Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011. ISBN 978 847800558.
(Ages 10+) Recommended. Going to live in London after the earthquakes
in Greece killed her husband and destroyed their village, Makis' mother
becomes a recluse, not daring to go outside, unable to understand the
basic words int his new language and fearful for her son, all that she
has left in the world.
Makis learns to succeed at school, taking the new words and flying
through the classes he is put in as a newcomer. He shrugs off the
bullying by some of the other boys, but wins their pleasure when he
proves himself at soccer. Picked for the school team he is proud of his
achievements and learns to catch the bus to the matches, encouraging
his mother to come along as well.
He works out a way to help his mother learn English, although she can
see through his little ruse, and slowly she becomes less hesitant about
her surroundings. But the day of the final, Makis' mother becomes
overwhelmed with grief at seeing a drawing in one of the school books
she is using to learn to read, and Makis stays home to help her. In
missing the start of the match he earns the wrath of the whole school,
and it takes a while for the situation to be resolved.
A story which reflects the plight of many migrants and refugees, Ashley
has written a tale of many layers which will appeal to a wide number of
students. Fitting in, bullying, sport and learning to read are but some
of the layers, and I was struck by Makis' mother, taking such a huge
step in leaving the land of her birth after her husband's death, to
move to a foreign place. Her courage is singular.
Fran Knight
Douglas by G.N. Hargreaves
Egmont, 2011. ISBN 9781 4052 5727 5.
(Ages: 6-8) Picture book. Douglas the dog is most unusual. He is unlike
any other dog. Where most
run after cats, he does not, where others play in the garden, he sits
inside and reads the paper; he also skis, plays chess and eats in
restaurants. But he cannot wag his tail. Derided by other dogs for this
peculiar inability, he wanders into the forest bemoaning his fate. He
hears a voice from the tree, and finds a bird, Basil, who says he will
help him with his problem. Together they work out a solution to
Douglas's problem, which involves climbing the highest tree and
attempting to fly. Douglas does this and finds the whole situation so
ludicrous that he beings to laugh and so wags his tail. Solution found,
the two friends find that the bird can now woof!
An unusual tale about difference and trying to help each other, the
story could be used in classes where difference is under discussion, or
perhaps where bullying is an issue, then this could be used to
introduce the topic of difference. Students will laugh out loud at the
antics of Douglas as he does things that no dog does, and his attempts
to be 'normal'.
Fran Knight
Pod by Stephen Wallenfels
Allen and Unwin, 2011. ISBN 9781742375663.
Recommended. This book is written with two main characters: Josh, who
lives in Prosser, Washington and Megs who is staying in Los Angeles,
California. On day one, life as they know it changes within a matter of
seconds. The world is rudely awakened by a screeching sound that makes
them feel like their brains are going to explode. It is an alien
invasion. Anyone who steps outside disappears, but staying inside can
drive the sane insane. The power goes out, the water stops and you
can't go outside to get more without disappearing. Megs is stuck in the
parking lot of a hotel, trying to hide for survival. Josh is stuck in
his house with a neat-freak, compulsive father. He tries to keep
himself sane but living stuck inside with nothing to do, he struggles.
We follow their lives for a month. What will happen? How will they cope?
This book was great. It has a really good 'what if' theory. The
storyline
kept me guessing and had me on my toes wondering what was going to
happen next. Such a great book for those who enjoy alien invasions
(Sci-fi).
Cecilia Richards (student)
Dolphin rescue by Justin D'Ath
Mission Fox series. Puffin Books, 2011. ISBN978 0143305835.
(Ages 9+) Adventure. Brothers, Jordan and Harry are on Reef Island for
a family holiday and are dismayed to find no gum trees. They have
brought their box of caterpillars with them, adhering to their mission
statement that impels them to rescue animals in danger. Their father is
in disbelief at their bringing these with them, after all, he reminds
them pets are not allowed. But the caterpillars are not really pets,
they tell him, and so the boys begin a search for something they
can feed their charges, all 80 of them.
