Puffin, 2012. ISBN 978 14 330658 0.
Alice Again by Judi Curtain
Puffin, 2012. ISBN 978 0 14330659 7.
Alice in the middle by Judi Curtain
Puffin, 2012. ISBN 9780 14 330661 0.
(Ages: 10+) Recommended. Humour. Friendship. The first two books in
the series introduce the two girls Alice and Megan, [the bff's (best
friends forever)] in their last year at primary school in Limerick,
Ireland. The two girls are inseparable, living next door to each
other, but the news that Alice's newly separated mother is moving to
Dublin, taking her daughter with her, comes as a blow to the girls.
Alice hatches a plan for the two to stay together, involving her
staying hidden in Megan's bedroom. But things go awry when the girls
realise that staying hidden is not as easy as they think.
These stories will have strong appeal to middle to upper primary
girls, with their easily identified main characters, doing things
that are recognisable and involving. Megan and Alice have strong,
likable personalities and contrast each other in their likes and
dislikes. Each of the families is quite distinct and the aims of the
girls in staying best friends one that all readers will identify
with.
The second in the series, Alice Again, has the two girls
finding new friends in Limerick and Dublin and and so needing to do
some repair work when they next meet. Again the story is told
lightly with a deft touch of humour, but remaining true to the aims
o the stories in revealing the strength of friends and families. The
Alice and Megan series continues with Alice in the Middle,
where the two go to summer camp, hoping for a great time with weeks
of fun activities and a time apart form their families. But their
anticipation of spending time together is brought up sharply by the
attentions of a bully who aims to separate the girls. Touching on
issues relevant to girls in this age group, this the fourth book in
the series will have wide appeal.
The Irish setting makes this a pleasurable read as girls will
quickly find that some things are universal.
Fran Knight
Don't ask Alice by Judi Curtin
Puffin Books, 2012. ISBN 9780143306603.
(Age: pre teen girls) Megan lives in Limerick with her mum and dad and little sister,
Rosie. Her mum is an environment enthusiast who wears strange
clothes and grows her own vegetables. Even her dad can be
embarrassing! At least they are all together as a family which is
what her best friend wants most in the world.
Alice's parents have separated and for seven months she and her
brother live far away in Dublin with their mother. Megan misses her
terribly and is delighted when Alice returns. Her dad
still lives next door which means the two can spend all their
spare time together, doing what best friends do. However Alice
has a mission and she enlists Megan in her various schemes to get
her parents back together. Alice has many ideas about how to reunite
her parents. Unfortunately she tends to act impulsively which means
Megan is constantly in damage control. Megan is torn between wanting
to be a loyal friend and pointing out the obvious pitfalls in
Alice's schemes.
This is the third book in the Alice and Megan series. It is clearly
aimed at pre teen girls and the issues that preoccupy this age
group. It is quite a humorous and upbeat book with a simple message
about learning to accept what you can't change.
Tina Cain
The terrible suitcase by Emma Allen
Ill. by Freya Blackwood. Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 978 1 86291 940 2.
(Ages 6+) Highly recommended. Picture book. Imagination.
About to experience her first day at school, the story's hero is
distraught when her mother gives her an ordinary red suitcase to
hold her things. It is nothing like the lovely red backpack that she
really wants, with the yellow rocket ship zooming up the back, and
large pockets with a shiny zip, so when her friend, Howard comes to
play with the exact same backpack that she wanted, she loses her
cool and throws play dough at him.
At school the next day she notices all the lovely backpacks that the
other students in her class have, and hides in the giant cardboard
rocket in the classroom. Here she is joined by Millie who wants to
go home, and then Ruby who uses the red suitcase as a toolkit to fix
the rocket, and Max who uses the suitcase to fix the computer to fly
the rocket, and so the group flies into space in their rocket ship
with the red suitcase being used for a variety of things, not least
of which is containing the space food which helps Millie remain
where she is. That night, she is perfectly happy with her suitcase
as she packs it for the following day, ready to go to the moon.
