Busy Book series. Campbell Books, 2017. ISBN 9781509828951
(Age: 2-4) Themes: Nativity, Board Book, Interactive Book, Rhyme.
This is one of the Busy Book series (comprising more than 20
titles) that includes Busy Park, Busy Baking and Busy Fire Station.
Each book contains push and pull tabs and is composed of very sturdy
board pages. The tabs and pull-outs are equally robust. Each page
contains lots of detail, thereby providing opportunities for
children to ask questions, make observations and discuss what they
notice. There are also simple questions (e.g., "Who is on the
donkey?") to stimulate discussion between reader and child.
The text is very short, with a simple rhyming narration of the first
Christmas (e.g., "Sweet baby Jesus was born that night. As angels
appeared and a star so bright"). It tells of the birth of baby Jesus
but does not go into the meaning of Christmas or why his birth is so
celebrated. In fact, God is not mentioned at all.
The illustrations are colourful and depict a happy, all-smiling
world. There are lots of animals for young ones to point out and
name.
This is a joyful first introduction to the Nativity story that will
even engage busy toddlers with short attention spans.
Nicole Nelson
I went to see Santa by Paul Howard
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408844724
(Age: 2-5) Themes: Christmas. Santa Claus. Author and illustrator
Paul Howard follows up on his successful picture book I Went to
the Supermarket with this cheerful story I went to see
Santa. Youngsters will be familiar with this fun and easy to
play circle game, where each one repeats the refrain then adds a new
item starting with the next alphabet letter. In this amusing story,
a young brother and sister use their creativity and imagination to
conjure up some unusual Christmas-themed items.
The amusing illustrations use strong primary colours and close-up
scenes to make the characters stand out from their bright
backgrounds. There are bright green glasses with Santa hats, amazing
magic sets, even a friendly reindeer with twinkling lights on its
antlers. From a coin-filled pirate chest, we quickly move on to
seven cute seven dancing penguins and a band of merry elves throwing
snowballs. Each of the characters actively joins in with the
activity on the new double page spread, floating in space,
decorating the giant gingerbread tree and cheering as Santa finally
appears. I went to see Santa is a fun story to share with young
children who will love the repetitive and cumulative text; they will
soon join in and share in the fun of the story, even though the text
is not in alphabetical order.
Rhyllis Bignell
How many quacks till Christmas? by Mark Sperring
Ill. by Ed Eaves. Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408871089
(Age: 2-5) Themes: Farm animals, Christmas. There is an air of
excitement at Merry Farm; garlands of wheat, shiny baubles and
strings of colourful lights decorate the farmyard. The excited farm
animals are wearing Christmas scarves, Santa hats and bright red and
green collars, all anticipating the coming holiday. Each of the
young creatures question their parents with oinks, moos, neighs and
cheeps. They want to know how many days until Christmas. The little
piglets squeal with glee and question their mamma splashing in a
muddy puddle, 'how many oinks till Christmas?' We follow the black
and white puppy as he races around the farm yard, skipping with the
lambs, then riding on the Christmas tree cart pulled by the mare as
her foals ask 'how many neighs till Christmas?' Merry Farm is a buzz
of holiday preparation, from the barn, to the fields to the
barnyard.
Mark Sperring's cheery rhyme is fun to share with a preschool or
kindergarten class and just right to share as a family. Children can
respond and guess the animal sounds, the rhyming words and the
animal actions. Illustrator Ed Eaves brings Merry Farm to life with
bold colours and familiar farm animals preparing for Christmas in a
bright snowy setting. This exciting story provides an amusing and
engaging countdown to Christmas.
Rhyllis Bignell
The red ribbon by Lucy Adlington
Hot Key Books, 2017. ISBN 9781471406560
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Themes: Holocaust. Auschwitz-Burkenau.
Dressmaking. Survival. World War Two. The first section of this
book, Green, describes a young woman, Ella living in nightmarish
conditions, underfed, abused, forced to work making dresses in a
shed with no amenities. At first I thought it to be a dystopian
novel of a nasty future, or perhaps a tale of enslaved women today,
but it became a story of how some girls lived at Auschwitz-Birkenau,
that most hated of Nazi Concentration Camps, used in Poland during
the 1940's for the killing of all those whom the Nazis wanted to be
rid of. Within this camp the commandant's wife set up a dressmaking
room to have the women make them fashionable clothing. Ella and her
friend, Rose struggle to keep themselves alive, and befriend one of
the guards who likes Ella's dressmaking skills and gives her some
extras for her work. But they fall out over a red ribbon and Ella
and her friend, Rose are sent to the laundry to work.