While searching the island they happen to see a pair of dolphins being
chased by sharks, and so set out to rescue them. Harry inadvertently
cuts his foot on the reef as they go out to sea, this ensuring that the
sharks will be attracted to them and not the dolphins. So follows a
wildly exciting adventure as the boys must not only save themselves
from being the shark's dinner, but the dolphins as well, and along the
way find food for the caterpillars. Another well written episode in the
twin's lives with Manga style illustrations full of humour.
Fran Knight
No bears by Meg McKinlay and Leila Rudge (illustrator)
Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 978 1 921529924.
(Ages: 6+) Picture book. Recommended. Ruby intends to make a book, but
she insists it cannot have bears in it. She tells us she is sick of
bears being in every books she reads, and goes on to list the things
which make a good story. There should be a princess, a monster, a
castle along with something scary, funny and exciting. So she sets out
to tell such a story, making a book as she goes. Each page shows a
spiral bound book with the story containing all the elements she likes
involved. Her precept that there be no bears is followed in her tale,
but a smartly dressed bear keeps peeping in around the edges of the
book as the story proceeds. The story itself is humerous and will
engage the readers till the end but they will also find humour in the
drawings of the bear and its attempts to be involved in the tale.
In the background on each page readers will find some of the characters
from fairy stories that they know, and so this will further engage
their interest. The delightful illustrations often show some of the
tools of the illustrator's trade, as pots of pencils and pens, ink and
paint appear, alongside the spiral bound book, and this is repeated in
the end covers.
A lovely tale to elicit interest and engagement, the story could well
be used to introduce what makes up a story, or develop interest in
fairy stories, or simply to show what fun can be had from a well
written story, ably augmented by glorious illustrations.
Fran Knight
Pirate diary: journal of a cabin boy by Richard Platt
Illus. by Chris Riddell, Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 9781 406330601.
(Ages 10+) Picture book. Recommended. A reprint of the graphic story of
Jake Carpenter, which first published in 2000, will delight readers
again with its tales of a young boy, setting out on a ship as cabin boy
with his uncle, the captain, being over taken by pirates. Being a
merchant seaman was all Jake wanted in life, and the first part of the
book tells the reader all about the ship and its provisioning,
its life and the work he and the others do. But when taken over by
pirates, life changes markedly.
Full of information and interesting detail, the story of Jake carpenter
rings true, as the pirate ship goes about its business and avoids
capture, eventually coming to shore when an amnesty is declared. Life
in 1776 is boldly envisaged and the story will intrigue many readers,
intent on learning about he life of a pirate, but also of a young man
caught up in a world he did not want. The last few pages are devoted to
factual accounts of piracy and Jake's world, with maps and an index. A
great book for reading alone or with a group, or using in the classroom
for a 'true' account of a pirate or as part of a literature circle,
along with the range of novels written about this subject.
Fran Knight
Editor's note: Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Blue Peter
Book Awards: Best Book with Facts.
Pat Pledger
Ayu and the perfect moon by David Cox
Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 978 1 921720 22 2.
(Ages 6+) Recommended. Picture book. A reprinting of this fabulous
story, first published in 1984 is most welcome. With the new curriculum
having Asian Themes as one of its strands, then reprinting successful
and well loved books from the past is most apposite. Walker Books
(Australia) has republished many old Australian favourites, and none
more timely than this one.
The story tells of a young Balinese girl practicing for the Legong
dance to be performed in the village under the Banyan tree on the night
of the full moon.
As she practices, the village goes on with its everyday business and
the reader sees how the village operates, what the people do during the
day, how they live, as they all waits for the full moon. The night of
the full moon will see people coming from all over the area to join in
with dressing up, processions, dragon dancing, all to celebrate
the rise of the full moon. Ayu dances with her hands, feet and
eyes, aglow in her amazing red and gold costume, reprising a centuries
old tradition of classical dancing.
Pages at the end of the tale explain the story of the Legong dance,
with following pages about David Cox and why he wrote this tale. The
exquisite pen and wash pages are filled with colour and interest, and
children will learn a great deal about the culture of the people of one
of our closest neighbours.
