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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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