Atom, 2012. ISBN 9781907411274.
(Age: 15+) Recommended. This is an entertaining story about 19 year
old ballet dancer, Hannah Ward. As a youngster she dreamed of being
a ballerina, leaving home at the tender age of 14 to become a member
of the Manhattan Ballet Company. Hannah knows all too well the
rigours of the ballet dancer's life: the many hours of rehearsal,
the nightly performances, not to mention the hours in the gym,
toning and strengthening the body. Whilst many of the performers
have a shared history - having joined the company as young teens -
they are nevertheless all competing for similar roles, particularly
the coveted solo. Competition is fierce, discipline is vital.
This is brought into sharp focus for Hannah when she meets Jacob
Cohen, a musician and college student. Sophie's commitment to her
ballet career prevents them from spending much time together and she
becomes increasingly aware of what she is giving up in her
dedication to dance. Sophie realises that most girls her age are at
college, spreading their wings, having fun at parties; she rues the
fact that even though she has lived in New York for the last five
years she really doesn't know the city - having had little spare
time to explore beyond the boundaries of the theatre where she
rehearses and performs seemingly all year round.
As a former ballet dancer herself, the author (Sophie Flack) clearly
has first-hand experience of the trials and tribulations as well as
the joys of dance. And she presents a warm and well-rounded portrait
of Hannah and her fellow ballet dancers. We see both the dedication
that is needed to perform at the highest level but also the rewards;
the joy of soaring as a ballerina, the thrill of performance.
Lovers of ballet are sure to enjoy this novel with its frequent use
of dancing terminology but equally, those who do not have a dance
background will enjoy the human story behind the dance: the struggle
to find one's place in the world and the courage needed to change
tack.
Deborah Marshall
Professor Fred Hollows by Hazel Edwards
New Frontier Publishing, 2012. ISBN 9781921042751.
(Age 7+) According to the Macquarie dictionary, a hero is 'a
person of distinguished courage or performance'. Professor Fred
Hollows qualified on both counts and is a fitting subject for a
series about 'Aussie heroes'. He used his skills as an
ophthalmologist to treat people around the world, and refused to
accept that the cost of medical treatment should deny anyone the
gift of sight.
Hazel Edwards is an experienced and able story teller. In her
biography, the issues that drove Fred Hollows are as apparent as the
course of his extraordinary life. Technical information is
interwoven with the story, so that readers are aware of major eye
diseases and the medical procedures used to alleviate or cure them.
With the glossary incorporated into the text, its absence at the end
of the book is not noticed. The story is driven along in a
conventional manner. Each compact chapter has a well-defined purpose
and each paragraph begins with a topic sentence. The author's use of
these techniques reminds us why they are so effective in historical
narrative.
One drawback to 'heroic' history is that its subjects can seem one
dimensional. Hazel Edwards has avoided this pitfall by mentioning
some of Fred Hollows' idiosyncrasies, without being judgmental or
detracting from his achievements. She has also emphasised that Fred
and Gabi Hollows were partners in work as well as in life, and has
ended the story with Gabi's tireless efforts to continue her
husband's legacy.
The large font, clear, explicit writing style and timeline, make
this text suitable as a story for younger children and as a source
of information for older primary students. While the illustrations
are realistic and sympathetic, the absence of an index and
photographs gives the book the appearance of an unassuming reading
text rather than a work of non-fiction. Any student or teacher, who
is unaware of the value of Hazel Edward's biography, could miss an
opportunity to learn about the life's work of a true 'Aussie hero'.
Elizabeth Bor
The baby that roared! by Simon Puttock
Ill. by Nadia Shireen. Noisy Crow, 2012. ISBN 978 0 85763 018 6.
(Ages: 6+) Picture book. Humour. Poor Mr and Mrs Deer have no
baby, and wish they had. They want something to play with, to cuddle
and love, to read stories to. One day a baby is left on their
doorstep with a note, asking them to do just that. They are
enthralled, but once the baby begins to roar they are perplexed as
to what to do. They enlist the help of friends, who make various
suggestions, but each time one of their friends stay with the baby,
they disappear. A whole range of reasons for the roaring baby
is given by each of the friends before they disappear, until Granny
Bear comes along and suggest the baby needs burping with very funny
results.