Imagination makes the suitcase an extremely useful thing to have in
the cardboard rocket, and the illustrations reflect the wonderful
things the group of children imagine it to be. The spaceship changes
from being a cardboard box to an elongated, pointy ended rocket
ship, while the suitcase becomes a variety if useful things,
allowing the hero of the story see it in a different light. The rows
of children at their first day of school, illustrated in their
various clothes and positions on the floor or in space, are
delightful, inviting the readers to ponder their own first days and
the imaginative play they were involved in. At the same time,
children could ponder issues of being satisfied with what you have,
or about accepting presents, or sharing with others and friendship.
This wonderful book has limitless possibilities in linking to
discussions in the classroom, but also introducing a unit about
space.
Fran Knight
Bringing the Summer by Julia Green
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012; 248 pages; p/b. ISBN 9781408819586.
Recommended for secondary school libraries. Julia Green's sixth
novel for young teenage girls, Bringing the Summer, is a gentle
story that tackles the tough life issues of young love, grief and
relationships. With sixteen year-old Freya's voice narrating the
highs and lows of her own emotional rollercoaster, this novel will
appeal to female readers in their early teens. Julia Green has
skillfully woven images of suburban London and the island of St
Ailla into her story. Her depictions of Gabes' farm are especially
beautiful. Bringing the Summer opens with Freya still struggling following the
loss of her brother and her attempts to deal not only with her own
grief, but also that of her parents. Freya, now an only child, lives
in suburban London with her busy professional parents. The constants
in her life however, are her grandparents, with whom she spends her
school vacations, on the island of St Ailla. Although her
grandparents, and the island, do not feature heavily in the novel,
they clearly influence the young Freya as she recognizes her
grandparents' support and love, together with the therapeutic peace
their island offers.
It is the end of summer, and Freya is travelling home to London from
St Ailla when an accident occurs that causes her to make some
difficult decisions about what she wants in life. Following the
accident Freya is lead to Gabes, a handsome young student who is
studying at the same college, and their friendship ultimately leads
her to his large bohemian family. Gaining a glimpse into his unusual
family makes Freya wish for something different in her own life.
However Freya's relationship with this family inevitably draws
Gabes' troubled older brother Theo into her sphere, and immediately,
Freya's life becomes even more complicated.
Freya has to make some tough decisions. Should she continue to be
drawn into Theo's strange world? What does she feel for Gabes, or is
it his family and their bohemian world she has fallen for? How will
she choose, and will she manage to rise above the mantel of her
grief?
Colleen Tuovinen
Pop! by Catherine Bruton
Egmont, 2012, 496 pgs., p/b. ISBN 9781405261333.
Recommended for readers 11+. Catherine Bruton's second novel Pop!
is about 3 teenagers implementing an ambitious plan to try and win
some money to solve their families problems. Elfie's plan is to
enter 'Pop to the Top' a UK TV talent show so she can win the 25,000
pound prize money, but there is only one problem, Elfie can't sing.
Elfie enlists her best friend Jimmy to help her with this quest.
Elfie and Jimmy hear a girl singing. It is stunning. They follow the
sound to the immigrants' housing area and are led to Agnes. Elfie
and Jimmy's fathers are mad at the immigrants because they believe
they have robbed local men of their jobs. How can they befriend
Agnes and get their parents' consent to enter the competition when
their fathers are striking against immigrants.
To do well in this talent show you need to come up with a great
story so the whole nation will vote for you. Elfie has legendary
story telling abilities which she put to good use throughout the
book, but will her stories and plans land them all in trouble?
The story alternates between the point of view of three very
different and complex characters whose interactions and
relationships make this book an enjoyable read. The different
viewpoints of the characters provide valuable insight to the story
but I found it difficult to follow and needed to continually refer
back a few pages to remind myself of which character was narrating.
Maybe the character narrating could have been placed at the top of
the page rather than the author's name and the book title.
I enjoyed Pop! and would recommend it to ages 11+ and to
fans of reality talent shows. Bruton deals with some serious topics
such as family breakdowns, pushy parenting, bullying, racism and
immigrants in a light hearted way.
Michelle Thomson
A hero for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi
Simon and Schuster, 2012. ISBN 9780857073013.
