Month: May 2015

Ella Diaries 1: Double Dare You

Dear Diary

Hello Diary. My name’s Ella and

Once upon a time there was a girl called Ella. She lived

How are you supposed to start a diary? I’ve never had one before. Mum and Dad gave me this one for Christmas because

a) I like writing. I’m always writing stories and they love the poems I make up for their birthdays and other special days.

b) They think I have a good imagination and they think writing something every day is a good way to ‘exercise’ it.

c) I’m going into Grade 5 this year (starting tomorrow!) and Dad says Grade 5 was the best year of his life.

Dear Diary

Hello Diary. My name’s Ella and

Once upon a time there was a girl called Ella. She lived

How are you supposed to start a diary? I’ve never had one before. Mum and Dad gave me this one for Christmas because

a)      I like writing. I’m always writing stories and they love the poems I make up for their birthdays and other special days.

b)      They think I have a good imagination and they think writing something every day is a good way to ‘exercise’ it.

c)      I’m going into Grade 5 this year (starting tomorrow!) and Dad says Grade 5 was the best year of his life.

Ella starts Grade 5 with high hopes, but from the beginning her first day is disastrous. It begins with the no-show of her best friend Zoe, and goes downhill as everyone else sits at the classroom tables in pairs. Only Ella is alone. And just when she thinks this is the worst thing that can happen, the door opens and in comes mean girl, Peach, who isn’t even supposed to be in this class. Of course, she sits in the only spare chair – on Ella’s table. As the days and weeks pass, Ella records her life both in and beyond school. Peach continues to cause trouble. Ella’s diary is written in a handwriting font and includes ‘hand-drawn’ images and words picked out in red. There are also crossed out spelling mistakes and phrases. Ella includes some of her poems. At the end there is room for readers to make their own diary entry, write their own poem and draw their own picture. There’s also a sneak-peek of ‘Ballet Back-flip’, the next title in the ‘Ella Diaries’ series. Cover art includes ‘doodles’ that give hints about some of the adventures within.

‘Ella Diaries’ is a new series for mid-primary readers, primarily girls. Double Dare You begins with the new school year and establishes the characters and the world Ella occupies. Ella is a bright, energetic student who displays a positive outlook on most of her world (with the exception of her relationship with bully Peach). She is a leader, a supportive friend and keen to learn. Young readers will recognise characters from their own classroom, the good and the less so. When Ella has to make a decision about whether or not to do a dare, or in this case, a double-dare, she thinks about what it would be like to be the victim. Double Dare You lets the reader peek into Ella’s innermost thoughts, fears and enthusiasms. Recommended for mid-primary readers.

 

Ella Diaries 1: Double Dare You , Meredith Costain ill Danielle McDonald
Scholastic Australia 2015 ISBN: 9781743628638

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Ella Diaries 2: Ballet Backflip

Saturday, before dinner

Dear Diary,

You will never ever EVER believe what happened today!

I was at ballet class like I normally am every Saturday morning. My ballet class is held at La Madame Fry Ecole du Ballet (which is just a fancy way of saying Mrs Fry’s ballet school). Except, actually, the school isn’t very fancy at all.

The main reason for this is because ballet is held in our local scout hall which means when we’re not there, the scouts ar, which is a VERY BAD THING.

Reasons why sharing your SPACE with SCOUTS is BAD:

Scouts are (mostly) boys
Boys often SMELL BAD (especially when they have been running around playing sweaty scouty games. Ewwww.)
Boys leave old bits of chewy under the seats.
They also leave BOY GERMS all over the wooden barre …

Saturday, before dinner

Dear Diary,

You will never ever EVER believe what happened today!

I was at ballet class like I normally am every Saturday morning. My ballet class is held at La Madame Fry Ecole du Ballet (which is just a fancy way of saying Mrs Fry’s ballet school). Except, actually, the school isn’t very fancy at all.

The main reason for this is because ballet is held in our local scout hall which means when we’re not there, the scouts ar, which is a VERY BAD THING.

