ABC Book, 2017. ISBN 9780733335976
(Age: 8-11) Funny kid for president is the hilarious junior
novel from the popular author illustrator team of Matt and Beck
Stanton. Their extremely popular picture books include This
is a ball and Did
you take the B from my -ook? In the style of Diary
of a wimpy kid and Tom
Gates, Max Walburt, funny kid, class clown and Redhill
Middle School student, introduces us to the ups and downs of his
life.
Who pooped in Mr Armstrong's storeroom? His teacher is a volcano
waiting to erupt and Max is singled out as the culprit. Even though
Max has not pooped since Monday, he has to clean up the mess. After
school, Max and Hugo, his second best friend, plot a
super-massively-red-faced-embarrassing revenge for Mr Armstrong.
This plan leads them into all sorts of trouble, as disaster follows
them and so does a stalker duck. Abby Purcell overhears the friends
plotting and dobs to the teacher.
Principal Sniggles becomes involved in the altercation between Max
and his teacher and suddenly their class is involved in electing a
class president. With Hugo as his political manager and someone
sabotaging the other candidates' campaign, does Max have any chance
of winning?
This is a funny junior novel, filled with comical close-ups of Max's
emotional outbursts and plenty of gross situations including the
great library vomit-apocalypse.
Rhyllis Bignell
May Tang: a new Australian by Katrina Beikoff
Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781742990743
(Age: 10+) Recommended. China, Tiananmen Square, History. When the
Tiananmen Square incident occurred in 1989, those looking for change
in China were dismayed. None more so than May's family, living in
Shanghai with their son studying in Australia. May's mother had been
sent from university to work as a labourer on a rice farm during the
infamous Cultural Revolution, and she and her husband want a
different life for their children. They make the heart breaking
decision to send May and her mother to Australia to join their son,
applying for protection because, as an activist, he cannot return
home. May's life is turned inside out as she must leave her father
and her friends, her grandfather and his singing bird to go
somewhere totally alien.
The first part of the book gives a strong background for the story.
Readers will sympathise with the decision made by the parents in a
time of uncertainty, and appreciate the Australian government's
decision to allow families of Chinese students already here, to
emigrate. They may also compare that government's decision with the
decisions being made today about refugees risking all to get here.
Our response to both groups is totally different.
The latter part of the book shows May's efforts to acclimatise to
her new country. She has learnt English and must translate for her
mother while their brother is away picking cherries to earn money to
support them. She must go to school and here she comes up against
mindless racism, telling her she needs to fit in to become a real
Australian. Her mother gains employment packing at a local bakery
and the baker, finding they are from Shanghai, gives her some pork
bones to make him pork dumplings, a childhood memory of when he
lived there.
An easy to read story, May is an endearing character whose tale will
intrigue the readers, learning more of the reasons behind people's
decisions to emigrate to Australia, in this excellent series, A
New Australian. Their life in China is well captured and the
reasons for the family's ill ease at staying in China explained well
for middle school students. The book reflects the situation in
Australia as well, with its suspicion of difference. This series
portrays the reasons behind people's migration to Australia
beautifully, engaging the most cynical of readers and broadening
their vision of Australia's rich and varied heritage.
Fran Knight
Ava's spectacular spectacles by Alice Rex and Angela Perrini
New Frontier, 2017. ISBN 978192059984
(Age 4-7) Highly recommended. Sight. Spectacles. Fairy tales. Ava
sits at her desk in the classroom and can't see the board. She
doesn't want to wear her glasses and keeps them in her bag. Then her
sympathetic teacher tells her of the fairy tale characters who would
have had much happier outcomes if only they had used their glasses
to find their way.
The narrative is very clever and interesting. Children would respond
to the authors using fairy tales to depict why wearing glasses would
be very useful. The narrative would also help children who do not
need glasses begin to understand why some people need them.
Bold illustrations make this story stand out. Keen readers will spot
the glasses case in Ava's bag in the beginning of the book. They
will also be able to follow the expressions on her face changing
from miserable when she can't see the front of the classroom to a
huge smiling face as she begins to read on the last page. I loved
the picture of Humpty Dumpty wearing specs and not falling off the
wall while on the opposite page are the guards who could have put
him together again when they could see using their glasses. The
picture of a gleeful Ava being little Miss Muffet with glasses to
see the big spider and using her fly spray is very humorous.
