Kathryn's Inbox

I doubt that anyone ever expected that there would one day be a prequel to The Hunger Games, least of all me. And if I had ever, for a moment, expected one, I never would have dreamed that the prequel would focus on a young Coriolanus Snow. After all, President Snow from The Hunger Games was old, horribly corrupt and selfish to the core. And YA heroes are supposed to have a heart of gold ... aren't they? The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes readers on a very surprising ride. Set during the Tenth Hunger Games, the novel introduces us to Coriolanus Snow as an eighteen year old student living in the Capital. On the outside, his family have it all, tradition, a good name and wealth. But as Snow knows only too well, appearances can be deceiving. His family have little money following on from the war and he knows that the only way out is to get a good education. But, it seems, his school will require him to mentor the Female tribute from District Twelve for this years Hunger Games. ...

View this post on Instagram Spotted in Market Street. #mural #publicart #marketstreet #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Feb 4, 2020 at 3:22am PST

Adelaide based author Tara Jenkinson's debut novel gives readers a glimpse into a glitzy, glamorous inner city nightclub and the life of a young woman who is a part of the club's privileged inner circle. By day, Lexie Perkins is a cadet journalist with loving parents, a circle of supportive friends and a devoted boyfriend. At night, she lives to dance and to party. Hard. And there's nothing wrong with taking a little something extra to help keep the party going, is there? And all of her friends are trustworthy ... right? As Lexie's life both on and off the dance floor begins to spiral out of control, she learns some harsh realities about trust and addiction. This was entertaining read and a glimpse into the lives of people whose first years out of high school were very different from mine. Lexie is basically a nice person who has been led astray, and the dynamic between her and Tegan the toxic friend from hell was interesting to read about. Meanwhile, Lexie's relati...

Exciting news! I have a new and (very) short story available to download free from Smashwords and a few other awesome sites. Winter is a short sequel to Love, Unrequited and tells the story of how our heroine accepts that the older man she's been crushing on isn't interested and the small but daring step she takes to help herself begin to heal. You can download your copy of Winter here.

View this post on Instagram Spotted in Chinatown, near the Gouger Street entrance. #mural #publicart #chinatownadelaide #centralmarket #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Feb 8, 2020 at 3:49am PST

Today is 19 June and as is a long held tradition on this blog, I'd like to wish Garfield a very happy birthday. This beloved daily comic is now 42 years old and still going strong.

Earlier this year the Children's Book Council of Australia named Sick Bay as a Notable Book and it is not difficult to see why. Sick Bay is a powerful story of two girls who are facing some powerful challenges. Meg and Riley are two very different girls in their final year of primary school. Meg is a lonely kid who doesn't really fit in. She's also going through some pretty heavy duty stuff at home. Her dad passed away a year ago, and now her mum doesn't really leave the house. They don't have much money and that's proving to be a huge problem as Meg has few clothes that fit, and she's even had to start wearing her slippers to school, which is turning her into even more of an outcast. Her only refuges are books and the school sick bay, where the teachers sometimes sneak her food. One day Riley, a student from a different year six class stumbles inside the sick bay. Riley hasn't been at the school for long, but she's already become a part of the popu...

View this post on Instagram And where did you have lunch today? #christiesbeach #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Feb 16, 2020 at 8:38pm PST

Random Trivia: If Kit and Heloise Walker from The Phantom comic aged in real time, they would be turning forty-one this year. Source: Phantom Wiki

Refreshing and insightful, Please Don't Hug Me is an authentic, own voices novel about a young woman with Autism who is just trying to make it through her final year of high school. Nothing in Erin's life is going quite right. She's looking forward to going to Schoolies, but that may not happen now, thanks to the fact that she lost her job at Surf Zone thanks to a pretty unlikely turn of events that involve a stray poo in the change rooms. Her boyfriend is, well a bit of a jerk really. And although her best friend Dee is clearly a very caring and compassionate person, things aren't going to well for Dee at home and she wants to escape it by partying hard with the popular crowd--people who Erin can barely stand. And then there is some kind of incident with a boat that means that Erin's big brother Rudy no longer lives at home. Erin begins writing letters to Rudy, telling him everything about her day to day life, and the unfortunate incidents that occur along ...

View this post on Instagram Had a wonderful day looking at some amazing public murals with @rosscannons Absolutely loved this one, which you can find on an apartment block near Franklin Street. #publicart #mural #radelaide #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Feb 17, 2020 at 8:44pm PST

Every now and again, a book comes along that reminds me precisely why I write book reviews. A book that reaches out, grabs me, surprises me, breaks my heart just a little and has me wanting to shout out to the world that everyone needs a copy of this book. A Burning is such a book. Set in contemporary India, it tells the story of Jivan, a young woman from the slums who finds herself charged with terrorism on the flimsiest of evidence, in a place that is desperate to find a scapegoat. For the attack was brutal--members of the public burned to death on a train--and the those responsible have long since fled. Jivan has found herself accused due to a flippant remark on facebook that criticises the government. Of course, it doesn't help matters that she is poor, female, muslim and she was carrying a package at the train station at the time that the attack took place. Meanwhile, the stories of two other people become entwined with that of Jivan's. There is Lovely, a ...

Another great clip from the Curiosity Show. It never ceases to amaze me how many requests I get to keep adding these. Glad you're all enjoying them. 

The Application of Pressure brings a very human--and refreshing--side to the kinds of things that we usually hear about in the news. Tash and Joel are paramedics, the people who work on the front line and see all kinds of things, people and situations during a routine shift. Most of the chapters revolve around an emergency of some sort and the effect that it has their mental health and their personal relationships. Both Tash and Joel have a very different approach to life, but with their shared experiences and dark humour, they may just be able to help one another get through. Told in short chapters that (usually) involve one emergency or another, The Application of Pressure  is a fast paced and insightful read, that shows the very human side to those who work on the front line. Joel and Tash (and a few others,) have experiences that are frightening (at one point, Joel witnesses a murder,) touching (Rob gives his son a call after helping a very similar young man,) and some...

View this post on Instagram Mostly Books, Mitcham Square #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookshop #aussiereaders A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Feb 18, 2020 at 8:32pm PST