Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Our Australian Girl (series). Penguin,
2011, ISBN 978 0 14 330541 8.
(Ages 9+). Recommended . Australian history. A charming story of
Sydney Town in the early days unfolds as newly arrived Letty and her
sister, Lavinia try to find work in the struggling colony. Lavinia
is taken on as a seamstress by a wealthy family,but there is not
room for Letty. She remains at Mrs Chisholm's establishment doing
odd chores there. One of her tasks is to fetch the bread from the
local baker, a gruff, lonely man, and Letty finds that a strange
woman resides in his back room. Letty is warned to let her be, and
receives some strong words from the woman when she tries to be
friendly. Eventually through her beautiful lace, Letty develops a
friendship with this woman, the sister of the baker, and it is not
until she is in some distress, that young Letty realises that she is
about to have a baby. All is revealed as to who the woman is and why
she is living where she is.
I found this to be one of the better stories in this series. The
feeling of Sydney Town is evident in every word, but the information
given is not forced upon the reader, as it appears in some of the
others in the series. The story is slight but real and involving and
gives a fascinating account of what life must have been like in this
place where women were few and work scant. The image of women in the
colony too is given a fresh approach in this fine tale.
One of the quartet of stories about Letty, newly arrived in Sydney
in 1841, this group of stories fills out life at that time. Within
the series, Our Australian Girl, this particular group of stories
will certainly add to the reader's knowledge of how life was led by
a young girl in the new colony.
Fran Knight
Letty on the land by Alison Lloyd
Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Our Australian Girl (series). Penguin,
2011, ISBN 978 0 14 330542 8
(Ages 9+). Recommended. Australian history. Letty accompanies the
baker's sister, Mary and her new born babe back to their farm. Many
days ride in a coach sees them being picked up by Mary's
husband Clem, and her taciturn son, Harry and taken back to the farm
another few days away. Through Letty we are shown what a
squatter's farm is like in early Australia, their distance from
civilisation, reliance on convict labour, and the scurge of the
unknown seasons. Letty is mistrusted by Clem and disliked openly by
Harry, and must work hard to gain their acceptance, especially after
making several mistakes upon arrival.
One of the quartet about Letty and her new life in Australia, after
coming out on the ship with her sister, Lavinia, in the series, Our
Australian Girl, this as with the others in this foursome, has a lot
going for it. Letty and the other characters are realistically drawn
and the background is firmly part of the setting, it never seems
imposed for the sake of the telling. Students reading of Letty's
life will learn a lot about the developing colony and the pepple who
came here risking much to start afresh.
Fran Knight
Letty's Christmas by Alison Lloyd
Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Our Australian Girl (series).
Penguin, 2011, ISBN 978 0 14 330543 8
(Ages 9+). Recommended. Australian history. Again, Letty is working
on the Grey's farm, helping Mary with the housework and farm chores
and looking after the unlikeable Harry. But when the drought
continues, Clem and Abner must take the flock to Goulburn, where,
unable to be sold as they are, sell them cheaply and boiled down for
tallow. The two return, Clem breaking the news that they have
decided to go back to Sydney where they can stay with George and
find work. Letty and Abner no longer have work on their farm. The
group makes a forlorn trek across the Blue Mountains, the wool bales
loaded up onto a bullock wagon. The difficulties of the trip are
underscored with Harry's truculence and the worry of what lies
ahead. When Harry slides down the mountain, Letty follows him,
trying to save him.
When they get to Sydney, they find things no better there. A
depression has set in, with Lavinia losing her job as well, but not
to be down long, the girls find a way to use their skills to create
employment and all ends happily as the Greys, Abner, George and the
two girls share Christmas.
The books in this quartet of books within the Our Australian
Girl series are really impressive. The feeling of living in
1841 is very real, with the background never being imposed upon the
reader, but there all the time, adding much to the readers knowledge
and understanding of what life must have been like for our
forebears.
Fran Knight
Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
Simon and Schuster, 2011. ISBN 9780857071958.
(Age 13+) A lighthearted thriller. Lila has a secret that she has
hidden from all eyes. She can move things just by looking at them.
When she manages to escape a mugging by using her power she knows
that she has leave before she is exposed. She runs back to
California, to the only people that she can trust, her brother and
his friend, Alex, whom she has been in love with forever. Jack and
Alex work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and are trying
to hunt down the men who had murdered her mother five years before.
As Lila tries to discover who killed her mother she uncovers secrets
that put her and those she loves in danger.
A quick read, I devoured this escapist book in one sitting. There
was plenty of action to keep me interested as Lila begins to unravel
the mystery surrounding the missions that Jack and Alex are going
undercover to do. It was necessary to suspend disbelief as the story
unfolded but the book was so fast paced that it was easy to do that.