Fran Knight
No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis
Allen And Unwin, 2011. ISBN 978-1-74237-410-9.
(Age 13+) Recommended. No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis is a thrilling
novel about a boy called
Abdul who makes a huge journey from his home in Baghdad, trying so hard
to get to England. While getting onto a small, dinky boat with an
indecent people smuggler, he finds himself with a young girl, Rosalia,
who is a gypsy. She stands up for herself and takes control of her
life. Abdul also meets Cheslav, a rough young man who is gifted at
playing the trumpet. And Jonah, the people smugglers nephew, a shy
little boy whose mother died some years previously is also in the
story, playing his role accordingly. All these migrants (including
Jonah) are orphans and deal with reality in their own way, fending for
each and everyone's survival.
These migrants finally get to Britain and sort out their lives there.
This wonderful and tragic story is real life snippets from real
children's lives, turning these sad and moving stories into a fantastic
novel. I think the way that Deborah Ellis put those stories together
and made this novel is brilliant and I hope to read some more of her
novels that are about real-life people in real-life places and
situations that none of us fortunately aren't in as soon as possible. I
think for age rating I would say 13 and onwards would be appropriate.
This truly was a brilliantly created story and I will be reading it
again in the near future.
Sarah Filkin, Yr 9
The magic brush by Kat Yeh
Illus. by Huy Voun Lee, Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN 9781 408815458.
(Ages 5+) Picture book. When grandpa comes to stay permanently, he
invites Jasmine into his room, asking her to make a wish. He then
paints her wish, using his magic brush, sweeping it across the paper,
making the calligraphy letters to go along withe story they create.
Jasmine wants to fly to the moon, so one page shows their journey, with
the calligraphy on the page as well. Eventually they get to the
mountains, after going along a river, meeting some monkeys and finding
a flying horse, which leads them to the baby dragon.
Each day grandpa takes Jasmine on this journey, teaching her the
calligraphy and the story which goes with the letters, helping her
become proficient with the brush. When he leaves, she must wait for her
younger brother to be old enough for her to teach him. So the cycle of
life is shown in this gentle story of birth and rebirth, teaching the
next generation, and the underlying values of love and family.
Flat boldly coloured illustrations fill each page and at the end of the
book, the Chinese characters are given again with their meanings, along
with the story of calligraphy and some recipes for the food mentioned
in the text.
Fran Knight
Beauty queens by Libba Bray
Allen and Unwin, 2011. ISBN 9781742377070.
(Age 15+) Highly recommended for mature readers. When a plane carrying
teen beauty queens to their pageant destination, crashes on a densely
forested island, the survivors have to bring all their resources
together to stay alive. Keeping to their beauty regime while building
shelters and finding food can be quite a challenge but the girls manage
not only to survive but to find some beauty products as well!
An award winning author, Libba Bray uses satire at its best to point
out the difficulties that her young beauty queens face in their world.
It is a place where reality TV and corporate sponsorship
dominate. The ideal of beautiful faces and bodies is obsessively
pushed at girls, often by their mothers.
Bray chooses a group of girls, the leader Miss Texas, highly
intelligent Adina Greenberg who wants to bring the beauty pageant down,
and Shanti Singh, who can make papadum 'as my mother and grandmother
taught me,' standing out for me.There are many more to show the
different pressures that the girls are under, not least having pushy
parents who insist on their entering the beauty scene. The reader finds
out about them from their Miss Teen Dream Fun Facts page and then
follows their journey as they learn how to become self-sufficient and
able to rely on others on the island. There are great moments when the
girls flex their imaginations and beauty materials to cope, like using
stretch materials to gather water.
The introduction of a sub plot where soldiers for the Corporation are
attempting to take over a small country and are stationed on the island
provides plenty of action and suspense. The appearance of a ship
carrying a group of gorgeous young men, pirates from the Captains
Bodacious TV series, provides some lively love interest.
