Ellie MacDoodle: Have pen will travel by Ruth McNally Barshaw
Bloomsbury, 2011, 192 pgs (pbk.) ISBN 9781599907154.
(Age 7+). Recommended. Eleven-year-old Ellie McDougal is called
Ellie McDoodle by the kids at school because she loves to draw. When
her parents go away, Ellie is forced to go camping with her annoying
cousins and control freak aunt and uncle. Ellie captures all
the excruciating and funny details of a dreaded camping trip with
her crazy relatives by illustrating her sketchbook with her
observations. Due to her scathing descriptions of her
relatives it is imperative she keeps this sketchbook hidden at all
times. But one day her cousin Eric finds her sketchbook and
along with her aunt, they read it. Now her aunt wants to talk
to Ellie about her sketchbook. This is an easy read with
excellent drawings to compliment the writing. The book
includes; many interesting facts about animals and plants, easy to
follow instructions and diagrams on how to play the games they
played, jokes and humorous tales, rules for life in general and
valuable lessons about getting along with others. At the end
of this book there is an exciting bonus section that includes an
interview with the author, how to keep a sketch journal and tips for
drawing comics. This book is set out as a daily journal, so if
you liked the Wimpy kid series then this book could appeal to
you. If you do enjoy this book, then you will be happy to know
there are more Ellie McDoodle books to look forward to.
Michelle Thomson
When my name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
University of Queensland Press, 2013. ISBN 9780702249747.
Daily life for Sun Hee and her family becomes almost intolerable
when the Japanese invade Korea during the Second World War. Hungry
for resources to supply the war effort, the brutal new masters strip
the local population of food, possessions and even young men to fill
the ranks of their army. When the dictatorial regime becomes so
oppressive that the Korean citizens are ordered to change their
names and speak Japanese, tensions develop in Sun Hee's family as
they struggle to maintain their security and identity.
This story is told over several years from the perspective of Sun
Hee, an obedient and dutiful daughter with contributions from her
older brother Tae Yul who displays understandable anger and
resentment towards the new regime. The reader feels great sympathy
for this close knit and loving family which had been leading a
simple, wholesome and fulfilling existence before their country was
annexed.
Readers are led gently down a path which prompts the deep
consideration of what constitutes honourable and courageous
behaviour in opposition to tyrannical rule. The impotent rage of the
teenager is presented side by side with the undeniable courage of
the uncle who actively works in resistance and risks violent death
in doing so. The children's father shows a different sort of courage
however as he personally accepts humiliation but must also counsel
his family members to meekly accept ignominy and exploitation to
preserve their safety. Female characters such as Sun Hee, her mother
and neighbours demonstrate their bravery in different ways, defying
their rulers and choosing to protect the weak rather than submit to
bullying abusers of power.
Characters who comply with the Japanese are not presented as
traitors but as victims of circumstance who are perhaps less stoic
and robust as their peers who seethe against the regime. Readers
cannot help but ponder their own courage under such oppressive
circumstance and consider at what point the hunger of their children
(or themselves) would cause them to buckle.
There is a sense of hope which prevails throughout this story and
whilst the family endures devastating events which bed the narrative
down in reality, it does not degenerate into a traumatic tale of
familial or national ruin.
Rob Welsh
When we wake by Karen Healey
Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN9781742378084.
(Age 14+) Highly recommended. Science fiction. Dystopian fiction.
Set in the year 2127, 16 year old Tegan wakes up from a 100 year
sleep. Her last memories were so happy: she had discovered that the
boy she had wanted for so long wanted her too, and she was going to
a protest with her best friend. In this new world some of the things
that her friends had fought for have happened. Gay marriage is legal
and the world is greener, but Colonel Dawson seems to be
manipulating her for his own ends and a religious fundamentalist
group leader talks of an Ark Project that is using frozen bodies.
When Tegan wakes up in a new world 100 years after she had been
accidentally shot and cryogenically frozen, she has an immense
amount of information to process. However she is a feisty,
intelligent girl who analyses what is happening to her and is
prepared to take risks to find out what is going on. Once she begins
to recover from the shock of what has happened to her and her grief
over the realisation that all her family and friends have been dead
for a long time, she starts to take notice of the politics of the
new world that she has woken into.
I loved this science fiction story. The characters were really well
drawn and the scenario that Healey came up with is quite believable.
There is a lot of action to appeal to those who like adventure
stories and a growing romance between Tegan and Abdi will satisfy
those who have to have a love story. Interwoven between the story
are the songs of the Beatles - each chapter has a Beatle song title
and reference is made to John Lennon's Imagine.
