Simon & Schuster, 2023. ISBN: 9781760856847. (Age:16+) Highly recommended.
A story from Iceland, with snow, fairytales, stuffed creatures, and unusual characters, Rijn Collins’ debut novel creates a strange but fascinating world that draws you in. Elva has come from Australia to Iceland, the home of her mother, the mother that disappeared when she was 7 years old. She has found a job with 60 year-old Grace, working in her shop ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, a trove of ancient and bizarre treasures. Elva’s own apartment is home to a bat, snake, mice, even a hare, preserved by taxidermy, an art that she is learning at her kitchen table. In addition, Elva has OCD, obsessively counting and checking things around her. There is also a door, beneath the table, that leads to a space packed with books, all the same book, the macabre fairytales written by her beloved grandfather Afi.
Although Elva suffers anxieties, she has a caring group of friends that includes Grace, and also Tolli, a former boyfriend. They both look out for her and accept her ‘unpredictablity’. So when she is drawn to a handsome tattooed Frenchman, they are supportive but cautious in their encouragement.
The central mystery is the hidden store of books – why is that particular book such a source of fascination and dread? And what is it that really happened to Elva’s mother? Only Afi has the answers, and he has had a stroke, conscious but confined to hospital in the north of Iceland.
Collins’ debut novel is enchanting and mysterious; the characters are so interesting, and despite their oddities, very believable. It is a magical mystery of a story, and creates empathy for people who are different, dealing with their own challenges, both psychological and social. The cold and stillness of the environment further emphasize the sense of isolation, but the little group of friends that gather together is warm and very caring.
Fed to red birds has some themes in common with The art of taxidermy by Sharon Kernot (2018). Both see taxidermy as a way of ‘preserving the dead, or rather, bringing that back to life’. Both portray outsiders having to come to terms with grief and loss sustained in childhood.
Matthew is nearly 13- years-old, is connected to the environment, and a good friend to Ash, the girl from school who helps him avoid attention from the school bully. At home there are struggles. His Mum is trying hard to protect her son from the consequences of having a father in jail, and to make his life more than a struggle … but homelessness beckons. When the chance to relocate to an old family shack on the coast occurs, Matt is split from Ash and thrust into a lonely place that is far removed from his former life. A friendship with Old Bill connects him to the environment in ways he had never dreamed and opens his eyes to traditional ideas of sustainability, while also giving him a chance to grow from childhood to maturity. But he also sees pain in the old man’s relationships in the small community. When Matt’s Dad re-enters his life and his new existence, his own pains are enflamed and the way forward seems like a battlefield. Will Bill’s wisdom be able to be shared or has Matt’s Dad thrown a grenade into what was once a place of peace and growth for Matt?
This is a story that shines in many ways, but it is not without shadows. There are thorny moments in this book, but it is also a book of hope and redemption. However, this is not a trite story, and the toxic masculinity and poor choices that are displayed are confronting. Matthew does eventually demonstrate bravery and maturity that is able to show his father what being a man means. There are other wonderful aspects to the story – the gentle Aboriginal connection to land and place; the mother who sacrifices much and believes and hopes for her family’s future; the friendships that enable truths to be shared; and the ebb and flow and the power of the ocean, and the life and freedom of land and sea birds, all set within a small Australian community with quirks and at times its own struggles. This book was compared by the publisher to Jasper Jones and Storm Boy for its multiple arcs and potential resonance with readers. It has a gentleness, even amidst hostility, and a redemptive and forgiving tone that takes it away from the horrors of family violence and dysfunction. A first kiss even sneaks its way into the coming-of-age story. (My teaching background does make me ponder about the absence of schooling demands for Matt after his move to the coast… but young readers probably will not notice. They will assume a potential perpetual holiday existence!)