Lila's big crush on Alex takes up quite a bit of the dialogue
because he has many swoon worthy characteristics: he is handsome,
strong, understanding, gorgeous, and girls will enjoy the romance as
well as the action. In fact he is so much more mature than
Lila, I was waiting for her to grow up so that he would even notice
her!
This is a book that allows the reader to relax and escape into a
world where you don't have to think too hard, just sit back and
enjoy the romance, humour and action.
Pat Pledger
Banana skin chaos by Lilli L'Arronge
Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN 978 1 4088 0939 6.
(Ages 5+) Recommended. Picture book. When a young boy throws
his banana skin onto the footpath in the town square, momentum
builds as one after another of passers by, people in the street and
workmen, are affected. Like the felling of a stack of dominoes
falling after the first is pushed, the pictures build up the story
with an expectation that is infectious. The readers know mayhem will
erupt and eagerly turn the page with expectation and delight.
Brimming with humour, a knockout in simplicity and subtlety, the
book will create opportunities to talk about consequences without
being obvious and sentimental.
The seemingly simple action of throwing the banana skin is shown on
the title page, introducing the reader to the initial action. Over
the page, Hubert is chided by his sister for doing this, and then
each following page outlines the series of consequences which result
from that simple action. The illustration of the consequences get
bigger and bigger on each page until it fills the whole double page
spread. Like a Where's Wally book, readers will love finding the
myriad of detail on each page, following the action which develops,
eventually affecting everyone in the town square.
A list of questions at the end may be a starting point for a class
discussion, or just a quiz amongst friends when they read the book,
but whatever it is used for, kids will have fun with this book, and
teachers may be able to use it when talking about consequences of
their behaviour.
Fran Knight
Mammon by J. B. Thomas
Random House, 2011. ISBN 978 1 74275 074 3.
Grace and Joe are brother and sister who live with their parents in
Border City. Joe is having anger problems and when he does a
dark cloud forms. Grace is able to communicate with him
telepathically. In the city is the very rich and charismatic
Mammon Jones who also happens to be a demon.
After their parents are killed Joe and Grace discover their true
heritage. Their parents were part of the sarsareh, mercenaries
who hunt demons. Joe is considered extremely important to the
Order as he can summon rifts which are used to dispose of demons.
He is known as a Ferryman. Grace is a gifted telepath and can
control people by implanting suggestions. Together they join
the Order where Grace is strongly attracted to Ivan one of the
leaders of the Order.Joe becomes increasingly alienated and
falls under the spell of Mammon who is trying to win him over to
open a rift that will allow a demon army to invade earth and take
over.
There are plots within plots, plenty of action and a blossoming
romance between Ivan and Grace.
All of this should appeal to older teenagers as the ending leads on
to a sequel.
David Rayner
Fetlocks Hall: The Curse of the Pony Vampires by Babette Cole
Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN: 978-0747599333.
Suitable for ages 11+ . This book is part of a series and unless you
have read the previous book you will find it a bit tricky to
understand part of the story. Fetlocks Hall is a special
school, a magical pony school. It is also an important place
to the S.U.S. (Secret Unicorn Society). Especially
gifted equichildren go there to develop their magical pony
skills. But King Despot Dragontail, King of the Devlipeds,
hates the school and will do all he can to get it closed down or at
least stop it running in its usual way. King Despot Dragontail
has sent a letter to the organization in charge of inspecting
schools and complained how students were wasting their time, playing
with the ponies instead of doing schoolwork and that the
headmistress lied about test results. All untrue, of
course. Unicorn Princess Penny has a difficult task ahead of
her . . .& to save Fetlock Hall from closure.
King Despot has sent evil pony vampires to start his evil
plan.These creatures are just plain disgusting, leaving
horrible, foul smelling orange droppings everywhere.
Yuk! Penny enlists the help of Uncle Faustus and his
family.Will she succeed in defeating the Devlipeds' plot and
overturn the curse of the pony vampires in time to save the school?
Janet Cassidy
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Allen and Unwin, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-74237-447-5.
(Age 16+) Highly recommended. Written in alternating persons Sara
Gruen has divided up into the re-telling of Jacob's earlier life and
his golden years in this historically accurate novel. Water for
Elephants is set in the nineteen thirties and follows the
splendid story of a travelling circus as it makes its way through
the American countryside.
Cornell educated, Jacob Jankowski joins The Benzini Brothers Most
Spectacular Show on Earth as their much needed vet. Being the
menagerie man Jacob is one of the first to meet their new arrival, a
bull elephant daubed Rosie. 'She's fifty-three, and she's perfectly
brilliant,' or so says Uncle Al, the owner of the Benzini Brothers
Most Spectacular Show on Earth.
