Random House Australia, 2009. ISBN
9781741662986.
(Age 12+) Recommended. Set in the near future, Carmichael
explores a society where every young person is online constantly, so
much so
that Dr Carter Renfrew believes that this generation is the next step
in evolution,
Homo electronicus. When Rick Lawrence is suddenly disconnected, his
iZod dead, he
discovers that he can no longer communicate with his friends, the Five,
who
have been together since Kindergarten; he can't play games or even get
his
homework. He feels like he doesn't exist
and begins to get depressed. Communications companies, always keen to
keep
ahead of trends, are pushing for research into the teenage brain but
how far is
Renfrew and his colleague Dr Howard Unwin
prepared to go in their quest for
knowledge and power? And what are they prepared to do to Rick to get
their
data?
Carmichael has created a credible world where teenagers can
cope only if they have their iZod and are constantly online. The main
characters are well developed and engrossing. I became involved with
Rick's wobbly
mental state and cheered Tal when he decided that enough was enough and
he and
the Five would go to his rescue. The
cyberbully Marianne was brilliantly described as was George the
topnotch
computer student.
There is plenty of action and suspense as Tal and his
friends launch a cyber attack on a corporate bully and the
evil researchers. It was fascinating to
follow them as they mounted a campaign to stop the computer
disconnections and
research.
Themes of cyberbullying, unethical scientific experimentation
and media manipulation weave through the story and would
create lots of discussion points if used
as a class novel.
I found this to be a riveting book which I couldn't put
down. I finished it in the early hours in one sitting. What more can
you ask of
a book than that it totally engrosses the reader?
Pat Pledger
The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Hyperion, 2009. ISBN 978-0786838196
(Age 14+) Recommended. Frankie Landau-Banks
suddenly finds
herself in the limelight at her exclusive boarding school. She manages
to
attract the attention of a popular boy Matthew and as his girlfriend
finds that
she has been elevated from obscurity and now belongs to the 'in' group.
However
she discovers that girls are not treated the same way as boys are in
the group
and in particular they are excluded from the secret society, the Loyal
Order of
the Basset Hounds. When she finds The
Disreputable History, the long lost manual of the club, she decides
that
she will grab some of the power that has previously belonged just to
the boys.
Using a fake e-mail address, she directs the activities of the club,
getting
the members to do audacious pranks until her plotting is discovered.
Frankie is a girl who is determined not to be
ignored, and
refuses to be relegated into doing
'female' activities. She thinks that coming up with wonderful practical
jokes
and getting the old boys' club to carry out her instructions will give
her
power and gain respect, but finds to her dismay that discrimination is
deeply
embedded in society. Whilst determined to prove herself an equal with
the boys,
she doesn't realise that she herself is fitting into a mould by waiting
around
for Matthew when he dumps her for Basset meetings, and still hoping
that after
everything goes haywire, he will be there for her.
A feature of the book that stood out for me was
the humorous
wordplays and the literary allusions to Wodehouse. Frankie had lots of
fun
making up words and meanings and this added a richness to the story
telling and
gave insights into Frankie's intelligence and personality.
Lockhart explores feminism, discrimination, peer
pressure
and the networks that give power in this complex, funny and witty
exploration
of one girl's attempt to be in the right group with the right cute
boyfriend.
Pat Pledger
Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Simon Pulse, 2005. ISBN 0689
865384
Recommended. Tally is an Ugly. She is almost 16 and will be transformed
on her
birthday into a Pretty. She will leave the dorm where she has lived for
the past four years and join the other Pretties in New Pretty Town. Her
friends have already had the operation; she is the last of her year in
her dorm, so she sneaks over the river to check out Pretty Town. During
one of thee clandestine outings she meets another Ugly, Shay, who
changes her life unexpectedly.
Shay teaches Tally to hoverboard, talks of a mysterious boy called
David and of the Smokies, a group of people who have rejected the
Pretty way of life and live somewhere in the wilderness. Shay's
operation draws near and Tally finds she has no intention of being a
Pretty and is going to join the Smokies. Tally desperately wants to be
Pretty and has no intention of following Shay, but Shay has left her
some cryptic clues on how to find the Smokey settlement.
Just as Tally's big day arrives so do some very strange pretties, Tally
has never seen their type before, and they take her to a place she
never knew existed. She is taken to Dr. Cable who seems to be the head
of the Special Circumstances Unit, a group she had believed was pure
fable. Dr. Cable knows all about Tally and Shay, but needs to know
where the Smokey settlement is, so she blackmails Tally into following
Shay and triggering a location device. Only if she does this will she
be made a Pretty. Tally is left with no choice.
