Finbar Hawkins has delivered a confident and accomplished debut with the historical young adult fiction novel, Witch. Quite simply put, Witch is breathtaking. Hawkins writes with a style that is both sparse and lyrical. Chapters are short, dialogue is key and extraneous details are non-existent. The reader can feel, see and hear 17th century England on every page.
The novel tells the story of Evey, also known as Eveline of the Birds, and her younger sister Dill. In the opening pages the sisters watch their mother being beaten to death by self-authorised “witch hunters”. Listening to her dying screams fade behind them, the sisters flee across a bleak landscape to their aunt, leader of a secretive coven.
What follows is a story of revenge, bloodshed, friendship and sisterhood. Evey and Dill lose and find each other multiple times as Evey embarks on a one-woman quest to seek justice. Evey’s fraught relationships with her mother and sister mirror many real life situations; they are universal to any time and any place. Hawkins aims to demonstrate that those we love the most are also the ones that can cause us the most pain. It is up to Evey to come to terms with everything that she has lost, before she can appreciate what she has left. Witch is a quick read and the fast pace makes it difficult to put down. Violence and death are constant themes in the novel however, which make it appropriate for more mature young adult audiences.
As a fan of the The girl of fire and thorns series, I couldn’t resist picking up these three novellas, originally published digitally. They were an enthralling read, giving the background to beloved characters in the series. In a note from Rae Carson at the beginning of the book, she writes that when she was an aspiring author, she was given advice “to imagine a rich and unique personal history for every single character, even the minor ones” even though it might not make it onto the pages. Thus, in this trilogy, the reader finds out the secret that Hector must keep forever, when he is a young recruit in the Royal Guard, in the novella The King’s Guard. How Mara got her scars and her immense courage in guiding child survivors from her devastated village is described vividly in The Shattered Mountain. The shadow cats brings to life the rivalry between Elisa and her sister Alodia and gives the reader a glimpse into Elisa’s life as a younger sister.
I picked these up, thinking that I could take a breather from longer novels, and just read a novella occasionally, but as always I found Carson’s plots and characters enthralling, and couldn’t put the book down until I had devoured all three novellas. Of course, it helped that I had just finished rereading Carson’s trilogy and reading the fourth in the series, The empire of dreams.
This is a series for all readers of fantasy, young and old alike.
Themes Fantasy, Short stories, Courage, Secrets.
Pat Pledger
The fabulous cakes of Zinnia Jakes : The tumbling tortoises by Brenda Gurr
New Frontier, 2020. ISBN: 9781921928796. (Age:9+) Recommended.
Zoe Jones is holding her own as a trendy commercial baker but she’s undercover because she’s just a kid. She shares this trait with her dad, a world famous food critic, travelling incognito for the sake of accurate food journalism. Only Dad, Aunty Jam and her BF, Addie, know her true identity – but increasingly it looks as if Polly, top of their class, has her suspicions.
Tensions mount as Zinnia Jakes (aka Zoe) wins the local zoo’s cake design competition, with a gorgeous Galapagos tortoise design. To complicate matters, her class is awarded an invitation to the Wildside Zoo for the launch of their endangered animal display. Since the “Tumbling Tortoises” cakes will be viewed and launched at the opening, Zoe faces the problem of delivering the cakes without blowing her cover.
Family pitches in with ideas, but what ever goes to plan in a gorgeous easy chapter book, featuring an endearing and enterprising young girl of absent parents? This new series based on Zinnia Jakes, and undoubtedly inspired by pop culture demand for reality cooking shows, has everything you could want in a mystery book plot. Plus, readers score Zoe’s full Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes recipe as well as a sample chapter of “Crumbling Castles”.
Recommended for middle schoolers but cover with clingwrap in the kitchen – you don’t want to stain this culinary mystery for the next borrowers. Better, the publisher’s teaching notes for both books in the series so far, contain recipes for these cupcakes and Medieval Gingerbread.
