CATEGORIES

As you would have read in the preceding blog post, our Smell of Books blogger Joel Blacklock has moved on to greener pastures and will be heading up Pan Macmillan’s new digital-only publishing house, Momentum.  Unfortunately his new job precludes him from continuing his blog on Booku.  Doh. Joel, a big thank you from all [...]

It’s Father’s Day this Sunday so we thought we’d pay a tribute to all dads and grandads this week at Kids’ Book Capers by featuring some great books about these very special people. Today we’re looking at Why I love my dad and Why I love my grandpa. These gorgeous new books are in the popular [...]

As you all no doubt know, the Melbourne Writers Festival is currently taking place in Melbourne — that would be Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; not Melbourne, Nova Scotia, Canada; or Melbourne, Derbyshire, UK; or even Melbourne, Izard County, Arkansas, USA. The festival is on, people other than me are attending interesting and informative sessions about writing, [...]

MD of Boomerang Books, Clayton Wehner recently caught up with former international cricket umpire Darrell Hair to talk about his new book, entitled In the Best Interests of the Game.  The book is one of the 50 Books You Can’t Put Down in the 2011 Get Reading! campaign – buy a copy and get a [...]

When I was a young girl I wanted to be a writer and write books about ponies. Well, I wanted to be my version of a writer. Which involved penning best-selling books for an hour or two a day before wandering off to enjoy my house located on a horse stud and puppy rescue centre. [...]

Last post, I interviewed Australian author James Roy about his Edsel Grizzler novels. James has written a whole bunch of other books and won a whole bunch of awards. Today, he returns to talk a little more about his writing… Quite a few of your books have won or been shortlisted for various awards. Town, [...]

Boomerang Books will donate 10% of its takings on Indigenous Literacy Day — Wednesday 7 September 2011 — to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Can you imagine not being able to read a newspaper, a road sign or directions on a bottle of medication? Sadly, this is a reality faced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait [...]

Gamers’ Challenge is the action-packed sequel to Gamers’ Quest by George Ivanoff. Zyra and Tark are shocked to learn that they are not the only Zyra and Tark in the game…and in fact, Zyra has a daughter, Hope. Now that Zyra and Tark have broken the rules, they can no longer play the game, but [...]

Have you ever tried to describe a great book and been unable to think of a word for it other than “great”? Want to throw terms like “luminous”, “lyrical” and “magisterial” around, but not actually sure what they mean? Do you find yourself using the word “awesome” to describe everything from fantasy epics to political [...]

Warambi is Aleesah Darlison’s latest picture book and it’s a delightful story about a young bent-wing bat’s journey from just born and totally dependant on her mother to becoming independent and able to leave the forest cave that is her home. She was no bigger than a bean. Her eyes were sealed shut and there [...]

Last week I reviewed Voyage to Verdada, the first book in the Edsel Grizzler trilogy by James Roy. And today I get to talk to James about this trilogy… The concept of Verdada, a place for lost things, is really fascinating. How did you come up with it? This is a question that has plagued [...]

Three things went through my mind when WordPress told me I was fast approaching 150 Boomerang Books blogs. First: WordPress can’t count. Second: Actually, I can’t count—two blogs per week multiplied by about 18 months of blogging equals around about that number. Third: Holy moly! What ever have I blogged about for those 150 blogs?! [...]

To celebrate the release of Ghostly Shadows, the third book in the Edsel Grizzler series by James Roy, I decided to read the first one. How did that happen? Well, I got a review copy of the new book, and because I had not read any of the series, the lovely people at UQP also [...]

Before reviewing The House of 12 Bunnies, I have to declare for the record that I live in a house with two bunnies, so this book was always going to have appeal for me. But I was also drawn to the fun of a houseful of young rabbits causing chaos as they go about their [...]

Plenty of things have been happening in the world of ebooks over the past few weeks, but for the first time I’ve been too busy working on an exciting project of my own to post about them. That project is Momentum, a new digital-only imprint of Pan Macmillan Australia, which was announced today. As a publisher [...]

Today, illustrator of The House of 12 Bunnies visits Kids’ Book Capers to talk about being an illustrator and why she chose bunnies for this book. Have you always enjoyed illustrating? Yes, when I was small, like many kids, I liked to write stories and illustrate them.  I was one of those children who was [...]

Today, Caroline Stills is back at Kids’ Book Capers to talk about how she collaborated with her daughter, Sarcia (aged 8 at the time) to create their new book, The House of Bunnies. What inspired you to write this book? The House of 12 Bunnies started with my daughter, Sarcia. Like a lot of children, [...]

Support your community by joining with your local bookshop to celebrate the inaugural National Bookshop Day on Saturday 20th August, 2011. Boomerang Books applauds this initiative by the Australian Booksellers Association to provide publicity for local bookstores. Although we’re an online bookstore, we wholeheartedly support the future prosperity and longevity of Australian bricks-and-mortar booksellers, both [...]

Weird Al Yankovic! The name is synonymous with clever pop song parodies. A comedic and musical genius (No really, he is a genius… have you ever seen him play a polka on his piano accordion? If you had, you’d agree.), Mr Yankovic has now turned his hand to children’s picture books with When I Grow [...]

