Titanic: death on the water by Tom and Tony Bradman
A and C Black, 2012. ISBN 9781408155813.
(Age: 12+) At the age of thirteen, Billy is forced to join his
father in Belfast constructing the 'unsinkable' Titanic. Billy finds
the ship yards and the men employed there very intimidating,
especially after a work accident claims his father's life. He
decides that working as a bellboy on the big ship will be a much
safer place for him than the construction yards.
At sea, Billy has to adapt to life away from his family and learn
how to stand up for himself. His job involves looking after the
first class passengers but he is also concerned with the welfare of
less fortunate travellers.
2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and this
has rekindled public interest in the catastrophic event. Although
this is a fictional account by a father and son team, it is based on
research held in the UK National Archives. It is a well written
story and an exciting introduction to the Titanic story for the
younger reader.
Tina Cain
Andy Roid and the superhuman secret by Felice Arena
Penguin Australia, 2012. ISBN 9780143306030.
This is Book 1 of a new series by Felice Arena, remembered by many
Primary school boys especially for his very popular Specky Magee
books as well as the easily accessible Boyz Rule and Girlz Rock
books.
Andy Roid is a 12 year old whose life is turned upside down when he
is almost kidnapped on the way home. He luckily escapes on his bike,
pursued by the kidnappers, only to run head on into a Mack Truck.
This should have been the end of Andy but, fortunately for him, his
parents do not run a bakery and invent new muffin recipes as he
believed, but are scientists who specialize in robotics and have
just made a breakthrough in Biorobotics.
At his point I was with Andy. How could they reconstruct their son
as a robot? While I pondered this for some time, I am sure the
intended audience will pass over the ethics of the operation without
a blink and be as thrilled as Andy as he discovers the cool apps he
has been given and how to turn them on. Welcome Andy Roid the
android, a 12 year old modern version of the old 6 Million Dollar
Man.
Andy finds it is not all fun and games as he heroically saves Molly,
but has to keep his identity secret, think Superman, Spiderman and
Co. The threat posed by the kidnapping crew of Dr Sylvester Baffi
and the Triple S is ever present and will continue to play a part in
future stories.
As fast paced as a cartoon this series is sure to appeal to those
reluctant readers who will enjoy the action packed modern
references.
Sue Keane
Erebos by Ursula Poznanski
Translated by Judith Pattinson. Allen and Unwin, 2012. ISBN 978 1
74237 953 1.
(Ages: 14+) Computer games. Sharp eyed Nick Dunmore sees small
parcels being exchanged amongst the students at his school. His best
friend, Colin is out of reach, will not speak to him at school,
avoids any eye contact, does not answer his email or phone and seems
to be creating a relationship with the two geeks in their class.
Others are acting oddly as well, but when he corners one of them, he
realises that they are all playing a game, a computer game with
bizarre rules about communication, a game which seems to intrude on
real life. When he is passed the disc, he too sees just how
addictive the game can be, and from the start, the reader gets the
feeling that these kids are being manipulated. Wishing to move from
level two to three, the messenger offers him this option as long as
he introduces another person, and gives him details about another
boy in his class. The alert reader is aware that more is going on,
but Nick is flattered and involved. Nick, now Sarius, must choose
weapons, a name and skills to go into the game, and he finds that
fighting to create a foothold on the next level requires some daring
and skill. At times he must fight to the death. With the energy and
seduction of a serial seen every Saturday at the local picture
theatre (yes, I am that old!) this becomes an exciting read as
Nick moves from one level to another, following the
instructions and requests from the messenger.
When Nick is asked to put a drug in his teacher's thermos, the
teacher who is asking questions and raising concerns, Nick baulks
and in so doing is kicked out of the game. He desperately tries to
get back into the game but when his best friend, Jamie is knocked
off his bicycle and almost killed, Nick begins to see something
sinister is happening, and so takes action, joining others to find
the evil behind the game.
Slow to start, the book builds quickly into an absorbing thriller.
Just like the game we are led down different paths, some dead ends,
some red herrings, but all the while being led on to a stunning
conclusion.
