Stuff happens series, Penguin, 2016. ISBN 9781760141585
(Age: 7+) Recommended. School stories. Boys. Revenge.
Bullying. Drama.
The popular Stuff happens series explores how boys cope with
everyday situations at school, at home, with friends, playing sports
and hanging out. Monvale Primary School is preparing to perform in a
new musical The Schoolyard Jungle written by music teacher Mr.
Johnson. Dale has overcome his fears, taken part in the auditions
and been chosen for a special role. His Gran had coached him in a
song from West Side Story - 'I feel pretty'! Of
course, popular boy, super soccer and athletics star, Dan was given
the lead as the 'roar-some' lion. Second Monkey is a role that just
requires Dale to sing and dance with the animal chorus while Miranda
plays the stop sign, and Boaz is the grey papier-mache boulder.
At the dress rehearsal, Dale becomes stuck in his bright orange
monkey costume and makes a grand entrance right in the middle of Mr.
Johnson's speech. Everyone is flabbergasted. Of course, Dan is quick
to comment that Dale's outfit and hair colour are an exact match,
'you're a real ranga now, Dale!' The timeline of feelings at the end
of this chapter shows Dale at an all time low, suffering
embarrassment, humiliation and shame.
Is revenge the answer, does Dan need to be taught a lesson for this
verbal harassment? When Dale decides to sabotage Dan's lion costume
with Velcro, is it payback time?
Another high-interest chapter book for boys, for newly confident
readers, exploring the trials and triumphs of school and family
life.
Rhyllis Bignell
The little giraffe who lost her spots by Jedda Robaard
Little Creatures series. The Five Mile Press, 2016. ISBN
9781760400392
(Ages: 1-4) Recommended. This is a new title in the Little
Creatures series, all of which are about an animal who has
lost something and is trying to get it back. Others in the series
include The little mouse who lost her squeak and The little bear who
lost her way. They are all playful and enjoyable to read. In this
title, Little Giraffe wakes up feeling panicked because she has lost
her spots. She finds many other spots and even tries painting on
some new ones... but nothing can replace those she has lost.
Children will enjoy the funny ending when she realises she is still
wearing her pyjamas and her spots aren't lost after all!
The flaps - some which open up to double the page height - make for
an interactive reading experience for young children and the board
book format and durable flaps make it suitable for independent
exploration. The narrative, while kept short and simple, integrates
some more interesting vocabulary, such as panicked, successful and
familiar, so is wonderful word exposure for toddlers and
preschoolers. The soft, watercolour illustrations by Robaard
portray the cute, cartoon style main characters. The fun typeface is
large and integrated with the illustrations, making it perfect for
preschoolers and their developing awareness of print.
Nicole Smith-Forrest
The little elephant who lost his bath by Jedda Robaard
Little Creatures series. The Five Mile Press, 2016. ISBN
9781760400408
(Ages: 1-4) This is a new title in the Little Creatures
series, all of which are about an animal who has lost something and
is trying to get it back. Others in the series include The
little mouse who lost her squeak and The little bear who
lost her way. They are all playful and enjoyable to read. In
this title, Little Elephant wakes up feeling grouchy. He needs a
swim... but he doesn't know where he will find enough water. He
tries the shower, a fountain, a sprinkler, a stream, even a paddling
pool... but nothing seems to be big enough. Children will enjoy
the humourous illustrations showing Elephant trying to fit into a
tiny pool and being chased away from the sprinkler by a
hose-wielding chick. Eventually Elephant has a brilliant idea and
finds the perfect place for a bath.
The flaps - some which open up to double the page height - make for
an interactive reading experience for young children and the board
book format and durable flaps make it suitable for independent
exploration. The narrative, while kept short and simple, integrates
some more interesting vocabulary, such as grouchy, brilliant and
crowded, so is wonderful word exposure for toddlers and
preschoolers. The soft, watercolour illustrations by Robaard
portray the cute, cartoon style main characters. The fun typeface is
large and integrated with the illustrations, making it perfect for
preschoolers and their developing awareness of print.
Nicole Smith-Forrest
Boomerang and bat by Mark Greenwood
Ill. by Terry Denton. Allen and Unwin, 2016. ISBN 9781743319246
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended, Aboriginal themes, Aboriginal
cricketers, Cricket. Subtitled, The story of the real first
eleven, a cricket player or spectator will know immediately
what this is about. For others, the illustration on the front cover
will be enough to pique their interest and see what the themes will
be. Whatever the immediate impact of cover and title, readers will
quickly open this beautiful book to read the story or an amazing
group of Aboriginal cricketers who toured England in 1868.
