Bookmarks

With just six weeks to go until Book Week, we are returning to the notables and short list titles for this week’s Bookmarks recommendations.

Junior Years Readers

‘Three’ by Stephen Michael King

It’s impossible not to fall in love with Three. Three has three legs. He’s a charming little fellow. He lives in the city but it isn’t easy. The six legs (ants) can find a way underground and the eight legs (spiders) can climb and find safety above the crowds. One day, Three follows his nose out of the city and meets some new four, two, one and no legs. He might have even found a place to stay. Acceptance, belonging and family are all themes of this delightful picture book, which is short-listed for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year category. Three is also about gratitude. Three is grateful for the number of legs he has and for his new family and all the new friends he has made.

Middle Years Readers

‘Catch A Falling Star’ by Meg McKinlay

‘Catch A Falling Star’ is a beautiful middle-grade novel about family, grief and growing up. An authentic Australian setting, a compelling mix of historic events and astrology and characters who are easy to love. When NASA announces that their space station, Skylab, is falling, it brings back sad memories for Frankie of star gazing with her father and his plans to talk about Skylab with her brother, Newt. Plans he never got to fulfil after he died in a plane crash. Now, Frankie is 12. Her mother works a lot, so Frankie looks after and protects Newt and does most of the cooking and housework. But with everyone talking about Skylab, Frankie is scared she won’t be able to protect Newt from what his obsessions and studies on the topic will uncover or what it will mean for her family.

Senior Years Readers

‘Take The Shot’ by Susan White

‘Take The Shot’ has a great mix of sport action, complex family relationships and an authentic teen boy narrating the story. If stories about growing up and navigating your way through high school and new friendships are your thing, try ‘Take The Shot’. Bug lives for basketball. It’s the only place he doesn’t feel freakishly tall or gangly, where he has friends and fits in. But when he and his father are diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, his mother bans him from playing, saying it’s too dangerous. When he has to move in with his Nan, the change of school gives him the opportunity to hide his syndrome and join a mixed basketball team without telling his parents. Hiding these two secrets takes its toll, but it’s worth it to play. However, it may be more dangerous that he realises.

Ms Madison Dearnaley, Teacher Librarian