At the bottom of Anna's garden is an old pear tree that is her favourite place and secret hideout. She loves being up in its branches, where it gives life and shelter to all sorts of creatures and allows her imagination to wander. But as autumn and then winter roll in, it loses its magic and wonder, just as Anna does as she succumbs to a deadly illness. The tree stands bare and alone until one day Anna returns and gives it a soft hug. And together they start the journey back to wellness and fullness...
Using the pear as a symbol of hope, as it is in many parts of the world, this is a delicate story of a young girl's battle with cancer and chemotherapy tracing Anna's journey in its illustrations more than its words so the reader really focuses on the parallels between tree and child. Just as the tree loses it leaves in winter but returns to its full glory as the warmer weather returns, so does Anna's hope and resilience build until she is back able to celebrate her 10th birthday with her friends and family, under the shelter of the pear tree.
While some of our students may be in Anna's particular situation, there are many more who are facing other challenges and who need the reassurance that time will pass, and like the pear tree, they will prevail. So this is one to share and talk about so each can take what they need from it.
Themes Hope, Cancer.
Barbara Braxton
Who fed Zed? by Amelia McInerney. Illus. by Adam Nickel
Allen & Unwin, 2021. ISBN: 9781760524432. (Age:4+)
Who Fed Zed? is a humorous rhyming story focusing on the ‘ed’ and ‘ead’ sounds. The story begins with friends Ted, Fred and Ned wanting to play with Jed who has fleas so they watch goldfish Zed instead. They learn from Fred not to feed the goldfish bread as he had to be taken to the vet. They find out the flea powder used on Jed has not yet worked but unfortunately Fred has poured it into Zed’s fish tank and he is nearly half-dead.
The story all works out happily in the end and there is a clever twist. The characters are large and appear clearly on the page which will appeal to young children sitting listening. The repetitive rhyming is clever and will encourage listeners to predict different parts of the text.
An enjoyable read aloud for younger students.
Themes Rhyme, Goldfish, Friends, Fleas, Caring for Pets, Humour.
Kathryn Beilby
Charlie Chaplin : The Usual Suspect by Phoebe McArthur
Sometimes life heads in strange directions. 12 year-old Charlotte Chaplin (aka Charlie, or occasionally Lottie) used to live in the city near Kirribilli, but since her parents’ sudden separation her life is on a freefall. She is moving to the country with her mother and leaving her best friend, who also happens to be the Prime Minister’s daughter. Instead she will have to adjust to the quiet and slow life in Gulgong in Central NSW. On arrival she almost immediately becomes involved in a crime mystery and discovers unlikely friends and realises that country life may not be so bad after all.
This book has been written in the style of a Trixie Belden mystery – a young girl who can solve problems and crimes with only the help of other kids. It will appeal to young readers who love a mystery story. Although there are moments that seem a little contrived and improbable, younger readers will be able to take the leaps over the unbelievable moments. Recommended for readers aged 10-14.
Themes Mystery, Theft, Friendship, Family break-up.
Fans of the Philip K. Dick Award–winning Bannerless will be pleased to see Investigator Enid once again, this time trying to solve a mystery in a remote community. Set in a dystopian future where society has collapsed, small towns have sprung up along the Coast Road. Resources are strictly rationed and birth control tightly managed. Enid of Haven sets out with trainee Teeg, to mediate a dispute about the preservation of an old building in a distant settlement. When they arrive, they are confronted not just with the case they were sent to fix, but the body of a young woman has been found on the shore. She is an outsider, living in the wild, and has been murdered. Enid is determined to discover the truth even though Teeg argues that it is not their business.
In many ways discovering who murdered the young woman is secondary to the philosophical questions of ensuring that the truth be told, and that people are treated with kindness. Enid is not a woman who takes the easy way out. Her conscience demands that she is utterly sure of what has happened. She is not prepared to pin the murder on the most obvious suspect and travels inland through dangerous country seeking the murdered woman’s tribe. This leads to dissension between her and her partner Teeg.
