Phantom Spies

Phantom Spies by Dawn Meredith, illustrated by Jae Tanaka (Shining Press) PB RRP $9.50   ISBN – 13: 978-1530305506  ISBN – 101530305500

Reviewed by Wendy Haynes

Meet Oliver and his family the Snatchers. The Snatchers aren’t your ordinary family their cat burglars. By night they infiltrate mansions and steal anything of value. Oliver’s job is to use his computer skills to cut the alarms. He is always nervous and worried that one day they will get caught and end up in gaol. His sister Vera is light on her feet and does acrobatics to get passed the infra-red security beams, while their mum plans the mission, and dad is expert at cracking safes.

This chapter book would appeal to 7-9 year olds, and, with varying sentence length, is action-packed, told in the third person, and deals with making decisions, and knowing right from wrong. Oliver’s best friend is the family Robot Roger: he is the only one he can really confide in about his concerns for his family, and he can’t tell his friends at school. He pleads with his family to stop but no one will listen.

After being caught on their last job they are offered work for a secret government agency PHANTOM, as spies. But, at the government headquarters, Roger is taken from Oliver, and reclaimed as a counter terrorism cyborg. The government has plans for the Snatcher family and prepares them for their first mission. Meanwhile the sinister Professor Withers has secretly altered Roger with his new program. When Roger returns to the family, he is not the same: he is no longer friendly toward Oliver or the rest of the family and is unpredictable.

This book is a page turner and will leave the reading wanting more.

Brobot

Brobot by James Foley (Fremantle Press) PB RRP $14.99

ISBN 9781925163919

Reviewed by Teena Raffa-Mulligan

Award-winning illustrator James Foley has produced a reader pleaser with his latest release, a junior fiction graphic novel with maximum appeal for children in middle to upper primary.

Brobot is about a girl who believes she can build a better brother than the one she has. Joe is messy, smelly and impossible to control. Sally Tinker, who has the trophy to prove she’s the world’s foremost inventor under 12, eliminates these imperfections in Brobot, which is ‘just as a brother should be’.

The amazing Brobot cleans up messes, fixes broken machines, is never smelly, sticky or wet and as an added bonus has a built-in cupcake machine. Best of all, Sally can control her robot’s every move with the Brobo-remote.

But when the control gets broken and Brobot is out of control Sally reconsiders the merits of young Joe.

Foley’s own inventiveness comes to the fore in Brobot, which lives up to its promise as ‘a hilarious graphic novel for young readers’. He has cast appealing characters in a quirky tale that will resonate with kids who have sometimes frustrating younger siblings.

The level of humour in the drawings is right for the target age group and the comic-style format will draw in young readers who might be reluctant to read a standard novel.

Axel & Beast: The Grabbem Getaway

Axel & Beast: The Grabbem Getaway written by Adrian C. Bott, illustrated by Andy Isaac (Hardie Grant Egmont) PB RRP $12.99

ISBN 9781760127800

Reviewed by Liz Ledden

The first title in an action-packed junior fiction series, Axel & Beast: The Grabbem Getaway centres on a lonely gamer and a robot on the run.

When shape-shifting robot Beast bursts into Axel’s room, he is desperate to hide. Beast has escaped from the destructive Grabbem Industries, and finds a likely ally in Axel, who’s endured his own encounters with nasty bullies. With the help of insider Agent Omega, Axel and Beast, band together to overcome Grabbem’s evil intentions.

Despite its emphasis on technology, gadgets and fast-paced action, the story has a feel-good factor, too. The message of fighting back against corporate greed and environmental destruction is an important one, and is ever-present in Axel & Beast’s fight against Grabbem Industries.

There are some fun secondary characters too, notably Rusty Rosie who rules a junkyard – a force to be reckoned with. There’s also Axel’s mum, Nedra, a very capable mechanic hailing from Sri Lanka whose lovely relationship with Axel is quite touching.

It would be a shame for this book to only be picked up by (or purchased for) boys, as there’s a universality to the story’s themes that everyone can enjoy.

As a footnote, the author’s moniker ‘Adrian C. Bott’ seems too good to be true – it’s perfectly suited to the subject matter!