Jacob Jankowski is ninety or is it ninety three? His mind is playing
tricks on him again but there is one thing he knows. He was part of
a circus, and not just any circus. The Benzini Brothers Most
Spectacular Show on Earth!
Poetic, unique but most of all I found that Water for Elephants
was an enthralling romance novel and I could barely tear my eyes
away. I love stories that switch between different periods in time
and Water for Elephants is a perfect example of this as Sara
Gruen has blended two stories into one to create a finely wrought
text. A compelling story and I would highly recommend it for anyone
over the age of sixteen.
Kayla Gaskell, (Student, aged 15)
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. A group of beauty queens competing
for Miss Teen Dream are thrown into danger when their plane crashes
on a beautiful and deserted tropical island. With the film crew and
the pilot dead and only a handful of beauty queen contestants
surviving, they must learn how to battle the elements and survive.
As if that wasn't enough, they must also deal with jealousy, love,
and a few truly strange beauty queens.
And a group of reality TV pirates.
And also a massive conspiracy involving The Corporation, a company
that sort-of owns the world and has thousands of reality TV shows,
including one about the beauty queens. Their whole ideal is
perfection, and their motto is: Because Your Life Can Always Be
Better.
The really fantastic books are the ones that change the way you view
or think about the world, and this is definitely one of them. It's
highly original and spectacularly amusing at the same time. Some
people may find it slightly surprising because of some of the things
that are mentioned or happen in the book. These include death,
lesbian love, feminism, a few sudden sexual scenes, swearing, some
violence, conspiracy theories, and also The Corporation, a very
interesting company that insists everyone has to be perfect, and
apparently, it's impossible to be perfect without makeup, surgery, a
fake tan, hair extensions and saying anything that would be
considered 'individual'.
The writer has done a fantastic job of mimicking the way the world
is in real life, by exaggerating some of the themes that actually do
take place.
However, towards the end this book began to be a little too crazy,
what with the ridiculous conspiracy, perfect coincidences and
strangely TV/movie-like ending.
Stunningly original and very funny in parts, but definitely for over
15 because of some surprisingly adult themes, and definitely for
girls.
I highly recommend this book.
Rebecca Adams (Student)
Baby Wombat's Week by Jackie French
Ill. by Bruce Whatley. Angus and Robertson, 2011. ISBN
9780732293185.
(Age 2+) Highly recommended. Board book. The sequel to Diary of
a wombat as a board book format is another winner for the
French and Whatley duo. This time the main character is Baby Wombat,
whose mother Mothball featured in the first book. Baby Wombat leaves
a trail of destruction behind him as he plays with a ball, has a
snack from the baby's bottle and breaks the water pipe when he digs
a huge hole.
Bruce Whatley's delightful illustrations perfectly augment Jackie
French's sparse prose. The book is divided up into days, with Baby
Wombat having an adventure each day. He sleeps a lot and Whatley's
pictures of Mum and baby are so very heart warming, illustrating
love and devotion perfectly. Children will giggle out loud at the
pictures of the Baby Wombat stealing the tiny tot's ball and
drinking out of his bottle. They can easily imagine the fun it would
be to have a wombat knocking over a fence to smell the flowers in
the garden, and then causing havoc by eating them; as well as
digging a huge hole in a sandpit. And imagine the joy of showing a
baby wombat their house.
This sturdy board book is perfect for young children who will
greatly enjoy the adventures of Baby Wombat and if they haven't been
introduced to Diary of a wombat, they will certainly want
that one as well.
Pat Pledger
Freckleface Strawberry best friends forever by Julianne Moore
Ill. by LeUyen Pham. Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN 9781 599990 782 6.
(Ages: 6+) Picture book. Freckleface Strawberry and Windy Pants
Stanley are best friends. They hang out together, do things
together, are happy in each other's company. Neither really likes
sports or games but they love to read, go to the museum and play
together. But at school, the boys tell Stanley that he should be
playing with them and ask why he needs to be with Freckleface all
the time. Similarly Freckleface is pestered by the girls, who tell
her that she should be playing with them. So a few miserable months
go by with the two playing with those they are told to play with
until one day they get back together.
An obvious tale of friendship, the moral of the story is flagged in
the sub title, Best friends forever, and so any reader knows
before they begin to read where the story is headed. The obvious
inclusivity within the story and its illustrations too I found
bordered on overkill, with Stanley having two moms, and there being
a smattering of non white children in the background. But it will
have its uses as one of a group of books dealing with friendship and
standing up for your friends in the school year.