The issue of ensuring that societies can provide for themselves by minimising population growth is also explored. A family unit must prove themselves capable of contributing to the greater of their community good as well as look after a child before being given a banner that allows them to have a baby. Enid finds that in the settlement where the young woman has been murdered, old hurts about birth control must be investigated, while in the wild she finds a society with no birth control just managing to hold itself together.
This is thoughtful dystopian fiction that will be enjoyed by readers who enjoy thinking about what society would look like if everything had broken down. The wild dead could be read as a standalone, but readers will enjoy the growth of Enid as a mentor and leader if they have followed her coming of age in Bannerless. I look forward to another novel in this series.
The quirky smelling lunch box by Renee Peters. Illus. by Andrew McIntosh
Little Steps, 2021. ISBN: 9781925839968. (Age:3-8) Recommended.
Lunch time in the school yard is often the time for examining what each other has been packed by their parents or carers. While children are not meant to share their food, often they will swap if someone has something not liked or more interesting. It is also the time when children may not be very complimentary to those children who have strong-smelling or unusual food selections. In The Quirky Smelling Lunch Box Dylan has the most amazing strong-smelling lunches that his classmates have seen and smelt made by his mother. These lunches include lemongrass broccoli and king prawn spaghetti, green eggs and smoked ham, snails, soybean paste, blue cheese and duck egg curry. His classmates make the usual unkind comments, but one day his friend Tiana is wondering what he has and he offers her a taste. She enjoys the new taste sensation as she is only ever packed butter sandwiches every single day. Dylan dares Tiana to bring a lunch stranger than the one he has the following day and she certainly does. It is a real surprise that readers will love.
The clever digital illustrations by Andrew McIntosh are bright and visually appealing. An enjoyable story to share with younger readers.
Themes School, Friends, Lunches.
Kathryn Beilby
When days tilt by Karen Ginnane
Penguin, 2021. ISBN: 9781760895037. (Age:Older Children, Young Adult) Recommended.
When Days Tilt is a young adult fantasy novel from Australian children’s author, Karen Ginnane. The book is split between two worlds, two characters and two realities. In 1850s London, Ava is an apprentice to her watchmaker father. Bored and unfulfilled by the future set out for her, she dreams of adventure but is shocked when she finds it.
Meanwhile, in the mirror version city of Donlon, Jack is an orphan learning to be a blacksmith. What begins as a normal day ends in horror when one good deed catapults him into unexpected danger. When Ava and Jack meet they feel an instant connection; as if they have known each other all their lives. As they endeavour to untangle the secrets of their pasts and families, they must race against time to stop a mysterious villain who threatens the people of both of their worlds.
When Days Tilt is a unique story. The novel revolves around the themes of time and space with both historical and futuristic elements used, due to its dual settings. Ava and Jack are sympathetic and believable characters. Their clear motivations explain the choices they make throughout the book.
Unfortunately however, the last act of the novel feels rushed and confused, as Ginnane introduces new characters, events and plot lines with far too little of the story left to play out. When Days Tilt is intended to be the first in a series so while the author can be excused for laying the groundwork for the next installation, it is clumsily done.
Nevertheless, When Days Tilt is an engaging historical fantasy that will be enjoyed by children and young adults.
Themes Family, Time, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, London.
Rose Tabeni
My first book of Aussie animals by Gordon Winch. Illus. by Stephen Pym
Catch a Star, 2021. ISBN: 9781922326232. (Age:1+) Recommended.
Very young children will be fascinated by this lift-the-flap book that features well known Australian animals, the kangaroo, koala, platypus, echidna, and possum. The refrain 'Look at me. What do you see?' will be one that children will want to repeat with the reader and then they will have fun lifting the flap to discover what is underneath. The text describing each animal is simple – four lines of information that is easy to understand but which points out the main features of each animal. Emerging readers will also have fun repeating the refrain and reading the details about each animal, all of which is printed in clear print.
