Allen & Unwin, 2020. ISBN: 9781760525576.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Readers will become immersed in a
watery world with Tempe, a 17 year old girl who dives deep below the
waves, scavenging for relics in ruins of the time before the Great
Waves destroyed her planet. Tempe is determined to earn enough notes
to buy twenty four hours with her dead sister Elysea in the facility
on Palindromena, where the dead can be revived for a short time. It
is on Palindromena that Lor lives isolated underground rarely seeing
anyone, guilty about causing the death of his friend in a climbing
accident. When he takes on the task of guiding Tempe through the
twenty four hours that she has with Elysea he finds himself on a
chase to bring them back before the time is up when they escape in
search of their parents.
Scholte is a master at world building. It is easy to imagine a world
where the sea has overtaken big cities lying along the coast and
where the survivors must scavenge to keep alive. The idea of being
able to visit your loved ones for a last twenty four hours is one
that will challenge the reader. Would you really be able to face
seeing someone you loved, knowing that it is only for 24 hours?
Elysea knows that she wants to spend these last 24 hours with her
parents, and she and Tempe take off on a dangerous adventure to find
out what has happened to them.
Told in alternative chapters by Tempe and Lor, it is easy for the
author to identify with both main characters. Tempe has become
strong and independent in the two years since her sister's death and
parents' disappearance and she is determined to find out why the
secrets around her parents' disappearance and Elysea's death. The
mystery of what Lor is doing hiding himself away tantalises too and
secondary characters are all fully fleshed and interesting.
This is a unique dystopian story that will appeal to fans of
speculative fiction as well as those who love a coming of age story.
It would make an interesting literature circle book and teacher
notes are available at the publisher's website. Readers who
enjoyed The vanishing deep will want to read Scholte's other
novel, Four
dead queens which is on the Book of the Year: Older
Readers shortlist 2020.
Pat Pledger
A bear named Bjorn by Delphine Perret
Translated by Antony Shugaar. Gecko Press, 2020. ISBN:
9781776572694. eBook available.
(Ages 6 -8). Recommended. A thoughtful, whimsical story that follows
the daily adventures of a Bear, Bjorn, who lives quietly in a cave.
It is a mixture of animal and human adventures as each of the six
chapters reveals another escapade involving the bear and his other
animal friends. He wins a sofa and decides to leave it in a part of
the forest for everyone to use as it just doesn't really fit into
his cave very well. In another chapter his friend the fox helps him
to organize a fun carnival where all his friends borrow clothes and
wear adornments to celebrate and reflect what they see humans
wearing in clothing catalogues. Later he gets his annual check-up
with the very popular Owl who checks them thoroughly from top to
toe. The chapter called 'Nothing' was weirdly appropriate to
illustrate to a young child that it is okay to just sit and
appreciate the simple things around us, especially during the
restrictions on outdoor entertainment as we self-isolate for Covid
19. It was also interesting to be given an insight into the
processes that the bear took to prepare for hibernation in the last
chapter.
All these adventures are beautifully illustrated using black line
drawings and the book has been published on calming mint-green
pages. Best enjoyed by young independent readers or one to one
reading at home where the illustrations can be enjoyed along with
the story. Themes: Bears, Forests, Friendship.
Gabrielle Anderson
Peppa Pig: Peppa's play date by Neville Astley and Mark Baker
Ladybird, 2020. ISBN: 9780241412237. Board book.
(Age: 1-4) Another in the Peppa Pig series is sure to have
young children delighted as Peppa and her family prepare for a play
date with Peppa's new friends Mandy Mouse and Peggi and Pandora
Panda. Peppa is very excited to be having her friends over. Mummy
Pig puts out lots of games, while Daddy Pig organises the crafts for
the friends to use. However when they arrived Mandy Mouse really
wants to play in the garden and so they all troop outside to play
imaginative games like princesses, pirates and giants.
The Peppa Pig series always extols the virtues of family
life and this is no exception. Mummy and Daddy Pig are happy to
accommodate the children's needs even though the work they did to
set up activities is ignored by the children. Daddy Pig brings out a
wonderful feast for the friends to enjoy in the backyard and a very
happy time is had by them.
