Hachette (Lothian Children's Books) ISBN 9780734410702
(Age 3-7) A reissue of the 1987 book and sporting a new cover, Crusher
is coming! is a delight to read. Peter clears up his room of soft toys,
instructs his mother not to kiss him and refuses to have his baby
sister anywhere near because Crusher, the football hero, is coming to
his house. Crusher arrives and although Peter tries to entice him with
videos and comics and a tree house, Crusher is happy to have a tea
party with his little sister and to buy her an icecream.
This is a light hearted story with humourous pictures that tells a
simple tale about childhood fears. Peter is afraid that Crusher will be
too macho to enjoy his family, but he turns out to be the exact
opposite, preferring to play with Claire than do the boy's stuff that
Peter has planned.
The illustrations are delightful. Crusher has a bandaid on his head and
the family dog is a disaster. Children will enjoy the subtle humour of
both the text and the illustrations. I especially enjoyed Peter's
mother calling Crusher Basher and Cruncher.
Pat Pledger
Finding Darcy by Sue Lawson
Black Dog Books, 2008. ISBN 978174203023 4
$18.95. 278p
(Age 11+) A different slant on the war theme, Finding Darcy
shows a
year 10 girl, at first very resistant to the idea of researching
information about her long dead great grandfather, and then gradually
becoming more intrigued, ever mindful of the cold reception received
from her grandmothers when approaching that subject.
Sent to live with her grandmother and great grandmother, when her mum
goes off to Melbourne to complete a 3 month retraining course, Darcy is
at first horrified at having to live with these two old women, set in
their ways and impervious to any modern ideas. Darcy is reprimanded at
every opportunity, told when to shower, how to eat, given a list of
chores to do around the house, and restricted in her use of the phone.
Her privacy is invaded, friends restricted, and her life becomes
dreary. She is alienated from all those things which teens accept today
as must haves, a mobile phone, computer, freedom to come and go as she
wishes, friends who drop in, and a loving family to be with. She snaps
at her friends, becomes more sensitive to the teasing of a small group
within her class, and all the while rebels at any attempt by her
teacher to help her with her project.
Sue Lawson captures the voice of this young woman perfectly, with her
snide remarks, arguments with her mother, relationship with others at
her school and particularly her changing view of the two women she is
living with. All is most credible. At first I sighed at reading another
angsty story told in the first person, but it took only a few pages to
become deeply absorbed with Darcy's plight. This book is a wonderfully
inventive tale of a little known campaign in our Pacific war history,
and the means by which it is told is sure to entice middle school
readers. And along the way the story underlines research techniques and
information sharing which students now must be capable of doing to a
high level to be successful.
Fran Knight
Noodle Pie by Ruth Starke
[Sound recording] Read by Stephen
Pease. Louis Braille Audio
, 2008. (4 hrs 30 mins)
ISBN 97817425120348 4 CDs $52
Ruth Starke's brilliantly evocative story of a returning Vietnamese
refugee, is brought satisfyingly to life in this wonderful recording by
Louis Braille Audio.
On the plane to Hanoi, Andy hears some of the stories about his
father's escape from Vietnam many years before. Looking out to sea, he
cannot understand how his father was able to do something so scary, and
he realises how worried his father is as they get closer to the land of
his birth.
Subtly Starke underscores the differences between Australia and
Vietnam, as she reveals through the simplest things, the strangeness of
the country to which Andy is going. From the instructions on the plane,
to the stories Andy's father tells him, to the jewelry his father has
bought, the first chapters reveal the disparity between the lifestyles
of the two sections of the family. Through Andy's eyes the reader
sees Vietnam from an Australian point of view, and as his eyes become
more attuned to things Vietnamese, the reader too, is drawn into the
rituals and customs of this very different way of life.
Andy makes many mistakes. He sees the family restaurant through the
Australian stress on hygiene and health rules, he sees the family's
treatment of his cousin Minh, as despotic and cruel, he sees the
traffic as rule-less and chaotic, but he learns anew that things cannot
be taken at face value. Taken aback at the new suit his father wears,
his expensive watch and talk of his business, Andy cannot reconcile the
view the family has of his father and what he really is. He learns too,
that there is more to his father's story than the one he has been told
in the past.