Themes Mystery, Adventure.
Deborah Robins
Florence Adler swims forever by Rachel Beanland
Simon & Schuster, 2021. ISBN: 9781398501355. (Age:16+) Highly recommended.
Florence is one of those people that everyone loves and admires, beautiful, smart and funny. She easily tunes into the imaginative world of her 7 year-old niece Gussie; she befriends Anna, the Prussian refugee; and she has clearly won the heart of the besotted lifeguard, Stuart. She is a champion swimmer and she is determined to break Gertrude Ederle’s record for swimming the English channel. And yet, in the first chapter, something unimaginable happens, the lifesavers haul back her lifeless body from the sea.
This sets the scene for the central premise of the novel – keeping the news of Florence’s death from her elder sister Fannie, confined to a hospital bed in the last stages of a risky pregnancy, for fear of precipitating another premature birth. Hyram, her first baby, survived only three weeks.
It is 1930’s Atlantic city; a time of bizarre exhibition of premature babies in sideshows, speculative money-making schemes, and the ominous Nazi threat gathering pace in Europe. Florence’s family are Jewish; even in Atlantic city, Jews are excluded from prestigious hotels.
Against this backdrop, Florence’s family, friends, and the hospital staff all conspire to keep Fannie in the dark. It is a story of secrets. There is the overarching secret of Florence’s death, but others also carry hidden stories – their father Joseph and the woman from his past; Anna, the mysterious foreigner; Isaac, Fannie’s husband, with his secret schemes; even young Gussie is aware of the many secrets that adults attempt to keep from her.
The story quickly draws the reader in with each chapter presenting the viewpoint of a different person involved in the lie. We see how people handle grief differently, how each is generally good intentioned. The suspense builds as it becomes more and more difficult to hide the truth. I found the story fascinating and breathlessly read on, but must admit to disappointment that though the threads are all neatly tied at the end, the anticipated climax never really arrives. I think there must be another book in the making – about Fannie. How could one ever reconcile being the centre of such a deceit, no matter how well intentioned?
Ambelin Kwaymullina, the award winning author shortlisted for her books by the CBCA and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Prize, is a Palyku woman from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Her latest book, Billie and the blue bike, is a First Nations picture book which is up front in its aim to teach younger readers some basic financial literacy. On reading this excellent story, it can be used for all kids, teaching them some home truths about the value of money.
Billie is desperate to buy a new bike, but is told by her mum that all the money she has is taken up with necessities. Her uncle tells that he she can help in the garden with him, earning $10 a week to save for the bike. But she wants it now, so comes up with a few schemes of her own to get the money more quickly. Each scheme is followed through showing the reader that each idea has its flaws, and the story finishes with Billie buying her bike after working for her uncle for ten weeks. I really like the way each scheme is shown with a balance sheet of the money earned. In this way readers can see exactly what work is required to earn that amount of money. Each time Billie earns some money there is a funny corollary. When she enlists the help of her cousins, she find that the money earned is not nearly enough, and when they all decide to buy an ice cream, the money disappears. Entering her dog in a competition seems fine, but when he chases the cat and upsets the judges, the outcome is not what Billie had hoped. So in the end she takes up her uncle’s offer, learning that a slow and steady task means money comes in every week until the amount she is aiming for is saved.
A valuable lesson for all readers, and will lead to much discussion.
Ambelin’s illustrations are full of colour, movement and heightened interest as the readers follow Billie’s escapades in getting her bike.
Simon & Schuster, 2020. ISBN: 9781471178757. (Age:8-11) Recommended.
This is the fourth book in the Nothing to See Here Hotel series and Frankie Banister is yet again up to his neck in fantasy adventure. In this funkdastardly story Frankie is kidnapped and taken into the lower realms of the sewers where more magical and fantasy creatures with weird and wonderful features are threatening his cleanliness and his normal hotel life. With the threat of being dropped into the poop-laden sewer world with no further contact with his own bizarriferous family, Frankie must use all his wisdom and rely on other stranger-than-true friends to escape before it is too late.
