Penguin, 2015. ISBN: 9780141361734
(Age: 13+) Highly recommended. Adolescent. Coming of age. Change.
Sydney has always felt second best in her family, her brother Peyton
always the star. But Peyton has become increasingly reckless and
finally after badly injuring a teen in a drink driving accident, is
sent to prison. His mother refuses to believe that he is guilty at
all and no one in her family seems to be worried about the victim of
the accident. Then she meets Leyla and her brother Mac and finds a
haven in the warmth of the Chatham family.
The story flows along beautifully as Sydney has to come to terms
with the dynamics in her family and the social impact of having a
brother in jail. She leaves the expensive private school and goes to
the local high school to avoid the whispers that follow her around.
At home things are difficult. It is hard for the reader to fathom
how Sydney's mother can overlook her and concentrate all her
energies and affection on Peyton and how her father can withdraw
from facing the problems, and Sydney's slow recognition of her own
worth holds the story together. The warmth of Leyla and Mac and the
group that befriends her at her new school help her self-esteem grow
and she is able to take a step back from being in her brother's
shadow and begin to value herself and her own beliefs.
The growing feelings between Mac and Sydney are gently described,
and Mac is a great character, caring and supportive. It was also
interesting to read about a boy who has been overweight and who has
managed to regain a healthy lifestyle. The Chatham family has its
own problems but the kind-heartedness of its members and the
attentive care they give Mrs Chatham who has multiple sclerosis is
heart-warming.
I am a fan of Sarah Dessen's books. I love her characters, the way
they manage to overcome adversity and learn to value themselves. I
read this in a couple of sittings and it is sure to appeal to
readers who enjoy stories about families and change.
Pat Pledger
The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Ill. by LeUyen Pham. The Princess in Black bk 1. Candlewick Press,
2014. ISBN 9780763678883
(Age: 5-8) Recommended. Fantasy. Princesses. Humour. Princess
Magnolia has an alter ego. Everyone believes that she is the perfect
princess, dressed in lovely pink gowns, but when danger threatens
the goats she dons her black outfit and goes to rescue them from the
big blue monster. But will Duchess Wigtower, the nosiest person in
the kingdom, work out her secret?
This is the perfect book for young readers just moving from picture
books to chapter books. The text is relatively short but what makes
it so good is the alliteration - 'You seems so prim and perfect'
says the Duchess to Princess Magnolia - and the humour, which comes
alive in the illustrations. I laughed out loud as I read about
Princess Magnolia's exploits and the expressions on the faces of all
the characters, even the goats, are priceless.
Although it would be great for everyone to realise that even if
girls are dressed in pink and appear to be very proper, they can
also be daring and cunning, the narrative, humour and illustrations
make it a standout read.
Pat Pledger
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
Pan Macmillan, 2014. ISBN 9780330519731
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Horror. Historical fantasy. Carnegie
Medal in Literature Shortlist (2015), British Science Fiction
Association Award Nominee for Best Novel (2014), James Herbert Award
Nominee (2015). When Triss wakes up after she falls into the Grimmer
there is something terribly wrong. She can't remember things and
hoping to find answers in her diary she finds that the pages have
been torn out. Her little sister Pen is terrified of her and she is
so hungry that she is prepared to eat anything, even the doll whose
glass eyes swivel around to look at her. She leaves a trail of
leaves behind her and her tears are like spider webs. She soon
discovers that things are even more terrible than she could have
imagined and she finds herself on a quest for the truth in the
frightening Underbelly of the city, where the evil Architect rules.
This is a very scary and utterly unique horror story set in the
period just after World War 1. Hardinge brings alive the 1920's when
jazz music was considered fast, and returned soldiers were not
themselves. Triss' family have been mourning the death of Sebastian,
killed on the battlefields and the family dynamics are really
detailed. Pen's feelings of jealousy for her sister, the games that
Triss' mother plays to keep Triss close to her and the
self-satisfaction of Piers, Triss' father, all highlight the need
for the family members to find a place for themselves. Although the
reader knows that Triss is not herself; that she has been taken over
by Not-Triss, the changeling is such a complex and caring character
that her search for the truth, her courage and compassion and
longing to stay alive keep momentum of the story going.