There are many laugh aloud moments as Bray satirises the Corporation
and Ladybird Hope, the beauty queen mentor for the girls. But the story
revolves around what happens to the girls when there is no beauty
pageant to win and they must discover who they really are. There are
important messages for girls about sexuality; obsession with body image
and friendship, all packed up in a funny, challenging book. It will be
sure to get them thinking about product advertising, big business, boy
bands and dictators.
Some sex scenes, violence and discussion of sexual orientation make it
a book for the older teen. The theme of female empowerment and girls
finding themselves, as well as a fabulous conclusion, make it a very
worth while read.
Pat Pledger
Jolly Jack by Susannah McFarlane and Lachlan Creagh
Little Mates series. Scholastic, 2011. ISBN 978174169 8343.
(Ages 5+) Recommended. What a treat to find a series of books which
does not pander to the younger reader. Here the author has used words
of more than two syllables, melding so well with the sentence that a
child will have some understanding of the meaning, and be able to
delight in repeating the word, rolling it around their tongues. The
alliterative device too, will delight and entreat, helping the readers
acclimatize themselves to new words, adding to their growing vocabulary.
Jolly Jack, a kangaroo, what else!, loves playing jokes on his friends,
and the story details some of the jokes played between the group. Every
possible 'j' word is used in this funny read aloud story, and I can
imagine teachers, parents and students having a laugh reading it
themselves or listening as it is read to them. An adult will make
wonderful sue of the alliterative words in the story, adding stress and
an invitations to predict what the next word might be.
The tenth in the series, Inquisitive Isabella by the same
author and
illustrator, has the same approach. The words all start with 'I' and
include such wonderful variety of words with 3 and 4 syllables, that
everyone will be involved and part of the story.
Fran Knight
Springman Brothers' Reality Repair by Joshua Wright
Jim Springman Book 2. Scholastic Australia, 2011. ISBN 9781741697858.
(Age 10+) Queen's Port has become imagination central. It's turned into
the Realm of Glory and Jim Springman's older sister Ingrid is stuck in
the middle of it. He has to help her, but to do that he has to go into
the dragon's lair to get her out. Then he needs to make her remember
she is really Ingrid Springman the author of Realm of Glory and
his
sister not the Bandit Queen Evavich a murderous villain and the leader
of the Bugbears in the Realm of Glory. But with people out to kill him,
monsters out to eat him, the local necromancer wanting him back in
school, his brother not wanting to help him and the anchor pills
starting to wear off it won't be as easy as it seems. As if they were
his only problems his friends Ruthie and Josie Cobbler just keep
dragging him deeper and deeper.
This book is hard to get in to: it took me half the book and a dragon
to get in to it. It's a good book with a good ending and I can honestly
say that I didn't realise it was the second in a series. The first book
in the series is Jim Springman and the Realm of Glory, but the
second
book has been written in a way that makes it seem like it isn't
actually a series.
Tahlia Kennewell (student)
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Pan Macmillan, 2010. ISBN: 9780330425780
(Age 14+) Highly recommended. Winner of the 2011 Prime Minister's
Award, the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature 2011 and
short listed for the CBCA Older Reader's Award, Graffiti Moon
is a book
not to be missed and should be as widely promoted as possible in
libraries and as a class set or literature circle book in schools. A
group of teens get together at the end of their HSC. Lucy, a glass
blower, thinks that she is in love with Shadow, an unknown graffiti
artist. His artworks call to her and she really feels that they would
be soul mates. She decides to spend the night trying to find out who he
is, but becomes entangled with Ed and his mates. She had gone out on a
date with Ed in Year 10, but it ended in disaster when she broke his
nose. Meanwhile Dylan and Daisy are a couple, but Daisy is having
second thoughts after he egged her on the last day of school. In a
gripping 24-hour period the teens get to know each other and
themselves, all working out just what they want out of life.
I loved this book and read it virtually in one sitting. I was fortunate
to hear Cath Crowley talk about the research she did at night looking
at graffiti around Melbourne and talking to people. This insight added
to the enjoyment I experienced. It was easy to imagine Shadow painting
evocative scenes and his offsider writing the words to go with them.