The illustrations are ones that children will like. The kangaroo and its joey have smiles on their faces, while the night sky and dark trees that form a background for the ring-tailed possum, clinging to a fence, are gorgeous. Children will be fascinated by the little details that are on each double page spread. There are pictures of butterflies, flowers, birds and lizards on every page, and these will provide lots of opportunity for young children to learn about the environment where the animals live. And the last page features all the animals for the child to find and has a bonus mirror which will provide lots of fun.
Not only will young children learn about five iconic Australian animals but will learn about plants, birds and other animals from the cute illustrations in this sturdy board book.
Themes Australian animals.
Pat Pledger
I am angry by Michael Rosen. Illus. by Robert Starling
Anyone seeing a child stomp around a room, classroom or play area will immediately sympathise with the character in this book. The kitten is angry. So angry they jump up and down, roll around and around, make a din and throw the mouse into the bin. So angry that they tear down trees and bully the bees, scare tigers, even quietening a tree full of birds.
In rhyming lines inviting the reader to predict the rhyming word, even offering some of their own, the reader will see just how angry the kitten is, seeing all in its path disposed of in some way.
Games are destroyed, words boiled, balloons busted, even things in space are not immune. The moon is squashed, the kitten terrifies the sun and after scaring off the giant paints the whole sky red and all that effort makes the kitten so tired, there is only one place to be.
A very funny, laugh out loud look at anger and its various guises, readers will recognise many of the antics, seen both in themselves and displayed by those around them.
Rosen developed the idea after seeing one of his children develop a rage, anger at being small. Readers will compare their mood with those seen on the page, laugh at the way the kitten resolves its anger and consequently laugh at themselves. The resolution of the story will bring sighs of recognition and empathy, especially so with the wonderful illustrations, showing a ferocious cat with the angriest look on its face, shown on the wonderful first endpapers with just the eyes, mouth and eyebrows, then the last endpapers showing a kitten at rest. Readers will enjoy looking closely at the illustrations, seeing how so much is told through a few well placed strokes, and how the anger is displayed so well, while the background is detailed and funny.
Themes Anger, Verse, Family, Kitten.
Fran Knight
Jeremy's changing family by Simone Collier. Illus. by Naya Lazareva
Little Steps, 2021. ISBN: 9781922358790. (Age:5-10) Recommended.
The idea of family is continually evolving and foster families are more complex than most. Jeremy and Riley’s parents have become foster carers and it is a new experience for everyone. Jeremy is feeling unsure and uncertain about whether he wants to have other unknown children in his home sharing his room and toys. The children who are brought to his home are unable to be cared for safely by their own families and stay for short breaks. With some of the children Jeremy forms an instant connection but others are troubled and unsettled and Jeremy struggles with his feelings. While the fostering and caring situation is initially disruptive for Jeremy, his parents and grandparents handle each new experience with care and patience. The bright and colourful illustrations depict the emotions of each of the characters clearly. This is a very sensitively written story that has a place in all libraries: home, school and public.
The end of the world is bigger than love by Davina Bell
Text Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9781922268822. (Age:16+) Recommended.
An ‘enchanting, surreal tale’ is how The Australian’s literary critic Joy Lawn described this foray into YA fiction for Davina Bell. Bell is well-known for her picture books and children’s series fiction; apparently working on this novel for the past 12 years and unsure of its worth for publication. Disregarding Bell’s hesitancy, the tale has definitely found an audience.
It has been shortlisted for the Older Readers’ category in The Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards for 2021, has won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and been shortlisted for The Readings Young Adult Book Prize.
The author sets her story in a dystopian world branching into magic realism and including a coming of age romance. Alternate narrations of twin sisters, Summer and Winter, reveal that the girls have lost their mother to a frightening death, subsequently travelling to many countries with their father, a scientist who has destroyed the internet and is being pursued for his role in a pandemic, The Greying, which has become a global weapon. Their stories, at first convincing, become increasingly more unreliable, to the point where the emotional reality becomes upended in the challenging times of technological progress and climate catastrophe. Bell creates a landscape of uncertainty, fear and instability with the two girls learning that love can be lost, changed or just waiting to be discovered.
