Reviewer:

Alison Healy

Book Cover - You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Fans of teen horror movies will relish this book which is a homage to the classic slasher movie genre. It tells the story of a group of teenagers who run a horror simulation game in a remote setting in the woods. After the explosive opening chapter, readers will be ready for an onslaught of cheesy horror, but then the pace changes, as a sense of impending doom begins to slowly build …

Book Cover - A Day in the Life of an Astronaut: Mars and the Distant Stars

A Day in the Life of an Astronaut: Mars and the Distant Stars

Did you know that you can’t have a proper cry in space because the tears don’t roll away from your eyes? Or that wireless headphones were invented to free astronauts from trailing wires? There’s something for everyone in this lively and colourful book that promises ‘space as you’ve never seen it before’, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Here and Queer Cover Image

Here and Queer: A Queer Girl's Guide to Life

Rowan Ellis has written a frank, inclusive and kind guide to discovering your sexuality and dealing with the good and bad stuff that comes with it. She takes on the role of the cool older sister who tells you everything you want to know, while also giving you the tools to keep yourself safe. The book provides a glossary of terms associated with the LGBTQ+ community, looks at issues such as mental health, homophobia, and consent and also celebrates people who have made a difference to the lives of queer people.

Darby O'Gill and the Good People Cover Image

Darby O'Gill and the Good People

This book is a newly edition edition of six stories written by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh in the early 1900s, produced by children’s literature scholar Brian McManus.

Book Cover - Little People, Big Dreams: Stephen Hawkins

Little People, Big Dreams: Stephen Hawkins

This book, from the popular Little People, BIG DREAMS series, invites young readers to explore the life of British physicist and allround genius Stephen Hawking. The story opens when he is a little boy, looking up at the stars in Oxford. It takes readers through his unspectacular school years and on to university where he shines.

Book Cover - Your Mind is Like the Sky

Your Mind is Like the Sky

This book introduces children to the concept that their minds are like the sky – sometimes clear and blue, sometimes dark and stormy. Their thoughts can be like white, fluffy clouds (happy), or dark rainclouds (sad and negative). It is a simple but powerful message. Everyone has unhappy thoughts but remember that they pass, just as dark clouds pass. The raincloud thought ‘is just one thought among hundreds and thousands of your thoughts’, it says. ‘And you can just let the raincloud thought float gently away.’

Book Cover - Two for Me, One for You

Two For Me, One For You

This is a delightful read about the challenges of sharing. Bear finds three mushrooms in the forest and brings them home. Weasel cooks them and Bear puts one mushroom on each plate before giving herself the third one. Weasel is not happy and the pair squabble about the third mushroom. Both have convincing arguments for why they should get the extra mushroom and tempers flare.

Book Cover - My Little Book of Big Questions

My Little Book of Big Questions

This is a book about the big questions everyone asks at some stage in their lives: What will become of me? Is it possible to think of nothing? Why can’t I fly? Is it possible to feel too happy? Britta Teckentrup doesn’t answer the questions, but leafing through this attractive picturebook should encourage many interesting conversations.

Book Cover - Everest: The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Everest: The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

There is so much to recommend in this account of how a beekeeper and a former yak herder became the first people to stand on the roof of the world. It is of course an excellent read for any child with a sense of adventure. But it is about much more than the race to conquer the world’s highest mountain. It takes readers through the childhoods of two very different men and follows their lives long after they became the first people to reach the top of Everest in May 1953.

Book Cover - Lost for Words

Lost for Words

Young Dallas Kelly has a lot to deal with. She is still reeling with grief from her mother’s death when she learns that her local library is closing down. The 11-year-old decides she is not going to take another loss, so she leads a campaign to keep Queen Street Library open. Our reluctant hero does this while contending with a life-changing decision – should she stay with her stepmother, brothers and stepsister in their cramped boathouse or should she move to Texas with her free-spirited aunt?