#LoveOzLit - Books Gift-Guide for Christmas!

Hello Darling Readers!

It’s November – which means Christmas is *just* around the corner. I decided to put this post together for anyone who is like me, and prefers to be super-prepared for Chrissie, rather than set foot in a shopping centre at any point during December.

Well, it was that, but also – I really wanted to put together a Books Gift-Guide for Christmas, that celebrates some of the amazing Australian Youth Literature titles we had come out in 2017. And encouraging everyone to not only buy books as gifts, but AUSTRALIAN books – because we have some serious fabulousness!

I know lots of people think that books are too personal a gift to give; because it’s all about individual likes, and dislikes (also trying to guess what’s already on someone's shelves!) but I’m with the Icelanders on this one, who – and I quote! – “have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading.” How gorgeous does that sound?!

So, consider this your Aussie version of a Bokatidindi Books Gift-Guide! For all the young people in your life, who you’d like to gift some #LoveOzLit this Christmas!

I have restricted it to books released in 2017, and no sequels for that reason too (sorry!) And of course - this is a purely subjective list based entirely on my personal picks - though I have tried to cover a range of genres, etc. 

And – full disclosure of nepotism – the #LoveOzYA Anthology does indeed feature … but – c’mon! – it’s a book celebrating our national youth literature, with a smorgasbord of genre (so if you don’t know what the teen in your life is into it’s PERFECT!) – AND, it’s short-stories for the time-poor teen (also because short stories are freakin’ marvellous and they’ll appreciate it as something other than the Edgar Allen Poe examples they had to study/suffer in school. Sorry, Poe!)

Ummmm ... speaking of the #LoveOzYA Anthology - it's one of the books you can vote for in ABC's The Book Club 'Five of the Best' of 2017 and if you could please vote for it I would be endlessly grateful! (honestly, this is such a long-shot but if the lead-up to Christmas isn't the time to hope, then I don't know when is!) 

Without further ado – 

Happy #LoveOzLit!

  

Picture Books:

·      That Christmas Feeling by Lili Wilkinson, illustrated by Amanda Francey

·      Hello, Melbourne! by Megan McKean

·      Peas and Quiet by Gabrielle Tozer, illustrated by Sue DeGennaro

·      Yakanarra Songbook: About Our Place in Walmajarri and English by Jessie Wamarla Moora

·      I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon

·      Under the Love Umbrella by Davina Francesca Bell, illustrated by Allison Colpoys

·      Boy by Phil Cummings, illustrated by Shane Devries
·          At the Beach I See by Kamsani Bin Salleh
·          Storm Pearl by Kerry Anne Jordinson
·          Koala Bare by Jackie French, illustrated by Matt Shanks
·          Ten Pound Pom written by Carole Wilkinson, illustrated by Liz Anelli

 

***

  

Junior Fiction:

·      Super Moopers series 

·      Pip and Houdini by J.C. Jones

·      Patty Hits the Court: Game Day! #1 by Patty (Patrick) Mills, Jared Thomas

·     Grover, Stretch and the Broken Leg 'Grover McBane Rescue Dog Book #5' by Claire Garth, illustrated by Johannes Leak

·      To the Lighthouse by Cristy Burne

·      The Beast of Hushing Wood by Gabrielle Wang

·      Party Time 'Hot Dog, Book #2' by Anh Do, illustrated by Dan McGuiness

·      Jehan and the Quest of the Lost Dog by Rosanne Hawke

·      Tashi Storybook: Special Edition by Anna Fienberg, illustrated by Kim Gamble

·      The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster: Polly and Buster Book #1 by Sally Rippin

  

***

   

 Middle Grade: 8-12 year-olds

·      Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

·      Accidental Heroes: The Rogues #1 by Lian Tanner

·      Marsh and Me by Martine Murray

·      The Vampire Knife 'The Witching Hours Book 1' by Jack Henseleit

·      The Fall by Tristan Bancks

·      Have Sword, Will Travel by Garth Nix and Sean Williams

·      My Australian Story: Our Race for Reconciliation by Anita Heiss

·      How to Bee by Bren MacDibble

·      The Shop at Hoopers Bend by Emily Rodda

·      The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby

   

***

   

Young Adult: 14+

·     Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology edited by Danielle Binks and featuring short-stories by Amie Kaufman Melissa Keil Will Kostakis Ellie Marney Jaclyn Moriarty Michael Pryor Alice Pung Gabrielle Tozer Lili Wilkinson

·     Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood

·      Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian

·      No Limits by Ellie Marney

·      The Undercurrent by Paula Weston

·      In The Dark Spaces by Cally Black

·      Living on Hope Street by Demet Divaroren

·      Because of You by Pip Harry

·      The Dream Walker by Victoria Carless

·      Night Swimming by Steph Bowe

·      Ballad For a Mad Girl by Vikki Wakefield 

·      Frogkisser! by Garth Nix

·      Remind Me How This Ends by Gabrielle Tozer

·      Gap Year in Ghost Town by Michael Pryor

·      Untidy Towns by Kate O'Donnell

·      The Secret Science of Magic by Melissa Keil

·      A Shadow’s Breath by Nicole Hayes

·      Trust by Kylie Scott

  

***

P.S. – I’m also a big fan of Read Local, Buy Local – so if you’re looking to purchase books this Christmas, please do so from an Australian-retailer and support local businesses! Find your nearest independent bookshop via this website; http://www.indies.com.au/

And if you really want to buy books online – Dymocks and Booktopia are *great* options (who won’t hit you up with $$$ shipping fees!)