This would be a lovely book to give a child who has just been given
spectacles and is feeling worried about how friends will react and
could also be used in the classroom when doing units of work on
sight and seeing.
Pat Pledger
The Diamond Horse by Stacy Gregg
HarperCollins Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9780008124403
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. This book has two main characters,
each with their own unique story to tell, each with a challenge that
they need to overcome to be able to move on. These two characters
are connected in a way even they are not aware of.
Being a princess is not all it is cracked up to be. Anna lives in a
beautiful palace with a number of animals around her, some living in
the palace and others in cages in the grounds of the palace. Anna
has a special way with the animals that everyone around her is not
happy with. The main animal she has to be wary of is her older
brother, who is determined to make Anna's life unbearable.
Anna is faced with a number of challenges that she has to endure,
some things no princess should have to deal with.
Valentina is a circus performer with a love of animals, she does all
she can to protect the animals from the mean ring master. Valentina
is looking to her future and trying to do what she can to make her
life better.
I highly recommend this book. Once you start reading it is hard to
put it down.
Karen Colliver
13 reasons why by Jay Asher
Penguin Random House, 2017. ISBN 9780141387772
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. Suicide. A gripping story that you
can't put down, you need to know what comes next. The way the story
is written helps to keep you intrigued and wanting more, needing to
know how the various characters are intertwined and how their
stories impact upon each other.
The two main characters are telling their stories intertwined
together, the more you read the more you see how each character has
an impact on others sometimes on purpose and other times without
even realising it.
This book discussed a number of controversial topics that can be
life changing. Hopefully this book will spark conversations about
these topics that are not normally talked about.
This book reminds us that we never really know what someone else is
thinking or feeling or how what we say or do impacts on another
person.
This story could be set in any town with a park and a diner.
Hopefully after reading this book it will start some discussions
around the topics that are discussed, it may encourage people to
talk to their friends about things that are happening in their
lives.
What you do can have an effect on others that you may not be aware
of or intending.
Sometimes we don't even know what we are thinking or really feeling.
This book also highlights the impact that suicide has on the people
left behind and hopefully that will again spark discussion around
this topic.
Karen Colliver
A true story: Ballerina dreams by Michaela and Elaine DePrince
Faber and Faber, 2017. ISBN 9780571329731
(Age: 7-10) Recommended. At first, with its pink background and cute
dancer on the cover I thought this was another ballerina story for
young girls but Ballerina dreams is a lot more than that.
Written by Michaela DePrince and her adoptive mother Elaine, this
story reveals Michaela's amazing journey from being an abandoned
orphan in Sierra Leone, West Africa, to an international ballet
dancer.
Michaela describes how she felt alone and valueless because as well
as loosing her parents she had a skin complaint called vitiligo.
Vitiligo made her skin loose some of its colour and she had
noticeable white spots on her chest and neck. This made her even
more of an outsider.
By chance, Michaela finds a torn page showing a picture of a
ballerina, blowing in the wind. Immediately she decides that is what
she wants to be. An amazing dream for an orphan with only one friend
but this is exactly what happens. She is sent to America and meets
her new mother, Elaine DePrince who supports her goals.
The book is aimed for year 2-4 students and the story has been
adapted for that age group but I listened to Michaela on a TED talk
describe the horrors she saw and experienced before arriving in the
USA. Yet her message is clear,
'It doesn't matter if you dream of being a doctor, a teacher, a
writer, or a ballerina. Every dream begins with one step. After
that, you must work hard and practise every day. If you never give
up, your dream will come true.'
The book fits easily into a young hand and has simple but effective
illustrations on most pages. It will appeal to young aspiring
ballerinas and they will learn a lot about the power of love and
conviction.
Watch Michaela dance on YouTube.
