Top Selling Books from the Readings Bookshop at the Reading Matters Conference (May 2011)
Drawn from the Heart by Ron Brooks (Allen & Unwin)
A memoir of Ron Brooks life from growing up in East Gippsland to now living in Tasmania. Illustrated with roughs and pictures from his books such a John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat by Jenny Wagner to Fox by Margaret Wild, Ron explores his life as an artist, a husband and a father. A moving account of a man with a passion to draw.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Walker)
Clary Fray is an ordinary teenager, but everything changes the night she witnesses a murder, committed by a group of teens. The group are Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to driving demons out of this dimension and back into their own. Drawn inexorably into a terrifying world, Clary slowly begins to learn the truth about her family – and the battle for the fate of the world.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley (Allen & Unwin)
Lucy is in love with Shadow, a mysterious graffiti artist. Ed thought he was in love with Lucy, until she broke his nose. Dylan loves Daisy, but throwing eggs at her probably wasn’t the best way to show it. Jazz and Leo are slowly encircling each other. An intense and exhilarating 24 hours in the lives of four teenagers on the verge: of adulthood, of HSC, of finding out just who they are, and who they want to be.
Ubby’s Underdogs by Brenton McKenna (Magabala Books)
Australia’s first indigenous graphic novel, Set in Broome, a dusty pearling town in the north-west of Western Australia. Ubby, a young ruffian leads a rag-tag gang known as the Underdogs. When Ubby meets Sai Fong, a Chinese girl just off the boat from Shanghai. She finds herself thrown into a mysterious world of ancient legends and secrets never before exposed. This is the first book in a trilogy.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Text)
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:
I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that haven’t even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the fin