Reviews

Somewhere in Australia by Marcello Pennacchio

Ill. by Danny Snell. Scholastic, 2013. ISBN 9781741695229.Hardcover. RRP $24.99.
(Age: 3-6) Themes: Australian Animals - Poetry, Australia -Landscape. There is a popular trend for authors to adapt familiar stories and rhymes for the Australian audience. The picture book starts with 'Somewhere in Australia, in a land of scorching sun, lived a mother kangaroo and her little joey one.' The text by Marcello Pennacchio is loosely based on the classic rhyme Over in the meadow. On each double-page spread we see Australian animals, birds and reptiles undertaking activities in their natural environment. Following the pattern of the classic rhyme one more animal is added to the animal family on the next spread. This is a great book for reading aloud to a young audience although some of the rhyming metre is a little out of kilter.
Danny Snell's painted backgrounds including the outback, spinifex, rainforest and river bring a visual depth to the text. From the mother kangaroo and her joey to the red-back spider and her spiderlings, each creature is beautifully portrayed in natural colours.  
Somewhere in Australia can be used as maths activity - counting or adding up the number of animals represented in the whole story. This could lead into a literacy unit making another book representing the numbers for eleven to fifteen or twenty. In Science students could research and write a report on the animals' life cycles and habitats. For an English lesson, students could use write their own verse modelling the text.
Additional activities can be found in The Standing Orders section of the Scholastic website.
Recommended RA 4-6, Reading Audience 3-6.
Rhyllis Bignell

January First by Michael Schofield

Hardie Grant, 2013. ISBN 9781742705033. pbk., 332pp
Every now and then I picked up a book which so absorbs me I read it almost without pause. January First was one of these. While it is subtitled A child's descent into madness and her father's struggle to save her, it is so much more than that. I first became aware of January (or Jani as she insists on) through the wonder of daytime television, and when I discovered her father had written a book I couldn't wait to get it.
From birth, Jani is a challenging child. She never slept for more than 20-30 minutes at a time and then only if her parents, Michael and Susan, spent the day stimulating her and taking her to places to tire her out. By the time she was one she was speaking in complete sentences, by the time she is two she is asking about negative numbers. She has a number of imaginary friends, particularly a cat called 400 and seven rats named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and they all live on Calalini. Convinced she is a genius, her parents are finally able to get an IQ test done which shows that it is 146 - not quite as high as they were expecting but given her age, still significant. At the same time Jani is showing very different behaviours from that expected of a toddler, and she is quite antisocial. Her parents put this down to the disconnect between her chronological age and her mental capabilities and her father is determined to protect her potential often clashing with his wife who wants her to socialise in the way that regular pre-schoolers do. It becomes a cause of friction between them, and in some ways, blinkers Michael's approach.
Only when her brother Bohdi is born and Jani is so violent towards him from the day they bring him home that neither child can be left on their own, do alarm bells start to ring and Michael and Susan begin to search for answers. Jani is assessed by psychologists and psychiatrists, hospitalised, medicated at levels which would turn an adult to a zombie, yet her behaviour scarcely changes. Nothing can stop Jani obeying Wednesday's commands to hit Bohdi, and even though Michael and Susan put themselves in harm's way to protect him, nothing will distract her until she has carried out what needs to be done.
January First is Michael's story of his daughter's life, the battles he took on, the mistakes he made, his roller-coaster relationship with Susan as both seek to give Jani a stable, if not ordinary, life and a safe haven for Bohdi. It is a story of frustration, despair, hope and faith.
But it is also the story of a society that still sees mental illness as a stigma rather than accepting a broken brain in the way it accepts a broken leg. It is a story of a society where there appears to be little support for parents of mentally ill children so there only respite is when the child is in school in a situation never designed to cater for such extreme needs or when she is hospitalised in circumstances that make your jaw drop at the lack of empathy and care. It is a story of a system that is not geared to cater for and manage mental illness in children. It is a story of a system where health care is dependent on your ability to pay and the health insurer's willingness to do so, so that as well as battling the illness, you also have to battle bureaucracy. It is a story that will break your heart and make you want to fight for the rights of Jani and others like her.
When I was at teachers college as a young mum, we had to visit a local hospital where severely physically and mentally disabled children lived and I gave thanks that my newborn son was so healthy. As a grandparent, I give thanks that my little people are not Jani. As a teacher, I gained great insight into what it must be like for parents living with a child with a mental illness. Jani's story puts things into perspective. There's a saying that there is always someone worse off than you, but in this case, it would be hard to know what that would be particularly as it now seems that Bohdi is following Jani's path
I thank Michael Schofield for writing it - there is so much we can learn from his baring his soul in this way. I hope he and Susan continue to have the courage and strength and love that shine through this book on every page, and that the rest of us listen and do what we can to make life better for parents and children in this situation.
This book is an absolute must-read - just ensure that you give yourself a long, interrupted time to do so, and give every child in your life a warmer smile today.
Barbara Braxton