With Dahl-esque created language (akin to BFG creations), that I have mimicked in the paragraph above (note: vocabulary not used by the author), Steven Baker has created a romp that is just a giggle from start to finish. Nothing is real and everything is impossible, but I am sure that children aged 8-11 will appreciate the absolute nonsense in this humorous fantasy adventure. I can also imagine that an adult who likes to read with funny voices or wants a read-aloud adventure into oddities and ‘exciterous’ story-lines will also enjoy this latest romp. Lenton’s illustrations also reveal the quirky world and characters with his cartoon-style creativity.
Kai is number 3 in the 4 book series Dream Riders. Each book in the Dream Riders series follows the story of a different young person as they join the Dream Riders equestrian centre called Pocket of Dreams where teenagers are taught natural horsemanship by horse- whisperer Shannon Faulkner. Natural horsemanship involves learning to understand the brumbies through studying their relationships within the wild and building rapport and respect so that they can be handled without saddle or bridle. The sanctuary within these books was inspired by a brumby sanctuary near Tenterfield set in the Byron Shire region of NSW.
Kai is narrated in first person by Kai, a Taiwanese teenage boy. He, like the other protagonists in the series, has been sent to the Pocket of Dreams, because he needed time out. As he tells the story, the reader cannot but see him as a thoroughly likeable person. It comes as a surprise that he has been suspended from school. Gradually, through the unfolding story, the reader learns of Kai's sister's struggle with an eating disorder and of some poor decision making on Kai's part that has led him, like his new friends at the equestrian school, to not really fit in with the crowd.
The young people at Pocket of Dreams develop close friendships and potential romantic relationships as they are brought together to bond with, care for and rescue a wild brumby each. The mutual developing trust and love between Kai and Monty, a dapple-grey brumby, is a beautiful process for the reader to follow. With his new found love for Monty, Kai develops responsibility and embarks on a dangerous rescue mission in the face of wild bushfires when Monty's life is in peril.
The friendships that Kai has with the other three teens, the older horse whisperer Ginger and his ever loving and supportive family along with his new found love for a wild brumby result in an older, wiser young man who learns to face life's challenges in a mature manner.
A series about the Australian wild horse, incorporating character diversity in a warm and natural manner, Dream Riders is recommended for late Primary/Middle years readers. It is recommended that the series is read in sequential order.
Themes Horses, Bushfires, School issues, Friendship, Fitting in.
Nelson hates vegetables but in this story he discovers that broccoli gives him the power to turn invisible. He discovers this, and that vomiting turns him visible again, when he and best friend Olive go to stay with his Grandparents. Nelson’s ex-spy Grandma wants him to use his superpower to catch whoever is stealing her award-winning pumpkins. In a lie that backfires, his Grandpa also teaches him to tap dance. In his pursuit of the pumpkin stealers, he is helicoptered away to spy headquarters that are inside a volcano (a reference to James Bond in You Only Live Twice here!). Tap dancing comes in handy as a way to escape drones firing rockets at him.
Broccoli and Spies is a lightweight, wacky story written for young readers who need short, easy to read, illustrated chapter books. Stories like these have plenty of hooks for reluctant readers and for these reasons they are definitely worthwhile. There’s plenty of bodily functions, slapstick action and humour. The essential ingredients of a spy series; modern gadgets, vehicles and villains, are all here. Plus, the characters have funny food names like Agent Licorice and General Gruyere. Cartoonlike illustrations by Katie Kear definitely match the text, some are full or double page. There is effective use of fluoro-green throughout to match the vegetable hero, broccoli. Children who like Anh Do’s WeirDo series will most likely enjoy the Nelson series too.
Themes Spies, Superheroes.
