OK, I have to be honest here - this book really creeped me out at first. It also creeped out my then-thirteen-year-old son, so much so that I told him to stop reading it. However, I did finish it myself and found it wonderfully creative and haunting. It's great for those who love an intense read. Just be careful who, and what age, you recommend it for.

The imagery is amazing, the vocabulary is stimulating, and the story unfolds with many twists and turns that keep you in suspense. As an avid reader, I would have loved this book during my pre-teen years. It's creepy and lovely at the same time: it's also very challenging to explain the story without spoiling it, so here's a one sentence summary of the plot: "It's a dramatically told story-within-a-story about Heloise, a girl whose origins are hidden from her and whose challenge is to find the truth about her godmother, her mother and herself"(from the Australian Office of the Art website). Author Cassandra Golds is a well-known Australian author of children's books. This book was selected and reviewed as a favorite book to read by the School Library Journal. Click here and scroll down if you want to read it.

Series: Kane/Miller Publishing.

Subject Areas: Character development, Bibliotherapy, Learning about other cultures, Science, Developing creativity, Just for fun.

Ages: Any.

Type: Chapter books, picture books, story books, wordless books, books in Spanish, Accelerated Reader titles.

Usborne (in the U.S., not England) acquired another publisher and their delightful books in 2009. Kane/Miller is a wonderful complement to the Usborne line - just as extraordinary in quality but refreshingly different from Usborne in just about every way. I've heard it expressed like this: "What Usborne does for the head, Kane Miller does for the heart." These books are written literally all over the world. Books from Japan, Australia, England, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Israel, Slovenia, Venezuela, France...well, you get the idea. It's a wonderful way for kids to learn from and about cultures very different from their own familiar world.

Some of the titles may already be familiar to you - Kane/Miller has earned many awards, and they've had quite a few best sellers: Everyone Poops is one example, well-known to many youngsters and their parents. But there are also books for early readers, elementary, pre-teens, teens, and quite a few books that adults dive into also. I've read almost all the Kane/Miller books myself, and they are excellent - exciting, fast-moving ones, others that are emotionally moving, some that are simply hilarious.

One additional note about Kane/Miller: These titles would be a wonderful resource for counselors. Some of the books deal with topics of friendship, loss of a loved one, relating to the elderly, mixed race families, and more.

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Awards: Notable Australian Children's Books Award, Child Magazine Best Book Award, Teacher's Choice Award, Parent's Choice Recommended, Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College and many more

Of Interest To: Counselors, Librarians and Media Specialists, Parents, Teachers