Tag: Walker Books

Welcome to Consent – Yumi Stynes & Dr. Melissa Kang

Illustrations – Jenny Latham

They didn’t make books like this when I was a kid. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this is no longer the case, that kids now have easy access to information that empowers them and teaches them about boundaries.

I love that this book doesn’t even get into consent specifically related to dating and sexual activity until about halfway through. The focus before that is teaching about how consent relates to all aspects of our lives, beginning with using the example of whether you are willing to loan a t-shirt to someone.

There’s information about how other people need to seek your consent but it also talks about your responsibility in making sure you obtain consent as well. Consent is clearly explained as a two way street.

Learning how to ask, being ready to hear the answer (whatever it is), and saying yes or no yourself are all big skills.

Through multiple examples, you learn what is and isn’t consent, and how a pressured yes isn’t a yes at all. It’s about enthusiastic consent.

Enthusiastic consent looks beyond words and takes into account how someone really feels about a situation, even if they’re not comfortable expressing it.

Consent education in Australian schools only became mandatory in 2023 and there are entire generations who grew up with no one telling them that even thinking about what was and wasn’t okay with them was an option.

Sex education at my school consisted of a single awkward class where an embarrassed teacher put a bunch of slides on the projector in front of students who were also embarrassed but busy pretending they knew everything there was to know already. Outside of that, I had Dolly Doctor, which was great when they answered questions I had but not so great when they didn’t. I needed more than one avenue for finding this information.

I would have absolutely benefited from reading this book as a kid and then again as a teenager.

Given the authors are Australian (and one is Dolly Doctor herself!), I was surprised when I was presented with American helplines at the end of the book. While I’m thrilled that my library purchased this book, it would be been even better if they’d purchased the edition that was published in Australia.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

An inclusive, frank and funny guide to navigating consent for tweens and teens of all genders, from the award-winning authors of Welcome To Your Period.

Adolescent health experts Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes have written the only guide you need to figuring out the rules of consent. Whether you’re a curious 11 to 14-year-old, or the parent of someone with a bunch of questions, this book is reassuring, interesting, and full of the info you need!

I’m ready for this book if: 

  • I’m curious about how consent works. 
  • I will get a haircut or visit the doctor on my own one day. 
  • I think I might kiss someone or have a relationship in the future (even if I’m not ready to yet). 
  • I don’t know how to actually TALK about consent. 
  • It’s hard to say no. 
  • I don’t know when to say yes. 
  • I find consent confusing!
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Vlad, the Fabulous Vampire – Flavia Z. Drago

Vlad wears black to fit in with his friends, but there’s another reason as well. Vlad has a secret, something he is ashamed of.

Vlad had rosy pink cheeks! They made him look different from everyone else – so horribly alive!

He decides to use his love of fashion to design clothes to hide his pink cheeks. His clothes may be fabulous but hiding who he truly is makes Vlad feel alone.

Then Vlad learns he’s not the only one with a secret. With the help of Shelley, his best friend, Vlad discovers a world of colour and the confidence to be himself.

I love this series. They’re books I’d happily read over and over again. The characters are relatable and they have positive messages.

There’s so much to see in the illustrations.

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The characters are expressive and there are plenty of background details to enjoy. I particularly enjoyed finding Gustavo and Leila from the previous books and the ghost in a teacup.

Vlad can make clothes for me whenever he wants.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this picture book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Vlad’s passion is fashion. And just like every other vampire, Vlad dresses head to toe in the colour black. But unlike other vampires, Vlad has bright pink cheeks: cheeks that make him look, and feel, so different. Vlad tries to hide behind his clothes and his cape but, as it turns out, being yourself – truly yourself – is the most fabulous way to be.

An uplifting and charming celebration of our differences set in the same monster universe as the New York Times #1 bestseller, Gustavo, the Shy Ghost and Leila, the Perfect Witch.

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The Skull – Jon Klassen

When Otilla runs away, she travels through a dense forest before coming across a house that looks abandoned. When she knocks on the door, Otilla discovers the house is inhabited after all.

Otilla looked up to where the voice had come from. In a window above the door, she saw a skull looking at her.

By a skull that is haunted by a secret.

I’m not quite sure how Otilla managed to get the fire hot enough for one of its purposes. I want to know why Otilla ran away and need to invent more of a backstory for the skull because my macabre-o-meter needs more juice.

This is a beautiful book. A retelling of a Tyrolean folktale, it’s such an odd little story and I have no idea yet if I will fall in love with it during a reread or if the question marks are going to remain above my head.

What I’m absolutely certain of is that I loved the dance and the masks. I adored the quirky illustrations.

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I really enjoyed the author’s note, where they explain how this retelling came about.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit – with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note – The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.