Meet Lina by Sally Rippin

Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Puffin Books, 2013. ISBN 9780143307006. pbk., 132pp., RRP $A14.95.
(Age: 8-11) Melbourne, 1956. While the city might have been abuzz with the impending Olympic Games, they are not Lina's main concern. As the only daughter of strict, traditional Italian parents who have come to Australia to escape the aftermath of war-torn Europe, Lina has won a scholarship to an exclusive Catholic girls' school. But she feels she is from the wrong side of the tracks and is struggling to feel that she belongs. She is ashamed of her humble parents and her home, and goes to considerable lengths to hide them.
But she is a budding writer and after sharing a story she has written at an assembly, the spotlight falls on her. People appreciate her for her story-telling skills, but the event is soured by the lie she told her father and the criticism of Sarah Buttersworth whose nose is out of joint because her former friend Mary has now taken Lina under her wing, and that's a social step too far for Sarah. 'Nice story', she said, smiling stiffly. 'Though I was surprised you live in Carlton.' However, a stolen afternoon at Mary's where she is overwhelmed by the wealth and possessions, sparks an idea that starts to turn life around for Lina. But it also brings its share of complications that lead to an unexpected situation.
This is the first of this mini-series within the larger series of Our Australian Girl, a series which features a girl like me in a time gone by. There are 18 books in the series, with each character having several books to tell her story. While Lina's story was engaging, I would have liked to have had the others available to make the story complete - while the ending sets up the next story, it really needs that next story there. But perhaps that's an adult perspective and young girls will wait eagerly (and more patiently) for the next installment.
The series itself aims to encourage a new generation to discover our history and culture in all its diversity, and to celebrate the independence of spirit that we treasure as Australians and its publication is timely considering the rollout of the History strand of the national curriculum over the next few years (not till 2016 in primary schools in NSW). Historical fiction is a great way to take students out of their world into new ones and this book offers a number of opportunities for that. For example, despite its appeal to girls, within the story Lina and Mary make a magazine of the times and so that could become a group activity that would require a lot of research, writing and presentation skills that would engage all students. It could also provide opportunities for students to talk to their grandparents and explore and understand the value of oral histories. There could also be activities which compare and contrast schooling then and now - I'm sure many modern eyes would be raised! Such assignments help students understand the context of the times and the novel, a critical element if they are to appreciate it fully.
The website provides a lot of information about the other characters who feature in the series, as well as reviews, activities, author information and extracts to entice. Based on Meet Lina and what I've read of the others in this series, I think it will be a winner . . . just what the 8-11 year olds are demanding.
Barbara Braxton