Fran Knight
The book that ate my brother by Michael Dahl
Ill. by Bradford Kendall. Return to the library of doom series.
Stone Arch Books, 2011. ISBN 978 1 406 22511 2.
As the story begins Jack is frantically writing to an online
librarian on a website titled The Library of Doom in the
hope that they can help rescue his brother Tyler who has been eaten
by a book that is still lurking in the house somewhere. Tyler had
purchased the book because of its interesting title Chews your
own adventure and when he had had trouble opening it and then
thinking he heard growling coming from it he had thrown it into his
wardrobe - out of sight, out of mind. In the middle of the night
strange sounds were coming from the wardrobe and Tyler decided to
investigate. That's when the book ate him. As Jack goes to
investigate a new noise he is confronted by the drooling teeth of
the book and soon finds himself its next victim.In a nearby town at
a book sale Iris purchases the book Harry Potter, Volume Ate
and is excited to get it home to read. Unfortunately that's when the
trouble starts.
The coloured illustrations and diverse font of the text add to the
suspense of the story.
This book is part of a series Return to the Library of Doom.
Tracy Glover
Golden Bat by Sandy Fussell
Samurai Kids Book 6. Walker, 2011. ISBN: 978 1 921529474.
(Age 10+) This is the sixth book in the series. A group of young
Japanese teens are being trained as Samurai by an ex-warrior,
Sensei, also known as Ki-Yaga. Each of the teens not only have a
talent to contribute to the team (despite handicaps) but also have a
spirit to guide them. Taji's spirit is the golden bat. Taji is blind
but his hearing has become acute. After their team mate, Mikko, is
taken hostage by the feared pirate Captain Oong, a deal is struck
between the pirate and Sensei - rescue the pirate's nephew, Yuri,
from a corrupt Chinese magistrate and their friend and student will
be returned. But they only have eight days to complete their
task. If they fail Mikko will be harmed. As the group
travel across the countryside, they have adventures along the way.
Time starts to run out. Will they be able to deliver Yuri in time?
What will happen if they don't?
Janet Cassidy
Tantony by Ananda Braxton-Smith
Black Dog Books, 2011. ISBN 9781742031668.
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Boson Quirk has died facedown in the bog and
his body was found by Fermion, his twin sister. For the last few
months of his life he has communicated with birds, saying that they
were angels and brought him visions. Most people believed that he
was a monster, but some said that he was a saint. Will Fermion, too,
lose hold on reality when she listens to the voices in her head? And
what is happening on the Other Island, where it gods and monsters
lived, according to legend.
The opening sentence: 'We found my brother in the skybog' sent a
chill down my back and I knew that I had found a book that would
hold my interest and it did. I read it in one sitting quite a while
ago and the lyrical language still resonates, building up a
wonderful word picture of life in a small community where everyone
knows everyone else.
As with all exceptional books, I put it aside because I needed to
think about its themes, the language and the unique world that
Braxton-Smith had created. I don't believe that I can do justice to
it in a review, so I will recommend it as a book to be promoted to
teens who will gain so much more from it than much of the popular
paranormal series around. The themes of family bonds, bipolar
disease, difference and religion are all explored within a gripping
story about Fermion searching for answers about her brother's death
and her own life. Merrow, a CBCA notable book, was the first that Braxton-Smith wrote
set in Carrick and this one, a stand-alone, is another noteworthy
story. It would be a wonderful literature circle book, where readers
were given the opportunity to explore the novel's complex ideas with
others.
Pat Pledger
Lollylegs by Pamela Freeman
Ill. by Rhian Nest James. Walker Stories. Walker Books, 2011. ISBN
9781921529078.
(Age 6+) Recommended. When Dad brings home a little lamb to be
a raffle prize at the school fete, Laura falls in love. She names
him Lollylegs, looks after him and wants to keep him forever. How
can she bear to give him away? She decides to buy as many raffle
tickets as she can in the hope that she will win him when the raffle
is drawn. What will happen?
The Walker Stories series is an excellent one for beginning
readers and this is a heart-warming addition. Freeman has written a
delightful tale that will appeal to children who want a pet. They
will easily be able to identify with Laura and her love for
Lollylegs and will be appalled at what might happen to the little
lamb if Laura doesn't win him in the raffle. The closeness of the
family is brought to life with both the text and illustrations.
The book is divided into three chapters and is 64 pages long with
enough text for the emerging reader to be able to engage with and
feel confident about reading. It would also be a good read aloud and
could produce a lot of discussion about pets, responsibility and
family life.
Pat Pledger