Mandy Mouse and Peggi and Pandora Panda are new additions to the
friends of Peppa and it is great to see diversity here with Mandy
Mouse happily playing in her wheelchair and proving to be a leader
among the friends.
This is a feel good book that shows the familiar to the young child
who may just be beginning to experience play dates. It also
emphasises the benefits of the imagination and making your own fun
while sharing it with others.
Pat Pledger
Eureka!: A story of the goldfields by Mark Wilson
Eureka!: A story of the goldfields by Mark Wilson
Lothian Children's, 2020. ISBN: 9780734416810. 40pp., hbk.
Highly recommended. Like thousands and thousands of others, Molly
and her father have emigrated to Australia to try their luck as gold
prospectors in Ballarat, Victoria. Life on the diggings is hard and
Molly misses her mother, who died before they left England.
A Chinese teenager, Chen, shows Molly and her Papa how to pan for
gold and helps them when their food and money run out. Not everyone
on the goldfields is friendly, however. Chen and other Chinese
diggers are often bullied and
the police lock up miners who haven't paid the exorbitant gold
licence fee. Before long, Molly, Papa and Chen are caught up in a
protest that will become known as the Eureka Rebellion - a legendary
battle that will profoundly affect them all.
Based on a true story, this intricately illustrated story gives an
insight into what life was like on the Victorian goldfields
particularly from the perspectives of a young girl and that of being
Chinese. For the Chinese were not welcome, were not trusted
and racism regularly raised its ugly head.
For those for whom a study of the goldfields is on the curriculum,
this is an excellent example of how history can be accessed through
a narrative and enable young readers to get a more human insight
into the time that bare facts and figures do not offer. This is what
Mark Wilson does best and in this, he is at his best.
Barbara Braxton
Tree: A gentle story of love and loss by Lynn Jenkins
Illus. by Kirrili Lonergan. EK Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781925820126.
32pp., pbk.
Loppy the LAC loves the feeling of sanctuary and serenity that the
old tree in the park gives him whenever he is feeling anxious. But
when it starts to lose its leaves long before it is supposed to, his
friend Curly points out that Tree's days are numbered. This makes
Loppy very unsettled - how will he calm himself if it dies and
disappears? But death is an inevitable conclusion to living and
Loppy has to learn and accept that 'his' tree will soon be gone.
This is the fifth book in the Lessons of a LAC series, this
one created to help children accept loss and process grief. Given
the summer holidays that many of our students have experienced where
all that was familiar is now blackened and gone, this is an
important book to add to your mindfulness collection and share with
the children. While building a seat with a special photo might not
be the option for them, nevertheless there are ways we can
commemorate things that are important to us so that peace and
connection return. Because it might be in a different way for each
person, it's also an opportunity to acknowledge that we each value
different things and how and when we remember this is unique to the
individual. There is no right way or wrong way - just different.
The author is a clinical psychologist whose specialty is early
intervention in the social and emotional development of children and
the previous books in this series have demonstrated that her words
are wise and her stories resonate with their audience.
Barbara Braxton
Willy-willy wagtail: tales from the Bush Mob by Helen Milroy
Magabala Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781925936605.
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. The first in a series of books about
the Bush Mob, each showcases animals in their environment, solving
problems and working together. In this book, the willy-wagtail is
instrumental in gathering all the animals to work together.
Initially they are unable to communicate, and she helps the animals
understand each other. She helps Crow, now old and frail, bringing
her food, and listening to her stories even though she has heard
them before. Willy Wagtail learns all the languages and stories of
the animals, and Crow helps by telling many of the tales.
Willy Wagtail is now called the Messenger, because she can
communicate with all the the others, and she is know as the
messenger in many Aboriginal cultures around Australia.
The second story tells how Willy Wagtail and the wind became friends
after the bird fell and hurt her wing. Unable to fly, the wind
helped her stay upright, and Willy Willy played with her.
The last story tells of how Willy Wagtail gets all the animals to
work together. How Willy Wagtail saved the bush mob tells
when a bushfire appears, she must let all the animals know that they
must head for the river to keep safe. But getting them to listen is
problematic, so she enlists the help of old Crow. Eventually all the
animals work together to get everyone to the river and safety.
