A Ruth Galloway mystery is always a treat to read. In The woman in blue Ruth’s friend Cathbad sees what he believes is a vision of the Virgin Mary, a woman in a blue cloak standing in the cemetery. The next day a woman wrapped in blue is found dead. Ruth’s friend Hilary, an Anglican priest, has been receiving poisonous letters and Ruth believes that the two incidents may be related.
The setting of this novel is intriguing. The medieval town of Little Walsingham is a centre for pilgrims and a Good Friday Passion Play. It is also the place where a group of female Anglican priests, including Hilary, have come to a conference about training to be a bishop. The town and its architecture, churches, cemetery and religious activities are so skilfully described that I felt that I was there, and indeed would love to visit the real town.
Griffiths deftly weaves murder against a background of religious beliefs, opposition to women priests in the Anglican world, jealousy and the familiar interplay between DCI Nelson and Ruth to make a very easy to read, stimulating mystery. Fans of mysteries would perhaps be better introduced to Ruth Galloway in her early books, especially book 1, The crossing places, but after that it is not difficult to read them up out of order.
Lured in by a big friendly red dinosaur on the cover, being chased by a small girl on a scooter, children will be sure to enjoy this rollicking tale of a dinosaur who stole Granny and ran away with her. Told in fabulous rhyming language and with the refrain of 'Stop that dinosaur!', this book begs to be read aloud and is sure to have children chanting the refrain over and over. The little girl is frantic, desperate to rescue her Granny. She chases the dinosaur down the street, across the playground, through the long grass and into the wood, all the time calling out 'Stop that dinosaur!’ When she trips and falls over, crying noisily for her gran, the dinosaur relents, saying that he really wants a gran of his own to look after him. Children will have fun predicting what the little girl and her gran will do in answer to the dinosaur’s pleas.
The illustrations are bright and eye-catching. Cort perfectly captures the fear on the little girl’s face as her Gran is kidnapped, and the determination that she has as she chases after the dinosaur. Gran looks like a modern grandmother, wearing a striped skirt with her hair cut in a bob, while her face shows the love and kindness that is part of her personality. The dinosaur, coloured in vivid red, is a real character too, and kids will identify with his need for someone to help his loneliness.
Themes of love, resilience, stealing, and acceptance are woven throughout and could lead to some interesting discussions. But it is the humour, great rhythm and gorgeous pictures that will win the reader over and make it a story that could well become one that is read over and over again.
Allen & Unwin, 2021. ISBN: 9781760526825. (Age:12-17) Recommended.
Mini does not know much about planning an Indian wedding. In fact, she does not know anything at all. But she is determined that her big sister Vinnie will have the big Bollywood wedding her mum would have wanted. Neither Vinnie nor their father have the time or resources to help so Mini is on her own, determined to deliver a perfect day. With less than two months to go, Mini has no time for distractions or complications, particularly those that come in the form of the good looking and mysterious Vir, who has an uncanny ability to appear whenever Mini is in need of help.
Sister of the Bollywood Bride is a fun and light-hearted read for young adults. Mini is an extremely likeable and sympathetic character and an unusual lead for a young adult romance. It is refreshing to read a story highlighting a first generation immigrant Indian family in the United States. While the premise of the novel – a teenager organising an elaborate wedding almost singlehandedly – may be a little implausible, it is an interesting focus around which to showcase Indian culture and traditions.
Sister of the Bollywood is not a complicated read but Bajpai does touch on the continuing after effects of grief and what that can do to family relations. The novel is also a shining example of what can be achieved when communities rally around to help one of their own. The straightforward writing, appealing romance and climatic third act will ensure that this book is enjoyed by teenagers of all ages.
Themes Weddings, Indian Culture, Family, Romance, Community, Grief.
You're the best Mum is a joyous book. Part of the internationally best selling series featuring Little Wombat, You're the best Mum!, like the rest of the series, exudes warmth in the rhythmic pace and soft watercolour illustrations. Little Wombat is full of open delight and his experiences with his mum are all about security as she takes him everywhere to experience and learn about the world.
