The Daredevil Princess and the Grumpy Giant

The Daredevil Princess and the Grumpy Giant by Belinda Murrell, illustrated by Rebecca Crane (Puffin Books) PB RRP $14.99 ISBN 9781761340475

This is the fourth installment in the princess series for children aged 6 to 9 years looking for a book filled with magic, adventure and daring … and a very sassy unicorn.

A princess must be brave and bold, clever and curious, and very determined. Thus, when Bodo the Giant awakes in a grumpy mood, can Princess Tillie face her and stop her gigantic troublemaking?

Illustrations throughout the book bring the castle and its characters to life, which is ideal for beginner and newly independent readers.

Author Murrell has been shortlisted multiple times for children’s choice book awards.

The Golden Tower

The Golden Tower by Belinda Murrell (Puffin Books) PB RRP $16.99  ISBN: 9781760897093

Reviewed by Jeffery E Doherty

The Golden Tower is a middle grade fantasy adventure by Belinda Murrell, one of Australia’s most respected children’s authors. Sophie travels from Australia to stay with her grandmother in England, but never in her wildest dreams could she imagine where she will end up.

While exploring the ruins of an ancient roman villa near her grandmother’s house, Sophie encounters a strange cat. She follows it through a hidden cleft in the rock, only emerge into Tuscia, a wonderous world of flying horses, magic, mystery and danger. She meets Isabella and Bia, discovering the terrible fate their stepmother has planned for them. With only the help of a stable boy and a talking cat, Sophie must discover if she is brave enough to try and save her new friends.

This story explores how a learning disorder can destroy a person’s confidence and self-esteem, and the struggle needed to overcome their disability. The story also draws upon the rich tapestry of Italian fairy tales and history of strong females from Renaissance Italy.

The Golden Tower blends history and fantasy to build a rich and magical setting. The cast of strong female characters will make this book a favourite for young girls, but there is enough action and adventure in these pages to win over male readers as well. The ending holds an unexpected twist and although all the clues were there, but it still came as a surprise to me.

This book is highly recommended.

Lulu Bell and the Magical Garden

Lulu Bell and the Magical Garden by Belinda Murrell, illustrated by Serena Geddes (Random House)

PB RRP $9.99

ISBN 9780857985644

Reviewed by Jaquelyn Muller

I must admit, I have had this book in the review pile for a while (and the pile has been high of late) but I couldn’t forget about it as I knew I would love it.

Belinda Murrell has created such a loving, whimsical character in Lulu Bell that I wish I knew her as a 10 year old. She and I would have been kindred spirits in our search of little adventures and love of animals. This sweet chapter book for younger readers aged 7-10 years truly embraces all that being a kid should be about -- friendship, animals, family, community and creativity.

This was the first of the Lulu Bell books that I had read, however I was not restricted in getting to know the characters. Younger readers will enjoy collecting the book series and identifying with many of the adventures that Lulu Bell has. As a mum of a 10 year old girl I’ve observed that the voice is very strong and could quite easily be one of my daughter’s friends.

In this story Lulu Bell and her school chums charge themselves with repairing the school vegetable garden after a wild, destructive storm. The school cannot afford to fix it immediately, so instead Lulu and her cart-wheeling cohort decipher a plan to fund and repair the garden with the help of their families and local community. It conveys in the idea that making a difference, teamwork and selflessness can actually be fun as well as rewarding.

The setting is very Australian and the mood is bright, cheerful, sunny, loving and nurturing. It wouldn’t surprise me if this story prompted its young readers to take on similar activities. The strong but simple sentences with these familiar settings and characters would also appeal to reluctant readers, particularly those who love animals and nature.

As a parent, I love that there is a lack of modern technology and materialism referenced in the book, and the soft illustrations from Serena Geddes enhance the story to give the full sense of Lulu Bell’s jolly world. It is luminous without being too sugary.  

Belinda Murrell is also the author of the Sun Sword trilogy, The Ruby Talisman, The Locket of Dreams, The Ivory Rose and The Sequin Star. Serena Geddes had previously worked in Disney animation and now illustrates the Lulu Bell series, the Totally Twins series and Why I Love series among many other titles.