Big Thursday by Anne Brooksbank

Penguin, 2013. ISBN 9780143567165.
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. As the cover and title suggest, surfing forms the background to some key events in this story but in reality it is less a book about surfing than a book about family relationships and the love of a son for his father.
Nat has shared some wonderful times with his dad, Luke, who was a surfing hero as a young man. Destined for a golden surfing future, Luke chose instead to work in the world of business and the large family home on the lake, the two cars and boat, are all signs of his success. But all this has changed. Not only has Luke's business suffered due to the global financial crisis but also he has been implicated in fraudulent dealings. His job is gone, the house and boat must go and for the next two years, Luke must spend weekends in prison.
Nat's world has literally been turned upside down. Yet rather than worry about himself, Nat is deeply concerned about his father's emotional wellbeing. Despite the criminal charges against Luke, Nat always has faith in his father, it is Luke who must grow in understanding as the novel proceeds, learning to recognise his own emotional trauma and take responsibility for his actions.
Nat is a likable young lad, a credible mix of resilience and anxiety; readers will care about his journey. The climax of the story, where father and son face fierce surf together, is fast-paced and believable and results in a satisfying conclusion to events and themes. It is fitting that Luke should find redemption in the surf.
This novel is set in the same world as two of Anne Brooksbank's previous novels: Mother's Day and Father's Day. Characters from these books make a brief but important appearance, however, readers do not need to be familiar with these books to enjoy Big Thursday. All three books traverse similar territory: in a time of family crisis, parent-child relationships can be explored in a meaningful way.
This is an engaging novel which should appeal to both boys and girls, whether or not they are surfing fans.
Deborah Marshall

Ducky's nest by Gillian Rubinstein and Terry Denton

Walker Books, 2013. ISBN 1 922077 72 1
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Change. First published in 1999, this beautifully crafted and illustrated book will find a host of new fans amongst children, parents and teachers as the story unfolds.
At its simplest the tale is of a lost toy, left in the park by a young child. The toy duck is taken aside and given shelter by the real ducks and swans in the gardens, while the child back home grieves for her lost Duckie which sleeps with her each night. Grandma and Claudie return to the park the next day and find the toy and take it back home.
But looking more closely the reader sees that the Grandmother is there because Mum is in hospital having another baby. Claudie is anxious and so all the more concerned about her lost toy. Its return sees her offering it to her baby brother, accepting the change that is going on in her life. Nurturing is a constant theme in this book, with Grandma holding Claudie close when she goes to bed, Claudie holding Duckie, the families of birds on the pond at the gardens, the care of Duckie by the ducks and swans overnight, and their search for Duckie's home, and finally the loving family scene at the end where Claudie gives her new brother her toy.
Denton's lovely pencil and water colour illustrations are delightful, rendering the Melbourne Botanical Gardens with love and affection. As night draws in the sky becomes a darker blue and feels much more ominous as Duckie is alone in the park, but as morning approaches and Claudie goes to retrieve him, the sky clears. Readers will love to find various animals hidden both in the gardens and the bedrooms of the children.
At the end of the book, as with the other in the Walker books series republishing Australian Classics, there is a piece by both the original editor (Mark McLeod), author (Gillian Rubinstein) and illustrator (Terry Denton) telling of the ideas behind both the tale and its illustrations and how the book fared when first published. It makes fascinating reading and adds considerably to the new publication.
Fran Knight

Don't turn around by Michelle Gagnon

Persefone 1. Harper, 2012. ISBN 9780062102904.
(Age 12+) Recommended. Thriller. Computers. ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2013. Noa wakes up on a metal bench with an IVF in her arm and she knows that something is wrong. The room doesn't look like a hospital and fearing the worst she manages to escape. Fleeing the foster care system she has kept alive by using her computer skills and she falls back on these to find out what is happening to her. Peter, another hacker who has set up Alliance, a hacking group, contacts her and together they gain information about the terrible secret that the corporation, AMRF, is hiding.
There is non stop action in this suspenseful story that I just had to finish as quickly as I could. The mixture of a frenetic pace, lots of narrow escapes and two computer hackers on the run was addictive. I avidly followed Noa and Peter as they hacked their way into computers to learn about what was happening. The plot was handled very well and held together in a very exciting way. I found the idea of homeless runaways being targetted for medical research quite believable and the big corporation was certainly ruthless. A couple of questions that left me wondering at the end (before I realised that it was the first book in a series) will no double be answered in future instalments.
I must admit that I am now tempted to pick up Michelle Gagnon's adult thrillers as I found this one so compulsive. This will appeal to people who like thrillers and I think that it may even entice reluctant readers.
Pat Pledger

