Category: Ages 8-12

Brick – Who Found Herself in Architecture by Joshua David Stein, illustrated by Julia Rothman

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By Maureen Tai, 14 September 2018

“Great things begin with small bricks” – Brick’s mother.

Brick is a small rectangular block the colour of a ripe persimmon. She’s a baby brick.

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Cradled in the arms of her mother, she gazes up at towering skyscrapers. Brick is awed by what she sees, the possibilities of what she might one day become.  “Look around,” her mother gently coaxes, inviting not only Brick, but us readers as well, to cast our eyes on the structures that line the streets and the buildings that blend into the skyline.

Brick’s journey of self-discovery, and our journey to some of the most incredible architectural marvels in the world, are about to begin.

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You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton

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By Ben and Maureen Tai, 10 September 2018

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Chapter 1 starts like this:

“Mr. Gum was a fierce old man with a red beard and two bloodshot eyes that stared out at you like an octopus curled up in a bad cave.”

This is going to be interesting. Continue reading →

Illegal by Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano

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By Maureen Tai, 5 September 2018

“It feels like a door has opened. And that I need to step through before it closes”  – Ebo

IMG_7714Illegal charts the harrowing journey that two orphaned brothers make from a poor village in Ghana to promise-laden Italy.  The boys cross lands that offer no sanctuary and encounter exploitative grown-ups who offer no mercy.

Illegal is, by far, one of the hardest graphic novels I’ve read with my children, but in an increasingly fractured and unkind world, it tells a powerful story too urgent to ignore, too important to be forgotten.  It demands to be read. It has to be read.   Continue reading →

Katy by Jacqueline Wilson

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By Anna, 30 August 2018

“It was a wonderful feeling, soaring and swinging, as free as a bird. I remembered Mum pushing me on the swings at the park when I was very little.” – Katy

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Katy is the oldest, so she gets to boss her siblings around. She is great at inventing imaginary games for her to play with her brothers and sisters. Katy loves swinging as high as she can go on swings, skateboarding and tree climbing. But when a tragedy occurs, she wonders if she will ever feel like flying again. Continue reading →