The Secret Library of Hummingbird House | Julianne Negri #AWW

When I was ten, I would have devoured this gem of a book, several times over! 

The Secret Library of Hummingbird House features a mysterious old house, a secret book and time travel (amusingly, back in time to the 1970's when I was ten)! What's not to love?

Especially when it's all wrapped up with a very likeable protagonist, Hattie, going through some stuff with her recently separated parents, a younger sister with an imaginary eagle as a friend, a best friend who will no doubt realise he is gay when he is a little bit older and a mean girl at school to avoid at all costs.

Hattie already feels that life is careening out of her control, when she discovers that the crumbling mansion next door to her dad's house is slated for demolition to make way for...you guessed it, another apartment block. The house and the ancient mulberry tree growing in its grounds, hold many happy family memories for Hattie, pre-separation.

Her plans to save the house lead to a full-moon midnight escapade to the house and a chance to slip back in time to meet another young girl also feeling lost in time. A young girl who also collects lost words and has a story of her own to tell.

Set in a pre-covid Melbourne with a secret yarn-bomber covering the trees, fences and signs with crochet wraps, Julianne Negri has written a story about standing up for yourself and letting go of the past. Adapting to the inevitable changes that occur in all our lives at every stage is the thread that joins all the characters together. Everyone has their own way of avoiding or denying change before coming around to accepting that change doesn't have to be all bad, it's just different.

A delightful read for 10+ readers. Lots of fun and full of positive messages woven naturally into the story.

Australian Junior Fiction Catch Up

The run into Christmas and the silly season, leaves me tired, frazzled and depleted most years. This year I'm attempting a calmer, kinder approach. As a first line of defence I started interspersing junior fiction reads amongst my regular reads several weeks ago. I've been saving all the interesting looking ones for months now, so that I would have something 'just right' for this time.

Great junior fiction is the perfect antidote for the general madness and mayhem of the silly season. It's (usually) light and easy to read, sometimes interspersed with delightful illustrations and (usually) full of wonderful language. And almost all writers for younger people feel duty bound to end with hope. Bad and sad things may happen to their characters along the way, but there is always hope and wonder and love.

The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars by Jaclyn Moriarty is book 2 in her newly named Kingdoms and Empires series. The name of the series didn't make an appearance on the first book, so I was curious to see what this might mean for book 2 and any future books.

I loved Book 1 The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty and had very high hopes for this one, so I was a little disconcerted to read the first few chapters with no Bronte in sight.

What was going on?

Where were we?

And who were all these new people?

The first couple of pages of this generously illustrated book show us maps of the various kingdoms within this world. Some of these names were familiar from Book 1, but other than the whispering element, nothing else seemed familiar.

TSATOTWW begins in the little town of Spindrift where we meet two groups of kids - one group from the orphanage, the other from an expensive, exclusive boarding school. A friendly sporting rivalry between the two schools quickly blows up when one of the children suddenly disappears. The Whisperers have kidnapped another child.

A tentative alliance is formed, a plan of rescue is hatched and Bronte makes an unexpected reappearance. Mystery, adventure and a little bit of magic is the name of the game.

I love this series for mature 9+ readers a lot and I hope that Moriarty has many more books planned for the Kingdoms and Empires. Due to the different time frame and setting in this book, it could be read as a stand-alone story, but you'll want to go back to see how Bronte came into the story in the first place. It was a savvy move by Moriarty to expand the horizons and history of this series to include the entire kingdom and I look forward to seeing where and when we end up next.

Inheritance by Carole Wilkinson is for slightly older readers - more 11+ through into the early teen years. It's a fabulous time slip story set in country Victoria.

Nic has been left by her dad at her Grandad's old homestead property while he goes off with his band to play the cruise ship circuit. With no wi-fi, no friends and loads of attitude, Nic starts exploring the big old home one room at a time. Eventually she discovers a locked room with no key in sight.

A fortuitous toe-stub whilst swimming in the dam and an old letter in a copy of Pride and Prejudice changes everything. Nic discovers dark secrets about her family history that have carry-over effects onto today's local history and her own family story.

Wilkinson weaves in indigenous issues, women's rights and early settler history into this engaging yet thought-provoking time travel story.

The Adventures of Catvinkle by Elliot Perlman is now top of my delightful dog story pile. Officially this is a book about a cat - the secret loving, baby shoe dancing, flying cat, Catvinkle, but it is also just as much about her new found friend (shhh! don't tell anyone that a cat and a dog are friends!) Ula the dalmatian.