Tally's interaction with the Smokies, particularly David, leads her to
change her mind. She finds out exactly what the operation does to your
brain when you are made a Pretty and decides to destroy the location
device. Her actions however precipitate the destruction of the
settlement and the rounding up of all the inhabitants.
Westerfeld constructs a very different future where society is
controlled and manipulated. The Pretties have every comfort. Their life
is easy they want for nothing, they are selfish and happy. But
are they free?
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, Simon Pulse, 2005.ISBN 978 689
86539 8
Tally goes back into the city to try out a drug that has been made to
reverse the brain lesions that keep the Pretties contented. She and her
new friend Zane come to lead a group within the Pretties called the
Crims. They like to take their rather limited and safe lives and
perform outrageous acts to make themselves more 'bubbly'.
Tally and Zane are eventually contacted by the Smokies and given the
two pills they need to reverse the effects of the operation. However,
Zane and Tally have become so close that they decide to share the cure,
and take one each. Zane's reaction to the medication is very different
from Tally's. He begins to get terribly debilitating headaches and
bouts of physical weakness. Tally decides they've got to go back to the
Smokies and David's mother in particular to see what has gone wrong.
They devise a daring escape plan, but in the course of events Tally
ends up separated from the rest of the group and a long way from the
rusty ruins. When trying to find her way back she discovers a group of
primitive humans surviving in the wild. It's not until she enlists the
help of their shaman that the reality of the situation becomes clear.
When she reaches the rest of the group, she finds Zane in poor
condition, but realises that Zane has also had a tracker devise
implanted in a tooth and the Special Circumstances Unit, with her old
friend Shay in charge, take them back to the city. The second in the
series, Pretties follows Uglies, in this gripping trio
of books about a
dystopian society.
Specials by Scott Westerfeld, Simon Pulse, 2006. ISBN
9781416939948
Tally awakes to find that she has been changed. She has joined Shay as
one of the special, Specials. She is a Cutter. She has heightened
senses, strength, intelligence and a greater acceptance of her
superiority, even over other Specials.
One night while on patrol to follow and apprehend a group of Smokies
that have been supplying the new cure for Pretties, the Cutters
discover that things have changed. The Smokies are no longer the
peaceful submissive group they once were. They've been able to get hold
of sneak suits and hover boards as well as infra-red and bows and
arrows. The tables are turned on Tally and Shay the Smokies now have
captured some of the Cutters and are using stolen high tech hoverboards
to move quickly.
Tally tracks the group in the hope of finding their new settlement.
There is a surprise in store. The settlement is nothing like the one
she and Shay were briefly part of, it's another city! Even in a place
where differences are tolerated Tally still stands out and in a place
where weapons are not tolerated Tally herself is considered a lethal
weapon and must be neutralised.
Shay comes to her rescue, but there are more weird things happening. An
armada of hovercraft are waging war on the city. Such a thing hasn't
happened in 600 years! Tally needs to get back to the city and stop the
actions that are of her own making.
This is an exciting trilogy that explores a future society that has
many links to our own. The environment, freedom, selfishness, power and
its use as well as equality are all dealt with in an accessible well
crafted way.
Mark Knight
Editor's comment: Extras is the last in the series and is equally as
good.
Letters to Leonardo by Dee White
Walker Books, 2009. ISBN 9781921150883.
This is a disturbing novel on many fronts.
Matt's Mother, whom he believes to be dead,
sends a birthday card on his fifteenth birthday. Matt
is shocked and angry with his father for
lying to him and he sets out to find his mother, whom he has not seen
since he
was five. Mum is bi polar and when on Lithium seems
normal,
but she
believes she
can't paint when on drugs and life becomes strange and unmanageable for
Matt. The trauma is relieved by the
wry comments of his best friend Troy and Matt's letters to
Leonardo da Vinci break the flow of the narrative.
The book shows only one extreme end of the spectrum of bi polar and a
horrifying
and
tragic
one at that! I would be keen to know
what psychologists would think appropriate in the area of mental
illness for
this age group. It's a frightening one-sided view, especially
as this may be the reader's introduction to the illness.
It is neither a healthy approach or a
constructive discussion of an illness society is trying to discuss
openly and
helpfully. An adult, but passionate and
beautifully written memoir about manic depression is An Unquiet Mind
by
Kay
Redfield Jamison. A wonderfully uplifting read on the topic.