The Mimosa Tree by Antonella Preto

Fremantle Press, 2013. ISBN 978 1 922089 19 9.
(Age: 14+) Western Australia. 1980's. Drug use. Growing up. Mira is spellbound by her new life: she has cut her hair, said goodbye to her stifling Catholic school and ignored the attempts by some of her classmates to keep in touch. University begins tomorrow, a whole new life is before her and she cannot wait. Home is claustrophobic, her mother and her aunts circle, dolling out advice with the spagetti, proud of the fact that she is to taken this step, but very uncertain, knowing that all she needs is to marry and have children as they did.
But things are changing at home as well. Her dispirited father lopes into view, demanding and non communicative, her mother has had cancer and there is the hint that it may be returning, one of her aunts is unhappy with her marriage, while at uni, Mira meets new people and goes down paths they cannot dream of. At a party she finds that a boy she thought of as a friend is unreliable, but she seems drawn to him and continues the friendship despite her misgivings, eventually moving in with him in a near demolished house.
A growing up story set in the 1980's where kids experimented with hallucinogenic drugs, Mira is a well rounded character, vulnerable, fascinating, naive and able to bounce back although the death of her mother sees her bury herself in sorrow until her aunts try to break the cycle she has built for herself.
With overtones of Looking for Alibrandi, this story of an Italian girl moving away form home and finding her own feet is infectious, making the reader think about their own move away from home and family and younger readers to ponder on what life holds for them once they leave school. But Mira takes the LSD path, burying herself in the hallucinogenic drug until a bad trip sees her rouse herself to take hold of her life once again. Not a story for younger readers.
Fran Knight

Meet Ned Kelly by Janeen Brian

Ill. by Matt Adams. Random House, 2013. ISBN 9781742757186. hbk., RRP $19.95.
'Ned Kelly, you are GUILTY of murder!' said the judge. Our Ned was but twenty five years old . . . But his story is still being told.' And so it is, including just earlier this year when his remains were finally interred next to his mother in an unmarked grave at Greta in Victoria, 233 years after his death. Because he remains such a controversial figure, either hero or villain, Ned Kelly is part of the story of this nation and this picture book version, told in verse by Janeen Brian and beautifully illustrated by Matt Adams, is perfect for introducing him to younger students. It tells the story from his schooldays through to his conviction in an unbiased fashion that will engage and entertain. Students will appreciate that he was just an ordinary kid much like them, but circumstances led him to make some choices that had unforeseen consequences. It provides a great basis for examining those choices, discussing alternatives and debating whether he should be held in the esteem he is.
This is the first in a series of books that will feature Australia's most famous including Saint Mary MacKillop, Douglas Mawson and Captain James Cook. They will fill the gap of being able to introduce younger students to those people they need to know about in a format and language that meets their needs and abilities. This is a great start that bodes well for the rest in the series.
Barbara Braxton

The Discovery by Robert Irwin and Jack Wells

Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter. Random House, 2013. ISBN: 9781864718454.
When nine year old Robert is allowed to visit an archaeological dig which is involved in hunting for dinosaur fossils, his adventure begins. If there is anything he is more passionate about than the reptiles at his home at the Australia Zoo, it is dinosaurs. After his excitement at uncovering some fossils, Robert finds himself being transported back to the time at which the dinosaurs actually roamed the earth and he finds himself taking part in an even bigger adventure! Will he survive to tell the tale?
Written by a nine year old boy, this could certainly not be called a book of great literary merit. It is, however, a series which would probably hold some appeal to the emergent reader who wants to read a simple novel containing a little excitement. With double spaced, easy to read font and full page illustrations to support the text, the book would provide few challenges, apart from the names of the various creatures Robert encounters. Its theme of dinosaurs would also provide a major draw card to many young boys who are passionate about the topic. As a first time slip book for young children, this would probably appeal to boys of a similar age to the protagonist.
Jo Schenkel