Set in Amsterdam, Perlman (you may know him from his adult books, especially Seven Types of Ambiguity and The Street Sweeper) has turned the bedtime stories he used to tell his kids into a charming animal story for us all to relish.

There are LOTS of things to adore about this book, but the most endearing are the voices of Catvinkle and Ula. Perlman has got inside the heads of these two animals and they speak and act just as I imagine a cat and dog of these types would speak and act if they could!

The thing these three fabulous books share is complexity. The authors do not talk down to their young readers, they use interesting language, create nuanced, believable characters and they take you on a journey that is utterly compelling.

And then there is The Bad Guys Episode 8: Superbad by Aaron Blabey.

Personally, I'm getting pretty tired of their antics by now, but they continue to entertain and get 5-7 yrs old excited about reading, so I'm not going to complain too much.

After an excursion into outer space, then back in time to the dinosaurs, we are firmly back in the present with our world being taken over by the evil Mr Marmalade and his evil alien forces. And it wouldn't be the modern world without a female team of warriors to assist our bumbling bad guys.

In Superbad we learn that Agent Fox is actually part of a much larger, well organised group called The International League of Heroes. Her colleagues include Agent Kitty Kat, Agent Hogwild, Agent Doom, and Agent Shortfuse. They all have special talents and skills and they mean business. They help the Bad Guys learn control of their new super powers...until Marmalade turns up and throws everything into chaos...again!

Six Bad Guys' trading cards are in the back of the book, with 6 more promised to come in book 9. Blabey is onto a good thing, and he knows it!

Episode 1 The Bad Guys
Episode 2 Mission Unpluckable
Episode 3 The Furball Strikes Back
Episode 4 Apocalypse Meow

Slade House by David Mitchell

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bones Clocks and recommend it to many, many people who have never read a Mitchell before. I think The Bone Clocks is very accessible and not as dense or as incomprehensible as his earlier works. But I still usually only give it a 3, maybe 4 star rating in my mind.

My judgement of Mitchell's earlier works is purely based on my abortive attempts to read Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Mr Books so-so attitude towards Ghostwritten. I haven't actually read one of these right through though.

Despite all of this, I was ridiculously excited when my ARC of Slade House arrived. There is something about Mitchell's writing and the worlds he creates that sucks you and makes you forget your previous prevarications.

Due to it's slimness, I approached it (in my mind) as a novella. But I knew nothing else, except that it seemed like a good book to read during R.I.P.X so that I could sneak in with my one and only Peril the Third choice.

I was pleasantly surprised when I quickly discovered that I was inside another Bone Clocks world. Starting in 1979 we follow the (mis)adventures of the occupants of Slade House every nine years. The date is the last Saturday in October each time. For those of you good with numbers, you'll have already realised that the last chapter finishes in 2015...on the last Saturday in October - the 31st October, 2015 - Halloween!

Slightly creepy, a little disturbing and immensely readable. The final chapter is very satisfying if you've read and enjoyed The Bone Clocks.

Slade House is due for release tomorrow...just in time for the weekend and you guessed it...Halloween!

This is also book 14 in my #15in31 challenge.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

One of the things I enjoy about reading Stephen King is the connections.

King has created three fictional towns based in Maine that reappear regularly in his books - Derry, Jerusalem's Lot & Castle Rock.

Many of the characters from these towns also pop up in unexpected places.

Pennywise the Clown & Randall Flagg are two that cross our paths, one way or another in almost every story.

And it's not just the main characters - neighbours, pharmacists, librarians & even cars tease the Kingophile into trying to remember which books they came from first.

11/22/63 has oodles of these connections to tantalise and tease, beginning with the protagonists name Jake - a name that King uses a lot in his books.

Jake's second time-travelling experience takes him back to Derry 1958 - a few short months after the murderous summer of IT.
He briefly meets young Richie Tozier & Beverly dancing in the park. They allude to the events of the summer and tell Jake that they know he is one of the good guys.

The whole time Jake is in Derry he feels the negative effects of the bad undercurrent that infuses everyone & everything. A visit to the old Kitchener Ironworks leaves Jake with a sense that something evil is lurking in the fallen chimney...all IT readers know exactly what that lurking thing is!

When Jake finally moves on to Dallas, Texas, we leave many of the familiar King haunts only to arrive in a time and place that anyone born before 1970  is intimately familiar with.