This is a very funny introduction to the needs of a baby, told in a
humorous and enticing format, with illustrations that will enchant
and delight the readers. Children will hear for themselves the range
of needs a baby has, from being cuddled, loved, given milk to drink,
having nappies changed and so on. This can be read on many levels,
as an amusing story to share with a class, or for individual
reading, the characters will delight the reader. In a class where
babies and their needs is under discussion, this will form a very
neat introduction to the topic, providing a marvellous opening to
discussion about the needs and wants of a baby through a picture
book with animal characters.
Fran Knight
The weight of water by Sarah Crossan
Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978 1 4088 300 2.
(Ages: 12+) Recommended. Verse novel. A verse novel told in first
person, of a woman and her daughter, Kasienka, who emigrate to Great
Britain from Poland in their search for her husband and the girl's
father who left two years before.
Through the one and two page chapters we read of the girl's anguish
at leaving all she knows to go to a country where she finds herself
isolated by her lack of English, relegated to a lower class to learn
the language, friendless and alone. Her mother, similarly is
isolated, despite finding work in the local hospital, where patients
ask for someone who can speak English. Their next door neighbour
becomes their only friend, an African doctor, forced to work at a
menial job in a hospital to keep himself alive.
Mother has an amazing idea, to ask at every house for knowledge of
her husband, and so a map of Coventry is used to work out their
progress. Each day they take one street and knock on all the doors,
as well as using their meagre funds to have copies of a notice with
his details on it made, posting them up in the streets.
All the while, Cassie is putting up with bullying at school, as she
tries to make friends, and develops a relationship with a boy,
William, who she meets at the swimming pool. Swimming keeps her
afloat in more ways than one. Her secret life is at odds with her
mother's presumption that she is a good girl, and this all changes
when their neighbour finds Tara, Cassie's father.
In small bites we are led into Cassie's world, fighting
discrimination and bullying, coping with a distracted mother,
ignorant teachers and an alien world. The brief lines encapsulate
her feelings and emotions as we see all that happens through her
eyes. The power of these short phrases to expose this young girl's
life is extraordinary and will intrigue secondary girls, who will
delight in taking this beautifully presented little hardback book
with its wrap around cover to their hearts.
Fran Knight
Mort, the 10,000 year old boy by Martin Chatterton
Random House, 2012. ISBN 978 1 74275 315 7.
(Age: 8-12) Mort De Vere is a boy who happens to be 10,000 years
old. Mort and his sister Agnetha have the family trait of aging 1
year for every 1000.
Mort and Agnetha's parents are on an extended holiday therefore the
children have been unsupervised on creepy Unk Island for a few
hundred years, giving them opportunity to pursue their own
individual hobbies. Mort loves to clone famous people, such as
Leonardo da Vinci, H G Wells and Robert Oppenheimer. They are
assisting him in the construction of a time machine which happens to
be on a strict launch schedule.
Enter the unflappable Ms Patricia Molyneux and her nervous assistant
Nigel who have arrived at Unk Island to investigate why the children
are not in school and Mort and Agnetha's world hilariously starts to
fall apart.
One of my favourite cloned characters is Genghis Khan, who is no
longer under Mort's control and is running wild around the island
with an intent to kill that always seems to go astray. Agnetha also
creates people and her Goldilocks is not something you would like to
meet in a dark alley either.
Throughout the book are black and white cartoon style illustrations
which add to the humour of the text.
This is an amusing story for 8 to 12 year olds, with lots of silly
action and crazy characters but the fun doesn't stop with this book
as the story is to be continued in a sequel.
Jane Moore
Too princessy! by Jean Reidy
Ill. by Genevieve Leloup. Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978 1 4088
2694 2.
(Ages 4-6) Picture book. On a rainy day, there is nothing to do. All
of her toys are boring, some are too noisy, some too gooey, some too
dumpy, some too crowny. She tries them all from her toy box, finding
fault with each of them, until, once the toy box is empty, she finds
a use for it which is exciting and fun as she invites others to play
with her. Told in rhyming phrases, the story line will encourage the
listeners to predict what the next word will be and laugh at the
made up words used to create a rhyme.