You knew that he wasn't a vandal from the vivid descriptions and ached
for him to have a legitimate voice in the art world. Art lovers will
also appreciate the many references to artists and exhibitions that
Crowley makes.
I also loved the romance in this book. It was never soppy or
unrealistic. Crowley described vividly how these young people began to
come of age, recognising strengths and weaknesses in each other. The
teens spoke with an authentic voice and I could easily imagine each
one, facing dilemmas, covering up secrets and hurts and making good and
bad decisions.
Crowley tackles some big themes with a soft touch. Dysfunctional
families and the plight of kids who must cope without support, the
inability to read and what that means for a career are all examined in
a low key but very helpful way. While Ed has many problems he was
able to attract the attention of sympathetic adults who helped him on
his way.
A very satisfying and uplifting story, Graffiti Moon deserves
all the
accolades that it is getting.
Pat Pledger
Nog and the land of noses by Bruce Whatley
Scholastic, 2011. ISBN 978 1 74169 8091.
(Ages 6+) Picture book. Recommended. What an absolute delight to read
this fine book about difference. Whatley infuses his noses with amazing
qualities, readers will have a great time differentiating each nose and
the qualities each has as they read the book again and again. In a land
where everyone's nose has a purpose, or did something useful, Nog's did
not. His just is. There are fat noses and thin noses, noses that go up
and some that go down, and the delightful illustrations show the reader
exactly what each nose does. Nog is despondent, his does nothing. His
grandmother always said the Nog had a nose for trouble, but Nog could
not see the value in this, until one day, trouble comes to the
community and Nog smells it before anyone else. So a tale of sadness
becomes one where Nog finds that his nose, like everyone else's, has a
definite purpose.
Along the way, children will love the idioms used, nose for trouble,
catching a cold in the nose, picking nose or a running nose. The
illustrations show what the nose can do, but the words are ones the
class can laugh over as they see the difference between the words and
the illustrations or the accepted meaning of those words.
Fran Knight
Plague by Michael Grant
Gone series, Book 4. Egmont, 2011. ISBN 9781405256575.
(Age 14+) The fourth instalment of the thrilling Gone series, Plague
brings a new element to the FAYZ where it has been eight months since
all the adults disappeared. The Darkness has managed to take over its
Nemesis and a killer plague is spreading over the land. Lana can't cure
this and the metallic bugs that grow inside flesh, eating their way
out, are also proving almost impossible to kill. Water is running very
short at Perdido Beach and Sam, with his trusty cohort of Dekka and
Jack, set out to a big lake a distance away in the hope of finding a
better place for the little colony to live. These are desperate time
and terrible decisions must be made to save those children left in the
frightening colony. Plague takes this series well into the horror genre. The back
cover
warns that the book 'contains scenes of cruelty and some violence', and
the descriptions of the flesh eating bugs are truly horrific as are
some of the murder scenes and the evil Drake continues to ferociously
and gleefully wield his whip arm. And the scenes of children coughing
up their lungs and splattering walls and bystanders are ones I want to
forget! This is not for the faint-hearted - the fast paced action
driven story reels from one dire situation to another, with scenes that
would make a terrific movie. There is some character development. Sam takes a central role once
again in this book, realising that he does have to use his leadership
skills to keep those he loves alive and Jack proves that he can be a
hero as well as a computer nerd. The introduction of Toto, a kid whose
powers allow him to tell whether someone is telling the truth, allows
for some slight humour in the dialogue and also proves to be a trial
for Caine. The dual Drake and Brianna continue to horrify and the
Darkness/gaiaphage starts to gain a bit for meaning for the reader.
Astrid, too, can no longer be the bystander while others make awful
decisions and she is faced with the reality of what Little Pete is
doing to the colony. Diana is faced with an awful predicament as a
result of her relationship with Caine, who has decided visions of
grandeur.
Usually three books in a series is more than enough for me, unless a
new main character is introduced in each book as Alyxandra Harvey does
in her Blood Feud series, but I know that I will have to read
the final
two books. In fact, I can't even imagine how Grant will get his
characters out of the FAYZ and back to reality, if in fact he does!
Pat Pledger