King excels at the details. The language, the songs, the cars, the clothes, the books, the shops, the references are all of their time. A nostagla effect kicks in for the time-travelling sections of the story (which is most of it!)

The writing is not beautiful, but it is evocative and it is real. The darker, grittier side of real that is. Bodily functions, dark thoughts, gross behaviours, crude speech....

11/22/63 is a page turner, like the best Stephen King's of old. The battle between good and evil is far more subtle & complex than in some of his earlier books, which makes for a richer reading experience. I can now see why this has become one of Mr Books favourite King's.

There is the impossible, eerie coincidences, the despair of reality & the promise of hope. This one is not a gory horror story. 11/22/63 is more about the suspense.

Thank you to Wensend and Fourth Street Review for hosting King's March. It has been quite an intoxicating experience dropping back into the world of King. I won't stay away so long this time...promise!

Back to Blackbrick by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

It's Monday, but I have nothing new to add to this blogging week.

Life is still crazy, busy.
And I'm still reading Testament of Youth & The Brain's Way of Healing.

ToY is extraordinary - moving & desperate, beautifully written, but it's a slow, thoughtful read and I usually only manage to read a couple of chapters in one sitting.

Friday night, though, found me tired & emotional. I needed something easier to read so I pulled out a slim teen book, Back to Blackbrick to slide me gracefully into the weekend.

I've finally had some time to write its review tonight.

You are now seeing the sum total of my reading and blogging week!

I hope your week has been more bookish & bloggish than mine.

When I first read Fitzgerald's The Apple Tart of Hope last year I knew I had found a new-to-me author to love and enjoy.
Part of that enjoyment involves tracking down the backlist.

Back to Blackbrick (first published in 2013) is her first book and I fervently hope and pray that there are plenty more to come. But right now it is true for me to say that I love everything that Fitzgerald has ever written!

Back to Blackbrick grew out of Fitzgerald's experience with her own father's Alzheimer's diagnosis. In her afterword she writes,

"the magic of writing is that you start out being dominated by your own experiences and feelings, (but) you end up being able to occupy other people's heads and hearts....They have helped me to remember that no-one who has loved you ever really goes away."

To this end she has created a lovely time-slip story that deals with young Cosmo's distress as his beloved grandfather slips into memory loss.

Curiously, the actual time-slip section of the book doesn't work as well as the current day story line. The character of Cosmo remains strong throughout, but the younger grandfather is less convincing. I found myself skimming through the time-slip section very quickly. Perhaps because I've read A LOT of time-slip books over the years it takes something stunningly different to grab my attention.

As with Apple Tart there are some mature themes - this time death, grief & loss, sexual harrassment & teen pregnancy. But just like Apple Tart, Blackbrick is infused with hope, love & memory.

Highly recommended for mature 12+ readers.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

What a journey!

My first David Mitchell has left me glowing, gloating & groaning.

Glowing - in the delight of having found a 'new-to-me' author - I now have a whole back list of books to look forward to.
Glowing - from delight in finding such an absorbing, magical story that swept me across generations and times and worlds.

Gloating - that I was reading this year's Booker winner (until the shortlist was announced & he was missing from it!)

Groaning - that now I've finished the book, I miss it terribly. I miss Holly. I miss being in Mitchell's world.
Groaning - about the Crispin chapter - what purpose? why?
It didn't seem to add anything new to the Script, except for a little romantic angle and a trip to Australia.

The Bone Clocks is about purpose, relationships, good vs evil, freewill, doubt, time & timelessness, memory & the environment. All told with a hearty paranormal, science fiction twist.

The Bone Clocks also helped me to finally understand the purpose of twitter!
Sharing my favourite quotes with others reading the book at the same time added to my sense of journey & immersion in the story.

The Australian edition has an extra few pages of  "In conversation with David Mitchell" that talks about the Australian settings in the book. He describes Rottnest Island as

"an extraordinary location...that deep, burnished, glassy blue of the Indian Ocean, so unlike the ginger-beer-coloured English Channel of my childhood; the brain-broiling, skin-frying sun, drier and more dangerous than in Japan; and when a quokka lolloped across the road, I nearly fell off my rented bike."

Mitchell also talks about meeting Australian award-winning writer, Kim Scott who is a Noongar Elder and his time back-packing around Australia. Timelessness comes naturally to the Australian environment,

"The quality of light at dawn, and the alien (to my ears) birdsong and, how, in Europe, you have to go a long way and look selectively to find a view where nothing tells you what century you're in. In many regions of Australia, by contrast..., you can easily find a view containing no clues whatsoever about any century."