A wonderfully positive group of stories, they tell readers about
Australian animals and their environment, and through the stories of
their problem solving, give lessons in communication and working
together. Positive and encouraging, the tales are the first of a
series which will be well used in classrooms crying out for credible
stories from Aboriginal authors. Enlivened with richly detailed
illustrations, using techniques used in Aboriginal art, readers will
delight in picking out the animals as they read of their learning to
cooperate.
Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara
region of Western Australia, and has written Backyard birds
and Wombat,
mudlark and other stories for Fremantle Press. Themes:
Aboriginal tales, Willy-wagtail, Aboriginal themes, Aboriginal
author, Aboriginal people, Dreaming stories.
Fran Knight
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Picador, 2020. ISBN: 9781529005127. 256pp.
Maren lives in the tiny settlement of Vardo on a Norwegian island in
the Barents Sea close to the north-east border with Russia. It is
1617, a time when Christianity is concerning itself with devilry and
witchcraft. On Christmas Eve a sudden storm drowns most of the Vardo
menfolk who had put to sea to capture a school of fish. The storm
drowns Maren's fiancee, Dag, her brother Eric and her father as well
as the pastor. Altogether 40 men die and the women of the settlement
grasp at reasons, including the suggestion that the devil sent the
storm. Eric's pregnant wife, Dina, is from the Sami, the indigenous
people of the area and the devout women direct suspicion at her,
saying the Sami can call the devil. After nine days the bodies of
the men begin to wash ashore and the women retrieve the bodies and
store them until the earth thaws enough to bury them and Dina brings
a Sami shaman to watch over the bodies and conduct rites for the
dead creating further conflict. However the need to survive without
the men leads the women to work together and put out to sea, netting
fish as their menfolk had done. Eventually Pastor Nils Kurtsson is
sent to lead the community but some of the women have tasted
independence and found strength in it. When a Lensmann, Hans Koning,
a kind of lord or sherrif, is appointed, he in turn appoints a
Commissioner, Absalom Cornet, to travel to the village, stamp out any
heathen tendencies and promote the church. He brings with him his
bride, Ursa, from Bergen to the south. As Absalom starts to pursue
his agenda, Ursa forms an unlikely friendship with Maren. The
narrative swings from Maren's perspective to Ursa's and they both
watch with horror as the witch hunting in the settlement starts to
unfold.
Based on historical events, the narrative reflects on some of the
uglier aspects of human nature and the redeeming qualities of true
loyalty and friendship. A hitherto unexamined period and setting
that will appeal to readers of historical fiction.
Sue Speck
Peter and the tree children by Peter Wohlleben
Illus. by Cale Atkinson. Schwartz Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781771644570.
40pp.
(Age: 4-10) Peter Wohlleben, a German forester, writes on ecological
themes. His 2015 bestseller book for adults, The hidden life of
trees, explains in simple language what trees feel and how
they communicate. His writings are based on his own experience
within forests as well as on scientific findings. Peter and the
tree children is his first children's book (apart from a young
readers' edition of The hidden life of trees titled Can
you hear the trees talking) and it introduces children to the
idea of tree families, the importance of old growth forests and the
impact people have on the way forests grow. Peter explains to the
reader in a letter at the start of the book that Piet is a real
squirrel who lives in the forest around his home in Germany and that
in the forest is a spot where no one is allowed to cut down any
beech trees so that the tree family can exist and grow unimpeded.
The fictionalised story follows Peter as he leads Piet through the
forest to find the tree children. Along the way Peter helps Piet to
understand that trees often need the protection of older, taller
trees to grow up properly, that heavy equipment compacts the earth
so that it is difficult for little trees to thrive, that squirrels
help start beech seedlings and that some trees release an
orange-smelling distress signal. There is also some extra
information about trees and their families given at the end of the
story, which expands on the detail given within the story.
The cartoonish illustrations are pleasing enough but lack the
grandeur that could have been useful for portraying the immensity
and intricacies of the forest. This was a missed opportunity, as was
the decision to focus on Piet and his lack of a family (as well as
lots of seemingly empty text) rather than giving more time to the
what, how and why of tree communication. This is inarguably an
important book because of the pressing and unique nature of its
message, but disappointingly it doesn't completely hit the mark.
