Mr Birdsnest and the house next door by Julia Donaldson
Scholastic Australia, 2013. Paperback 74 p. ISBN: 9781742837109
(Age: 5-8) Highly recommended for lower school children, both boys
and girls. UK Children's Laureate and author of the much-loved The
Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson has produced a terrific read for the
newly independent readers of around 5-8 years. When Elmo and his
sister have to move house because Granny is moving in with them,
they really want their parents to buy the 'jungle house' with its
wild overgrown garden, lion door knocker, monkey patterned wallpaper
and resident big black spider. But sadly their parents choose the
much less exciting neighbouring place, which Elmo calls the
'flowerpot' house. The children look longingly over the fence at the
far more desirable next door residence until the temptation becomes
too much and they begin playing in the wild back garden - after all,
the house is still empty and nobody cares. When they find a rusty
old key in the yard, Elmo and his sister are elated to find it opens
the back door of the jungle house and they can roam to their hearts'
content, pretending the house is their very own. But oh oh, when Mr
Birdsnest decides to buy their house, they are discovered and
banished to their own pristine and boring home - until Granny needs
rescuing and they discover that perhaps having a neighbour in the
jungle house isn't so bad after all.
Younger readers growing in their confidence will love this story
with its fast pace and short chapters. Hannah Shaw's amusing
illustrations break up the text to present an easy-to-read layout.
Sue Warren
Word Hunters: The Curious Dictionary by Nick Earls and Terry Whidborne
UQP, August 2012. ISBN: 978 0 7022 4945 7. Paperback, 240 pp. RRP:
$14.95
Highly recommended for readers 10 and up who relish a well-paced
exciting story. As a long time fan of Nick Earls' works (often
laughing helplessly when reading them), and a total word nerd, I was
eager to read the first instalment of the Word Hunters
series - a collaboration between Nick and Terry Whidborne.
Al and Lexie are twins from Fig Tree Pocket in Brisbane and as
different as twins could possibly be. Al is a history 'freak' as
described by his sister Lexie, who apparently acquires all her
knowledge from reality tv shows. When Al's pet rat escapes in the
school library and scoots into a hole in the wall amidst the 'out of
bounds' renovations, Al retrieves him but also finds a very strange,
very old book called Walker & Fuller's Curious Dictionary.
Much to the twins' surprise, and indeed dismay, the book
mysteriously and magically transports them back in time where they
find themselves dressed in period clothing in 19th century Menlo
Park, New Jersey - in close proximity to Thomas Edison's laboratory.
It becomes apparent to the twins that they are firstly on the trail
of the history of the word 'hello' and their quest leads them in
turn to a 19th century whaling ship, the Battle of Hastings, the
library at Alexandria and more. From tracing the stable lineage of
one of the oldest words in the world to learning about the origins
of family names, the twins realise they must work together to
survive all manner of sometimes dangerous situations.
Along the way the twins are introduced some very strange characters,
particularly Caractacus, and come to realise that they are not the
only 'word hunters'. Could the mysterious disappearance of their
grandfather somehow be connected with word hunting? Who are the 'H'
characters who have left their initials carved throughout time,
along with tantalising anachronistic clues.
This adventure mystery is lively, funny and enlightening and Terry
Whidborne's steampunk-ish illustrations wonderfully match the style
and pace of the story. Etymology has never been so much fun!
The second in the series The Lost Hunters is now out and the
third in the series War of the Word Hunters is on its way.
Sue Warren
Saurus Street series by Nick Falk and Tony Flowers
Random House, 2013. pbk., ill., RRP $A12.95
Saurus Street 1: Tyrannosaurus in the Veggie Patch. ISBN
9781742756554.
Saurus Street 2: A Pterodactyl Stole My Homework, ISBN9781742756561.
Saurus Street 3: The Very Naughty Velociraptor,ISBN 9781742756578.
Saurus Street 4: An Allosaurus Ate My Uncle, ISBN 9781742756585.
(Age 5-70) Children love dinosaurs. The dinosaur collection was the
largest of my nonfiction section when I was library-based, and it
was the section most visited by my youngest readers. It took very
few visits for them to know where it was and search it
independently. A recent visit to the National Dinosaur
Museum with Miss 6 and 60 Year 1 classmates showed that
the interest has not waned, (and the theft of one of the dinosaurs
overnight just added to the excitement). They were able to get their
tongues around all those names without a hitch - even the
second-youngest little person in my life can point to a picture and
say, T-Rex. Of course, this is not new - we know that students
constantly ask for books about dinosaurs so to be able to offer them
a whole series of them that not only satisfy their interests but
also supports their developing reading skills is bliss-on-a-stick!
