Reviews

Meet Lina by Sally Rippin

Penguin, 2013. ISBN 9780143307006
(Age: 9+) Recommended. Historical fiction. Our Australian Girl series. Lina is clever and her Italian-born parents, keen for her to succeed in their new home in Melbourne, encourage her to apply for a scholarship at the up-market private Catholic College some way away, intent on her becoming a lawyer or doctor. Here she succeeds but keeps to herself that she lives at Carlton, in a small cramped cottage with her hardworking parents, grandmother, two brothers, a baby and her uncle, lately come from Italy. To keep this family running well, Lina must do her chores, but things collide when her new friend invites her home after school, a time when Lina should be looking after her baby brother.
A story brimful of the plight of migrant children in the 1950's who found their new home at odds with the customs and beliefs of their parents, Lina is a likeable character, full of life and hope, loving her family, willing to help and take her part, but equally wanting to get to know her new friends, and develop her skills as a writer.
Tension between several of her new friends boils over when the girls, Lina and Mary, put together a magazine. Their spat takes them to the Mother Superior, who makes them work together on a new school magazine, and the girls, once at odds, must now cooperate. The subject of this will be the next in the series of four stories about Lina, living near the Italian-rich Lygon Street.
Our Australian Girl is a series much in demand in schools wanting a fresh approach to historical novels and fitting in with the new curriculum. Each story is of a girl set in a particular decade, the four stories published separately. Each novel gives information about the girl's life and times, with snippets of information at the end, and several pages of the start of the following story. Teacher notes and an extensive website complement the books.
Fran Knight

Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell

Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 9781408827789. 248 pp.
(Ages: 9-13) Recommended. This is a fantastic debut novel by author Emerald Fennell. A self-confessed horror aficionado, Fennel is also a successful actress with a clear knowledge of just what a young horror junkie craves in a novel. There are obvious Harry Potter-isms here but they were gloriously indulgent for me as a reader rather than being merely imitative. As an example, there is a bus that takes the boarders into the nearby town of Grimstone as a weekend outing where they frequent Miss Bessie's Sweet Shop. Could this be reminiscent perhaps of J.K Rowling's town of Hogsmeade? The main similarity between the two books however is the relationships between the main group of misfit characters and their easy dialogue between each other. There is also a kind of cosiness in the way they are grouped into houses and have shared common areas. Like Hogwarts, despite the evilness all around the school, there seems to be something quite pleasant, homely and comforting about the school and the people within it. That is where the similarities end however as Shiverton Hall is set well within the 'real' world, four hours outside of London and is not in any way centred around wizards, witches or magic.
The story begins with Arthur Bannister being unexpectedly offered a scholarship at the Shiverton Hall boarding school. The place is downright spooky to look at and is shrouded in tales of curses and evil, not to mention the school bullies and the headmistress who seems determined to make his time at school horrible. Even though Arthur quickly makes friends with George, Jake and Penny, everything is quickly starting to turn bad. Supernatural beings seem to be at play here and, as Arthur soon finds out, there are some friends you don't want to have at all. Can Arthur and his friends work out what is happening and why, before someone really gets hurt?
Throughout the book are smatterings of ghost tales told by Arthur's friend and Shiverton Hall's resident ghost expert George. These spooky tales of Shiverton Hall's past are surprisingly scary, usually result in a death, and are sometimes gory. Definitely not for the faint hearted or the easily spooked child. But for those children who can't get enough of Goosebumps type horror this is the book for them. It appears definite that there will be follow up books to Shiverton Hall as while the loose ends of this tale are tied up it is clear that the school is hiding many more dark secrets.
Nicole Smith-Forrest

Factor 4: The awakening by Paul Mason

A & C Black, 2013. ISBN 9781408180679.
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. If you could be a superhero, what type of hero would you be? In Factor 4: The awakening, four students face this question after they are exposed to a yellow gas. Zaf, Tara, April and Ian develop special powers after an accident. They have the powers of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.
This story is a quick-paced, short story with easy-to-read text. The superhero theme will be great for any reluctant reader, especially boys, and girls will like the female role-models.
Factor 4: The awakening is the first in a series and we not only meet the four main characters but also their teacher who teaches them to use their powers for good. The other theme I liked was the link to the environment. The group's goal is to help protect the environment and fix environmental disasters, a relevant topic for today's children.
Kylie Kempster

