new releases

One week until Stray!

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If you’re a fan of Rachael Craw’s Spark, you’ll know that there is only a week until the second book in the series, Stray, is released.  If you haven’t read Spark, you absolutely need to go and grab a copy now so that you’ll be up-to-date with the story before it continues in book two.  I’ve just re-read Spark to prepare myself for Stray, so Rachael’s brilliant story and characters are fresh in my mind.  I have to know what will happen to Evie, her family and friends, and what the repercussions will be from the events of Spark.  It is such an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat read and Stray is sure to be more of the same. Spark is one of the best YA science fiction books I’ve read and it’s even better knowing that Rachael is from New Zealand!

It’s hard to remember hating anything as much as I hate Affinity; a bone-deep loathing for the faceless unknown and the concrete walls of my own DNA. Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. She isn’t ready to follow their rules about who may live and who must die – not when it condemns the innocent. She has one option: risk losing everything and everyone – including Jamie – and run.

I’m super excited to be helping Rachael Craw launch Stray in Christchurch next Tuesday night!  I’m looking forward to meeting Rachael, hearing all about Stray and getting my book signed.  If you’re in Christchurch or near-by you could also come along too.  Here is the invitation to the launch:

Stray - Invite CHCHIf you can’t get to the book launch I have some fantastic news for you!  Thanks to Walker Books Australia I have 5 copies of Stray to give away here on the blog.  I’ll ask Rachael to sign them so I’ll have 5 SIGNED copies to give away.  Keep an eye out on the blog next week for your chance to win.

Check out Rachael Craw’s website for more info about Spark, Stray and Rachael herself.

 

My Most Anticipated September Kids & YA New Releases from Walker Books Australia

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Stray by Rachael Craw

It’s hard to remember hating anything as much as I hate Affinity; a bone-deep loathing for the faceless unknown and the concrete walls of my own DNA. Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. She isn’t ready to follow their rules about who may live and who must die – not when it condemns the innocent. She has one option: risk losing everything and everyone – including Jamie – and run.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully asks what if you weren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions…

A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the Very Young by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Chris Riddell

The poems in A Great Big Cuddle fizz off the page with sound and rhythm, energy and laughter, as Rosen captures in the most remarkable way what it means to be very, very young. A child’s world with all its details and feelings – toys and games,
animals and made-up creatures, likes and dislikes – is vividly conjured up in the most memorable, playful language, and Chris Riddell has produced some his most extraordinary pictures ever to bring this world to life. It’s a book that will be enjoyed
by the oldest grown-up and the youngest child – and a future classic.

I Can’t Wait For…The Rest of Us Just Live Here

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Patrick Ness is my favourite author.  Every time he publishes a new book I rush out and get it and try to find a quiet place to sit to enjoy it.  I fell in love with his writing when I first read The Knife of Never Letting Go and then devoured the rest of the series.  The thing I love the most about Patrick Ness’ writing is that he isn’t afraid to push boundaries and try something new.  His latest book, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, promises to be another highly original and memorable story.  I can’t wait to read it!  The only problem with reading it is that I then have to wait another year or so to read another new Patrick Ness book.  Oh the dilemma!

Check out the blurb and cover for The Rest of Us Just Live Here below:

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully asks what if you weren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is released on August 27 by Walker Books Australia.

My Most Anticipated Kids and YA August New Releases from Walker Books Australia

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Whistling in the Dark by Shirley Hughes

Liverpool, 1940: thirteen-year-old Joan’s home is under threat from the Nazi’s terrifying nightly air-raids. It is not an easy time to be a teenager, especially with the sweet rationing, strict curfews and blackouts. Joan and best friend Doreen love going to the cinema until the bombings intensify and then even that becomes too dangerous, especially when an army deserter is found lurking near their home. Who is he and why does he think Joan can help him? As the Blitz worsens, Joan and her friends make a discovery that will tear the whole community apart…

The Fortelling of Georgie Spider (Book 3 of The Tribe) by Ambelin Kwaymullina

The third and final book in the thrilling eco-dystopian series The Tribe.

