Category: Young Adult

Shaedow Master, by Justin D'Ath

Quickwater Lake, at the centre of the Kingdom of Folavia, is deadly. Ora is the only person to have survived its pull, and that when she was an infant. Now, as she nears her fifteenth birthday, Ora finds herself drawn to the lake, sensing it calling her.

When her uncle, the king, takes Ora to see the Cloudtouchers – trees which soar to meet the clouds – she is overwhelmed by their beauty and stature. But soon she learns that the trees are in danger and, with them, the future of the whole kingdom.

Ora must overcome her self-doubt and the shock of discovering her true identity if she is to make full use of her emerging powers and ensure the future of Folavia.

Shaedow Master is an absorbing new fantasy title from Justin D’Ath, an author who shows his flexibility and depth of talent in tackling a new genre and age group. Great reading.

Shaedow Master, by Justin D’Ath
Allen & Unwin, 2003

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix

Arthur is not a hero – he’s just a boy with chronic asthma, a boy who is about to die. Until he is visted by two strangers from another realm who give him a strange key shaped like the minute hand of a clock.Although his life is saved, it is also changed for ever.

Arthur has been chosen as the heir to the keys of the kingdom. It’s not a role he particularly wants, but with a strange plague affecting his city and everything he knows at risk, Arthur must venture into the other realm and fight for his rights.

He must venture into a mysterious house that no one else can see and unravel the secrets of the key.

Mister Monday is the first in a new series, The Keys to the Kingdom by renowned fantasy author Garth Nix.Different from his previous series, the Old Kingdom trilogy, Mister Monday will nonetheless appeal to his fans as well as to those who have not read his previous works.

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin, 2003

How to Make a Bird, by Martine Murray

Mannie is lost. She knows where she is, but she doesn’t really know who she is. She’s searching for something she doesn’t yet know and it’s tearing her apart. So she’s leaving home. Riding her brother’s bike and wearing her mother’s red dress she’s heading to the city and, from there, she wants to leave the country. But first she has some things to do.

Life hasn’t been easy for Manny and, as she drifts through the city, she has to face some truths about herself and her family. She discovering things she hadn’t intended to.

How to Make a Bird is a quirky tale of longing and self-discovery, by talented author Martine Murray. Murray is developing a unique style, which transfers well between her works for different age groups. All of her books have an air of sensitivity and a dreamlike quality which make them absorbing. How to Make a Bird is another winner.

How to Make a Bird, by Martine Murray
Allen & Unwin, 2003

Favourite Australian Stories, Compiled by Colin Thiele

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

 

A collection of twenty-two stories by Australian authors, this book forms part of our literary history. Some of the included authors are well known today, such as Alan Marshall, Henry Lawson and Henry Handel Richardson.

There is no common theme to the stories beyond their connection to an idealistic, simpler Australia. Each story is based around the people and places that formed many of the images Australians hold of themselves.

A few of the stories have been collected from publications such as The Bulletin and Meanjin, whilst others have been published in books.

Two stories are based on women, and two on children. The Drover’s Wife is a classic tale of the family left behind when men went droving whilst And Women Must Weep shows a young girl’s experience of her first ball. Watching animals in The Ant Lion and The Foal ends up teaching children lessons about life and respecting it.

There is humour in The Funerals of Malachi Mooney, mystery in A Golden Shanty, another world in The Jumping Jeweller of Lavender Bay and the puzzlement and danger of a drunk in The Lobster and the Lioness.

Kaijek The Songman(1941) shows the interrelationship between a white prospector and an aboriginal couple in the middle of nowhere. The story is largely told from the point of view of Kaijek and Ninyul as they happen upon the prospector’s camp. However, it is obviously written by a white man for the Bulletin market when there was little real sympathy or understanding of aboriginals.

An interesting collection that would enhance any understanding of the development of the Australian psyche.

Favourite Australian Stories, compiled by Colin Thiele
Rigby, 1963

The Waterless Sea, by Kate Constable

Calwyn and her friends patrol the seas near their island home, making them safe from pirates. One of those they rescue, Heben, has come in search of them, hoping they can help free the children trapped in a palace in Merithuros.

In Mertithros, Calwyn, Mica and Halasaa cross a barren desert to the Palace of Cobwebs, the home of the Emperor. But there they encounter great danger. The sorceror Amagis is plotting to overthrow the Empire and the three must combine their magic and their skill to rescue the five children they find whose job it is to hold the palace together, and escape alive.