Ben and the icky-ooky-sticky-smick by Sally Sutton

Walker Books, 2013. ISBN 9781921529009.
(Age: 5+) Recommended. What happens when you lose your favourite pet? What if you are the only one who knows what it looks like? This is the problem facing Ben. Ben has lost his icky-ooky-sticky-smick.
Ben and the icky-ooky-sticky-smick is a lovely picture book to share and read to children. The nonsense words (used to name bugs) make it a funny story but the knowledge of these nonsensical words is also a great help for younger children learning to read.
Ben searches his whole house, looking for his lost pet. Along the way, different family members discover unusual bugs and Ben's insect knowledge is amazing. An especially nice factor in this book is the relationship Ben shares with his grandpa. It is his grandpa who, in the end, helps him find his pet.
I would recommend this book to all parents (and teachers) to read with their children and independent readers aged 7 to 10 will enjoy reading it to themselves.
The illustrator, Gary Venn, has used a paper collage feel to create simple and colourful images, making this book a great model for any art lesson. It would also be a good model for older children to create their own nonsensical words and write in a similar style to the author.
Kylie Kempster

Keeping the castle: a tale of romance, riches, and real estate by Patrice Kindl

Viking, 2012. ISBN 9780670014385.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2013. Althea is the practical one in her family. She keeps everything going, but knows that she must marry a rich man to preserve the dilapidated family castle for her little brother Alexander. Unfortunately there is a dearth of rich suitors in the small town of Lesser Hoo until the rich Lord Boring arrives bringing along with him his business partner, Mr Fredericks. Althea begins to plot to snare Lord Boring but things keep getting in her way.
 In this very clever and witty take on Regency life, Kindl brings to life the efforts that young women have to take when marriage is their only future. Althea is a forthright young woman whose sharp tongue often brings her into disrepute but who can match the conversations of Mr Fredericks with ease. Readers will sympathise with her as she acknowledges that convenience and wealth must come before true love. She is often unaware of what is really happening around her as she goes about the business of trying to find a rich suitor and keep the castle going.
Kindl has a rich assortment of characters, Althea's two stepsisters, her mother, brother and Mr Godalming, all of whom provide a rich context for much of the conflict and humour in the book. Crumbling Crawley Castle is almost a character in its own right and it is easy to picture this strange gothic monstrosity jutting out precariously on the very edge of a cliff.
I loved the sly humour, the repartee and the smart dialogue in Keeping the castle. Fans of historical fiction and of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, will revel in this fabulous and entertaining parody and it is ideal for readers looking for a feel good book.
Pat Pledger

A Tangle of Traitors by F.E Higgins

The Phenomenals series, bk 1.Macmillan Children's Books, 2013. 223 pp. ISBN: 9780330507554.
(Ages: 9-13) In the first book of this new series F.E Higgins is introducing the reader to her new world and the characters that her new series will follow. The story centres around the individual tales of four characters who towards the end of the book find themselves inextricably linked and are named in their infamy 'The Phenomenals'. We are treated at the beginning of the book to the definition of Phenomenals as 'particularly vile and are characterized by their tendency to gather in small groups and their ability to come and go unnoticed'.
The story is set in Degringolade where a bubbling tar pit holds the wretched spirits of all the murderers and criminals the town has condemned. A city of superstition, Deringoglade is characterised by card-readers and frightened villagers carrying bags of lucky charms and stepping over cracks to ward off evil. We are introduced to the characters through a narrator who little by little gives us further glimpses into who they are. We learn about Vincent the picklock, who arrived in Degringolade by chance and immediately runs into trouble. We find out about Folly, the secretive loner who lives in a tomb and stalks the shadows of Degringolade and Citrine, the heiress to a huge fortune who only wants the truth. And then there is Jonah, the deadly harpoonist who survived being swallowed by a whale and will fight for righteousness.
There is a whole other vocabulary to this world Higgins has created and it is quickly picked up as the book progresses as it has commonalities with the English language. 'Kew' is said in place of thank you and 'spetivus' seems to mean wow or awesome. The gadgets and machines that the people use are also different, as is the terminology associated with them. A trikuklos for example appears to be some kind of motorised three-wheeled bicycle that must be 'pedalated'.
When each of the four characters become embroiled in the same mess there is only Folly's secret hiding place and their joint knowledge and skills to keep them safe and save the day. But the danger has not passed and the whole city is in trouble. Why can't anyone else see what is happening? The Phenomenals, as they have been penned by the Degringolade newspaper reporter, will need to work together if they want to make everyone in the town see what has been happening right under their noses. The story will be continued in the next instalment of the series A Gaggle of Ghouls.
Nicole Smith-Forrest