(Ages: 10+) Recommended. Fantasy. On finding this was the second
volume in a fantasy trilogy, I was initially disappointed, but
starting reading it was apparent that I did not need the first book
to be able to follow what was going on. And there is quite a lot!
Eva Nine and her helper, Rovender, have been found by Hailey, sent
from New Attica to find humans or reboots, to take them to the new
city, and he is less than willing to tell them much of what goes on
there. We learn from the conversation between Eva and Rovender a
little of their lives up to now, covering her loss of her MUTHR and
the fact that few humans now exist. They have left the Sanctuary and
have faced all sorts of dangers, not the least of which has been the
loss of her omniport.
Once at New Attica, of course, the world Eva Nine has dreamed of all
her life, does not materialise and she must again, fight for her
very survival. A woman called Eva Eight finds her within the
hedonistic city and tries to warn her of the total control of the
lives of its inhabitants by the ruler. But they are captured after
staying out after curfew and told they are to be evicted from the
city.
The images of New Attica with its dependence on fashion and having
fun, using a card to pay for what they do, being controlled by the
media, all smacks of parallels to our twenty first century lifestyle
and readers will have no illusions about these comparisons.
This is an exciting read, full of twists and incredible beings to
absorb. I first came across DiTelizza when reading, The spider
and the fly, his illustrations for that well known poem were
dark and disturbing, sinister and funny, and his illustrations adorn
this book, giving a face to the many characters and their settings.
This is a fantastic take on the theme of a 'brave new world' of the
future.
Fran Knight
The paddock by Lilith Norman
Ill. by Robert Roenfeldt. Walker Books Australia, 2012. ISBN 9781 921977 70 1
(Ages: all) Recommended. Picture book. Environment. Another in
the fine series of reprints Walker Books is publishing of award
winning picture books from Australia and New Zealand, The Paddock
was first published in 1992, several years after Jeannie Baker's
Window, which is very similar in theme.
Where Window showed the changes in time in a small area, The paddock
shows changes from the very beginnings of time, making this book an
outstanding look at our environment and how it has changed over
millennia. At the start, we are treated through Norman's sparse, but
evocative words and Roenfeldt's understated illustrations, to the
very beginnings of time, as the rock and lava made its way through
the cooling crust of the earth. Later animals are shown roaming the
earth, different generations of animal and plant life replacing that
before them, then the indigenous peoples, supplanted later on by
European explorers and settlers. Each successive generation is shown
wreaking more and more destruction on the land, until, the paddock
is sour, dark and dead beneath all the development. But the earth
rebels against the over use and turns itself back into the paddock
as storms undermine the development and the towns and cities are
swallowed up by the forests. Today's readers will have little
hesitation in comparing this book with Baker's Window and the many
other similar books which they will have seen in their library. At
the end of the book are pages of interviews with the original
publisher, Dr Mark McLeod, and the author and illustrator, all of
which gives a greater insight into why this book has been
republished.
This not so subtle message will be well received by today's readers,
more aware of their environment and wanting to be part of the green
changes which are occurring to help rectify what we have done.
Fran Knight
Same sun here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Candlewick, 2012. ISBN 9780763656843.
Meena, an Indian girl who recently migrated to New York and River, a
boy who lives in the mountains of Kentucky become pen friends whose
exchanges provide the substance to this epistolary novel.
Organised by their schools, the pair select one another from an
exchange programme on the basis that they were the only available
participants who nominated traditional or snail mail. This is
important because Meena does not have ready access to a computer as
she lives in impoverished circumstances and River chooses to be
different from the usual teenager, being significantly influenced by
his grandmother who promotes traditional values and customs.
The communication delay caused by the mail system also provides a
sense of anticipation and longing for replies to letters between the
correspondents and anxiety prompted by fears of misunderstanding and
worry that the other has stopped writing. This element, and the
lengthy detail of the letters would not have been realistically
possible if the medium had been email.
The pair's communications give each other and the reader an insight
to their lives, which on the face of it, are very different. It is
soon realised however that whilst their environmental and social
conditions vary, they share equally significant fears about their
families and future circumstances. Both children experience the
absence of their fathers who must take work which precludes them
living at home and older women play important roles as friends,
mentors and confidantes for each teenager.