Nicole Nelson
Gregory Goose is on the loose: Up the mountain by Hilary Robinson and Mandy Stanley
New Frontier, 2020. ISBN: 9781925594942. 18pp. board book.
(Age: 0-3) Gregory Goose is on the loose up the mountain, is
a sweet board book by Hilary Robinson and Mandy Stanley. It is one
of 4 Gregory Goose is on the loose books, all featuring
Gregory in a variety of locations (on the moon, in the jungle and at
the fair).
In this story he is situated on a snowy mountain and is having lots
of fun. Each page has a short sentence about where he might be,
encouraging the young reader to search through the pages and find
this cute little goose! There are also other animal friends to find
on each page including a bear, rabbits and a beaver.
The story is an easy little rhyme, that is short and could be used
to introduce the concept of a question (as each page is a question).
I really loved the vibrant illustrations and facial expressions of
all the characters both human, animal and snowman! This book would
be excellent for young children from a year old, up until
approximately 3 years old - or even for a beginner reader sibling to
read and share.
A lovely sturdy book that will hold up to many years of rough
reading and enjoyment!
Lauren Fountain
Azaria : A true history by Maree Coote
Melbournestyle Books, 2020. ISBN: 9780648568407. 45pp.
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. This is a matter of fact and honest
illustrated summary of the case of the disappearance of Azaria
Chamberlain in 1980. Coote has been responsible for a number of
award winning children's books, including Animology:
The big book of letter art alphabeasts but this is the
first to really tackle a serious issue, the hugely shameful
miscarriage of justice in Australia. She simply tells the tragedy,
from the hysterical public and media reaction, to the poor initial
investigation and subsequent jailing of an innocent mother, Lindy
Chamberlain. From the outset the Anangu Aboriginal people should
have been consulted. Thankfully the truth was discovered but it took
over 3 years for Lindy to be released from jail and 32 years for her
name to be cleared. There were positive outcomes and changes to the
law as a result. We also learnt from other incidents across
Australia that dingoes are wild animals and more than capable of
attacking humans.
The large digital illustrations are fantastic at capturing the mood
and the place and they support and add to the text so well. From the
fabulous colours of the red desert and Uluru, the night time
pictures of people looking for Azaria while the sand is covered in
dingo footprints and the sad eyes of Lindy. There is much symbolism
to discuss in these illustrations and I believe rich conversations
could be had around this by parents and teachers with children.
(There are teaching
notes available on-line). There is not a lot of text but it
has clearly been carefully researched and it is very succinct and
meaningful. You could certainly discuss how the book alludes to this
being a modern fairy tale. It is interesting to reflect on how
rumour and gossip can fan out to judge people unfairly. One can only
imagine with some trepidation what would have happened in this age
of social media.
Jo Marshall
Snap by Belinda Bauer
Transworld Publishers, 2018. ISBN: 9781784160852.
(Age: Adult - Senior secondary) Highly recommended for lovers of
crime novels. Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2018), and
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Nominee for Shortlist
(2019), Snap is a novel for one or two sittings. It is dark
and engrossing with moments of humorous dialogue to lighten the
story. It also has non stereotypic police officers and a 14 year old
boy, Jack Bright, who is really the hero of the story. Years earlier
Jack had been left in the car with his two sisters when it breaks
down. His mother goes off to get help leaving him to look after his
sisters. Then she doesn't come back, her body found in a ditch days
later. Jack's father cannot cope and leaves the children alone, Jack
once again in charge and having to support them all to keep away
social welfare. He turns to theft to feed and clothe the family,
trying to navigate a house full of newspapers that his sister Joy
uses to make tunnels throughout the house, and a little 6 year old
sister Merry who is precocious. Then there is pregnant Catherine who
wakes up to an intruder in her house and a note that says: 'I could
have killed you', and a knife that she hides in her underwear
drawer. DCI John Marvel who has been banished to Taunton after
failing a job in London, is not particularly interested in solving
the burglaries committed by the Goldilocks burglar, but when he gets
a whiff that a murder might be involved, becomes involved in trying
to solve the cold case of Jack's mother's murder.