Jo Marshall
My summer with Grandad by Tom Tinn-Disbury
New Frontier, 2020. ISBN: 9781922326140. (Age:4+)
My Summer with Grandad is an entertaining story about Eric spending time with his Grandad. This is a holiday ritual and this is the year Eric will be finally allowed to go fishing on his Grandad’s boat. However things do not go to plan and Eric is left disheartened. Grandad then gives Eric the job of being the Chief Seagull Shoo-er and Eric takes his new role very seriously. One day Eric and Grandad discover a baby seagull trapped in the net with a damaged wing. They take it home and Eric uses numbered steps to care for the chick and they become firm friends. Of course Eric realizes that the bird must go back to his family on the eighth step but surprise, surprise there is a ninth step still to come.
This a delightful story that will appeal to younger readers. The colourful detailed illustrations complement the text perfectly. Teacher's notes are available.
Can you do this? by Michael Wagner and Heath McKenzie
ABC Books, 2021. ISBN: 9780733335723. (Age:4+)
Two of Australia’s well known storytellers, Michael Wagner and Heath McKenzie, have combined to present this humorous look at sibling rivalry and brotherly love. This book explores the age-old problem of the youngest child trying to keep up with an older sibling. The little brother creatively displays amazing action-packed antics and skills while constantly asking his older brother “Can you do this?” Of course his brother replies yes to being better at everything. The little one becomes despondent and for one final try does incredible hair-raising aerobatics. You guessed it though, big brother can do it all. However the ending is a surprise. Can big brother really do everything better?
This is a book of very few words but the meaning is made very clear to the reader through the bright and colourful illustrations.
Themes Brothers, Sibling Rivalry, Humour.
Kathryn Beilby
Balloon girls by Darrell Pitt
Text Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 9781922330567. (Age:11-15) Recommended.
Balloon Girls by Darrell Pitt is an easily digestible book which dives quickly into the plot and holds the reader's interest through the ready banter between all the characters and the ride through disaster after disaster. The storyline is firmly grounded in the school life (both academic and social) of Middle Years students in the small town of Yallaroo in country Victoria. It is good to read a book that is so strongly wrought against an Australian rural setting. As the girls release and track three ballons, during their rigorous scientific experiment, country Victoria is traversed and information about North Eastern Victoria sheep farming districts and alpine areas is offered to the reader.
The title encompasses the guts of the story - that of three girls who conduct an experiment involving balloons in order to prove that the Earth is indeed round with the aim of winning a competition to travel to the Smithsonian Museum in the USA. A secondary metaphor suggested by the title "balloon girl" is a fat girl and from this stems the bullying theme which is an undercurrent throughout the story.
By using their complementary skills the three girls compete in a national competition. Sub stories run longside this main action including the solving of an age old town mystery, a crime involving arson, unpleasant newcomers to the town, unexpected treasure and the growing understanding of what really matters in life.
The characters are multi-racial. Pitt scatters much interesting information for the student on a variety of subjects throughout the text although the information about the Dog on the Tuckerbox has better interpretations. The central character, Ally, is inspired by Marie Curie. The things that happen in her life combined with her own grit and determination and support from her family and friends help her to remain grounded whilst reaching for the sky.
Middle School students will find Balloon girls easy to read, informative on a number of general knowledge topics and slightly unputdownable. Teacher's notes are available.
Themes Science, family, friends, High School, Australian country community.
Wendy Jeffrey
Poo! And other words that make me laugh by Felice Arena. Illus. by Tom Jellett
This is an immensely silly book designed to be shared aloud that will probably result in rauccous laughter and incredulous guffaws from both adults and children ('That can't be a real word!'). Despite the title, it isn't all toilet words that feature; hidden within the endpapers covered in the word 'poo!' are useful (and genuine!) words, all listed in a glossary at the end of the book. Little used words that are incredibly fun to say may just become part of the everyday vernacular: bumfuzzle, flapdoodle, persnickety, wallop and succotash.