Reasons why sharing your SPACE with SCOUTS is BAD:

  1. Scouts are (mostly) boys
  2. Boys often SMELL BAD (especially when they have been running around playing sweaty scouty games. Ewwww.)
  3. Boys leave old bits of chewy under the seats.
  4. They also leave BOY GERMS all over the wooden barre …

Ella is getting the hang of diary-keeping. In it she can talk about anything she wants to without fear of discovery, except perhaps by her snoopy little sister Olivia. In Ballet Backflip ’, Ella dreams of being the lead in the ballet recital. She and her friend Zoe, hatch plans to make sure they can share the limelight. Meanwhile at school, Peach is demonstrating new skills learned at gymnastics. Her backflip is very impressive, even Ella has to admit. The school playground is transformed as Ella’s classmates all try their own moves. Text is presented in a hand-writing font and there are illustrations scattered throughout. Some words and parts of the illustrations are picked out in purple. Ella includes some of her poetry too. If there are words that Ella thinks might not be understood, she includes a footnote explaining what she means. There is room at the back to write a shape poem of your own and decorate it however you want to.

Ballet Backflip is book 2 in the Ella Diaries series. Ella is in Grade 5 and reveals all in her diary so the reader is able to share in her ups and downs, excitements and frustrations. Ella is passionate about ballet and thinks her friend, Zoe is just as committed, but gradually comes to realise that changing interests don’t have to mean a betrayal of friendship. She demonstrates the difference between enthusiasm and obsession, and also the benefits of learning to adapt to new challenges. Young readers will recognise themselves and their dilemmas and potential solutions. There’s plenty here for young dancers, and gymnasts and their families. Recommended for mid-primary readers.

 

Ella Diaries 2: Ballet Backflip by Meredith Costain ill Danielle McDonald

Scholastic Australia 2015 ISBN:9781743628645

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Birrung the Secret Friend by Jackie French

Sydney Cove, December 1789

I waited in the line outside the storehouse. Only two convicts were before me – big fellows with tattoos on their arms and dirty bare feet – waiting for their rations too. My tummy was so empty it couldn’t even gurgle.

There was cheese in that storehouse.

I wanted that cheese so bad I could already feel the maggots wriggling against my tongue. Ma used to say that maggots meant food was going bad, but when your tummy is empty, maggots are just extra food. I’d been eating maggots with my cheese for the two years we’d been here in New South Wales, and hadn’t even got a tummy ache. Not from the maggots anyways, Hunger ached worse than bad food.

Sydney Cove, December 1789

I waited in the line outside the storehouse. Only two convicts were before me – big fellows with tattoos on their arms and dirty bare feet – waiting for their rations too. My tummy was so empty it couldn’t even gurgle.

There was cheese in that storehouse.

I wanted that cheese so bad I could already feel the maggots wriggling against my tongue. Ma used to say that maggots meant food was going bad, but when your tummy is empty, maggots are just extra food. I’d been eating maggots with my cheese for the two years we’d been here in New South Wales, and hadn’t even got a tummy ache. Not from the maggots anyways, Hunger ached worse than bad food.

Barney is a young boy eking out an existence in the first days of Sydney’s settlement. His mother is dead and he’s caring for a girl he found in the days after his mother’s death. Sydney is a tough place and he’s constantly on his guard. Which is why, when he meets Birrung, Richard Johnson and his family, he is slow to trust. But gradually he settles into his new life, working hard and trying to decipher the mysteries around Birrung’s presence in the family. Mark Wilson’s fine drawings at the head of each chapter help to showcase aspects of the fledgling colony. Birrung the Secret Friend is the first in a new series from Jackie French.