A storm was stretching out across futures to swallow everything in nothing, and it was growing larger, which meant it was getting nearer… Georgie Spider has foretold the end of the world, and the only one who can stop it is Ashala Wolf. But Georgie has also foreseen Ashala’s death. As the world shifts around the Tribe, Ashala fights to protect those she loves from old enemies and new threats.

And Georgie fights to save Ashala. Georgie Spider can see the future. But can she change it?

Remix by Non Pratt

From the author of Trouble comes a novel about boys, bands and best mates. Kaz is still reeling from being dumped by the
love of her life… Ruby is bored of hearing about it. Time to change the record.

Three days. Two best mates. One music festival. Zero chance of everything working out.

My Most Anticipated August Kids New Releases from Scholastic NZ

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The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey

They sound like the Bad Guys, they look like the Bad Guys . . . and they even smell like the Bad Guys. But Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark are about to change all of that! Mr Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys’ first good mission. The gang are going to break 200 dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad
Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr Snake please spit out Mr Piranha?

Dragon Knight: Witch by Kyle Mewburn and Donovan Bixley (Book 3)

A witch’s curse and brussel sprouts are bad enough. But will Percy’s revenge be the end for Merek? From the creators of Dinosaur Rescue comes an outrageous and revoltingly funny medieval adventure series that’ll set you on fire!

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Stan the Van Man by Emma Vere-Jones and illustrated by Philip Webb

Sometimes, being helpful is not enough . . .

When the mail van driver walks out, Miss Mickle from the Post Office store is left in a right pickle.  Enter Stan, a helpful chap who offers to drive the delivery van. Unfortunately Miss Mickle doesn’t give him the chance to explain that he actually can’t read … and parcel pandemonium ensues!  When the angry recipients storm the Post Office and find out the reason for the misdeliveries, they decide to band together to help Stan learn to read.

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I Can’t Wait For…Demon Road by Derek Landy

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I absolutely love Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant series!  It’s one of the few series that I’ve read every single book of and dropped everything to read the new book when it was released.  Derek Landy has been in the world of Skulduggery Pleasant for so long that it will be really interesting to read a completely different story from him with new characters. Demon Road is this new story. I can’t wait to delve into this new world and see where Derek takes us next!

Check out the blurb and the cover for Demon Road below.

Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in … Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves. Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be …

Demon Road is released in New Zealand by HarperCollins NZ on 1 September.  Keep an eye out on the blog for an awesome competition coming soon for your chance to win an advance copy of Demon Road.

My Most Anticipated July YA New Releases from HarperCollins NZ

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Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Iris’s father, Ernest, is at the end of his life and she hasn’t even met him. Her best friend, Thurston, is somewhere on the other side of the world. Everything she thought she knew is up in flames.Now her mother has declared war and means to get her hands on Ernest’s priceless art collection. But Ernest has other ideas. There are things he wants Iris to know after he’s gone. And the truth has more than one way of coming to light.

Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oaks

The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, and her ability to trust.

And when Minnow rebelled, they took away her hands, too.

Now the Kevinian Prophet has been murdered and the camp set aflame and it’s clear Minnow knows something. But she’s not talking. As she adjusts to a life behind bars in juvenile detention, Minnow struggles to make sense of all she has been taught to believe, particularly as she dwells on the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of; if she is willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.

My Most Anticipated Kids and YA August Releases from Allen and Unwin

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Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

If you go down to the woods today … Well, every child knows NOT to, don’t they?

Tamaya is on a scholarship to the prestigious Woodridge Academy and every day she and seventh-grader Marshall walk to school together. They never go through the woods. And when they arrive at school they stop talking to each other – because Marshall can’t be seen to be friends with a little kid like Tamaya. Especially not with Chad around. Chad-the-bully, who makes Marshall’s life utterly miserable. But today, hoping to avoid Chad, Marshall and Tamaya decide to go through the woods … And what is waiting there for them is strange, sinister and entirely unexpected. The next day, Chad doesn’t turn up at school – no one knows where he is, not even his family. And Tamaya’s arm is covered in a horribly, burning, itchy wound. As two unlikely heroes set out to rescue their bully, the town is about to be turned upside down by the mysterious Fuzzy Mud.

