Mark of the Cyclops: An ancient Greek mystery by Saviour Pirotta
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781472934147
(Age: 9+) Recommended. 'It seems you have a talent for solving
problems. I believe Gaia is innocent. Find the real culprit and I'll
pay you in gold...'
Athens, 434 BC.
Nico's new friend Thrax has a strange knack of figuring things out.
And when a valuable wedding vase is broken Thrax's special skills
might just come in useful. Can the boys prove that slave girl, Gaia,
is innocent, and discover what the mark of the cyclops means?
Join Nico and Thrax for a mysterious adventure set in ancient
Greece.
I can see this book fitting into a unit of work on an ancient
civilisation as it would read aloud beautifully. The children would
thrive on the suspense while at the same time continuing to learn
about Ancient Greece. I would recommend it for children aged 9 and
up for independent reading and 8 and up for a read aloud. The
glossary is useful at the end of the book as too is the information
about Greek pottery in Corinth. Fingers crossed that this will
become a series as it would certainly appeal to children interested
in historical fiction.
Kathryn Schumacher
Twinkle, twinkle, little star by David Ellwand
Old Barn Books, 2017. ISBN 9781910646243
(Ages: 1-3) Musical book. Rhyme. Board book. This board book
features photographs of David Ellwand's vintage teddies (also seen
in previous publications such as Wheels on the bus) and a
push-button violin recording of 'Twinkle twinkle little star'.
The teddies are shown being serenaded by their father's violin
playing as they settle down for sleep and drift into dreams (of
dancing on the moon). The first and last pages use the original
version of the rhyme, with extra lines added to the middle: 'Hush
now, hush now, little teds, Climb into your cosy bed... ' Young ones
will love pushing the button and singing along to the recording with
the words they already know and pointing out familiar things within
the pictures (rockets, stars, moon, etc.). This extended version of
the classic rhyme makes for a great bedtime lullaby and the warm,
calming illustrations will help to settle young children for sleep.
Nicole Nelson
The Hate U Give (THUG) by Angie Thomas
Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406372151
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Navigating between life as the only
person of colour (POC) at a prestigious prep school in the suburbs,
and being the only kid in the projects who can afford to go to such
a school, Starr Carter doesn't know who she is. The careful
balancing act falls apart when Starr witnesses her childhood best
friend shot dead at the hands of a police officer during a routine
traffic stop. Starr is forced to be the voice of change at a time
when she's not sure if she's better off being silent. The Hate U Give draws on stories most are already familiar
with: Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, the list
unfortunately goes on. Author Angie Thomas has managed to weave
elements of these tragedies throughout the story without
disrespecting the communities or persons involved. Readers follow
Starr's heartbreaking journey but are constantly reminded that this
is the everyday life for POC throughout America. With an emphasis on
police brutality and the after-effects, the community coming
together while being simultaneously pulled apart, we learn chilling
lessons that for some are learned much younger.
If you encounter a police officer, be polite. Even if they're not.
Do not make any sudden movements. Keep your hands up. Remain calm. The Hate U Give is political without trying to be, and
readers will be holding on to the edge of their seats as they follow
along with Starr. Whether it's friendship, race, or feeling like you
don't quite belong, there's something for everyone.
Natalie Campbell
Fenn Halflin and the Seaborn by Francesca Armour-Chelu
Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406366181
(Age; 10 -14) Recommended. Survival. Floods. Future worlds.
Good and evil. Fenn Halflin and the seaborn concludes the
epic story of Fenn and his mongoose Tikki as they flee from the
fierce Terra Firma. This fast-paced novel, starts immediately after
the final action in the first novel, Fenn
Halflin and the Fearzero, where he set fire to the
Punchlock, signalling all the Seaborn tribes that the Resistance is
ready for an uprising. Now, he is traipsing across treacherous
marshland, hunted by his enemies - Chilstone and his band of evil
henchmen.