P.P.S. – if you do get books as pressies this year (YAY!) but need to clear some room from your choc-a-block shelves … or – heck! – even if you’re a Book Blogger/Vlogger who needs to do a Bookish Spring-Clean, may I please suggest you donate any unwanted (but great condition!) books to either Brotherhood Books or The Footpath Library?! Two wonderful organisations who do a lot of good in our community! Thanks :-)

Aaaaaaaaand once more, with feeling - please vote for Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology as one of the 'Five of the Best' books of 2017!

Giving this Christmas

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas is nearly upon us, so I wanted to take this opportunity to blog about some gift-giving ideas. No doubt the bookish amongst us have wish lists to grow our reading pile, and that’s grand – buying books for Christmas is always a marvellous idea! 

But I wanted to let you all know of some truly wonderful charities that could use your help this Christmas, from all of us. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, December is still a time of giving, and these charities need our help and support.  I know there are so many I could mention in this post, but I’ve chosen to highlight four that I proudly support.

Thank you,

Melbourne City Mission

This one in particular is for publishers (though donations from individuals are also needed and more than welcome! But they don't accept second hand donations, all must be "new, unwrapped and non-perishable"). I’ve been told that the Melbourne City Mission really needs children’s and young adult books as a priority. I know that as a book blogger I get lots and lots of books kindly provided for free, but I just can’t keep all of them because otherwise I’d be buried under a pile of paperbacks. I do donate books to the likes of the Footpath Library (more on them later), or my grandmother’s nursing home – but this year I’m putting aside all the kids and YA books I can’t keep, and I’ll be sending them on to Melbourne City Mission.

So if there are any publishers out there that always set aside books for donation, or maybe they (sadly) have books to pulp – it’d be great if they could consider donating to the Mission.

There are just a few things to consider when you’re donating books to them;

-       Age range: 10+ and adults
-       Off topic: Poverty, violence, alcohol, drugs, crime, trauma

Please deliver these any time between now and 4 December to:

Melbourne City Mission Christmas Gifts
164-180 Kings Way,
South Melbourne VIC 3205

Befriend a Child in Detention

This is a wonderful community project, committed to ending the detention of child asylum seekers. They could really use some help this Christmas – so if you’re in the market for beautiful Christmas cards – all proceeds go towards helping children in detention.

These cards feature artwork by Australian artist and author, and ‘Befriend a Child’ advocate, Gabrielle Wang! They’re just beautiful, and they’re also a reflection of the Pen Pal project that Befriend a Child also organizes.

Catrina Sofo, Project Volunteer, also stresses that an even better present to a child in detention is to; ‘get in contact with a Member of Parliament and ask them why 112 children remain in Australian detention centres, whilst another 95 languishing in Nauru. You might also ask them to explain why the average time a person is kept detained has now increased to 434 days (with the majority held for more than 730 days), despite all that we know about how traumatising detention is for all people, especially children. This will do so much for the long-term goal of changing refugee policy in the country.’ Amen.

The Footpath Library

This is one of my favourite organisations; ‘The Footpath Library aims to enrich the quality of life for homeless people, encourage literacy and promote a society that is well informed about homelessness.’

I recently asked some questions of Founder Sarah Garnett, for a freelance piece I’m working on. I asked her specifically about what the organization needs this Christmas. This is what she said to me:

‘Believe it or not, we don’t need books!  We have more books than clients thanks to the generosity of publishers and the general public.  What we do need are donations to help us deliver our service – every book costs us $11 to deliver.  And that one book can change the life of a child who is living in crisis accommodation with no possessions, or a young man who wants to return to study, or someone battling an addiction or depression who just wants to escape into a good story.  The Footpath Library’s running costs are $130,000 per year…. not much when you consider we deliver 28,000 books annually and we service the big charities like St Vincent de Paul, Mission Australia and the Salvation Army.  So please consider The Footpath Library if you are thinking of donating to a charity this Christmas!’

Donate here.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation

This is another wonderful organisation that does such grand work, and there are a few ways you can celebrate them.

The ILF sell some beautiful products – including books! – that would make pretty awesome Christmas presents. And then depending on if you want to help them out as an individual, as a drive in your school community, or if you’re a publishing house that can give a little – the ILF have ways for all of us to help them out.

Happy Holidays

... I hope you all have a very Murray Christmas!

Give books, stay safe, eat, drink and be generally fabulous this holiday season!

❤ Danielle

Merry Christmas

Darling Readers,

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I hope you eat lots, unwrap bookish presents, stay safe and be fantastically merry this festive season. 

❤

Merry Christmas

Hello Darling Readers,

I have absolutely, positively no idea where 2011 has gone. All of a sudden car antlers are everywhere and my ears are bleeding to the dulcet tones of Justin Bieber ft. Mariah Carey. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m glad Christmas is here . . . now it’s time to crack open the Rekorderlig Winter Cider, nestle in for the Doctor Who Christmas episode (and the Downton Abbey special too, though I have an inkling it won’t be anywhere near as cheery) and let the good times roll!

And once the discarded wrapping is cleaned away, & the left-over Pavlova eaten, then it will nearly be time to ring in the New Year. I’ll be finishing 2011 on a high, and now I’m looking forward to what 2012 has to offer. There are good books to be read, creative endeavors to explore and the Hunger Games movie cannot get here quick enough!

Stay safe over the holiday break. All the best to you and yours, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Merry Christmas!