The stone of fire by Geronimo Stilton

The Cavemice series, bk 1. Scholastic, 2013. ISBN: 9780545447744.
(Ages: 8-11) Geronimo is back with a brand new series ego and he's taking on the Stone Age! Geronimo Stiltonoon is actually the ancient ancestor of the much loved Geronimo Stilton and he runs the stone slab newspaper, The Stone Gazette, in the prehistoric village of Old Mouse City. Dealing with the everyday dangers of life in the Stone Age is not easy. With flying dinosaurs dropping stone slab mail on his head, the ever-present threat of extinction and the dreaded traffic tickets for parking his dinosaur outside the lines Geronimo hardly has time to worry about anything else. But when a precious artefact gets stolen from the mouseum (one of a hundred cheesy, mousy puns) it seems Geronimo has no choice but to help his friend Hercule Poirot solve the mystery and save Old Mouse City.
Children of all ages cannot get enough of these books and it is easy to see why. Fun, colourful fonts are effectively used to break up large chunks of text and the addition of text boxes, maps, diagrams and an abundance of colourful, interesting illustrations make it exciting to read. There is even a seemingly conceivable recipe included for 'Meatballs in Primordial Soup'. While this and other Geronimo Stilton books are fantastic for those just moving into independent novel reading they are also enjoyed by a diverse range of children with varying abilities and reading interests.
Nicole Smith-Forrest

Destined by Aprilynne Pike

Wings series. HarperCollins, 2012. ISBN: 9780007358410.
Laurel, having believed she is just an ordinary girl, finally discovers that she is, in fact, a faerie from the realm of Avalon. Being swept off to discover the truth about her origins, she is simultaneously introduced to a whole raft of new characters, both friends and foe. In this, the fourth and final book in the series, she is confronted by the strong and determined Winter faerie, Yuki, and the bitter and power hungry Klea. Realising that the fate of her beloved Avalon is largely in her hands, she returns to the faerie realm, accompanied by her best friend, Chelsea and the two males for whom she cares most, David and Tamani. Their arrival, although welcomed by some is not well accepted by others and a major battle ensues. Two questions remain, who is strong enough to survive and will Avalon be saved?
Each of the characters who enter Avalon from our world faces challenges which they have to overcome. This includes making decisions on whether or not they should be fighting for the betterment of another world or for Laurel and overcoming fear to do so. Themes of love, loyalty, power, greed and passion, whether for one's own glorification or for the love of another are also important. There is something of a coming of age tale as well and the desire for all to work together for the greater good.
Having had the previous three books amongst our Year 7 library collection for some time, they have barely been on the shelf and, hence, I have not yet read them. Their obvious appeal is to the more mature female reader, largely thanks to the beautiful photographic images on their covers. Without having read the preceding titles, I probably cannot do justice to the series in this review. It took me a while to understand the various characters with all of their different skills and motivations. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will fight the students to borrow the rest of the series to read the whole in sequence.
Jo Schenkel

Meet Ned Kelly by Janeen Brian

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Simon and Schuster, 2013.
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Ghosts. Mystery. Hannah is haunted by the ghost of her best friend, Lillian, who starved herself to death. Lillian's ghost is insisting that Hannah investigate the murders of young girls, who are left lying in the park, surrounded by toys and glittering objects and with a paper valentine left on the scene of the crime. But Hannah is desperately trying to come to grips with her friend's death and can't help thinking about Finny Boone, the big bad boy who is unexpectedly kind.
Yovanoff pulls off a clever mix of looking at the issues of eating disorders and self perception, combined with a ghost story and a rivetting murder mystery. Binding it all together is the narrative of Hannah, who gives the reader an in-depth look at the machinations of girls who want to belong to a group that is leading the way for everyone and the reasons that Lillian stopped eating. At the same time the tension builds up as the city becomes hotter, birds fall out of the sky and people begin to live in fear of another murder.
Hannah begins to concentrate on solving the murders as a way of redemption, urged on by the chilling ghost Lillian. She couldn't stop her best friend from starving herself to death but perhaps she could stop more young girls from being murdered. Yovanoff builds up the suspense here as clues seem to point to Finny, the boy who could be a budding delinquent, but who Hannah is drawn to. Her suspicions of him could have devastating results. Then there are other people who could be suspects too and Hannah has to put together a myriad of clues before the dramatic finale.
I really liked the way that Yovanoff explored the themes of self esteem, of how people mask their feelings, of love and death, all with a good mystery and ghost story thrown in. I will be sure to pick up books by Brenna Yovanoff in the future.
Pat Pledger