It is November 1970 and Judi and her best friend Stace are watching a group of boys play basketball in their driveway. While Stace is enthusiastically cheerleading, Judi is just waiting for a chance to pass the ball. Later, at the stadium, Judi is avidly watching the game, when Stace says ‘someday that’ll be us out there!' she means the official cheerleading team but Jude imagines herself on the court. Five years later the girls are on the senior cheerleading team but, for the first time the Wilkins Regional High School is going to have a girls’ basketball team. Judi joins the team with seven other girls and they start to practise at the nearby elementary school as the boys’ teams have priority in their gym. The girls go from strength to strength in spite of having to provide everything themselves and strong friendships develop but Stace finds it hard to forgive Judi for leaving cheerleading.
There is plenty of basketball action in the clear, modern cartoon images as the players prove themselves worthy of an audience and support from the authorities. There is an interesting summary at the end of the book outlining how in 1970 girls made up only 7% of United States high school athletes. Legislation passed in Congress in 1972 prohibited schools from discriminating based on sex, starting the process so that by 1976 that figure had grown to 29%, Jude and her friends, inspired by real-life 1976 Warsaw High School girls basketball team, were part of that change. Girls’ sport still has a long way to go to reach equality with men but this fast paced, engaging story might inspire others to fight for what they believe in and be their own personal best whether that be basketballer or cheerleader.
The Fix-it Princess written by South Australian children’s author Janeen Brian, is a fun and engaging fantasy novel for younger readers. Take an assertive and creative young princess, a Castle-by-the-Woods, a singing dragon with a slightly embarrassing secret plus an old farting horse named Wildfire, and you have all the ingredients for a great read.
Princess Shona is the beloved daughter of Mum-Queen and Dad-King who have gone missing after taking off in one of Princess Shona’s inventions, the Wing-Thing. She is becoming increasingly worried about their absence and she and Wildfire survive initially on oats and eggs laid by the hens. As each day passes Princess Shona continues to try to problem-solve her situation and fix all the things that are not quite right but she realises she must start searching for her parents. She eventually finds help unexpectedly close to home and her quest begins.
This delightful book is full of energy with a bubbly, bouncing main character who will keep the reader wondering what on earth she will do next. The story is full of rich descriptive language as well as whimsical drawings which allow the reader a perfect glimpse into world of Princess Shona. This book would be a wonderful shared read-aloud in a classroom or at home.
Themes Fantasy, Princesses, Dragons, Family, Quests, Problem solving, Resilience, Perseverance.
Kathryn Beilby
Grannysaurus by David Walliams. Illus. by Adam Stower
Walliams has put together the very essence of a child’s relationship with his Grandmother, wrapped in love and dinosaurs, with this hilarious look at what happens at night when the grandson goes to bed.
At a sleepover, Spike begs to stay up a little later, but Gran will not hear of it.
She sends him off with a dinosaur growl and he dashes upstairs to get into his pyjamas and his bed. But he hears some strange nosies and sees a dinosaur shape on the wall, so he creeps back downstairs to find a dinosaur party in full swing.
Williams uses every dinosaur word, real and imagined, in this rollickingly funny tale of every child’s favourite animal, the dinosaur. At the dino-disco downstairs he finds Grannysaurus at the dance; after all she is a spino-saurus and Spike joins the fun, dancing with a brontosaurus, while getting groove with a gigantosaurus. All the fun of learning more of these animals will thrill young readers as they recognise the names, saying them to themselves with pleasure, while laughing heartily at the ones Walliams conjures into his story.
But when Gran spots Spike, she orders him back to bed. He refuses to go and a pursuit ensues, but each room he enters he spies another dinosaur so he finally goes back to the living room, where they all tell him to go to bed. Refusing, Gran tells him of the imminent arrival of Rex whose stomp can be heard coming closer. Rex who is too big to fit into the house, also orders Spike to bed but instead the boy jumps onto Rex’s head and slides down his back to his tail. Rex swings his tail a little hard and Spike circles the moon, finally returning to his bed where he falls asleep, determined to always go to bed early in case he becomes involved in another Dino-disco.
He has leant a lesson about bedtime and doing what he is told, although reluctantly. Kids will laugh uproariously at the images of the dinosaurs in the rooms Spike enters, adding to the laughter already reverberating around as they see Spike disobeying his Gran.