Jane Moore
Great goal! Marvellous mark! by Katrina Germein
Ill. by Janine Dawson. Ford Street, 2017. ISBN 9781925272673
(Ages: 3-6) Alphabet. Aussie Rules Football. With this title the
incredibly successful Australian author Katrina Germein (author of My
Dad thinks he's funny) continues in successfully
capturing Australian culture, this time as it relates to Australian
Rules Football. The narrative, chronicling a children's footy match,
moves through the alphabet from A-Z, with each page highlighting
words starting with that letter (e.g., 'Aussie rules is awesome. I
always arrive on time'). The initial letters of words beginning with
the focus letter are in coloured and bolded text, encouraging
auditory and visual letter recognition. The narrative includes lots
of Aussie footy lingo (hanger, banana kick, screamer) that young AFL
fans will love. The language used also encourages good sportsmanship
and team support as it shows the children praising and showing
respect for each other.
The cartoony and fun illustrations capture the diversity of
Australian culture, as well as inspiring gender equality by showing
boys and girls playing alongside each other. The children have that
Aussie have-a-go attitude as they keep playing despite the teeming
rain; they have unwavering enthusiasm. People are being knocked over
and tackled but everyone is having fun, especially when the dog
joins in! Even the saturated parents on the sidelines are incredibly
cheerful and enjoying each other's company. In an area that is
increasingly competitive and serious, this really is a reminder of
what young people's, and perhaps all, sport should be like: enjoyable
and supportive. Great goal! Marvellous mark! is energetic
with fast-paced action and speedy writing to satisfy those sports
mad youngsters who may struggle to sit still for long. Perfect for
little AFL players and fans.
Nicole Nelson
My meerkat mum by Ruth Paul
Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781775434894
I highly recommend this book. The story shows that a mum is always
busy and keeping an eye on her family and ensuring they are safe.
The illustrations are vivid and engage the reader. The
positional language used in this story supports the learning of
these concepts.
A lovely heart-warming story to be enjoyed by both the reader and
the audience alike.
Karen Colliver
A Kiwi year: twelve months in the life of New Zealand kids by Tania McCartney
Ill. by Tina Snerling. EK, 2017. ISBN 9781925335446
On the surface there don't appear to be many differences between
Australian kids and their Kiwi cousins apart from the fact the we
Kiwis 'talk funny'. But as five Kiwi kids - Charlie, Ruby, Oliver,
Mason and Kaia - show us as they journey through their year, there
are subtle distinctions, enough to make their lives special and
unique.
As well as different vocabulary like 'tramping' not 'bushwalking'
and 'jandals' not 'thongs' Kiwi kids love rugby not rugby league or
Australian Rules and are familiar with a very different range of
flora and fauna. Maori culture and the influence of our Pacific
Island neighbours is very strong with official places and concepts
being in both languages. Maoritanga is a mandatory part of the
school curriculum. The land is younger and much more
mountainous and so winter is more severe with more opportunities to
participate in snow sports, but summer sees us at the beach and
playing cricket, even if we still remember that infamous underarm
bowling incident.
But like Australia, ANZAC Day is sacred and we remember those who
put the NZ in the word, and with the European forefathers of both
country being predominantly from the United Kingdom many of the
annual festivals are the same. But there are some that are
unique that celebrate our heritage and landscape bringing a richness
to our lives and our culture that is unique.
So many times I've heard Australians say they don't want to go to
New Zealand because it would be just like Australia in miniature,
but once having been there, change their tune and marvel at just how
different it is. Tania and Tina have ferreted out those things that
make this country and its people unique and bring them to life
through the eyes of the children, celebrating them in such a special
way that this book will be handed on to my grandchildren (whose dad
is also a Kiwi) so they can understand where they come from - and
why Grandma is just a tad different at times!
Barbara Braxton
Bessie's war by Krista Bell
Ill. by Belinda Elliott. Windy Hollow Books, 2017. ISBN
9781922081667
(Age: 5+) Recommended. War, Women's role in war, World War One.
Bessie is frustrated that she cannot be overseas with her father and
brothers as they fight in the trenches in France. Even eighteen year
old Maud from next door has joined the Australian Infantry Service
and sailed for Europe as a nurse. Bessie dreams of what she is
missing, much to the chagrin of her teacher who often sees her day
dreaming. But one day Bessie has an idea. A letter from her father
talks of trench foot and she sees that knitting woollen socks will
help the men avoid this disease. She enlists the help of her class
mates and together they knit scarves and socks for the men overseas.