Escape from Cockatoo Island by Yvette Poshoglian

My Australian story series. Scholastic Australia, 2013. ISBN 9781742832456.
(Age 9+) In 1879, eleven-year-old Olivia Markham is taken from a Newcastle orphanage to the Biloela Public Industrial School for Girls on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. The pages of a diary, one of her few possessions, reveal the effects of incarceration in an institution characterised by punitive discipline, low expectations, limited educational opportunities and the expectation that inmates contribute to their keep by working.
Yvette Poshoglian's contribution to the My Australian story series explains how one child might have coped with these desolate surroundings. Her narrative is not dramatic but focuses instead on Olivia's emotional and intellectual development. During the six months that Olivia spends at Biloela, her longing for an education and a family are eventually realised, with the support of a teacher who recognises her potential and a childless couple who offer her a home. Her journey enables the author to provide insights into a period of rapid social change. Women dreamed of university admission, Sydney was developing into a modern, cosmopolitan city and growing public concern for the welfare of the disadvantaged led to the reform of institutions like Biloela.
Historical details lend authenticity to the narrative and suggest that Yvette Poshoglian has conducted extensive research into conditions on Cockatoo Island and the daily life of the period. The incorporation of contemporary language into dialogue is one of the challenges of writing historical fiction. Olivia's use of words from Scottish dialect is not explained, but her teacher's insistence that they be replaced with socially acceptable English reflects the attitudes of the era. Readers may find the term 'street arab' uncomfortable in the light of modern sensitivities. Its meaning is not explained in the text but is included in historical notes. Ten pages of this background information owe much to the author's academic training and her ability to identify the broader social implications of Olivia's story.
Escape from Cockatoo Island is an engaging and valuable addition to a series that has been bringing Australian history vividly to life for over a decade.
Elizabeth Bor

Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter by Robert Irwin and Jack Wells

Random House Australia, 2013. pbk., ill., 96pp., RRP $A9.95.
The Discovery. ISBN 9781864718454.
Ambush at Cisco Swamp. ISBN 9781864718461
Armoured Defence. ISBN 978174250910
The Dinosaur Feather. ISBN 978174250927
(also available in ebook format)
'Behind him he heard another sigh, which was more like a snort. Turning around slowly, Robert found himself staring into the face of another australovenator, a smaller version of the earlier scary one. Although, admittedly, this one was still pretty scary! It leant down to give Robert a sniff. This was the first time it had come across a creature like this! For a dinosaur that might have weighed around 350 kilograms, he was surprisingly light on his feet. Robert hadn't heard a thing. His heart thumped hard against his ribcage. He was too scared to breathe. On the one hand, Robert was thrilled - his favourite dinosaur was so close he could touch him . . . on the other hand the australovenator was called the Southern Hunter for a good reason. This was a bloodthirsty carnivorous dinosaur, and even though this one was young, Robert couldn't help thinking that he just might get to feel the strength of the dino's jaws firsthand . . any second now.'
Robert Irwin has been given a trip to Winton in northwest Queensland for his 9th birthday present. The location is Robert's choice because he has a fascination with dinosaurs and many new exciting dinosaur discoveries have been made there recently. It is also home to the only museum in Australia dedicated to Australian dinosaurs and part of the attraction was going on a dinosaur dig with a renowned palaeontologist. It is there he discovers a dinosaur claw which turns out to have special powers . . . and so begins his first back-in-time adventure.
When your name is Robert Irwin and your dad is the world famous Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter it might be hard to come out from under that shadow. But in this series of books designed to capture the imagination of the newly-independent reader (or those who adore dinosaurs and demand a dinosaur read-aloud) Robert has shown that as well as being his dad's son he also has a passion and that is for dinosaurs, the ancestors of the crocs which form such a huge part of his life. They say he's been writing to the world's leading palaeontologists since most kids start writing to Santa.
Each book features a different dinosaur (not always Australian) and, in a mixture of great adventure and factual knowledge as Robert documents his discoveries into his voice recorder, the young reader is immersed in a topic that continues to fascinate this age group, long after the dinosaurs have gone. Any teacher librarian will tell you that the 567.9 section of the library is the most popular, particularly with young boys. Illustrated with Robert's own drawings (which are amazing for one so young), this is a series which has huge potential to not only hook those up-and-coming readers but also entice those not quite there yet to keep practising so they can read them for themselves.
Each book has a QR code which unlocks a special message from Robert and there will soon be a website at http://www.dinosaurhunter.com.au You don't really need much more than that really.
This is a series that will find its way to Mr 6's shelf, another Robert Irwin in the making . . .
Barbara Braxton