Bright, colourful illustrations fill each page, giving readers the mammoth task of looking at all the detail and recognising some of the attributes of each animal pictured, laughing at the antics of each, spotting the additions to their costumes donned for the party. I love Rex with his bow tie and cane, Gran’s hoop earrings and pearl necklace, the plesiosaurus in the bath with a shower cap, while Spike’s stuffed toys and his cat are looking a little overwhelmed by all the activity. A lovely funny book begging to be read aloud and shared with other classes and friends, Gran’s irreverence and Spike’s refusal to go to bed will warm the hearts of all.
Text Publishing, 2022. ISBN: 9781922458551. (Age:Adult - Young adult)
Unlicensed investigator Cass Tuplin, runs the Takeaway in the small town of Rusty Bore. Her smart sister Helen asks Cass to retrieve a first edition book from the apartment of her boyfriend. The only complication is that the boyfriend, Ben Langan, has died in suspicious circumstances and for reasons of her own, Helen does not want to get involved in the police investigation. Unable to refuse her sister, and against all her better judgements Cass travels to Melbourne and the Belvedere Apartments. From here the story becomes very convoluted, involving 89 year old friend Ernie, sons Brad and Dean (a policeman) and Cass’s paramedic boyfriend Leo. Is the death linked to the book, drugs or the pharmaceuticals place where Ben worked? This is the fourth in the series featuring Cass Taplin and I can only surmise that the characters and sense of place were established in earlier books as there was little to anchor this story and the characters were poorly developed behaving in quite random ways. The story rambled on in random directions lacking focus. Advertised as ‘comedy crime genre” I didn’t find it particularly funny but for me slapstick works better as a visual joke; maybe readers of the previous books might be more engaged. At one stage sister Helen tells Cass “Yeah right, you give me this bullshit that you’re not involved but then you get involved and fuck it up. Same old story.” p. 142. Sounds about right!
Themes Murder, Private investigator, Medical research.
This is a collection of 9 short love stories, all told in third person with characters all aged 18 years or older (in one story the characters are in their late 40’s). All the stories are about finding/maintaining/growing a connection with someone romantically, sometimes in the most unlikely place, ie while camping outside of a movie theatre. One story has LGBTQIA+ characters and a few have some fantasy elements. The characters are strong, the dialogue is interesting and often witty, and overall the tone is light and sweet, however a few stories are tinged with sadness and heartbreak. There are references to drinking and sex but no graphic descriptions. It’s easy to read but I believe the themes and ages of the characters make it inappropriate/uninteresting for those under 14. The author has used some characters from their previous books so if you were a fan of their other works you would probably enjoy learning more about their backstories/future adventures.
Themes Love, Relationships, Identity, Coming of Age, LGBTQI+, Fantasy.
Jade Goudie-Hall
Family of liars by E. Lockhart
Allen & Unwin, 2022. ISBN: 9781761067310. (Age:Young Adult) Recommended.
It is hard to convey how much of a hit E. Lockhart’s young adult psychological mystery, We Were Liars, was when it was published in 2014. The novel received widespread critical acclaim and spent thirteen weeks in the New York Times Bestseller List top ten for young adult novels. Critics and readers alike praised the book for its meticulous plotting, atmospheric tone and complex characters. Considering the ending, it may have seemed like it would be impossible for Lockhart to craft another story featuring the Sinclair family. She has succeeded however with Family of Liars, a prequel that predates the events of We Were Liars by almost three decades.
We meet the Sinclair girls again as teenagers in 1987. It is summer and the whole family has, as usual, decamped to their private island near Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The novel is told through the eyes of Carrie, the oldest Sinclair daughter, and tells the story of a family frozen with unspoken grief after the death of the youngest, Rosemary, the summer before. Carrie and her sisters, their parents, uncle and cousins, go through the motions like it is any normal vacation. But trouble is brewing. Three teenage boys unexpectedly arrive on the island and disturb the already fragile and fraught situation.
What follows is another ethereal and dreamlike narrative where the reader is not quite sure who is lying, what they are lying about and why. While not as spectacular as We Were Liars, Family of Liars is a worthy prequel. It is moving story of grief and the complexities of families, no matter how privileged they may seem. Be warned however that the novels must be read in publication order as Family of Liars contains multiple spoilers.