And then there the action as Not-Triss jumps from roof-top to
roof-top in pursuit of the Architect, the thrill of the jazz music
and the cakes in the tea-shop, the scare of the giant scissors and a
pervading sense of eeriness and the result is one thrilling read.
This is highly recommended for people who enjoy a story that is
multifaceted and intricate but which also frightens while tugging at
the heartstrings. Readers who liked Neil Gaiman's Coraline
or who like fairy tales retold will enjoy this.
Pat Pledger
Bomb by Sarah Mussi
Hodder Children's Books, 2015. ISBN: 9781444917864
(Age: 14+) I'm Genesis Wainwright. I'm a sixth-form student. I come
from Somerset. My mum is the best mum in the world. I play the
guitar (badly). My best friend is Holly. I'm searching for answers
to the Meaning of Life. I believe in True Love. AND I'M IN LOVE WITH
NAZ. I want to be a performance poet. And I'm crazy about
motorbikes.
Genesis is trying to get over her romance with Naz. She goes on a
blind date and wakes up strapped to a bomb with an earpiece glued in
her ear. This story (told by Genesis) describes a world where an
extremist group is gaining influence across the globe and is using
unwilling participants to wreak havoc, including mass destruction.
The story is full of action (car chases, helicopter surveillance,
motor bike chases and police snipers) and is running to a time
limit. The bomb is set to detonate later that day, so the action
runs at break neck speed keeping the reader involved and turning the
pages.
The quotations appearing regularly throughout the writing (for
example, 'Life is a string: you just don't know how long it is.')
give the reader some sense of the character of Naz, and why Genesis
cares for him.
The premise of the book, and the accompanying Book
Trailer could initiate interesting discussions related to
current response to the rise of extremists in society.
Linda Guthrie
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson<br>
Walker Books, 2015. ISBN: 9781406326499
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. Noah and Jude are twins, like two
halves living separate roles in the same life.
(PORTRAIT, SELF-PORTRAIT: Twins: Noah Looking in a Mirror, Jude out
of It)
At the age of 13 their passion for art is travelling in
different directions and the stage is set for misunderstandings,
jealousies and guilt to carve a ravine between the twins and disrupt
their relationships with family and self.
'Every time Grandma S. read Jude's and my palms, she'd tell us that
we have enough jealousy in our lines to ruin our lives ten times
over.'
Their perspectives develop in separate storylines, each told by a
twin. The secrets seep out, in writing that is both poetic and
entrancing, to reveal anguish about sexuality and betrayals that
affect all characters in this book.
(SELF-PORTRAIT: The Boy Hiding Inside the Boy Hiding Inside the Boy)
This is a story about love. The crushing, profoundly moving, and
sometimes destructive power of love between adults, family and
siblings in this story emanates from one man.
'He was the kind of man who walks into a room and all the walls fall
down.'
This book is difficult to put down. Each chapter pulls the reader
on, eager to understand the complexity of the characters and enjoy
the language that evokes tears and laughter.
Linda Guthrie.
Editor's note; This book won Michael L. Printz Award 2015, and was
on YALSA 2015 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
Off the page by Samantha Van Leer and Jodi Picoult<br>
Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781743439982
What if the fairy-tale ending was only the beginning? 16 year old
girl, Delilah and fairy-tale Prince Oliver have finally got the
chance to be together. This would be fine if Oliver didn't happen to
be a character from a fairy tale book. The only way he could live in
Delilah's world is if he changed places with a regular person. After
outsider, Edgar agrees to switch places with Oliver, all think they
have finally had their dreams come true.
The real test comes when the new school year starts, Delilah fears
that Oliver won't fit into school life, but Oliver is an instant hit
and is amazed how wonderful high school life really is.
The characters from Oliver's book seem to be fitting in with the new
plot lines that Edgar has written, or so it seems. But slowly
someone or something doesn't like the changes and wants things to go
back to normal. This is when the magical world and real world
collide.
This young fiction, is easy to follow when talking about both
worlds. The characters are loveable and easy to relate to. Off
the page isn't the normal style of Jodi Picoult, however a
reader with a good imagination could quite easily love this new
style of Picoult teaming up with her daughter. If you love Meg
Cabolt or Sara Dressen this enchanted love story will keep you
entertained.