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Superhero Dad by Timothy Knapman and Joe Berger

Dad might not have a superhero mask or wear his pants outside his trousers, but his super snores can be heard a thousand miles away, he tells super jokes and can even make superscary monsters go away at bedtime!

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The Cut-Out by Jack Heath

Fero isn’t a spy.

But he looks exactly like someone who is: Troy Maschenov – a ruthless enemy agent.

But what starts as a case of mistaken identity quickly turns into a complicated and dangerous plan. Fero is recruited to fight for his country. He will have to impersonate Troy, enter enemy territory, hunt down a missing agent and bring her home in time to prevent a devastating terror attack.

Fero is in way over his head. Hastily trained, loaded up with gadgets and smuggled across the border, he discovers the truth about espionage.

Getting in is easy. Getting out alive is hard.

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Green Valentine by Lili Wilkinson

Astrid Katy Smythe is beautiful, smart and popular. She’s a straight-A student and a committed environmental activist. She’s basically perfect.

Hiro is the opposite of perfect. He’s slouchy, rude and resentful. Despite his brains, he doesn’t see the point of school.

But when Astrid meets Hiro at the shopping centre where he’s wrangling shopping trolleys, he doesn’t recognise her because she’s in disguise – as a lobster. And she doesn’t set him straight.

Astrid wants to change the world, Hiro wants to survive it. But ultimately both believe that the world needs to be saved from itself. Can they find enough in common to right all the wrongs between them?

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My Most Anticipated Kids and YA July Releases from Scholastic NZ

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The Bloodtree Chronicles: Sanspell by Elizabeth Pulford

When the Bloodtree loses its last leaf, there will be no more stories in the Silvering Kingdom . . .

The Silvering Kingdom is the home of fairy tales but the kingdom and all those within are in danger of vanishing because the Bloodtree – the source of all stories – has been poisoned.

‘Sanspell’ is a story that has been cursed. It is up to Abigail to enter the fairy-tale world, where she is known as Spindale, and save the story tree. Together with Flint, whose mother Trinket is being held captive by the evil Rackenard, they set off on a journey: three drops of Trinket’s blood is what is required to save the tree. The race is on . . . but can they survive the wicked Zezmena’s spells?

Tyranno-sort-of-Rex by Christopher Llewelyn and Scott Tulloch

Everyone’s heard of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Diplodocus a Tyranno-Sort-of Rex and a Bit-odd-ocus?

When the ship carrying boxes of dinosaur bones to a dreadful storm, the boxes are broken and the bones museum curator is tasked with the job of putting them the next day’s exhibition – with curious results!

Tyranno-Sort-of Rex by Christopher Llewelyn

My Most Anticipated July Kids and YA New Releases from Allen and Unwin

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My Brother is a Superhero by David Solomons (Children, 8+)

Behind every great superhero is a very angry younger brother…

Luke is a comic-mad, eleven-year old who shares a treehouse with his geeky older brother, Zack.  Luke’s only mistake is to go for a wee right at the wrong time. While he’s gone, an alien gives his undeserving, never-read-a-comic-in-his-life brother superpowers and tells him to save the universe. Luke is massively annoyed about this, but when Zack is kidnapped by his arch-nemesis, Luke and his friends have only five days to find him and save the world… Laugh-out-loud funny with enough heart to fill the entire galaxy!

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Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (Young Adult)

Ollie and Moritz are two teenagers who will never meet. Each of them lives with a life-affecting illness. Contact with electricity sends Ollie into debilitating seizures. Moritz has a heart defect and is kept alive by an electronic pacemaker. If they did meet, Ollie would seize. But turning off the pacemaker would kill Moritz.

Through an exchange of letters, the two boys develop a strong bond of friendship which becomes a lifeline during dark times – until Moritz reveals that he holds the key to their shared, sinister past, and has been keeping it from Ollie all along.

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