Illus. by Katie Ponder. Dorling Kindersley, 2020. ISBN:
9780241397459. 160pp.
(Ages: 8 - 12) Recommended. Greek Myths is a beautifully
presented, simply written, thorough compendium. Although it is
non-fiction, with an index, it helps to begin reading it from the
beginning. In this way you understand how Gaia created the world and
then subsequent Olympian Gods and Goddesses such as Zeus, Hera,
Hades and Poseidon came to be. This section is followed by nine
myths of Gods and Humans such as the myth of Pandora's Jar. Nine
well known tales of heroes such as Jason and the Argonauts follow.
There's much treachery, trickery and violence amongst the Gods and
you realize the extent to which we refer to these characters and
tales in everyday life, e.g. The Trojan War, Icarus and Midas.
Throughout these sections are single fact pages devoted to each of
the main Gods and Goddesses. This helps the reader consolidate who
is who. A reference section has further useful pages explaining how
we know about this Ancient History, more information about mythical
creatures and monsters and how the Greek names were used to name
planets, animals and plants. There is a particularly useful
pronunciation guide as well.
Katie Ponder's many digitally created illustrations are well suited
to the myths. The whole design of the book, with quality buff paper
in a large hard covered volume, is very appealing. This book will be
useful in schools where Ancient History is part of the Australian
Curriculum in the middle years. It will also be of interest to young
readers who love books like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson
series. There have been many anthologies of Greek Myths over the
years but I think the design, large font and easy to read style will
help connect these myths with today's audience.
Jo Marshall
Oi puppies! by Kes Gray and Jim Field
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9781444937367.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Another in the wildly funny series of
books, Oi
frog, Oi
cat, Oi
dog and Oi
duck-billed platypus, comes another which follows the
same storyline, thus instantly gathering together its enormous
retinue of fans, eager to participate, predict and laugh out loud.
The front cover alerts the reader to the stunned dog; eyes wide and
staring, urging the reader to offer help as it is overwhelmed by
seven puppies all in different stages of excitement. Both Cat and
Frog try to help Dog, offering advice while ordering the puppies to
sit. But of course, none do. Each of the puppies is named and each
name reflects a trait shown by the puppy, giving the illustrator
wonderful comic license to show them in all their glory. The puppies
jump and crawl, climb, use the cat's whiskers as a swing, tug the
Frog's shorts, the exasperated looks on the animals' faces adding to
the fun of the story.
At his wit's end, Frog calls the Oi Animals Seating Supply Company,
and the next few pages shows each of the puppies aligned to a
rhyming seat. So Buster gets a duster, Jock a sock and Tiddles a
fiddle. Each page shows an animal and its name with a rhyming word,
all augmented with wonderful funny illustrations, sure to evoke
laughter from the reader. They will love predicting the rhyming
word, making suggestions of their own, and laugh out loud at the
twist that comes at the end of the tale.
And the very last page hints at number six in the series coming
along soon.
Themes: Puppies, Dogs, Humour, Verse, Pets.
Fran Knight
Puffin Little Environmentalist: Composting
Penguin Random House Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781760897017. 96pp.
(Age: 6 +) Highly recommended. This small format book is just right
for any child (or indeed adult) who is interested in doing something
about the amount of waste that goes into landfill. How to make
compost is explained in simple, easy to understand language that
will appeal to young children who are becoming independent readers.
It will also appeal to an adult who may be reading to a child as
this book gives great hints about composting that they could do
together.
Commencing with an introduction to what a compost bin is, the book
continues on with information about compost, what can be done with
it, why we should compost and best of all, it gives a detailed way
of making a small compost bin that would fit in a backyard or on a
balcony. This small compost bin consists of a plastic bin with holes
in it and shows children how to make compost themselves, just
requiring a small amount of help from adults, by purchasing the bin
and drilling holes in it.
The simple language, easy to follow instructions and rationale will
provide the newly independent reader with enough information to get
started. A good Contents page, Fast Facts page, Glossary and Quiz
complete this very useful book. Illustrations and the little puffin
that parades throughout the book also add to its appeal.