I loved this book from start to finish - even the slightly flawed sections. Holly was a character I cared for deeply. Her journey became my journey.

But now that I've finished it...what next? What should my next book journey be? Perhaps I will leave my 'what next' in Mitchell's very capable hands...because I've always loved a little bit of ambiguity!

"For one voyage to begin, another voyage must come to an end, 

sort of."

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

I haven't read a lot of teen/YA fiction lately - it has been boring me to tears to be perfectly honest.
Which is difficult, when it's my job to read children's book!

Thank goodness then, for Meg Wolitzer and Belzhar.

I was reluctantly, then wholeheartedly, drawn into this sad world of teens with 'issues' and their special school, The Wooden Barn.

Wolitzer's writing was enchanting; her characters were believable and before I knew it, I was sucked into this strange world of inspired teaching, mysterious journals & teen angst.

Belzhar was also a story about the power of words - "great writing (does) make a difference" - and the healing power of story in helping us through life.

The trick being, of course, to know when it's a story we're telling ourselves "because the truth was unbearable."

Wolitzer referred to the stories & poetry of Sylvia Plath throughout this book, as well as creating her title in homage to The Bell Jar, which has only made me more determined to read it!

Belzhar is an October release for Simon & Schuster Australia.
Highly recommended for teens, YA and adults wanting an easy but compelling read.

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

This weeks Friday Flashback is a modern day classic that regularly features on school reading lists and 'must-read' Australian books lists.

It won the CBCA award for older readers back in 1981.

And it was made into a movie in 1986 (see below).

Ruth Park wrote novels for adults and children. She was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia when she was 25. She married Australian author, D'Arcy Niland (who wrote The Shiralee) and had 5 children. Her youngest daughters were twins, Kilmeny and Deborah, who became well respected illustrators for children's books.

Playing Beatie Bow is set in Sydney in modern times. Abigail is facing all sorts of family upheavals and spends a lot of time wandering around her local area of the Rocks to avoid the tension at home. A bizarre meeting with a young (lost) girl called Beatie Bow causes Abigail to travel back in time to 1873.

Park provides an evocative and memorable journey around the streets and slums of colonial Sydney as Abigail tries to find her way home again.

Curiously, to the 21st century reader, it's the scenes set in 1980's Sydney that jar the most. They sound dated and almost cringe-worthy. Or maybe that's just me - since I was also an out-of-place teenager in the '80's!

Penguin Australia have now released new editions of Australian children's classics with lovely hardback covers, including Playing Beatie Bow.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I've decide to write three reviews for Murakami's trilogy (even though they're presented in English in one huge book) as a way to give me a breather between each one.

I've never read any Murakami before so I wasn't even sure if I would like it, his style, the translation - anything! And I knew absolutely nothing about the story except that lots of people I know love it.

I wasn't even sure how to pronounce the title - was it a date 1984/1Q84 (with some kind of reference to Orwell) or was it the letter 'I' - IQ-84 and some kind of Intelligence test?

Now that I'm looking at the cover again closely it's obvious that it's a date. The cover even gives hints that 1Q84 is a fantasy/time slip story - again something I wasn't expecting.

So what did I think of book 1?

I loved it!

I'm intrigued, captivated and full of questions about what's happening.

There is obviously going to be a meeting up of Aomame and Tengo at some point and I'm curious how this will play out.
The secretive cult Sakigake is the obvious link between the 2 sides of the story along with the mysterious young damaged girls with their sinister tales of the Little People.

And what's going on with the 2 moons? What has happened to Aomame's 1984 and why?
I'm loving the mystery & the gradual build up of tension and horror.

I can see I wont have much of a breather bewteen book 1 and 2 after all!

My only grump is that sometimes the language seems somewhat unwieldy or awkward. I'm not sure if it's the translation or the Japanese way of describing things that sometimes pulls me up. The chapter headings often make me laugh with their obtuseness.

I do like that the letter 'q' is pronounced kyu in Japanese which is the same word/sound for the number 9. It gives the title an extra little spark knowing this.

Book 2 here I come!

Phyllis Wong and the Forgotten Secrets of Mr Okyto by Geoffrey McSkimming

Phyllis is into magic and she has a knack for it.
Her great-grandfather was a world famous magician who disappeared mysteriously; Phyllis has obviously inherited his abilities.