Meena writes in a style which is not self-conscious and her
revelation of personal details sometimes causes embarrassment to
River. This is plausible given that a recent migrant may be
naïve to certain customs and that the pace and style of New
York life contrasts with the traditional and formal nature of life
in a secluded Kentucky mining town.
Meena and River are likeable characters and their exchanges are
curiously innocent yet simultaneously wise. The migrant family has a
great deal of respect for America and they show gratitude for the
chance to live there and undertake the demanding test for
citizenship. This is remarkable given that they live in atrocious
circumstances in a condemned apartment and struggle to survive
financially. Their respect for citizenship and knowledge of history
and civics necessary for the test is also notable when compared with
the attitudes of established Americans who take it for granted or
who are ignorant.
When a calamitous event takes place in River's town, the inhabitants
gain nationwide attention and the two letter writers develop
intimacy and familiarity which provide mutual support.
This is a wholesome book which is pitched at young teens and might
be criticised for being a little twee and the depiction of the
adolescents' values contrived. It does have many levels for analysis
however and is a worthwhile read.
Rob Welsh
The children and the wolves by Adam Rapp
Candlewick Press, 2012. 152p. ISBN 978-0-7636-5337-8.
(Age: 15+ )Australia has both Sonya Hartnett and Margo Lanagan and
America has DBC Pierre et al. So we shouldn't be surprised that Adam
Rapp, a writer for the US drama series In Treatment (set in
a psychoanalyst's office) uses alternating streams of consciousness
to recount the kidnapping of a small child by a group of disturbed
teenagers.
However, none of us can be prepared for some of the most poignant
writing in literature since Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure,
wherein the eldest son in an impoverished family suicides taking his
younger brothers with him and signing the note, 'Done because we are
too menny.'
Conversely, Rapp's modern villain is undoubtedly a sociopath.
Extremely intelligent, Bounce commands two classmates from the other
side of the tracks, to do her bidding. At her instigation, Orange
and the protagonist, Wiggins, partake in violent playoffs, drug
taking and cavorting, but the plot centres around the group's
abduction of a small child.
The little girl is chained in Orange's basement for some months
because his disabled father is wheelchair bound and therefore won't
find her downstairs. 'The Frog', as they refer to her, becomes
expert at The children and the wolves, both a violent video
game and a metaphor for her own plight. The trio use the child's
disappearance to scam the public, intending to use the donations to
buy a gun to kill a local poet, to whom Bounce has taken exception.
The inclusion of Bounce's college entrance essay written in the
first person, raises tensions - she has killed animals before at
least. When she takes exception to a social worker checking up on
Orange's dysfunctional family and they attempt to murder her,
Wiggins rebels to protect the innocent, presumably because he has
had some nurturing at least.
Rapp's authentic inner monologues of disturbed young lives are not
for school collections. But whilst Hardy's19th century readers were
so horrified that he refused to write another novel, desensitized
modern readers may well countenance Rapp's confronting social
vivisection for our collective improvement.
Deborah Robins
Reign of beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts
HarperCollins, 2012. ISBN 9780732289454. (Age: 13+) Highly recommended. The Creature Court are at war with
each other. Three kings fight bitterly for power and dominance over
Aufleur and the streets run red with blood. Some believe that Velody
has betrayed them as a new Power and Majesty rises, one who has no
hesitation in torturing or killing those he should protect. At
Saturnalia, the fate of the city will be decided. If Velody cannot
persuade Ashiol to trust her again, Aufleur will fall.
This is the third and final book in the Creature Court
trilogy, and it is packed with all the revelations and terrific
fights you'd expect from a book like this. It's written very well -
just like the previous two books were - and it has the perfect
combination of believable dialogue, vivid description and exciting
action. The characters are excellently developed over the course of
the whole book. Generally, it's a very well written book, and any
fantasy fan will enjoy it. A warning though, because it's a long
book and some of the slower passages may be hard to get through at
first. It's definitely worth it though, because the ending is
terrific.
The fantastic ending to the Creature Court trilogy, this is
one book (and trilogy) fantasy fans don't want to miss. With the
perfect blend of various elements, including stunning action scenes
and characters, it's a sure winner.