The privation, poverty, abuse and utter inhumane way these people
were dealt with makes hard reading, and I needed to leave the book
for a while before finishing it.
The book gives an insight into a small event in Auschwitz where a
commandant's wife did actually set up a dressmaking salon amongst
the absolute horror of the place for the use of other officers'
wives and some of the guards. Apparently she enjoyed going there to
have couturier dresses made for her. That these women could have the
skinny enslaved women as their dressmakers reflects the piteous way
in which the camp residents were seen.
Descriptions of the thousands brought to the camp in the final years
of the war to be killed makes up the background of life lived there,
but when the authorities realised that the end of the war was
imminent, many more thousands were force marched away from the now
burning buildings, to die in the snow. Ella survived through
someone's kindness and hope became a catch cry through the rest of
her life.
There are many novels written about the Holocaust and they fill in
the history for teens who are unaware that such brutality existed in
our world. And still does. So this is a novel which many will read,
acquainting themselves with the horror of the past and like Ella,
hoping for a better future.
Fran Knight
Ban this book by Alan Gratz
Lothian Children's Books, 2017. ISBN 9780734417824
(Age: Middle primary - Middle School) Highly recommended. Amy
Anne Ollinger has it pretty tough at home... her youngest sister
thinks she is a My Little Pony and the other, whom Amy Anne
unfortunately shares her bedroom with, uses Amy's bed for ballet
practice and yells at her whenever she comes in the room. No wonder
she turns to reading to escape from it all. When her favourite book
in the whole wide world is banned from the school library along with
12 other very popular books, the usually quiet Amy Anne rebels. The
introverted protagonist begins to collect the list of banned books
and starts a library out of her locker. Her idol, the school
librarian, gives her occasional hints about how best to run a
library; a lending system, for example. The novel focuses on
censorship but in a lighthearted way that has the reader cheering
for the book lovers.
The books are banned because a member of the School Board deems the
book inappropriate. Amy Anne's argument is that a child's parent should
be able to decide what is appropriate and suitable for their child
on an individual basis. The list of banned books is based on a
factual collection of books banned at one or another stage within
American schools which could add an interesting element of
discussion, as well touching on the first and second amendments. The
novel is set in an American school. This novel was light and
hilarious at points. Amy Anne engineers a campaign to challenge
every book in the school library with her friends by finding
ridiculous reasoning to challenge; The magic treehouse
raises safety concerns; The Lorax portrays the timber
industry in a negative light, and so on. Having a sense of humour in
such a serious situation is a tool used by the author to really draw
in the reader. The only downside? Amy Anne is written as a fourth
grader, which may lose a percentage of middle years readers.
Clare Thompson
Star Wars: Absolutely everything you need to know: updated and expanded by Adam Bray et al
DK Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9780241232392
(age: 7+) Recommended for fans of the genre. Themes: Fantasy.
Science fiction. Space. Adam Bray has written six books about the
Star Wars phenomenon, and this the latest one. Star Wars; Absolutely
everything you need to know is an updated and expanded version of a
previous publication. You can find information about each of his
books on Amazon.
Living up to its promise, the weighty 255 page tome has chapters
entitled Protectors of the Galaxy; Bad guys, bounty hunters and the
underworld; Weird and wonderful beings; In a galaxy far, far away
and The battle continues. So something for everyone. A detailed
contents page begins the read, while a comprehensive four page index
will please the readers.
Wherever you flip open the book, new information comes to light
for even the most avid of fans. And combined with an array of
stills, CGI shots and brightly coloured illustrations with text
dotted over each page, the book will be sought after in the library.
I opened to the page about the Slime Lords and was treated to an
image of the wonderfully inventive character, Jabba the Hutt. On
this page I found that Jabba weighed in at 1,358 kilos and was 604
years old at his death, and the sound of him was made using a bowl
of melted cheese. Further over is a double page about the Scrap
dealers, those hooded, large eyed creatures first seen trying to
sell C3PO. Reading the page we find that they smell awful, thinking
washing a waste of water, while they are called Jawas, and spend
much of their time in the desert, searching for salvage. And further
over is a double page, Monsters of the deep. Here the illustrations
are of a series of rather nasty toothy looking creatures, and
information about the Naboo Abyss where they live. Weight, habits,
and the reasons for the Jedi needing to find their way through the
abyss and past these creatures is explained.
A fascinating adjunct to the highly successful series of films, this
book is full of information that will delight, inform and entertain
young readers.