EK Books, 2023. ISBN: 9781922539441. (Age:3+) Recommended.
When Ruby gets a new pair of roller skates for her birthday she is overjoyed. She has never owned a pair before, and they are red, her favourite colour. She sleeps with them that night ready for the new day tomorrow.
Dad offers to help her learn how to use them, but she insists that learning how to use them would be easy peasy. Before she gets out of bed she slips them onto her feet, but finds herself sailing across the bedroom floor into the wall. Dad offers again, and again she calls out, no, its easy peasy and heads out to the garden. But here it happens again and she ends up in a flower bed. Dad calls out again, and no she calls back, its easy peasy and tries again. But this time she falls onto her bottom and throws the skates into the cupboard. Dad again offers to help, but this time she tells him it is too hard. The next day she retrieves her skates from the cupboard and asks her dad to help her learn how to use them. A lesson has been learn.
But more lessons follow as dad teaches her how to use her skates, holding her hand as they set together until one day she is able to let go his hand and skate by herself.
An unabashed teaching tool, this story tells children to try and try again and then ask for help, help they know will be eagerly given. Teacher's notes are available.
The relationship between father and daughter is wonderful to read about as he offers help without being overwhelming, allowing her to come to the conclusion of needing help by herself. The illustrations follow the storyline perfectly, showing a considerate father giving his daughter time to try something by herself and then sees her able to ask for help.
EK Books can be found here. They publish ‘Books with heart on issues that matter’.
Themes Roller skating, Fathers and daughters, Life skills, Tenacity, Sayings.
Festergrimm is the fourth and penultimate story in the Eerie-on-Sea mysteries. It is certainly worth reading the first three books in order to understand the references to previous adventures of Herbert Lemon and his partner in solving crime, Violet Parma. Herbie is still employed as a Lost-and-Founder at The Grand Nautilus Hotel and his own history is still a mystery.
Herbie and Violet are sent to meet a VIP guest arriving by train and are horrified to realise it is none other than the arch villain Sebastian Eels. However, somehow Eels has hoodwinked most of the adult townsfolk into believing that he has honorable motives for reopening an old waxwork gallery. The gallery was originally set up by a genius inventor and toy maker called Ludovic Festergrimm. Legend has it that when his beloved daughter, Pandora, disappeared he invented a huge robot to find her. When the robot went out of control it was destroyed by the army causing odd occurrences in Eerie-on-Sea ever since, such as a damaged waxwork finger. Now Herbie and Violet seek the truth about the robot and in turn come into perilous conflict with Eels.
Thomas Taylor has created another original and somewhat chaotic ripping yarn. Herbie has gradually become more self-assured and wiser throughout the series. Taylor creates an array of comical characters, like Colonel Crabwise and quirky creations like the Mermonkey, which selects books for people. Even the train is called Bethuselah! However, the story also has its darker elements and is therefore more suitable for middle years readers. The Netherways tunnel system beneath the town is seriously scary and Sebastian Eels is truly intent on killing our heroes. Similarities with the story of Frankenstein are alluded to and how the people misunderstood the monster. Herbie believes he has a connection with Pandora and mentions this several times. This is possibly flagging what will happen in the final story. Maybe we will finally discover the truth about Herbie’s past.
Ruth is orphaned, sent to live on a farm with her great aunt, who hates children, especially Ruth. It is America, in the 1960s. The space race is on, and Ruth looks to stars every night, as she used to with her loving parents. They always encouraged her to reach for the stars. And then, one quiet night, she sees something through her telescope, moving fast - and then it crash lands in the cornfield! Rushing to the crash site, she discovers a survivor - Spaceboy! She then finds herself launched into a thrilling adventure, maybe even a friendship that will span the universe.