1868. The date astonished me, after all, European settlers had only
been here eighty years, and for a group of Aboriginal cricketers to
take the game on an tour England is breathtaking. Initially they
were not allowed to leave Australia, but their manager, Charles
Lawrence, got around that problem, secretly getting them on a ship
in Victoria before sailing to England aboard the Parramatta
out of Sydney.
They wowed the players and spectators across England, but they
played so many games they became ill and when one of their team,
King Cole died, they returned to Australia, unheralded.
The detailed illustrations show the team in all its finery, playing
on the fields of England, defeating the teams they played against.
Some hints of racial tension are shown and the text shows the huge
pressure they were under to perform, as they not only played cricket
matches, but put on entertainments after the match with their
boomerangs and shields. No wonder Lawrence was keen to get them to
England.
But the dismay the readers will feel when they come to the end of
the book and realise that this group of young men were not
recognised in any way will hang heavily, particularly when compared
with the money heaped upon today's cricketers. It is galling to
compare the two, but that comparison came immediately to my mind.
It seems that these men simply returned to their lives on the
stations from where they came, while their talented captain, Johnny
Mullagh played on. Apart from the sporting theme, many discussions
could emanate from this book: Aboriginal participation in sport,
rewards for being top players, racism directed at Aboriginal
players, the test series today and so on.
Another book about Johnny Mullagh, Knockabout cricket by
Neridah McMullin (Scholastic 2015) could be readily used with Boomerang
and bat. The two would make an interesting pairing of the
theme offering differing styles of presentation. Both are a 'must
have' for any school library giving a different view of Aboriginal
participation in sport. And they sit well alongside the two
published about the early days of football, Kick it to me by
Neridah McMullin (Scholastic 2012) and Marngrook by Titta
Secombe (Magabala Books, 2012).
Fran Knight
One thousand hills by James Roy and Noel Zihabamwe
Scholastic (Omnibus) 2016. ISBN 9781762990750
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. Rwanda, Civil war. Beginning with a talk with a counsellor at his school in Belgium, a young man, at first resentful and wary, tells his story. The counsellor leads him gently into understanding that he needs to tell his story as it may explain his current unacceptable behaviour. The counsellor carefully leads the non committal Pascal into telling him about his family and then school, and church, drawing out the next part of his story, the shocking tale of a boy trying to keep alive. April, 1994, saw the first sequence of events which resulted in an horrific group of years in Rwanda when genocide wiped out eight hundred thousand people in one hundred days.
This book is not for the casual reader: it is a deeply moving expose of one boy's involvement in that first day of killing, exceeding anything we are likely to hear about. I read it within two days, wanting to know how it happened, wanting to know how this young man escaped the horror and was able to rebuild his life in Australia, but at the same time, I walked the house, putting the book aside and taking on any other task to break the emotional drain of reading it.
It is a tale simply told. Pascal is about eleven when it all happened, and he tells of his life with his family in a small village: we hear of the daily life, school, chores at home, Sunday at church, the friends and local shop. All the while small incidents occur which alert the reader to what is beginning to happen: we are aware of tension developing in the community as machetes appear, neighbours move away, the word 'cockroach' becomes widely used to mean something other than the house bug, the Tutsi people, and their teacher cries inexplicably, sending the children home early, while the radio broadcasts are so full of hate that his parents turn it off.
Violence erupts once the president is killed, and Pascal and his siblings are told to stay at home. His parents are fearful, but when Pascal's brother sneaks out, Pascal offers to go and fetch him back. Returning alone he sees piles of bodies along the road and his neighbours exhort him to return home quickly. Once home he finds his sister alone and his parents missing. They shelter in an old tank and when he hears the church bells, moves stealthily to the church for sanctuary, avoiding the men in trucks, and pacifying his sister. There he is sent away by his friend, the priest and looking back sees men with machetes close the doors on the thousand people inside. Pascal finds his sister and together they flee Rwanda, living in a refugee camp for ten years before he comes to Australia.
This story is harrowing to read but equally hard to put down. Through the eyes of an innocent young boy, we see images that no child should see. In this way it has similarities to The boy in the striped pyjamas (John Boyne) and Morris Gleitzman's Once series about Felix a young Jewish boy surviving during Nazi Germany. James Roy hopes that the book will serve to create some understanding of past events to ensure that it never happens again. And although I agree with him wholeheartedly, it seems that people have not heeded the lessons of history. And this will create a whole box of discussion points with students.