The illustrations by textile designer, Leloup, have a visual quality
which invites the reader to look more closely at what is around the
page. The different styles of wallpaper on each page are very funny,
paralleling what is happening to our young bored character, as she
ploughs through her toy box. Each page will evoke questions and
discussion amongst the children listening to the story being read to
them, and elicit suggestions about what she could do with her time
on this rainy day.
The imaginative use of her toy box at the end will also engender
discussion about using things other than the toys presented, as well
as using the environment to make fun things to play with.
This partnership has produced two other book for younger readers, Too
purply, and Too prickly.
Fran Knight
Rigby Blueprints: Upper Primary Series A. Unit 4: Shaping our nation
Pearson Education Australia.
Recommended age: The year level correlation for the Upper Primary
Series A set is Year 5.
The Rigby Blueprints sets are unit-based literacy series with a
strong Australian and explicit literacy focus. Each unit has a Big
Ideas Book, one Guided Reading Book and five Topic Books; three
non-fiction and two fiction. Each topic book supports the main ideas
of the correlating 'pacing text' from the Big Ideas Book.
Also included in the Big Ideas Books are several related texts for
each pacing text. The books are separated into three phases;
introducing, investigating and applying and contain a wide variety
of texts including newspaper reports, expositions, time lines,
autobiographies, recounts, fiction extracts, visual texts, poems,
tables and graphs and information reports. Early on in the Big Ideas
Books students are presented with an all-encompassing unit challenge
to complete which requires them to demonstrate their engagement with
the topics discussed and show the development of their new
understandings.
This particular Shaping our Nation unit covers five main events and
influences that have shaped Australia as a nation; the Gold Rush,
Stolen Generations, World Wars and the role literature and writers
have played in shaping the national character. While well aligned
with the Australian Curriculum English strand this unit also touches
on some of the Year 5 Australian Curriculum History content. The
non-fiction topic books are fantastic in that they use real life
stories and real life people to bring the topics to life and make
the information more meaningful for students, as do many of the
texts within the Big Ideas Book. The simplicity of the fiction topic
books mean that they are accessible to students of many reading
levels. This is a notable point for this series as the varied text
types allow access for students of various learning styles and
levels.
The Big Ideas Book comes with a Student CD-Rom with a text and
interactive activity for each of the four key topics as well as
'scene setter' and 'going beyond' activities. The texts are various
formats (film, voice recording, question and answer form,
information report etc) and the interactive activities are
interesting and fun inclusive of quizzes and fill in the gaps
activities. The CD-Rom also includes three assessment tasks related
to the unit which open in Word and could be completed by students in
a digital format.
Sample Australian Curriculum correlation documents and assessment
rubrics are available
for one of the other Upper Primary Series A sets; Waterwise. These
are extracts from the Upper Primary Series A Teacher Resource Book.
This book covers all four units in this series; Waterwise, There's
more to me, Our energy choices and Shaping the nation. Also
available are Listening Post Audio CDs and BLM's.
Overall I think this particular Rigby Blueprints series could be
successfully used to scaffold a whole term literacy unit through
either whole class activities or small group work. The series
provides students with a legitimate chance to meaningfully engage
with the content of the texts and synthesise their new
understandings with existing knowledge. This is especially
achievable as the content of the unit is directly relatable to the
students' real life and provides opportunities to connect learning
with their immediate world.
Set contains:
Shaping our Nation: Big Ideas Book
Shaping our Nation Guided Reading Book
Topic Book 1: Gold and Mud (A play by Sally Odgers)
Topic Book 2: Stories of the Stolen Generations (by Marji Hill).
Topic Book 3: Maria's Journey (by Susie Brown)
Topic Book 4: We went to Gallipoli (by Pamela Rushby)
Topic Book 5: So Much to Tell Us: Amazing Australian Children's
Authors (by Dianne Irving)
Nicole Smith-Forrest
Wee on a jellyfish sting by Tracey Turner
Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 978 1 74169 978 4.