Reading the book is rather like a roller coaster ride, but it is clever and imaginative, with hidden meanings, digressions, humour and poignant moments. What is it all about? Each reader will explore something different.
Tracking the two stories must have been a demanding exercise for the author but the consistency and fluidity of both seem to work well.
I particularly enjoyed Davina Bell’s love song to how much she loved books and how they shaped her life, with the two sisters sharing their memories of books they read and re-read together.
Themes End of the world, Twins, Islands.
Julie Wells
Gold diggers by Sanjena Sathian
Simon & Schuster, 2021. ISBN: 9781398509023. (Age:16+) Highly recommended.
Neil is captivated by Anita, his childhood friend, who seems to have become so self-contained, aloof in a way, and unreachable. The relationship reminded me of Pip and Estella in Dicken’s Great Expectations, but Anita is not quite so unattainable and cold. She has a secret, and when Neil discovers it, he wants it too. Gold. Drinking a special lemonade concoction that includes melted gold, treasured gold embodying the former owner’s wishes and dreams, brings to the drinker the strength and drive to achieve the best; an ambition and determination that Neil is sadly lacking in, according to his aspiring Indian American family.
Gold is a fascinating element. History is full of stories of gold fever, mass migrations to seek out the treasure that might change fortunes. A secondary narrative thread in Gold diggers is Neil’s obsession, as an historian, to research early Indian migration to America, and the story of the Hindu gold digger that continually seems to elude him. The story of the Bombayan becomes a symbol of the unrecognised identity, the sense of belonging he seeks. Neil is not a migrant, he was born in America, and perhaps there are hidden roots to his identity that go back further than his migrant family’s story.
But the main concern is that for Neil, gold becomes a drug, an addiction that leads him to cruelly hurt a gullible young woman. His actions become a shame that he carries with him always. This sets the groundwork for Sathian’s novel, a story that is mysterious and intriguing, but also incredibly comic in some of the situations that are described. At times Neil seems one of those figures like Nick in The Great Gatsby, the observer, the drifter, the person on the outside of the action, never able to be the hero. But he becomes enmeshed in a plot that goes crazily in unexpected directions and he has to finally take action.
Gold diggers is an original adventure, combining history, fantasy and issues of identity and belonging. It is complex, entertaining and rewarding on an intellectual level as well.
Pan Books, 2021. ISBN: 9781529075854. (Age:13+ - Adult) Highly recommended.
This is an awesome story! Although I am usually not attracted to animal stories, this book won me over and I can see why previous books by this author have been made into movies. In this story the central canine character - Bella, and her humans - Lucas and Olivia, are confronted by a traumatic forest fire experience. The tension of escape and survival is communicated so ably by Bella as first they catapult their vehicle into a forest lake and then work with a small team to rescue abandoned animals in a small-town animal shelter which is right in the path of the devastating fire front. Later, Bella is reacquainted with an old friend named Big Kitten, a cougar that Bella had befriended in a previous adventure. In this book Bella and Big Kitten are joined by Big Kitten’s own offspring in escaping multiple threats in the changed environment. There is action aplenty as the post-fire world presents all manner of difficulties and yet Bella always is drawn to her inner call of the love of her humans and the desire to “come home”.
This is not a children’s story, it is powerfully written and with great tension, despite the naive perspective of Bella as the narrative voice. With adult human participants and life-threatening dangers communicated with profound skill, the audience for this book should be at least 13+, but adults will also enjoy the tale. This is a book that you cannot put down, from the prologue that reveals a horrific backstory to the awful wildfire, all the way through the interactions between humans under stress and wild animal attacks. There are many moments of tension in the book, but the voice of Bella also reveals some humorous insights into a dog’s life. Overall, underlying this dramatic tale is a simple story of the love of a dog for his human companions (and his Cougar friends) and the lengths that each will go to in order to be reacquainted.