Stephen Pease's reading is just right. He is able to replicate the
accent of a Vietnamese person speaking English or VietEnglish or
Vietnamese. The father's accent is very clear, and his fear on the
plane, palpable. Pease differentiates seamlessly between each of the
members of the Vietnamese family, from the grandmother, to the aunt and
uncle, cousins and children. Complementing this appealing multicultural
story, the reading is evocative of the nuances of life and living for
this sprawling family, and their joy at meeting again. The recording
recreates the story admirably, adding a subtle knowledge of the words
and phrases which I skimmed over on reading, but were made clear from
the audio version.
Fran Knight
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
(Age 9+) Strongly recommended. This has all the ingredients of a thumping good read; believable characters that you really care about, a mystery that seems impossible but true, a fast moving plot and a satisfying ending. The London Eye Mystery has been short-listed for the Stockport Book Award and has already earned a devoted following among nine to eleven year olds at my school.
It's one of those books that appeals on many levels. The storyline, a boy who goes missing from a pod on the London Eye, is all the more exciting because it seems so impossible. The two main characters, feisty Kat and her brother Ted, are two of the most believable, strong and likeable characters I've had the pleasure to meet.
The adults in this story are less important and it is the children that ultimately solve the mystery and save the day. It is all so believable that as the plot rattles along we are immersed in a race against time to find and rescue Kat and Ted's missing cousin, Salim.
It is the characterisation of Ted and Kat that really lifts this book away from more mundane adventure mysteries. Ted is autistic which, as he explains, means the wiring in his brain works differently. As a result expressions such as 'you could cut the atmosphere with a knife' are particularly challenging. Body language is something else he struggles to interpret, and we are given an insight into a world where the intricacies of relationships that most people take for granted have to be learned and practised. However, it is the wonders of Ted's logical brain and superior reasoning that enable him and Kat to solve the mystery of Salim's disappearance.
This is a marvellous story that lends itself to being read aloud. With such strong male and female characters it should prove a big hit for both boys and girls. Claire Larson
The beginner's guide to bears by Gillian Shields and Sebastien Braun
Orchard Books, 2008. ISBN 9781846161032
(Age 3-5) Who can resist a teddy bear? This charming story gives the
reader lots of information about bears. It describes what to look for
in a bear ('soft, gentle, cuddly and warm'), what bears like, (playing
games, toys and making lots of noise) and what they want when they
don't feel well. At bedtime bears need a 'cuddly toy and a special
blanket'. The book concludes with a mirror that the reader can look
into with a favourite bear.
Beautifully illustrated by Sebastien Braun, this story has pictures of
all sorts of bears, each with delightful individual faces and playing
everyday games.
Beginning and rounding off the story is an appealing little poem:
You need a bear
And a bear needs you.
You and a bear
Together makes two.
The gentle rhymes and short text make this story a good read aloud for
the young child and will help an older child predict the story.
Pat Pledger
The Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman
HarperCollins, 2008. ISBN 9780732288006 $32.99 434 p.
(Ages 12 - Adult) When Eon struggles to rise to his feet after being
knocked down again by Swordmaster Ranne, every veteran reader knows
that here is a boy who will survive against all odds, overcoming his
disabled leg and small stature, to compete in the ceremony to find the
new apprentice to Dragoneye. But all is not as it seems, and the
Swordmaster mocks Eon, and many others in the company training the 12
boys for tomorrow's ceremony seem to know already who will win.
And it is not Eon. The hated Lord Ido's presence seems palpable, and
his scheme for the new apprentice seem to be holding sway, until the
Mirror Dragon, not seen for five hundred years, picks Eon out as the
trainee.
From then on, Eon's path is set, his master and his friends from his
master's household reap the rewards of training him, and are elevated
with Eon into the Palace. But they must all be wary, Lord Ido is not
one to be crossed, and there is another concern, Eon must never be seen
by inquisitive eyes, lest he be revealed for what he really is, a young
woman, one for whom the honour of being an apprentice can never be.
Being a Dragoneye means that the person can call the dragon to him, but
Eon is gutted by his inability to do so, beginning to rely on drugs to
help him. Lord Ido realises this and is able to force Eon to do his
will, amassing all the power he needs to take over when the sickly
emperor dies. The contest between Ido and Eon is stunning, as Ido takes
the ascendancy because of his knowledge of Eon's sexuality, and his
scheming controls all others around him. The tension is crushing as
events happen which add to the air of control and counter control. All
the while the reader swings with the shifts in allegiance, absorbs the
twists, ponders what will happen next.
