THE AMBIDEXTROUS LIBRARIAN

The Witches (Roald Dahl) Don’t be fooled – REAL WITCHES exist, and their sole purpose is to eradicate ALL children due to the vile stench they exude!  REAL WITCHES are, of course, terribly icky, but they parade the world as lovely ladies and can only be spotted by those in the know! So begins the telling of a classic good vs. evil fairy-tale, where a young boy and his grandmother unwittingly find themselves in the midst of a large gathering of witches, led by none other than the Grand High Witch herself who plans to rid England of all children, forever!  Will their terrible plan be foiled in time? Packed with larger-than-life characters, colourful accents and disgustingly descriptive narrative, The Witches is bound to be a hit with children who enjoy a squeamish read! Dahl, R 1983,  The witches , Jonathan Cape, London. Children's - Horror

Girl Defective (Simmone Howell) As a teenager, did you ever look longingly at other people’s apparent domestic bliss, and wonder just why your family was so damn weird? Girl Defective’s protagonist, Skylark Martin, laments that her family are “like inverse superheroes, marked by our defects”.  As the daughter of an absent, artist mother, a borderline alcoholic father, and with a brother who is “on the spectrum”, Sky certainly has her share of domestic challenges.  Throw into the mix an older, unpredictable best friend, an intense teenage romance and a mysterious death (all against a St. Kilda backdrop) Girl Defective certainly delivers a colourful, engaging narrative.  A novel that tackles the issues of self-identity and familial relationships within romance and suspense, Girl Defective certainly offers the reader a little bit of everything! Howell, S 2013,  Girl defective , Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney. Young Adult - Family

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs) Jacob had always assumed that his grandpa’s fanciful stories of the “peculiar children” and “monsters” were just that –stories, until he finds his grandpa fatally injured by one of the very “monsters” he so vividly described.  With his dying breath, Jacob’s grandpa imparts a cryptic message of an island, a peregrine and an old man’s grave... but what does it all mean?  So begins Jacob’s journey to uncover the truth in his grandpa’s stories, and his own personal truth. Beautifully illustrated in a stark comic book style which captures the movement and motion in a visual and even audible manner, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a fantastic novel for young readers who are seeking an equal measure of action, fantasy and horror in their novels.  Riggs, R 2011,  Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children , Quirk Books, Philadelphia. Children's - Graphic Novel / Fantasy

We Were Liars (E. Lockhart) Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair Family. No one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure. Narrated by Cadence, the first born grandchild of the wealthy Sinclair family, We Were Liars is a tale told across the summers of Beechworth Island; the private oasis of the Sinclair family. Life is perfect when on the island, and Cadence describes each summer through the experiences of “The Liars” a band of three cousins, Cadence, Mirren and Johnny, and one outsider, Gat, who is Johnny’s not-quite stepbrother. As the summers pass, Cadence knows that all is not well in the family; but like a good Sinclair she dutifully maintains the required image of perfection. But this thin veneer is shattered when Cadence wakes to find herself in hospital after suffering a serious accident during “Summer Fifteen”, which has left her with debilitating migraines and no memory of the event. Following her accident, Cadence begins her slow rebellion away from ...

Eleanor & Park (Rainbow Rowell) To say Eleanor and Park is just a love story, or a book on teenage romance, is to do it a gross disservice.  Eleanor and Park doesn’t just narrate first love, it takes you right back there again.  To read it is to feel the all-consuming glory of a first love; the detail and nuance of getting to know another person and to think about them constantly, the shock of discovering the way they can make you feel, the sheer bliss associated with these discoveries and the strange and exhilarating feeling of emotions that you never fathomed could exist.  Quite simply, this book beautifully and vividly narrates what it is like to fall utterly and completely in love for the first time. Eleanor is new to town and as a red-headed, freckled misfit with her own eccentric style, she knows fitting in will be tough.  Park is half Korean and half American, keeps his head low, listens to punk music and generally does his best to stay under the r...