This could be the trigger that moves the reluctant reader along to
independence because they WANT to read the stories for themselves.
In the first book, Tyrannosaurus in the Veggie Patch, Jack wishes
for his own dinosaur but you can imagine his surprise when a live
one turns up in his vegetable patch! Much as he would like to keep
it, this soon proves impossible so he and his friend Toby build a
time machine to send it back to the Cretaceous period. Trouble is,
they end up going too! And so the adventures start... In the other
books in the series, Sam, Susie, Tom and Tam all have their very own
encounters that would be the envy of the readers, as well as
teaching them a little at the same time.
The humour is perfect for this age and speaks of an author that
knows just what appeals. The format of these books is perfect for
that 5-8 year old group with a large font which is interspersed with
other interesting fonts that really help that inner voice develop
expression and interest. Short sentences help carry the story along
at a fast clip and the vocabulary is really well-chosen. The speech
of the characters is age-appropriate but there are still technical
words used as well as figurative language that will really appeal.
The story is accompanied by engaging illustrations which contain a
lot of movement and humour and really support the text - there has
been a lot of thought put into their design and placement. Even
though each book is over 100 pages long, the choice and balance of
fonts, illustrations, and chapter lengths make them very accessible
to their target age of K-3. I have three six-year-olds in my life
and I know what is going to be the in-demand bedtime story when they
come to stay these holidays.
Barbara Braxton
Between the lives by Jessica Shirvington
HarperCollins, 2013. ISBN 9780732296261
Every 24 hours, seventeen year old Sabine lives in either Wellesley,
Massachusetts, or in Roxbury, Boston. How? She doesn't really know
but it has been her reality for as long as she can remember.
In Wellesley she has two brothers whom she prefers to ignore while
in Roxbury she has a little sister that she worships and who
worships her in return. In Wellesley she has money, lots of it, and
all that it can buy. In Roxbury she has attitude, her sister and
little else other than parents who are determined that her life will
be better, read wealthier, than theirs. Between the Lives observes Sabine's overwhelming desire to
live just one life, to be normal, as she is tired of ensuring that
the Sabine of one life doesn't leak into the life of the other. Both
of her lives are believable, her experiences those of a young woman
trying to define who she is and where she belongs, never an easy
task but, in Sabine's case, made doubly difficult.
In both lives Sabine yearns to live only one life and when she
breaks her arm all sorts of possibilities arise. Sabine realises
that she has a chance, or what she hopes is a chance, to determine
her future, to actually choose one life to live. But which life? And
if she is wrong what then?
Shirvington has created an interesting concept which she manages
with adroitness as Sabine risks all. There is just enough detail to
allow the reader to accept Sabine's two lives, her experiences in
each, and her ultimate actions.
And yet would any of us be willing to sacrifice so much, to turn our
backs on a life and everyone in it without a backward glance,
without regrets? People from all walks of life do occasionally do
this in a variety of ways. The one niggling concern is that Sabine's
option shouldn't be seen as an option for those who read her story.
Ros Lange
Lightning Jack by Glenda Millard
Ill. by Patricia Mullins. Scholastic, 2012.ISBN 978 1 74169 391 1.
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Poetry. Horses.
Imagination. In rhyming stanzas the story is told of Lightning Jack,
a magnificent black horse, a gallant, daring and brave horse, that
Sam Tulley wants to ride. He mounts the horse and uses him to
round up the cattle, stampeding down the hillside, and seen by the
overseer, he is offered five hundred steer if he will sell his
horse. The offer is rejected as Sam tells him it is not his horse to
sell, nor the man's to buy. Sam and his horse travel far and wide,
surveying the countryside, being part of other stories, ones in
which horses have a place. So he brings rain to the parched earth
near a farmstead, leaps over Dead Man's Leap when an armour plated
outlaw wants the horse, and rides with Phar Lap as he wins a race.
Each episode in Lightning Jack's life is magnificently visualised
with Patricia Mullins' wonderful tissue paper images, using Japanese
and Indian paper to create the most striking of illustrations. Sam
is astride the horse as it rears across the pages, buffetting the
cattle as he steers them from a stampede, flying out of the clouds
as he brings rain, and winning with Phar Lap by his side.