Jody Holmes
Chu's day at the beach by Neil Gaiman and Adam Rex<br>
Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN 9781408864357
(Age: Junior primary) Recommended. Seaside, Animals, Sneezing. When
Chu sneezes, everyone knows about it because the results of the
sneeze makes big changes in the world around him. The first page
warns of the ferocity of Chu's sneeze, so it is no surprise when he
and his family go to the beach that he has quite an impact. This is
the third book in the series about Chu, a baby panda with his panda
family, charmingly illustrated by Adam Rex. The first two, Chu's
day, and Chu's first day at school introduced the
little fellow to the audience. An endearing black eyed baby peers
out from the pages, ensuring the readers follow his exploits.
This story sees the family going to the beach on a hot sunny day.
Chu's mother settles down to read a book while Chu's dad paddles in
the water. But Chu, eating his ice cream takes off his glasses and
has the most enormous of sneezes. It causes the water to roll back
exposing the fish beneath. The gap in the sea means that some
animals cannot go back to their own home, while others look sad at
what is happening. The people on the beach urge Chu to sneeze again
reversing what he has done, and some funny ways of inducing his
sneeze are used, until the snail crawls up and reminds Chu about the
effect of the sun.
This is a lovely story of being at the beach with all the things
children experience there. It will initiate stories about days at
the beach from some children and will spark others' interest. There
is lots for readers to find on each page to remind them of what they
may see at the beach, and Rex has included a few surprises.
Discussion about the role of sneezing could emanate from this book,
allowing a classroom to discuss manners.
Fran Knight
The guy, the girl, the artist and his ex by Gabrielle Williams
Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781743319550
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Relationships, Single parent,
Artists, Art theft, Mental illness. Williams has used the theft of a
Picasso, The Weeping Woman, from the National Gallery of Victoria in
1986 as the peg to display the intertwined lives of four people, one
making her way to a party at Guy's place in South Yarra when his
parents are away for the weekend. Guy is persuaded by his friends to
hold a party and the reader knows that the outcome will be quite
different from that expected.
In the meantime, the artist, Luke, an arrogant, self opinionated man
who has made it on the art scene in Melbourne, has hooked up with
two others, a disgruntled struggling artist, Dipper, who works at
the National Gallery of Victoria, and an older man, Real, an art
dealer with dangerous ideas about people being shocked into giving
more funding to The Arts. Together the three achieve the impossible
and steal the painting.
Luke's ex, a young woman called Penny left with his child, struggles
to stop herself being the demanding ex, the crying rejected lover,
the one who will do anything to get him back. She has taken a flat
in a building owned by a family whose sister has been brought to
Australia from South America after the drowning of her son and the
subsequent abandonment by her husband. She is convinced she is
cursed. Her daughter, Rafi babysits Penny's baby but one night when
Rafi is asked to go to a party by her best friend, asks her mother
to look after the baby.
The stage is set for a shocking incident which brings all the groups
together.
This is an amazing story. I was simply gobsmacked by the author's
ability making this frightening incident such a core piece of the
story, her handling of it made me immediately reread it to make sure
I had all the facts in my head before proceeding. I was absolutely
sure that there could be no coming back after such a thing happening
and read on with anticipation to see how it was all resolved.
Sometimes darkly funny, some times confronting, Williams seems to
take the readers along her path with ease. I was never in doubt
about any of their motives. I loved Penny with her thought bubbles
about being independent but then so dependent on any scrap thrown
her by the appalling Luke: Rafi, trying so hard to study with a
mother beset by strange behaviours: Dipper's angst and Luke's
cavalier attitude to everything. All the characters are most
recognisable, the mother with her descent into mental illness
convinced that the horse headed woman has followed her from South
America, the men with motives which superficially seem altruistic,
but with an ulterior motive, and Guy, so easily led by peer
pressure.
The novel is divided into three sections, before the party, the
party and the aftermath and the chapters are from the perspectives
of each of the four title characters.
I can see this as a class set as it brings in so many issues begging
to be discussed: mental illness, peer pressure, single parenthood,
relationships, art funding, and the role of art galleries.