Bauer draws a poignant picture of Jack, a boy who breaks into the
homes of happy families and lies in the beds of the children, trying
to remember a happy time in his own life before his mother was
murdered. Goldilocks is the nickname that he is given by the police
and when he finds some evidence that might lead to his mother's
killer, he is determined to get help even if it means that he will
be arrested. The suspense around whether Catherine will be the next
victim of the killer and whether Jack's attempts to keep his family
safe will fail, keep the reader breathless until the stunning end to
the story.
I will certainly be picking up more books by Belinda Bauer. This is
a must for readers who enjoy mysteries and suspense.
Pat Pledger
Almost a mirror by Kirsten Krauth
Transit Lounge, 2020. ISBN: 9781925760507.
(Age: Adult) Highly recommended. Krauth once wrote of Bill Henson's
images that they walked "that blurry line between the acceptable and
forbidden, innocence and knowing". Her latest book Almost a
mirror explores this territory: the opening chapter has a
young girl, Mona, being posed and photographed by photographic
artist Dodge while her mother Kaz sits in a back corner. Dodge
creates images of beautiful young bodies, innocent, but always on
the edge of being sexually enticing.
It is 1980's Melbourne, the music scene, with rock bands and ardent
young fans, under-dressed and over made up, hanging outside stage
doors with autograph books in hand; the time of the Kids in the
Kitchen, and Nick Cave and the Boys Next Door. Each chapter of the
book is inspired by an 80s song; you can listen to a mixtape on
YouTube as you read.
Chapters interweave the past and the present, images and scenes,
pieces of the story that gradually come together. They reveal
episodes in the lives of teenagers Mona and Jimmy, and of Benat, a
musician, immersed but also a spectator on the edge of the music and
drugs scene. They are all young, vulnerable, exploring, taking
risks, living life on the edge.
At the heart though, is the relationship between adults and
children. The 1980's, whilst a time of teenagers and rock bands, was
also the time when Australia suddenly became aware of child sexual
abuse. Adults became unsure what was acceptable and what was not.
Child abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, all were issues that we had to
confront, and try to understand what was going on. In Krauth's
story, the photographer Dodge is an artist; when asked about it, all
that Mona's mother Kaz can say is that Dodge had won them all over,
the critics, the parents, the teachers and headmistress.
For Jimmy though, the hurt was forever. Almost a mirror collects images and thoughts, snippets of
life, like a collage that can constantly be rearranged to explore
the relationships, and try to understand what was happening. At the
same time it presents beautiful interactions between parents and
children, just as the galahs hover over the young bird at the side
of the road. There is love and grief. And you can rewind, go back
and read it over again (as I did.) Or listen to the music.
Themes: Music, Rock bands, Suicide, Sexual abuse, Parent child
relationships.
Helen Eddy
Haywire by Claire Saxby
Australia's Second World War series. Omnibus Books, 2020.
ISBN: 9781742769196. 240pp.
(Age: 12-16). Highly recommended. The second book in a new series
of stories about the second World War, this story follows the
journeys of two adolescent boys who are affected by the War, one
living in an outback town in Australia and one living in Germany at
the time Hitler invaded Poland. Claire Saxby has written the story
in alternating chapters to tell their stories alongside one another
which gives the reader a complete picture of how the war impacted
children around the world.
Tom Hanlon has been forced to give up his dreams of becoming a
doctor to help in his family's bakery when his two brothers go to
fight in Europe. He resents the fact that he can't follow his dreams
but commits to staying and assisting at home.
Max is a young boy whose family is in trouble in Germany because of
their political beliefs and they decide to send him to live with his
uncle in England. This is a temporary solution as England decides to
put all Germans and Italians into internment camps, first in England
and then in Australia or Canada. Max endures so much on his journey
to Australia and when he arrives at the Internment camp in Hay all
he wants is a quiet life. But he still must suffer the attentions of
some bullies in the camp and quickly learns to be helpful in the
kitchen where these bullies never go. There he meets Tom, who is
delivering bread from his bakery to the Internment camp. They
quickly form a friendship and tell each other their hopes and
dreams. Both wish they could escape their lives, Max to go back home
to Germany and Tom to go and study in Sydney.