This would be ideal as a present for young children who wish to help
the planet and will provide children and adults alike enough
information to have a go at composting.
Pat Pledger
Shapes and colours by John Canty
Berbay Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9780648529187. 32pp.
(Age: 0)+) Highly recommended. All the colours of the rainbow and
many different shapes are beautifully illustrated in this lovely
picture book from John Canty, the award-winning author/illustrator
of the Heads
and tails series.
Right from the beginning as the reader turns the cover, bright
shapes appear, with the words, What's red? What's orange? What's
yellow? What's green? and What's blue? Each sentence appears in a
shape that matches the colour, so we see, for example, a green frog
and a yellow banana, all designed for the young child to guess what
the object is. Turning the page, the frontispiece has What's indigo?
and What's Violet, and then the reader will guess that these are the
seven colours that this carefully designed book will contain.
The shapes for each colour are coloured on a double page spread with
the question in one big drawing in the centre. The child needs to
guess what each picture is, and then when the page is turned, finds
a detailed multi-coloured picture of each shape, with the main
colour as the background. I especially liked the colour indigo, with
its vivid picture of a beetle gracing the page.
New words will be introduced to the young child. For example on the
page featuring What's orange, there are a couple of difficult
shapes, and when the page is turned, the reader will find a picture
of a popsicle, orange, safety vest, autumn leaf, pumpkin, traffic
cone and carrot all surrounding a large picture of a goldfish.
This is an imaginative way of introducing different colours and
shapes and is a book that will prove to be a keeper and one that may
well be treasured and handed down to the next generation.
Pat Pledger
The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9781473693050.
(Age: Adolescent - Adult) This is a story about ordinary people who
can sometimes be extraordinary, inhabiting a world that, for them,
is different. They have powers of observation, movement,
understanding and power that enable them to move in space, to
create situations in which different things can happen. They can be
outside of the world that we normally inhabit, and act in a capacity
that may save people from disaster. While focusing on adolescence,
this narrative is very much about the real world of today, a world
that is somewhat fraught with anxiety, and one in which it is still
important to love and find love, to spend time with family and
friends, and to seek to understand those close to us, as well as the
outside world.
Essentially this story has an 'added reality' that reflects that
which used to be called 'science fiction'. The powers possessed by
the Extraordinaries are much envied by their peers, while actually
often causing the Extraordinaries to experience emotional angst that
causes them to suffer. The narrative takes place in a country that
reflects much of the modern world, that raises issues pertinent to
this current world and that highlights the emotional world of
adolescence, particularly that of the 'queer' world of the text,
that controversial issue of sexual preference for one's own gender.
The protagonist is yearning for love, and is lonely because of his
situation, the loss of his mother, and living with a father who is
yearning for his wife, and desperate to love and care for his son.
Yet the father's job often keeps him at work late and the boy is
left alone, at home.
At its heart, this narrative reflects the issues of adolescents in
the world of today, that of planning a future in a world that often
appears to be unstable to the young, and of a world in which they
are hoping to find a place or a group to which they belong, and to find
a pathway that will be fulfilling. This is essentially a story about
love, particularly in families where it is sometimes forgotten. It
is about the compassion felt for those who struggle for whatever
reason. Klune subtly suggests that we consider 'difference' as
something that exists, that we strive to continue to love and
support those people in our own worlds, offering loving and
compassionate understanding. The novel is suitable for both adult
and adolescent readers.
Elizabeth Bondar
The teeny weeny genie by Julia Donaldson
Illus. by Anna Currey. Macmillan, 2020. ISBN: 9781509843602.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. When Old MacDonald on his farm finds a
genie in his teapot, things happen. He wishes for a new tractor and
it appears, then a wife to help with the farm, and she comes along.
She wishes for tools and wood to make a cupboard to store her
clothes, then has some left over to make a cradle and wishes for a
baby. But he is crying so a rattle is needed to quell him, then he
wants a dog, the dog wants a cat and on and on it goes, getting more
and more complicated and very funny as the wishes come along thick
and fast.
This beautiful read aloud will be a treat for a young audience as
they can call out the noises each of the wishes makes: the noise of
the tractor, the howl of the baby, the woof of the dog and so on.
