lothian – Page 4 – Aussie Reviews

Whacko the Chook, by Mark Svendsen & Ben Redlich

Whacko the Chook is feeling sad, and decides she needs a friend – so she sets out to find one. But the other chooks are busy with their own lives, and don’t seem to need Whacko. Each rejection makes her sadder and sadder, until finally she gives in to the urge to go and hide in a nice dark place. But in the nesting box she discovers that her urge for a friend is also a deeper urge to lay an egg. With her new egg, Rodney, Whacko realises she has a friend all of her own.

Whacko the Chook is a humorous picture book story with a gentle message. Kids will love the different chicken characters – as well as Whacko, a plain white chicken with a scraggly red head, there is Henny-wise, a helmet wearing hunter, Chooky Looky, a crazy spotted hen who is convinced the sky is falling, and Pretty-Little Pennyfeather, a vain, conceited hen. Adult readers will enjoy creating voices for the four characters, with plenty of dialogue with which to have fun. The illustrations, too, will delight, with the browns and greys of the chook pen brightened with the reds of the hens’ heads and other splashes of colour. The hens’ facial expressions are hilarious.

This a fun offering which will appeal to the obvious preschool audience, but also to older children.

Whacko the Chook, by Mark Svendsen and Ben Redlich
Lothian, 2007

This book can be purchased online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Requiem for a Beast, by Matt Ottley

Given that this is a large-format hardcover book with colour illustrations, one could be forgiven for momentarily thinking Requiem for a Beast is a picture book. However, any further examination quickly reveals that this offering cannot be so simply classified. Billed by the publishers as a graphic novel, Requiemis a unique blend of word, illustration and even music in a combination which almost defies description.

One of the most breathtaking aspects of this work is that it is all the work of one man – Matt Ottley who wrote the words, painted and drew the illustrations (in various media) and also composed the music on the accompanying CD (with the exception of some traditional Bundjalung songs). Together, these different forms explore different stories – that of a young man working on an outback station coming face to face with a rogue bull, the story of his childhood, and the stories of dispossessed Aboriginal people. The stories come together as the young man comes to realise that the errors of the past must be confronted before the future can be faced,.

Ottley’s full colour illustrations, using oil on canvas, oil on paper and coloured pencil include double page spread with minimal text, small cells with accompanying text, and spreads with no text and several smaller cells telling parts of the story and back story. Mythical beasts, close ups of horses and cattle, white space and more work together to create a stunning visual whole. The text is similarly diverse, from tracts of narrative, to Latin and Aboriginal language.

This is a ground-breaking work which a short review cannot do justice. It should be read and listened to and studied by all with a love of words, and art and music.

Wow.

Requiem for a Beast, by Matt Ottley
Lothian, 2007

This book can be purchased online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Tommy's Pet, by Guundie Kuchling

Tommy whispered.
‘Meilee, listen. I’ve got a pet.
My pet is cool. He’s a king.
He can sting. He’s flash and…fab!’

Tommy is excited about his new pet and wants to tell his friends. He whispers to his friend Meilee, but she is gone before he can tell her exactly what his pet is. So Meilee takes a guess from Tommy’s words and she tells Oliver. Oliver tells Alexa and on it goes. Each guess gets crazier and more outlandish, and includes a punk pig and a baker crocodile, until Melina challenges Tommy about his pet. All the friends run to Tommy’s place where Tommy repeats what he told Meilee. Even then there are wild guesses, until Tommy introduces his friends to his new pet. Then the game begins again.

The Chinese Whisper of Tommy’s friends passing on the news of his new pet runs in a blue ribbon across the top of each double-page spread. Their imagination and the animals they conjure fill the rest of each opening. There are clues in each spread as to what the next will reveal. The text is in red and black and varies in size and orientation, and each spread is full of colour and stylised images. There are simple rhymes to build the character and suggest the behaviour of the imagined pet. This is a fun, nonsense picture book that invites re-reading and reading aloud. Recommended for 2-5 year olds.

Tommy’s Pet, by Guundie Kuchling
Lothian Children’s Books 2007
ISBN: 9780734409287

Hungry Ghosts, by Sally Heinrich

We sat in silence while she finished the cake…
‘Well, I’ve given you food now. I guess there’s no need to haunt me any more.’
She gave me a strange piercing look.
‘I see you again.’ Then she was gone.
And the cake that I’d watched her devour was still on the plate…

Sarah isn’t happy about moving to Australia.. She’s had to leave behind her friends, her home and her school in Singapore and start all over in a country where even the English spoken is different. Now Dad is trying to turn her into a dinkum Aussie – complete with Vegemite sandwiches in her lunchbox – and Mum is clinging to Chinese traditions. Then, on the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, Sarah realises someone is talking to her – someone who seems to be a ghost.