Fun facts suitable for 8 to 12 year olds.The title and the cover
illustration will certainly attract the curious. This book deals
with the multitude of myths that circulate as general knowledge and
I have to admit, I believed in many of them myself. Surely you do
sink in quicksand!
Some of the more challenging myths rebutted are, Saint Patrick was
Irish, Vikings wore horned helmets, medieval explorers thought the
world was flat, most of the body's heat is lost through the head and
Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry. All
arguments are backed up with facts and extra information on the
topic.
The pages are small, about A5 size and are a lively non coloured
mixture of jazzy borders, different fonts, cartoon and shadow
illustrations. The text is easy to read and the information
presented in a light hearted manner.
A similar style of book Why Headless Chickens Run and Other Crazy
Things You Need to Know is also available but by a different
author.
Jane Moore
Paw prints in the snow by Sally Grindley
Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978 1 4088 1945 6
(Ages: 9+) Recommended. Adventure. Animals. Joe can't wait to
set off with his family to Northern Russia where his mother, Binti,
a renowned international vet is to help train some younger vets with
tracking the Amur Tiger (lately called the Siberian Tiger). This
endangered species takes hold of Joe's imagination and he dreams of
finding one in the short time they will be there. He and his sister
are invited to help train the sniffer dogs, and go on a hike into
the mountains where they stay overnight in a log cabin. Next morning
he is astonished to find tiger paw prints in the snow outside their
cabin, and he and his father take many photographs. Once back in the
small town, he goes off with his camera after seeing a small animal,
but falls into an old building and must call out for help when he
finds he cannot move.
Boris, the dog least likely to complete the training, finds Joe, but
is also attracted by a strong smell he locates behind a door near
the injured boy. Surprisingly, the rescuers realise that Boris
has located a tiger's scent and behind the closed door they find a
malnourished and injured tiger cub.
A neatly resolved but informative story, the adventure of Joe and
his family in the Russian north is extraordinary. Throughout the
story Grindley furnishes the reader with an amazing amount of detail
about endangered animals and their habitat and why they are in need
of help. She manages in a few words to convey the idea of the range
of the environment of the tiger and the work of the international
team of scientists in keeping it in the wild.
Written with the auspices of the London Zoo, this is an informative
and fascinating story, one which readers will assimilate a lot of
factual information about the Amur Tiger.
Fran Knight
The pros and cons of being a frog by Sue deGennaro
Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 9781 74283 065 6.
(Ages 6+) Recommended. Picture book. Friendship. Best friend,
Camille suggests that the animals the boy is trying to be will
always be problematic and so suggests being a frog. Camille,
besotted with maths, only talks in numbers, so working out what she
is saying, means that the code has to be understood. 23 is a good
number, showing she is pleased and means yes, so 23 shows that she
is happy to be a frog as well. But when the boy measures her for her
costume, listening to her recite the 6 times tables, she wriggles so
incessantly the boy shouts at her to stop. With a 17, meaning no,
she is off. So the boy sits down to work out what went wrong with
his friendship, and sets out to find Camille, by following the
numbers in the street.
This is a charming story of friendship, of falling out and coming
back together again, of finding common ground even when the two are
quite different, of making compromises so the friendship endures.
Delightfully told, the illustrations are amazing, with numbers
littering almost every page, many with a purpose. DeGennaro used a
variety of techniques including collage, conte, pencil an ink to
produce a range of illustrations reflecting the two friends and
their interests. I found each page drew me in to look further at the
little things in the background, the small objects, the toys, the
books, the pictures on the wall, each is fascinating and absorbing
and will further intrigue the reader.
Fran Knight
Revived by Cat Patrick
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012. ISBN 9781921690631.
(Age: 13+) Recommended as a light read. Daisy Appleby died in a bus
crash, but was revived minutes later by a secret agency, with a drug
called Revive. Daisy, an orphan, becomes a test case for the drug
and dies five times, each time being revived. Each time she dies,
she has to change her name, her home and her school. When she
finally meets a boy that she really likes, Matt McKean, and his
sister Audrey, who she knows can be a real friend, she begins to
question the morality of using the drug.