Fran Knight
Things I don't know by Meredith Badger
Girl v the World series. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012. ISBN
9781742971834
(Age: 12+) Recommended. LGBT, Friendship, Grandparents. When Leni's
friend, Anya tells them all that they will be competing in a kissing
competition to see who can have that first kiss amongst the group,
Leni is at a loss. She asks Leni to seek out how her best friend,
Adam views her, but Leni does not feel comfortable with this,
especially after Adam kisses her one evening after their track
training. She is confused.
But with her Nana staying in the house and making comments about how
she looks and deriding her training, home is not the place it used
to be. She feels separated from those she loves and finds some
solace with friend, Jo, the new girl in town, one with two mothers.
This easily read story about one girl finding her way in life as she
enters high school will have wide appeal. One in the series, Girl
v the World, this book shows some of the choices which await
young people. Her relationship with her Nana used to be far more
important but now, it is strained and hard to take, so she must work
out what to do. When Jo and she kiss practising for the kissing
competition, Leni is surprised at how deeply she feels this kiss,
unlike the one with Adam. She now must explore her sexuality and a
frank discussion with Mum displays her feelings and anxieties.
A cleverly told story all coming to fruition at the athletics
carnival, middle school readers will take Leni's dilemmas to heart.
For such a short book, I felt I knew the characters quite well, the
brief outlines of the people involved revealing their personalities
with ease.
Fran Knight
Pink by Lili Wilkinson
Allen and Unwin, 2009. ISBN 9781741758344
(Age: 13+) Highly recommended. LGBT, Coming of age, Sexuality,
Schools. Ava is unsure about what she wants in life but feels the
need to be pink, even if only for a while. She is drifting at her
state school, not wanting to stand out out by being serious about
her work, and applies for a scholarship to the Billy Hughes School
for Academic Excellence, much against the wishes of her parents.
Here she hopes to be challenged and encouraged to do better
academically, as well as wear pink, a colour she loves but has
forever been banned by her parents as gender stereotyping. But she
is unsure about what the change it will mean for her relationship
with Chloe her first love, and is even interested to see what it
will be like having a boyfriend.
Arriving at the school sees her fitting in immediately with a group
of girls she calls the Pastels. She is seduced by their girly talk,
their boyfriends, their aimless chatter, going shopping but is taken
aback by their single-minded view of their future selves. One girl,
Alexis insists on pairing Ava with a boy in the musical, but as she
is only part of the stage crew, the Screws, feels she hasn't a
chance. The reader can see from the start that her efforts at
fitting in will be difficult, the vacuous lifestyles of the private
school people she has befriended are very different from her own
aspirations and because she is keeping secrets, trouble is sure to
follow. And she has Chloe to contend with, and along the way a
growing admiration for the Screws develops. Many misunderstandings
later, the night of the musical performance is under way but by now
Ava has sidelined all who love her.
This is a funny, sharply observed look at one girl's attempts to be
one of the new crowd and her need to be different, if only for a
while. She is still unsure about her sexuality and wants to be able
to try different things. The book underlines the fluidity of
adolescence where all things are possible but eventually your own
sense of worth and integrity develops and is able to shine through.
Wilkinson always writes an intelligent book, and this one revealing
Ava's tussles with who she is, is also about loyalty, friendship,
love and sexuality.
Published in 2009, I am sorry I missed it then, but it is just as
relevant now and holds its own in the small but growing number of
LGBT books available for teens.
Fran Knight
Interview with Michael Grant
ISBN: 9781405283410.
Bestselling YA author Michael Grant is in Australia and New
Zealand to promote Front
Lines, the first book in his blockbuster new YA
series, Soldier Girl.
Welcome to ReadPlus, Michael.
Q: Do you write with a particular audience in mind?
A: I have had the great advantage as a writer of having paid my dues
down in the trenches, by which I mean writing work-for-hire jobs for
packagers. Packagers are middle-men who manage long-running series,
or at least that's what they were when we (my wife Katherine and I)
worked for them.
So, long before I sat down to write books that were purely mine (or
ours) I'd co-authored something like seventeen Sweet Valley
Twins, a bunch of Girl Talk books, all kinds of Disney
projects involving Mermaid, Aladdin, Duck and
Mouse and a bunch more stuff I barely remember.