The fair dinkum war by David Cox

Allen and Unwin, 2013. ISBN 9781 74331 062 5.
(Age 7+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Looking back. War. World War Two is in the background of this family's life as it moves to the city while their father overseers a western sheep station, allowing the children to be involved in things they had never experienced before. David remembers his new teacher taking them to the street to see the American soldiers heading to their camp on one side of the town. He shows in his illustrations the newspaper of the day headlining the Japanese bombing of Darwin, and then unfolds the various ways in which the children do their bit for the war effort: putting up black out curtains, collecting old tyres. Everyday is regulated by the ration books, and an air raid shelter is built into the garden and stocked with canned foods while trenches are dug at school and air raid practices commence.
But life goes on, the milk cart ambles along the street, the pie cart stops outside the school, the rubbish cart stops for the rubbish men to empty their bins behind the horse drawn vehicle.
David Cox shows the reader the things which made up his childhood, the visits to the local greengrocer, climbing the mulberry tree for the fresh juicy fruit, men tipping their hats when women walk by, and then the circus coming to town, exciting all the residents with their antics. Some children are fearful for their fathers, some fathers do not return, but the whole community is waiting for the war to end and things to return to how they were. When the end does come, they are joyful, and the kites made with the Javanese soldiers billeted on the other side of town, fly high over their heads.
This is a charming recollection of childhood, chock full of movement and humour as David Cox's familiar drawings fill the pages. The beauty of the story and the illustrations creep up on the reader, enfolding us into the world Cox recreates so well. It pairs readily with his book published in 2012, The Road to Gunong which concerns the loss of his family's farm during the Depression.
Both books fit easily into the junior primary curriculum where classes look at life in other times, and other places, or discuss families, animals or war and its effects, particularly for those left at home.
Fran Knight

The Lost Hunters by Nick Earls and Terry Whidbourne

Word Hunters series. University of Queensland Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780702249587.
Highly recommended for ages 9+. Lexi and Al continue their adventure to find the origins of various words which may have become lost over time. They realise that, not only are they about embark on their next quest to hunt for words; they also need to search for their grandfather. It would appear that he too had been a word hunter who had become lost in the past, along with the words and their meanings. En route, Lexi and Al meet yet another word hunter whose future they had previously impacted and, consequently, he joins them to make their task simpler. Will they achieve their aim and how will their endeavours affect their lives and those of others?
Not having read the first book in the series, I was initially a tad unsure about the characters and their roles. Despite that, I quickly became engrossed in the tale and devoured it in one sitting! Ideally, I would recommend that other readers take the more normal path of reading the series in sequence, however, in order for it to make more sense from the outset. This did, nonetheless, work as a stand-alone title. The adventure was sufficiently self-contained within the pages of the book. Not only did I enjoy the premise of the story but I loved the original sketches with which the pages were liberally peppered. The full page illustrations which began each chapter served to set the scene in terms of year and location or highlighted the words for which the children were hunting. A thoroughly enjoyable experience!
Jo Schenkel

Song in the Dark by Christine Howe

Penguin Australia, 2013. ISBN 9780143567448. Pbk, 184 pages. RRP: $17.99.
Highly recommended but for very mature readers 15+. Anyone looking for a gripping and gritty read for young adults should look at this extraordinary novel with its themes of love, betrayal, forgiveness, addiction and especially hope.
Paul is a teenager who has dealt with numerous difficulties throughout his relatively short life, beginning with his mother disappearing with him - abandoning his father and his loving grandmother.
In increasing turmoil during his teen years, he falls in with friends who are definitely of the wrong kind. They lead him into more and more dark and despairing situations - he spirals from smoking pot, to dealing it, to heroin which, naturally, takes hold of him with its usual ferocity. The slim thread which keeps Paul in touch with a normal life is his Granny, with whom he reconnects when eventually his mother returns them to his childhood neighbourhood.
But as anyone who has had any intimate knowledge of addicts and addictive behaviour knows, there are no moral boundaries for those in the clutches of dependency. Desperate for money to buy the next hit, Paul attempts to steal his Granny's hidden jar of cash with consequences both dire and ironically, life-saving. The truth of hitting rock bottom before you can climb up again is evident as Paul's life begins to turn around and is salvaged through the kindness of strangers (in this case, the Salvos) as well as the belief and love that can unite family members, even though they are apart
'He doesn't want to be like that anymore. Not now - not ever.' The reader is left with an overwhelming sense of hope for Paul's future which resonates and compels empathy for his character.
Highly recommended - but for very mature readers 15+ - there is very strong language as well as the numerous drug references.
Sue Warren