I highly recommend this book.
Rebecca Adams (Student)
Arise by Tara Hudson
HarperCollins Children's Books, 2012. ISBN 9780007437276.
(Age 13-16) Move over vampires - it's time for the ghosts to have
their moment in the spotlight. A maelstrom of intrigue, romance,
evil demons and spooks, drama, sizzling sexual frisson, voodoo,
tragedy. . . . Arise has it all. The sequel to Hereafter
by Tara Hudson leads the teen reader into the dark and sometimes
murky depths of New Orleans with its mysterious circles of strange
and sometimes sinister inhabitants, both dead and alive. 18 year old
Amelia is a ghost - her biggest worry is not that she is doomed to
wear the same dress for eternity but all the forces that beleaguer
her spiritual existence. In love with mortal Joshua, whose life she
saved, and beset upon by dark demons from the Underworld, she
struggles with all too still-human emotions. When Amelia joins
Joshua's family, the Mayhews, on their family Christmas trip from
Oklahoma to New Orleans, she finds that it is not just Joshua who
has a powerful interest in her.
Hudson's descriptions of the strong voodoo presence in the French
Quarter are extremely evocative, transporting the reader to the very
depths of locations like the First Cemetery at midnight with ease.
While at times I felt the characterisations to be a little lacking
in substance and somewhat predictable, this is a read for all those
girls who relish an impossible love story with just a little scary
wickedness thrown in. The constant warring of good and evil is
balanced well and has the reader eagerly turning the pages to
continue through the angst and turmoil. Even though this is the
second in the series, the reader is able to pick up enough of the
first story to follow the continuation of Amelia's dilemma.
Definitely Chick Lit, this is a book that will have the 13-16 year
old group riveted, not to mention waiting impatiently for an encore.
Readers may also enjoy visiting Tara Hudson's website to get insight into
her inspirations for writing.
Sue Warren
World food alphabet by Chris Caldicott
Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2012. ISBN 978 1 84780 284 2
(Ages: 5+) Highly recommended. Alphabet book. Food. An alphabet book
with a difference, each letter is about a type of food used
somewhere in the world, and shown in different countries. Each type
of food is depicted being grown, harvested, sold at a market, used
in the kitchen or sold in a shop. Each vibrant, colour filled page
is full of life
reflecting the variety of people around the globe. What a wonderful
book to use when discussing food in a primary classroom or looking
at how different people cook, or look at kitchens or markets or
shopping. The list is endless as this enlightening book invites its
readers in to think about other cultures and their use of food, fair
trade and recycling The array of photographs themselves is
breathtaking as they contain complete stories, ones which will
initiate discussion and further research.
Choosing a favourite to discuss is difficult, but amongst the ones I
like more than the others, is 'K is for Kitchens', which shows four
very different kitchens. One is western, and our classes will
recognise this straight away: while the other three are from one
village, inviting students to compare and contrast, pick out
similarities and differences, find out where these kitchens are,
work out how they would go working in one. I can imagine students
drawing up a list of all the things available to use in each
kitchen, and describing how the person would go about preparing a
meal in one. Another page I loved is 'M is or Markets', again having
a number of pictures depicting the range of markets selling food
around the world.
Each of the markets is very different from the other, again inviting
discussion and comparison. Pages on Water, Olives, and Utensils also
caught my eye in this lovely, very useful book.
Fran Knight
Nellie's quest by Penny Matthews
Our Australian Girl series. Penguin, 2012. ISBN 978 0 14 330625 2
(Ages: 9+) Highly recommended. With both girls out of work, Nellie
and Mary walk to the Servants' Depot on North Terrace in Adelaide in
search of employment. But they find many girls willing to take the
little work offered. When Mary collapses she is taken to the
hospital where conditions are putrid, but hearing that the girl has
consumption and cannot leave the place, Nellie resolves to try and
find her former employer, Mrs Thompson, who has moved to the Burra
with her family.
Nellie a lone girl with little money finds friends along the way.
The Chinese man Li is also going to the Burra and accompanies her on
the coach ride. But once there she can find little trace of the
family she seeks, and so decides to get back to Adelaide to help
Mary recover.