Phyllis also fancies herself as a bit of a super-sleuth.

So when the lady in the antique shop tells her that one of her expensive blue wren bookends has been swapped right underneath her watchful eyes, Phyllis is on the case!

Phyllis is a strong female character, the story is well-written and detailed. The content is appropriate for strong 8+ readers although the tone is aimed at 10+ readers who enjoy something out of the ordinary.

Phyllis Wong has an August publication date in Australia through Allen and Unwin.

Arkie Sparkle Treasure Hunter by Petra James

For young girls who love their EJ 12 books comes a new series about a time-travelling 11 year old.

Arkie's parents are archaeologists, hence her name! The series begins when Arkie's parents are kidnapped and Arkie is left a series of clues and challenges - she must find seven treasures across the seven continents in seven days. She is helped by her BFF, TJ and the dog-wonder, Cleo.

Arkie Sparkle is an easy, fun romp through history and geography.

The reader is required to make a few leaps of faith as improbable events abound, but, hey, there aren't too many books for 7 -10 year readers that casually throw in Latin quotes or Confucious sayings.

Book 1: Code Crimson is out now published by Pan Macmillan Australia.
Book 2: Time Trap is due out next month.
Book 3: White Fright is due out in September.
Book 4: Ruby Red is due out in October.

Petra James is a pseudonym for "an emerging children's author" as quoted from the Pan Macmillan title page. So he/she/they could be Australian, but I'm always a little disappointed when the author chooses anonymity.

Girl About Time Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Apparently this is a German trilogy recently translated into English...I couldn't tell at all, especially as most of it was set in London.

The story raced along smoothly, with lots of action and funny dialogue. I found the time travel parts more interesting than the time spent at school. But the early school scenes obviously helped introduce the characters and established their relationships with each other.

I'm not quite sure what age group this book is aimed for.

The writing is quite light and easy to read so that any mature 11+ reader could manage it. However all the kids are in the mid teens with some light romance thrown in so that older teens could also enjoy this story.
I've also noticed a lot of (good) reviews on YA blogs, so this trilogy could be described as a great all ages read.

If you're a fan of the Ivory Tower then I think you'll love this too. It has a similar mix of mystery, historical fiction, adventure and romance.

I'm certainly looking forward to the next 2 books, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green.

After writing the above, I spent some time checking out the covers from other countries - they have all been of a consistently high standard. But it is curious to note how they also reflect each countries opinion on what age group is reading this type of book.

The Australian cover with the younger girl featured on it, echoes my indecision about which age group this is written for.

Whereas the US cover with its sumptuous ruby gown & very mature looking young woman is definitely YA material.

However my particular favourite is the fairytale styled cover from Germany.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

This is obviously the summer of the light teen romance, because here is another one!

It's 1996 and Emma gets a new computer from her Dad complete with Windows 95. Her neighbour and best friend, Josh gives her a CD-Rom for free online access.

But when she sets up her email account and logs on...Emma ends up on this weird page where everyone is leaving random personal status reports...including herself. It's 15 years in the future and she has checked into her facebook page.

The problem is, Emma doesn't like what she sees there. (Although Josh is delighted to find out that he is married to the hottest girl in school!)
And so begins a light-hearted romp through teen angst and the idea that each small event in our lives has unforeseen effects that ripple into the future.

There are some mild sexual references and 'Wayne's World' quotes to beware!

The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner

I'm not sure where to start with this one.

I almost gave up after the first few chapters - I felt they were unnecessarily obtuse and difficult. But Sally Gardner's reputation made me pick it up again a few days later.

And I was hooked. A memory story will always suck me in and one written as beautifully as gracefully as this one is just icing on the top. But it's not an easy read.

This story is tragedy with a capital T. We have messed up childhoods, war, betrayal, abuse, neglect, death and a father who loves his daughter so much he wants to build a machine that will erase all the bad memories and leave her with only the happy ones.

The sadness that pervades this story is ultimately redeemed by the power of love. Love comes to the rescue, love overcomes and loves leads the way forward out of the haunting mess created by the memory experiments.

The Double Shadow is a challenging fable for mature readers. It is not an easy book to categorise. It is historical fiction as it is set during the period of time between the 2 World Wars and the memory experiments play around with time as well as memory. But strictly speaking this book stands alone - and mercifully it is a story sans vampires, wolves or dystopian drama!

The History Keepers by Damian Dibben

This is the start of a great new series for good 10+ readers.