Truth, it is said, is stranger than fiction and it’s difficult to look back at the early days of white settlement in Australia and understand some of the peculiarities and beliefs. Told from the perspective of a young illiterate boy, Birrung the Secret Friend shows that education doesn’t guarantee any common sense. French’s Sydney is a tough place, full of thieves and those who cling to the ways of England. But for those who embrace the opportunities offered in Australia, who are prepared to work hard, there is much to be gained. Birrung the Secret Friend also paints a picture of relationships between settlers and ‘Indians’ (as Barney calls them). There is a sadness for what could have been a very different relationship between the two populations, and a theory for why this couldn’t be. A very readable story of childhood friendships in a long-ago Sydney. Recommended for mid-primary readers.

 

Birrung the Secret Friend, Jackie French Angus & Robertson 2015 ISBN: 9780732299439

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Alice’s Food A-Z: Edible Adventures by Alice Zaslavsky

You wouldn’t know this by looking at me – not even by speaking to me – but I grew up far away from the comforts of Melbourne. For the first seven years of my life, my family lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, part of the former Soviet Union.

When I was about five, my brother Stan went on a trip to Switzerland and came back to Tbilisi, having spent much of his souvenir budget on two of the strangest things I’d ever seen. One was greenish-yellow and curved like a crescent moon; the other, brown, a little smaller than the size of a tennis ball and just as furry. My family sat around our dining room table, mesmerised and full of curiosity, as my mum carefully sliced the two objects into thin slivers, so that we could each have a piece. …

… With food, as in life, it’s all about finding things you like and learning more about them, as well as always being open to new experiences that you might discover you like even more, whether this means trying a new fruit, or cooking a dish you love from scratch.

You wouldn’t know this by looking at me – not even by speaking to me – but I grew up far away from the comforts of Melbourne. For the first seven years of my life, my family lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, part of the former Soviet Union.

When I was about five, my brother Stan went on a trip to Switzerland and came back to Tbilisi, having spent much of his souvenir budget on two of the strangest things I’d ever seen. One was greenish-yellow and curved like a crescent moon; the other, brown, a little smaller than the size of a tennis ball and just as furry. My family sat around our dining room table, mesmerised and full of curiosity, as my mum carefully sliced the two objects into thin slivers, so that we could each have a piece.  …

… With food, as in life, it’s all about finding things you like and learning more about them, as well as always being open to new experiences that you might discover you like even more, whether this means trying a new fruit, or cooking a dish you love from scratch.

Ever wondered why eating beetroot makes your wee purple? Or why garlic makes your breath funky? Alice’s Food A-Z has the answers to these and many other food questions. Pitched at young readers, there are facts, recipes and anecdotes. There’s also suggestions about which foods go well with each other and just how to pick the best fruit (eg ripe kiwifruit are a little bit soft and slightly squishy). Each opening is jam-packed with info-bites and photos, word puns, colour splotches and sketches. Watermelon, for example, has 1200 varieties including Japanese square ones! Information is delivered in conversational bites and includes plenty of humour. Headings include: ‘Whys Guy’, ‘Word Wizard’, ‘Miss Z’s ramble’ and ‘Fun Facts’.

Alice’s Food A-Z is bright and colourful and easy to read. Information is presented in small bites, providing facts and more but also allowing further research should readers want to learn more. There’s a contents page at the front and a recipe index at the back. Alice Zaslavsky was a MasterChef contestant and now hosts TV quiz show, ‘Kitchen Whiz’. Alice brings the traditions of her Georgian family, mixes them with contemporary recipes and tastes and presents the lot as a huge, take what you want, multi-coloured feast. Recommended for primary readers and anyone who ever wondered what a xylocarp is.

 

Alice’s Food A-Z: Edible Adventures, Alice Zaslavsky Walker Books 2015 ISBN: 978192279388

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Seasons of War, by Christopher Lee

I was young then. I remember the landing on the beach and the days of my time on the peninsula and returning home from the war, the past and the present coming together over the years. I remember the beauty of the ugly place.

Michael is a teenager off on an adventure, having joined up to keep his beloved brother Dan company. Their friends Knobby, Mack and Hughie are there too, and together they land at Gallipoli where they quickly realise that this campaign is like nothing they could have imagined.