Sue Nosworthy
Dig 3ft NW:The Legendary Journey of Burke and Wills by Murgatroyd, Sarah
That Burke and Wills ever became a household phrase is beyond me after reading to this extraordinary story. Murgatroyd details in her book the appalling beginnings of this exploration, riddled with political machinations, jealousy of South Australia, patronage and jobs for the boys. Burke, by anyone's standards, one of the most incompetent of the applicants for the position of leader of this prestigious expedition, had no idea, no surveying ability, could not read a compass, and was well known in the district where he served as a police officer, for getting lost on his way home from the pub. Leaving Melbourne took hours, when on the first day, they travelled 11 miles, camping at Essendon, close enough for Burke to return to his mistress in Melbourne for the night. By the time the caravan of horse, camels, 20 tons of equipment, and men, reached Medindie, they had taken nearly 60 days, had lost much equipment, paid out much of the money and no longer given credit at the small store, hired and fired a dozen or so men, and divided their party. The incompetence is overwhelming. Reading this story makes the reader gasp in amazement, as stupidity upon stupidity is piled high. This is an entertaining and very informative book. That this expedition ever got off the ground is staggering, and the mistakes made from selecting the participants to deciding what they would carry, along with ludicrous decisions made reflecting the jealousy between SA and Victoria makes the readers shake their heads in bewilderment. A great read for people of all ages. Fran Knight
The dead and the gone
Pfeffer, Susan. Marion Lloyd Books, 2008. ISBN 9781407106229.
(Age 13+) A companion novel to Life as we knew it, this novel
can be
read as a stand-alone. A meteor has struck the moon, changing the
earth's
climate drastically and bringing disastrous tsunamis and flooding.This
is the compelling story of what it is
like to
survive in New York where the tube stations have been flooded, shops
looted and
the
Yankee Stadium filled with the bodies of the dead. Alex Morales and his
two
young sisters, Briana and Julie, find themselves alone in the city.
Their
father had been in Puerto Rico for a funeral when the disaster struck
and their
mother called away to help in a hospital. Nothing has been heard of
either of
them since the first early reports of the tragedy. Alex, who
has
come from a strict Catholic family, is left to look after his two
sisters
without the support of any adults.
While the protagonists face many of the same
disasters,
intermittent electricity, food shortages, grey dust and a flu epidemic,
the
urban setting brings a different set of problems to be faced. The
Church gives some spiritual and
physical
support like lunch at the schools, but it is Alex who takes on the
difficult
role of head of the household and keeps his family together.
This is a survival story, but highlights the
plight of the
poor. Although Alex is very bright and a leader at school, it is the
boys who
have rich and influential families who are able to leave the devastated
city.
Alex and Julie queue up for food in dangerous lines, the girls can't
walk
around unprotected and it is difficult to see how they can survive.
Alex faces
the moral dilemma of stealing from the dead to keep the family alive.
The
reader sees the young siblings grow from self-centred adolescents to
brave and
caring young adults. Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of the
story
is the author's exploration of faith in testing times.
This is a compelling read. While it didn't grab me
as
powerfully as Life as we knew it,
probably because I was prepared for the effects of the disaster, the
themes that are explored,
including religion, morality, class structure and family, are certainly
thought
provoking.
Pat Pledger ,
Grandpa baby by Margaret Wild.
Ill. by Deborah
Niland.
Penguin/Viking, 2009. ISBN 9780670071746.
(Age 2-7) Recommended. Grandpa looks after Georgie
while Mum
and dad are working. They make sand
castles,
read stories and plant flowers. One morning Georgie decides that she is
going
to be big and that Grandpa can be the baby. Off to the park they go,
with
Georgie holding onto Grandpa Baby's hand and giving him instructions on
how to
play.
This is a classic 'switch' story where the child gets to imagine what
it is
like to be in an adult's shoes. Georgie makes a great adult, looking
after
Grandpa Baby when he hurts himself and refusing to allow him to swing
too high.
She works out strategies to get him home
when he is tired and puts him to bed for a rest. She also has a
wonderful
imagination and decides on a fabulous dress-up game for the following
day.
Delightfully illustrated by Deborah Niland, the little chimps come
alive in
gorgeous colour. Their facial expressions are really expressive of
their moods.
Observant readers will notice what happens to the dummy, and will be
engrossed
in the little domestic details that illustrate the story.
I loved this book. It left me with a smile on my face and would make a
lovely
read aloud with pictures for young children to gloat over.
Pat Pledger
Burn this book edited by Toni Morrison
Harpercollins, 2009.
ISBN 9780061774003.