Each page is a delight of fun and noise.
And the wonderfully lively and colourful illustrations, will have
the readers recognising the animals they see and spotting known
things in the farmyard, asking a myriad of questions about what they
do not know.
The blue genie gets a little annoyed with the wishes on the farm,
and wants it all to go away, but he cannot make his wish come true,
only those for other people. He attempts to get back into the
teapot, but finds a green genie there instead. The two wish for each
other, the teapot grows wings and the two are whisked away to a
lonely beach where all they can hear are the waves while they drink
their tea. Then they climb into the teapot and rest happily.
Be careful what you wish for is the basis of this funny tale,
cautioning readers not to take wishes lightly because the results of
this may be more than they bargained for.
This is a wonderfully funny, noisy tale which will have readers
jumping with joy.
Themes: Farmyard, Cautionary tale, Humour, Animals, Parody, Read
aloud.
Fran Knight
The Martian by Andy Weir
Crown, 2014. ISBN: 9780091956141.
(Age: Secondary/Adult) Highly recommended. Astronaut Mark Watney, one
of the team sent to Mars, is abandoned when a storm forces the leader
to make an instant decision. They see Mark being swept away by the
storm and their data shows he is no longer alive.
But, he is alive and busting to keep alive until he can be rescued
in four years time when the next Mars landing occurs. Trouble is
that there is only so much food and water in the Hab, the tent-like
construction built for the team of six. He assesses his chances
objectively, deciding to eat part meals to conserve food, designing
a way to reuse all the water he can and make some more using parts
from the abandoned module. He devises a way to grow potatoes using
those sent with them for Thanksgiving, using his own waste as soil.
He sets himself up well, and because he is such a likeable narrator,
the reader accepts all the science. This wonderful read, science
fiction at its best, a survival story that defies the imagination
will keep everyone reading to the last page. Full of NASA speak,
acronyms abound, but we learn a little of the minutiae of the life
of an astronaut and marvel at Watney's adaptability.
The book is divided into 26 chapters, most of which are the log
written by Watney as he charts his days, telling whoever finds his
body exactly what he has done to survive, but hopeful, of course,
that he will be rescued. Between these chapters are those set in
NASA as one of the technicians notices that tents have moved on
Mars' surface. She alerts those in charge and this unleashes a crowd
of experts all vying for their voice to be heard. The questions
asked within this room are mesmerising: should they tell the press,
should they tell his parents, or tell the other five now returning
to Earth, all the while having all of their expertise concentrated
on finding a way to bring him home. It is a riveting read, we listen
to the arguments made by those at NASA, and their attempts at
communicating with him, while working with Watney on the planet Mars
in his efforts to survive. A stunning science fiction novel in the
tradition of the Robinson Crusoe novels, (Robinsonade)
where someone is marooned and must survive, this book is a stunner,
made into a film in 2015 starring Matt Damon.
I listened to this as an audio book. Themes: STEM, Science fiction,
Survival, Robinsonade, Communication.
Fran Knight
Fierce, fearless and free: Girls in myths and legends from around the world by Lari Don
Illus. by Eilidh Muldoon. Bloomsbury, 2020. ISBN: 9781472967138.
158pp.
(Ages: 8-10) Recommended. This enjoyable, diverse anthology of
thirteen myths and folktales, stars young women from different times
and across different continents. There is a 4000 year old Sumerian
myth about the Goddess Innana who outwitted a mountain god intent on
destroying the world. In another folk tale, with a Chinese origin,
Sister Lace is able to make lace creatures and bring them to life in
order to escape marriage to an evil emperor. We are introduced to
the notion of feetwater in an Irish folk tale about getting rid of
witches from your cottage and in a Nigerian legend Nana Miriam
successfully uses her magic to defeat a monster hippo.
These stories are very concise and simply told with touches of
humour. The author, Lari Don, makes them very approachable for
young, newly independent readers but they will also work well read
aloud. The collection is a good resource for teachers to use with
their students to study myths and folktales and the common links
that folk tales around the world have. For example the Italian story
of Petrosinella could be compared to the more well-known Rapunzel.