The first book in this series is War
and resistance by Sophie Masson and both books contain a
great mix of historical fact and entertaining drama and will keep
any reader absorbed to the end. They would be a great addition to
the Year 10 History work as they present lots of opportunities to
research some of what happened to the children during wartime.
Themes: World war II, Boys, Friendship, Family, Prejudice.
Gabrielle Anderson
To the bridge: the journey of Lennie and Ginger Mick by Corinne Fenton
Illus. by Andrew McLean. Walker Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781925126822.
40pp.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. This is the amazing story of nine year
old Lennie Gwyther who rode his horse, Ginger Mick from Leongatha to
Sydney to see the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a journey of
six hundred miles.
Lennie had always been thrilled to read of the building of the
bridge, the first to read of its progress when the newspapers were
dropped off at the siding near his family's farm in Victoria.
When Lennie's dad broke his leg, Lennie took over his role on the
farm, feeding the chickens, chopping firewood, milking the cows and
ploughing the fields. When dad came home he was so impressed with
his son that he promised him a reward. All Lennie wanted to do was
to see the opening of the bridge.
Father could see how much he wanted to do this, that he gave his
consent. He set out, charging through bushfires, crossing the Snowy
Mountains, meeting swaggies along the road, meeting school children
who had heard of his quest, passing though Canberra where he was met
by the Prime Minister, Jo Lyons, finally arriving in Sydney, thirty
three days after leaving home. People along the way gave him food
and shelter. He became well known and on March 19, 1932 he rode
across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and made history.
Andrew McLean's wonderful pencil and watercolour illustrations take
in the sweep of the countryside in Victoria and New South Wales,
showing the contrasts that make up Australia's environments,
stunningly reprised in the end papers. His city scapes too are
dazzling, recreating the feel and look of Sydney during the Great
Depression, when the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a
government sponsored program designed to keep men in work.
The images of Lennie will entrance the readers as they can see how
young and small he is to undertake such a feat, marvelling at the
miles he rode, comparing them perhaps with themselves and the small
steps they take.
More information of the story of young Lennie can be found in any
Google search and images of the lad and his horse crossing the
bridge can be seen. Another book about his exploit was published in
2015 by NLA, Lennie
the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony (Stephanie Owen
Reader) so children may like to read them both. Teacher's
notes are available. Themes: Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia
- history, Sydney NSW, Journeys.
Fran Knight
The good turn by Dervla McTiernan
HarperCollins, 2020. ISBN: 9781460756799.
(Age: Senior secondary - Adult) Highly recommended. If charmed by
enigmatic Detective Cormac Reilly in McTiernan's previous two
novels, The
Ruin and The
Scholar then you will be enthralled by his investigation
style once again in The Good Turn. Here he is still out of
favour at his station at Galway, fighting to remain sane after being
stripped of his team, called away to help in a drug bust. But when
an invalided boy sees a girl kidnapped outside his bedroom window,
Reilly must summon who he can to help. His boss is deaf to his
pleas, and when Garda Peter Fisher follows a strong lead alone, it
ends with the suspect being killed. Fisher is sent out of the way to
a small staton run by his estranged father, while Reilly is relieved
of his post. Reilly flies to Brussels to see Emma, and she suggests
that he resign and they stay in Europe, but Reilly has contacted his
old friend who works for Interpol and together they see that there
are stronger forces at work behind Reilly's shafting.
So he returns to Galway bent on uncovering the web of deceit and
corruption which appears to lie at the heart of the station.
Meanwhile Fisher is contending with his hated father, an self
opinionated old style cop who cuts corners. While investigating a
pair of murders near the town, Fisher realises that things were not
investigated with any purpose, things were overlooked, assumptions
made. Fisher's grandmother is elderly and frail, looked after by an
itinerant young woman and her daughter, blow ins from Dublin.
And so we have a set of gripping, overlapping stories, each one
engrossing and at times heart stopping as Fisher and Reilly
investigate things they are not supposed to, disobeying orders from
above, putting their own careers and lives on the line. Ireland,
Crime fiction, Corruption, Murder.
Fran Knight
