if Karina no longer wants it to? (Publisher)
Emma
by Jane Austen
Beautiful, rich, self-assured and witty, Emma Woodhouse delights in matchmaking those around her, with no apparent care for her own romantic life. Taking young Harriet Smith under her wing, Emma sets her sights on finding a suitable match for her friend. Chided for her mistakes by old friend Mr Knightley, it is only when Harriet starts to pursue her own love interests that Emma realises the true hidden depths of her own heart.(Goodreads)
Kate in Waiting
by Becky Albertalli
Contrary to popular belief, best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are not codependent. Carpooling to and from theatre rehearsals? Environmentally sound and efficient. Consulting each other on every single life decision? Basic good judgment. Pining for the same guys from afar? Shared crushes are more fun anyway.
But when Kate and Andy’s latest long-distance crush shows up at their school, everything goes off-script. Matt Olsson is talented and sweet, and Kate likes him. She really likes him. The only problem? So does Anderson.
Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved. This one might even bring the curtains down on Kate and Anderson’s friendship. (Goodreads)GLOBAL
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana Fraillon
Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention centre after his mother fled the violence of a distant homeland, life behind the fences is all he has ever known. But as he grows, his imagination gets bigger too, until it is bursting at the limits of his world. The night sea brings him gifts, the faraway whales sing to him, and the birds tell their stories.
The most vivid story of all, however, is the one that arrives one night in the form of Jimmie, a scruffy, impatient girl who appears from the other side of the wires, and brings a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it, she relies on Subhi to unravel her own family’s love songs and tragedies.
Subhi and Jimmie might both find a way to freedom, as their tales unfold. But not until each of them has been braver than ever before. (Goodreads)
Sunburnt Veils
by Sara Haghdoosti
Tara wears hijab even though her parents hate it, and in a swipe right world she’s looking for the ‘will go to the ends of the earth for you’ type of love. Or, she would be, if she hadn’t sworn off boys to focus on getting into med. Besides, what’s wrong with just crushing on the assassins, mages and thieves in the fantasy books she reads?
When a bomb threat on her first day of university throws her together with totally annoying party king and oh-so-entitled politician’s son Alex, things get complicated. Tara needs to decide if she’s happy reading about heroes, or if she’s ready to step up and be one herself. (Goodreads)
A Pho Love Story
by Joan Le
Linh and Bao like each other. A lot. The only problem? Their families own rival pho restaurants and hate each other’s guts, so they have to keep their relationship a secret. But they can only steal kisses in dark alleys and the art room at school for so long. Can their love transcend an age-old feud and heal the rift between these two families? Or have these high school sweethearts bitten off more than they can chew? (Publisher)FANTASY
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
by T. Kingfisher
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries… (Goodreads)
The Atlas Six
by Olivie Blake
A The world’s best young magicians accept the opportunity of a lifetime. Six are chosen. Only five will walk away. The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few. (Publisher)
We Who Hunt the Hollow
by Kate Murray
Seventeen-year-old Priscilla Daalman’s entire family are Hollow Warriors – legendary monster hunters charged with killing evil beasts from beyond our universe. She’s desperate to live up to that legacy, but she’s convinced neither she, nor her superpower – the ability to sense Hollow energy – is up to the task.
But when Priscilla attempts a desperate ritual to enhance her abilities, she accidentally triggers a frightening new power: the power to summon monsters from the Hollow itself. Now, Priscilla must protect her loved ones – her heartbroken ex-girlfriend, her mysterious new boyfriend, even her fierce warrior family – from supernatural monsters, and also from herself. Because if her power gets out, all hell will break loose … and Priscilla will risk losing everything. (Goodreads)
Little Thieves
by Margaret Owen
For the last year, the wicked maid Vanja Schmidt has lived a lie. Once the loyal servant of the Princess Gisele, Vanja stole a string of enchanted pearls that transformed her into the glamorous princess, leaving the true Gisele a penniless nobody. Now Vanja leads a lonely but profitable double life, charming the nobility with the pearls’ facade while ransacking their coffers as a wanted jewel thief. All she needs is enough to fund an escape from the god-mothers, Death and Fortune, who took her in as a child — and have come to collect her debt. (Publisher)
The Ivory Key
by Akshaya Raman
Vira is desperate to get out of her mother’s shadow and establish her legacy as a revered queen of Ashoka. But with the country’s only quarry running out of magic – a precious resource that has kept Ashoka safe from conflict – she can barely protect her citizens from the looming threat of war. And if her enemies discover this, they’ll stop at nothing to seize the last of the magic. (Goodreads)
The Fire Star
by A. L. Tait
A maid with a plan.
