The CBCA

YA Lit reviews

[penguinteen]

6 Female Spies We’d Rather Hang Out With Than James Bond

Spies are awesome, and female spies are even more awesome – you know it’s true.

[thecbca]

If you are female, hanging out with James Bond is too likely to get you killed.

[thecbca]

Australia to Z

Armin Greder, Australia to Z, Allen & Unwin, Jan 2016, 32pp., $29.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781760113186 Armin Greder’s Australia to Z uses the form of an alphabet book to represent problematic aspects of Australian culture and identity. Each letter has a full page illustration in muted, minimalistic colours. The book is dark and disturbing, even grotesque.

[thecbca]

Max - Reading Time

The year is 1936 and Konrad von Kebnersol is the first of the ‘Lebensborn’ (Fountain of Life), children conceived as part of a Nazi eugenics programme designed to create the perfect race to populate the One Thousand Year Reich. Removed from his mother shortly after birth, Konrad is raised in institutions where he is indoctrinated with Nazi principles and taught to be merciless, emotionless, violent, anti-Semitic and to serve only the ignoble visions of his Führer. Konrad, also known as Max, assists in the kidnapping of Polish children to be “Germanised”, betrays people trying to escape deportation to concentration camps and is particularly keen to denounce any homosexuals or Jews.

Suitable for mature Young Adult readers, Max explores the dark side of human nature

[thecbca]

The Siren - Reading Time

Kiera Cass, The Siren . HarperCollins Australia, 1 Feb 2016, 327pp., $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780008157937 The main characters in this fantasy novel are loosely based on the Sirens of Greek mythology who lured mariners to their death. The rest of the novel and the construction of the secondary world, however are original and intriguing. Read More...

[thecbca]

Waer - Reading Time

Meg Caddy, Waer, Text Publishing, 1 March 2016, 240pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781922182210 Caddy’s fine debut fantasy is a classic struggle between good and evil, between those who love power and those who strive for balance. It advocates for acceptance, tolerance and understanding of difference. It is also a cracking adventure story with a touching romance... Read More

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers.

Nona & Me by Clare Atkins, Black Inc. isbn:9781863956895

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers.

Intruder by Christine Bongers, Random House Australia isbn:9780857983763

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers.

Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth, Random House Australia isbn:9780857984739

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers.

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil, Hardie Grant Egmont isbn:9781742978307

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers.

The Minnow by Diana Sweeney, Text Publishing isbn:9781922182012

[thecbca]

Short Listed for the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. The Protected by Claire Zorn, University of Queensland Press isbn:9780702250194

[thecbca]

A thrilling psychological novel. A sequel to I am not Esther, this novel explores deeper into the life of a young woman growing up in a religious cult. http://readingtime.com.au/rebecca/

[thecbca]

Broken Strings - Reading Time

FARRER, Maria Broken Strings Scholastic, 2014 423pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9781407138169 SCIS 1655162 Sixteen year old Jess is a brilliant young violinist from a struggling family in Manchester, auditioning for a scholarship that will allow her to go to music school.  The pressure however is enormous and stage fright takes over.  All seems lost until...

[thecbca]

Tigerfish - Reading Time

METZENTHEN, David Tigerfish Penguin, 2014 247pp $17.99 pbk ISBN 9780143568421 SCIS 1641860  The overly dark and depressing cover of this novel sets up reader expectations of something more apocalyptic than this fairly straightforward teenage tale set in a Melbourne working class suburb.  Metaphors of football and the tigerfish from a reality TV show are employed to elaborate on life in this tough environment... Read More

[thecbca]

Firelight of Heaven : Bethloria Book 1 - Reading Time

KLEIN, Lizbeth Firelight of Heaven: Bethloria Book 1 Wombat, 2013 182pp $16.95 pbk ISBN 9781921632471 SCIS 1632919 This novel introduces Dougray and Robbie, two teenagers thrown into a dark endgame, where a tyrant king, his dark magic, and a series of precious magic crystals might mean the end of civilization.  The two boys and an elf-girl must enter at least six different lands on the quest that has been forced upon them, and this novel takes us to the first of these dangerous lands... Read More

[thecbca]

Older Reader Sequels : new in the world of OR.... - Reading Time

[thecbca]

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS : The Curioseum: collected stories of the odd and the marvellous - Reading Time

JANSEN, Adrienne (ed) Sarah Laing (illus.) The Curioseum. Collected stories of the odd and the marvellous Te Papa Press, 2014 160pp NZ$29.99 pbk ISBN 9781877385926 SCIS 1652874 What happens when you let loose a large group of writers into the national museum, Te Papa?  They are allowed to scatter around and scavenger, to locate various objects and muse upon the creative possibilities?  Who owned this?  Why has it been hidden?  What is the meaning of it?  What story can it tell? Read More