This story was a non-stop adventure, from page to page, chapter to chapter. Readers follow Ruth through her discovery of, and attempt to hide, Spaceboy, and then their attempt to evade the authorities. The exciting action just kept rolling on, with humour and mishaps, thus readers will be entertained, unable to put the book down. Younger readers will be kept engaged with changes to the style and formatting, with words emphasized, illustrations depicting characters, even sections being turned into graphic novel format. Characters are well described, and behave exactly as you would expect given their descriptions. While there are historical aspects that are true, the author has used creative license for this fun novel, and readers can learn more about the space race at the end of the book with a brief historical overview of the events and parties involved. Would suit fans of Roald Dahl, and Liz Pichon's Brilliant World of Tom Gates series.
Themes Science Fiction, Relationships, America, Space Race, Russia, Secrets, Lies, Life from other planets, Historical Fiction.
The glorious cover of Timeless by Kelly Canby will draw the reader to this very telling story. Emit, whose name is time spelt backwards, is trying to find a way to find more time. No one has time anymore. They are caught up in the busyness of their lives. His parents are too busy to play with him or read to him so he begins a search for time.
The story cleverly uses well known time phrases such as ‘began in no time at all’, ‘running out of time’, ‘losing track of…’ , ‘letting it slip through their fingers’ and ‘time and time again’. Even the phrase ‘time flies’ has Emit trying to catch time. Perhaps the most telling is when Emit tries ‘to buy time’. A wise person behind the counter tells Emit that you ‘have to make time’. Which is exactly what Emit and his family finally do.
This beautiful book is filled with vibrant and appealing illustrations on each double page and striking endpapers full of busyness and explosions of colour. The simple yet powerful text tell a story that will resonate with children and the adults in their lives. Teacher's notes and an activity are available from the publisher.
Themes Family, time.
Kathryn Beilby
Without a trace by Danielle Steel
Macmillan, 2023. ISBN: 9781529022360. (Age:Adult)
Working in Paris, Charlie Vincent is turned off life, off work and is uncomfortable with his wife, Isabella’s demands and her delight in socialising. He is driving to their chateau, which he had bought to give his wife a chance to socialise in the countryside. When heading to the chateau, and considering what is going on in his life, thinking too much, in his tiredness from working hard, he drives off the road and crashes down, 30 feet below the land, into the sea. Luckily, his window was down, and he managed to clamber out of that window, to move through the water and to climb up the craggy banks to safety. Surprised by the fall, he is even more amazed that he is not scared. Then reality hits and he realises that he must clamber out of the ocean and find a way to use the safe rocks to get back to land. Someone had reported the car crash.
As he walks across the land, he notices a number of cabins, and walks towards one that has lights on inside. A clearly kind woman, Aude, helps him to clean up, to wipe his arms and the blood that he notices as a surprise, and then she wraps him in a blanket and suggests that she could give him some food. He is surprised, as is the woman, that they both like each other and become almost immediate friends, as she organises food and drink for them both, and they chat. The reality hits them both, that they are very attracted to one another, as she helps him to a bed, and he tells her that he had expected to die, and was very scared when the car plunged into the sea, and is so taken aback by the fact that he is alive and is with a kind person to care for him. He thanks her and realises that he desires to make love to her, and they are entranced by one another almost immediately, and very unexpectedly.
They stay together in her cabin until the moment when Aude’s husband comes to see her, threatening her, having recently been released from gaol. He hits her hard and chains her to the wall, hits and kicks her. Fortunately the police SWAT team are waiting to attack him, having been warned of his imminent arrival. Charlie meets up with his children and then returns to Aude, who has already realised that he is a good, honest and kind person: she believes that “courage was the right answer. And love, the reward.”
Even though she knows that things are not great between them, Isabella is puzzled when Charles does not arrive at the chateau. She is unaware of his accident, as he has not informed her of what happened. However, Charles and Aude begin almost immediately to realise that their relationship means something, with a deep connection and understanding that represent their kindness, fascination with each other and a deep sexual attraction.
The tension that arises in the narrative is brilliantly evoked to match that of both the woman and the man who meet unexpectedly, the woman believing that it is possible that her husband could be a killer.
This is a modern story about how people may react when things do not go the way they expect, and in this case, the threat of violence, and indeed of murder, is clearly terrifying for the two who have just met. Creating such a complex narrative of the failure of some relationships and the terror that potential violence arouses, Danielle Steel has written a powerful novel that evokes an awareness of the tension and fear that can unexpectedly arise in people’s lives.