The words just rattle along in this lovely, nonsensical rhyming tale of Baby Frank and his attempts to go back home. He and his parents are on holiday by the sea. But all he can think about are his animals left back home with only his Grandma to look after them. She may be good at walking and knitting, but he is most concerned that she will not be able to tiger-sit or look after the apes. He decides that there is only one thing to do; he must go back home. He leaves a note on the sand for his parents, and rushes off to the train station. After waiting in the train cab with nothing happening, he moves a lever and the train sets off. This results in panic by one and all; his parents read the note and take flight, the emergency services are all alerted, the TV cameramen, journalists and on-lookers all arrive to point and stare. And what do they see? The train is headed for a ravine, and Frank is too small to reach the brake.
Kids will love the excitement and humour of this tale, as they worry with Frank about his animals, then are concerned that the train will go over the ravine, then breath a sigh of relief as Grandma and the animals save the day, and Frank.
Readers will love predicting the rhyming words, love repeating the lines with the reader, enjoy learning some of the lines to reiterate when the story is read again, and above all love following Frank and his exploits.
The neat ending will appeal, giving readers the opportunity to contribute some of their own resolutions to the problem.
All of this is wrapped around some very intriguing illustrations, showing Frank in his striped suit, having a great time as he heads the train for home. Kids will love spotting all the animals that dot the pages, and thrill with the hapless parents as they try to help Frank in his predicament.
Simon & Schuster, 2021. (Age:Adult) Not recommended.
Before attempting this book readers should have read the previous books in the series, You and Hidden Bodies or at least be familiar with them through Netflix. The protagonist, Joe Goldberg has moved to a small town 35 minutes from Seattle for a quiet life, volunteering at the local library. We soon learn that he has been paid off by the rich family of the mother of his child, Love Quinn, on the understanding he never contacts her or attempts to see the child; he is bitter and angry about the arrangement. Joe has made a donation of $100,000 to the library and to avoid the background check which would have revealed his prison record and in the first person narration we are soon immersed in his inner dialogue. “I moved here because I thought it would be easier to be a good person around other good people, I moved here because the murder rate is low, as in not a single f.... murder in over twenty years” p12, but he has brought something dark into the community. Joe is instantly attracted to Mary Kay DiMarco, the librarian and he fantasises about their developing relationship, carefully cultivating her attention through shared lunches and Instagram posts. He keeps himself under control when he is introduced to her friends whose descriptions would rival some of the most distasteful social media posts by jealous “friends”. He has nasty nicknames for some of the people he meets, people at the library are "mothballs” and his neighbours are “fecal eyes", Mary Kay’s daughter is "Meercat” and they are repeated too many times. I haven’t read the previous books or seen the Netflix adaptations and wasn’t able to complete this book. The plot is tediously thin, filled with unattractive characters I could not care about and the denouement is unconvincing.
Themes Obsession, Psychopath.
Sue Speck
The Warsaw orphan by Kelly Rimmer
Hachette, 2021. ISBN: 9780733645839.
Each of Kelly Rimmer’s novels has performed well on the best seller lists; her subjects are well-researched and characters and settings presented in a readable, engaging form.
She has written about post natal depression, adoption and addiction and the Holocaust.
The Things we Cannot Say tells of family secrets when a Polish family is caught up in the ravages of World War 1. The Warsaw Orphan was inspired by a real life heroine who smuggled many Jewish children to safety, again, set in Poland. The revelations of life in the Warsaw Ghetto are frightening to read but this story goes some way to ensuring that the memories of these times and places are not forgotten. The author tackles a heart wrenching and challenging situation, but by focussing on two teenagers this story is suitable for both YA and adult readers. In 1942, Elzbieta (her real name, Emilia) is living in Warsaw as normally as possible but she soon becomes aware of the injustices of life in the Ghetto, when she makes contact with the Gorka family living there, through a friendship she has made with a nurse who lives in her apartment building. Alternate narratives of Emilia and Roman Gorka carry us through this story of love, courage and inspiration, as they become deeply involved with Sara’s dangerous mission.
Themes Jews in Poland, Survival, World War, 1939-1945.