Brimful of fascinating background details of early South Australia,
the story describes the monster mine at the Burra employing miners
from Cornwall and Wales, many living in the Burra Creek, digging a
home for themselves and their families, the bullockies, the
destitution hospital in Adelaide, the servants depots, the fate of
young girls brought from halfway round the world to become servants
in the new colony, only to find little work is available. All of
this is told succinctly against the engaging story of Nellie and her
friend Mary, which will immediately engage the attention of the
readers.
This is the third in the series about Irish girl, Nellie, who came
to Adelaide to find work after the devastation in Ireland, and is
one of the excellent Our Australian Girl series, showing
girls in different times in our history, introducing a younger
audience to facets of children's lives in the past.
Fran Knight
Caesar, the war dog by Stephen Dando-Collins
Random House, 2012. ISBN 978 1742756325.
(Ages: 10+) Animals in war. Spurred on by the story of Sarbi, the
labrador explosive detection dog that went missing in Afghanistan in
2008, Collins has written a parallel fiction novel for middle school
students which runs alongside the tale of Sarbi, filling in what
might have happened to the animal during his 14 months absence.
The story makes interesting reading and will entice animal lovers to
continue to the end, and possibly enthuse them to reach for the true
story of Sarbi (Saving Private Sarbi, by Sandra Lee) or
follow another tale of his imagined 14 months absence in Michael
Morpurgo's tale entitled, Shadow. Each of the three tales
gives a different perspective on the dog's adventures, two in
fiction form and one as a non fiction account. Caesar, the war dog, puts the animal in the hands of Corporal
Ben Fulton, recently widowed and looking after his two children,
Josh and Maddie, with the help of his mother who has moved into
their house. Because Ben trains and uses explosives detection dogs,
he is away much of the year in Afghanistan, talking to his family
through Skype. Collins builds a neat view of a family surviving
through war, when the father must be absent for much of the time his
children are growing up. The dog is the second dog Ben has trained
the first having been retired, and Josh is very resentful.
The loss of Caesar after an attack by the Taliban, is momentous not
only for Ben and his family, but also for the unit in which Ben
works, and the story shows what happened to Caesar during the lost
months.
A fascinating account of these amazing dogs and their trainers, the
story of Caesar will open a world unknown to many students, and give
a background to the war in which many Australian troops, including
dogs, are fighting.
Fran Knight
Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
Doubleday Books, Random House, 2012. ISBN: 9780857530950.
(Age: Teens) Recommended. While Struck is a typical paranormal
romance, sticking to the familiar tropes and style, there is enough
originality to make it worth a read. The main character, Mia, is
addicted to being struck by lightning, so her mother moves the
family to California where it rarely storms.
Rather than becoming a book about a girl hiding her powers, or about
falling in confusing love with two different boys, Struck evolves
into a post-disaster novel. The biggest earthquake ever throws Los
Angeles into chaos. To access food, Mia and her brother, Parker,
must attend school. A religious cult leader who foresaw the
earthquake offers salvation for those who choose his path. Mia's
mother, suffering extreme PSTD, is at the mercy of his charisma, and
Mia is desperate to keep her family together.
At this point, the novel turns back down the usual paranormal path:
Mia has something special, and two feuding groups vie for her
loyalty. The mysterious Jeremy offers a solution, but he speaks in
half-sentences and half-truths; he has his own secrets.
Apart from chasing down kids to see if they also have the lightning
'spark', and from some heavy handed violence between feuding groups,
this is generally an interior monologue. We follow Mia's thoughts as
she tries to devise ways to survive, and to determine the real
intent of Jeremy. Bosworth uses the Bible, tarot cards, and psychic
phenomena to ground the story and it works to some extent.
Mia's power is the answer to many of the questions raised, and her
journey to discover her ability is a metaphor for growing up and for
struggling with identity. Best of all I don't believe this is a
series; it concludes with a final tender moment.
By discussing the role of religion and evangelical cults, Struck
offers variety to lovers of paranormal romance. Perhaps the author
tries to develop too many sub-plots (I didn't even touch on the
illegal drug trade or the shifty underground party called The Rove),
but overall this book delivers.
Trisha Buckley