The Emerald Quest by Gill Vickery

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 9781408834848.
(Age 14+) Recommended. Psychological thriller. Mallory killed her boyfriend Brian with a knife when she was defending herself from him. She is unable to remember what happened and gossip abounds. Her parents believe that a new start at Monroe, an elite boarding school, will give everyone a chance to recoup from the trauma, but her feelings follow her and she begins to think that someone is following her and touching her in her room. Then another student is murdered and once again she must prove herself innocent.
A gripping psychological thriller that kept me hooked to the end, Fracture is sure to appeal to anyone who wants an exciting read which not only has all the suspense associated with a mystery story, but also probes into the psychological background of the main character as well. Megan Miranda looks at conversion disorder, where physical symptoms can manifest themselves without a physical cause. A lot of the suspense comes about as the reader tries to work out if the bruising that Mallory experiences and the memories of a midnight touch and voice comes from a real intruder into her room or whether it is conversion disorder. Mallory has the difficult task of living with the guilt of having stabbed Brian and worrying about whether she is really losing her mind. She is beset on all sides by fear about who she can trust and what she really can believe. Readers who enjoy a touch of romance in their books will find it in the developing relationship between Reid and Mallory and this also allows some break in the tension.
I really enjoyed this mystery and the tension and pace made me read it all very quickly. The use of flashbacks kept the mystery of Brian's stabbing in the forefront of my mind, while I also had to decide whether Mallory was going mad. The ending came a little too soon for me (or perhaps I read it too quickly) but it was a very satisfying read. People who enjoyed Miranda's first novel, Fracture will enjoy this one as well.
Pat Pledger

Hidden by Marianne Curley

Avena series. Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 9781408822623.
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Paranormal. Angels. Ebony knows that she is different. Her beautiful violet eyes make her stand out and she has noticed strange bumps on her shoulders. She has been home schooled by her over protective parents who won't allow her to leave the valley where she lives. One night she creeps out to a dance where she meets Jordan who is badly injured in a fight. A strange feeling that she must shield him comes over her. She meets Nathaneal, who seems to know her and what she is. But there are strange forces at work who also want her.
Told in alternative chapters by Jordan and Ebony, these two characters stand out vividly as the reader gets to know their fears, strengths and insecurities very well. Jordan's descriptions of events and the angel Nathaneal brought the story to life for me. Ebony comes across as a feisty individual who is not very trusting. She needs to see the truth for herself and is prepared to take risks to find out what is going on.
Fans of the paranormal romance will be happy with the idea that there is a one true love destined from birth and will thrill to the growing feelings between Nathaneal and Ebony. However there is sure to be members of a Team Jordan, who want Jordan to win Ebony's heart.
Curley keeps the story going with some tense action packed scenes. The fight in the car park between Jordan and his once best friend Adam is nerve wracking as are the scenes in the hospital where Jordan lies, trying to recover from his beating. An encounter between the opposing forces of angels is also thrilling. Add a cliff hanger ending and readers will be certain to pick up the next in the series.
It is good to see Marianne Curley returning to writing after a long illness. I enjoyed her first series. I loved the quality of writing, characterisation and action in Hidden, a superior book in the popular angel genre and look forward to reading the next two books in the series.
Recommended for readers who enjoy paranormal stories and who liked the Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick and the Evernight series by Claudia Gray.
Pat Pledger