| Title |
Author |
Theme |
Age |
Comment |
|
| The Library Card |
Spinelli, Jerry |
4 short stories |
10+ |
4 stories about children, a library card and discovery |
|
| Mission: survival |
Ryan, Chris |
Adventure |
9+ |
Survival, Alpha Force series |
|
| Noughts and crosses |
Blackman, Marjorie |
Adventure |
8+ |
|
|
| Lion Boy |
Corder, Zizou |
Adventure |
9+ |
Young boy who can talk with felines, looks for parents |
|
| Captain Cat & the Umbrella Kid series |
Shaw, Paul |
Adventure |
7+ |
Ideal for those who enjoy Capt Underpants |
|
| The real thing* |
Falkner, Brian |
Adventure |
8 to 11 |
Fizzer heads mystery of Coca Cola's stolen recipe.Ex |
|
| Crispin* |
Avi |
Adventure |
8 to 11 |
Page turner - medieval runaway. Ex |
|
| Eye of the wolf* |
Pennac, Daniel |
Animals |
9+ |
Animals |
|
| Possum Joe |
Tadpole |
Animals |
7+ |
NZ Possums set free, save Joe |
|
| The wolf's footprint |
Price, Susan |
Animals |
|
|
|
| Cadoc |
Malone, Geoffrey |
Animals |
8+ |
Fight is on to save a family of badgers |
|
| Piggott place |
Ball, Duncan |
Australian |
9+ |
Two kids take on the adult world to save family & home |
|
| Bindi Babes |
Dhami, Narinder |
Family |
8+ |
Like Jacqueline Wilson, modern Indian family |
|
| Mudlark |
Stephens, Michael |
Family |
9+ |
It's okay to be different |
|
| Granny the Pag |
Bawden, Nina |
Family |
9+ |
Idiosyncratic grandmother, acceptance |
|
| The mum hunt |
Rees, Gwyneth |
Family |
8 to 10 |
Finding a wife for Dad, humour |
|
| A corner of the Universe |
Martin, Ann. M |
Family |
9+ |
Dealing with mental illness |
|
| Catch us if you can |
MacPhail, Catherin |
Family |
7+ |
Boy & grandad who want to stay together, on the run |
|
| Heastward Ho |
Kilworth, Garry |
Fantasy |
|
Welkin Weasles |
|
| Crystal mask |
Roberts, Katherine |
Fantasy |
10+ |
|
|
| Searching for dragons |
Wrede, Patricia |
Fantasy |
10+ |
Recommended |
|
| The Dark horse |
Sedgwick, Marcus |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Girl snatched from wolves, mystery, Gardian Shortlist |
|
| Only you can save mankind |
Pratchett, Terry |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Johnny Maxwell series |
|
| My secret unicorn series |
Chapman, Linda |
Fantasy |
8+ |
|
|
| Pale phoenix |
Reiss, Kathryn |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Time travel |
|
| Paint by magic |
Reiss, Kathryn |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Time travel |
|
| The magician's house quartet |
Corlett, William |
Fantasy |
10+ |
First book "The Steps up the chimney" |
|
| The spiderwick chronicles |
Diterlizzi, Tony |
Fantasy |
9+ |
The seeing stone the first of series |
|
| Invisible Detective series |
Richards, Justin |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Children solving crimes |
|
| Time Warp Trio series |
Scieszka, Jon |
Fantasy |
7+ |
Humour, travel in time, good for boys |
|
| Orge Downstairs |
Wynne Jones, Dian |
Fantasy |
8+ |
|
|
| Serpents of Arakesh* |
Jones, V |
Fantasy |
9+ |
Quest by orphan into computer world |
|
| Varjak Paw |
SF Said |
Fantasy |
8+ |
A cat who must learn to fight |
|
| Biggles series |
Johns, W.E. |
Flying |
9+ |
|
|
| You have ghost mail |
Blacker, Terence |
Ghosts |
7+ |
|
|
| Ally's World series |
McCombie, Karen |
Girls |
8+ |
Humour, girl series |
|
| Two weeks in grade six |
Pershall, Anna |
Girls |
8,9 |
Chicklit |
|
| National Velvet |
Bagnold, Enid |
Horses |
9+ |
14 year wants her unruly horse to win Grand National |
|
| Hoofbeats series |
Duey, Kathleen |
Horses |
9+ |
|
|
| Heartland series |
Brooke, Lauren |
Horses |
8+ |
New horse series |
|
| Me and Charlie again |
Fish, Janet |
Humour |
8+ |
Funny, pre-teen with some illustrations |
|
| Dead average, dead meat etc.* |
Simons, Moya |
Humour |
8+ |
Funny stories |
|
| Sam Hawkins & the case of the cut-glass cutlass |
Billings, Ian |
Humour |
8+ |
Like Griffiths, Jennings |
|
| Dacked! |
Daddo, Andrew |
Humour |
8+ |
Like Captain Underpants |
|
| Colin goes bush |
McKay, Sandy |
Humour |
8 to 11 |
Recycling, NZ, protest marches |
|
| The vampire's holiday |
Hall, Willis |
Humour |
8 to 11 |
Vampires & mystery |
|
| Attack of the mutant underwear |
Birdseye, Tom |
Humour |
8 to 11 |
Like Griffiths, Jennings, Pilkey |
|
| Olivia Kidney |
Potter, Ellen |
Humour |
