Focus on Fiction for Younger Readers

Alice Miranda at Camp by Jacqueline Harvey (Random House)

This school camp is full of secrets and surprises!
An exciting announcement has been made and Alice-Miranda and her schoolmates are going on camp. There are sleep outs, treasure hunts and so many other activities to look forward to! However, it's not all fun and games. Alice-Miranda and Millie will need to keep a close eye on Caprice, the school's newest student, who seems determined to cause trouble. Series teaching notes ~ PRC 3-4 Booklist #9176 ~ Reading Time Interview

Billie B Brown: The Second Best Friend by Sally Rippin and Aki Fukuoka (Hardie Grant)

Billie has always been best friends with Jack. But now Rebecca wants to be her best friend. Will Billie have to choose?  Who will end up The Second-best Friend? Billy B Brown website ~ PRC 3-4 Booklist #33007

Diary of a Track and Field Titan by Shamini Flint and Sally Heinrich (Allen and Unwin)

Marcus is a maths whiz who is not good at sport. His dad is a self-help author who thinks Marcus can achieve anything he sets his mind to...with hilarious results. In illustrated diary format, Marcus's gentle, satiric humour and comic drawings will have readers laughing out loud while learning a surprising amount about sport. Book Extract

Don’t Look Now Book 4 by Paul Jennings and Andrew Weldon (Allen and Unwin)

At last, Ricky is friends with Samantha. But he still wants to be FAMOUS. Find out if he can finally realise his dream even though he can't let anyone see him fly.  Videos ~ Review ~ Talks and articles by and about Paul

EJ Spy School: Puppy Alert! by Susannah McFarlane and Dyani Stagg (Scholastic)

Emma Jacks is Agent EJ10. She goes to Spy School. EJ10 is learning how to rescue animals, but a puppy goes missing … Can EJ10 find her? EJ Spy School Website ~ Colouring Activity ~ Read a chapter ~ PRC 3-4 Booklist #4649

Ella and Olivia: Sports Carnival by Yvette Poshoglian and Danielle McDonald (Scholastic)

Ella and Olivia have been training hard for their school sports carnival! But can their team win the best-ever grand prize? Ella and Olivia website

Ghost Club 2: The Haunted School by Deborah Abela (Random House)

Angeline and Edgar have to go to their Senior School sleepover, but Angeline is dreading having to talk to the other kids. 

The night goes wrong when a ghost appears in the old boarding school dormitory where they are camped out. Their classmates are terrified — and Principal Prim is not happy!
With the help of Ghost Club, Angeline and Edgar must find out who the ghost is so they can help her — but first they have to convince their school principal that kids can be ghost catchers too; and they have to avoid Travis the bully, who is spying on them — and causing trouble wherever they go. Ghost Club trailer ~ Teaching Notes ~ Writers Talk interviews ~ PRC 3-4 Booklist #35226

The Bad Guys Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)

They sound like the Bad Guys, they look like the Bad Guys ... and they even smell like the Bad Guys.But Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark are about to change all of that! Mr Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys' first good mission. The gang are going to break 200 dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr Snake please spit out Mr Piranha?  Trailer ~ Story Box Library Meet Aaron Blabey  ~ Teaching Notes ~ PRC 3-4 Booklist #10059

The Vanilla Slice Kid by Adam Wallace & Jack Wodhams and Tom Gittus (Hybrid)

Archie Cunningham is a shy boy who has three things – incredibly mean and greedy parents, no friends, and an amazing power. An uploaded video shows the world what Archie can do, and he suddenly becomes the main ingredient in a recipe for world domination. Which is when the fun really begins! ALEA Review ~ About Adam video

You Choose: Alien Invaders from Beyond the Stars by George Ivanoff (Random House)

Protector of planet Earth or abduction by extra-terrestrials!

You see strange lights in the night sky one night. It’s a flying saucer, just like in the movies. Inside are lizard aliens – disguised as humans. They have come to invade the planet Earth. You want to resist but your actions may lead to the destruction of humankind . . . Do you have what it takes to save the world? Or will the aliens unleash their ultimate weapon? A thank you from George ~ The Bottom Shelf blog ~ STUDIO3 Interview ~ STUDIO3 Interview 2 ~ George Ivanoff Ice Bucket Challenge

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