Fran Knight
The adventures of egg box dragon by Richard Adams
Ill. by Alex T. Smith. Hodder, 2017. ISBN 9781444938401
(Age: 5-8) Recommended. The illustrations in this are fantastic but
the story is needlessly long and lacklustre. When young Emma makes a
dragon out of egg boxes, the local gardener asserts, "That critter's
got magic... put him to sleep under the moon and watch what
happens". Emma heeds his advice and the next morning Egg Box Dragon
is alive and causing mischief with his new fire-breathing ways. It
is soon discovered, however, that Egg Box Dragon has a very helpful
gift of being able to find lost items. When the Queen discovers the
biggest diamond from her crown is missing she sends for Egg Box
Dragon to come at once. After he recovers the diamond, he and Emma
are given the royal treatment and driven home.
The illustrations have a retro 1960s feel (judging by the clothing
and cars) and are ever so intricate. The characters have exaggerated
features to add interest (big hair, big glasses, tall hats, etc.)
and the pictures are funny, lively and fascinating. The narrative
though, comes to a bit of a flat and abrupt end and the whole story
is a bit dull and uninspired. It is a shame because the concept is
interesting, the character of Egg Box Dragon is amusing and the
illustrations are incredibly good. Unfortunately, the book has not
come together as a whole.
Nicole Nelson
Have sword, will travel by Garth Nix and Sean Williams
Allen and Unwin, 2017. ISBN 9781742374024
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. Fantasy. Knights, Chivalry, Swords.
When a reader picks up a book by New York Times bestselling authors,
there is always a treat in store and Have sword, will travel is
certainly that. From New York Times bestselling authors Garth Nix
and Sean Williams, comes this funny adventure story starring a
talking sword and two young friends.
When Odo and Eleanor find a magical sword in a river they are
astounded to discover that not only does it speak but it claims that
Odo is now a knight. Eleanor isn't too happy about this as she had
always wanted to become a knight but Odo is the one that Biter
insists must carry him so she is forced to go along on a quest to
save their village from dragons and villains.
Full of quirky humour and entertaining dialogue this fantasy
adventure story is a joy to read. Odo and Eleanor's epic journey
finds them encountering a group of bandits, meeting Sir Saskia a
real knight, rescuing a young lad from slavery in a village where
arms are forged and discovering river that has been dammed up.
Eleanor is a feisty young girl, courageous and adventurous and comes
into her own in the story. Odo is a steady boy who has no desire to
be a knight, but knows that he must do the right thing. The sword
Hildebrand Shining Foebiter ('call me Biter'), provides much of the
humour in the tale with its funny comments.
This is an easy book to read as the adventures and action keep the
reader fully engrossed in what's going on. In addition, the main
protagonists are very likeable and the villains satisfyingly dastardly.
I look forward to meeting these characters again in book 2, Let
sleeping dragons lie.
Pat Pledger
Where's Wally? Destination: Everywhere! by Martin Handford
Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406376241
(Ages: 5-12) Recommended. Picture Puzzles. This special edition
celebrating 30 years of Where's Wally? revisits twelve
classic scenes from Wally's past adventures, each one slightly
altered and with more searches and games than before. On each page
Wally recounts his past adventure and sets a challenge for the
pictured scene, in addition to finding Wally, the four other
characters and five lost items. In addition, there are numerous
other challenges for more advanced searchers and puzzlers.
There is a very good reason why Where's Wally has been so
successful over the last 30 years and probably will be into the
future. The illustrations, even though they come from previous
publications, do not look out-dated, proving the timelessness of the
format. The crazy, busy scenes encourage hours of puzzling fun and
will be enjoyed by new Wally readers as well as those
dedicated fans who have seen each of these scenes before.
Nicole Nelson
The epic city by Kushanava Choudhury
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408888889
(Age: Adult) The subtitle is The world on the streets of
Calcutta and this aptly describes the focus of Choudhury's
book. Although a graduate of Princeton and Yale and thus successful
in the eyes of his proud parents, Indian immigrants who have carved
out a new life in the United States away from the tumultuous world
of Calcutta, it is that life cut off when he was only 12 that draws
Choudhury back again and again - it is there in the streets of
Calcutta that he feels his real self belongs. Nobody can understand
his decision to live and work in Calcuttta, when he has so much
opportunity elsewhere, and it even threatens his relationship with
Durba, the Indian girl who becomes his wife.
