Giveaways

Bleakboy and Hunter stand out in the rain

Author: Steven Herrick

Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Some things are too big for a boy to solve. Jesse is an 11-year-old boy tackling many problems in life, especially fitting in to a new school. Luckily, he meets Kate; she has curly black hair, braces, and an infectious smile. She wants to save the whales and needs Jesse’s help.

But they haven’t counted on Hunter, the school bully, who appears to enjoy hurling insults at random. With Hunter’s catchphrase “Ha!” echoing through the school, something or someone has to give. But will it be Jesse? Kate? Or is there more to Hunter than everyone thinks? This book is an inspiring and funny story about the small gestures that can help to make the world a better place.

Friday Barnes: Girl Detective

Author: R A Spratt

Publisher: Random House

Imagine if Sherlock Holmes was an 11-year-old girl. When Friday Barnes solves a bank robbery, she uses the $50,000 reward to send herself to the most exclusive boarding school in the country.

Friday is soon investigating disappearing homework, rampant high-tech smuggling, clock theft from the headmaster’s office and a Yeti running around the school swamp. That’s when she’s not dealing with her own problem – Ian Wainscott, the handsomest boy in school, who inexplicably hates Friday and loves nasty pranks.

World’s Cutest Animals

Publisher: Lonely Planet Kids

Lonely Planet Kids found the world’s cutest animals and squeezed them inside this adorable title. From fluffy pandas and penguin chicks to pygmy possums and inquisitive quokkas, discover a mix of family favourites and lesser known critters, all accompanied with fun facts and big, beautiful photos.

You’ll also meet endangered and nearly endangered species and learn how to get involved with different conservation efforts to help protect them.

Big Fella Rain

Author: Beryl Webber

Illustrator: Fern Martins

Publisher: Magabala Books

Big Fella Rain is a celebration of northern Australia as animals, birds, trees and a parched earth await the first rain. It is almost as if country stands still as the sparse yet evocative text pays homage to the transition from dry season to wet season in a country that is like no other place in the world.

Fern Martins’s illustrations seamlessly portray the dramatic skies, thirsty animals and tiny creatures whose very existence rely on the monsoonal changes. Her exquisite rendering of the big landscape against the subtle shifts in the environment have a timeless quality that will capture the hearts of all readers.