Harriet and Will: The Secret Gold

Title: Harriet and Will: The Secret Gold

Genre: Middle-Grade for readers aged 9-13

Theme: Australian gold rush time-travel historical fiction adventure with elements of magical realism

Author: Debra Clewer

Publisher: Lilly Pilly Grace Publishing

Cover design: Joel Broughton

Release date: 22^nd July 2026                                                                                                                                                          

What do a red phone booth, an equally red dragon, and gold missing for one hundred years have in common? Everything!

When Harriet Cooper and Will Taylor embark on a school excursion to three gold rush locations, they hurtle through history. A mysterious restored red phone booth appears at each place, ready to play gold rush stories for the cost of an old penny. But the ancient phone booth does much more, and the two friends find themselves back in the gold rush days at each place! When Harriet discovers gold sovereigns and a nugget, will she be allowed to keep them? Or will they have to be returned to the sites where they were discovered?

Be prepared for daring dragon battles, tough teachers and the bothersome bully who makes life difficult as Harriet and Will seek justice.

For fans of Dr Who, C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl.

Links to purchase:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0H9RBQJFS/   (eBook)

Website:   https://www.clewerbooknook.com   (paperback)

Eloise and the Bucket of Stars

Eloise and the Bucket of Stars by Janeen Brian

Orphaned as a baby, Eloise Pail yearns for a family. Instead, she lives a lonely life trapped in an orphanage and made miserable by the cruel Sister Hortense. Befriended by the village blacksmith, Eloise soon uncovers some strange secrets of yesteryear and learns that something terrible may be about to happen to the village. As troubles and dangers mount, she must learn who to trust and choose between saving the village or belonging to a family of her own. Unless something truly magical happens...

 

The title is mid-grade, historical, magic realism aged at readers 9+ years. It’s described as:

·       A powerful tale of how magic weaves its way into the real world.

·       Explores themes of belonging, what it takes to be a friend and what constitutes a family.

LINKS:

https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Eloise-and-the-Bucket-of-Stars-9781760651879

https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Eloise-and-the-Bucket-of-Stars-9781760652463  (e-book edition)

www.janeenbrian.com   Available online and in all good bookshops.

Bone Gap

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (Allen and Unwin) PB RRP $19.99

ISBN 9780571332755

Reviewed by Daniela Andrews

The phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’ need not apply to this one. I was drawn to this book as soon as I saw the cover, and I wasn’t disappointed. Cornfields, beehives and a dark horse … I couldn’t figure out how it all fit together, but I knew I wanted to find out.

This alluring novel is best described as magical realism – it is a little fairytale-like, at times, and starkly realistic at others. It targets readers aged 14–18, and raises themes of family, love and self-worth.

It is a highly original, unusual tale set in a town called ‘Bone Gap’, where ‘the bones of the world’ are ‘a little looser’ and where people can simply fall away and disappear. Finn O’Sullivan is a handsome teenage boy who the locals are fond of, despite declaring him nutty. They call him ‘Sidetrack’ and ‘Moonface’ because he won’t look people in the eye. Finn lives with his older brother, Sean, whom the town adores. 

When a young, beautiful girl called Roza appears in their barn, she charms the entire town with her beauty and playfulness. Then she is kidnapped and everybody is devastated. Finn was there but he can’t describe the kidnapper. Locals know that Bone Gap is full of magical ‘spaces one could slip into and hide’ … perhaps Roza simply disappeared as mysteriously as she arrived.

Finn is frustrated that nobody believes him – especially Sean, who was in love with her. When a magical horse appears in their barn one night, it leads Finn to Petey Willis, the beekeeper’s daughter, whom the townspeople taunt for her erratic appearance and behaviour. Finn and Petey fall in love, and she uncovers a remarkable truth about him. When Roza’s kidnapper turns up, Finn realises he himself needs to slip away from his world in order to find her.

Laura Ruby treats us to insights from Sean, Petey and Charlie Valentine (the town veteran), but the majority of the novel is told from Finn and Roza’s perspectives. She expertly overlaps the slow, mystical setting of Finn’s world with Roza’s frantic attempts to escape her captor. The effect creates a very gripping novel, making it a well-deserving winner of the 2016 ‘Michael L. Printz Award’.

Iris and the Tiger

Iris and the Tiger by Leanne Hall (Text Publishing) PB  RRP $16.99

ISBN   9781925240795

Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald

How would you feel if your parents sent you all the way from Melbourne to Spain to secretly spy on your great-aunt because they were plotting to inherit her estate?

This happens to twelve-year-old Iris. She finds herself spending ten days in the mysterious, sprawling Spanish property of ‘Bosque de Nubes’ with her eccentric Aunt Ursula, Seňor Garcia (her driver, Marcel), her gardener, and a maid called Elna.

