Jaclyn Moriarty – Aussie Reviews

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventure of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty

I was ten years old when my parents were killed by pirates.
This did not bother me as much as you might think – I hardly knew my parents. They were a whirling pair of dancers in a photograph my aunt kept on her mantelpiece. There was a jazz band in the corner of that photo, and I’d always been more taken by the man playing the trumpet than my mother’s gauzy scarf or my father’s goofy grin.

When news comes that her parents have been killed by pirates, Bronte Mettlestone isn’t particularly moved. She doesn’t remember her parents, who abandoned her in her the lobby of her Aunt’s apartment building when she was just a baby. But when she is summonsed to the reading of her parents’ will, Bronte’s life changes dramatically. Her parents have left special gifts for each of her other ten aunts – and instructions for Bronte to deliver them. She must do this alone, following the very detailed instructions her parents have left, or something terrible will happen.

Armed only with her parents’ instructions, a chest full of strange gifts and her own wits, Bronte is soon travelling to visit her various aunts who are scattered far and wide and include one who is a veterinarian, another who is monarch of a small kingdom and two others who captain their own cruise ship. As she delivers gifts and follows instructions, Bronte finds herself having unexpected adventures, including rescuing a baby from drowning, inadvertently getting caught in an avalanche, and facing pirates and dragons. Before she reaches her final destination, Bronte begins to suspect that there is more to this quest than a simple delivery of gifts.

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventure of Bronte Mettlestone is a whimsical, adventure-filled novel which young readers will be swept away by. Bronte’s adventure is filled with twists and turns, and characters both odd and captivating. The illustrations (the work of Kelly Canby) scattered throughout the book and the sumptuous gold-embellished hard cover complete the experience, making the book a delight to own.

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventure of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrations by Kelly Canby
Allen & Unwin, 2017
ISBN 9781760297176

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty

When Elliot Baranski came to Cambridge, England, he only stayed for just over two weeks.

Which was preposterous.

He was from the Kingdom of Cello, he had stumbled into the World when he fell into a ravine and landed in a BP petrol station, he’d walked from this petrol station to Cambridge, so as to find his friend Madeline Tully but, unexpectedly – a real bonus – the first person he’d run into was Abel Baranski, who was only Elliot’s long-lost dad.

All of which was perfectly reasonable.

Brilliant, even.

But this! Leaving after just over two weeks!

Well, it was preposterous. It was so preposterous it was making Madeleine’s nose bleed.

When Elliot Baranski came to Cambridge, England, he only stayed for just over two weeks.

Which was preposterous.

All of which was perfectly reasonable.

Brilliant, even.

But this! Leaving after just over two weeks!

Well, it was preposterous. It was so preposterous it was making Madeleine’s nose bleed.

Things are not going well in the Kingdom of Cello. There’s a bit of chaos in the World as well. Madeleine is trying to make sense of it, but there seems there is little sense to be found. Not that Madeleine knows much about what’s happening in Cello. All she knows is that she’s in the World and Elliot is back in Cello and they may never speak to each other again. Their worlds are no longer connected. Until they are. Madeleine, Elliot and their friends are whirled into the troubles of the Kingdom, into the wild and ever-increasing colour attacks, the dangers and the mysteries. The trick is to work out what’s going on, who is who they say they are, who they are working for.

A Tangle of Gold is the third and final instalment in ‘The Colours of Madeline’ trilogy, the first two being ‘A Corner of White’ and ‘The Cracks in the Kingdom’. The series explores the connections between the World and the Kingdom of Cello. In A Tangle of Gold tensions between the Royalists and other groups have escalated until war seems inevitable. Cello, a nation of diverse provinces, needs to sort out its internal problems to prevent war with the neighbouring country of Aldhibah. Tangle is right – everything is a mess! As with the first two novels, A Tangle of Gold is full of twisting, turning challenges which test the mettle of the main characters, forcing them to put aside their personal issues and find ways to save their world. It is full of danger, wonder and doses of humour. Poetry, physics, arts and science tangle in this rich and rewarding series set across two worlds. Highly recommended for upper-primary and early-secondary readers.