Warambi by Aleesah Darlison and Andrew Plant

Working Title Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781921504280. paperback
(Age: 6-10) Highly recommended for readers from 6-10 and as a teaching resource from Years 1-6. Themes: Bats - Life Cycle. Survival.
Warambi the little-bent wing bat is born into a large colony of bats living in warm safe cave. At birth she is no bigger than a bean. Every evening her mother leaves to find insects to eat. When the home of the bat colony is destroyed, Warambi is separated from her mother. Feeling scared and lonely she seeks shelter in a place far from home. Her journey is dramatic, confronted with dogs and humans, scary noises and an unfamiliar environment.
Aleesah Davison's story is emotive, sensitive and draws the young reader in with alliterative phrases - 'she learned to sip from the stream by swooping low'. She mixes this with short informative text to engage the reader in to the bat colonies' plight. She contrasts the invasiveness and destruction by humans with the nurturing protection shown as the story concludes.
Andrew Plant's illustrations really showcase the plight of Warambi and the colony as well as complimenting the story. The darkness of the cave with the blue black shows the caring of the mother bat for her young. The illustrations are striking and powerful, using both a bold and soft palette for the different environments shown.
The endpapers provide many interesting facts on the Little Bent-Wing Bat and are a great resource for Science - life cycles, diet, habitat and human impact.
Rhyllis Bignell

ANZAC biscuits by Phil Cummings

Ill. by Owen Swan. Scholastic, 2013. ISBN 9781742833460.
(Ages: 4+) Highly recommended. Picture book. ANZAC. Home front. Cooking. Phil Cummings has the knack of combining stories of the past with the warmth of his mother's kitchen, penning a tale so simple, we feel we could all have written it, yet so complex and multi-layered, that only someone of his talent could have imagined it and put it together with such success.
A mother and her daughter are making ANZAC biscuits in their kitchen to send to Rachel's father, serving overseas. Turning the page we see him moving carefully across a battlefield with its lights and sounds. Over the page, we see Rachel paralleling the sounds of war as she pulls pans from the cupboard, while Mum dons an apron resplendent with wildflowers. On the next page we see the soldier, ducking his head from the noise in a field of wildflowers. Then again, Rachel drops the flour from on high, and over the page her father is beset by a snow storm.
Each page following the work in the kitchen by Mum and Rachel, is replicated on the following page by Dad on the battlefield. On and on until the biscuits are received by Rachel's father, we see the horror that he is involved in contrasted with the peace at home, where a woman and her daughter go about their task. Themes of love and family come tumbling through as they do in all of Phil's books.
Complementing the text the understated illustrations glow as Owen Swan visualises the household in shades of muted pastels of yellow, blue and grey with touches of brown, the black cat giving a neat contrast. The pencil outlines filled with washes of colour are simply breathtaking, stressing the place of the kitchen in a loving family home. Each of the other pages is rendered in soft variations of grey and white, giving an impression of the man at war in a colourless background. The design, layout and font size, placement of the text, use of different styles of placing the illustrations on the pages all add to the overall effect, making this a book to savour, to read again and again in classrooms where war is to be touched upon, biscuits made and families of the past discussed.
Fran Knight

Alex as well by Alyssa Brugman

Text, 2013. ISBN 9781922079237
(Ages: 12+) Recommended. Growing up. Sexuality. Now a teenager, Alex feels more female than male, and refuses to take the medication which suppresses his femininity. Born without specific gender alignment, Alex has been brought up as a boy by sometimes caring but often confused parents, but is determined to make his own decisions. He leaves school where he has been bullied, and enrolls in another school as a girl, wearing a dress and drawing her hair extensions back into a pony tail. She is amazed at how differently she is treated as a girl, and the underlying values attributed to one sex over the other. It is fascinating to see Brugman playing around with sex roles through this novel, exposing for us the different traits credited to each gender through the body of the sometimes capricious Alex.
But things do not go as she expects. Her new life is at odds with the old, she is lonely and unsure of herself. She makes friends but is attracted to one of the girls, while one of the boys is attracted to her. Going to a solicitor to gain a new birth certificate telling the world she is female, she makes her only friend, one who believes her, explores the issues for her and protects her when her parents become cloying.
It is the scenes with his parents that disturb. They come across as totally confused, their relationship in tatters because of Alex and their treatment of him, and they feel that life has treated them unfairly. At times I wanted to yell at them, they never see Alex in terms other than their failed male child, they never sit down with her to talk things through, nor allow Alex to explain how she feels, there is never a counsellor visited or doctor consulted, but the internet and the rubbish advised by 'friends' seems to take precedence, particularly where her mother is concerned.
I was enthralled with Alex's story, wanting her to make it in the end, find her feet and make a stand. This she does, but in accepting that her parents will never be wholly supportive she realises in the end that we are all flawed, especially when it comes to gender and what is expected of us.
Fran Knight