Fenn's survival skills gained from his grandfather Halflin are vital
to his journey: knowing the difference between edible and poisonous
plants, swimming underwater with a reed for breathing and how to
take cover in the gorse. After a close encounter with Chilstone, a
Marsh Sargossan, Gerran, fortuitously rescues him and takes him to a
secret place. Here, behind huge piles of debris, the tribe has
reclaimed the forest and built a fortress from recycled materials,
regenerated the land and grown food supplies. In this wonderfully
rich and exotic landscape, the caring folk carry out their mandate
to 'graft the land back to life'. The Sargossans were victims of
Chilstone's band; he stole their younger generation and sent them to
work as slaves for the Terras, as they work to build the great wall
and stop the flooding. Fenn's destiny waits as he reunites with his
friends and leads them into a battle with the Terras. His friends
show courage, determination and a fierce sense of loyalty as they
fight together.
This is a fast-paced and thrilling adventure, with plenty to ponder
and cliffhangers ending many of the chapters. Fenn Halflin and
the Seaborn is a creatively written fantasy adventure story
set in a dystopian landscape. Armour-Chelu delivers richly imagined
settings in her tensely woven narrative with many surprises,
fortuitous encounters, amazing escapes and secrets uncovered. These
two novels support and extend students in the Middle Years; they are
perfect for textual analysis, with great examples of
characterisation, plot development, creative settings and imagery.
Rhyllis Bignell
I want to be in a book by Narelle Oliver
Omnibus Books, 2017. ISBN 9781743811634
(Ages: 5-8) Creative writing. Imagination. Cecil is a lizard
hand-drawn on a piece of lined paper from an exercise book. He has
big dreams: he wants to be in a book. He has watched while other
drawings around him were ripped off the pin-board. He has seen them
transformed with paint and coloured pencil and then appear in a
book, shiny and with writing all around them. Cecil waits, imagining
all the things he could be and all the things that could happen in
his story. Then it happens, down from the board he floats, onto the
table and across the pages of a book. The adventure is great but he
is soon pulled free of the book and into a book all of his own. He
hadn't been forgotten after all. This uses a unique mixture of
media, including photographs and collage, as well as some of Narelle
Oliver's distinctive sketching. It is a fun story and useful for
talking with children about their own story writing techniques,
especially character development. It also has a nice undertone of
following our dreams and emphasises how much can be achieved with
some determination and self-drive. A wonderful final message from
the late Narelle Oliver.
Nicole Nelson
Truly foul and cheesy animal jokes and facts by John Townsend
Ill. by David Antram. Big Sky Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9781925520484
(Age: 7+) Recommended for kids who like jokes. The introduction to
this very funny book says it all: 'Warning - reading this book might
not make you LOL (laugh out loud) but it could make you GOL (groan
out loud), feel sick out loud or SEL (scream out loud)' pg. 4. What
makes it stand out from the standard joke book are the foul facts
that accompany the very humorous jokes. Often there is a double page
spread, with one page having revolting details about the animal,
then the opposite page having short riddles and jokes. Others like
the section on hippopotamuses has 2 pages of hippo facts and then 4
pages of silly hippo jokes and riddles. Limericks and silly poems
are also scattered throughout the book adding to the fun.
The foul facts will appeal to the target audience who will delight
in finding out, for example, that 'the average elephant squeezes out
100kg of sloppy poo every single day' and that 'the sloth is the
world's slowest mammal, so slow that revolting plants grow on its
furry coat'. David Antram's black and white drawings also add to the
hilarity of the book
This is a volume that can be dipped into and is sure to keep any
child who love jokes and weird, nasty facts, occupied for hours.
Pat Pledger
The Pacific Room by Michael Fitzgerald
Transit Lounge, 2017. ISBN 9780995359550
(Age: Senior secondary - Adult) Recommended. The famous Italian painter
Girolamo Nerli travelled to Samoa in 1892 to paint a portrait of the
author of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, hoping to capture an apprehension
of a state of mind that was 'not truly one but truly two'. The
present day researcher Lewis Wakefield travels to Samoa to find out
about the life of the author depicted in the painting - Robert Louis
Stevenson, known as Tusitala, the teller of tales. Wakefield is one
of twin brothers, his brother now dead, and is medicating for
bipolar disorder. He is intrigued by the relationship Stevenson had
with his Somoan servant Sosimo, and with the Somoan people who came
to build a road to Stevenson's house, called the Road of the Loving
Heart. In Samoa, Wakefield meets beautiful women who he discovers to
be fa'afafine - between two genders 'in the manner of woman'. One of
the fa'afafine, Teuila, a descendant of Sosimo, prepares to attend
the wedding of her lover Henry to another.
