Review: The Girl and the Ghost

Thirteen-year-old Josephine, her brother Teddy, father Matt, stepmother Ellie, and dog Daisy, move from Australia to the French countryside 

They have bought a 300-year-old chateau that needs extensive renovation. 

Their intention is to convert the country building into a luxury boutique hotel.

Matt’s personal assumption is that his ability to renovate is equal to his award-winning film-making skills. He backs this up with countless cameras for recording his progress, and drafted charts and timelines to keep him on schedule.

The rest of the family fear for his safety.

Ellie has prepared the two children for this time, by teaching them French and lots about the country where their mother lived. 

Unfortunately, she died very young, and the children have very little information about her life. The need to discover something of her background life is the main reason for the move.

Josephine loves her new home. Its disrepair holds mysteries and secrets, and her writer soul thrills in anticipation to uncover hidden gems of time and place.

The first thing she finds is a locket hidden in a secret panel in the wardrobe of her bedroom. When she finally manages to open the clasp, the ghost of a boy appears.

He claims to be Louis, the Dauphin of France, 1785. He thinks she is someone he knew, and she becomes the channel through which he learns about his past.

This opens great adventures for Josephine. Meeting Louis, the mystery connected to him, and meeting the very attractive Gabriel, are all her dreams come true. 

Then there is Harriet, her best friend from Kindergarten, day one, with whom she shares all her secrets and thoughts via email.

The device of using diary entries to fill in the background information is a perfect choice. 

The Girl and the Ghost is a marvelous beginning to a promising series by the talented Jaqueline Harvey. 

We experience beautifully descriptive areas seeped in history and architecture; almost taste the luscious French food they indulge in and smell the country air through Harvey’s perfect prose. 

Make time for this book with its fantastic characters and its mixture of so many themes and stories, that readers won’t be able to put it down. It is open-ended and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

Title: The Girl and the Ghost
Author: Jacqueline Harvey
Illustrator: Anne Yi
Publisher: Penguin, $16.99 
Publication Date: 29 April 2025
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761349409
For ages: 10 +
Type: Middle Grade Fiction

Meet The Illustrator: Peter Baldwin

Name: Peter Baldwin

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Earthy, expressive, narrative-driven with nature and character at heart.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Books and comics for inspiration, Dungeons & Dragons miniatures for painting and storytelling, tidy art supplies for focus, and my computer to pull it all together. My miniature ecosystems—terrariums and aquariums—bring the outside in. They help me slow down, stay curious, and dream up the wild worlds I love to draw.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Hand-drawn inking is definitely my favourite. I enjoy the control and expression that ink pens and brushes offer. I also use pencil, coloured pencils, crayons, and watercolours to add texture and colour. My lightboard, Wacom, and computer help me refine and finish the work digitally. It’s a balance between traditional techniques and digital tools.

Review: Once Upon An A To Z

Three friends in a large library with a ladder (OMG, A LIBRARY LADDER!) and a shiny magic book on the top shelf, bring Once Upon An A To Z to life in the most delightful of ways.

Abracadabra! Alakazoo!
Bubbily, bobbily, boffity, boo!

Clutch your cauldrons and crystal balls,

Dance with dragons down the halls… 

12 Curly Questions with children's author Jacinta Liu

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I have a double degree in Software Engineering and Finance, and after graduating, I worked in IT at an investment bank. In 2013, I left my job in search of something more and set off on a solo journey, travelling internationally for more than six months with no idea what might be waiting on the horizon.

2. What is your nickname?
My Chinese family calls me Chang Chang, which means happiness.

Junior Review: Blood Moon Bride

Demet Divaroren’s Blood Moon Bride is a deeply moving and empowering YA fantasy that explores themes of resistance, identity, and the fight against injustices. 

In a world where young women are forced into marriage, auctioned off to the highest bidder, the novel follows teen Rehya, a skilled hunter who is confronted with being sold at the upcoming Blood Moon Ceremony.

With the survival of her valley on the line, Rehya must decide: submit to a life of enslavement or rebel against the system trying to control her fate?

Divaroren’s narrative draws on issues like child marriage, tyranny and gender inequality. The story’s raw portrayal of Rehya’s internal and external battles is resonant, engrossing readers in a world where courage and resilience are the weapons against a discriminative society. 

Review: Rosie's Garden

Rosie’s favourite thing in the world to do, is to dig. She finds all manner of mysteries deep in the ground, and forges new friendships when she’s in the community garden, next door to her little stoop and green front door.

There’s Mr Delagatti who collects seeds, Annika who plays the violin, and even Esmerelda the chicken, who likes worms for breakfast!
But then, things change for Rosie. 