Fran Knight
I am Henry Finch by Alexis Deacon
Ill. by Vivienne Schwarz. Walker Books, 2015. ISBN 9781406357134
(Age: 4+) Warmly recommended. Independence, Imagination, Freedom,
Breaking out of the mold, Trying something new. Henry Finch lives
with the other finches, in a huge flock of finches. Each morning
they greet each other with good morning, in the evening good
evening, and so on. Not a change occurs to their routine except when
the beast appears and they all warn each other and fly to the top of
the tree. But Henry one day has a thought. And with that thought, I
am Henry Finch, and ponders whether other finches ever have a
thought as he does. With this thought he feels destined for
greatness and when the beast next appears dives straight at him,
saying how great he is. The beast eats him.
Inside the beast, he listens to what the beast sounds like and
listens to the beast's thoughts. His thoughts all revolve around
eating, and when he says that he would now go and get some, Henry
cries out No. Through his thoughts Henry convinces the beast to
become a vegetarian. Startled, the beast opens his mouth and out
pops Henry and several other things the beast has recently eaten.
All the finches welcome Henry back and he tells them about his
adventures. They decide to fly off as well, and then come back.
This is an amazing story around using your imagination, about trying
things out, about thinking things through, about experience. For
those people wanting to be more philosophical, then Descarte's 'I
think, therefore I am' could be discussed. But it is certainly a
plea for thinking outside the box. And the illustrations compliment
the ideas with panache. The use of a fingerprint for all the finches
is just enticing, and readers will love seeing the squiggles added
to make each finch look birdlike. And clamour to try out this style
of illustration for themselves.
Fran Knight
The Wild Beyond by Piers Torday<br>
Hachette, 2015. ISBN 9781848668485
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Themes: Dystopian World, Human and
Animal Communication, Fantasy, Good and Evil, Quests. Reading Ages:
11-13. "This city, this island, this world - it's our home. If it's
dying, we have to find the cure."
Piers Torday's The Wild Beyond dystopian fantasy concludes
with this fast-paced novel. This is an amazing action-packed
adventure that takes, Kester, Polly, Aida and their animal
companions across the World's Seas to find the Iris, a DNA
depository for all extinct flora and fauna. Kester's ability to talk
to the animals left in their world, leads him to learn a secret from
the last whale. Together forever is the motto, that carries the
three friends through their arduous journey. Before they leave, they
encounter wicked Auntie Fenella, whose evil actions include
disabling their ship and returning the group to the mastermind
Selwyn Stone. While the rest of the survivors left after the
flooding and destruction of their city are herded into a spaceship
bound for a distant planet, their small group needs to escape and
find a solution to their problem. With the help of a straggly flock
of birds and three amazing dolphins they travel for days in a small
glass boat to the island of Faraway.
There are so many difficulties to face, thirst and hunger,
dehydration, loss of friends, fire, the evil Cullers trying to kill
them, betrayal, near-drowning, attacks by giant stinging jellyfish,
at times their quest seems impossible. Their animal friends provide
support, guidance and comedy relief.
This novel is richly complex, multilayered with strong characters'
who show bravery, resilience, perseverance and ingenuity who work
together to save their world from destruction. There are powerful
environmental messages throughout, caring for animals, plants and
the environment.
Rhyllis Bignell
Magic flutes by Eva Ibbotson
Pan Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 9781447280095
(Age: 12-15) Highly recommended. Music. Opera. Art. Romance. Vienna.
In post-World War 1 Vienna, Tessa takes on a new identity as the
girl who does everything behind the stage in the theatre. Meanwhile
a handsome millionaire, Guy, buys a fairytale castle and discovers
that its heiress is missing. Both lives collide and Tessa's secret
is in jeopardy.
First published in the 1980's a new edition of this classic story
comes with a stylish cover that will attract readers today. What
could be the usual take on a girl meets millionaire, both overcoming
adversity to find true love is taken much further by the beautiful
writing of Eva Ibbotson, who brings alive the period in the 1920's
in Austria where the aristocracy were struggling to survive and
where opera is so important in the wonderful city of Vienna. Readers
will be introduced to fabulous pieces of information about music and
its composers like Beethoven and Mozart, while learning about the
trials and hard work that go into putting on an opera production.