A Tangle of Gold: The Colours of Madeleine 3, Jaclyn Moriarty

Pan Macmillan 2016 ISBN: 9781743533239

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Dreaming of Amelia, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Funny thing is, even while I’m laughing, and falling in her eyes, a part of me knew she was a ghost.
The first time I saw her I knew my Amelia was a ghost.

Amelia and Riley are bad kids from bad Brookfield High, but they’ve just been given scholarships to the exclusive Ashbury High, and they are the talk of the school. They are elusive, they are brilliant, and they are possibly evil – but everyone at Ashbury wants to know them.

Dreaming of Amelia is a compelling, crazy book. Told from multiple viewpoints and largely in the form of HSC Exam answers (it also uses other forms including blog entries, meeting reports and emails), it could appear fragmented, but instead this very fragmentation is what drives the story – the reader being asked to constantly reassess what is happening (and has happening) and to piece together clues from differing stories and versions of events. More than once the reader is lulled into thinking they have a handle on what is happening, only to be shocked by new revelations.

Dreaming of Amelia is a companion novel to Feeling Sorry for Celia, Finding Cassie Crazy and The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie, but is not a sequel and readily stands alone.

A must read for teenage girls, especially competent readers who will enjoy the intricacies of the book.

Dreaming of Amelia, by Jaclyn Moriarty
Pan Macmillan, 2009

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond.

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Every Friday night the adult members of the Zing family meet in their garden shed; btu this is no ordinary garden shed – not a wheelbarrow or hammer or paint pot to be seen. Instead there is a meeting table, filing cabinets and high-tech surveillance equipment. All this is in aid of the Zing Family Secret – a secret so big that it consumes all of their lives.

Cath Murphy is just an ordinary second grade teacher. She loves her job and is also studying law part time, because it is something she has always been interested in. She is freshly over a broken heart incurred when her last boyfreind left for America and thinks she will probably meet someone new soon. None of these things link her to the Zing family in any way, except that young Cassie Zing is in her grade two class this year.

Yet perhaps Cath Murphy is more closely involved in the Zing family secret than she thinks. Cath seems to live a charmed life. She wins scholarships that she has never applied for and she wins every competition that she enters. Is she just lucky or is there some other force at play here?

Tagged as a fairytale for grown-ups, I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes does have a certain fairy-tale feel about it. The Zings are either msiguided or mad, and their zany actions are a pleasure to follow, even while they make the reader squirm. This is not a normal family, nor is it a normal story and whilst it does, in part, have a happy-ever-after feel, it also explores some serious issues. Adultery, family, growing up and dysfunctional families are all explored as is happiness and what it entails.

Part-mystery, part family drama, this one is definitely for grown-ups.

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes, by Jaclyn Moriarty
Picador, 2004

Feeling Sorry for Celia, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Elizabeth Clarry is not a real teenager. She has a Teletubbies quilt cover and doesn’t own any makeup. Worse still, she has never been drunk, and her best friend has totally vanished. The best thing for her to do would be to climb into the refrigerator and disappear.

But Elizabeth doesn’t disappear. Instead, the reader of Feeling Sorry for Celia follows her path through the struggles of finding and losing her best friend, developing new friendships and figuring out her father.

Elizabeth and her friends Celia and Christina encounter many of the problems of adolescence – first love, sex, conformity and family dynamics. Author Jaclyn Moriarty manages to balance the seriousness of these subjects with just the right measure of humour and whimsy to make the book both entertaining and educational.

Feeling Sorry for Celia is certain to appeal to 13 to 16 year olds and is as suitable for class reading lists as it is for private reading/. The only drawback for class study purposes is that its innovative letter format would be a little difficult for oral reading sessions.

This format, however, is part of the appeal of the book, with the story told through letters, notes and postcards exchanged between Elizabeth and the other characters, with delightful epistles from such fictitious sources as the Manager of the Society for people Who are Definitely Going to Fail High School.

Feeling Sorry For Celia is truly an outstanding piece of adolescent fiction.

Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty
Pan Macmillan, 2000