April 25, 1915 is a date imprinted on the Australian psyche. In fact, some say, that despite the political calendar of January 1, 1901, this was the day that Australia became a nation.
Much has been written for students to help them understand the events and the significance of this day, and in a way, this book honours that because after providing an outline of those events on that Turkish beach, author Jackie French and illustrator Mark Wilson trace the commemoration of that day from its shaky, tentative beginnings of parades in Australia, New Zealand and London in 1916 to the huge crowds that now gather annually to honour those who have served their country in this way. At intervals throughout Australia's history, French and Wilson pause on April 25 and examine what was happening on that day. We learn about the vast difference between the excitement and anticipation when the troops left in 1914, and their return in 1919; the touching story behind the advent of the Dawn Service and how men only were allowed to attend in case the women's crying disturbed the silence; the desperation of many veterans left jobless as drought and the Depression hit; and then Australia is plunged into war again.
Throughout the book, tribute is paid to all those in the conflicts that Australians have been involved in as well as their peacekeeping roles. There is the sad reminder that after the Vietnam War which had so divided the nation's young, so few marched and watched that perhaps "no one would march at all." But awareness was growing behind the scenes through teachers teaching Australia's history and the recognition of the sacrifices of Australia's young people through iconic songs like Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and Redgum's "Only 19." In 1985 the Turkish government officially recognised the name Anzac Cove and in 1990 the first dawn service was held there, attended by those few veterans of the original conflict who were still left to honour.
Being at Anzac Cove for the Dawn Service has become a pilgrimage for many; an item on the bucket list for others. Ceremonies are held wherever Anzacs have served and suffered and wherever their sacrifice can be acknowledged. Who can imagine what the centenary in 2015 will be like?
IMO, this is Jackie French and Mark Wilson at their best. As the granddaughter of a Gallipoli survivor and the daughter of an ordinary New Zealand soldier who spent his war as a POW in Germany after being captured on Crete, the words and illustrations of this beautiful, haunting book touch me in a way I find hard to describe. Jackie grew up, as I did, "with the battered and weary of World War Two around me, men still scarred in body and mind by Japanese prison camps or the Burma railway, women who had survived concentration camps" and "saw boys of my own generation march away as conscripts, while I marched in anti war demonstrations" and yet we know so little about where Australians have served or how often they have.
The story of 100 years of history is a difficult one to tell, and even more so in a picture book, yet it is encapsulated perfectly in this partnership. On the one hand, the text could not live without the pictures and vice versa; yet on the other, both media are so perfect within themselves that they stand alone. Jackie and Mark give their own interpretations in their teachers' notes. I can do no better than that, but if you only have the money for five books this year, this HAS to be one of them.
Lest we forget.
Originally reviewed as a hardback April 16, 2012.
Updated February 2023
Themes Anzac Day.
Barbara Braxton
Satin by Sophie Masson and Lorena Carrington
Midnight Sun Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9781922858016. (Age:8-Adult) Highly recommended.
Satin has been collecting broken pieces of blue porcelain in the early hours of the morning when no one is about. He finds pieces everywhere he visits and fills his cloak pockets before melting back into the forest where he adds to his growing blue collection, and his contentment.
However, he begins to feel something is missing and he cannot find quite enough blue. He visits a new street where he overhears the word ‘blue’ in a conversation between a child and a teddy bear. The child’s mother is feeling blue, and Satin leaves a piece of his blue porcelain to offer some joy. He then spreads his own precious blue collection all around the neighbourhood providing great delight and colour to the children and their families. His final delivery of blue is to a young woman “with blue in her hair and blue at her throat” who invites him in. One of the final double pages shows Satin with his own family searching for blue together with the last double page showing a breathtaking montage of birds and colourful pieces.
Illustrator Lorena Carrington has used “photography and digital montage techniques to form richly layered images” in all shades of blues. The striking endpapers, full of shattered pieces, will bring memories of intricate porcelain from the past. This beautiful new picture book by Sophie Masson, will leave the reader enthralled by the words, the intent behind the story and the stunning images. A very special read.