Sam's imagination leaps as he rides his midnight horse, the
repetition of the last line becoming a refrain through the text
which is alive with imagery, alliteration, metaphor and simile, the
richness of the text and the illustration complimenting each other
to perfection.
This a wonderful book to share, reading it aloud, while the students
repeat the refrain, a book to use to talk about imagination, or
horses, or incidents in Australian history in which horses have
played a part, and reading parts of The man from Snowy River
for comparison. Students will love to look more closely at the
illustrations and see how Mullins has created the image represented
on the pages, perhaps trying the technique for themselves.
Fran Knight
Shahana by Roseanne Hawke
Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN: 9781743312469. 216pgs. (pbk.)
(Age 11+) Recommended. Shahana is the first title in the Through
My Eyes series, a moving series of courage and hope that
focuses on children living in conflict zones around the world.
Thirteen-year-old orphan Shahana lives alone with her younger
brother Tanveer in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, because the rest
of her family have died as a result of the war over Kashmir. They
live very close to the Line of Control, the border which divides
war-torn Kashmir in two and has Pakistani and Indian soldiers each
patrolling their side of the fence. Shahana and Tanveer see a boy
lying unconscious near the border and when the boy finally gains
consciousness, they ask the boy where he is from and Zahid says who
will you tell? Will Shahana risk everything to help a boy from the
other side of the border? He can't stay, but how can she send him
away? They both need him, Shahana is not sure she can get through
another winter without help and Tanveer looks up to Zahid as the
brother he recently lost to this war.
A beautiful, easy to read and thought provoking story by South
Australian author Roseanne Hawke the story aims to increase
awareness of the devastating effects of war on children.The book
includes a timeline outlining the conflict between India and
Pakistan over Kashmir dating from 1947 through to 2012 and a
glossary, both adding to the reading experience. Teacher
notes are also available.
I would recommend this book for ages 11+.
Michelle Thomson
Jeremy by Chris Faille
Ill. by Danny Snell. Working Title Press, 2013. ISBN 978192150440.
2.
(Age: 4-6) Highly recommended. Picture book. Australian birds.
Rescue. What a delight. I love the use of a kookaburra as the
rescued bird and the Australian suburbs illustrated in all their
glory on the second to last page as the bird finds its home.
Jeremy is a fledgling brought inside by the house cat. The tale
proceeds as the boy cares for the bird, settling him on a hot water
bottle, feeding him thorough an eye dropper, and later, insects form
the garden. We watch the little bird grow, as its feathers fill out,
its beak becomes larger and the bird practices flying. It sits in
the garden watching the other birds, and each progression is marked,
giving the readers a precise idea of just how quickly the little
bird grows. Time passes until one day Jeremy flies off with the
other kookaburras on the electricity lines nearby.
Based on a true story, the tale will remind its readers of others
with a similar theme, Bob Graham's How to heal a broken wing for
example, but this one uses a kookaburra which is not often seen in
children/s books, and the tale could be used in discussion with
children about rescuing animals, the life cycle of birds, how to
raise a bird, the nature of cats and so on, the illustrations adding
a humorous undertone to the whole. The picture of Jeremy sitting on
its purple cushion on the bright green lounge chair is magnificent
and will draw any reader in to open the book.
And the end papers are used to list a large number of facts about
kookaburras which will further endear the readers to this Australian
bird.
Fran Knight
Plague: a cross on the door by Ann Turnbull
Ill. by Akbar Ali. Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 978 1 4081 8687 9
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Historical novel. Plague. With younger
children in mind, Ann Turnbull has turned her historical writing to
a new group of readers. Illustrated by Akbar Ali, the drawings show
some of the features of the times: half timbered housing, a warm
kitchen, the doctor dressed as a beaked harbinger of death, the
overcrowded cemetery, the cross on the door. In eighty pages,
Turnbull gives an account of the plague in London in 1665, told
through the eyes of young Sam, adopted by the shoemaker William
Kemp, with an eye to become his apprentice. But William dies of the
plague and the house shut up with Sam and his dog inside, only to be
released after forty days have elapsed.
Through his story Turnbull gives the younger reader an overview of
the plague and its effects on the crowded city. The reader hears of
the symptoms, the home remedies, the laws imposed by the London
borough, the Bill of Mortality and so on, giving a factual account
of the plague within the thrilling story of survival. A sequel, The
great fire: a city in flames is to follow. Stories of the plague and
fire of London have always been very popular, and this book would
sit well with the recent non fiction book, Plague unclassified:
secrets of the great plague revealed (Nick Hunter, A&C
Black).