This idea of dualities is an undercurrent throughout the novel, and
we come to understand that beautiful lush Somoa may not be a place
so much as a state of mind. And it is probably this that Stevenson
felt so comfortable with; Somoa was sustenance for his inspiration
as well as for his suffering health.
The novel is not biography but a shifting kaleidoscope of
impressions of people, images and place, dream-like in quality,
drawing us into a different experience that is at the heart of Samoa
- another kind of Pacific Room, not an archive but a blending of
sensations and memories. As readers, we come to experience something
of the magic of Samoa as well.
Helen Eddy
Froggy green by Anna Walker
Puffin Books, 2017. ISBN 9780143785835
(Ages: 0-3) Board Book. Colours. This is a very simple book about
colour and its vivid illustrations are a standout. It starts by
stating, 'Everyone likes different colours', and then shows us some
children and the colour that they like (e.g. 'Sam likes fireman
red'). Each page shows the child and their favourite colour; for
example, Olive who likes fairy pink is shown in a pink dress and is
surrounded by pink flowers. Unfortunately, the page showing Charlie,
who likes monster purple, may be misleading to toddlers. In each
other instance, the named thing is the focus colour (sunshine
yellow, froggy green, sky blue, etc.), but the monster is white on a
purple background. Even Charlie, dressed as a monster, has nothing
purple on. Polka-dot orange is another tenuous colour-object link
but it does at least feature some orange polka-dots. The book
finishes with the assertion that everyone loves rainbow icecream
and the children are shown flying a rainbow-coloured kite and
wearing an array of different colours. The last page asks the
reader, 'Which colour do you like?' prompting a caregiver-child
discussion about colour. When reading colour concept books children
enjoy many opportunities to point to and name things they recognise.
This also helps them to build object-colour associations. While this
is a beautiful book, admirable in its simplicity, it is lacking in
this regard. It may not engage children as much or solicit as much
adult-child interaction as some other books in this genre.
Nicole Nelson
Opposite land by Charlotte Rose Hamlyn
Random House Australia, 2017. ISBN 9780143780816
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Have you ever wanted icecream for
dinner and your mum has said in opposite land, well this happened to
Stevie. She went to opposite land and found herself trying to save
it. Opposite land is where socks wear feet, broccoli is meat, behind
is ahead and people poop from their head!
The characters are original and funny; they learn and change as the
story progresses. They have feelings and seem like real people. The
characters play a big role in the plot. The plot drags you in and
makes you want to keep reading. The plot is well organised and makes
sense. The theme is funny but has meaning, the meaning is stand up
for your friends and yourself. The setting changes and these changes
are strange but funny. The book is set over a couple of days. The
story has an imaginary feel, and the author has told the story
through the characters. It's not just a great story, at the back of
the book is information on how to draw some of the characters and a
comic strip also on how to make an origami star.
I highly recommend this book for 10+ boys or girls. It is a book for
people who like graphic novels and funny stories.
Grace Colliver, Year 6, Eastern Fleurieu School
Out of heart by Ifran Master
Hot Key Books 2017. ISBN 9781471405075
(Age: 12+) Recommended. The heart is one of the most important
organs in the human body. A heart donation can be a wonderful and
generous thing, giving another person another chance at life. When
Adam's Dadda passes he leaves a great hole in the family, a hole
which seemingly no one can fill. That is until William arrives on
their doorstep with seemingly no reason other than curiosity about
where his new heart came from. William is all alone in the world,
without family or friends to turn to. Thanks to Mr. Shah's donation
William isn't just given another chance at life, he is given another
chance to live.
