Reviews

The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale

The ones that disappeared by Zana Fraillon

Lothian, 2017. ISBN 9780734417152
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Esra, Miran and Isa are three children trapped by human traffickers, and forced to spend every day tending to drug plants in a basement for the cruel and merciless Orlando, the leader of the Snakeskins. They have been branded with the Snakeskin brand so that there is no escape, they can always be identified and tracked down, and even if one of them does escape they know that the ones remaining will be brutally beaten. Someone will always pay, possibly with their life.
Fraillon's story is very evocative in the depiction of the terror the children feel, the horror of punishment, and the sense of entrapment; there is nobody they can trust - even the police could be linked to the traffickers. Even more than that, is the feeling that the children have of losing their identity and their sense of humanity, slowly being groomed to enslave others. Esra feels how she craves Orlando's approval, feels how desperate she is for care and attention, to be rewarded, but knows she has to hang on to a sense of who she really is. She has to stay strong, and be a speaker for the dead and the living. Misran is a great source of comfort, with his riddles that challenge their intellect, and his stories that inspire hope and memories of another life. But on a fateful night when Misran urges Esra and Isa to take their chance to run, he is the one that is caught and has to pay.
Hiding in a fox's cave, Esra and Isa are befriended by a boy full of jokes and chatter, running from his own set of family problems. The three of them have to find a way to stay safe, and to rescue Misran before it is too late.
Fraillon's story while incorporating a sense of adventure and aspects of fantasy reveals the very real plight of human trafficking, something that is happening even today in Australia. The author's note at the end of the book states that there are over 30 million people currently enslaved, and more than a quarter of those are children. Her book brings the spotlight to an issue that many are unaware of, and the story is a call to find the disappeared children and help them to be heard.
Helen Eddy

A dog's tale by Barry Jonsberg

Ill. by Tom Jellett. Mates series. Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781742991399
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. Dogs. Animals. Friendship.
Another in the Mates series, a wonderful range of stories designed for the young, newly competent reader, with short chapters, a smattering of illustrations and larger print, A dog's tale is full of wit and humour for all readers to recognise and chuckle over.
Michael desperately wants a dog. He systematically works through all the reasons his parents bring up not to have a pet. He has worked out that one from a rescue home would be ideal and pins a picture from the home on the fridge for all to see, negating his father's thoughts about puppy farms.
He glues his old toy puppy to his unloved skateboard and takes the dog for a walk several times a day to show how responsible he is at looking after a pet. He feeds his baby sister, and even changes her napkin, when presented with the idea that dogs need their poo cleaned up. He is remarkably responsible in all the things he does trying to convince his parents of his abilities. But to no avail.
Children will laugh out loud at his devious plan, and cheer him on in trying out different ways to overcome his parents opposition.
When at Christmas something leads him to believe they have relented, the funny twist will delight the readers, knowing that his parents have not given up the idea entirely, leaving Michael with the option of getting a dog in the future. Persistence has almost won out.
The single-mindedness of Michael will cheer the readers, as they recognise that he has gone about making his position clear through subtle determination.
Another level of humour is reflected in Jellett's wonderful illustrations showing wry looks on the parents' faces as they endeavour to deflect Michael's request, or the looks on Michael's face as he changes his sister's nappy. Each page brings a laugh and the story will be eagerly shared by the new readers, eager to show off their new reading skills, as well as their sophistication at understanding both textual and visual jokes.
Fran Knight

That stubborn seed of hope by Brian Falkner

University of Queensland Press, 2017. ISBN 9780702259289
(Age 13+) Highly recommended. Short stories. This is a fabulous collection of stories that will appeal to a wide range of people. Falkner's tales will scare the readers, make them think, feel good and wonder what is going to happen next.
The first in the collection is 'I am s seventeen' and is very frightening to ponder. Falkner has captured the horror of old age as a seventeen year old boy wakes up to find himself in the body of a very old man. He demands paper and pen and writes down his thoughts. Falkner keeps up the suspense until the twist in the conclusion.
Another that really gripped me was 'Lockdown', where a school bully is convinced that another student is coming for him in revenge for his cruelty. This is a very tense portrayal of what it would be like to hide during a school siege.
'Smile' was heart wrenching as a young medical student tries to find a way to communicate with his brother who is in a vegetative state in hospital. In 'The kiss' a teen discovers that her boyfriend may have a life-threatening virus just after she has kissed him, something that is forbidden in her society because of the fear of contagion. The other stories are all equally as powerful and memorable.
In his introduction Falkner talks about how he was going to write about fear, but that the theme of hope emerged strongly in the stories. Other themes include belonging, resilience, perseverance and acceptance. At the back of the book he has given author's notes about each of the stories that would be a boon for teachers if they were using this in the classroom and are an interesting adjunct for the ordinary reader. Excellent teacher's notes are also available.
This would be an ideal collection for a class set or literature circle text.
Pat Pledger

