Uno's Garden (Graeme Base)

Uno's Garden

Graeme Base

Blurb: When Uno arrives in the forrest one beautiful day, there are many fascinating and extraordinary animals there to greet him. And one entirely unexceptional Snortlepig.

Uno loves the forest so much, he decides to live there. But, in time, a little village grows up around his house. Then a town, then a city...and soon Uno realises that the animals and plants have begun to disappear...

From the creator of the international bestsellers Animalia, The Waterhole and Jungle Drums, here is an illuminating blend of storybook, puzzle book and numbers book - a moving and timely tale about how we all unknowingly affect the environment around us, just by being there, and how we can always learn from our mistakes and find ways of doing things better.

ISBN: 9780734309822 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Puffin

Pages: 40 (Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page for the book

2. Author's official site

3. How to teach the book in a classroom

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Interview with the author

Melbourne 2006 - XVIII Commonwealth Games - Pocket Guide (Various)

Melbourne 2006 - XVIII Commonwealth Games - Pocket Guide

Various

Blurb: The must-have guide to the Commonwealth Games.

Packed full of interesting facts and figures, and colour photographs of everyone's favourite athletes and events, this pocket guide includes information on all of the Commonwealth sports, results tables to fill in the 2006 Games winners and keep, fold-outs of Commonwealth Games highlights and much, much more.

This special guidebook has everything you need to know about the Games, just in time for the XVIII Commonwealth Games! 15-26 March.

ISBN: 1741171350 (Hardback)

Year: 2005

Publisher: Explore Australia

Pages: 64 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Page on the 2006 Games

2. Wikipedia page for the Games

3. PDF Government Documents on the games

4. Page on the book

5. Order the book from McLeods Booksellers in NZ

A New Tomorrow - The Silverchair Story (Jeff Apter)

A New Tomorrow - The Silverchair Story

Jeff Apter

Blurb: Andrew Denton: 'I think you're enjoying life now. Would I be right?'

Daniel Johns: 'Yeah, definitely, I love life, it's the best thing in the world.' - Enough Rope, 2004.

It's taken Daniel Johns a long time to be able to make such a simple statement. Having spent more than ten years as the frontman for Silverchair, Australia's biggest rock band of the past decade, he's endured teen stardom, depression, anorexia, crippling reactive arthritis and the slings and arrows of the music industry, only to emerge tattooed and renewed. And now, the Newcastle-born band have just completed their fifth album in the famed Laurel Canyon studios.

A New Tomorrow tells the complete and unexpurgated story of Silverchair. Jeff Apter documents how Johns and his two schoolmates, drummer Ben Gillies and bassman Chris Joannou, graduated from The Loft above the Gillies family's garage to centre stage at Madison Square Garden - all within the time it typically takes most bands to record their first single. When the dust settled and they discovered their debut album, Frogstomp, had sold almost three million copies, Silverchair were faced with an even bigger challenge as they attempted to prove they were much more than 'Nirvana in Pyjamas'.

With the release of their 2002 masterpiece, Diorama, Silverchair firmly established their own musical identity, while Johns has developed into a songwriter with few peers in modern music.

Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and all of those who have worked with Silverchair over their rollercoaster ride of a career, A New Tomorrow covers all of the band members' solo work, the Daniel Johns-Natalie Imbruglia nuptials, the band's 'rebirth' at the WaveAid fundraiser and a sneak preview of their new studio album.

ISBN: 1741664837 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Random House Australia

Pages: 360 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Publisher's page

3. Author's official site

4. Goodreads page

5. Band's official site

The Constitution of the United States of America (Inscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink / Philadelphia Convention)

The Constitution of the United States of America

Inscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink (Philadelphia Convention)

Blurb: In 1787... 

We were given the right to practice the religion of our choice. We were given the right to say what we wanted without persecution. It was written that our house and property were secure from unreasonable search and seizure. We were given the right to a public trial. Fifty-five men we will never know sat in a sweltering room and fought for us. We were given our rights as citizens of the United States.