Fran Knight
Athlete vs mathlete by W.C. Mack
Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 978 1 599 908 58 8.
Owen and Russell are fraternal twins who have very different
interests. Owen loves basketball and Russell loves maths and
Master of the Minds. They are each happy with their role until
the new basketball coach gets Russell to try out for basketball
because of his height. After reluctantly going along with it
against his better judgment, to his own and everyone else's surprise
he gets on the team. This leads to trouble with Owen and
Russell's non basketballing friends who think he is letting them
down in their efforts to win Master of the Minds. What follows
is an exploration of the relationship between brothers as Owen
resorts to dirty tactics to retain his position.
The story also explores how we each have our own concept of our
value and self-worth. This is done subtly and is resolved in a
way that restores the relationship between the brothers as they each
appreciate their strengths and realize that together they are
stronger.
There is enough about basketball to keep the sporting reader happy
whilst the other areas add some depth to the story. I think
that primary/middle school readers would find it an enjoyable read.
David Rayner
A cyclone is coming by Darlene Oxenham
Waarda series. Fremantle Press, 2013. ISBN 9781922089342.
Recommended for Year 3. This book tells of Annie, who lives with her
parents in a caravan in the north of Western Australia. Other
members of their extended Aboriginal family also live in the caravan
park, and a number of other children do as well. All the children
are great friends who do everything together in the holidays. They
swim, fish and collect shells amongst other things. One day when
they were considering going to the beach, Annie's Grandfather looked
at the sky and said it was not a good idea because a cyclone was
coming. Annie helps prepare for the cyclone including tying
the caravan to a large scraper that her father has placed next to
their van. The rest of the story covers the waiting, and then the
arrival of Cyclone Tessie, and gives an excellent picture of just
what happens in the event of a cyclone. When Annie goes back to
school, she is able to tell her class all about her adventure and
the bottle with a message which she and her friends found. When the
class asked what the message said they were told it was a story for
another time.
Rhoda Jenkin
Meet Mary MacKillop by Sally Murphy and Sonia Martinez
Random House, 2013. ISBN 9781742757216.Ebook ISBN 9781742757230
hbk., col. ill., RRP $A19.95.
(Age: 6+) Mary MacKillop believed deeply in educating children,
particularly those in remote areas of Australia, and in 1866, full
of excitement and enthusiasm she left her home and all that she knew
to set up her first school in Penola, South Australia. This is
the story of the establishment of that school and Mary's insistence
that it would be for every child regardless of their parent's status
or ability to pay. With a deep belief in God, she and her
sisters put their trust in His ability to provide and enable them to
survive and flourish. During the first year Mary decided to
become a nun, Sister Mary of the Cross, and founded the order of the
Sisters of St Joseph, 'doing God's work and helping the poor
wherever we can.'
Since her beatification in 1995 and subsequent canonisation in 2010,
the life and work of Mary MacKillop has become much more widely
known, and, as Australia's first saint, the interest spreads beyond
the Catholic Church. In this beautifully illustrated picture
book, we learn how and where it all began.
This is the second in the Meet . . . series, a collection of picture
books that tell the stories of some of Australia's most significant
people. Ned Kelly was the focus of the first, Captain James
Cook the next one. Designed to complement the outcomes of the
History strand of the Australian National Curriculum, it's a great
way to get the youngest readers interested in who has shaped this
country.
Barbara Braxton
Nell's festival of crisp winter glories by Glenda Millard
Ill. by Stephen Michael King. ABC Books, 2013. ISBN 9780733329845.
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Family. Age. Festivals. The family
Silk, in the small community of Cameron's Creek, is again presented in
all of its warmth. The wonderful Nell, grandmother to all, Ben her
adopted son and wife Annie with their children, including Perry
Angel, their tales told in previous award winning books, come
together for one last episode.
Perry has noticed that Nell is sometimes lonely, and he has also
been aware that his personal assistant at school is in the same
boat. He plots to bring them together, knowing they both used to
like dancing, and gathers some of the other family members together
to achieve this. In Mr Kauri's shop they plan their dance, but when
Nell falls and breaks her hip, plans must be altered to suit the
situation.
This is a wonderful book, full of the love and happiness that a
strong family brings to its members, Millard recreating a warm
centered rural life with its animals, jams, sharing of food when the
need arises, knitting, and simply watching out for each other. In
her beautiful prose, full of the richness of the lives she
describes, their characters come easily through, wrapping themselves
around the reader, drawing them into the circle Millard creates.