In addition Lari Don provides interesting notes on the derivation of
each of the stories and lets us know that such tales of strong and
smart girls are genuinely old and important. The cover is modern and
inviting and each story has a one page black and white illustration.
Jo Marshall
Partition voices by Kavita Puri
Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN: 9781408899083.
(Age: secondary/adult) Highly recommended. The partition of India
along religious lines in 1947 will be remembered as a monumental
disaster as 10 million people tried to get to the country of their
religious majority with about 2 million losing their lives. Many
fled the place they were born, and of these, thousands came to
England where they buried what had happened and made a new life for
themselves. Until recently their voices had not been heard. Two
years ago award-winning journalist and broadcaster Kavita Puri
produced a three-part series, Partition Voices for BBC Radio
4, winning the Royal Historical Society's Radio and Podcast Award
and its overall Public History Prize. This has now been made into a
book, "to remember the time before separation, so future generations
understand that there were Hindus in Lahore, and Muslims in
Amritsar".
Puri has divided the book into three sections, End of Empire in
which she summarises the British Raj and its place in India along
with the growing resentment of British rule, Partition, and Legacy.
Each story is unique, from Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian, all
keeping silent for seventy years about what they had been involved
in or had witnessed, many wanting to forget.
Ken from an English family which owned a jute mill, now living in
Dundee, recalls seeing body parts blocking the waterways, and twelve
year old Ramen, a Hindu living in Dhaka calling out 'hunt the
British' with others in the streets, Muslim Bashir having to leave
his house in the Punjab, knowing it would be looted as soon as they
left, but after seeing the train carriages full of dead bodies in
Lahore Railway Station, he knew he could not stay.
Story after story crowd around the reader, and anger about partition
increases, but I was surprised to find that some of the interviewees
thought it a good thing.
Some girls were killed by their male relatives saving them from rape
and murder but also forced marriage. It was estimated that some
30,0000 women and girls were removed by Hindu and Muslim men, many
ending up in the Ashrams set up across Northern India for destitute
women, those whose families would not longer accept them, and those
orphaned by the violence.
In the midst of the violence and mayhem some acts stand out as
beacons of humanity. A Muslim family, the Begums, took weeks to get
to the refugee camp at Behram there to be helped by a friend, a
Hindu teacher, to get across to Pakistan.
Mohindra Dhall recalls his father rushing in to get them packed and
away. He had opted to stay in Pakistan but seeing violence escalate,
they headed for the railway station. There the train was crowded so
they waited for the next, realising in a few days that they would
all be dead if they had taken that first train.
Getting to the basics of why these people chose to emigrate to
Britain after Partition is difficult; some hate Britain for what it
did, dividing the country, but still chose to live there, some
thought Partition a bad idea, some a good idea, some want to return,
while others have returned often to the place of their birth. The
book is enthralling in showing such a range of stories and
experiences, a range of opinions and points of view about an event
put into effect with little planning and unforeseen, far reaching
consequences. Themes: India, Partition, Religious conflict,
Massacre, British Raj, Migration.
Fran Knight
Inventors : Incredible stories of the world's most ingenious inventions by Robert Winston
Illus. by Jessamy Hawke. Dorling Kindersley, 2020. ISBN:
9780241412466.
(Age: 8-12) Highly recommended. Inventors looks at
over 100 inventors and the wonderful things they have brought to
society to improve our lives. Each page details one inventor and
tells a little about their lives and how they came to invent what
they did to help improve our world. Written a little as short
stories, each page contains facts and illustrations to really show
the inventions and the impact they had on people's lives.
The book is divided into four major topics - "Making things go";
which covers inventions that impacted transport and travel; "Caring
for people" is the next section which includes inventions that help
people, cure diseases, help communications and improve lives
overall. The next section is all about "Helping at home", inventions
which assist us with household tasks or just entertainment. The last
chapter is called "Bang! Whizz! Whirr!" and covers a myriad of other
inventions that have helped human beings to live in our complex
world and made our live easier and safer.
