Our Australian Girl: Meet Lina by Sally Rippin and Meet Ruby by Penny Matthews - book reviews

 Our Australian Girl is a series of books published by Penguin Australia and written by a variety of well-known Australian authors.

The series is fantastic - each book looks at a different era of Australian history through the eyes of a young girl. It is fascinating to see what every day life was like for the girls, how their families worked, what they thought and what their school was like.

It is also nice to have different authors writing the books as it gives each girl a really unique voice and perspective.

Meet Lina: Lina is a young girl of Italian heritage living in 1956. Her family is different from the other girls at her new posh school and she is desperate to fit in.

Meet Ruby: Ruby lives in 1930s and has a blessed life until the Great Depression changes everything she knows. How will she cope?

Ruby and Lina are so normal, and so many of their experiences with their friends and families are the same as the issues young girls have now, that readers will have no trouble relating to them.

Eight Our Australian Girl books are published each year and there will be four books each about Ruby and Lina so these first books are just the start of their journey.

This is a great series; interesting, engaging and mildly educational.

And if you loved one of the books you are bound to love the rest of the series too making it a very safe birthday present!

Who'll love this: Girl aged 8-12.
Cost: $14.95
Publisher: Penguin Australia   

Troggle the Troll by Nick Falk and Tony Lowe - book review

What would you do if you were a small troll who wanted to eat vegetables, not people? Find a friend and come up with a cunning plan, of course.

Troggle the Troll is too, too cute!

From the opening page;
'Under a bridge
in a hole in the ground
lived a troll.
A small troll.
Called Troggle.'
(complete with pictures, a dotted path and arrows) to the lessons about being true to yourself, Troggle the Troll is a gorgeous little book.

Toddlers and preschools will love the alliteration (Policeman Porridge anyone?), the repetition (Yuck, yuck, uck!) and the incredibly bright and friendly colours. Parents will love the positive messages about eating vegetables. And everyone, kids and parents alike, will be entertained by the story.

There's pretty much nothing wrong with the book. The illustrations are bright and engaging, and the story is funny and has a good lesson. Win!

Who'll love it: Preschool aged boys (girls will like it too)
Cost: $12.95
Publisher: Random House Australia

A Very Unusual Pursuit: City of Orphans Book 1 by Catherine Jinks - Book Review

My favourite part of a really good series is the first half of the first book. That's when the author is drawing you in to the world they have created for their characters and at every turn you find something new and exciting that gives you a glimpse of what the story is going to be.

Think about the first book of Harry Potter when Hagrid comes and Harry learns he is a wizard (tempting to do a spoiler alert but frankly if you don't know Harry Potter is a wizard ... well, I'm without words) or the first book in Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom when Arthur nearly dies and then finds his way into a mysterious house that only he can see. Amazing.

The first half of A Very Unusual Pursuit, the first book in Catherine Jinks' City of Orphans series is the same. From the very first page the reader is drawn into the dark world of London c.1870. But it isn't London exactly as we know it, Jinks' London has monsters of indescribable evil called Bogles and it has brave people who fight them.

And bam! you're in to the story.

Part fantasy-esque monster story, part mystery, part historical novel A Very Unusual Pursuit is exciting and interesting and leaves you with that vague feeling of disquiet that makes you want to check under your bed at night.

It's not for nervous kids but anyone who loves the tingle of fear down their spine, or a really good, action-packed adventure story will love it.

Who'll love it: Brave boys or girls aged 9 to 14. The main character is a girl so that might put some fellows off but there are lots of male characters in the story.

Cost: $14.99

Publisher: Allen & Unwin