However it is the strong themes of what is right, social justice,
racism and environment and the fact that Tegan has to remain true to
her principles that makes this such a good read. It would be an
ideal class set or literature circle book.
Pat Pledger
Hooray for bread by Allan Ahlberg
Ill. by Bruce Ingham. Walker Books, 2013.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Poetry. Bread. Bread
from its baking to the last crumb is shown in this homage to the
baker and his family. If you don't want to go out and buy some flour
and try your skills at the end, then I am sure many children will be
clamouring to try it for themselves. What an introduction to the
baking of bread in the classroom or at home, an introduction to the
place of bread in our lives, as well as a wonderful book to read
aloud, with its rhyming verses, tempting children to try to find a
rhyming word, predicting the outcome of the verse, or trying to
write a new verse for themselves. How ever it is used, it is a
delight and will cause legions of children to want to eat some
bread. So have some ready.
The opening pages will surprise some readers. The title and
publication pages do not come up at the start, but instead the first
four pages are devoted to the early riser, the baker, and his shop
is shown in all of its glory as he brings out the loaf of bread
which will take the central spot in the rest of the book. From the
bakery, the bread comes home, where the first slice is taken by the
baker, the second to the wife, and the next two are made into a
sandwich for his son, with a bit for his dog. We read of how each
slice has a place in the household, down to the little mouse which
takes the very last crumb.
The stunning pages present the scene of the baker and his family
with warmth, the watercolour illustrations giving a glowing quality
to each scene. The illustrations will be scanned by the reader,
looking for the bread which has a position on every page as well as
the small details included in the unfussy pages.
Fran Knight
Prisoner in Alcatraz by Theresa Breslin
Stoke, 2012. ISBN 9781781121245. 80p.
(Age 12+) Recommended. Easy Reads. Reluctant readers. Marty has been
sent to Alcatraz, the prison for the most hardened criminals. It is
located on an island and no one gets out of Alcatraz. When Marty, a
skinny boy, arrives there he is targeted by Cut-throat Carter and
Frank, two notorious prisoners. They need him to wriggle through a
drain and make an impression of the key that will help them get out
of the prison.
This is a very short novel that is aimed at struggling young readers
and reluctant readers. However it is so engrossing that I read it in
one sitting and I can imagine that anyone who picks it up will find
it fascinating. I have been to Alcatraz and Breslin manages to paint
a picture of what it was like to be imprisoned in those forbidding
grey buildings. The prisoners faced a dreadful life, many were
vicious and hardened and the dullness and conformity of their daily
routines led to many planning riots and escapes.
However it is the voice of young Marty that brings the story to
life. Although he has killed two people and tried to escape from
prison, the reader is able to imagine what sort of person he is. He
is easily led and his naivety is apparent and so as a reader I was
able to sympathise with him. Marty knows that what he has done is
wrong.
This book will have lots of appeal because of its themes of crime,
gangsters, a notorious prison, prison escapes and homelessness.
Pat Pledger
Wool by Hugh Howey
Century, 2013. ISBN 9781780891248.
This novel falls firmly into the dystopian fiction genre. It opens
with a killer sentence, if you'll pardon the pun: 'The children were
playing whilst Holston climbed to his death . . .'
The action takes place in an underground silo, buried beneath the
earth as a response to the above-ground having become completely
uninhabitable, a wasteland of swirling toxic gases and poisoned
earth. How this came about is only partially explained towards the
end of the novel. The silo has been in existence for many
generations, and is completely self-sufficient. Every generation or
so there is a minor or major uprising, as the inhabitants chafe
against the strong control and isolation of their existence. These
uprisings are put down pretty savagely by Security. There is an
interesting twist adolescents will enjoy, which is that cleaning is
the fatal consequence for committing the most punishable crime.
Teacher librarians will also be amused by the fact that I.T. are the
baddies.
The author was a professional yacht captain before becoming a
writer, and he is certainly to be commended for his initiative and
imagination in producing this novel. However, there are certain
serious faults which mitigate one's enjoyment, and which should have
been addressed before publication.
Firstly, the novel is far too long, clocking in at 535 pages. I feel
it would be much better had it been edited to about two-thirds of
its length. The establishing section, whilst interesting in itself,
is a bit disconnected from the remainder of the novel, and in fact
we don't meet the main protagonist until page 89.