Smoothly translated, this book won the Youth Jury Award in the 2011
German Youth Literature Prize.
Fran Knight
Melody Burning by Whitley Strieber
Allen and Unwin, 2012. ISBN: 978 1 74237 913 5.
(Ages: 14+) Recommended. 'A girl rock star who's never been
alone enough to fall in love. A boy runaway who's grown up so alone
he doesn't even know what love is. A pyromaniac with a dangerous
secret. An explosive romantic thriller. In the chutes and
crawlspaces of an LA hotel lives a young runaway named Beresford. He
has no idea who his parents were, but he does know that he's in love
with rock superstarlet Melody McGrath. When she checks into
Beresford hotel with her manipulative stage mother, a fatal secret
is brought to light. Death is coming for Beresford and Melody. Will
the wild child and the It Girl be able to keep their lives - and
love - intact?'
As you can tell from the blurb, this book is very intriguing from
all aspects. Strieber is known for his bestsellers in science
fiction, most of which have become movies. Melody burning is his
first book for young adults and in my opinion he has done a
wonderful job, with a gripping story that has you enthralled until
the last page and wanting more of the story. At the start of the
story Beresford loses his father and nearly his own life; through
the years that pass he forgets who he is, his name, age and life. He
has no one until he meets the love of his life, Melody. He basically
stalks her; he climbs into her room using the crawlspaces of the
hotel just to know more about her. It is a wonderful love story with
a terrifying peak of intensity where they nearly lose their lives
and each other forever. A brilliant book by a breathtaking author, I
hope to read more of his work in the future.
Taylor Oxenham (Student).
Frontier magic series by Patricia C. Wrede
Scholastic Press.
(Age: 11+) Recommended. The Thirteenth child and Across
the Great Barrier are the first two books in a trilogy set in
the wild west of an alternative America where magic is used as a
natural part of the world. I loved the setting in this series. The
idea of an alternative America, with pioneers getting land grants,
and facing the dangers of strange wild animals, grabbed me and kept
my interest through the two books. Wrede's magic, and the learning
of the spells, is all set in a commonplace school, and seemed to me
as the reader, to be as real as normal school lessons. (Apparently
the fact that Native Americans do not feature as part of her world
caused some controversy in the US).
Eff, short for Francine, is an engaging heroine, and it is her story
of gradually being able to shed the stigma of being the 13th child,
that is at the heart of the stories. Although she doubts herself,
her goodness and compassion shine through the book. The relationship
Eff has with her twin, Lan, and with William, a school friend, form
a thread that keeps interest alive. Wash, a circuit guide, is also a
fascinating character, and the interactions of members of such a
large family were well written.
I await the third installment in the series to see just how much Eff
comes of age and how she uses her magic powers. Thirteenth child. Scholastic, 2009. ISBN 9780545033459. Eff
is the 13th child and twin to Lan, who is the seventh son of a
seventh son. Being the 13th is supposed to bring bad luck, and Eff
has grown up believing that she does bring bad things to her family
and town. When her family move to a school near the magical divide
that keeps out the beasts of the wild, Eff begins to believe in
herself. Across the Great Barrier, Scholastic, 2011. ISBN
9780545033433. Eff, now almost grown up, goes out past the magical
Great Barrier, as an assistant to a Professor, who is studying the
effect of a magical bug on the countryside. The land is full of
dangers, and Eff must come to grips with her magical powers to keep
herself and the pioneers communities safe.
Pat Pledger
Not bog standard and other peculiar stories by Mark Pardoe
Omnibus, 2012. ISBN 978 1 86291 863 4.
This book is great fun. The stories have a twist and there are not
always happy endings. Mark Pardoe will undoubtedly be compared to
Paul Jennings as the format and stories are reminiscent whilst still
being highly original. They have more of a darker flavor such as Message
in a bottle and Fish out of water, both of which show
the consequences of bad choices. Others have almost a supernatural
element such as Clairvoyant canine and Get lost.