A large company with noisy, powerful machines takes over the precious little garden and builds a towering skyscraper in its place. Where will the friends go? 

Review: Too Many Dogs

What a delightful romp of a book this is.

In Too Many Dogs, Maura Finn and Lucinda Gifford have created a naughty - but nicely naughty - classic.

The clever, endearing rhyme with marvellously funny illustrations come together as a perfect match to create this wonderful and hilarious story.

Little Percy is used to being Top Dog in a household full of cats. 

Review: Mavis The Little Plane Spotter

This picture book is an absolute gem. Opening it is like stepping into a gorgeous moment of history. 

I was instantly entranced by the end-papers with their hand-drawn memorabilia, the silhouettes of friendly and enemy planes and many other interesting tid bits.

Then, I turned the page and was gobsmacked to learn that both author Angela Toniolo and illustrator Shannon Melvillle, are the direct descendants of women who performed as enemy plane spotters during the second world war. 

I got goosebumps on my goosebumps, and the story hadn’t even begun!

Review: Ghost Detectives - Terry Fide and the Bakery Ghost

Ghost Detectives is a new series of ghostly stories with interesting and funny characters. 

Terry Fide and the Bakery Ghost introduces nine-year-old timid Terry, who wants to be a ghost detective and follow in the footsteps of his father and his ancestors.  

 Unfortunately, he is terrified of ghosts and other scary things.

Mum and dad run a ghost detective service and are constantly inundated with requests to solve the reason for ghostly hauntings. 

This is a job at which they are highly skilled.  

Dad, Horry Fide, has commitments interstate to solve other ghostly issues. 

Review: Gone

Gone’s deceptively simple and achingly beautiful book cover is wrapped around a heartwarming, important offering to the world of picture books.

This accessible, thoughtful rumination on the nature of life’s biggest mystery explores both life and death.

Long or short, every life on earth comes to an end some day.

But what happens when we die?

The last few years have seen a number of picture books that broach the subject of death, grief and loss in various ways. Gone adds to this list with its wonderful, clear message and bold illustration style.

Meet The Illustrator: Esther Siam

Name: Esther Siam

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Detailed everyday observations, inspired by nature, flowing with whimsical imagination.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Watercolour paints and cold-pressed cotton paper. Lavender, I love its calming scent. A cup of freshly brewed coffee is always close by!

Review: Looking for Imani

Dianne Bates’ latest book brings us into the life and customs of a Middle East family and the trauma experienced at the disappearance of the youngest child, Imani. 

It is told through the narrative voice of Nabila. 

Beautifully portrayed in Bates’ minimalistic and perfect prose, it opens with a bold scene that informs the reader of their family situation.

The father has died, and mother cannot speak English as it was forbidden by her husband. 

At twenty-seven years old, she appears a lot older. 

Due to her lack of language, she has been unable to assimilate into a new life, leaving her with only her children to translate when necessary, and to lean on for help. 

12 Curly Questions with children's author Rhonda Ooi

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I am a collector. I collect dolls. I have Blythe, Barbies, Pullip and many more. I collected many I remembered from my childhood and am currently coveting a felt doll on Sage and Clare. I also collect socks and picture books. People who follow my Instagram probably already know about the socks and books.

Review: I Am Not An Owl

A wonderful collaboration between Rhonda Ooi and Mel Corrigan, this delightful book contains layers of narrative and information depicted through both words and illustrations.

‘He can hum like a cricket and tell you all about Tasmanian devils.’

Our curious narrator Alexander is working very hard to NOT have a daytime sleep, and nocturnal animals are his go-to rationale (what is mummy actually talking about?, I’m not a nocturnal animal who needs to sleep in the daytime!).

And so begins a cheerful and mischievous adventure.

Review: Higher Ground

A unique and stunning graphic novel, Higher Ground presents the issue of floods, the destruction caused by Nature, and the abandoned places flooding creates. 

It focuses entirely on a family - a grandmother, two children, and a rabbit, and the choices they make. 

Survival is utmost. As they move to the top of their apartment building, a shed becomes their refuge. 

The entire building is transformed into an immovable object in the flooded waters.

Their wait for help proves futile and after many days, they realise that help isn’t coming.

Guest Posts: Rebecca Fung on Creating A New Children's Press

After I'd written two children's chapter books, I wanted to publish a middle grade novel. 

Everyone talks about how wearying pitching is so I thought - how about publishing it myself? And how about starting our very own new children's press?

I've worked in publishing before so this didn't seem too far-fetched. My last foray in the publishing world though was very different - I worked in legal publishing. There, books often have pages more dedicated to footnotes than the main text! As an editor, you fuss about, ensuring all those Latin legal terms are spelled correctly.