Sue Whiting (2)

Gut wrenching book about Mackenzie da Luca's mother who has gone missing while on a scientific study of bats in Panama. In the dead of night, her father (distraught and mentally unstable) packs up Mack from her grandmother's house and takes her to Panama to try and find the mother himself. Unfortunately, the dad gets very ill and ends up in hospital and Mack must fend for herself in a country where she knows no-one and doesn't speak the language. Fortunately she befriends a teenage boy who show more speaks English and she sets out to complete her father's quest despite her Aunt and Uncle having gone to Panama in he weeks immediately following her disappearance and them finding nothing.
This is a mystery - Has her mother just run away from her life in Australia? Is she in the Witness Protection program? Is she dead? And if so, then who sent the bat postcard from England to Mack?

Gripping but I didn't like the fact that the guesthouse didn't know the mum was missing...it didn't quite fit with the plot as you would have expected the Aunt and Uncle to cover every lead. show less

It's here! It's here! Candlewick has been publishing an amazing series of nonfiction picture books about Australian animals and there's finally one on the platypus! Now all I need is one on the wombat for true happiness...

The narrative begins with a pond in the shade of gum trees and a mysterious duck bill poking out of a hole. But it's not a duck; it's a platypus! The story takes us through a typical night for a platypus, from early evening to sunrise. The platypus dives, feeds, and hides show more from predators, and briefly encounters his mate and pups. Throughout the story, additional information about the platypus is included and we learn about their habits, diet, and unique adaptations. There is an additional spread on the oddities of the platypus and their current threats (pollution etc.) and a quick introduction to their reproductive cycle. There is also a brief index.

The mixed media illustrations are very swirly and muddy. It's a perfect medium for a creature that's most active at night, diving into a weedy pond and camouflaging itself among reeds and undergrowth. There are a couple spreads where the text is difficult to decipher against the convoluted background, and if you are looking for photo-realistic images this is not the best choice, but I like the atmospheric illustrations.

Verdict: Part of me thinks I should focus more on getting kids to recognize local/more familiar animals (still haven't forgotten that kid who id'd an otter as a walrus or that 98% of the classes I visited said the biggest bird in the world was an eagle even after I told them it didn't fly, never mind the one who said our hamster was a beaver) but it's so fun to introduce kids - and adults - to animals they may have never heard of or know little about. I just love this series and it's delightful to see the kid's faces when they learn all about the strange creatures in Australia. Recommended.

ISBN: 9780763680985; Published 2016 by Candlewick (US publication); Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

The opening chapter of this book is great with the first line "I'm starting this story at the end." We find Chance the main character riding in a police car to the police station late at night. What has happened to lead her into this position? What did she do, see or know that has put her in this situation? The book then backtracks to a reality show coming to do over her mother's small house as a thank-you for all her work done with new refugee families in Wollongong. Even though there is show more only Chance and her mother, Chance feels part of a bigger family through her close relationship with the Sudanese family who live next door; Miss -D, Alek and Dut. and their extended family. Everything comes to a head though when one of the producers of the show remembers the fire that killed Chance's father and yet doesn't remember Chances' mother being pregnant with Chance at the time. Sparked by strange other behaviour from her mother and a lack of answers to her questions, Chance starts investigating. What is the truth?

Suspenseful novel written by the author of "Missing". show less

Well-written book that older students will love with complex storyline about families and what makes a family. Cooper wonders who his dad was as his mother doesn’t talk about her, lives in a surf town but hates the ocean, is on the swim squad but doesn’t swim in the sea! The along comes Abbie who is struggling with her identity also ( she's a Somalian adopted refugee), and then there’s also a bushfire to contend with. Great, fast moving book.