In every illustration, Little Wombat displays open hearted joy and delight. His mother is always with him as a very physical presence. The typesetting comprises two large and fun fonts which catapult about the book matching the swirling fun of the action of the story as Little Wombat swings in the air, dances in the rain and learns to love "... all the living things."
Children will enjoy finding new things in every picture so You're the best Mum will withstand multiple rereadings. It's happiness provoking and the experience of having this read by a loved one will ensure that this book will be requested again and again.
In the Australian context, I'm not sure that a wombat is seen often in the snow and Halloween is an introduced American custom - not really Australian. However, perhaps this is forgiven as it could be part of the whimsy of the story.
Gritty atmospheric texts like this one, really show up the inadequacies of plot summaries. On spec, the narrator, is a sensitive teenager and self-appointed carer to John, a returned soldier with PSTD. His father’s state of mind and skill set make John vulnerable to exploitation by a local underworld crime boss. In parallel, the boy’s underworld, is full of primeval symbolism, woodlands survival, food gardening and poetry - wonderfully ethereal imagery to accompany the active events.
Mol, the old stray, becomes the boy’s companion while John is incarcerated. Her loyalty and acceptance grounds the boy who is not mature enough to access more than a sense of the dangers surrounding his father’s predicaments – somewhat lulled by their shared dreams of an escape to the Scottish wilderness reunited as a happy family.
A dark and majestically illustrated novel in three parts, be assured it is encapsulated in the prefaced quote by John Steinbeck. “There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of life, will have left only the hard clean questions: was it good or was it evil?”
Part one introduces us to the traumatized, to nature, to love, to memory, to antiquity, and to good and evil. Part two reunites the boy with his father, fresh from prison, testing him, toughening him with a bogus hiking holiday. Lastly, Part 3 finds the pair truly destitute. John both decides to do a job for Toomey and changes his mind, as if orchestrating the only possible end to his own psychological torment.
The key to John’s struggles emerges in his nightmares concerning his platoon’s mascot, a boy who stepped on a mine in Afghanistan – memories his family are ill-qualified to help him salve. The narrator’s uncertain phase between childhood and maturity is reminiscent of Carol Joyce Oat’s cautionary tales, describing the natural confusion, half-truths, misjudgments and misinformation so cataclysmic for protagonists coming of age in stressful situations.
For narrative cadence, gothic visuals and strength of character, this illustrated hardback is the stuff of group study in schools. Shades of the psychological A Monster Calls might lead to film rights for some astute creative? On all levels this author definitely embraces Steinbeck’s grasp of the writer’s purpose – We were wolves has succeeded in “exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement.”
The Bookshop Cat is a wonderfully told story of a gentle book-reading cat who does not quite fit into his busy working family. He says to his family who are always encouraging him to find a job . . . ‘With a book, I can go anywhere and be anything I want.’ And that is exactly what he does. He travels around the town and he eventually finds his perfect job as a bookshop cat. He and his young employer Violet set out to create a warm and inviting reading space. They tidy the shop, make new displays, order new books and soon the Children’s Bookshop becomes a busy and welcoming place. Unfortunately a huge rain storm causes a pipe to burst and flood both the store and the street. Sadly the shop is not visited for days after this. Violet has an idea to take the books and place them all over the town with a map leading back to the store. The family of cats all help as well and soon the shop is up and running again.
The illustrations by Cindy Wume are both vibrant and very appealing. This is a perfect story about the power of books and reading and would be ideal for all bookshops and libraries.
After the successful You can’t take an elephant on the bus (2015), You can’t let an elephant drive a digger (2018), and You can’t call an elephant in an emergency (2020) comes the equally hilarious expose of an elephant and other animals going on holiday. Kids will laugh out loud as they spy the elephant trying to grab the ice cream cone from the top of the ice cream van, or the surfing orangutan, the meerkats playing mini golf, the bison sitting on a very small boat in the English Channel shipping lane surrounded by rather large container ships, or even piranha fish in the backyard wading pool. Each illustration accompanies a verse outlining the plight of the holiday makers having to contend with a strange assortment of animals.