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Where’s Wally? Days Out: Colouring Book – Martin Handford

I’m pretty sure I think about Wally more times each day than the average adult. I blame the colleague who saw my first heat pack around my neck and helpfully pointed out that its red and white stripes reminded them of Wally. Naturally we christened my heat pack Wally immediately.

My original Wally is long gone and I have yet to find a red and white striped replacement. That hasn’t stopped every heat pack since then, regardless of colour, being called Wally. No one who knows me even refers to it as a heat pack anymore, which makes misplacing it a lot less frustrating.

“Where’s Wally?”

Here, we join Wally, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Woof and dastardly Odlaw in nine days out:
🐶 Doggy Day Care
🤠 The Wild, Wild West Theme Park
🐴 The Parade
🎨 The Art Gallery
🥪 A Spot of Lunch
🎵 The Musical Extravaganza
🦖 A Dino Day Out
🎥 Knights, Camera, Action!
🪩 Disco Fever

I particularly enjoyed attending the Jurassic Games.

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My only quibble is with the book’s binding. I love that the scenes are large, covering two pages each. Because the spine doesn’t allow you to completely flatten the pages, though, it can be difficult to colour the middle of each scene.

At the end of the book, there’s a list of items to search for. And stickers to colour! Make sure to be on the lookout for Wally’s ice cream cone as you colour your way through the scenes. 🍦

Fun fact: Wally is also known as Waldo. Odlaw’s name makes more sense when you discover that as the “Anti-Waldo”, his name is Waldo spelled backwards.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the hours of fun.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Pack your colouring pens and pencils for some super-exciting outings with Wally. Get ready to transform black-and-white scenes into dazzling kaleidoscopic destinations – the days out of your dreams! There are all sorts of things to search for and a page of stickers to colour in, too. Enjoy!

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Arc of a Scythe #3.5: Gleanings – Neal Shusterman

I love the scythedom and couldn’t wait to spend more time in Citra and Rowan’s world. This anthology contains twelve short stories and one poem. There’s a bonus story in the Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition, which I’ll be reading as soon as it finishes its journey across the ocean to meet me.

There are backstories and glimpses of what happened after The Toll for some characters we already know, as well as introductions to some robes whose colours we haven’t seen before. Some stories are written by Neal Shusterman, while others are collaborations with other authors. The poem is written by Neal’s daughter, Joelle.

After a bit of a shaky start, I began to find stories that enriched what I already know of this world. Of the thirteen gleanings in this collection, I found six favourites, one short of an octave.

In Formidable, Scythe Curie has recently finished her apprenticeship and has not yet become the self assured legend she is when Citra gets to know her after her own apprenticeship.

“The future is unfettered. Long live us all!”

A Death of Many Colours sees scythe deniers being confronted with a little bit too much reality.

“Let’s give you a new perspective.”

Kohl Whitlock’s sister’s reaction to his gleaning takes us to Unsavory Row.

But giving an unsavory parameters was just a dare to break them.

In A Martian Minute, we learn Carson Lusk’s backstory.

Sometimes, when your life is wheels within wheels, you can take a wrong step and get ground up in the slow churn of the gears.

The Mortal Canvas (co-authored by David Yoon) introduces four students who create art under exceptional circumstances.

“From this moment on, no one will ever know what it feels like to be complete.”

I loved learning what became of Citra’s brother, Ben, in Anastasia’s Shadow.

It was hard enough being the brother of Scythe Anastasia. He was constantly being compared to her, and constantly being reminded that he did not compare.

I will always welcome new stories from the scythedom.

Thank you so much to Walker Books Australia for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.

Neal Shusterman – along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman – returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.

Gleanings shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning Scythe truly is.

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Arc of a Scythe #3: The Toll – Neal Shusterman

“Can we … do that?” Nietzsche asked.

“We’re scythes; we can do anything we please.”

Scythe is one of my favourite books of all time and I was hooked for the entire series. I love the characters. I can’t get enough of the history, mythology and practices of all of the scythes, both those I love and those I love to hate. I’ve probably spent too much time deliberating about what colour my robe would be, who I’d choose as my Patron Historic and what my gleaning MO would be.

I had so many questions going into this book and I got answers, even when they didn’t look anything like I’d expected them to. I’m satisfied with most of them, with the exception of probably the biggest of them all, where we left Rowan and Citra.

This book was well written, like the rest of the series, and I couldn’t put it down. So why aren’t I absolutely thrilled right now?

I think part of it was that for much of the book I like like I was treading water, waiting for the big finish. Characters who I absolutely adore barely spent any time together when I’d looked forward to them bantering their way through the pages.

I hurt for Faraday and, like Munira, I couldn’t make it better; the Faraday in this book didn’t feel like the Faraday that made me fall in love with the scythedom. I couldn’t spend time with one of my favourite scythes because of the events of the second book.

