what did you get for christmas?

if you were a 10 (or 8 or 9 or 11 or 60) year old in melbourne this christmas, chances are you received a copy of either jen storer's brilliant tensy farlow and the home for mislaid children or richard newsome's equally brilliant the billionaire's curse. both books flew off the shelves where i work. (if you don't know where i work: it's a fab little independent bookshop in one of melbourne's inner suburbs that has more cafes per capita than anywhere else i've been...which are all shut today, except the crap one. i'm not happy.) but back to the books. i suppose it didn't hurt that everyone who works here (including me!) absolutely loved these titles.

don't know anything about them, still?as i said back in august, tensy farlow is what might have happened if anne of green gables had had a baby with lemony snicket which was then raised by j.k rowling. a couple of angels are on earth trying to locate mislaid baby tensy - now a ballsy and clever 10 year old - who has no guardian angel. with some delightfully evil baddies, a creepy orphanage and a lot of charm, this book is in my 2009 top ten.

the billionaire's curse is the story of gerald who inherits a billion dollars from an old aunt in london but then discovers that she may have been murdered and he must solve the mystery of her death, find the missing diamond, avoid the man who smells like bleach, all with the help of a pair of wisecracking twins. a rollicking adventure.

other books i've been recommending like a madwoman:
- the ask and the answer, patrick ness
- tomorrow, when the war began, john marsen (in preparation for the movie!)

- dreaming of amelia, jaclyn moriarty

- the magician's elephant, kate dicamillo

- oscar wilde's stories for all ages, stephen fry (ed.)

- wanted: the perfect pet, fiona robertson

- 3 little culottes, sylvie chausse

- elephants, a book for children, steve bloom

books i gave as gifts:

harvest: a complete australian guide to the edible garden, meredith kirton

the truth about melody browne, lisa jewell

stardust, joe kanon

spud: the madness continues, john van de ruit