(Age 15+) Burn this book is a
collection of essays edited by Toni Morrison on the power of writers
and
writing. The collection has been sponsored by the PEN association, an
organization that since 1921 has worked for the rights of all to
communicate
freely. The essays are by well known authors including John Updike,
Toni
Morrison herself, Nadine Gordimer, Orphan Pamuk, Paul Auster and
others, and
deal with the reasons for writing as well as the transformative power
of the
written word. The writers' attitudes are at times influenced by their
culture;
those from the 'free' world, John Updike, for example, tend to be more
skeptical about the influence of writers than those living under
repressive
regimes. All generally agree that good writing is not overtly
political; it
cannot preach or proselytize, support or undermine a government.
Rather, it is
a testament to the strength and dignity of the individual, the power of
the
imagination and the importance of freedom of expression. A strength of
this
collection is the variety of responses to the topic; Updike's essay
explores
his own methodology, David Grossman from Israel writes of the power of
his
writing to heal personal grief, Francine Prose, an American academic
and
critic, writes an entertaining piece about connections and 'unknowing',
and Ed
Park uses the banning of I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier as
the
springboard
for a creative riff on censorship. The collection would be suitable for
senior
students.
Jenny Hamilton
Oliver Nocturne: Blood Ties by Kevin Emerson
Sitting in the principal's office with his parents on the last day of school, Oliver is not pleased to hear his teacher give him a load of extra maths work to do over the summer holidays before he goes to high school in the fall. They are all off to Morosia, the underworld vampire city where some of his relatives live, and he cannot get there soon enough. Meanwhile he visits his friends, Dean and Emalie, and they are on a quest to find Selene, who may be able to help them find out about Emalie's mother, who has disappeared. A trawl through all the spirits and wraiths surrounding vampire lore, Oliver Nocturne is a series about Oliver and his life as a vampire, and what is expected of him in the future. Bringing in all the stories at once is a bit overwhelming, and the number of characters sometimes confusing, and some of the stories within the novel are quite scary. I was often reminded of The Munsters (the 70's TV show) as the story shows the vampires at home, going about their daily routines, and there will be an audience for this series with the predominance of vampires stories being published of late, but I think there are better books around to spend the limited library budget on. Fran Knight
Short Stuff by Mark Stevens
Louis
Braille Audio, 2009.ISBN 978174212.
4CD's, lasting 4 hours
Working
Title Press, 2008
Mark
Stevens' short stories are brought hilariously to life by the clear,
funny
voice of Don Bridges. I loved the coach in the first story, with
reminiscences
of Michael Caine coming through. The reader gives each story a
different ring
through making it memorable and inviting the listeners to stay for the
whole
CD.
In
the first story, Henson longs to be a professional soccer player, and
his time
with the local soccer team is just his training time on the way to
fulfilling
his dream. Often his coach has to interrupt his dreams about his
prowess. But
on the Saturday that his team is about to win the local cup, his team
taking on
the Carver Hill mob, he wakes to a cloud hanging over his house. A few
metres
above his head, the cloud has a message and he feels impelled to ring
the phone
number emblazoned thereon. The Indian accent on the end of the phone
line tells
him to meet him outside his front door, and when he opens it he finds
Finnias.
From then on the laughs come thick and fast, as Fininas calls another
person to
log the incident with Geraldine the cloud.
Don
Bridges' wonderful voice takes on the young Henson, the amiable
Finnias, Amos
the coach, various friends and family, beautifully. He modulates his
voice to
enable all listeners to hear the difference between the different
people and
the passages linking the conversations. His voice contains an undertone
of
humour which suits the style of the text, and his clear voice allows
the
listener to hear every word. As a filler in a classroom, as a start to
the day,
a lunchtime activity, or to borrow and take home to listen, for parents
taking
the kids on a trip, whatever the need, audio books like this are
invaluable.
Fran
Knight
A child's garden by Michael Foreman
Walker Books,
2009.
ISBN 9781406312072.
(All ages) Highly recommended. Michael
Foreman has written another stunning book with a message of peace that
tugs at
the heart strings. A little boy lives in a barren, war torn area behind
a tall
barbed wire fence. One day he finds a tiny green shoot and waters and
nurtures
it until it grows to cover the fence. Birds and butterflies find it and
the
area becomes a place of beauty and a playground for children. Then one
day the
soldiers come along and destroy it. The boy is heartbroken, but hope
arrives
when a little girl on the other side of the fence finds some shoots and
waters
them.
Foreman's illustrations bring to life the bleakness of war. With black
and
white pencil drawings he shows the desolate landscape with its ruins,
buildings
piled high with rubble and ragged shelters. As the boy's little shoot
grows, he
adds colour to show the beauty of plants and the birds and butterflies
that
collect there and the happiness of the children who have a lovely
garden to
play in. When the shoots grow on both sides of the fence and the
landscape is
transformed, the illustrations are all in colour to show the sharing of
peace.