Guy and Tessa are brought together by their love of music and indeed
the romance is often secondary to the passion that each feels about
art.
Vienna itself comes alive with Ibbotson's description of the city,
its food and parks and historical monuments, which are often
humorous and always enlightening. At the same time there is a subtle
undertone about the hardship that many people are going through as a
result of the war.
There is nothing mundane about the characters in Magic flutes
(renamed The reluctant heiress in a 2010 US publication).
The millionaire Guy is fleshed out: abandoned as a baby, he was
taken in by a loving woman, and turns down a knighthood from the
British Government, refusing to forget his humble origins even when
his fiancee wants to be part of the aristocracy. Tessa is
hardworking and totally dedicated to music and art, and the minor
characters all form a detailed background to life on backstage of
the theatre or in the impoverished castles of the aristocracy.
This is an intelligent and heart-warming book that fans like me will
return to when needing a reminder of how well a romance can be
written.
Pat Pledger
Milo's dog says moo! by Catalina Echeverri
Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN 9781408838808
(Age: Junior primary) Recommended. Animals. Friendship. Milo has
wanted a dog for so long that when his birthday comes around he is
allowed to choose one for himself. His parents are unsure of his
selection, but Milo is deliriously happy and calls his dog, Beans.
But Beans is unlike other dogs. He prefers Mum's indoor plants to
the bowl of dog food, he enjoys eating the garden plants, and when
Milo comes to train him, he does not seem in the least trainable. He
doesn't chew on bones, or chase a ball, and is definitely not
feeling very doggy about cats. All the while the wonderful
illustrations will have the readers laughing out loud at the antics
that Beans gets up to. Dogs behaving like dogs are the perfect foil
to Beans' behaviour and the illustrations will encourage children to
spot the differences between Beans and the other dogs.
One day the sound that comes out of Beans is very undoglike, and the
idea of Beans being a dog begins to unravel. He has grown so big
that he no longer fits into the house and so Dad builds a new dog
house for him outside. He has eaten all of Mum's garden and has now
started on the neighbours' gardens. But worst of all one day he has
escaped to a nearby field, and when the family goes to look for him,
find a field of similar looking animals. Readers will know what they
are but Milo is able to find his Beans amongst the other cows, and
together they are still friends.
This is a charming story of a boy and his pet, but also a tale of
accepting difference. Readers will love the illustrations of the
different dogs throughout the book, contrasting with Beans the ever
growing cow, and laugh at the images of Milo and his attempts to
make Beans into a dog. The last image of Milo lying on top of Beans
is a wonderful illustration of accepting difference.
This is a charming tale of a boy and his animal and will be lovely
to read out loud, as well as introduce discussion about pets,
different animals and their behaviours as well as difference and
accepting difference.
Fran Knight
Soon by Morris Gletizman
Viking, 2015. ISBN 9780670078875
(Age: 14+) Part of the sequence which began with Once, in
this story our familiar young Jewish boy Felix is still trying to
survive in Poland at the end of the Second World War after the
Soviets have driven out the German army. Having avoided death at the
hands of Nazis on numerous occasions and somehow managing to
continue to keep starvation at bay, he and his older friend Gabriek
are now threatened by roaming gangs of Nationalist thugs.
Sadly familiar with atrocities, violence and cruelty perpetrated by
German invaders, Felix is still naively hopeful and continues to be
shocked and distressed by inhumanity. He is dismayed by the attitude
of Poles who, having endured everything that has gone before, now
harbour hatred for Jews and Slavic people, hunting them mercilessly
through ruined cities and murdering without thought. As he does in
the other novels, Gleitzman constantly emphasises that amongst the
brutality and barbarity, individuals showed compassion, sometimes
exposing themselves to great risk to assist others. Felix has a
strong moral compass and his constant desire to do what is right,
being honest and loyal, causes him emotional turmoil which places
him in grave danger when he could otherwise turn his head and walk
away.