There are occasional infelicitous or awkward sentences, e.g. 'It was
lunchtime, but neither of them was powerfully hungry', or 'He tried
to wrap his brain around it, while Alison sat in the cell . . .
seemingly pleased with her far worse status as a cleaner'. In fact
'powerfully' used as an adjective appears numerous times throughout
the book, e.g. 'she powerfully hoped so', and I can't help thinking
this is an awkward construction and should have been edited out.
Some of the plot reveals are quite unexpected and genuinely
surprising, although the denouement felt rushed and only partially
explained, as though the author realised the length had got out of
hand and was trying to wrap up the novel quickly. It actually ends
on a bit of a cliff-hanger, obviously a tempter to read the next
instalment in the story, which is introduced by a few pages at the
end. This is a throwback to my childhood days in the local cinema,
where the hero or heroine ends the instalment for that day in a very
perilous situation, and we had to wait until the following Saturday
afternoon to find out what happened. Nothing wrong with that!
Would I read the sequel? I was asked if I wanted to review it, and
whilst it would be interesting to follow the rest of the story, if
it is anywhere near the length of this novel I won't be doing it.
Peter J Helman
Granny Samurai, the Monkey King and I by John Chambers
Walker Books, 2013, 285pgs. pbk. ISBN 9781406340969.
(Age 8+). Samuel Johnson, an eccentric young aspiring writer is the
scribe for this strange comedy. This story involves a
mysterious old lady who lives next door to Samuel and goes by the
name of Granny Samurai. Her teeth are false as is one of her legs
and she uses a walking stick which conceals a double-action
repeater. Granny Samurai uses Samuel as bait to catch the Monkey
King, a giant monkey with red hair and golden teeth. Granny
Samurai is a lady of few words, who never really explains to Samuel
what's going on which keeps Samuel and the reader in the dark.
This is a good adventure for readers with vivid imaginations because
they can try and come up with their own interpretation of what is
happening. It is well written; funny in places and with good
illustrations throughout the book which add a lot to the reading
experience. Some interesting facts are presented throughout, which I
believe would make this book appealing to boys aged 8-12. This is
also a good book to read out loud to students.
Michelle Thomson
The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
Penguin, 2013. ISBN 9780141345819.
Highly recommended for older teens. Science Fiction is entering a
new golden era. During the 70s and 80s, with the rise of 'epic'
fantasy, sci fi novels lost favour while Feist, Donaldson and King
dominated. However, the last couple of years have seen an increase
in books with spaceships, aliens and galaxies. Mesh technological
gadgetry with dystopian ideals, and you have the makings of a reborn
War of the worlds.
Rick Yancey already has two action-packed series for young people,
with one of them The Monstrumologist, receiving critical
acclaim, so it's not surprising that The Fifth Wave hits a lot of
the right notes attempting to attract the reading attention of
teenagers. Its basic premise is very simple - an alien race scopes
out Earth and, seeing that it fits their needs, makes a calculated
endeavour to take over by hostile and underhanded means.
What Yancey does with this is to create a tense, taut narrative that
is full of action and snark. Cassie is the main character. We see
her point of view as she attempts to survive the almost complete
annihilation of the human race. Yancey doesn't follow a clear
chronological style. We are thrust into an unwinnable situation, and
quickly find out what Cassie is reduced to - kill or be killed. It's
powerful stuff. As the story progresses we are told virtually
nothing. We have to fill in the gaps between Cassie's solitary
here-and-now, and her flashbacks to the last days of her family
life.
Amidst all the action and the emotional family drama, there is also
much snarky dialogue. When Cassie is alone, it's an inner monologue
of snark and this ensures the narrative isn't totally pessimistic.
Admittedly a lot of the humour is dark; 'Then the door flew open and
Mr Faulks told us to head over to the gym. I thought that was really
smart. Get us all in one place so the aliens didn't have to waste
ammunition . . .' But it defines Cassie's character: She's feisty
and brave.
When the first section ends and we enter the head of another
character, I was pleasantly surprised. Multiple viewpoints allow the
narrative a broader canvas. Whereas Cassie's view is an individual
one, Zombie's is large scale. We see the fight back against the
invaders, we see politics and training. We see the consequences of
the aliens' actions on very small children. More powerful stuff.
Other viewpoints are offered, but to tell you more would spoil the
surprises that are best kept secret. I guess some of what we
discover is predictable and some of it a bit contrived, but that
doesn't stop this from being a cracking read. Although the main goal
of the book is resolved, there is more that can be, and will be
developed.
Highly recommended for older teens. Themes include survival, family
loyalty, trust and betrayal, romance and identity.