Foreman's message is overt. He gives the reader hope that the seeds of
peace
can be planted deep and will one day flourish in a place where there is
no
fence and people can live peacefully together. This would be a
wonderful book
to use with all age groups to look at the effects of war and oppression
and how
resilient the human spirit can be.
Pat Pledger
Siggy and Amber by Doug MacLeod
Puffin, 2009. ISBN 9780143304388.
(Age 13+) Recommended. Siggy wants to meet
a girl who he hopes will
be 'smart and amazing.And funny and
probably not blonde.' At a dance at the Samsara Youth Club, he meets
Amber, who
may be the girl of his dreams. However he vomits on her
shoes and
he decides that the only way he might get to know her after that fiasco
is to
take her ghost hunting. He has seen something strange at Tallis Point
and wants
to investigate.
The book is peopled with a wide array of unusual characters all of whom
add to
the fun of the story. There is Siggy's friend Fergus who leads a double
life as
Highland Dancing Man, a sister who makes sculptures out of bits of
shrapnel, a
shop owner who sells vampire costumes and finally Amber who lives with
her two
mums and who has goldfish. Add to that witty dialogue that is
side-splitting
and you have a book that is sure to appeal to everyone who picks it up.
If you are after a humorous book for your library then this would make
a
delightful addition. It would also be a great read aloud and would be
sure to
engage reluctant readers.
Pat Pledger
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Pocket Books, 2009. ISBN 9781847391599.
(Age 15+) Recommended. One of the best mystery thrillers that I have
read in a
long time, Child 44 took me on a roller coaster ride to
Stalinist
Russia, where
children are being killed and mutilated by a serial killer. The Soviet
system
refuses to acknowledge that there is such a crime in its perfect
society, and
the deaths are blamed on deviants, homosexuals or intellectually
disabled people.
One detective, Leo Demidov, called to cover up the death of one of his
men's
children, gradually begins to realise that there is more than one child
brutally killed and decides to atone for all the innocent victims that
he
himself has arrested. This leads to demotion and exile
from
his home.
What makes this story so engrossing is the combination of a good murder
mystery
with an in depth look at what it was like to live in Stalinist Russia.
The
emotions of the main characters play a leading role and Leo's feelings
about
his work in the secret police and his marriage are explored in detail.
Fear
pervades the society and Smith tackles the impact that fear has. Child
44 was on
the Man
Booker Prize long list, deservedly so - this is a well written, well
researched
and riveting thriller not to be missed.
Pat Pledger
Don't breathe a word by Marianne Musgrove
Random
House, 2009.
(Age 8-12) Recommended. Mackenzie and Tahlia have been bought up by
their
grandfather
- Pirate (because of his sunken chest!) however one day they arrive
home from
school to find that grandpa had had a fall and couldn't remember
entirely how
he came to be where they found him. Realising the seriousness of what
has
occurred but also fearing for a change in their circumstances if they
allow
people to find out about grandpa they agree to keep grandpa's fall a
secret
between themselves. This would be fine if Tahlia didn't continually
have to go
off to dancing class and Mackenzie wasn't left alone to cope with
grandpa's
strange behaviour. Eventually grandpa puts himself in extreme danger
and the
girls have no choice but to allow grandpa the help he needs.
This
is an excellent novel dealing with dementia and the effect it has on
those
involved. It sensitively portrays the deterioration of the sufferer and
the
increasing concerns of those around them.
This
is the third novel written by South Australian author Marianne
Musgrove, with
The Worry Tree and Lucy the Good
preceding this title.
Tracy
Glover
All we know of love by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Walker
Books, 2009. ISBN 9781406315516.
(Ages 14+) Recommended. By observing the quotes at the
beginning of each
chapter,
the reader hears Natalie's story whilst enjoying the plethora of ideas
that
famous people have about the different types of love and the emotional
responses individuals have to 'love'.
Natalie's Mother has been gone for four years, four months and
fifteen
days and Natalie blames herself. Her Mother was in mid sentence and
Natalie
wanted chocolate cookies not the oatmeal cookies and wasn't really
listening.
Natalie is on her way from
Stamford to Florida by bus to ask her Mother about her unfinished
sentence
involving love. She encounters a variety
of people who influence her and share their views on 'love'. Natalie
learns to hear other people's views
on life and love and through the stories they tell. She is learning to
believe in herself and as
she says on page 192: 'I have to forgive myself for something I had
nothing to
do with. And second, I have to pay
attention to the here and now.'
Natalie
is beginning to accept what she can't change and enjoy the people
who
love her. She's growing up.
Sue Nosworthy