The River Charm

The River Charm by Belinda Murrell (Random House Australia Children’s)
PB RRP $15.95
ISBN 9781742757124
Also available as an ebook
ISBN 9781742757131
Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

As a child I loved Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians. Both were written in the 19th century and both were written with finesse and emotion, with the grittiness of life’s adventures at their cores.

Murrell’s evocative book, The River Charm, had the same captivating effect. I was transported into the lives of Murrell’s own forebears, the Atkinson’s of Oldbury, near Berrima in the southern highlands of NSW. It was a time of bushrangers, home schooling, aboriginal chiefs and life on the land. Koalas were called native bears; children caught yabbies in creeks and even had the rare privilege of attending corroborees.

The story is introduced through the eyes of 21st century Millie as she and her family holiday with great aunt Jessamine who is looking after the Oldbury estate. Jessamine is wearing a charm bracelet that holds the history of their family in the charms. One charm is a river pebble. As Jessamine tells Millie its history, Millie sees a girl dressed in white flit across the lawn, the story then timeslips to1839.

Based on Murrell’s family tales of Charlotte Atkinson, we start the story with the troubles facing the family after the death of Charlotte’s father. Her mamma is left with four children to raise. She unwisely marries a man who soon shatters their lives by his brutality and abusive behaviour.

Mamma’s strength of character shines through as she gathers her children and leaves the family home in the depths of night. Charlotte’s brother James carves his initials into the fireplace before he leaves, ‘I wanted to leave my name as a record that we belong here and Oldbury belongs to us.’ They ride their horses on a perilous journey south, through rugged bush and treacherous terrain to the safety of a shepherds’ hut on the Shoalhaven.

Towards the end of the book, Charlotte, now 15, attends her first ball in Sydney. She falls in love with the handsome Will Cummings. This is sure to fire the imagination of readers as we turn the pages to see what happens.

The River Charm would be a wonderful asset to any junior high school English program. The ties with Australian history, the drama of the narrative and the quality of the writing are testimony to this.

As with Murrell’s forebear, Charlotte Waring Atkinson, the author of the first children’s book published in Australia, Murrell shares the family genes of storytelling. A riveting read for girls aged 10 – 14.

Lulu Bell

Lulu Bell - series by Belinda Murrell and Serena Geddes (Random House Australia Children’s)
PB RRP $9.95
Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn
ISBN 9781742758756
Also available as an ebook
ISBN 9781742758763
Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin
ISBN 9781742758770
Also available as an ebook
ISBN 9781742758787
Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

What a delightful new series by the creative team of Belinda Murrell and Serena Geddes. Each book has eleven short and snappy chapters filled with illustrations that won’t fail to delight six to eight-year-old girls.

Readers will step straight into these stories. If they’ve ever wished for a pony or a penguin, this is the next best thing, as Lulu’s father (Mr Bell) is a vet. Lulu’s family - artist mother, younger sister Rosie and toddler brother, Gus and their umpteen dogs and cats, live behind the vet hospital. It’s a fabulous setting to create stories from, and a loving and quirky family to have adventures with.

Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn – It’s Rosie’s sixth birthday and Lulu and her best friend, Molly, are decorating Rosie’s mermaid birthday cake. There’s an emergency - a pony is running wild and Lulu and Molly head off with Mr Bell to catch it. As they collect their gear from the surgery there’s the ‘smell of disinfectant and animal fur’ and ‘lots of beautiful animals to talk to,’ like sick fish and orphaned possums in boxes. The imagery Murrell creates uses all the senses as she draws on her own childhood growing up in a vet hospital.

The white pony, with its ‘dainty black hooves, liquid brown eyes and breath like the warm scent of hay’ is captured and taken back to Lulu’s place. After a catastrophe with Rosie’s birthday cake, Lulu comes to the rescue and the mermaid-themed party turns into a unicorn party with the white pony decorated with a golden horn and purple ribbons.

Now, what young girl would not want to be at that party! Such is the magic created by Murrell along with the many wonderful illustrations by Geddes.

Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin – Here’s another uplifting story where Lulu and Molly enjoy an after school swim at the nearby beach. They eat ‘sticky, crunchy fruit’ as they dabble their feet in the water. They collect ‘shells, feathers, driftwood, twigs and sea glass’ to decorate their ‘huge fairy house in the sand.’