This fall, as we return again to the ballot box to decide the course of our country's congressional and state leadership, every voter must find their way back to that room in Philadelphia. Welcome Books is proud to provide a map. 

The Constitution of the United States of America, inscribed and illustrated by the master calligrapher, Sam Fink, brings to life the issues underlying the triumphs of this abiding document. Originally published in pen and ink for Random House in 1987, Mr Fink has, at the request of Welcome Books, gone back to his original black-and-white art and painted it anew, created a full-colour masterpiece. The result is glorious. Each amendment, each article, each word so thoughtfully placed in The Constitution has been given Mr. Fink's profound touch. With a powerful intelligence and a wonderful sense of humour, he has provided us with an entry point into this complex document, allowing us to read it with greater ease and understanding.

In 1787, we were entrusted with our most important living document, The Constitution of the United States of America. Have we kept it safe? To answer this, we must begin by reading it, each and every one of us - so that we may claim an intimate knowledge of its content: so that we may never forget its tenets; so that we may remember the kind of world we want to live in. This, Sam Fink, in his direct and unadorned way, respectful and loving, helps us do.

ISBN: 9780941807999 (Hardback)

Year: 1787 / 2006

Publisher: Welcome Books

Pages: 135 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for The Constitution

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Publisher's page for the book

4. Buy from Barnes and Noble

5. Wikipedia page for the author

The Return of the Worthy - Star Trek (Peter David, Bill Mumy, J. Michael Straczynski)

The Return of the Worthy - Star Trek

Peter David, Bill Mumy, J. Michael Straczynski

Blurb: These are the continuing comic adventures of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, as the classic Star Trek team warp into thrilling new worlds!

When Captain Kirk and his crew accidentally discover a group of heroes thought long-dead, they must help them acclimatise to a galaxy they barely recognise. But when internal stresses threaten to tear the group apart, can Kirk help them become heroes again? Also in this collection: a very special tale of dying worlds and those who remember them, and a shocking team-up with...the Klingons?

Written by acclaimed Star Trek novelist and comics legend Peter David (The Incredible Hulk), Lost in Space star Bill Mumy, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and Star Trek author Howard Weinstein, with pencillers Gordon Purcell (New Teen Titans) and Ken Hooper (Aquaman), and featuring rare interviews with William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and George Takei (Mr Sulu), these never-before-collected tales will take you beyond the final frontier!

ISBN: 184576319X (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Titan Books

Pages: 160 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page

3. Wiki on the book

4. Collection of Star Trek Comics

5. Wikipedia page for Star Trek Comics

Nightlife (Thomas Perry)

Nightlife 

Thomas Perry

Blurb: Perry's new thriller takes us on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that pits two women against each other: one a beautiful, highly manipulative serial killer, the other the detective who is determined to stop her.

This murderer changes her appearance and identity with every kill, moving from Portland to San Francisco, to LA, to Las Vegas, with Catherine Hobbs, Portland homicide detective, always just one step behind. Catherine must use everything she has as a woman as well as a detective to stop her. She must learn how to read the murderer's mind. And she is up against a killer who turns to stalking her.

Delving deep inside the female psyche, reinterpreting conventions and confounding expectations, this is Perry at his critically acclaimed best.

ISBN: 9781847241153 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Quercus

Pages: 489 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Review of the book

3. Publisher's page for the book

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. Wikipedia page for the author

At Risk - Winston Garano #1 (Patricia Cornwell)

At Risk - Winston Garano #1

Patricia Cornwell

Blurb: A Massachusetts state investigator is called home from the National Forensic Academy in Tennessee. His boss, an attractive but hard-charging woman, is running for governor, and as a showcase plans to use a new crime initiative called At Risk - motto: 'Any crime, any time.' She's looking for a way to employ cutting-edge DNA technology, and thinks she's found it in a twenty-year-old murder - in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, they'll all look pretty good, right?