The very funny verses will attract children immediately, putting themselves in the place of the hapless holidaymakers, wondering what might happen when such an animal becomes part of their family holiday. Kids will love predicting the rhyming words, learn some of the verses to read with the adult, and join in with the merriment as the story unfolds. The illustrations will certainly delight as the ostrich tries to sit on a deck chair, the lion’s efforts at being a tour guide fall flat, the rhino finds camping a little messy and the albatross makes a bee line for candy floss.
Each illustration is intriguing, detailed and hilarious, adding to the humour of the book. And the last few pages where the animals group together, complaining that they only want to have fun, putting aside their attempts at a family holiday where after all, they can enjoy all the fun of a fair, signals the next outing of this hilarious story. Can’t wait!
Themes Animals, Holidays, Humour.
Fran Knight
Little Days Out: At the shops by Sally Garland illus.
Catch a Star, 2021. ISBN: 9781922326256. (Age:1+)
Young children will recognise the familiar trip to the supermarket and have fun identifying the different food that can be purchased there. In this brightly coloured lift-the-flap book, Mum gets ready to take her two children to do the shopping. She decides to carry the baby. Children lifting the flap will discover that a little girl is coming too, riding on her scooter. After a walk, the supermarket’s sliding doors will open to reveal the interior. Baby is put in the shopping trolley and opening the flaps the reader will discover that the little girl wants bananas to eat in the fruit section. More shopping for vegetables, freshly baked bread and finally a treat follows.
Toddlers will enjoy this book and will easily recognise the things that are put in the trolley. Their vocabulary will increase as they point out things that they don’t recognise and learn new words and ideas about healthy eating. The book is very sturdy and the lift-the-flaps will last the heavy use of eager little fingers opening and shutting them.
The little family is shown as a loving one with happy faces on the mother and her children and it is obvious from the illustrations that shopping is a pleasant adventure for this family. Bright colours are used to illustrate the different types of food and will draw the reader’s attention. The prose is sparse, just right for young children who are listening and easy to remember for older children who might want to memorise the text.
Themes Shops, Shopping, Supermarkets, Food.
Pat Pledger
Stranger shores by J.M. Coetzee
Text Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 9781922330420. (Age:Senior secondary/Adult)
Coetzee’s early collection of essays, Stranger Shores, begins with ‘What is a classic?’ exploring T. S. Eliot’s idea that civilisation has its roots in Rome, and therefore the originary classic must be Virgil’s Aeneid. Turning then to Bach and the classics of music, Coetzee comes to the conclusion that the classic is that which survives and that the role of criticism is to interrogate the classic.
This sets the context for the essays that follow: essays on classical writers such as Defoe, Richardson, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Turgenev among the more familiar, but also including more modern writers such as Byatt, Rushdie and Doris Lessing.
Coetzee extends his gaze wider than Europe; there are also a number of essays devoted to Middle Eastern and South African writers such as Mahfouz, Mazrui, Pringle, Rooke, Breytenbach and Paton.
The essays would be of interest to students of literature, for criticisms of particular writers, or for a better understanding of the world view of Coetzee himself.
There are two more volumes of essays, Inner workings, and Late essays providing insight into some of the world’s greatest writers.
The solid board cover and strong paper ensures this a hard wearing book and it needs to be as it will be read and read again, its message of birth and development one which delights and intrigues all ages.
It starts with an egg.
Inside that egg, Pablo knows this will be his last night in the shell as he knows he is now too big for his shell. After a good night’s sleep and a breakfast of a small croissant and a hot chocolate, he apprehensively pecks open a little hole. He peers out into the world, and wants to see more. He opens more holes: he listens to the wind and hears the crows and the buzz of a fly. He does not want to miss any sounds. Next he makes a hole for his beak and becomes aware of the smell of the soil and the flowers. He feels he wants to move in his new world and makes holes for his legs. He can wander around. He pecks holes for his wings and he can fly. But his shell still comes in handy.