When their teacher hears of what they are doing, she too joins the
efforts by reading to them as they knit each afternoon. Finally they
have enough to send and these are supplemented with tobacco,
biscuits and sweets at the Australian Comforts Fund headquarters
before being sent overseas. The soft edged illustrations support the
story admirably, and I love the image of Bessie knitting surrounded
by mounds of wool, emulating The Sock Knitter by Grace
Cossington Smith, held in the National gallery.
Krista Bell presents a snippet of the war effort involving women
that is usually unseen. In presenting this book, she has brought to
the fore the efforts of the many who stayed at home, the women who
could not participate but were desperate to support their families
overseas. Young readers will see that everyone has a role in such an
event, everyone can participate and that everyone's efforts will
help bring an end to the conflict. And it may encourage classes to
think of a way of supporting one of the many causes needing help
today.
Fran Knight
Stargazing for beginners by Jenny McLachlan
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408879757
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended, Stars, Family, Competition, Space,
Responsibility. The first line of her speech says it all. 'Space to
me is about being free'.
When Meg goes to school she can leave her messy life behind: her
mother who still lives like she is a teenager, her grandfather who
is forgetful and as a result, sometimes dangerous, and the council
flat she lives in with mum and her eighteen month old sister, Elsa.
She is practising her speech for the competition which will win her
a seat at Mission Control at NASA for the launch of the next space
ship, but with no time to rehearse and a major hurdle to overcome,
it does not look likely that she will win. She is obsessed with
space, so much so that she identifies a football drawn on Ed's book
to be an asteroid, one coming close to earth in the next few weeks.
Without trying, she makes her group laugh uproariously at her geeky
slip and again eats her lunch by the wall near the girls' toilets,
alone. She has a strong aversion to speaking out loud, and giving a
speech in front of an audience fills her with dread.
But then Mum goes to Myanmar. Ostensibly taking a friend to the
airport, she rings Meg from the plane, leaving the girl with the
responsibility of her young daughter, telling her to go and live
with her grandfather. Meg is overawed. Her grandfather needs looking
after and cannot possibly look after them. How can she look after
the toddler, go to school, rehearse for the competition speech,
navigate the daily slights at school, avoid the authorities who may
take the baby away and deal with her eccentric grandfather.
This funny look at one girl's life made me applaud her tenacity,
daring and strength. With her mother away she needs to draw on all
her reserves to help them cope with the reality of being alone. And
she finds that she develops more love for her sibling, a bond she
was unable to share with her mother.
This is a wonderful story, beautifully written and full of
underlying humour. The insights into family and peer relationships
captivated me from the start and the continuous reference to space
and its part in her life, was wholly engrossing.
Fran Knight
Space Jackers: The Pirate King by Huw Powell
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9781408847664
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Space Jackers: The Pirate King
finds Kid Cutler as the only survivor of a bombing that has killed
many leaders who came together to discuss their futures. Kid Cutler
(also known as Jake) vows to go against the Interstellar Government.
Kid Cutler is a teenage pirate and with his friends, some borrowed
space ships and the desire to do the right thing, Kid Cutler heads
for the seventh solar system. Along the way, Kid Cutler has the
chance to free his captured crew, finds out his friend could
actually be his long lost dad and gets the chance to capture Admiral
Vantard. Will Kid Cutler get to the seventh solar system? Can he
defeat the Interstellar Government? Will the other worlds join him
in the battle? Space Jackers: The Pirate King is part of a series and it is
recommended to read them in order. This novel refers to many
characters and events in the previous instalments. Readers will need
to understand the connections. Space Jackers: The Pirate King
is a detailed adventure, using space themed vocabulary to set the
themes. Many of Kid Cutler's friends are from different worlds to
him, giving an interesting element to the story. This book is easy
to read and moves quickly.
Kylie Kempster
The secret cooking club by Laurel Remington
Chicken House, 2016. ISBN 9781910655245
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Cooking, Relationships, Age, Clubs,
Dementia, Death. Scarlet once an outgoing clever girl at school has
been worn down by her mother's latest scheme to set herself up in
business. She has produced a blog which discusses being a single
mother, offering advice to others in her situation. But she uses
Scarlet as the basis of many of her posts, so Scarlet shrinks at
school, aware that people know so much about her, things she would
prefer they did not know. But mum is unaware of how Scarlet thinks
and complains online of how distant her teenage daughter has become.