Trish Buckley
My Brother Simple by Marie-Aude Murail
Translated by Adriana Hunter. Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 9781408814710.
Highly recommended. I was unaware of this French author's pedigree
as a writer but will, after reading this fine book read more. A
household name in her native France, Marie-Aude Murail has with this
book achieved something great. By turns funny, sad and
heart-wrenching, this book never patronises or preaches. My
Brother Simple; follows the story of two brothers; seventeen
year old Kleber and his Twenty-two year old brother, Barnaby, the
'Simple' of the title. Simple has learning difficulties and Kleber
is struggling to look after him whilst completing his final year of
high school.
In an attempt to rescue Simple from the Institution he has been
living in since their Mother died, the two young men embark on a
heart-warming yet darkly comic adventure in share-housing amid the
tenements of Paris.
It is a thoroughly accomplished, poignant story of brotherly love
and family responsibility and coming of age. Lovers of Mark Haddon's
excellent Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will
find plenty here to entertain and ponder.
Highly recommended.
Stephen Bull
Me and Rory Macbeath by Richard Beasley
Hachette, 2013. ISBN 9780733630309.
(Age: Mid secondary - adult) Recommended. Me and Rory Macbeath
is set in 1970s Adelaide. Jake's mother, Harry, is a barrister, a
heavy drinker and an even heavier smoker. Jake is not good in a fist
fight but he has learned to fight with words after many late-night
parties where he hears Harry and her colleagues wrangle. Much of the
second half of the book takes place in court.
Jake has been friends with Robbie Duncan for a long time, but his
new friendship with Rory becomes more significant in the year he
turns thirteen. The three boys live in the same street, hang around
together and go on fishing trips with Robbie's policeman father. But
Rory's father is not the same kind of family man as Alec Duncan and
something happens that throws Rose Avenue off kilter.
Life is changing for Jake - ' I could see that it [childhood] had
ended, ended with what had happened that night . . . I wasn't a man
but I didn't feel like a boy either, and I wasn't ready for that
kind of change.'
The prologue of Me and Rory Macbeath is short but poignant
and it complements the ending. This novel could be used in older
secondary English classrooms, perhaps as a companion novel to Jasper
Jones or The Cartographer, which have similar
accessible styles and the theme of the search for identity by a boy
who is making sense of the world and his place in it. Rory Macbeath
has detailed courtroom and related scenes which would also be of
interest for those contemplating a career in law, especially the
bar.
Joy Lawn
Whizz pop Granny stop! by Tracy Corderoy
Ill. by Joe Berger. Nosy Crow, 2013. ISBN 9780 85763 130 5.
(Age: 4+) Warmly recommended. Picture book. Grandparents. Witches.
In easily red rhyming verses, the story of Granny unfolds. She is
unlike all other Grannies and although does some wonderful things
for the girl, she sometimes just does too much, putting her
granddaughter in precarious positions. At ballet school the girls
are all doing quite well, doing the graceful movements of a swan
until Granny gives her granddaughter some wings with which to fly
higher than the others. So when the girls are all invited to the
child's birthday party, the reader is agog as to what the woman will
present.
With wonderfully bright and cheerful illustrations, all who are
reading this story will look closely at the pictures, finding all
the things usually associated with witches and witchcraft, laughing
at all the things hidden on each page, and feeling pity for the
young girl who must put up with Grannie's attempts to help her.
The other book about this magical Granny, Hubble bubble, Granny
trouble is also just plain good fun, putting spells and frogs
on each page.
Fran Knight
The Terrible Trickster by Frances Watts
Ill. by Gregory Rogers. Sword Girl Book 5. Allen & Unwin
2013. ISBN 9781743313213. 126p. RRP $11.99.
Highly recommended 7-9 year olds. Themes: Medieval Times, Castle
Life, Ghosts. Frances Watt's Sword Girl series follow a
feisty young girl character Thomasina - Tommy who is Keeper of the
Blades at Flamant Castle. A trickster is making castle life a
nightmare.
There is sneezing powder in the knights' soup, in Mrs Moon's kitchen
the salt is changed for sugar and Sir Walter's sheets are covered in
itching powder. Tommy's inquisitive nature leads her into trouble
and the blame falls upon her. To clear her name she seeks help from
the castle animals, Lil the cat, even the pigeon and the crocodiddle
that lives in the moat. The swords she cleans and sharpens, also
communicate with Tommy and encourage her to find the trickster.
This is another exciting addition to this series; Frances Watts has
created a strong, engaging girl character that readers will come to
love. The cast of castle characters wonderfully add to the interest
and engagement as Tommy is involved with everyone from Sir Walter to
the laundry maids.