The book is a love affair with Calcutta and its street life full of
hawkers, fish-sellers, idol-makers, the whole gamut of livelihoods
lining the alleyways. And most interesting of all is the 'adda', the
spontaneous discussions of life and politics that can keep people
engaged for hours. Choudhury's book becomes like a collection of
adda, he tells us the stories of Calcutta, the intricacies of
flat-hunting, the lovers' retreats behind umbrellas in parks, the
long enduring crafts handed from one generation to the next, the
religious celebrations, and most especially the horrific impact of
the 1947 Partition on the lives of the people, divided into Hindu
and Muslim regions by the departing British colonialists. The epic city is a rich revelation of the life and struggles
of the people of Calcutta, and would vividly re-ignite a
kaleidoscope of memories for any reader who has ever travelled to
India.
Helen Eddy
Birthday Boy by David Baddiel
Ill. by Jim Field. HarperCollins Children's Books, 2017. ISBN
9780008200480
(Age: 8 - 12 years) Sam Green is really looking forward to his
birthday and wishes it was every day. His very sensible seven-year
old sister Ruby disagrees and points out that if birthdays were
every day, they wouldn't be special. When Sam's wish comes true,
however, he starts to regret his wish. Funnily enough he blames his
guinea pig Spock, who looks at him with disdain. Sam takes a long
time to decide he just wants things to go back to normal.
For the first six months of repeated birthdays, for at least a third
of the book, the author entertained readers with a ridiculous amount
of descriptions of parties and presents. Sam's character quickly got
on my nerves, particularly when reading about how his family were
completely broke and going without necessities in order to pay for
his birthday celebrations each day and his nonchalance about this.
'I want I want I want'. However, I'm sure kids will really enjoy the
humour in this book.
The illustrations, by Jim Field, added the comic quality to the
story line, and it did aid in allowing the reader to recognize how
farfetched the Groundhog Day idea was. Unfortunately at points, I
felt like the author was sending the wrong message to the 8-12 age
group instead of focusing on building firm relationships with family
and giving less thought to material things.
Mind you, the first novel by this duo, The Parent Agency won
Best Laugh
out loud award in 2016, so maybe I wasn't in the right frame
of mind when I read it.
Clare Thompson
Malala's magic pencil by Malala Yousafzai
Ill. by Kerascoet. Puffin, 2017. ISBN 9780241322567
(Age: 5+) Highly recommended. Themes: Education. Prejudice. Women's
rights. Taliban. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, has
made her amazing story available to younger readers in this
outstanding picture book, Malala's magic pencil. Malala came
to worldwide attention when a terrorist attempted to kill her in
2012. She had promoted the education of girls in war-torn Pakistan,
writing under an assumed name for BBC Urdu. In this book we see how
girls are imposed upon by the growing threat of the Taliban in her
city.
Malala loves watching a TV show about a boy with a magic pencil, who
when hungry would draw something and eat it. Malala wishes she had
such a pencil, and put a lock on her door, or nullify the terrible
smells from the rubbish dump. But one day taking rubbish to the dump
she sees young children scavenging for rubbish to sell. She talks to
her father and is saddened to hear that some children never go to
school, and girls in particular are kept home to work. She longs for
a magic pencil to make the world a safer place, one in which girls
can all be educated. But then men with guns appear in their streets
and impose more burdens upon women. Malala notices fewer girls
coming to class and so she begins to write. Her voice is heard all
over Pakistan and further, she gives talks around the country,
visiting remote communities and speaking to a television reporter.
She is amazed that people want to hear her story. But some people
are not happy and try to stop her. They fail.
Living now in Birmingham her voice is a constant reminder of what
oppression looks like and how important it is to stand up for
women's education.
She found her magic pencil and is using it for the promotion of
peace in our world.
This magical story is beautifully illustrated by Kerascoet, a
pseudonym for French husband and wife team, Sebastien Cosset and
Marie Pommepuy using pen and watercolour to recreate the life of
Malala. In the detailed background readers will espy lots of
information about living in Pakistan, which will both inform and
delight. Information is included at the end of the book about
Malala's life and work, while a letter from Malala to her readers is
included. I found this a moving and personable story and went back
to the first book she wrote of her experiences, Malala:
the girl who stood up for education and changed the world(Indigo,
2014) as I am sure others will. I was blown away by her understated
reference to what happened to her when she was shot, underlining the
insignificance of the Taliban against the global importance of
education and peace. In a classroom this book would make a study of
its own, involving such themes as life in Pakistan, peace and the
Nobel Peace Prize, the role of the United Nations, extremism,
women's education, amongst others.