All of that happened before Katherine and I sort of declared our
independence from packagers with Animorphs. Animorphs
was huge. It ended up running to 60 books, with more than 30 million
sold. So we were 'overnight sensations' who'd already written 50 or
so books. Animorphs was the first time Katherine and I had complete
control, so we had to think about the potential readers. We had a
lot of experience but still, we collected all the scientific
evidence we could find, summoned experts, and. . . Nah, none of
that. Our idea of the audience was, 'Whoever reads Goosebumps.'
On the theory that, 'That's a lot of kids.'
Many people have, over the years, written about how dark and
disturbing Animorphs was, how it snuck in philosophical
themes and moral gray zones and frequently questionable heroes.
Nothing about Animorphs was age-appropriate. It was a dark
concept, and being true to character and story took us to dark
places. So we went.
We didn't care then about 'appropriate,' and I don't care now. The
notion that Kid X at age Y can read A but not B, is bizarre to me.
Don't we all want kids to read? Do we think the best way to
accomplish that goal is by snatching the books that interest them
out of their hands? Kid X can and should read whatever Kid X wants
to read. If it's too much, Kid X will stop and go read something
else.
When I was 9 years old I was reading Ivanhoe and Oliver
Twist and Hardy Boys and Tom Swift and my
dad's Playboys and I turned out. . . well, okay, bad
example. But these are books not heroin. This is a good addiction.
We all want people of all ages reading, right? So, let's let them do
that.
As to whether I'm writing for male or female readers my first
reaction is puzzlement. I mean, I'm a guy but I read Little
Women when I was a kid. I don't recall feeling any less
masculine as a result. I read Nancy Drew, too, along with Hardy
Boys and Tom Swift and classics like Ivanhoe
or Oliver Twist. Was I not supposed to read Anna
Karenina because it's about a girl? Did I breach gender
protocol by reading Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters?
You know Frankenstein? Written by a woman. So. . . girl
book?
I mean, other than as a marketing concept, what does any of that boy
book, girl book thing even mean? The rough working definition of
Young Adult literature is: books where major characters are under
the legal drinking age. But I think even drawing sharp lines there
is wrong, let alone further subdividing by gender. 'They kiss.' Girl
Book! 'They explode.' Boy book! Really?
I feel sometimes a need to check my calendar to make sure I haven't
fallen into a wormhole and re-emerged in the 1970's.
Look, I've written or co-written 150 plus books. From Animorphs
and Gone and BZRK I've gotten letters from readers
thanking me for exactly the stuff that some would have called
inappropriate. I've lost track of how many now-grown readers have
written to say that because of Animorphs they became human
rights lawyers or scientists. Thousands of letters and Tweets saying
I used to hate to read, then I found Gone. You know what
letter I've never gotten? The one that says I was traumatized by
your books. Or the one that says, I'm a boy and I was horrified to
discover there are girls in your books.
Basically, when I write I have a story to tell. I have characters. I
will be true to my characters and my story and if the results are
not quite right for this demographic niche or that slice of
audience, well, too bad, I guess. They can go read some other book.
Do I write for girls? For boys? For parents? For teachers? For
homeless people who pick my book out of a trash bin? Yes. And also,
no. Because while I'd love everyone to read every single word I ever
write, (I believe that's the Fifth Circle of Dante's Hell) I'm not
writing for anyone. I'm not even writing for myself. I'm telling a
story I made up, about some people I made up, because I like doing
that, and they pay me.
The war that saved my life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Text Publishing, 2016. ISBN 9781925355642
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Disability. World War 2. Children in
war. Winner of many awards (Newbery Honor (2016), Schneider Family
Book Award for Middle School (2016), Odyssey Award (2016), Dorothy
Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2017), Goodreads
Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade and Children's (2015)) The war
that saved my life is a moving and uplifting story of Ada, a young
girl with an un-repaired clubfoot, who overcomes incredible odds, in
her fight to save her life. Living in poverty in London, with a
cruel and neglectful mother who hates her for her clubfoot, Ada is
not allowed outside and sees only the small world that is available
to her from the upstairs window. She looks after her little brother
Jamie, and slowly and painfully teaches herself to walk. When war
threatens and children are evacuated to the country to be safe, Ada
and Jamie go to live with Susan, a grieving woman who doesn't want
them. There Ada teaches herself to ride Butter, the pony living in
the paddock belonging to the house, and gradually Susan and the
children begin to trust each other and love grows. She learns to
read and watch for German spies, but there are many difficulties to
overcome - not the least the mother who may take them away again.
Worthy of all the awards that it has won, this book is an uplifting
read of one girl overcoming incredible odds. The reader is carried
along by the story of Ada's trials and triumphs, not just the
physical ones of teaching herself to walk and to ride a horse, but
her emotional ones of learning to trust adults and making friends.