Go, green gecko! by Gay Hay

Ill. by Margaret Tolland. Starfish Bay Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9781760360337
(Age: 4-7) Highly recommended. Geckos. Lizards. Animals - Food. Gay Hay is a New Zealand school environmental officer passionate about sharing her love of animals, their diets and habitats with a young audience. New Zealand artist and teacher, Margaret Tolland's richly detailed paintings perfectly capture the green gecko's landscape and search for food. The striking front cover with a glossy overlay on the green gecko and bold title with an inquisitive eye staring out from the letter 'O' draws us into this informative picture book. Each double page spread follows the gecko's journey from the treetops, along the branches, scrambling through the rich red rata blossoms, always on the lookout for danger. Tolland captures the sinuous movements of the lizard, as it hides in the green foliage, purple tongue ready to catch a dragonfly or beetle.
The author's simple text is considered and captivating, there is an action, place and food to find, followed by an admonition to watch out for danger. 'Scuttling along branches, snatching at flies,' the green gecko's daily journey is all about seeking nourishment. We follow its passage and look out for the hidden danger as well. Time needs to be taken with each turn of the page, after reading the text to explore the illustrations. There is an anticipation built into the story, and young readers can predict what is about to happen when the foldout page is reached. The winding forest map drawn in tones of grey, highlights the green gecko as he scurries to safety.
Go, green gecko, is an excellent resource for the Early Years Science curriculum - Biological Sciences. In Year 1, 'learners explore and investigate how living things live in different places where their needs are met'. Information written inside notebook boxes at the conclusion allows for a more in-depth study of the Wellington Green Gecko, a threatened New Zealand species.
Rhyllis Bignell

Mark of the Cyclops: An ancient Greek mystery by Saviour Pirotta

Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781472934147
(Age: 9+) Recommended. 'It seems you have a talent for solving problems. I believe Gaia is innocent. Find the real culprit and I'll pay you in gold...'
Athens, 434 BC.
Nico's new friend Thrax has a strange knack of figuring things out. And when a valuable wedding vase is broken Thrax's special skills might just come in useful. Can the boys prove that slave girl, Gaia, is innocent, and discover what the mark of the cyclops means?
Join Nico and Thrax for a mysterious adventure set in ancient Greece.
I can see this book fitting into a unit of work on an ancient civilisation as it would read aloud beautifully. The children would thrive on the suspense while at the same time continuing to learn about Ancient Greece. I would recommend it for children aged 9 and up for independent reading and 8 and up for a read aloud. The glossary is useful at the end of the book as too is the information about Greek pottery in Corinth. Fingers crossed that this will become a series as it would certainly appeal to children interested in historical fiction.
Kathryn Schumacher

Twinkle, twinkle, little star by David Ellwand

Old Barn Books, 2017. ISBN 9781910646243
(Ages: 1-3) Musical book. Rhyme. Board book. This board book features photographs of David Ellwand's vintage teddies (also seen in previous publications such as Wheels on the bus) and a push-button violin recording of  'Twinkle twinkle little star'. The teddies are shown being serenaded by their father's violin playing as they settle down for sleep and drift into dreams (of dancing on the moon). The first and last pages use the original version of the rhyme, with extra lines added to the middle: 'Hush now, hush now, little teds, Climb into your cosy bed... ' Young ones will love pushing the button and singing along to the recording with the words they already know and pointing out familiar things within the pictures (rockets, stars, moon, etc.). This extended version of the classic rhyme makes for a great bedtime lullaby and the warm, calming illustrations will help to settle young children for sleep.
Nicole Nelson

The Hate U Give (THUG) by Angie Thomas

Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406372151
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Navigating between life as the only person of colour (POC) at a prestigious prep school in the suburbs, and being the only kid in the projects who can afford to go to such a school, Starr Carter doesn't know who she is. The careful balancing act falls apart when Starr witnesses her childhood best friend shot dead at the hands of a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Starr is forced to be the voice of change at a time when she's not sure if she's better off being silent.
The Hate U Give draws on stories most are already familiar with: Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, the list unfortunately goes on. Author Angie Thomas has managed to weave elements of these tragedies throughout the story without disrespecting the communities or persons involved. Readers follow Starr's heartbreaking journey but are constantly reminded that this is the everyday life for POC throughout America. With an emphasis on police brutality and the after-effects, the community coming together while being simultaneously pulled apart, we learn chilling lessons that for some are learned much younger.
If you encounter a police officer, be polite. Even if they're not. Do not make any sudden movements. Keep your hands up. Remain calm.
The Hate U Give is political without trying to be, and readers will be holding on to the edge of their seats as they follow along with Starr. Whether it's friendship, race, or feeling like you don't quite belong, there's something for everyone.
Natalie Campbell