The Naked Boy and the Crocodile, thirteen stories written by Aboriginal kids from some of the remotest parts of Australia, will raise funds to help more children in the bush gain literacy skills.  You can pre-order the book now from Boomerang Books… The stories have been edited and collected by Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s ambassador and [...]

As they used to say in Ireland, the devil only comes into good things. Narrated by Lilly Bere, On Canaan’s Side opens as she mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Dublin, at the end of the First World War, and follows [...]

Forget the debates about format and whether or not their rise heralds the death of the physical book. I’ve realised the fundamental flaw with ebooks is that they drive sticky beaks like me mental. It goes like this: As an avid reader and poacher of books, I’m perpetually on the lookout for my next acquisition. [...]

When people think of engrossing stories with fantastical and multi-layered plots they normally envisage novels but non-fiction can also sweep you far away from the shores you know. If you’ve ever wanted to get lost in a good (non-fiction) book, Moby Duck is non-fiction release that allows you to get as engrossed and lost in [...]

Caroline Stills and her daughter Sarcia are the authors of a gorgeous new picture book, The House of 12 Bunnies due for release on 20th August. Today, Caroline visits Kids’ Book Capers to tell us about her writing journey. How did you become a writer? I started to take my writing seriously when my first [...]

It’s endlessly fascinating how and where great writers create their masterpieces—perhaps in part because writing is so damn difficult we figure there must be some secret place these guys go or some divine muse they tap into. As an emerging writer myself, any crumbs of information or inspiration I can glean are invaluable. This Guardian [...]

Ever wandered into someone’s home and made a beeline for their bookshelves? I’m betting you have. Few things are as enticing to the bibliophile as unfamiliar shelves – and few things as revealing as the books that people choose to read. Does your host prefer weighty historical reads or hot romance novels? Glossy biographies or [...]

.    Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Yesterday’s post had the inflammatory, and slightly misleading title of “The anti-eBook rant”. So to balance things out a bit, today I present to you, “In defence of eBooks”. Of course, as with yesterday’s title, it is a bit misleading. I’m not really going to defend eBooks — [...]

Nog and the Land of Noses is Bruce Whatley’s hilarious new picture book. It’s the story of Nog who is the only one in town who doesn’t have a nose that does anything useful. His family and friends have noses that can do all sorts of things; sniff out a bargain, play music and even [...]

How’s that for a catchy title? It’s a bit inflammatory isn’t it? A little over-the-top? And actually, it’s not very accurate either. But I thought it made a great title for a blog post, so there you have it. Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net   I’m not actually going to rant against eBooks, because… well… [...]

Check out the latest book trailers for Blue Skies and Red Dust by outback novelist Fleur McDonald, produced by designer Paul Murphy.

Button Boy is a charming new picture book by Rebecca Young and Sue deGennaro. Lots of kids love to collect things and in Banjo’s case, it’s buttons. He collects buttons of all shapes, colours and sizes and grandma sews them onto his jumper. I liked Banjo’s quirkiness, that he finds something a little different to [...]

Vampires! Lots of them! And they are in Australia. In our past, our present and our future. Thirty-three blood-sucking stories in one huge book — Dead Red Heart. Lately, I’ve been hearing talk that the vampire has had his day in popular fiction, at least for the time being… That the sparkliness of some recent [...]

Irony is finding out that after months of moaning and moping about (and subjecting others to it) that there’s a new book coming out in the series you desperately love, then realising that you will neither be in the country when it’s released. Nor will you—even if you somehow manage to get it into your [...]

With stories about Somali pirates confined to 30-second, us-v-them news grabs, few of us (including the journalists putting together those news grabs) understand the complex reasons why these pirates exist. One Canadian journalist—a fresh-out-of-uni freelancer, no less—set out to find out precisely what drives people to roam the ocean with not even enough fuel or [...]

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reading Liberator, the sequel to Richard Harland’s YA steampunk novel, Worldshaker. Having loved Liberator just as much as Worldshaker, I contacted Richard and asked him for an interview. Here it is… Did you always plan to (or at least hope to) write a second book? Or was [...]

What young child doesn’t know and enjoy the song, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”? In P Crumble and Chris Kennett’s colourful new picture book, If you’re HAPPY and you know it!, this song is used to form the basis of a cute Australian tale showcasing some of our best-loved native [...]

Bilby Secrets is Australian author, Edel Wignell’s latest book and it’s part of the acclaimed Nature Storybooks series from Walker books. The bilby is an endangered Australian marsupial and Bilby Secrets reveals how it manages to survive the harsh desert environment. Readers discover so much about the bilby – where it finds its food, where [...]

There’s nothing like getting a new phone or signing up to a new social network to get you thinking about your contact list. Looking over my burgeoning Google+ profile, I realised one thing: I know too many writers. And then I decided to amend that to “I know too many writers from Melbourne”. And it’s [...]

Now that July and my pre-occupation with mushrooms has run its course, I’ve had time to turn my attention to two promising tomes which have been sitting patiently upon my desk, awaiting my attention.  The first is another gem from Adelaide’s own Wakefield Press.  Just in case you need reminding, Wakefield Press is one of [...]

How do you go from television news to children’s books? Author of the Hazard River series, JE Fison, worked in television news in Australia, Asia and Europe, before turning to kids’ fiction. Today, she’s visiting Literary Clutter to tell us how she made the change and how her years as a reporter have helped and [...]