I suspected that Dibben must have been a teacher in a previous life because his choice of words and phrases throughout are designed to stretch the average child's vocabulary and their understanding of history. But he wasn't and he manages to do this in a way that is not preachy, self-conscious or clunky.

In fact I thoroughly enjoyed this action-packed, exciting romp through history. The characters were likeable and interesting with the occasional odd-ball, rogue and villian (think Harry Potter and co) thrown in. The story was paced well, well constructed and great fun.

You can read the first 2 chapters here.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

I reluctantly picked this book up. It's black and red cover with a looming dracula-like figure hiding a knife behind it's back, did not really look like my kind of book.
But I wanted to read something by Marcus Sedgwick as I had heard good things about him.

Midwinterblood turned out to be a "don't judge a book by its cover'' job. I was enthralled by the writing and the wonderfully eerie, gothic nature of the story.

This is a romance between Eric and Merle that spans several centuries and several lives.

It is complete with vampires, magic orchids, vikings and, of course, a love that will not die.

My only disappointment was the shortness of some of the chapters. Just as I was getting lost in the time period and engaging with the characters...we moved onto the next period of time.

The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston

Time for a classic children's story.

First published in 1954, Lucy M Boston published this series of delightful stories about her old family home.

I say delightful and mean it in an Enid Blyton, ye-olde-worlde charm kind of way. A story full of imagination, simple pleasures and family history.

I'm not quite sure if you could really call it a time slip novel - it's more like a gentle ghost story for the lonely child inside of all of us. After surviving the truly frightening yew tree in A Monster Calls, the Green Noah was a pussycat by comparison.

This would be a lovely read-aloud story for the family to enjoy together...and thanks to modern technology you can watch the 1980's BBC episodes on youtube (link below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhiI8XmJQI (episode 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReaDW0OyGBc&feature=related (episode 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkuMCRq9oP4&feature=related (episode 3)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

I did enjoy this book.
It was well-written and the characters were drawn sympathetically.
The ending was satisfying and resolved all the the time-slip stuff in a way that made you go "uh-ha - of course - now I get it!"

But despite all the things it had going for it (including New York in the 70's and copious mentions of A Wrinkle in Time) it failed to move me beyond the appreciation level.

I can see why this book (and author) is popular with teachers. She ticks all the right boxes. But that extra spark that I look for in a book was missing here - I can't remember the names of the characters even though I only finished it yesterday - it took me several weeks to read as I kept putting it down in favour of other more gripping stories and I didn't learn anything new.

This would be a great book to give as a present to a 10+ girl that you don't know very well - her parents wont be offended by anything about it and the young girl will enjoy it (she just wont love it).

Time Slip and Time Travel Books - A List

I've been thinking about my favourite time travel stories ever since reading The Ivory Rose. And thought it was time to create a list for like-minded fans.

*The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (one of my all time favourite reads)

*Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure by Georgia Byng

*A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

*Emily the Strange by Rob Reger

*The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne (series for younger readers)

*The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (obviously!)

*A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

*Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony and The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

*Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

*Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

*Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

*The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy Boston

*Timeline by Michael Crichton (one of my husband's favourites)

*When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
*Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

*Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

*The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
*Time Riders by Alex Scarrow
*Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park
*Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

*City of Masks by Mary Hoffman

*My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

*Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
*Orlando by Virginia Woolf
*Guillaume Próvost's Book of Time series
*Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo
*The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
*The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French

Authors who write a lot of stuff in this genre - Diana Wynne Jones, Jasper Fforde, Nora Roberts, Stephen King (Dark Tower series in particular), Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, P.C. Cast and anything with Dr Who in the title!

The Ivory Rose by Belinda Murrell

I haven't enjoyed a junior fiction read so thoroughly or as much as I did The Ivory Rose for quite some time.

Perhaps it was the local setting of Annandale in Sydney. Perhaps it was the time slip theme as Jemma found herself suddenly in 1895. Perhaps it was the well-drawn, believable characters. Or perhaps it was the strong, warm-hearted, likeable Jemma.

It was all of the above! But it was also beautifully crafted by Murrell. A well set-up mystery with dramatic tension and humour. The historical facts were woven into the drama in a natural way. Clues and danger aplenty to keep the pace moving along briskly. And a very satisfying ending.

What more could you want....except another story by Murrell as soon as possible! And for me - a stroll next week around the Witches houses of Annandale to soak up the atmosphere a bit longer.

If you enjoyed this book, you might like Girl About Time by Kerstin Gier.