Set against the story of World War 2, the author subtly gives the
reader an insight into the life of poor people in the 1940's, their
attitude to physical disabilities, class, children who favour their
left hand, as well as the bombings, the evacuation of children, food
rationing and watching for spies. The content and the flowing
narrative would also make it a great read-aloud as a class novel.
Beautifully written, this book has wide appeal with its themes of
overcoming adversity, adventure, history and family and coming of
age.
Pat Pledger
Goodnight, mice by Frances Watts
Ill. by Judy Watson. Harper Collins, 2016. ISBN 9780733335303
(Ages: 1-5) Recommended. Board book edition. This is a board book
edition of the CBCA 2012 Notable Book and winner of the Prime
Minister's Literary Awards 2012. Goodnight, mice is a
rhyming story that follows three mice as they get ready for bed with
help from their mother and father. Even the youngest of children
will be able to relate to the mice's bedtime routine. There are
touches of gentle humour that young children will find funny, such
as father getting all wet at bathtime. The relationships between the
mice are warm and affectionate and the illustrations and text
highlight the joys of simple time spent as a family and portray the
warmth and cosiness of a happy, loving home. A board book edition is
apt for this title, as even the youngest children will enjoy the
easy listening rhyme and the colourful illustrations make it
appealing for independent exploration. The flow and rhythm of the
story cannot be faulted and is a joy to read aloud. A perfect
bedtime story.
Nicole Smith-Forrest
Did you take the B from my -ook? by Beck and Matt Stanton
Books that drive people crazy! series. ABC Books, 2016. ISBN
9780733334832
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Another entertaining read-aloud
picture book from Beck and Matt Stanton is ready to delight the
reader and their audience - Did You Take the B from My -ook?
What happens when your favourite letter b disappears from your
story, after an enormous sneeze?
Now it is time to trip up the adult reading aloud. Each tricky
statement about things that are loved is missing the beginning
letter: ed not bed, all - ball, ull - bull. Each is followed by
questions that demand an audience response; they will love the
repartee paired with the simple visual cues, especially the large
capital B running away. The large white text placed on the solid
colour backgrounds is accessible to a whole class or group; wait for
their laughter and reactions. Expressive reading and change of tone
assists with their engagement.
Excitement builds in the second half when the individual animals and
objects come back, stacked up on the bed and balanced precariously.
The final demand is almost at fever pitch - 'Come back B!' and the
story ends brilliantly. Bravo!
A wonderful resource for educators, useful as a lead in to writing
stories with alternative missing letters or sounds, alphabet books
and phonics lessons, for drama and oral presentations.
Rhyllis Bignell
Listening by Lisa Kerr
Cheeky Monkey manners. The Five Mile Press, 2016. ISBN
9781760402679
(Ages: 2-5) This is another in the Cheeky Monkey manners
series (Please, Thank you, Sorry, Excuse
me) and one of many in the Cheeky Monkey series. The
small board book format is suited to preschool and early childhood
and is a fun way to springboard discussions about manners - what
they are, and when to use them. As with the other Cheeky Monkey
books, the colourful illustrations are visually appealing and large
without great amounts of detail; Cheeky Monkey is the main element
on each page with a secondary focus on the other animals and their
facial expressions. There are, however, many additional small
animals (frogs, birds, mice, butterflies, etc.) which will enable
younger children to retain focus, give them things to search for and
foster discussions about the illustrations.
Cheeky Monkey is not really cheeky; he just hasn't learned how to
listen properly yet. When his mother asks him to listen carefully
and fetch some things from the shop, Cheeky Monkey only really hears
the 'buy yourself a little treat' part. Needless to say, he ends up
bringing his mother all the wrong things and has to go back to the
store without his treat. Cheeky Monkey promises to listen more
carefully in the future. Social skills books such as these can often
be overly didactic, but this one is understanding of children and of
how hard it is to listen properly. It lets them know that it is okay
to have trouble listening sometimes, but highlights the
importance of trying hard. It also maintains a sense of fun and
children will giggle about what Cheeky Monkey mistakenly brings back
for his mum! The text manages to successfully tell an engaging
story, get a message across and remain concise. With only five
double-page spreads this book will keep young readers interested
until the very end. Overall, it is a fun, simple way to introduce
the idea of taking turns and learn some strategies for how to listen.