It’s late afternoon and the time when the fairy penguins return to their rookery under the jetty. But a dog on the loose wants to play and ‘tossed the penguin in the air with its snout.’

Grazed and dazed, the little penguin is rescued by Lulu who calls her father. He gives it antibiotics and the girls release the penguin where it was found. Meanwhile at home, Pickles the cat disappears to have her kittens and is found in the washing machine piled on the dirty clothes. As Dad says, ‘what an action-packed week it’s been … penguin rescue, kittens in the washing machine and a beautiful new mural.’ Oh, that’s another lovely plot line – Lulu’s class has to paint a mural on the town’s newest development site. You guessed it! It had quite a beach theme. Serena Geddes’ drawings throughout  are pure delight.

What’s Lulu up to next? Two more books will be out in August.

Stories for 8 Year Olds

Stories for 8 Year Olds edited by Linsay Knight, illustrated by Tom Jellett (Random House Australia)
PB RRP $14.95
ISBN 9781742756608
Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

Andy Griffiths, R.A. Spratt, Paul Jennings, Tristan Bancks, Belinda Murrell. This is just a smattering of the all-star line-up of authors for the last of the four collections, Stories for 8 Year Olds.

Editor of the series, Linsay Knight shares her thoughts on the stories chosen for the eight-year-old readership. ‘With burgeoning confidence and feeling increasingly comfortable with fewer illustrations and smaller type, these readers are eager to try out their skills on a range of different genres.’

Once again, 11 stories have been chosen from a smorgasbord of Australian authors, and they’re not all prose. Gruesome Grandads and Nasty Nans, with its shades of Roald Dahl, is a story written in verse.

There are many weird and wacky stories, none so different as the UFD - the Unidentified Flying Dog. Colin Thompson’s, A Giant called Norman Mary, is written with delicious exaggeration where giants roamed the land eating bicycle seats and haystacks as they ‘reached up into the sky and pulled down a star and by its light they picked their way across the world.’ Exaggeration is also the tool used in Toe, where Tom’s cruel sister Tanya could let saliva ‘drip right down to her bellybutton and still manage to vacuum it back up.’ It’s laugh-out-loud wicked humour.

Sometimes the point of view is that on an animal, as in Anita Bell’s Marom. A challenge is set up in Michael Pryor’s Say Cheese, where Phil builds a Santa display out of bits of junk that he declares, ‘the finest piece of engineering since the Pyramids.’

There’s great imagery in The Lachatim Dragon, where Lachie ‘could smell the distinctive rotting reek of bats’ as he and his friend explore a cavern for treasure.

Nanny Piggins is at her best in the Holistic Cake Healer as she gives free advice at the doctor’s surgery; after all, she has taken ‘the Hippopigic oath.’

And don’t forget to read about your favourite storytellers at the back of the book. You’ll be amazed when you find out how many other books they have written. Enough to keep you reading until the cows come home!

The Ivory Rose

The Ivory Rose by Belinda Murrell (Random House)

PB RRP $18.95

ISBN 978-1-7427-5071-2  

Reviewed by Oliver Phommavanh

The Ivory Rose is a novel for middle school readers and its Murrell’s third time slip story. Following her other novels, Locket of Dreams and the Ruby Talisman, it involves an object that sends the character back in time.

This time, it’s Gemma’s turn to be thrown back into the past. Gemma’s babysitting Sammy who lives in Rosethorne, one of the famous Witches Houses in Sydney. Sammy reckons she can see a ghost girl named Georgie. Gemma thinks it’s just an imaginary friend until she meets Georgina in the flesh…back in 1895 when she touches a rose charm made of ivory.

Gemma discovers that sweet Georgina was murdered and it’s up to her to solve this mystery. She becomes an apprentice maidservant at the Rosethorne house, making new friends and discovering how much has changed since her present time. 

Murrell has picked another fascinating time, offering lots of information about the days of Old Sydney Town. Gemma finds out what kids do for fun, as well some of the added responsibilities that they had back then. It really puts her life in perspective. Murrell has done some great research to capture the language and feel of 1895. Plus the mystery of Georgina keeps ticking on until the end.

Fans of Murrell’s previous books will devour this thrilling ghost story and adventure. It’s a sweet and tender novel for ages 10 and up.