Star Girl: Books 13 and 16

Star Girl – Book 13 Spilling Secrets and Book 16 Everything to Lose by Louise Park (MacMillan Education)
PB RRP $9.99 each
ISBN: 978 1 4202 9382 1 (Book 13) and 978 1 4202 9385 2 (Book 10)
Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Year Three at the SEAS (Space Education and Action School) Space Agent Program and Adelaide Banks has made it to agent-in-training! Addie, aka Space Girl, has graduated from Space Cadet and Captain, and has now made it into the last year at SEAS Space Agent Program. Students must complete a number of dangerous and important missions to outer space planets that need help, and need to earn more than 100 mission points in total to earn the rank of Space Agent.

But nothing is easy in the mission to become a Space Agent. In Book 13, Space Agent Star Girl is called away from her preparations for the Agents’ Masquerade Ball by an urgent mission text message on her Spaceberry. The Planet Catlabrator is turning into muddy sludge and the alien creatures keep getting bogged! Star Girl and her fellow agents-in-training, Space Agents Supernova 1 and Asteroid, must save the puppy-like aliens with the tiger faces (known as catralabs) from drowning. Space Agents Star Girl and Supernova 1 are focused on the task at hand but is Space Agent Asteroid? After discovering a certain Space Agent received an invitation to the Agents’ Masquerade Ball from the handsome Space Surfer, she is more focused on thwarting Star Girl’s chances of attending the ball than saving the catralabs. Whether Star Girl can save the catralabs, overcome the evil actions of Asteroid and still make it to the ball is uncertain until the final pages of the action-packed Star Girl 13 Spilling Secrets.

In Book 16, it is graduation week but Space Agent Star Girl hasn’t flown a mission since her harrowing trip to Planet Oceanella and still does not have enough mission points to graduate with her best friends. But when Space Agents Comet XS, Neuron Star and Shooting Star are called to an important mission to the Planet Molluscara, they have more on their mind than just rescuing the alien shelluscas. With the help of her very best friends, Star Girl braves one last mission in an attempt to not only rescue the shelluscas from deadly fire and smoke but to earn the vital mission points necessary for graduation.

The Star Girl series is an exciting and empowering series which touches on skills necessary to succeed in any mission (real life or fantasy!): trust, quick thinking and the ability to work as team. The action-packed books combine the trials and tribulations of everyday life in a boarding school with the dangerous and action-packed adventures of the best space fantasy and will appeal to girls aged 7-10.  Readers can also check out the Star Girl website: http://www.stargirluniverse.com/.

Star Girl – Book 9 Dark Secrets and Book 10 Sticky Tricks

Star Girl – Book 9 Dark Secrets and Book 10 Sticky Tricks by Louise Park (MacMillan Education)
PB RRP $9.99 
ISBN: 978 1 4202 9378 4 (Book 9) and 978 1 4202 9379 1 (Book 10)
Reviewed by Wendy McLean


Year Two at the SEAS (Space Education and Action School) Space Agent Program, and Adelaide Banks, has made it! Addie, aka Space Girl, has graduated from Space Cadet and has now made it into the captains’ year of the SEAS Space Agent Program. As captains, Addie and her fellow students must learn to fly spacecraft and must successfully complete a number of missions to gain a place in the third year space agent program. 


These missions are not easy. In Book 9, Addie (Star Girl) must join fellow Space Captains Comet XS and Asteroid to investigate why the caves on Planet Cavernellus are being bleached and the alien babies are no longer hatching. Things get a little batty and with the malicious SC Asteroid making every attempt to sabotage the mission, the girls must pull out all stops to survive the alien attack long enough to save the planet and its alien vampescas. 

In Book 10, Star Girl must join Space Surfer and Supernova 1 on a hair-raising mission to the Planet Perilenda which has been struck by an evil force that is making the alien skunettas disappear. Supernova 1 and Star Girl must put aside their differences and join together to see through the evil tricks of a mysterious force in time to save the skunettas. As with the previous books, Addie experiences the good times and troubles all young girls do, but she also has to complete action-packed and sometimes terrifying missions.


There a many stories about boarding schools, but none quite like the Star Girl series, which combines real life and space fantasy. This exciting and action-packed series will appeal to and empower girls aged 7-10 years. Readers can also check out the Star Girl website: http://www.stargirluniverse.com/ 

The 13-Storey Treehouse

 The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, ill. Terry Denton (Pan MacMillan)

PB RRP $9.99

ISBN: 978 0 330 40436 5

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Andy Griffith has teamed up again with his trusty and talented sidekick, illustrator Terry Denton, to deliver the hilarious ‘The 13-Storey Treehouse’, the first book in what promises to be an entertaining series of mayhem and mishap.

Two new characters – Andy and Terry – live in a 13-storey treehouse, where they create books together when they are not distracted by the treehouse’s many wacky delights.  And who wouldn’t be distracted in a treehouse that has a lemonade fountain, an automatic marshmallow machine, a library full of comics, a secret underground laboratory, a bowling alley and a tank full of sharks?