Then they must undertake an even more dangerous quest – to Hathara and the Black Palace, home of the Iron Workers.

Meanwhile their friend Darrow is also in Hathara, marching on the palace with rebels intent on overthrowing the empire. Can Calwyn and her friends still trust him?

The Waterless Sea is a satisfying sequel to The Singer of All Songs. Favourite characters are further developed and faced with new and intriguing obstacles. A captivating read.

The Waterless Sea, by Kate Constable
Allen & Unwin, 2003

Return Ticket, by Warren Flynn

Sam, Shannon and Zak aren’t overly fond of history, but when a train trip as part of history camp goes strangely wrong, they find themselves having to live it.

Finding themselves in 1899, the three have to learn to adapt to life without cars, television, or even Coke. They need to find food, shelter and jobs to stay alive until they can figure out a way to get back to their own time.

Return Ticket is a time travel adventure which will appeal to young adult readers. Set in pre-Federation Australia, it also offers insight into the life, social structure and even politics of the time. The teen characters find themselves involved in the federation debate, caught up in racism and violence, and questioning their own places in both the society they are in and the one to which they belong.

Intriguing reading.

Return Ticket, by Warren Flynn
Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2003

Gil's Quest, by Damian Morgan

The epic tale of Gilgamesh, dating from around 2000BC, is the earliest known secular epic. Dealing with themes of man and nature, life and death and friendship and combat, it has intrigued listeners and readers since it was first told.

In Gil’s Quest the story of Gilgamesh is retold in a gripping format suitable for younger readers. Told in the first person voice of Gil himself, the story follows his quest for everlasting life, which pits him against Enki the Shag and takes him to the end of the world to seek the survivor of the Great Flood.

Gil’s Quest will appeal to young readers (aged 10 to 14) with an interest in fantasy, history or just gripping narrative. With an excellent blend of mythical writing style and accessibility to contemporray readers, this is a powerful read.

Gil’s Quest, by Damian Morgan
Koala Books, 2003

The Tiger Project, by Susanna Van Essen

When Bella sees the baby Thylacine floating in a jar of preserving fluid, something clutches at her. She is moved more than she can explain. For weeks, the thylacine haunts her dreams, becoming a symbol of the frustrations of her own life.

Bella is in a wheelchair, disabled since birth. She wonders about her absentee father – who left when she was born – and whether she has inherited his genes. She is also involved in the struggles of her friends – Sylvia who has fallen in love with another girl, Claire, the class brain, and Adrian, the class clown. She also forges an unlikely friendship with a neighbour, elderly Olivia Peeves.

All of the strands of this story cause Bella to question how much genes influence an individual’s make up. As she works with her three friends on a project studying the thylacine, she gains a new perspective on life and love.

The Tiger Project is a humorous and insightful young adult novel, which explores complex issues in a simple way. Great reading.

The Tiger Project, by Susanna Van Essen
Pan MacMillan, 2003

Invisible Girl Stories, by Glyn Parry

Having the run of the school at night should be fun, but Kelly isn’t so sure. School isn’t the same as it used to be. There are no students here – only herself, her friend Sally and the head girl. And, late at night another visitor -an angry boy called Jeremy.

Kelly’s story Songs for the Dead is the first in this anthology of ghostly tales by West Australian author Glyn Parry. Other stories feature big brothers who continue to bully the living even after death, midnight rides on ghost trains and flights that seem to be bugged.

These stories, blending the magical and the macabre will appeal to young readers and leave them thinking.

Invisible Girl Stories, by Glyn Parry
Fremantle Arts Centre Press, May 2003

Secrets of the Tingle Forest, by Louise Schofield

On the anniversary of her father’s death, Sharni returns to the place they both loved – the tingle forest. She wants to visit their secret place, to feel her father around her. But Sharni didn’t tell anyone where she was going, and, with night approaching, she is lost. She will have to spend the night in the forest.

Alone in the dark, Sharni discovers another secret that the forest holds, and vows never to tell. SOmetimes, though, promises are hard to keep. What if telling the secret could save someone’s life, or at least give them their life back?

Secrets in the Tingle Forest is a gentle, uplifting children’s story with a delightful blend of adventure and personal growth. Twelve year old Sharni works through her own problems and also reaches out to others. She is helped by a wise and understanding, a similarly canny woman who was her father’s girlfriend, and the mysterious man in the forest.

A lovely offering.

Secrets in the Tingle Forest, by Louise Schofield
Fremantle Aarts Centre Press, 2003