Fenn Halflin and the Seaborn by Francesca Armour-Chelu

Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406366181
(Age; 10 -14) Recommended. Survival. Floods. Future worlds. Good and evil. Fenn Halflin and the seaborn concludes the epic story of Fenn and his mongoose Tikki as they flee from the fierce Terra Firma. This fast-paced novel, starts immediately after the final action in the first novel, Fenn Halflin and the Fearzero, where he set fire to the Punchlock, signalling all the Seaborn tribes that the Resistance is ready for an uprising. Now, he is traipsing across treacherous marshland, hunted by his enemies - Chilstone and his band of evil henchmen.
Fenn's survival skills gained from his grandfather Halflin are vital to his journey: knowing the difference between edible and poisonous plants, swimming underwater with a reed for breathing and how to take cover in the gorse. After a close encounter with Chilstone, a Marsh Sargossan, Gerran, fortuitously rescues him and takes him to a secret place. Here, behind huge piles of debris, the tribe has reclaimed the forest and built a fortress from recycled materials, regenerated the land and grown food supplies. In this wonderfully rich and exotic landscape, the caring folk carry out their mandate to 'graft the land back to life'. The Sargossans were victims of Chilstone's band; he stole their younger generation and sent them to work as slaves for the Terras, as they work to build the great wall and stop the flooding. Fenn's destiny waits as he reunites with his friends and leads them into a battle with the Terras. His friends show courage, determination and a fierce sense of loyalty as they fight together.
This is a fast-paced and thrilling adventure, with plenty to ponder and cliffhangers ending many of the chapters. Fenn Halflin and the Seaborn is a creatively written fantasy adventure story set in a dystopian landscape. Armour-Chelu delivers richly imagined settings in her tensely woven narrative with many surprises, fortuitous encounters, amazing escapes and secrets uncovered. These two novels support and extend students in the Middle Years; they are perfect for textual analysis, with great examples of characterisation, plot development, creative settings and imagery.
Rhyllis Bignell

I want to be in a book by Narelle Oliver

Omnibus Books, 2017. ISBN 9781743811634
(Ages: 5-8) Creative writing. Imagination. Cecil is a lizard hand-drawn on a piece of lined paper from an exercise book. He has big dreams: he wants to be in a book. He has watched while other drawings around him were ripped off the pin-board. He has seen them transformed with paint and coloured pencil and then appear in a book, shiny and with writing all around them. Cecil waits, imagining all the things he could be and all the things that could happen in his story. Then it happens, down from the board he floats, onto the table and across the pages of a book. The adventure is great but he is soon pulled free of the book and into a book all of his own. He hadn't been forgotten after all. This uses a unique mixture of media, including photographs and collage, as well as some of Narelle Oliver's distinctive sketching. It is a fun story and useful for talking with children about their own story writing techniques, especially character development. It also has a nice undertone of following our dreams and emphasises how much can be achieved with some determination and self-drive. A wonderful final message from the late Narelle Oliver.
Nicole Nelson

Truly foul and cheesy animal jokes and facts by John Townsend

Ill. by David Antram. Big Sky Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9781925520484
(Age: 7+) Recommended for kids who like jokes. The introduction to this very funny book says it all: 'Warning - reading this book might not make you LOL (laugh out loud) but it could make you GOL (groan out loud), feel sick out loud or SEL (scream out loud)' pg. 4. What makes it stand out from the standard joke book are the foul facts that accompany the very humorous jokes. Often there is a double page spread, with one page having revolting details about the animal, then the opposite page having short riddles and jokes. Others like the section on hippopotamuses has 2 pages of hippo facts and then 4 pages of silly hippo jokes and riddles. Limericks and silly poems are also scattered throughout the book adding to the fun.
The foul facts will appeal to the target audience who will delight in finding out, for example, that 'the average elephant squeezes out 100kg of sloppy poo every single day' and that 'the sloth is the world's slowest mammal, so slow that revolting plants grow on its furry coat'. David Antram's black and white drawings also add to the hilarity of the book
This is a volume that can be dipped into and is sure to keep any child who love jokes and weird, nasty facts, occupied for hours.
Pat Pledger