Greyson, who wowed me in the second book, seemed more like a puppet going through the motions for most of this one and I missed the Greyson I thought I was going to hang out with here. I desperately wanted a huge showdown with the Big Bad.

Okay, so it’s starting to sound like I hated this book, but I didn’t. It was still a four star read for me, so pretty impressive. I think it’s just a case of my expectations being so unreasonably high and, as a result, reality had no hope of growing tall enough to reach them. Even though I’ve only recently reread it, I want to read Scythe again to renew my first love.

Yes, of course I sent a test email to Loriana’s email address. No, it didn’t work.

Favourite no context quote:

And what was that old mortal-age saying? Curiosity was a cat killer?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In a world that’s conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created?

Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him?

The answer lies in the Tone, the Toll, and the Thunder.

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Arc of a Scythe #2: Thunderhead – Neal Shusterman

“Well, then,” said Supreme Blade Kahlo, raising her hand in a grand dramatic gesture, “let the wild rumpus start!”

I tend to be one of those people who read the next book in a series I’m following as soon as it’s published (earlier if I can get my hands on an advanced copy) and then spend the next year hanging precariously over a cliff while I wait to find out what’s going to happen next. All I can think after finishing this book is how grateful I am that this time, I’m late to the party.

I read Scythe for the first time shortly after it was released and began this book soon after it was published. Then something happened, which I can’t even remember now, that took me away from it before I finished and unfinished it’s remained. Until now. I don’t know how I would have managed if I’d had to wait a year to see how everything unfolds from here but it wouldn’t have been pretty. This is a series you definitely need to binge.

I love vigilante Rowan, AKA, Scythe Lucifer. He’s not just making corrupt scythes deadish; he’s making sure they don’t come back. As he researched his potential targets and stalked them prior to taking their lives, he reminded me of the Green Arrow. I wanted his kills to come with a catchphrase … You have failed this Scythedom.

Meanwhile, Citra (now Scythe Anastasia) did me proud as a junior scythe. Taking on the best of what both of her mentors taught her but making it her own, Citra’s scythe MO was compassionate and thoughtful, and everything I expected from her.

“She is a fresh voice of reason and responsibility. She can make the old ways new again. Which is why they fear her.”

However, it was her strength, tenacity and courage that really captivated me. It’s one thing to do the right thing but it’s another thing entirely when the right thing isn’t the easy thing and your decisions come with consequences you can’t necessarily predict and aren’t always in your favour.

The big surprise for me, though, was Greyson. I didn’t expect much from him, even though it was clear from the beginning that his role in this series was going to be significant. I enjoyed watching as he began to transform into Slayd. His journey introduced me to unsavouries, whose particular brand of rebellion I found fascinating.

I need to live in the restored Great Library of Alexandria. It contains 3.5 million volumes of scythe journals!

Favourite no context quotes:

Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.

“We are forever impaled upon our own wisdom.”

“Deadish men tell no tales for a while.”

To borrow a new favourite phrase, this book was “fun-and-a-half”. I’m starting The Toll immediately.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Humans learn from their mistakes. I cannot. I make no mistakes.

The Thunderhead is the perfect ruler of a perfect world, but it has no control over the scythedom. A year has passed since Rowan had gone off grid. Since then, he has become an urban legend, a vigilante snuffing out corrupt scythes in a trial by fire. His story is told in whispers across the continent.

As Scythe Anastasia, Citra gleans with compassion and openly challenges the ideals of the “new order.” But when her life is threatened and her methods questioned, it becomes clear that not everyone is open to the change.

Old foes and new enemies converge, and as corruption within the Scythedom spreads, Rowan and Citra begin to lose hope. Will the Thunderhead intervene?

Or will it simply watch as this perfect world begins to unravel?

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Arc of a Scythe #1: Scythe – Neal Shusterman

Hope in the shadow of fear is the world’s most powerful motivator.

This book became one of my favourite reads of all time when I met Citra and Rowan five years ago. Since then I’ve wanted to visit them again but, like all of the books I’ve fallen in love with as an adult, I’ve procrastinated my reread. I wanted to hold onto the love at first read that I experienced. I was concerned that the shine wouldn’t be there the second time around.

I needn’t have worried. I didn’t think it possible but the reread shone even brighter for me. The characters I knew and loved, and those I loved to hate, came to me fully formed; I didn’t need to reacquaint myself with them, even after all of this time.

Citra and Rowan have been selected to undertake an apprenticeship. They will be spending the next year competing against one another for a job neither of them want. Ironically, this makes them the perfect candidates. Although they are both going to be trained by Scythe Faraday, their apprenticeships will be vastly different.