This is a society based on Ancient China and Japan, but brimming with
fabulous overtones of Dragon Mythology, with dragon lore that is
original and brilliant, giving the reader a new vocabulary to absorb
and images to grasp. The background is dazzlingly described, the food -
edible; the costumes within a finger's grasp; the tension within the
palace breathes down the reader's neck. And as you read, you will find
yourself looking over your shoulder to watch out for who may be
listening in or watching you. As with all good fantasies, the climax is
frantic and bloody, leaving the reader salivating for more.
A luminous fantasy novel which lives on, The Two Pearls of Wisdom
is to
be followed with a second book, Necklace of the Gods. I can't
wait.
Fran Knight
Orphans of the Queen by Ruth Starke
[sound recording] Read by Caroline
Lee. Louis Braille Audio,
2004 (6 hrs 15 mins)
ISBN 07320291395 CDs $68
Ruth Starke is well known for her evocative stories about migrants
coming to Australia. Each of her novels tells the story of one family
and its struggle to find a place in a new city and country. In her
recent Noodle Pie, we read of Andy and his Vietnamese father
returning
for the first time to Hanoi to meet the family. In the award winning
NIPS XI, we see a group of students from a variety of
backgrounds
trying to play cricket in an attempt to be Australian, and in this
book, we read of a family of two children, brought to Australia from
England, where they lived in an orphanage. Separated at Perth, Hilly
arrives at the orphanage in Adelaide, where she is treated poorly, and
in an attempt to reunite her little family, writes to the Queen, about
to visit Australia in 1954, for help.
Based on the stories about Adelaide's Goodwood Orphanage, where life
was often harsh and allied to the little known tales of orphan children
sent out to Commonwealth countries as immigrants, Starke's story is
monumental in exposing the lives of some of these children, and their
treatment once they arrived in Australia. Their powerlessness is
overwhelming, as Hilly tries to find her brother, Egg, in Perth.
Students will love the story of the children on the ship coming to
Australia, as it goes through the Mediterranean Sea, then through the
Suez Canal, and across the Indian Ocean, and they have a carefree time
before they arrive. But this soon changes.
This reading by Caroline Lee is wonderful. She speaks calmly and
deliberately, portraying the two main characters, Hilly and Egg with a
different nuance in her voice, which delineates them readily for the
reader. The many accents of the children and the passengers on the ship
are exceptionally well realised, and Lee's voice readily evokes an
image of the character in the mind of the listener. It is an emotive
reading which will enthuse its listeners.
Fran Knight
Traitor! by John Pilkington
Usborne, 2008. ISBN9780746087114
Ben is prenticed to John Symes, manager of Lord Bonner's players whose
usual stage is at Shoreditch, north of London. They have moved to the
Rose, south of London, but have fallen out with the company which plays
at the Swan, and so have come in for some petty thievery and a small
fire. But now, a vagabond has landed on their stage and run their lead
actor through. Things are looking grim, and with their new play about
to be acted before Elizabeth 1, and costumes missing, Ben has an idea
about how to flush out the traitor.
The background of this racy novel teaches the reader much about the
sights and sounds of Elizabethan London, as well as reflecting the
different ideas about crime and punishment. Ben, a boy actor, is used
to dressing up as a female for his roles on stage, and so dressing up
to find the culprit is second nature to him. The first in a series
called Elizabethan mysteries, this one reflects the times succinctly
and is an action packed story designed to thrill the readers.
Fran Knight
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
Penguin 2008.
(Age 16+)
Adults reading this book may recall the child prodigy Ruth Lawrence
beginning her Oxford degree at the tender age of thirteen. In this
novel Rumi is coached by her father to fulfil a similar ambition. It's
hard to believe this is a first novel and I'm not surprised it was
long-listed for the Man Booker Award. The complex, brooding story is
both heart wrenching and incredibly funny, demonstrating Lalwani's deep
understanding of the human psyche. Nearly every emotion in the book is
concealed; love, anger, hate, need. The incident where Rumi asks her
Mother for a bra is quite savage, full of Shreene's suppressed rage and
Rumi's anguish.
We first meet Rumi aged five when numbers are like beads; to be
threaded into countless different patterns. Numbers are clearly
friends, providing succour and support, but by the time she starts
university at the age of 15, Rumi is a product of her parents' strict
and merciless control and some kind of break down is inevitable.
Isolation is a recurring theme. Rumi's mother, Shreene takes a thermos
flask to work so she can avoid the other women in the staff kitchen.
Rumi is not permitted to invite friends home, and spends a soul
destroying two hours after school each day studying alone in the public
library.