Her investigator is not so sure, but before he can open his mouth a shocking piece of violence intervenes, an act that shakes up not only their lives but the lives of everyone around them...

ISBN: 9780751538717 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Sphere

Pages: 229 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Wikipedia page for the author

3. About the movie adaption of the story

4. Review of the book

5. Author's official site

The Playboy Interviews - They Played the Game (Edited by Stephen Randall)

The Playboy Interviews - They Played the Game

Edited by Stephen Randall

Blurb: In a magazine known for its photographs, the Playboy Interview stands out today as the best long-form interview in any magazine. The Interview is both incisive and entertaining, and important figures from all walks of life - many of whom honour no other interview requests - have given life - and career-altering interviews in the magazine's pages.

The Playboy Interviews: They Played the Game is the first in an ongoing series that will collect the most memorable interviews from the magazine's history. They Played the Game features some of the most revered - and reviled - American sports stars from the past six decades candidly discussing controversial issues including race, gender, drugs and sex. From Pete Rose's frank statements about gambling in sports to Mike Tyson's incendiary thoughts on the alleged rape that haunted his boxing career, from Billie Jean King's views of the changing role of women in professional sports to O.J. Simpson's raw and unsettling statements both before and after the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, there has never been a compilation of interviews quite like this one. More than simply jocks talking sports, these conversations are a fascinating reflection of the American psyche and our ever evolving cultural perceptions. 

ISBN: 9781595820464 (Hardback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Milwaukie Press

Pages: 480 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Author's official site

3. Goodreads page

4. Commentary on the book

5. Buy from Barnes & Noble

Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)

Dear John

Nicholas Sparks

Blurb: When John meets Savannah, he realises he is ready to make some changes. Always the angry rebel at school, he has enlisted in the army, not knowing what else to do with his life. Now he's ready to turn over a new leaf for the woman who has captured his heart.

What neither realises is that the events of 9/11 will change everything. John is prompted to re-enlist and fulfil what he feels is his duty to his country. But the lovers are young and their separation is long. Can they survive the distance?

ISBN: 9780751541885(Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Sphere

Pages: 338 (Fiction)

Links

1. Author's official site

2. About the book

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Interview with the author

Shinsei Shinsei - Star Trek: The Manga (Edited by Luis Reyes)

Shinsei Shinsei - Star Trek: The Manga 

Edited by Luis Reyes

Blurb: Japanese-style sequential art combines with the most renowned science fiction franchise ever created to capture the spirit of the original series in a completely new way. Ten artists and writers deliver tales of triumph aboard the original NCC-1701. Like the original TV series, these new journeys venture into the terrain of social politics, personal reflection...and bare-knuckled brawls between the dashing Captain Kirk and various indigenous beasts. Spocks's unflappable logic, Bones' flare for drama, Scotty's perpetual struggle to keep the lights on...all come at you in fresh, new style...

Stories include;

-Side Effects

-Anything But Alone

-Oban

-'Til Death

-Orphans

ISBN: 1598167448 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: TokyoPop

Pages: 192 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Trek wiki page for the book

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. Buy from the official Star Trek Store

Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters - Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2 (Rick Riordan)

Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

Rick Riordan

Blurb: You can't tell by looking at me that my dad is Poseidon God of the Sea.

It's not easy being a half-blood these days. You mortals can't even see the monsters we have to fight all the time. So when a game of dodgeball turned into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, I couldn't exactly ask my gym teacher for help.

And that was just for starters. This is the one where Camp Half-Blood is under attack, and unless I get my hands on the Golden Fleece, the whole camp will be invaded by monsters. Big ones.

Can Percy survive the treacherous Sea of Monsters and restore order to Half-Blood Hill?

ISBN: 9780141319148 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Puffin

Pages: 265 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page for the book

2. IMDB page for the upcoming film

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Official site for the book

5. Wiki for the series