As time passes William becomes a familiar figure in the Shah family
home, almost like part of the family. Farrah adores him, Adam
finally finds a man he can look up to and talk to, and Yasmin gets the
kind of support she needs to continue providing for her family.
Times are tough. With Dadda's funeral and Yasmin struggling to earn
a wage, Adam must get a job to help his mother. But working, at the
cost of his education, is something Yasmin frowns on, and so he must
struggle his way through school, work, and adolescence on top of his
grief for his grandfather. Things only get worse when the local
thugs come knocking to call in Mr. Shah's debt, a debt no one in the
family knew. Dadda was not a gambler, but Adam knows who is. Can he
control the situation or will the situation control him?
With allusions to the story of Icarus, Master presents a YA novel
with a focus on family, grief, and relationships, as well as the
power of organ donation. This coming-of-age story is recommended for
young people twelve and up.
Kayla Gaskell, 21
The sloth who came to stay by Margaret Wild
Ill. by Vivienne To. Allen & Unwin, 2017. ISBN 9781760290221
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Sloths. Family. Amy's family is the
fastest in the world, they do everything at breakneck speed. They do
everything so quickly there is never enough time to sit and talk.
They walk, shop and eat tea quickly. But one day Amy brings home a
sloth. The sloth is warned that this is a very fast family, but he
just lives at his own pace. He has a leisurely bath, then he sits
down at the table and eats very slowly, so slowly in fact that Amy
has time to tell him about her day, while Mum and Dad are being busy
around her. The illustrations reflect their busyness, with both
parents rushing through their exercises, their work, their eating
and housework all at speed. Children will laugh out loud at the
methods they use to make use of every minute of the day. Amy and the
sloth do things so slowly that Mum and Dad begin to talk to them
about their day, to talk to the neighbours, to pat the cat and look
at the moon. They eventually slow down to the sloth's pace of life,
taking time themselves
They begin to do things together as a family, and the illustrations
again reflect the things that families do, modeling this for the
reader.
When at the end the sloth moves in with the speedy family next door,
Amy and her family know that the sloth will have the same effect on
them, making them slow down too.
This wonderful story is welcome in a class where children's lives
are filled to the brim with things to do. The book will encourage
them to take time out and smell the roses, and astute teachers and
parents will take time to do just that.
Fran Knight
Shoot-out at the Rock by Jane Smith
Tommy Bell Bushranger Boy Book 1. Big Sky Publishing, August
2016. ISBN 9781925275940
(Age: 7+) Tommy Bell is a young boy who has trouble at school, most
of which he makes for himself. At the beginning of the book, he is
kept in at lunchtime because he failed a history test on the Gold
Rush days. This led to him missing out on buying a doughnut at the
tuckshop, which led to him kicking another boy who stole and was
eating a doughnut, which led to the necessity of running away and
'wagging school' for the rest of the day.
Tommy is sent to his grandparents' farm for the school holidays by
his parents who say the change will help him. Tommy finds an old
bushranger's hat and once he pops it on, he is swept back into Gold
Rush times. Face-to-face with the dangerous Frank Gardiner and his
mates 'Flash Jack' and Ben Hall, Tommy learns about the value of
true friendship and about how it feels to be part of one of the most
famous robberies in Australia's history.
This fast-paced book would be fantastic for young reluctant readers
(aged 7 and up), particularly boys. The time travel is gripping and
makes for an easy read, while at the same time learning about
Australian history. This would work well with a unit about The Gold
Rushes or discussions around mateship, integrity and choice.
Kathryn Schumacher
What the ladybird heard on holiday by Julia Donaldson
Ill. by Lydia Monks. Macmillan Children's Books, 2017. ISBN
9781509837328
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Crime. Ladybirds. Zoos. London. With the two
previous books What the ladybird heard and What
the ladybird heard next, warmly praised, our hero, the
ladybird going on holiday and stopping another crime will be equally
well received.
Ladybird is taking a well deserved holiday. She is in London, and
readers will be able to point out the well-known features of this
city as she flies overhead. But her destination is London Zoo, and
while there she overhears the two crooks, Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh,
plotting a new plan of thievery. They intend to steal a monkey from
the zoo and train him to get into the Queen's bedroom and steal her
crown. But the ladybird hatches an even craftier plan to foil them.