Fran Knight
The awesome book of animals by Adam Frost
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408885130
(Age: 6-12) Recommended. Themes: Animals. Information book. This
small format book with full-page colour and infographics relates
well-researched facts and anecdotes that will fascinate most people
who open it. All the information is given within a context or as
part of a comparison so each fact is meaningful and relevant. There
are facts of every kind: disgusting, funny, little known and
unbelievable, many related as a short anecdote. There are animal
comparisons (how much water do animals need to drink each day?),
facts related to interaction between humans and animals (examples of
people being eaten alive and surviving) and strange but true facts
(there is a fish that climbs trees and breathes air). The snippets
might even get children curious to research further (as I felt the
need to find out about more about it raining raw meat in Kentucky,
USA!).
This will especially appeal to lovers of The Guinness book of world
records and Ripley's Believe it or not as well as
being great for visual learners and high interest, low ability
readers. Children will love exploring the book alone or as a group,
exclaiming in disbelief and then sharing these (mostly useless)
titbits with all their friends and family. A clever way to get
children excited about reading and learning.
Nicole Nelson
Bitch doctrine: Essays for dissenting adults by Laurie Penny
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408881613
(Age: 16 - Adult) Recommended. Themes: Feminism. Sexism. Identity.
Gender issues. There are a couple of references to 'bitch' among the
quotes that introduce each section of this book, one from Bette
Davis - "When a man gives his opinion, he's a man, When a woman
gives her opinion, she's a bitch" and one from Madonna - "Sometimes
you have to be a bitch to get things done". Author Laurie Penny is
being a bitch in this sense, she is putting her opinion out there,
she is telling it how it is, and she is demanding change. Bitch doctrine begins with a diary of reflections on the rise
of Donald Trump on a wave of racism and violent popularism, and
declares that "toxic masculinity is killing the world." She goes on
to attack the patriarchal and sexist basis of Western society. Women
are still chasing the illusion of 'work-life balance' whilst finding
they are actually responsible for both work and home life. Penny
actually promotes singledom as the best option for young women -
marriage is not the happy ever after, why not take time to explore
interests, career, life? She writes that women need to get on with
saving the world and "we can't do it one man at a time".
Penny's essays target Barbie doll and James Bond films, and also the
Western fascination with the concept of the oppressed burqa-clad
Muslim woman. The oppression of women is a global phenonema,
"mysogeny knows no colour or creed", and the anger and violence
directed by western society towards the veiled woman is another
hypocrisy. To read more on this last topic, Amal Awad's Beyond
veiled cliches is an enlightenment.
But for me, the most poignant are the chapters on gender. Here,
Penny changes from strident feminist flag-bearer to revealing her
own personal teenage experience trying to understand where she
fitted in the male/female divide. This section of the book provides
an opportunity for empathy and understanding of the personal turmoil
of young people who struggle to find where they belong in a world
that insists on the identifying labels of male or female. This is
particularly relevant in the current context of Australia's vote on
recognition of gay marriage.
Penny's voice is loud and provocative, tough, forthright and also often humorous. She is launching a bitch doctrine. It's worth
reading.
Helen Eddy
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
Hachette, 2017. ISBN 9781444940633
(Age: 13+) Highly recommended. What a wonderful book for young women
- one that validates being a woman, takes joy in women's friendships
and speaks strongly of a woman's capacity to thrive in the modern
world.
Jennifer Mathieu has written a story that outlines how girls are
treated as second class to boys in a modern west coast United States
high school. This is a story about bravery in the face of
mistreatment, of girls facing daily damning condemnation and
feelings of isolation. Here we have a young woman in high school who
is exasperated by the constant denigration the girls receive from
the boys, and sick of the licence their society allows boys to
consider themselves superior to girls. This licence, supported by
the school, that will do nothing to redress the hierarchical
structure of boys as heroic, high-achieving sport stars, seems to
give them the right to verbally abuse girls, to demand favours from
girls and to make offensive and derogatory sexual innuendos in
class, in the schoolyard and in the outside world.
Yet this is modern America and we would think that this couldn't
happen. But it does, Poehler clearly tells us, and Vivian is
absolutely fed up with the constant abuse, verbal slights, and
denigration of girls. So she makes a 'moxie', paper slips of words
and images spread throughout the school, and the outcome is
explosive. We are so drawn in to her anger that we can't help but
hope that she can sustain the rage and build it in the other girls,
and stay safe. Good men are in evidence, and decent boys, so this is
not a man-hating novel.
What a wonderful achievement for Mathieu, in composing a
well-written modern novel that faces reality, that depicts
adolescence as school teachers know what it is like, and fearlessly
tackles that which is not only unrecognised, but ignored. Highly
recommended for high school students of all year levels, and
particularly of interest in its informative capacity for parents and
school teachers. Brilliant!
Liz Bondar