Tom Jellett's (My Dad Thinks He's Funny) illustrations are awesome as always. Larger than life, big expressive faces fill the colourful pages, with the words themselves also taking centre stage. At heart this is all about having fun with language and creating shared meaning. Getting children to discover that words can be fun is not always easy - this will help! It is also an enjoyable way to teach children about the importance of a glossary and how to use one. Creating their own nonsense word and definition or finding other funny words in a dictionary could also be used as fun follow on activities.
Let’s Go, Little Roo is a very appealing story about friendship and taking those first steps towards feeling comfortable in a new situation. Little Roo is safe and warm in her mother’s pouch. Her mother tries to entice her to join the other joeys by mentioning the warm sun, the delicious grass and the fun the other joeys are having. However Little Roo is too shy until her mother mentions another bush creature who is also hiding in his mother’s pouch. They talk about how he might be feeling and Little Roo bravely decides to venture out and offer friendship.
The illustrations are captivating and the soft pastel tones set the scene for a gentle read. Perfect for Early Years children.
Themes : Being afraid, Australian animals, Bravery, Friendship, Wellbeing.
Centred on one young woman, Alex visits a town that is familiar to her from the past, but to her it seems that it offers no welcoming feel. Weaving the narrative between the past and the present, using ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ to orientate the reader, Watson creates a story that is shrouded in mystery and a sense of dread. As a film-maker, Alex is determined to evoke the sense of place in the town, and photographs and films the local pub, the wild sea shore, the places and people who live there. She hopes to evoke her own buried memories but she can barely recall the events that seemingly caused her to leave, realizing that she had forgotten her former name.
Situating this narrative in the wild coast of Northern England, Watson draws us into the story through the gradual hints of the past that occur and as the story progresses, we read about some of her childhood experiences. Shrouded in a mysterious blankness, she gradually recalls some events that clearly caused her to flee many years ago. Weaving the past and present is a strong hook that captivates the reader and the intriguing nature of her memories.
As a film-maker, Alex is determined to take photographs and film the place and the people whom she meets, somehow hoping that she will be able to recall the events of the past that haunt her. The discomforting uneasiness is strong as she tries but cannot recall the events that caused her to leave the town, and not return for years, but she does begin to remember some things. Alex is not her real name but she cannot remember her former name.
Themes Childhood memories that evoke terror, Fear, Determination to discover the events of the past.
Elizabeth Bondar
The darkest evening by Ann Cleeves
A Vera Stanhope Novel 9. Pan Macmillan, 2020. ISBN: 9781509889525. (Age:Senior secondary - Adult) Highly recommended.
A fan of the TV series, I was delighted to pick up a Vera Stanhope novel, not having read one for several years. When driving home on a dark winter’s night, Vera takes a wrong turn and seeing a car abandoned on the side of the road stops to help and discovers a toddler strapped inside. Knowing how dangerous the weather is, she decides to take him to the nearest house, which turns out to be Brockburn, the manor house where Hector her father had been brought up. There, amidst the gaiety of a party, a young woman’s body is found in the snow, and Vera is plunged into a murder investigation.
This has all the hallmarks of a good mystery. There is a country house that is starting to decay and well fleshed out characters from the wealthy landowners, tenant farmers and village people all provide suspects. Lorna, the young woman who had been murdered had suffered anorexia in her youth and had not disclosed the name of the father of her baby to anyone, so Vera and her offsiders, Joe and Holly are faced with multiple suspects and red herrings to follow up.
It was particularly interesting to find out that Vera was related to the people in the big house and to see the divide between the rich and middle class. The book revolves around family and all the problems and rumours that can ripple even the smoothest surface of a relationship. The Stanhope family needs money and Juliet has been unable to have a baby, no one knows the identity of the father of Lorna’s baby and why she is estranged from her father, and even Vera feels a tug towards the little toddler left motherless.
This was an entertaining and engrossing mystery, easy to read, with an exciting conclusion which I did not expect. I found the book gave insights and background to Vera that added to the picture of her I had built up from the TV series. A most satisfying read.