From the opening paragraph with its description of Daisy dying from
a bee sting, Patrick had me hooked with this unique story. At the
back of my mind was always the question of whether Daisy would
survive another accident and whether the government agency would
actually revive her again. At the same time I became involved in
Daisy's questioning about whom should receive the drug and what was
really happening with the people who were given it. Daisy's easy
going approach to death changes when a friend has terminal cancer
and there is nothing that she can do about it. The drug Revive
doesn't work on people whose organs aren't perfectly healthy when
they die.
Threaded through the themes of death, friendship and a growing
romance, is a thrilling story of what is really going on with the
man who controls the Revive program. Daisy uncovers a sinister plot
and puts herself in real danger in her search for the truth. There
is a dramatic and nail biting climax where all is revealed.
Told in the first person by Daisy, this story was compulsive and I
finished it quickly. It was easy to read and is sure to appeal to
girls who like a feisty main character, romance and lots of
suspense.
Pat Pledger
The witness by Nora Roberts
Piatkus, 2012. ISBN 9780749955168.
(Age: Adult) Romantic suspense. Highly intelligent, 17 year old
Elizabeth Fitch decides that she has to, for once in her life, make
some decisions that aren't ruled by her overbearing mother's strict
ideas. Left alone when her mother goes off to a medical conference,
Elizabeth goes to the mall where she meets Julie, a girl from
school. Together they get new outfits for Elizabeth and decide to a
nightclub, using fake IDs that Elizabeth makes up. The night turns
out to be a disaster of momentous proportions - Elizabeth witnesses
a murder, Russian Mafia style and fifteen years later, is still
hiding from the murderers in a small country town. Brooks Gleason,
the local sheriff, is immune to her attempts to discourage him and
gradually makes inroads into her life and secrets. Elizabeth, now
known as Abigail, has set up an elaborate alias for herself, using
her skills as a computer programmer and hacker. However the Mafia
haven't given up on their search for her, and Brooks isn't giving up
either.
Roberts has the happy knack of portraying believable characters. In
this case Abigail's paranoia, her social ineptitude and her complex
diction, make a good contrast against the character of Brooks, who
is patient and determined, but very laid back.
Roberts also is a master at building up suspense and there are some
twists and turns in this plot that are unexpected. Fear that the
Mafia would find Abigail, and waiting for a big shoot out, kept me
reading this book in virtually one sitting.
Nora Roberts is a best selling author who regularly hits the New
York Times bestseller lists with her novels. This is her 200th novel
and fans will welcome her blend of interesting characters, romance
and suspense.
Pat Pledger
The little old man who looked up at the moon by Pamela Allen
Penguin, 2012. ISBN 9780 670 07581 2.
Picture book, Life journeys. The little old man looks up at the moon
one night after dinner and seeing the vastness of the night sky,
thinks about the big life issues, where do we come from, why are we
here amongst others. He is very puzzled by his part in the universe,
and his loving wife sets off to find some answers for him. She meets
a rooster, a pig, a cow and a duck along the way and each has an
answer for her question which will cause much merriment amongst the
listeners, but also reveal that they are as much in the dark as the
rest of us. Returning home, she relates these answers to her
husband. He has one more question but who am I, and she can answer
this one for him.
This is a tender little story about the companionship between a
husband and wife, asking the big questions of life, but realising
all that matters is the two of them in their own home together. The
wife who sets out to find the answers for him, cannot do so, but can
give him the best answer to the biggest question of all, so
reassuring him. Pamela Allen's drawings will enchant the reader as
they travel with the wife on her journey of discovery, and happily
join in with the animal noises along the way.
Fran Knight
Lia's guide to winning the lottery by Keren David
Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011. ISBN 9781847801913
(Ages: 14+) When 16 year old Lia wins the lottery all she wants to
do is leave school and get her own house as soon as possible but her
family have other plans. They practically spend her money for her,
but she doesn't want to be mean so she goes along with it. Lia never
would have won the lottery if Jack, one of her best friends, hadn't
brought her the ticket for her 16th birthday. Jack's mum hates that
Lia won and believes that Jack deserves half of the money but Jack
just wants a motorbike and when Lia gets him one his mum is furious.