The book starts with Andy walking into the kitchen to find Terry painting the neighbour’s cat bright yellow in an attempt to turn it into a canary. Terry drops the cat over the balcony and Andy’s horror turns to surprise as the cat promptly sprouts wings and flies away.

Following the adventure of the “catnary” Andy and Terry receive a video-phone message from their very angry editor: they have until 5 o’clock the next day to deliver their new book – OR ELSE! The two consult their notebooks – Andy has four pages of text (one word per page!) and Terry has two drawings of his finger. The two have a lot of work to do!

The two settle down at the kitchen table to start work, but a series of distractions and nutty adventures follow. Terry has a disastrous attempt to grow pet sea monkeys and falls in love with a mermaid who is not all she appears to be! The two battle an invasion of monkeys, a giant gorilla, and of course, each other. After this series of chaotic and destructive events Terry and Andy must race against the clock to deliver their manuscript on time.

Kids will embrace and love this light-hearted, hilarious and fast paced book about a day in the life of Andy and Terry in their 13-storey treehouse. The book is full of imagination and Terry’s quirky drawings are an integral part of the story. This book is pure fun and is a must-read by kids who are daunted by books or by kids who just like a laugh.  

Look out for the next installment, ‘The 26-Storey Treehouse’, in 2012!

Star Girl – Book 1 New Girl

Star Girl – Book 1 New Girl by Louise Park (MacMillan Education)

PB RRP $9.99

ISBN: 978 1 4202 9029 5

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Girls, are you sick of stories about fairies or horses or unicorns? Well never fear, there is a new super hero on the block! 11-year old Adelaide Banks, aka Star Girl, is the newest student to join the SEAS (Space Education and Action School) Space Agent Program. Addie and her fellow students are learning how to protect space as they strive to graduate from Space Cadet to Space Agent.

At SEAS, students are sent on missions, for which they receive points for following instructions and successfully completing missions. They can also lose points for disobeying mission instructions or failing to successfully complete all elements of their mission. Addie and her students are equipped with all the latest gadgets for each mission, but they need to be courageous, creative and they have to learn to work together to overcome the obstacles that they encounter in their quest to save space. 

For her first space mission, Addie must join fellow student and enemy, the nasty Valentina. They must work together to discover what is melting the ice on the distant icy planet of Polare, and save the alien frozellas from extinction. 

This first book is a good indication of what girls can expect from the other books in this new series – adrenalin-packed missions, hi-tech gadgets, bizarre planets and petrifying space aliens. The lead character Addie Banks has to tackle not only these action-packed and sometimes terrifying missions, but also the normal troubles and worries that all young girls experience at school.    

This exciting and action-packed series, which combines real life and space fantasy, will appeal to girls in the lower to middle grade. 

I Can Cook! American Food

I Can Cook! American Food by Wendy Blaxland (Macmillan Education Australia)
HB RRP $31.99
ISBN 9781420290035
Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

I Can Cook! American Food is a cook book, history book and travel book rolled into one. Wendy has chosen traditional American recipes that kids will be running into the kitchen to cook: hamburgers, blueberry muffins, pancakes (no one does pancakes better than the Americans), homemade lemonade, apple pie and, of course, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The layout of the book is exceptional, full of colour and information, and budding young cooks will find it easy to read and follow the instructions. Each recipe is laid out with each step in its own text box and with accompanying photograph/graphic. The recipe is introduced with a brief history of the food. All equipment and ingredients required are listed as are prep and cooking times. The addition of information on special diets for either health or cultural reasons is highly commended. Experimentation is encouraged with each recipe with suggestions for variations and a Try this! section which suggest activities to learn more about American food. Cooking basics and safety in the kitchen are explained with text, photography and graphics.

For me, what makes this book stand above other children's cook book is the additional cultural, historical and geographical information included about America: the influence of native Americans and migration on contemporary American food, regional variations, American produce, landscapes and climates, and the American celebration of Thanksgiving.

Wendy Blaxland's marvelous six book I Can Cook! series also includes titles on Chinese, French, Italian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern Food with each of these following the same format.

I Can Cook! French Food

I Can Cook! French Food by Wendy Blaxland (Macmillan Education Australia)
HB RRP $31.99
ISBN 9781420290059
Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

I Can Cook! French Food is an outstanding cook book for younger children. Not only are there simple recipes for cooking French food which requires minimal assistance from adults, this book discusses French culture, food traditions and styles, regional produce and ingredients, French landscapes and climates as well as basic cooking equipment, measurements, safety and hygiene. I loved the page 'Try this!' which encourages readers, among other things, to grow vegetables, celebrate Bastille Day or search out a French patisserie to try petits fours (my personal favourite!).

Each recipe is introduced with a brief history of the food. Equipment and ingredients required are clearly stated. A fantastic initiative has been the inclusion of a section stating whether each particular food is suitable for special diets such as vegetarians, nut-free or kosher. The recipes are laid out in an easy to follow step-by-step format with clear pictures and simple instructions. Visually, the book is very attractive with the liberal use of text boxes, and bright and colourful photography.


I highly recommend I Can Cook! French Food. It is one title in a six book series on world food by Wendy Blaxland.