This book is a great resource because it brings the inventors to
life for the reader. A class could use the information in this book
as a springboard for further investigation into some of the
inventors and the lives they led. It contains information about
contemporary inventors that are still living, and this is something
not done by many other books on this topic in recent years. There is
also a list of inventors that were not covered at the back of the
book. The glossary and index are well executed. A great resource for
every school library. Themes: Inventors, Technology.
Gabrielle Anderson
Fabio the world's greatest flamingo detective: Peril at Lizard Lake by Laura James
Bloomsbury, 2020. ISBN: 9781408889374. 128pp., pbk.
In a small town on the banks of Lake Laloozee lives Fabio, the
world's greatest flamingo detective. He's not tall or strong, but
slight and pink. And he's very, very clever.
Most of the time. But when an unusual lapse of judgement leads Fabio
to accept a ride in his associate Gilbert's plane, little does he
know he'll be nose-diving into a new mystery!
When the tiny plane crash-lands near a remote village in the
savannah, all Fabio wants is a pink lemonade to calm his nerves. But
the town well has dried up, and the water didn't just disappear on
its own! Fabio's on the case, and it's going to take a daring sting
operation to set things right.
With its hot pink and citrus yellow colour scheme in both the
illustrations and pages, this is a series that will appeal to newly
independent readers who like something a bit wacky in their reading
diet. Flamingoes are up there with unicorns on the popularity charts
right now, so for that reason alone it will be appealing but as the
third in the series, it offers more than just offbeat characters
with a mystery to solve through an engaging storyline while still
supporting readers who are transitioning to the complexity of
novels.
Barbara Braxton
The other passenger by Louise Candlish
Simon and Schuster, 2020. ISBN: 9781471196461.
(Age: Senior secondary/Adult) Highly recommended. Louise Candlish
weaves an absorbing tale of deceit, love, greed and duplicity in
this wonderful thriller. The reader is taken on a ride where the
characters need your sympathy one minute and have your loathing the
next.
Candlish sets her narrative firmly in London, mostly around the
Thames. The commute by river boat has a large part to play. Jamie,
who has a phobia about crowds and confined spaces, finds the journey
to and from his job relaxing, comfortable and convenient. It is also
where he meets Kit, a young man with an easy, confident persona.
Interestingly Kit's partner, Melia, works for the same trendy real
estate firm that Clare, Jamie's partner, is a leading light.
The four become friends, with an invitation to Clare and Jamie's
Georgian town house on Prospect Square. Kit and Melia cannot help
but be impressed particularly as they are renting an expensive small
flat nearby, but find it difficult to make ends meet.
The Thames commute also brings in some others who form a wider
acquaintance group, where Kit seems to be the one to whom the others
defer. When Kit disappears over the Christmas festive season, Jamie
is questioned on his way to work by a couple of detectives, who seem
to believe he may have had a part to play in the disappearance.
As the story evolves so does the tangled web Jamie, Melia, Kit,
Clare weave for themselves. Stories change and one is never entirely
sure who can be believed. This is Jamie's story but he is an
unreliable narrator who does not allow you to know the whole truth.
Your sympathies which lie with our story teller at first, soon begin
to fall away as he lets you in to what you believe are truths but
then are blown away in the next chapter.
Louise Candlish is the author of a number of other works including Our
House a winner of the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year at
the British Book Awards. This is the first of hers that I have read
and cannot wait to read others she has published. She knows how to
twist her plots leading her readers up all sorts of garden paths
only ready to be taken on yet another false direction.
If you enjoy a good thriller look no further. Themes: Crime, London,
Riverboats, Commuters,Thriller, Unreliable narrator.
Mark Knight
You are positively awesome: Good vibes and self-care prompts for all life's ups and downs by Stacie Swift
Pavilion, 2020. ISBN: 9781911641995. 144pp., hbk.