She says Lia tried to bribe her son with a death machine. Lia's
other best friend Shazia can't let Lia buy anything or pay for
anything for her because the money Lia uses is from the lottery
and gambling is against her religion. Then there's Raf. Lia
has liked him for ages but he never seemed to like her back then
when she wins the lottery he suddenly likes her. Shaz tells Lia he
only likes her money but Lia doesn't believe her.
Just after winning Lia's mum kicked her out of the house not knowing
about what had just happened. At first Lia didn't want them to find
out that she had won the lottery but she told them anyway and her
family were all very excited. They had heaps of plans for Lia's
money, they would get a new bigger house, go on a holiday, renovate
the bakery and Natasha, Lia's younger sister, would get singing
lessons. However Lia had different plans and didn't like that they
were spending her money.
It was fun watching how Lia coped with having so much money all of a
sudden and the little problems that appeared because of it. Also I
enjoyed reading this book and although it was a bit slow at times I
couldn't put it down.
Tahlia Kennewell (Student)
A day to remember: the story of ANZAC Day by Jackie French and Mark Wilson
Angus and Robertson, 2012.
Highly recommended. April 25, 1915 is a date imprinted on the
Australian psyche. In fact, some say, that despite the political
calendar of January 1, 1901, this was the day that Australia became
a nation.
Much has been written for students to help them understand the
events and the significance of this day, and in a way, this book
honours that because after providing an outline of those events on
that Turkish beach, author Jackie French and illustrator Mark Wilson
trace the commemoration of that day from its shaky, tentative
beginnings of parades in Australia, New Zealand and London in 1916
to the huge crowds that now gather annually to honour those who have
served their country in this way.At intervals throughout Australia's
history, French and Wilson pause on April 25 and examine what was
happening on that day. We learn about the vast difference between
the excitement and anticipation when the troops left in 1914, and
their return in 1919; the touching story behind the advent of the
Dawn Service and how men only were allowed to attend in case the
women's crying disturbed the silence; the desperation of many
veterans left jobless as drought and the Depression hit; and then
Australia is plunged into war again.
Throughout the book, tribute is paid to all those in the conflicts
that Australians have been involved in as well as their peacekeeping
roles. There is the sad reminder that after the Vietnam War which
had so divided the nation's young, so few marched and watched that
perhaps 'no one would march at all.' But awareness was growing
behind the scenes through teachers teaching Australia's history and
the recognition of the sacrifices of Australia's young people
through iconic songs like Eric Bogle's And the Band Played
Waltzing Matilda and Redgum's Only 19. In 1985 the
Turkish government officially recognised the name Anzac Cove and in
1990 the first dawn service was held there, attended by those few
veterans of the original conflict who were still left to honour.
Being at Anzac Cove for the Dawn Service has become a pilgrimage for
many; an item on the bucket list for others. Ceremonies are held
wherever Anzacs have served and suffered and wherever their
sacrifice can be acknowledged. Who can imagine what the centenary in
2015 will be like? In my opinion, this is Jackie French and Mark
Wilson at their best. As the granddaughter of a Gallipoli survivor
and the daughter of an ordinary New Zealand soldier who spent his
war as a POW in Germany after being captured on Crete, the words and
illustrations of this beautiful, haunting book touch me in a way I
find hard to describe. Jackie grew up, as I did, 'with the battered
and weary of world war two around me, men still scarred in body and
mind by Japanese prison camps or the Burma railway, women who had
survived concentration camps' and 'saw boys of my own generation
march away as conscripts, while I marched in anti war
demonstrations' and yet we know so little about where Australians
have served or how often they have.
The story of 100 years of history is a difficult one to tell, and
even more so in a picture book, yet it is encapsulated perfectly in
this partnership. On the one hand, the text could not live without
the pictures and vice versa; yet on the other, both media are so
perfect within themselves that they stand alone. Jackie and Mark
give their own interpretations in teachers
notes. I can do no better than that, but if you only have the
money for five books this year, this HAS to be one of them.
Lest we forget.
Barbara Braxton