8+ |
Apartment living, fantasy |
|
| Seriously weird |
Kemp, Gene |
Humour |
8,9 |
Families, and differences |
|
| Noses are red |
Scrimger, Richard |
Humour |
8 to 9 |
Like Griffith |
|
| The nose from Jupiter |
Scrimger, Richard |
Humour |
7 to 9 |
Alien takes up residence in a boy's nose |
|
| Wayside school is falling down |
Sachar, Louis |
Humour |
9 to 11 |
|
|
| Very naughty mother is a spy |
Killeen, Gretel |
Humour |
8 to 10 |
Adventure and laughs with a mum who is a spy |
|
| Hassles, heart-pings & sad, happy endings |
McCombie, Karen |
Humour |
8+ |
|
|
| TruckDogs |
Base, Graeme |
Humour |
8+ |
Is it an animal with an engine, or car with floopy ears |
|
| Wild west hullabaloo |
Cowley, Joy |
Humour |
7 |
|
|
| Liar, Excuses, The Truth* |
Tayleur, Karen |
Humour |
8+ |
Good read-aloud, Aus boy gets into scrapes |
|
| Attack of the bandit cats |
Stilton, Geronimo |
Humour |
7 to 9 |
Harry Potter as mice? Adventure |
|
| Magic Shop Series |
Colville, Bruce |
Magic |
8+ |
Harry Potter link |
|
| Kingfisher treasury of magical stories* |
Waters, Fiona |
Magic |
7 to 9 |
Ideal read-aloud stories |
|
| A new song in the land |
Beale, Fleur |
Maori |
9+ |
Maori girl slave in 1839 tells own story |
|
| The Catnappers |
Pilling, Ann |
Mystery |
7+ |
Mystery of a missing cat |
|
| Molly Moon stops the world |
Byung, Georgia |
Mystery |
9+ |
Hypnotism, mystery, humour |
|
| Deep water |
Forrestal, Elaine |
Mystery |
8 to 11 |
Australian mystery |
|
| Reservoir pups* |
Bateman, Colin |
Mystery |
8+ |
Mystery,thriller,page-turner |
|
| Mystery in Mt Mole* |
Jennings, Richard |
Mystery |
8+ |
|
|
| Lin and the red stranger |
Catran, Ken |
NZ |
9+ |
NZ history, goldmining, Chinese |
|
| Boy overboard |
Gleitzman, Morris |
Refugee |
8+ |
Adventure, soccer, excellent |
|
| Granny Torrelli makes soup |
Creech, Sharon |
Relationships |
8 to 10 |
Friends having problems, award winning author |
|
| Henry and the flea* |
Falkner, Brian |
Rugby League |
9 to 12 |
Boy has a secret, and wants to be a Warrior. NZ |
|
| Dark Claw series |
Rayner, Shoo |
Sci Fi |
7+ |
Humour, almost comic format |
|
| My story abandon ship |
Corlett, Shirley |
Shipwreck |
10+ |
Immigrants, and Wahine sinking |
|
| Storylines* |
Duder, Tessa ed. |
Short stories |
8+ |
Good for classes |
|
| 30 weird & wonderful NZ stories |
Else, Barbara |
Short stories |
8+ |
Humour, NZ |
|
| Be yourself |
Magorian, Michelle |
Short stories |
9+ |
Read aloud |
|
| What's cool about school? |
Agnew, Kate |
Short stories |
7+ |
Humour, school, read aloud |
|
| Give me some space |
Agnew, Kate |
Short stories |
7+ |
Read aloud |
|
| Kids night in* |
|
Short stories |
8+ |
Ideal read-aloud stories |
|
| Sideways stories from Wayside School* |
Sachar, Louis |
Short stories |
7 to 9 |
Funny stories like Griffith |
|
| Dropkick |
Wickes, Annette |
Sports |
8+ |
Boy no good at football, learns. Good dialogue |
|
| Juggling mandarins* |
Jones, V |
Sports |
9 to 14 |
NZ boy learns to climb, escaping father's pressure |
|
| Buddy* |
Jones, V |
Sports |
9+ |
NZ boy with handicapped twin trains for triathlon |
|
| The last siege |
Stroud, Jonathan |
Thriller |
10+ |
Teenagers occupy castle. Mystery, thriller |
|
| The longest war |
Antle, Nancy |
War |
10+ |
Mother has nightmares about husband in Vietnam |
|
| Erika's story |
Vander Zee, Ruth |
War |
10+ |
JPI Holocaust survivor true story |
|
| Race at the rock |
Panckridge, Michae |
Sports |
9+ |
New sports series, Anniversary Legends, for boys |
|
| Sahara Special |
Codell, Esme Raji |
Personal growt |
9+ |
Girl in special class, gets new teacher |
|
| I, Coriander |
Gardner, Sally |
Historical |
10+ |
Magic/danger in Cromwellian England |
|
| Orange Trees of Versailles |
Pietri, Annie |
Historical |
9+ |
Thriller at court of King Louis XIV |
|
| Just Binnie |
King-Smith, Dick |
Family |
9+ |
Charming Edwardian story - Titanic/World War 1 |
|
| Walk Two Moons |
Creech, Sharon |
Family/Death |
10+ |
Girl/Father lose mother. Sad/hopeful. |
|
| I am David |
Holm, Anne |
Adventure |
10+ |
Classic journey story/Cold War |
|
| Holes |
Sachar, Louis |
Mystery |
10+ |
Boys in detention camp/funny/quirky |
|
| Illustrated Mum |
Wilson, Jacqueline |
Family |
10+ |
2 girls with a dysfunctional solo mum. Sad/sweet. |
|