Readers of the earlier novels will recall how a gentle humour
persists in a narrative which is still completely respectful in
dealing with the unspeakable events of the Holocaust. In this novel,
Felix's continuing desire to practice medicine lands him in a range
of situations which snowball disastrously to place him, Gabriek, a
baby and a new friend in grave danger. Felix's unyielding desire to
do what is morally correct makes resolving the conundrum incredibly
complicated and the brave little hero who is incapable of harming
others shows great courage in overcoming his own terrors to try to
protect the vulnerable.
Without spoiling the story it is necessary to state that whilst hope
and human kindness are powerful themes in this tale, death,
violence, suffering and racial hatred are present. These elements,
together with reference to abhorrent medical experimentation on
captives by Nazi doctors makes this novel unsuitable for readers
under 14 in my opinion. This moving tale is the product of detailed
research and will serve to educate about the horrors of war and the
excesses of maniacal regimes.
The author emphasises that it is not necessary to read the preceding
works as a series as they effectively stand alone.
Rob Welsh
Life or death by Michael Robotham
Sphere, 2015. ISBN 9780751552898
(Age: Upper secondary to adult) Highly recommended. Crime fiction.
USA. Capital punishment. Corruption. Robotham will please his wide
audience yet again with this tightly plotted, explosively written
novel as Audie Palmer, a ten year prisoner in a hell hole in Texas
decides to escape the day before his release. His journey drags us
through the events of his life bringing us up to the day he escapes
and the reasons behind it. Along the way, another prisoner, a lifer
who befriended Palmer in jail, is released by a powerful group of
men to find Palmer and hand him over. The corruption is palpable,
Moss must not only watch his own back and find Palmer, but also work
out why Palmer is so necessary to these people's plans and how he
can keep them both alive. The botched theft of seven million
dollars, eleven years before, left Palmer in a life and death coma,
but pulling through he admitted the crime and was sent to jail. But
this money was never recovered, so many people are after it. And of
course, as with all good crime stories, the hero is a hero, not the
villain he is portrayed and we know that he is not what he appears.
All is tied up with his family and a stepson he vowed to care for,
now adopted by the very sheriff who arrested Palmer in the first
place. Layers of coincidence pile on each other as links between
powerful law officers and state politicians crowd into the story,
making the reader assess, try out then throw aside theory after
theory about what is actually happening. It is a rivetting read, one
that carried me along its whole length to the nail biting
conclusion.
The setting is part of the story with small isolated pockets of
civilisation and the sad people he met a necessary part of Palmer's
life on the run, while the corruption within the police force and
their methods of law enforcement made me shudder. I was involved
from page one.
Fran Knight
The Evertree by Marie Lu
Spirit animals bk 7. Scholastic Australia, 2015. ISBN
9781743620045
Finally, the last in the Spirit animals series where the fate of
Erdas will be revealed, not to mention that of the amazing four
young protagonists who have endured so much since they discovered
their spirit animals were the famous Fallen Ones. As the series ends
there is an even stronger message that the survival of our world
depends on a balance between man, the animals and the environment.
The Greencloaks have gathered their allies for a final battle as
Conor is beset by visions of a final confrontation with Kovo and the
Conquerors. The outcome is uncertain and there is fear that their
spirit animals may not survive this battle. Melin is still
imprisoned by the power of Gerathon whilst still hoping that her
friends will succeed in their quest.
On their way to stop Shane setting Kovo free, they travel through
the dry devastated and desolate lands of Stetriol, all the time
battling the strange weather and armies of Conquerors. They are also
hoping also to find Tellun the Elk, last of the Great Beasts who has
yet to surrender his talisman, and enlist his help.
Too late to stop Kovo escaping, they head to The Evertree, the
legendary place where all life began, for a last stand against the
power hungry Kovo and his allies Gerathon and Halawir. With all the
great beasts present and willing to save Erdas at all costs it is up
to Tellun and the children to succeed in their final battle.
As with the other books in the series there is hardship, bloody
battles, death and destruction interspersed with moments of
tenderness and beauty as the power of friendship helps overcome even
the darkness of the Bile. The final act of forgiveness in letting
Shane escape is not without its reward with a spinoff three part
novella series by Nick Eliopulos in e-book form available, telling
his side of the story.
Sue Keane