One of the greatest concerns of this pandemic that has engulfed the
globe is the mental health of those who have been in lockdown for
some time. Humans are sociable creatures, particularly our young
folk who haven't yet developed the wherewithal to be comfortable in
their own company for long periods and who need the contact with
their peers to validate and boost their sense of self-worth. Even
though governments may have offered millions of dollars to help with
the crisis, including for organisations like Kids Helpline, not all
will reach out to such bodies and so books like this that talk
directly to them and offer positive affirmations such as the
following can be very valuable in the hands of those who can help:
* we are all in this together
* we all need a bit of TLC
* we have all survived every bad day and overcome every
obstacle we've faced
Chapters include headings such as:
* Hey, you're awesome!
* Why is this stuff important?
* We all have times when life is a bit rainy
* It's okay
* Self-love matters
* You can be a good person with a kind heart and still say
'NO'
* Say yes to self-care
Each page has an affirmation, information and often an activity that
can offer a pathway forward. For example, in chapter 7 which focuses
on self-care, the advice goes much deeper than temporary fixes like
bath bombs and candles and offers some strategies for a 5-minute
self care as well as identifying those things that matter to the
individual so they can build their own circle of self-care and make
sure they complete it each day.
As well as being an essential tool in the teacher's well-being box
so that students consciously learn the strategies of mindfulness and
taking care of their own mental health, this could also be a gift to
a young one who might be adrift because of the loss of their
immediate peer support at this time. Even as students gradually
return to school, that return is different from coming back from
school holidays because families will have had to have faced a whole
range of unprecedented experiences unique to them, some might feel
shame or anxiety about the loss of income or whatever, and so
working through the things in this book should form part of each
child's learning over the next weeks. Help them to understand that
while each has had a unique set of circumstances to deal with and
these will continue to be endured for some time to come, we are in
this together and together we can survive and thrive. That said
though, help them build the mindset and strategies that will build
resilience and help them to help themselves when those difficulties
arise.
Barbara Braxton
Cinders and Sparks series by Lindsey Kelk
Illus. by Pippa Curnick. HarperCollins, 2019-2020 Magic at midnight. ISBN: 9780008292119. Fairies
in the forest. ISBN: 9780008292140. Goblins and gold. ISBN: 9780008292171.
Cinders lives a boring life with her selfish stepsisters and mean
stepmother, doing the chores and tending to their every need, just
like her traditional counterpart. While they prefer to stay indoors
all day listening to their mother read, Cinders would dearly love to
be outside playing and although they can't see the value of that, she
is allowed to do so once her chores are completed. But something
strange happens while she is outside - her dog Sparks starts talking
to her, her wishes start coming true and her fairy godmother, Brian,
materialises. (It's been hard to track Cinders down because she is
not on social media.)
And so begins a new series for young independent girls who are ready
for a solid adventure story but still believe in magic and the
characters of their childhood. Easy to read, engaging and funny in
parts, familiar characters and an ongoing quest make this a great
read but at the same time, it has an underlying message that
celebrates diversity and reaffirms that it is OK to be different.
Miss 9 asked for The worst witch series for her birthday six
weeks ago, and she is going to be thrilled when she discovers this
series in her letterbox as a follow-up because it will be perfect
for her. Thoroughly modern, thoroughly entertaining and just right
for a winter read.
Barbara Braxton
Puffin Little Cook : Snacks
Penguin Random House Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781760897000. 96pp.
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. A flick through this compact book
brought me to a stop with a recipe for little pea frittatas which
sounded very easy to make, and very delicious. More skimming through
found a recipe for Anzac biscuits, and I was hooked. This book, I
decided, was a keeper for me personally and one that I will use
often when grandchildren visit.
With the help of a Big Cook to turn on the oven and help with the
actual cooking process, children will have a lot of fun making these
simple but very appealing snacks for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And some yummy, nutritious, sweet snacks like fruit slushies and
frozen banana pops are sure to be ones children make.
This is an ideal recipe book for parents and grandparents to have on
hand when budding cooks want to make something in the kitchen. The
ingredients are all simple, and the instructions are clear and easy
to follow. There is a Contents page, Glossary, and Puffin quiz. Each
recipe gives the number of items that will be made, and
illustrations brighten up the book. A little puffins prances
throughout and will be loved by little children.
A well designed, clearly presented and easy to follow book, this
will be a hit with all who use it.
Pat Pledger