A squire with a secret.
A missing jewel.
A kingdom in turmoil.
Maven and Reeve have three days to solve the mystery of the Fire Star. If they don’t, they’ll lose everything.
This could be a complete disaster . . . or the beginning of a great friendship.
39 Clues meets Ranger’s Apprentice in bestselling fantasy author A. L. Tait’s new medieval adventure series about two unlikely friends – and a mystery to solve that could change their lives. (Goodreads)MYSTERY & CRIME
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
After Will’s brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don’t cry. Don’t snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn’s gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will’s friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he’s doing.
This haunting, lyrical, powerful verse novel will blow you away. (Goodreads)
Seven Days
by Fleur Ferris
When Ben is dumped with his country relatives for the holidays, he starts counting down the days until it’s over, hating every second. But Ben’s stay takes a sharp turn when he comes across his great-great grandfather’s journal–the final entry being from one hundred years ago, right after he was shot. With his cousin, Josh, Ben starts unravelling mysteries, lies and shocking crimes. Can the two boys beat the odds to resolve a century of bad blood between two families? A dangerous treasure hunt could hold the answers–or it could be a journey from which there is no return. (Publisher)
The Agathas
by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson
Last summer, Alice Ogilve’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. Where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove, because she’s not talking. Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory. (Goodreads)SCIENCE FICTION
Mars Awakens
by H. M. Waugh
Raised in rival colonies on Mars, each long ago abandoned by Earth, Dee and Holt have been brought up to hate even the idea of each other. But when a mysterious object crash-lands on a far-flung plain, they are both sent to investigate and their fates intertwine. Together they must battle epic storms and deadly bioclouds while unpicking the web of lies they have been told about their planet. Will their bond be strong enough to withstand the arrival of a mysterious invader that threatens to end life on Mars forever? (Publisher)
The Electric Kingdom
by David Arnold
When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. The Electric Kingdom is a sweeping exploration of art, storytelling, eternal life, and above all, a testament to the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another. (Goodreads)
The Ones We’re Meant to Find
by Joan He
Cee woke up on the shores of an abandoned island three years ago with no idea how she got there. Now eighteen, she lives in a shack with an ageing android, and a single memory – she has a sister, and she has to escape to find her. From the safety of the eco-city floating above Earth, now decimated by natural disasters, sixteen-year-old Kasey mourns Cee whom she’s sure is dead. She too wants to escape – the eco-city is meant to be a sanctuary for people who want to save the planet, but its inhabitants are willing to do anything for refuge, even lie. Is Kasey ready to use technology to help Earth, even though it failed her sister? Cee and Kasey think that what they know about each other and their world is true. (Publisher)GRAPHIC NOVELS
Wings of Fire Series
by Tui T. Sutherland
The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy — a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice. (Publisher)
Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian
by Tim Probert
Deep in the heart of Irpa stands the Salty Pig’s Tonics and Tinctures, home of the wise Pig Wizard and his adopted grandaughter, Bea. As keepers of the Endless Flame, they live a quiet and peaceful life, crafting medicines and potions for the people of their once prosperous world. All that changes when Bea meets Cad, a member of the Galdurian, a race thought to be long-extinct. (Publisher)
Girl on Fire
by Alicia Keys
From New York Times bestselling author and 15-time GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Alicia Keys comes a new authentic, honest, coming-of-age young adult graphic novel, illustrated by Brittney Williams, about finding the strength within when your whole world changes in an instant. (Goodreads)NON-FICTION
Learn how to be more secure, independent and informed with your money – with clear steps on how to budget, clear debts, build savings, start investing, buy property and much more. And along with all the practical information, Victoria will guide you through the sometimes-tricky psychology surrounding money so you can establish the values, habits and confidence that will help you build your wealth long-term. (Publisher) 
The much-admired, critically-praised and bestselling biography of Queen Victoria, from one of Australia’s most admired and respected journalists and commentators, Julia Baird. (Goodreads) 
Let’s give a shout-out to 50 awesome Australian women with these easy-to-read biographies of their incredible achievements. Brought to life by colorful illustrations from female artists, Shout Out to the Girls is the ultimate inspirational read for young and old. (Goodreads)
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Warm up this winter with one of these new and popular books!