From the outside, the house looks magnificent- a white two-story mansion with lots of windows, six columns at the front, arches everywhere and ‘waves of plaster along the roof that looked like cake icing.’  But Iris quickly discovers it’s cursed by a strange magic. The walls are dotted with weird ‘Surreal’ paintings. Aunt Ursula’s late brother, James, had been a famous artist.

There is one painting in particular which fascinates Iris. It is called, ‘Iris and the Tiger.’ Iris viewed it in the gallery in Barcelona, but where was this mysterious tiger? Iris befriends Jordi - the gardener’s son- and they embark on a wacky adventure to find the truth behind her uncle’s mysterious paintings and to discover who would ultimately inherit Aunt Ursula’s estate.

On the way they discover magical beasts, ghosts, a five legged shadow hound, a car with feet and some unscrupulous property developers who want to build a theme park on Ursula’s land.

Leanne Hall is a Melbourne author of two YA novels. She won the 2009 Text Prize with her novel, This is Shyness. In 2012 she followed that with a sequel Queen of the Night. Iris and the Tiger is her third novel and her first story for younger readers in the 9 to 12 years age group.

What I particularly liked about this book was that although there are lots of mysterious and impossible things going on, Leanne Hall has managed to ground the story in the real world. She cleverly weaves in information about surrealist art and leads the reader on a quest to discover the truth through the use of her vivid imagination.

The text is complimented beautifully by Sandra Eterovic’s cover art and black and white chapter illustrations.

I recommend Iris and the Tiger to kids who like to escape into mystery stories laced with magical realism.

Teacher notes are available at the Text Publishing website.    

Beetle Boy

Beetle Boy by M.G. Leonard (Chicken House) PB RRP $16.99

ISBN 978-1-910002-70-4

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

After the disappearance of his dad, Darkus is sent to live with his Uncle Max. The police seem to think his father ran away and have given up looking for him. So with the help of his uncle, his two new friends and the strange beetles that live in the dump next door, Darkus sets out to rescue his father.

This story hooked me straight away and I was surprised by just how much I loved it. Darkly humorous, the storyline is quirky and unique, with a huge dose of magical realism which sneaks up on the reader. The characters too, are wonderfully quirky, and though some appear on the surface to be a little clichéd, they become less so as the surface is scratched.

Darkus, brave and resourceful, becomes friends with two unlikely kids Bertold and Virginia. They are full of life and jump whole-heartedly into the adventure with him – although Bertold has to overcome his uneasiness with bugs. The ridiculous and horrible cousins who live next door are spectacular in their nastiness, and the vibrantly vile villain Lucretia Cutter has one redeeming feature, a beautiful daughter/fair damsel in distress Novak, to whom Darkus can appeal for help. Even Uncle Max who warned Darkus ‘Adventures are dangerous, Darkus, and villains are real.’ was up for helping the kids rescue his Darkus’ dad.

Darkus, Virginia and Bertold have the ultimate base camp from which to plan their moves. A den buried deep in a heap of furniture on enemy territory, with many different tunnels, escape routes and booby traps. This is the ultimate in cubby houses!

And then there are the beetles which include Baxter, Newton, Marvin and Hepburn. These are beetles unlike any I’ve seen or read about before. Larger than your average beetle, they have the advantage of being able to communicate with humans through body language - but only if the human in question cares to look closely enough. And it’s a good thing these beetles are on the side of good – aka Darkus and his friends – as they can provide a whole army.

This is an appealing book on many levels. The cover is eye catching, reflecting the humour and subject of the story inside, with beetles and insects climbing across the fore edge. Scattered throughout the pages are fabulous little illustrations of the beetles and people as well. It is an adventurous tale of a daring quest, with many nail-biting moments balanced out by very funny scenes.

Beetle Boy is for lovers of danger, quirkiness, beetles and great story telling. It will delight readers from the age of 10 years (but is a solid /lengthy read) and has an entomologist’s dictionary at the end for those who are beginners in the world of insects.

And better still, it is the first of a trilogy. 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Walker Books)

HC RRP $19.95

ISBN 9781406348088

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This extraordinary and mesmerising generational saga carries themes of love, loving, betrayal, and human weakness. We travel from France to Seattle with these sharp and escalating emotions that belong to the Roux family, throughout their search for happiness.  

On the night that Ava Lavender was born, all the birds in the neighbourhood acted strangely. Her being born with wings seemed to have been preordained in some way. It is Ava’s search for identity and a way to fit into a normal life that appears to be the major story. But it’s not only about Ava. It is about all the women of her family tree; all the loves they lost, and what they became because of these loves and losses. With them come all the myths and stories attached to these fractured lives, and the heartbreaking climax of how they finally came together again.

To try to encompass all that is in this book in a review is impossible. It’s hugely imaginative and deeply moving. Compiled of so many layers and sub-stories, any attempt to describe it hardly does it justice. It’s magical realism at its best. First time author Leslye Watson has created a masterpiece of beauty and fascination, and one of the finest pieces of writing, research and creativity that I have ever read.