Theirs is a world of splats and revival centres, where nanites can dull your pain but also limit the spectrum of your emotions. It’s also a world where serial killers are not only sanctioned but revered. Here they’re called scythes and their kills aren’t murder; they’re gleanings.

Scythes have a quota of 260 gleanings per year. While this sounds like death is around every corner, your odds of being gleaned in the next 100 years are only 1 in 100.

On the one hand, I have trouble imagining living in a world where we know everything there is to know and have conquered disease and mortality itself. On the other hand, I was fully immersed in Citra and Rowan’s world. I believed.

I imagined the joy of having time to learn everything I wanted to learn, read all of the books on my TBR list and experience everything I’ve ever dreamed of. But because time’s no longer finite, the urgency of our world doesn’t exist in Citra and Rowan’s. There’s nothing left to strive towards, nothing new to discover.

With nothing to really aspire to, life has become about maintenance. Eternal maintenance.

I adored Scythe Faraday, with his thoughtful, compassionate approach. I loved the excerpts from scythes’ journals that caused me to think more deeply about their world as well as our own. I’m still chewing on the philosophical and moral issues raised in this book.

Favourite no context quote:

Well, she could learn self-control tomorrow. Today she wanted pizza.

This remains one of my favourite books of all time. I can’t wait to binge the rest of the series.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life – and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe – a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

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Where to, Little Wombat? – Charles Fuge

It’s spring cleaning time and Little Wombat has decided he doesn’t want to live in a burrow anymore.

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Determined to find somewhere better to live, Little Wombat sets off on an adventure.

“Can I live with you?”

Little Wombat enthusiastically tries out the homes of his friends, only to discover that there really is no place like home.

As I’ve come to expect from Charles Fuge’s picture books, the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. The colours are beautiful, the characters are expressive and the little details are always worth paying attention to.

I loved the faces of the critters who were being flung from the burrow by Little Wombat’s mother as she cleaned. I chuckled as Little Wombat discovered that the homes of each of his friends were not quite suitable for a wombat.

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Although Charles Fuge is one of my favourite illustrators, this was my first Little Wombat book. I’m more convinced than ever that I need to read every Charles Fuge book.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this picture book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Do Little Wombat’s friends live in more exciting places than him? Little Wombat is determined to find out! But it’s not long before he realises that for little wombats, burrows are simply the best!

A fun-filled tale about being happy with the things you have.

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The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate DiCamillo

Illustrations – Sophie Blackall

How to make me fall in love with your book in 5 easy steps

Step 1: Begin with a quote that makes me cheer on the girl before I’ve even met her. 

It is written in the Chronicles of Sorrowing that one day there will come a child who will unseat a king.

The prophecy states that this child will be a girl.

Because of this, the prophecy has long been ignored. 

Step 2: Make your main character someone who loves to read, who is imaginative and brave and resilient and adorable. 

“There are twenty-six letters in all,” she said. “You will learn each of them, and once you know them, you can mix them as you will, and then use them to form the words of the world and the things of the world. You can write of everything – what is and what was and what might yet be.” 

Step 3: Introduce me to characters who will live in my heart long after I finish reading. People like…

* A monk who sees beauty everywhere and whose words are true
* A boy with a brilliant memory who talks to bees
* A man who remembers how wonderful it is to laugh.

Step 4: Impart wisdom and, in doing so, make me highlight an absurd amount of sentences. 

He said, “The world is not always a kind place.”

“No,” she agreed.

“But there are sweet things to be had,” he said.

“Nothing is more terrifying to evil than joy.” 

She felt as though the darkness were trying to swallow her up.

She must not allow that to happen. She must stay herself. 

To be brave is to not turn away.

To be brave is to go forward.

To be brave is to love. 

Seemingly, the heart could hold an untold amount of things – letters and people and goats and bees.

Seemingly, there was no limit to what it could contain. 

We shall all, in the end,

be led to where we belong.

We shall all, in the end,

find our way home. 

Step 5: Include gorgeous illustrations.

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Bonus points if there’s a goat called Answelica who has attitude and a very hard head. 

“I do believe the best and wisest thing we can do is to follow the goat.”

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home.

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils them all – for the king of the land seeks just such a girl, and Brother Edik, who penned the prophecy himself, knows why.

And so it is that a girl with a head full of stories – powerful tales – within the tale of queens and kings, mermaids and wolves – ventures into a dark wood in search of the castle of one who wishes her dead. But Beatryce knows that, should she lose her way, those who love her – a wild-eyed monk, a man who had once been king, a boy with a terrible sword, and a goat with a head as hard as stone – will never give up searching for her, and to know this is to know everything. With its timeless themes, unforgettable cast, and magical medieval setting, Kate DiCamillo’s lyrical tale, paired with resonant black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall, is a true collaboration between masters.

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