This beautiful story of growing up, of setting out, of being introduced to the world around will bring laughs of recognition from the readers as they recall the first time they did something which is now taken for granted. Many families will recall their child’s first words, or the first steps, or the first laugh, and this book will be a wonderful sharing tool for readers at home and in the classroom.
Discussions may centre around the ideas of learning about a new environment, of the trepidation some feel at having to embrace something new, or adapt to change. The wonders this book evokes are endless. And it all starts with an egg.
But what an egg! Belgian illustrator and author, Rascal imbues the oval shape with emotions as the eyes peer out from the holes it punches in the shell, and all readers will watch as the senses come into play, the chick finding his feet and feeling his wings.
Gecko Press is an independent, international publisher of curiously good children’s books, based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Themes Development, Birth, Growing up, First steps, Humour.
Fran Knight
Grumpy monkey party time! by Suzanne Lang. Illus. by Max Lang
Suzanne Lang is an American children’s book author and TV Producer who partners with her husband Max Lang who illustrates her publications.She has written three picture books in the Grumpy Monkey series so far.Grumpy Monkey was the first and reached No 1 on the New York Times best seller list.Grumpy Monkey Party time is the second book and Grumpy Monkey up all night is the third she has written.
In the first book Grumpy Monkey the author tackles the issue of unexplained feelings and how children can deal with them without hurting others.In this second picture book the main character, Jim Panzee, is invited to a party and reveals to his friends that he cannot dance. So, they teach him all the cool dance moves they know to help him fit in.But as the party continues Jim realizes that he does not like to dance and proceeds to tell everyone. To his surprise he finds others that agree with him and they find other things they like to do at the party.The author attempts to uncover ways to enable children speak up if they don’t like something and to demonstrate that they don’t necessarily need to follow the crowd to enjoy themselves.
The bright colorful, funny, cartoon style characters reveal their emotions and reactions throughout the story as the illustrations take us to a fabulous party, including a double-page fold out of the Conga line dance that tips Jim over the line. They capture the true joy of a big party and the many things that are happening which children will enjoy discovering time and time again.
Themes Parties, Chimpanzees, Dancing, Feelings.
Gabrielle Anderson
The ones we're meant to find by Joan He
Text Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 9781911231332. (Age:16+) Recommended.
This dystopian novel creates a world where eco-cities protect people from a toxic environment. Celia (Cee) and Kasey Mizuhara are sisters who are devoted to each other but very different in temperament. They live in a class structure determined by the degree of environmental damage an individual’s family heritage has inflicted on the planet across their lifetimes.
The reader meets Cee living on a deserted island. She has few memories to rely on yet is determined to find her sister. Kasey is searching for her sister. Cee disappeared in mysterious circumstances and it seems Kasey is the only one looking for her.
The story is expertly crafted to combine science fiction and mystery, revealing a complex world where environments, science, politics and relationships are exploited. Told in alternating narratives each sister adds to a story that reaches an unexpected and apocalyptic conclusion. The reader is offered opportunities to consider: What does it mean to be human? What sacrifices can be justified in the quest to preserve humanity? Are human lives more valued than other life? To what extent do we really make choices? How do we know what is real? There are many questions raised by He in her writing – and not all will be answered. Cee will draw the reader to her because of her zest for life - and this will ultimately provide an exceptional provocation in the end.
The twists and turns of this story are what makes it a page turner. The reader will find themselves reflecting on the intriguing and complicated threading of ideas and issues that support an engrossing read.
Rock the Boat, 2021. ISBN: 9780861540907. (Age:14+) Very highly recommended.
When a reader continues to think about the themes in a book and returns to it repeatedly as I did in Firekeeper’s daughter, then it is easy to state that it is outstanding. The awards that Firekeeper’s daughter has won (Michael L. Printz Award (2022), American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book (Honor Book) (2022), Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction and Nominee for Debut Novel (2021), Walter Dean Myers Award, Teen category) also reinforce its excellence.