My favourite is Flu past about two boys who live in the same
house on a farm but are separated by about ninety years. Hopefully
there will be others to follow as they will appeal to readers who
want variety in their stories and especially primary school boys.
David Rayner
Elephant alert by Jackie French
Ill. by Terry Whidborne. Animal Rescue series. Scholastic,
Australia: 2012. ISBN 9781741698480.
Recommended for readers 8+. Jackie French has taken the plight of
endangered animals as the theme of her new Animal Rescue series.
With her easy to read style and engaging if unusually talented
characters, her environmental message is conveyed with humour and
action. Elephant facts at the end add to the veracity of the
message.
Leo wishes something cool would happen as he sits talking with his
guinea pig one hot afternoon. He is friendless and considered weird
by his school mates. Then a robot gorilla arrives with an invitation
to tea from Mozz, granddaughter of Dr Drizzsock, local scientist.
Just a normal Sunday really!
This is the beginning of an amazing adventure to rescue elephants
from a tsunami threatening to engulf their island home off of
Sumatra. Leo's talent for speaking animal, rather than his
friendship with Mozz, is the reason he finds himself in the Sky
Tiger, a jet made entirely of recycled material, with Mozz and Fuzz,
a jealous 3 legged woof pup, flying faster than the speed of sound.
With the occasional illustration to add to the narrative, this is an
engaging series for the young adventurous environmentalist who will
gain some information about endangered animals whilst enjoying the
developing friendship between Mozz and Leo.
Sue Keane
Oh, No, Monster Tomato by by Jim Helmore and Karen Wall
Egmont, 2009. ISBN 9781405247412.
It was the time for the Great Grislygust Grow-Off when the residents
tried to grow the biggest and best. This year, Marvin planned to
grow the tastiest tomatoes in town, much to the disgust of brother
and sister Boris and Prunella who mocked and bullied him. Motivated
and showing remarkable resilience, Marvin plans and plants and waits
and watches, while all around him the people of Grislygust seem to
be having great success. Marvin is bamboozled, until he tries
something very different. The results are quite magical and the
ground begins to grumble and shake until Marvin has more than he
bargained for.
This is a lovely story with bright, quirky illustrations,
lift-the-flaps and humour that will delight the younger age group.
Because the text is in handwriting interspersed with other fonts to
provide emphasis, I think it is more a read-aloud or read-along
rather than a read-alone. Throughout the story there are a number of
opportunities to entice the children to predict what might happen
next that will also keep them engaged. Miss 5, who adores tomatoes,
really enjoyed the story and we are going to try to grow our own
next spring - I do hope we don't have quite the dramatic results
that Marvin did.
Barbara Braxton
Marngrook : A long ago story of Aussie Rules Football by Titta Secombe and Grace Fielding
Magabala Books, 2012. ISBN 9781921248443.
(Ages: 6+). Warmly recommended. Aboriginal stories. Australian Rules
Football. I was initially surprised to receive another book
detailing the Aboriginal origins of Australian Rules Football but
upon reading this one found that the two books I have recently read
fit well together. Marngrook, subtitled, A long ago story of Aussie Rules
Football, outlines the story of Wawi, who walking in the bush
around the Grampians in Western Victoria, comes across a possum.
Killing it with his boomerang, he skins it and uses the meat for a
meal for his family. After eating, he carefully uses a sinew from a
kangaroo tail, sewing up the possum skin into a roundish ball,
stuffing it with emu feathers. When the last hole is sewn up, the
shape resembles an emu egg, and the children run off playing with
it, practicing their kicking and having fun despite their mother's
call to collect wood.
This is a fascinating story of how the football came to be, and
blends well with the picture book, Kick it to me by Neridah
McMullin recently published by One Day Hill. This story tells the
tale of Tom Wills, who growing up in Western Victoria played the
game of marn-grook with his Aboriginal friends, later being able to
suggest it as a new Australian sport.
The two stories sit well together, one from an Aboriginal
perspective, and one from a European perspective, but both telling
the tale of how Aussie Rules came to be, a subject dear to the
hearts of many Australians, regardless of their origin.
