Time Thieves (Omega Squad)

 Time Thieves (Omega Squad) by Charlie Carter (Pan Macmillan Australia)

PB RRP $12.99

ISBN: 978-1-7426-1093-1

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Get Reading! is a nationwide campaign focused on inspiring more Australians to discover or rediscover the pleasure of reading. Time Thieves, Charlie Carter’s newest offering, has been included in this year’s Get Reading’s selection of ‘50 Books You Can’t Put Down’ for good reason. It’s a dramatic and thrilling series that will engage even the most reluctant reader.

Time Thieves is the first book in Charlie Carter’s Omega Squad series, which follows on from the very successful Battle Boy series. In the newest offering, Napoleon Augustus Smythe (aka Battle Boy 005) has been promoted to Battle Agent 005. In the Battle Boy series Battle Boy 005 was a sole agent travelling back through time, under the guidance of Professor Perdu, to spy on the past and solve famous historical mysteries. But now he is Battle Agent 005, part of an elite team of Time Troopers. He must work together with his other Omega Squad team members, Winston Garibaldi (aka Battle Agent 004) and Amazon Diana (aka Battle Agent 009), to undertake Operation Battle Book.

Operation Battle Book is run by the mission controller, Professor Perdu. The Battle Agents must enter Professor Perdu’s Battle Books (super-strong metal caskets containing compressed energy of past battles) and collect important data for her research. But working as a team with the super smart BA004, the girl with attitude BA009 and super soldier TEX, proves a real difficulty for Battle Agent 005. And not only do the three Battle Agents struggle to operate as a team, they also become the target of sabotage as clandestine forces seek to destroy Professor Perdu and her Operation Battle Book. The three Battle Agents must overcome their differences to work as a team and find out who is stealing time and energy in an attempt to destroy Professor Perdu’s Operation Battle Book.

The Omega Squad series is compelling and action-packed and will appeal to both those who are familiar or new to the Battle Boy and Battle Agent series. Readers will be taken on a journey through time to discover who is stealing time and energy bundles from the Battle Books. Charlie Carter (aka the famous Australian author John Heffernan) has cleverly reinvented the history lesson in action-packed and relevant ways that will appeal to boys and girls aged 6-10 years.

Readers can check out the other Battle Boy books at: http://www.battleboy.com.au/. The next installment in the Battle Agent series History Hackers will be released in December 2012.

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/.

Battle Boy – Book 15 Underwater War

Battle Boy – Book 15 Underwater War by Charlie Carter (Pan Macmillan Australia)

PB RRP $9.99

ISBN: 978 0 330 40432 7

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

The highly successful Battle Boy series is a dramatic and thrilling series that combines science fiction, history and adventure all into one. In each book, 11 year old Napoleon Augustus Smythe (Battle Boy 005) travels back in time as a Human Data Collecting Device (a HD-CD) – to spy on the past and solve famous historical mysteries. Each intriguing mission lands Battle Boy right in the thick of famous battles and military exploits. Battle Boy is guided through his missions by Professor Perdu and a multitude of hi-tech gadgets.

Book 15 is just as gripping as the earlier books, with Napoleon heading back in time to the famous Battle of the Atlantic – the longest battle of the Second World War. Napoleon must survive the underwater wars between Allied battleships and German U-boats. With this mission possibly his most dangerous Napoleon will need every bit of his survival gear (Simulskin, Boot Boosters and Chameli-Shirt) to survive!

The Battle Boy Series is a compelling, action-packed series that will engage even the most reluctant reader. The books are short, and are divided into eight to twelve easy to read chapters. The text is broken up by black and white illustrations of Napoleon’s special survival gear and dramatic battle scenes. The author Charlie Carter has cleverly drawn on famous historical battles and events and reworked them into action-packed adventures that will appeal to boys and girls aged 6-10 years.

Readers can check out the other Battle Boy books at: http://www.battleboy.com.au/

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. 

What Body Part is That?

What Body Part is That? by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton (Pan MacMillan)

PB RRP $14.99

ISBN: 978 1 330 40398

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Andy Griffith is known for his disgusting, hilarious and nonsensical reads and his latest offering ‘What Body Part is That?’ is no exception. Andy has teamed up with his long-standing and multi-talented sidekick, illustrator Terry Denton, to bring 100 per cent fact-free guide to the human body. This book is guaranteed to explain everything you ever needed to know about the human body without a single scientific explanation!

The book is divided into sections based on anatomy, such as ‘The Bits You Can See’ (e.g. Head and Neck, Skin, etc.) and ‘The Bits You Can’t See’ (e.g. Digestive System, Circulatory & Respiratory Systems, etc.). Each section is further divided into topics within each chapter (e.g. Mouth, Chin, Elbow, etc.). A double-page spread is dedicated to each body part and includes a brief discussion of what the body part is and what it can and can’t do.  Hilarious illustrations by Terry Denton support the text. A Fun Fact is also included for each body part (e.g. It is physically impossible to lick your own elbow).

This book is packed with information on the heart, the brain, the bum and so much more. The smallest, biggest and most disgusting parts of the human body are all included. For instance, did you know your nose contains five million odour receptors so this is why you shouldn’t put it too close to armpits or bums or dog poo? Or human tonsils can bounce higher than a rubber ball of similar weight and size? And what about saliva? Most experts believe that during your lifetime you will produce enough saliva to fill one or two swimming pools.

‘What Body Part is That?’ is packed with illustrations to help you distinguish the difference between capillaries and caterpillars, understand the full cycle of the bladder and identify the several different types of belly buttons (innie, outie, fluffy etc.).

‘What Body Part is That?’ is a thoroughly hilarious and enjoyable book. Fans of this comic duo will not be disappointed!