Rumi's young life is an endless drudgery of study. Chess is one of the
few games approved of by her father. Even a simple trip into town is
turned into an educational minefield when Mahesh questions his daughter
on everything from the German exchange rate to the Indian economy. As
Rumi says, why can't they just have fun?
Her parents are not monsters, Mahesh and Shreene love their daughter
and want what's best for her, but in such a misguided and brutal way
you long to shake some sense into them. Mahesh, serious minded and
diligent, manages to imbue a solo visit to Disney Land with such sombre
gravity that I wanted to laugh and weep in equal measures.
There is so much to think about and discuss that I'm sure Gifted will
be a must for many book clubs and it should certainly be required
reading for AS and A Level literature students. Lalwani's next novel is
due for release in 2009. I can't wait.
Claire Larson
Screw Loose by Chris Wheat
Allen and Unwin, 2008. ISBN 978174175495 7 326p. (Ages 12+) Angelo fields a phone call from the assistant manager of the Hobart Cockies, the AFL team he has been playing with, about his photo in the daily newspaper. Angelo broke his finger in his first match for the junior AFL team. The assistant manager is not happy. Angelo mustn't talk to the media without consulting him, and his girlfriend is not what she should be, offering a more suitable specimen from his squad of footballers' girlfriends. But Angelo is just one of the diverse groups of people who inhabit this world.
Wheat's knowledge of schools and families is unforgiving. He lampoons, satirises, ridicules and criticizes with impeccable ease, drawing out foibles and insecurities with the eye of a specialist, holding them up to our scrutiny, shaping our view of them, drawing us into their world. I laughed out loud at the antics of Zaynep, boiling her family's shoelaces and Chelsea, trying to get her state school to be more like the private school she was expelled from, or Georgia, enrolling at the private girls' school because it gave more scope of getting a girlfriend, or Matilda, saved from the dingoes that raised her, and now a minor celebrity. Wheat introduces us to the zaniest of characters but each is totally believable. He has the ability to make these unusual people credible and brimming with humanity, not one is a stereotype or cliched (well perhaps one or two of the minor characters) but his ability to make his readers empathise with his range of people is outstanding. It is a marvelous read, one that kids of all ages and backgrounds will absorb, from secondary to adult. And it's very funny, refreshingly so. Fran Knight
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
Allen and Unwin, 2008.
(Age 11+) When Laura moves to Liverpool with her mother, strange things
happen. Her mother's boyfriend, Mort is part of the American forces in
Britain, watching the television news avidly, telling Laura that she
and her mother will be OK. But her father gives her a key, which she
must keep hidden, and commit a series of codes to memory, to use only
in the case of an emergency. Her new school friends are agog at the
similarities between Laura and their teacher, Miss Wells, and the girl
in the ticket box at the Cavern where the friends go to hear the new
groups in Liverpool could be her twin.
It is 1962. In the background we hear the news broadcasts about the
missiles getting closer to Cuba. Policemen talk at the school, telling
the students not to worry, windows are whitewashed, and people talk
about building shelters. But Laura has more day to day problems, as she
and Bernadette search Miss Wells's locker, finding a small rectangular
metal box which vibrates and sends messages. Eventually when the
group is confined to hiding in a cellar before the bomb is dropped;
Agatha reveals that she is Laura's daughter, come back from the future
to take the key to make the first bombing raids in the coming war. But
Miss Wells is also Laura, in a parallel time frame, needing the key to
stop the war that eventuates.
The first half of the novel seems confusing as more and more intrigue
is uncovered but details are given which make things ultimately clear.
The story seems to be one thing and then another, each step opening up
possibilities and directions, but as the story unfolds, it takes on the
unexpected shape of a time travel story, but one so utterly different
as to hold the reader's attention. Laura and her friends are utterly
believable, their language and ideas all part of the youth culture of
the early 1960's. It will be a shock to some of our students to read of
time before mobile phones, or instant money, or contraception. This
book is a stimulating look at a previous time, when events conspired to
put the world on the brink of extinction. The diary entries describing
what happened to Liverpool after an H-Bomb was dropped makes
fascinating reading, and the parallels to today's society can be
construed by the astute reader.
Time travel novels are few and far between and good time travel novels,
a rarity. It's great to see one which will engender much discussion in
the classroom, and could be used in a topic to do with war, or survival
or time travel. Some students may like to further research the
activities of the CND, or the author, H. G. Wells, as a result of
reading this book.
Fran Knight
Revolution is not a dinner party by Ying Chang Compestine
Puffin,
2008.