From Australian screenwriter Christopher Lee, Seasons of War is a slim volume recounting one fictional soldier’s Gallipoli campaign. At the same time, it covers the major events of the whole campaign including insights into the workings of the British command (particularly General Hamilton), the tactics and statistics of all the major battles and the actions of the Turkish enemy. Michael’s story, though, is central, and as a first person narrator he is blunt about the horror of his experience, and of what goes on around him.

In amongst the great number of books released to mark the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign, Seasons of War could easily be missed because it is a small book with an understated, though moving, cover  and it is not a comfortable read. But that’s the point. We need stories of war which paint the horror and the waste explicitly so that we understand as nearly as possible what happened.

 

Seasons of War, by Christopher Lee
Viking, an imprint of Penguin, 2015
ISBN 9780670078837

Available from good bookstores and online.

My Pop is a Pirate, by Damon Young & Peter Carnavas

Some pops scream ‘Huzzah!’
when they dive in dazzling pools.
But my pop is a pirate . . .
he yells “aaarrrgghhh!’ and buries jewels.

Every Pop – or Grandad – is different. But if your Pop is a pirate, he’s really really different from all the other pops. The pop of the young narrator sails on sharky seas,buries treasure and, at the end of the day, hangs a hammock in the sails.

My Pop is a Pirate is a rollicking rhyming picture book celebrating grandfathers, their relationship with their grandchildren, difference – and, of course, pirates. From the creative pairing which also produced My Nanna is a Ninja, this new title has the same sense of fun, bouncy rhythm and humour, yet is not repetitive.

The illustrations, too, are full of life and humour, and the love between Pop and his grand daughter is evident.

So much fun.

 

My Pop is a Pirate, by Damon Young & Peter Carnavas
UQP, 2015
ISBN 9780702253614

Available from good bookstores and online.

The Playground is Like the Jungle, by Shona Innes & Irisz Agocs

Playgrounds are a little bit like the jungle. Lots of creatures come together to live and play in the jungle. And when lots of creatures come together in one spot, things can get really wild and adventurous.

Using the extended simile of the jungle to represent the playground, author/psychologist Shone Innes explains to young readers the dynamics of playground interactions, highlighting the fun and pleasure that can be had there, but also some of the pitfalls. She identifies some of the personalities that may show up in the playground – cheeky monkeys who chase and tease, tigers that lash out when they’re angry, and slipper snakes who pretend to be friends – before offering suggestions for being safe and comfortable in their midst.

The Playground is Like a Jungle is a Big Hug book, designed to help young children understand and tackle life’s challenges. There are also back of book notes for parents and teachers. Illustrations, in watercolour with pencil outlines, have plenty of movement and an appropriately gentle humour.

A great resource for home, childcare centres or schools.

The Playground is Like a Jungle, by Shona Innes & Irisz Agocs
Five Mile Press, 2015
ISBN 9781760064150

Available from good bookstores and online.

Stuff Happens: Fadi, by Scot Gardner

Principal Davies didn’t realise that banning tackling games would mean that our need to tackle would build up and build up until it had to come out.
It came out one recess on the EBO – the oval across the road from school.
I tackled Jack, even though tackling was banned. I broke the rules and I think I broke Jack’s arm.

Fadi is a big by with a big heart. Being a year older than everyone else, and with Samoan heritage and a love for rugby, Fadi feels like whenever he moves he breaks something. But staying still is too hard, and sometimes stuff just seems to happen.

Fadi is a book about getting into trouble, fitting in and learning to like yourself. Gently humorous, the story is also realistic, exploring issues which might confront contemporary children.

Aimed at chidlren in middle and upper primary, Fadi is part of the Stuff Happens series from Puffin Books and will engage both competent and reluctant readers.

 

Fadi (Stuff Happens)

Fadi, by Scot Gardner
Puffin Books, 2015
ISBN 9780143308126

Available from good bookstores and online.