I have only read two of the Silk family stories and will search out
the others, saddened that this is the last as I am sure the many
fans will be as well.
Fran Knight
The bookman's tale by Charlie Lovett
Text, 2013. ISBN 9781922079336.
(Senior secondary readers) The bookman's tale by Charlie
Lovett is a thriller about bibliophiles, bibliopegy and greed. Books
are bound, hidden and discovered, along with the occasional body, in
this story that ranges from Shakespearean England to the 1990's.
While Shakespeare's canon is hallowed ground, the recognition of
Shakespeare as author is under threat from the anti-Stratfordians,
those who believe that Shakespeare could not have written the works
attributed to him. The main character, Peter Byerley, is an
antiquarian bookseller and book binder. He has the good fortune to
meet the beautiful Amanda, who not only falls in love with Peter but
is also very wealthy, thus allowing him to pursue his chosen
occupation. After the death of Amanda, Peter moves to England and
becomes involved with a book collector who may have a Folio edition
of Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Instead Peter finds a pamphlet
written by Robert Greene, a contemporary of Shakespeare, and
seemingly annotated with Shakespeare's marginalia. This would prove
beyond doubt that Shakespeare was the author of the plays, but is
the document a forgery? The owner of the pamphlet needs money and
Peter feels that he cannot be trusted. The author weaves a tangled
and complicated web of inter-family rivalry that stretches back to
the nineteenth century. In his investigation the mild-mannered Peter
becomes implicated in a murder, is trapped in a medieval chapel,
finds an underground tunnel, overcomes claustrophobia and outwits a
gun-toting murderer. Peter is convinced that the document he has is
a forgery, but he also believes that he knows where the original is.
In a retrospective deus ex machina, Peter himself is the rightful
owner of it.
There is a wealth of information here about books and book
restoration, about Shakespeare and his contemporaries and about
Shakespearean scholarship. This is the novel's strength. The plot
seems unbelievably Machiavellian and is quite complicated. Peter is
an unlikely hero but a convincing book lover. The novel is suitable
for older readers.
Jenny Hamilton
Max and George by Cori Brooke and Sue deGennaro
Penguin/Viking, 2013. ISBN 9780670076352. Hbk, RRP $A24.99
Max was never lonely. As long as there was a window, he had a
friend because George lived in windows. No matter where the window
was, Max could see George and he spent a long time looking at him.
Because they were very similar - same height, same clothes, and
whenever Max moved, so did George. They even shared the same
feelings. But then the time comes for Max to start school. And he's
nervous. Even though George was there in the school window,
Max's teacher made him sit where he couldn't see him. Will Max find
the confidence to leave George and make a real friend?
This is a delightful book, perfect for the child about to start
school and finding it hard to let go of what is known and take the
leap into the unknown. With its charming illustrations, it will
appeal to all children - those who are like Max and empathise with
him, and those like Sam who are a bit more confident and can
reassure him. Tip for parents - teach your child a joke before
they leave...
Barbara Braxton
Florentine and Pig and the lost pirate treasure by Eva Katzler
Ill. by Jess Mikhail. Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 9781408824405.
(Age: 5+) Picture book. Pirates. Humour. Things to do. Imagination.
Florentine and Pig are back with another adventure to please the
hearts of their fans. Stuck in the house on a cold and wet, wintry
day, they search around for something to do. Out of the dress-up box
comes a range of things to wear, and each is dressed as a pirate.
Pig with his pirate hat and telescope looks just the part, and
Florentine ambles behind him with her favourite sparkling cardigan
which is missing one button. They find a pirate map, and use the
furniture in the lounge room to create a ship on which to sail to
find the treasure mentioned in the map. Fun abounds as they go on
their adventure, and the story includes a list of the things they
need to take, as well as the recipes for the food mentioned, the hat
Pig wears, and the flag flown on their ship.
An entertaining look at using one's imagination, children will
thrill at the mischief the pair gets up to. Readers will love to try
things for themselves, and then cook the recipes given at the end of
the story. For teachers, this is another book to include in the
pirate books already available, and be a neat adjunct to work done
in using imagination and play. I can imagine many students in early
childhood setting wanting to emulate Florentine and Pig on their big
adventure, so have the dress-up box ready, along with the
ingredients for making the biscuits, cakes and pasta, as well as a
pirate hat and flag.
Fran Knight