Hover over each book to find out more details. Click the cover of the book to borrow (Make sure you are logged into Moodle) 👌
DRAMA
Perfect for all readers from 7 to 70, Einstein the Penguin introduces an unforgettable new character in a future-classic and fantastically funny debut for all the family to enjoy. Get ready to welcome the most extraordinary penguin into your own home… (Goodreads)
Einstein the Penguin by Iona Rangeley
There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to a faraway Arctic outpost. But one night, April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear shaped loping across the horizon. A polar bear who shouldn’t be there—who is hungry, lonely and a long way from home. (Goodreads)
The Last Bear by Hannah Gold
Two very different Grade 6 girls meet in their school sick bay. Meg is a loner. New girl Riley, is a Type 1 diabetic and already popular. As Meg and Riley are forced to spend more and more time together in the cramped sick bay room, they start to uncover each others secrets and find the courage to be who they really are. (Publisher)
Sick Bay by Nova Weetman
When seventh-grader Josephine’s mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, she wants to keep it secret, even from her best friend Makayla, but her twin brother, Chance, has other ideas. (Publisher)
Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas by Andrea Pyros
Lottie Brooks is 11 3/4 and her life is already officially over – not only is she about to start high school without any friends or glamorous swooshy hair, she’s just discovered she’s too flat-chested to wear a bra! (Goodreads)
The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby
Eleven-year-old Alberta Bracken is having a terrible summer. After a bike-riding accident, caused by the local bully, her arm’s in a cast so she can’t do her most favourite holiday activity: boogie boarding at the local beach. And her little sister Clementine is extremely annoying. So when budding film-maker Mikki Watanabe suggests they start a YouTube channel about the secret life of trees. (Back cover)
Mikki and Me and the Out-of-Tune Tree by Marion Roberts
HISTORICAL
1945. War has ended, but for sisters Flora and Isobel the struggles still continue. They’ve lost their father and had their home destroyed in a bombing raid, and now they must go to live with their aunt and her awful husband Mr Godfrey in their ancestral home, Splint Hall. (Goodreads)
The Secrets of Splint Hall by Katie Cotton
Twelve-year-old Ming Qong is convinced that girls must have changed the world, even if they are rarely mentioned in history books. So when Ming gets the chance to go back in time, she imagines herself changing destinies from a glittering palace or an explorer’s ship. Instead, she ends up in Australia in 1898, living a tough life as Flo Watson on a drought-stricken farm. (Goodreads)
Ming and Flo Fight for the Future by Jackie French
The First World War has ended, but it hasn’t gone away. When Natty has to move to a new village, she meets two young soldiers who are still battling the effects of war. Huw can’t forget the terrible things he’s seen, but Johnny doesn’t even remember who he is. (Goodreads)
When the War Came Home by Lesley Parr
FANTASY
It takes a (mostly) reformed thief to catch a spy. Which is why Gilly Cobbler, Enchantasia’s most notorious pickpocket, volunteers to stay locked up at Fairy Tale Reform School…indefinitely. Gilly and her friends may have defeated the Evil Queen and become reluctant heroes, but the battle for Enchantasia has just begun. (Goodreads)
Charmed by Jen Calonita
When 12-year-old Flick Hudson accidentally ends up in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, she uncovers a fantastic secret: there are hundreds of other worlds just steps away from ours. All you have to do to visit them is jump into the right suitcase. (Goodreads)
The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski
Olia lives with her parents in an old crumbling castle, filled with hidden turrets and secret doorways. When she follows a mysterious cat to one of the castle’s roof domes, she finds herself stepping through one such doorway into a magical land filled with wonders. (Goodreads)
The Castle of Tangled Magic by Sophie Anderson
Eleven-year-old Tulsi comes from a long line of women magicians, but her mother has always forbidden her to learn Big Magic. It’s dangerous, thrilling, and powerful–and Tulsi wants it more than anything. (Goodreads)
Big Magic by Sarah Armstrong
When twelve-year-olds Willa and Manny hear of a mysterious animal prowling their town, they are determined to prove it is real. Following it into a cave one full moon, they are swept into an alternative world — one where pollution and conflict were conquered decades ago. (Goodreads)
Into the Sideways World by Ross Welford
Nine and her friends have broken the curse on their marvellous, magical House, and are free to travel the worlds once more! Their first stop: The Wizarding Hopscotch Championships. (Goodreads)
The Tower at the End of Time by Amy Sparkes
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