The Pacific Room by Michael Fitzgerald

Transit Lounge, 2017. ISBN 9780995359550
(Age: Senior secondary - Adult) Recommended. The famous Italian painter Girolamo Nerli travelled to Samoa in 1892 to paint a portrait of the author of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, hoping to capture an apprehension of a state of mind that was 'not truly one but truly two'. The present day researcher Lewis Wakefield travels to Samoa to find out about the life of the author depicted in the painting - Robert Louis Stevenson, known as Tusitala, the teller of tales. Wakefield is one of twin brothers, his brother now dead, and is medicating for bipolar disorder. He is intrigued by the relationship Stevenson had with his Somoan servant Sosimo, and with the Somoan people who came to build a road to Stevenson's house, called the Road of the Loving Heart. In Samoa, Wakefield meets beautiful women who he discovers to be fa'afafine - between two genders 'in the manner of woman'. One of the fa'afafine, Teuila, a descendant of Sosimo, prepares to attend the wedding of her lover Henry to another.
This idea of dualities is an undercurrent throughout the novel, and we come to understand that beautiful lush Somoa may not be a place so much as a state of mind. And it is probably this that Stevenson felt so comfortable with; Somoa was sustenance for his inspiration as well as for his suffering health.
The novel is not biography but a shifting kaleidoscope of impressions of people, images and place, dream-like in quality, drawing us into a different experience that is at the heart of Samoa - another kind of Pacific Room, not an archive but a blending of sensations and memories. As readers, we come to experience something of the magic of Samoa as well.
Helen Eddy

Froggy green by Anna Walker

Puffin Books, 2017. ISBN 9780143785835
(Ages: 0-3) Board Book. Colours. This is a very simple book about colour and its vivid illustrations are a standout. It starts by stating, 'Everyone likes different colours', and then shows us some children and the colour that they like (e.g. 'Sam likes fireman red'). Each page shows the child and their favourite colour; for example, Olive who likes fairy pink is shown in a pink dress and is surrounded by pink flowers. Unfortunately, the page showing Charlie, who likes monster purple, may be misleading to toddlers. In each other instance, the named thing is the focus colour (sunshine yellow, froggy green, sky blue, etc.), but the monster is white on a purple background. Even Charlie, dressed as a monster, has nothing purple on. Polka-dot orange is another tenuous colour-object link but it does at least feature some orange polka-dots. The book finishes with the assertion that everyone loves rainbow icecream and the children are shown flying a rainbow-coloured kite and wearing an array of different colours. The last page asks the reader, 'Which colour do you like?' prompting a caregiver-child discussion about colour. When reading colour concept books children enjoy many opportunities to point to and name things they recognise. This also helps them to build object-colour associations. While this is a beautiful book, admirable in its simplicity, it is lacking in this regard. It may not engage children as much or solicit as much adult-child interaction as some other books in this genre.
Nicole Nelson

Opposite land by Charlotte Rose Hamlyn

Random House Australia, 2017. ISBN 9780143780816
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Have you ever wanted icecream for dinner and your mum has said in opposite land, well this happened to Stevie. She went to opposite land and found herself trying to save it. Opposite land is where socks wear feet, broccoli is meat, behind is ahead and people poop from their head!
The characters are original and funny; they learn and change as the story progresses. They have feelings and seem like real people. The characters play a big role in the plot. The plot drags you in and makes you want to keep reading. The plot is well organised and makes sense. The theme is funny but has meaning, the meaning is stand up for your friends and yourself. The setting changes and these changes are strange but funny. The book is set over a couple of days. The story has an imaginary feel, and the author has told the story through the characters. It's not just a great story, at the back of the book is information on how to draw some of the characters and a comic strip also on how to make an origami star.
I highly recommend this book for 10+ boys or girls. It is a book for people who like graphic novels and funny stories.
Grace Colliver, Year 6, Eastern Fleurieu School

Out of heart by Ifran Master

Hot Key Books 2017. ISBN 9781471405075
(Age: 12+) Recommended. The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body. A heart donation can be a wonderful and generous thing, giving another person another chance at life. When Adam's Dadda passes he leaves a great hole in the family, a hole which seemingly no one can fill. That is until William arrives on their doorstep with seemingly no reason other than curiosity about where his new heart came from. William is all alone in the world, without family or friends to turn to. Thanks to Mr. Shah's donation William isn't just given another chance at life, he is given another chance to live.
As time passes William becomes a familiar figure in the Shah family home, almost like part of the family. Farrah adores him, Adam finally finds a man he can look up to and talk to, and Yasmin gets the kind of support she needs to continue providing for her family. Times are tough. With Dadda's funeral and Yasmin struggling to earn a wage, Adam must get a job to help his mother. But working, at the cost of his education, is something Yasmin frowns on, and so he must struggle his way through school, work, and adolescence on top of his grief for his grandfather. Things only get worse when the local thugs come knocking to call in Mr. Shah's debt, a debt no one in the family knew. Dadda was not a gambler, but Adam knows who is. Can he control the situation or will the situation control him?
With allusions to the story of Icarus, Master presents a YA novel with a focus on family, grief, and relationships, as well as the power of organ donation. This coming-of-age story is recommended for young people twelve and up.
Kayla Gaskell, 21