Nicole Smith-Forrest
Meet . . . Don Bradman by Coral Vass
Ill. By Brad Howe. Penguin Random House, 2016. ISBN 9781925324891
(Age: 6+) Recommended. Cricket. Meet . . . Don Bradman is
the latest in the popular Meet . . . series and showcases
the famous cricketer in a meaningful way that will delight children
and provide extra information about his life and times. Coral Vass
has written an engaging book that brings Don Bradman to life. The
book starts off with his early life when he loved to practise
cricket using a golf ball and a cricket stump for a bat. After
watching Australia play England in the Ashes he was determined to
one day play on the Sydney Cricket Ground. At the age of 14, he left
school but was too young to join the local cricket team. Instead he
played tennis successfully, but cricket was his first love and when
he was 16 he joined the cricket club, making 234 not in less than
three hours. He then went on to become a very successful cricketer,
thrilling the crowds and giving heart to Australia during the Great
Depression.
Brad Howe's often comical illustrations have great appeal, as he
shows Don Bradman emerging from a very young boy to the older great
cricketer, at the same time giving a good impression of the life of
the times, with drawings of the type of clothes that were worn, food
that was eaten and lifestyle of the people.
An historical timeline at the rear of the book details Bradman's
career and is a great way to culminate the book and give the reader
the opportunity to go over his life, reflecting on what he achieved.
This is an enlightening and entertaining read that is sure to have
great popular appeal.
Pat Pledger
Tiny Timmy makes the grade by Tim Cahill and Julian Gray
Ill. by Heath McKenzie. Tiny Timmy bk 2. Scholastic
Australia, 2016. ISBN 9781760273644
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Themes: Soccer, Sports, Teamwork. Tim Cahill,
Socceroos superstar has co-authored a series of sport-based junior
novels filled with likeable characters, tips and fun facts that are
easy to read. His goal is to foster a love of reading amongst young
sports fans.
Follow your dreams is the underpinning theme for Tiny Timmy makes
the grade. With hard work, dedication, plenty of backyard and after
school practices, young Timmy is chosen for the Rep Team. His
special skill is combining a turbo-powered jump with a header to
shoot straight into the net. Even when Studs and Hacker, two
bullies, taunt him, call him names and play pranks on him, Timmy is
not fazed.
When Timmy spends time week after week on the bench, Coach Roach
offers Timmy some wise advice - to be the best Super Sub he can be,
researching soccer skills online; playing fun family matches
sometimes even Rugby games with his cousins and brothers.
The simple to read narrative engages the reader's interest by
incorporating different sizes of font, words in bold, graduated
sizes, animated words and bigger spacing. Heath McKenzie's line
drawings are snapshots of the trials and triumphs of Timmy, his
family and his team. There are humourous scenes throughout -
backyard disasters - when his brother Kyah's science experiment
explodes and great soccer moments. This series is great for
high-interest, lower reading age students as well.
Rhyllis Bignell
Tiny Timmy: Soccer Superstar by Tim Cahill and Julian Gray
Scholastic, 2015. ISBN 9781760158880
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. Soccer, Tim Cahill, Bullying,
Achievement. Tim Cahill gives an outline his early life in short
easy to read chapters, using different fonts and illustrations for
the younger reader to develop an idea of the commitment it takes to
be a good sports player. Gently humorous details are given to
introduce the range of skills it takes to be a soccer star.
Tim is known as Tiny Timmy, his stature overlooked by many when he
tries out for the soccer team. Older kids make rude remarks, and
even girls are chosen before him to be part of the team. Used as the
orange boy, he is determined to prove his worth and keeps practising
all the time. He asks all those around him how he can become taller,
with some very funny results. Readers will chuckle at these attempts
to change his size. The coach sees his efforts and suggests that the
only way he can make the team is by continuous practice, and
practice he does in every spare minute through the day. And one day
in trying to escape a vicious dog, he realises just what he can do
with his feet. The following week he becomes the spare, and when
called to the field, he uses his newly learnt skills to save the
day.
This is a lovely story of striving to achieve your goal, and will
appeal to the fans of Tim Cahill and soccer in middle primary
school. The characters are clearly defined, the story simply told
using a variety of techniques to make some words stand out, with
illustrations by Heath McKenzie used to break up the page. The theme
of bullying lies within the story, as part of the background against
which Cahill strives to be better, but the emphasis on doing your
best is more important and will be the idea taken away by the
reader.
This is the first in what should prove to be an excellent and
inviting series of books introducing the game of soccer to a wider
audience by Socceroos legend, Tim Cahill, and Julian Gray.
Fran Knight