She rounds up support from many of the zoo animals, a tiger,
elephant, monkeys, crocodile and camel, along with the two corgis
who live at the Palace, to foil the plan being executed by these two
scoundrels.
Told in wonderful rhyming pairs of lines, the book begs to be read
aloud, with encouragement given to the reader to emulate the animals
in the verse. Readers will love predicting the next rhyming word,
and learning some of the lines to read along or read themselves. The
illustrations too will delight and intrigue as children will
recognise the attractions of this city, as well as the animals
placed in the zoo, amongst the colourful range of things shown on
each adventure filled page. Finding the ladybird will also be a
source of enquiry for younger readers.
Glitter is used on each page enhancing the tactile experience for
younger readers already excited by the verse, colour and adventure
filled pages.
Fran Knight
Saints for all occasions by Courtney Sullivan
Fleet, 2017. ISBN 9781844089383
(Age: Senior secondary - Adults) Immigration. Families. Siblings.
Irish/Americans. Catholic faith. Nuns. This family saga opens in
2009 with Nora Rafferty rushing to hospital to find her 50 year old
eldest son Patrick has died in a car accident. One of the first
things she does is to phone her estranged sister to let her share
the grief. Nora and her sister Teresa left their small Irish village
in the mid-1950s to join Nora's fiance Charlie in Boston. Nora is
quiet, careful and protective of her younger, more outgoing sister
and they settle in with other catholic Irish from their area. They
find work and Teresa is also able to study to become a teacher.
Teresa loves the new life, especially the freedom to go to dances
and meet boys but she soon falls pregnant to a married man. Nora
devises a plan where she and Charlie marry and pretend she is
pregnant while Teresa goes to a Catholic home for unwed mothers.
Instead of having to give up the baby, Patrick, to strangers, Nora
and Charlie adopt him as their own and allow Teresa to live with
them and have contact with her baby. It doesn't work out and Teresa
leaves, goes to New York and gets a job teaching then eventually
joins a cloistered order of nuns. Nora and Charlie go on to have
three more children; she is strict with them but always has a soft
spot for Patrick whose adoption is kept a secret, as is the
existence of Teresa. The story switches between the preparations for
the funeral, as the siblings reflect on their relationship with
their brother and mother, interleaved with chapters going back
looking at the family and convent life in the 60s and 70s.
Books about immigrant Irish in America are not new and there are
echoes of Brooklyn to be found; but this is carefully
constructed without melodrama looking at the interplay of culture
and religion in generational change with people doing their best to
live with the decisions they have made, never sure if they were
right or wrong. Nora and Teresa make very different decisions in
their lives but religion has helped sustain them both. It starts
well but develops at a slower pace, more a book for adults but
senior students could compare it with other Irish immigrant
experiences like Angela's ashes or Brooklyn.
Sue Speck
Chase by Linwood Barclay
Hachette, 2017. ISBN 9781510102194
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Chase, written by famous adult
crime author, Linwood Barclay, is a thrilling adventure full of
secrets, danger and of course running. The book is action-packed
with loads of suspense and a major plot twist, which meant it was
impossible to put down as the tension built up. An on-edge novel, it
was exciting from the start when Chipper, an experimental
cyborg-like dog, escapes 'The Institute' before he is run over by
Jeff, who is driving underage. Jeff, an orphan, and his friend
Emily, nurse Chipper back to health in the woods. But when they plug
Chipper into a computer, it becomes apparent that this is not a
random meeting and the new friends are in a world of trouble.
At the beginning you get to know the characters and become one with
them as they face life or death. The friends launch into an endless
adventure of cat and mouse, always looking behind them. The newborn
friendship will be put to the test. Chase keeps you guessing
what will happen to the strong friendship between man and dog. The
author's words captivate you until you turn the last page and will
leave you breathless and wanting more till the very end. Overall,
everyone can enjoy this, not just kids and teens - adults too!
Cara F. (Student)