ISBN 9780143303855, 244 pp
(Age 11+) This story of living through Mao's Cultural Revolution,
relates one family's experiences, as they yearn for freedom and
privacy. Ling lives with her family in Wuhan, comfortably off with her
father a doctor at the local hospital and mother, a nurse. But when one
part of their flat is given to Comrade Li, things change. Initially the
changes occur to other people, but when the Red Guard seize their
neighbours, taking them off for re-education, the reader knows that
Ling's family will soon suffer as well.
Bullied at school, where she is not allowed to wear the red scarf of
the workers, Ling manages to remain high spirited and defends herself
against all accusations and intimidation, but when her mother becomes
the victim, she learns to toe the line. The harsh treatment dolled out
to the people of China who are not true believers in the eyes of a few
radicals, becomes overwhelming, and just as the reader wants to cry
'enough', Mao dies, and the radicals are imprisoned.
A fascinating insight into the methods used by the Red Guard and their
supporters, the story is involving as the reader gets to know just what
happened during the Cultural Revolution through one family. Yang's easy
style is effortless to read, and gives a great deal of background
information which readers will absorb painlessly. Students of China
will eagerly read this book.
Fran Knight
Two by two and a half by David Melling
Hodder Children's Books, 2008.
(Age 3-8) 'Follow the leader, follow the path, Two by two and a half'
sang Miss Moo Hoo' as she led her class out for a walk in the woods.
Everyone had a partner except Little Bat Jack who bravely walked at the
end of the line while the others hold onto Miss Moo Hoo's tail. Rabbit
heard a strange sound. Could it be a rumbling tummy or could it be a
lion? No, it was Little Bat Jack and he didn't count. More strange
noises were felt and seen and although the children imagined a
troubling dragon
and rampaging ragamuffins, each time it was Little Bat Jack who had
collected mud and leaves in his struggle to keep up with the party.
Then a fierce bear appears and it is Little Bat Jack who saves the day.
David Melling's illustrations are wonderful. The zany animal characters
of the nursery party contrast with the huge and frightening pictures of
the lion, dragon and ragamuffins. The bear is truly awesome and Melling
has perfectly captured its fear of the strange leaf-covered Little Bat
Jack. The refrain in the story is very catchy and children will have
fun singing along with the animals.
A great book to read aloud and to listen to time and again, with a
subtle message that small people can be heroes.
Pat Pledger
The Stone Crown by Malcolm Walker
Walker Books, 2008. ISBN
9781921150197
(Age 13+) The Stone Crown takes a very different look at the Arthurian
legends and the time travel genre. The narrative takes place on two
levels; one set at the time of Merlin and Arthur and the other in the
present. However the Arthur that we meet is not the traditional one
that inspired the round table and chivalrous behaviour. This Arthur is
a king of Merlin's making and is entirely more earthy and rough around
the edges.
In the village of Yeaveburgh, Emlyn and Maxine (Max) discover something
weird about Sleeper's Spinney and the McCrossan family: Emlyn finds a
figurine of a horse and rider and by so doing releases an ancient
warrior from his prison. It becomes Emlyn and Max's mission to restore
the figurine and find out what the role of the McCrossan family is in
the mystery of the warrior and his companions.
The task is not an easy one. The McCrossan family has been keepers of
the Spinney and the warrior for countless generations and must ensure
the continual maintenance of the stone crown which ensures the warriors
stay quietly imprisoned.
This is an engaging piece of fantasy writing that is thoroughly
absorbing and worryingly believable. This book is a blend of mythology
and sinister forces struggling to come alive again to plunge the world
into a new Dark Age. Refreshingly different.
Reviewed by Mark Knight.
Destroying Avalon by Kate McCaffrey
At her new top notch Perth school, Avalon is aware that there are undercurrents of jealousy and bullying. In a series of emails and text messages the book reveals the length to which some students go to manipulate and destroy the lives of others. Through Avalon and her friends, Marshall, Sukey, Jemima and Tamara, the reader is drawn into this secretive and unimagined world, where damage is done both in and out of school.
Right from the start, Avalon receives emails and text messages directing her to blogs where discussion about her, the new girl, is played out. She makes friends with a group of students who are also treated in this way, and for one, the bullying is overwhelming. This book is a timely reminder of the harm some students do to others and has a list of websites where victims can receive help.
The story slides along effortlessly as the narration takes on the impatience, fear and powerlessness of Avalon as she is pulled into the world of cyber bullying, a young woman just entering senior high school, full of the promise of moving home and a new school, full of the dismay when she realises what is happening to her. Fran Knight