In this book, Marngrook, the tale also shows Aboriginal
family life, the skills of the hunter, the environment in which they
live and their use of it as a place for food, clothing, weapons and
playthings. Tucked within the story children reading it will also
have a sense of the close knit community of Aboriginal people and
their strong association with the land around them.
The naive painting style suits the book as it includes dots and
traditional Aboriginal painting styles, not only telling the story
through the illustrations, but also detailing the life and times of
the people in the area.
Author, Titta Secpmbe is a descendant of the people who lived around
the Grampians in Western Victoria, the Gunditj-marra-Jard-wa, and
was brought up hearing this story, while illustrator, Grace Fielding
grew up at the Wandering Mission near Perth and has won awards for
her children's book illustrations.
Fran Knight
Ten Scared Fish by Ros Moriarty
Ill. by Balarinji Studio. Allen and Unwin, 2012. ISBN
978-1-74237-912-8.
(Recommended age: 2 years +) Ten scared fish is an excellent
book for children because of the bright colours and large writing
which is clear and easy to read.
The author and illustrators have worked well together as the
pictures and text are very well matched . The simple text,
complimented by the stylized graphics are very descriptive as well,
as beautiful. The illustrations combine aboriginal symbols along
with vivid colours and traditional patterns.
The animals in the story are turtles, snakes, shark and fish. The
personality of the animals shine through despite the use of such
simple drawings.
At first reading the book seems to be a simple counting book, as the
animals are introduced one by one: the turtles, snakes, fish and
finally shark. On closer inspection another layer of the story is
revealed, as the environmental setting changes, flowing from the
waterhole through the wetlands, to the river and finally to the
ocean, where the fish are surprised and become scared.
Why would they be scared?
Reviewed by Year 6/7, Dunstan 2, Parkside Primary School, SA.
The Messy Mother's Day by Lucie Billingsley
Lothian Children's Books, 2012. ISBN: 987-0734412430.
(Recommended ages: 3 year old listeners up to 6 year old readers). Everyone wants to give their mum the best Mother's Day, even Baxter the dog.
In this fantastic rhyming book, a family tries to give their mother a great Mother's Day but Baxter the dog does a great deal of helping. What starts as a normal Mother's Day turns out to be a real mess. The Messy Mother's Day uses rhyming and repetition, in a similar way to many picture books, to encourage young readers. Throughout the book the text is written creatively with some difficult words, used to build the children's vocabulary, written in a large bold font. The text fits in well with the descriptive and detailed pictures. The Messy Mother's Day has really good illustrations. It is a wonderful, water-colour picture book. The book is colourful and helpful for young children learning to read. The creative pictures match the story line. There is an incorporation of mess throughout the pictures of the book.
Overall, an excellent picture book, good for young children, this book shows how families come together in times of need. Despite all the misery and mess, do you think mum will enjoy her Mother's Day?
Year 6/7 - Dunstan 1, Parkside Primary School, SA.
My marvellous Mum by Susannah McFarlane
Ill. by Lachlan Creagh. Little Mates (Series). Scholastic, 2012.
ISBN 978 1 74283 224 1.
Picture book. Mother's Day. For the very young, this homage to
mothers in the animal world has parallels to mothers in the human
world, as two small animals have words to say about their fabulous
mothers. The repetition of words beginning with M, is infectious,
and listeners will have a fun time thinking what the next adjective
might be in describing the attributes of the mothers portrayed.
Max's Mum is miraculous because she is able to mend machines, while
Matilda's Mum never misses a match, and can make her hurts go away.
Each page has a positive attribute of the two mothers, ending with
the annual Mother's Day picnic where, of course, all the things to
eat begin with M.
The illustrations of the koalas and possums and their M words are
cutely drawn and will encourage readers to look and laugh and
predict, adding another to the Scholastic series of alphabet books
for the young.
Fran Knight
Advent by James Treadwell
The Advent Trilogy: Book 1. Hodder, 2012. ISBN 9781444728477.
(Suited For: 16+) Recommended. Gavin Stokes is a regular city kid
from London who thinks that his parents want nothing to do with him.