This only exacerbates the situation, Mum unaware that people have
easily worked out who she is talking about.
Hearing the cat next door Scarlet lets herself into the elderly
woman's house and feeds it knowing the woman has been taken to
hospital. But the house has a beautiful kitchen and the recipe books
and Scarlet cannot help herself and cooks a recipe from a special
book. She is joined by Violet a new girl in the school, and they set
up the Secret Cooking Class, which is then joined by two other
girls, and when Mrs Simpson returns from hospital, she begins to
teach the girls how to cook.
This lovely story of neighbours coming together, of the young girls
helping the older woman to avoid being bullied by her nephew, eager
to get her into a home so he can sell the house, of the girls taking
action to set Scarlet and her mother on an even keel, of friendships
forged, and above all about cooking, will be well read. The recipes
and cooking instructions throughout the book will intrigue readers
who may be impelled to try them out for themselves, (or at the very
least, look up some of the recipes like banoffle!) but the
companionship offered by the cooking club, will resonate with the
book's audience. Scarlet's transformation from the quiet girl in
school to a more confident leader amongst her peers, being able to
speak to her mother with authority is beautifully portrayed, and
readers will symapthise with this endearing main character.
Winner of the Times Children's Fiction Competition, 2015.
Fran Knight
The Stinky Street Stories by Alex Ratt (Frances Watt)
Ill. by Jules Faber. Macmillan, 2017. ISBN 9781743539026
(Age: 7-9) Recommended. Themes: Humorous stories, Community Life,
Smells. Alex Ratt's Stinky Street Stories are four humorous
tales that introduce young Brian and his friend Nerf whose lives are
magnets for all things odoriferous. Each easy to read story
investigates a mystery centred on things that are of course putrid,
pongy and disgusting. Who knew there were so many different ways to
describe odours, so many puns and silly situations? Unusual odours
need to be investigated by Brian and his best friend Nerf, together
they seek the source of the putrid smell pervading Brian's house,
explore a paddock full of disgustingly smelly objects and engage in
a fight between the boys and girls of the Stinky community.
Each tale is layered with slapstick comedy. While looking for the
source of a terrible stink at home, Brian decides to wear a peg on
his nose and Nerf stuffs two carrots up his nostrils. Of course,
being unable to smell leads the boys down a rather sticky pathway,
tracking the dog and cat's vomit throughout the house. In The
Ripe and Rotten Reek, the boys visit Great-Uncle McStinky's
farm. When Brian and Nerf venture into a farm paddock wearing
pumpkin heads with stick antennas, an enraged bull chases them
across a zigzag path pitted with cow Frisbees and they end up in the
stinking manure pile!
Jules Faber's amusing cartoons of evil grinning pumpkins, tuna
vomit, oozing hands and Porkules the Wonder Pig add to the fun of
reading these stories. Alex Ratt understands the interests of young
readers around 7-9 years of age who enjoy far-fetched, funny
stories. These are fun to read aloud to a Middle Primary class,
inspiring them to write their own stories based on one of the five
senses.
Rhyllis Bignell
Alex, approximately by Jenn Bennett
Simon and Schuster, 2017. ISBN 9781471161537
(Age: 14+) Recommended. The novel Alex, approximately shows
that you can know someone behind the computer screen and also
face-to-face yet not know that it is the same person. The book,
written by Jenn Bennett, explores a story of summer, first love,
hidden identities and friendship. After moving in with her dad on
the other side of the country, 17-year-old Bailey goes on a hunt for
a great guy she knew from online, who happens to live close by. Alex
is a film geek and not nearly as irritating as her hot workmate at
the local cinema. But Porter is also keeping secrets.
Bennett's female character goes through a thrilling summer into
school. On the way, she tests her strength, loyalty and trust
against those around her. The book is a wonderful read and Bennett
has a great sense of humour making you laugh at casual jokes. Alex, approximately will show that falling in love can
happen, even when you think it is with the wrong person.
Cara F. (student)