Told in the first person by Daunis Fontaine, the reader learns about this 18-year-old, a member of the wealthy Fontaine family and an unenrolled tribal member of the Ojibwe tribe. Fitting in has always been a problem for her, never quite accepted by either Ojibwe people or the white people. She is very intelligent and dreams of leaving town to study medicine but has put her life on hold to look after her mother, while her grandmother is in care. When she meets Jamie, an attractive hockey player on her brother Levi's team, she finds herself in the centre of a criminal investigation led by the FBI, working as an undercover agent and looking into murder and drug trafficking.
Confronting themes in this book include racism, drug taking, murder and rape and the meaning of love but what stood out for me was the author’s ability to blend all of these around the character and actions of Daunis. She is a strong young woman who faces difficult dilemmas around her love for her family and her identity as a bi-racial young woman. I was left knowing much more about First Nations People and their justice system and the inequities that women faced when violence or rape occurred. I was particularly taken with the idea of a Blanket Party to help sexual assault victims and the strength and resilience of First Nations women stood out for me. Daunis really loves Jamie but knows that it is important for him to be healthy and strong without leaning on her. Meanwhile the mystery, action and suspense surrounding the murders and running the drug traffickers kept me enthralled and keen to find out who was perpetrating these crimes.
In the Author’s note she writes ”I sought to write about identity, loss, and injustice . . . and also of love, joy, connection, friendship, hope, laughter, and the beauty and strength in my Ojibwe community.” She certainly succeeds. Readers will find the Book Club kit useful particularly as it contains a list of books to read next, and the teachers notes are detailed. This would make an ideal literature circle or class novel.
Themes Love, Mystery, Friendship, Drugs, Sexual assault, Ojibwe tribe.
John Grisham has made a name as a writer of renown, with a number of his legal-world drama stories made into movies. This book takes another of his interests – sport, and specifically basketball, and weaves it around a young talented player from South Sudan. Samuel Sooleyman (Sooley) has made his way on to a youth team representing South Sudan, and able to play in the USA in a competition that might give the team a chance to be noticed by USA scouts that could rescue them from the difficult circumstances of their lives in villages and towns in their own country. While he is in the USA his family are attacked by rebels and eventually become refugees as they escape their own country. Sooley’s life is also turned upside down and the hopes for his future now also include hopes to rescue his family. Amidst the incredible world of the College basketball system and with the wealth of the USA in full view there is an unbelievable trajectory for Sooley as he goes from being an ordinary player from a background of poverty, but blessed with height and a poor shooting record, to become a spectacular game-changer with dreams of an NBA contract.
This book is both uplifting and sad as it paints the incredible disparity between the worlds of Sooley’s homeland and his new adopted country. It also reads like a biography with detail of all the games played and the minutiae of the Basketball world for the young central character and his close friends and team mates. The complications of the draft system for the talented player and the wealth that floods in his direction are also mystifying and confronting. This could easily be a fairytale journey, but Grisham has cleverly made us wonder all the way to the end.
Recommended, for lovers of basketball, aged 15+.
Themes Basketball, South Sudan, Refugees, Professional sport.
The Rock from the Sky is a charming picture book with quite subtle humour divided into 5 stories. They feature a turtle, an armadillo/mole creature, a snake and an alien and explore friendships, emotions, the future and stepping outside your comfort zone.
In the first story the turtle sits in a favourite spot and invites the Armadillo to join him. The Armadillo feels uncomfortable in that spot and finds his own a little further away, where the snake joins him. A little jealous, the turtle tries to get them to come over to his spot without success. All the while the readers see a rock on its way down from the sky, but don’t know where it is going to land. When it does land one of the characters is glad that he followed his instincts.
Each story stands alone so the book would be perfect to read in sections at bedtime or to a young class over a week at school. It also lends itself for readers to try different voices for the characters as the text is written in different tones to show which character is speaking. The illustrations are very muted tones in black, browns, greys and a smattering of red/orange. The characters eyes cleverly convey their emotions when things happen in the story. The animals all wear a hat (of course) as this is Klasson’s first book since his acclaimed Hat trilogy - I want my hat back, This is not my Hat and We found a hat, which will tie this book to that series for young readers.