Ever since he was a child, Gavin has seen things that no one else
will believe. Sent to Cornwall to stay with his peculiar aunt, Gavin
begins to uncover the source of his visions and the magic that
surrounds them. An ancient magic, lost for centuries, which is only
now returning to the world once more.
With the recent conclusion of the Harry Potter series still
fresh in their minds, many readers could be forgiven for being
somewhat tentative to delve straight back into the realm of fantasy
and magic. Though Advent contains a boy-wizard of sorts,
that is where the similarities stop. Treadwell has skilfully managed
to breathe some much needed air back into the genre.
With an array of colourful characters combined with Treadwell's
natural story-telling ability, Advent is an enjoyable read
for all ages. At times it can be perhaps slow, which may disinterest
younger readers, but the reader's attention is never entirely lost.
Directed at a slightly older audience than that of the Harry
Potter series, Advent has the potential to attract new
readers to the genre whilst fans of the fantasy-magic variety will
find themselves engaged in the originality of the story. Advent is one of the better books of the fantasy-magic genre
to come along since the inception of the Harry Potter
series. The originality of the story combined with Treadwell's
ability to keep the reader engaged throughout the entirety of the
book make Advent an enjoyable read for all ages.
I recommend this book.
Michael Adams
Rama and Sita by Malachy Doyle
Ill. by Christopher Carr. Bloomsbury Books, 2012. ISBN
9781408139516.
(Ages 6+) Folk Tales. India. With large, colourful and bold
illustrations, the Indian folk story of Rama and Sita is given life
in short, easy to read sentences and brief but vivid descriptions.
The tale is of Sita, stolen by the Demon King and taken to his
inaccessible island. Rima searches for her and being good and true,
enlists the help of the monkey king who tells his followers to build
a bridge to allow access to Rima and the demon king's army. They
overpower the demon and his followers returning Sita to her rightful
place.
This story reflects that goodness will overpower evil, just like the
little oil lamp brings light to the darkness, and this story is
remembered each year at the festival of Diwali, where lamps are lit
to recall the story.
This book is one in a new series, Stories from World Religions,
published by Bloomsbury in England, and would be a sound addition to
a school library.
Fran Knight
Meet Nellie by Penny Matthews
Our Australian Girl (series). Penguin, 2012. ISBN 978 0 14 330623 8.
(Ages: 9+). Historical. Nellie has lived in the workhouse in
Ireland, since the deaths of most of her family during the Great
Hunger which struck Ireland in the middle of the nineteenth century
when the potato crop failed. Unable to feed himself, let alone his
daughter, her father placed her there, knowing she would have food
and shelter. From there she was put aboard a ship bound for South
Australia to work in the new colony.
So begins the story of Nellie, the fifth in the series of stories
about girls throughout Australia's history, adding another 4 books
to the 16 already published. She remains at the Depot where she is
taken by a woman to be a helper in the kitchen at her boarding
house. From Nellie's vantage point we see the colony and the new
migrants who have come out to make a new life for themselves. Mrs
Thompson who runs the boarding house has a husband working in the
mines at Burra, several of the young men boarding with her work in
places in Rundle Street, the centre of commerce, and we hear of the
Governor, and the Aboriginal people on the streets. When the
boarding house is destroyed in a fire, Nellie must fend for herself,
as the family moves to Burra, and there is no room for Nellie.
Girls reading of Nellie will read of the perilous journey to
Australia and the lack of protection these young girls had coming to
a new colony, alone and without a family to support them.
For the 600 Irish workhouse girls who came to Adelaide, their lives
must have been grim and Matthews' book will encourage its readers to
think about this.
This is the first in the series of four books about Nellie, the
second, being Nellie and the secret letter. As with all the others
in this series, there is information about Nellie's time, facts
about the date in Australia's history, an introduction to the next
book, and an outline of the others in the series. The cover shows
bits which have a significance to the story inside, and the charm at
the top of the cover shows the date in which this book is set.
The whole series brings history alive for middle primary readers,
and the books are supported with an extensive website.
with teacher notes.
Fran Knight