Gregory Rogers' pen and ink cartoons add excitement and a fun comic
element to the tricks played out in the story.
I highly recommend this story for independent readers from 7 years
of age. It would make an exciting Year 2-3 class novel - a great
example of a rich narrative story.
Rhyllis Bignell
The Pirate Company: On the Trail of the Golden Toucan by Susan Cason
Scholastic Australia, 2013. ISBN: 9781742990026. RRP:
$14.99 288p.
(Age: 9-11) Highly recommended. Themes: Pirates;
Adventure; Voyages and Travels. Tom Applecross's life is one of
misadventure, his father Josiah Applecross a famous explorer has
failed to return from his latest expedition. His avaricious
stepmother Evlynne casts him aside and he has to leave Port Pandora
to live with his Great-Aunt Audrey in Boston. Aboard the
Marie-Gallante his life undergoes a radical change. Fearsome pirates
swarm the ship flourishing an armoury of bayonets and pistols,
frightening the passengers and crew with their blood-curdling cries.
They ransack the ship and steal personal possessions, supplies and
the pink pearls.
Later that night Tom is swept overboard in a storm and is washed
ashore on a deserted island. By coincidence this is where the
pirates come ashore to replenish their buried treasure chest. Tom is
captured by Carrot and Mortlock who is meaner than a tubful of
piranhas, and they row him to their ship The Thimblerig. There he
awaits his fate at the hands of Captain Shearwater. Along the way
Captain Shearwater's niece Rosie assists Tom is his myriad of
adventures.
Each chapter is full of rich sensory descriptions, these
sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings of the pirates' life at
sea and their life ashore. Susan Cason has beautifully captured the
dramas and dilemmas, the twists and turns of Tom's journey to become
accepted as one of the pirate crew. The pirates' life is a sanitised
one, skimming over their darker pleasures, taverns, women and
mayhem.This is a wonderful fast-paced read; it would make a great
class novel for Years 4-6.
This novel is highly recommended for 9-11 year old confident
readers. Scholastic
teaching notes are available.
Rhyllis Bignell
The last elephant by Justin D'Ath
Puffin Books, 2013. ISBN 978 0 14 330726 6
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Dystopian. Animals. When Colt and his
mother, a veterinarian, go to the Lost World Circus to see an
elephant, the last elephant in the world, they must take action when
the animal is bitten by the dreaded ghost-rat, the reason for all
animals in the world dying. Colt has been bitten before and
survived, so has a special immunity and knows just what these
creatures can do. His empathy with the elephant sees his mother and
he follow the elephant when it is taken away by the Rat Cops, a
government organisation ostensibly there to help the elephant, but
everyone knows a trip with that particular crowd is a death
sentence.
An exciting start to a new series, D'Ath has developed a scenario
which is becoming all too clear as we read of endangered animals in
the wild being counted in their hundreds, or of the number of
animals being wiped out each day. The characters of Colt and his
friend, Birdy as well as his mother, are well drawn and sit well as
the focus of this highly dramatic and involving adventure series
with a message. Book Two and Three, The singing ape, and Secret
superhero are just released, and there are more in the
pipeline. So watch out for this exciting, environmentally conscious
series.
Fran Knight
Fabulous fishes by Susan Stockdale
Working Title Press, 2013. ISBN 978 1 921504 55 6
(Age: 3+) Warmly recommended. Picture book. Fish. Rhyming text.
First published in the USA by author illustrator, Stockdale, in
2008, this brightly coloured and informative book will have an
instant appeal to Australian students. With its 3 pages at the end
giving detail about each of the in the text, the verses within will
delight the younger reader. For parents and teachers reading with
the children, the detail offered at the end will enhance the
experience and make the children more aware of the variety of fish
found around the world.
Each page shows a different variety of fish with a refrain about the
fish passing by. A wide variety of fish is shown, from round fish,
spotted fish, fish that have their own light source and fish with
tails that curl around the seaweed. Each is shown in detail with
astute children recognising the backgrounds in which these
particular fish live.
The spiny fish on the cover is shown within its reef and colourful
seaweed environment and the detail at the end of the book describes
this fish as a Lionfish, which has sharp, venomous spines. When
threatened it tuns its back to its enemies using the spines as a
defense. Children will be delighted with this information and learn
that it is found in the western Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans.
The illustrations and information give about the spiny fish reflects
the detail given to all the fish included in this lovely most useful
book.
Fran Knight
