Alexa Dretzke
Alexa Dretzke is a children’s & YA book specialist at Readings Hawthorn
Review — 27 Jul 2015
Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
This extremely enjoyable story introduces us to 16-year-old Sam’s summer internship at the local newspaper. Her chief duty is compiling and writing obituaries and even though she anticipated more glamorous…
Review — 27 Jul 2015
Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder and Julie Morstad
One night a little girl is taken to see her first ballet concert and as her heart sings with the joy of it a dream is born.
The time was…
Review — 26 Aug 2015
The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
It’s been over a year since the crayons quit (The Day the Crayons Quit) and postcards are starting to arrive for the neglectful Duncan. As we know, the…
Review — 27 Jul 2015
Bob the Railway Dog by Corinne Fenton
This is not Corinne Fenton’s first picture book about a dog and like the one in The Dog on the Tuckerbox, Bob is a loyal dog, but his faithfulness…
Review — 23 Jun 2015
Little Houses by Helen Musselwhite
Little Houses is a counting book that is a delicious smorgasbord of different houses from around the world all created by gifted paper artist, Helen Musselwhite. From a simple crofter’s…
Review — 23 Jun 2015
Grandma’s House by Alice Melvin
Alice Melvin’s previous book, the highly acclaimed and bestselling The High Street, was a charming evocation of a more genteel, less hurried time when shopkeepers displayed their wares with…
Review — 27 May 2015
My Name is Lizzie Flynn: A Story of the Rajah Quilt by Claire Saxby & Lizzy Newcomb
In 1841 Lizzie Flynn is being transported on the ship The Rajah from England to Australia. Her punishment for stealing a shawl is to serve seven years as a convict…
Review — 27 May 2015
The Most Wonderful Thing in The World by Vivian French and Angela Barrett
Oh my, this book is so pretty and the detail in the pictures so exquisitely delightful, I didn’t want it to end. In the way of so many fairytales, a…
Review — 27 May 2015
I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora
Surprising and funny things can happen when a literary classic enters the brave new world of social media. Lucy and her two best friends begin their summer holidays with an…
Review — 27 Apr 2015
Caravan Fran by Cheryl Orsini
Caravan Fran is a dinky, retro mobile home that is about to embark on a vacation to the sea. Packed fulsomely and lovingly by Dave, Joe and Sam, off they…