As Sarah tries to figure out how to help her new difficult friend, Pei, she has to also deal with being bullied at school, parents who have troubles of their own, the arrival of a Great Grandmother who needs to share her bedroom, and a crush on a boy.

Hungry Ghosts is a beautiful novel about issues including displacement, family roles, belonging and more. Sarah deals with these issues herself but also witnesses their impact on others around her, including the ghost Pei, and her family and friends. The story also provides an insight into Chinese settlement in Australia, a topic which many readers would know little about.

Suitable for readers aged 12 and over.

Hungry Ghosts, by Sally Heinrich
Lothian, 2007

This title can be purchased online from Fishpond.

Where There's Smoke, by Robin Lovell & David Miller

The day is getting very hot and the wind is picking up. I smell smoke…and ashes are blowing onto our place. I wave at a passing fire truck, which doesn’t stop.
What’s going on?

When fire sweeps through his area, Bodie watches with interest as firebreaks are cut and emergency vehicles dribe past. But when his home is threatened, Bodie becomes scared.

Where There’s Smoke is an important look at the work of emergency crews in dealing with bushfires. Whilst the story is fictional, the situation is very real, and the book explores the work of the emergency services, and the experience of children in emergencies, in a realistic way.

The paper sculpture illustrations, by acclaimed illustrator David Miller, are bright and clever, and youngsters will be drawn into the excitement of the story.

First published in 2005, this paperback edition is a welcome reprint.

Where There’s Smoke, by Robin Lovell & David Miller
Lothian, 2005, this edition, 2007

This book can be purchased online at Fishpond.

Killer Mackenzie, by Eve Martin

We drove along Sturt Creek’s main street, Main Street. (No joke!) If that was the main street, I hated to think what the other streets were like – if there were any other streets. I saw a Swimming Pool sign, so that was something. Sturts Creek seemed to have only one of anything: one chemist, one bank, one doctor, one supermarket, one milk bar…Definitely not somewhere you’d ever come for a holiday, so what was I doing there?

When her mother decides it’s time for a second honeymoon, Alex is shipped from London to Outback Sturts Creek to stay with the father she hasn’t seen for four years. Glenlea Farm is alien to Alex, who is used to city living in London. There are chooks, horses, spiders and even snakes to contend with. Then there’s her new stepmother, who is disgustingly pregnant , and her father who murders chooks and steals dogs from the local pound.

Alex is outraged that she’s expected to help out – feeding animals, washing dishes, even learning to ride a horse – but gradually she starts to feel a connection with her father and the farm that’s been in the family for generations.

Killer Mackenzie is a funny read for teens, narrated by the feisty Alex, who has plenty of attitude and lots to contend with. The book is not all teenage angst – there is plenty of action and characters who are likeable and, though humorous, very believable.

Recommended for teenage girls.

Killer Mackenzie, by Eve Martin
Lothian, 2007

Lucky Baby Yak, by Helen Manos

…Pema lay wide awake in the nomad tent and watched the flickering butter lamp through soft shaggy shapes on the wall. She listened to the noises of the grunting, growling night.

Pema and her brother Tenzin are part of a nomadic mountain culture. They are excited when Baby Yak is born. The first yak born for the summer will bring good luck. Good luck butter, good luck tent ropes, good luck bridle and saddle bag. But change is coming to the mountain people. Soldiers come from the east, calling for an end to nomadic life. The mountain people must find a way to protect their way, or lose it forever.

Lucky Baby Yak shines a warm light on an ancient way of living. The story is told with sympathy for all those who have lost their homes and way of life. But there is some understanding too for the soldiers imposing the will of others. Max Maxfield’s illustrations are simple and colourful, styled almost like photos in an album. There is sadness and hope. Grandmother is philosophical, Baby Yak has brought them luck, a chance to live on. This is a picture story book for a broad age range. It has much to say about endurance and acceptance as well as showing readers another way of living.

Recommended for 5-8 year olds.

Lucky Baby Yak, by Helen Manos and Max Maxfield

Lothian Children’s Books

ISBN 9780733621604

Buy online from Fishpond

Superglued, by Neville Barnard

He still saw both his parents. It was just that he only ever saw them separately. He wished he could see them both at the same time. Maybe then things could be like they were before? He was sure it was still possible – all he had to do was think of a way to make it happen.

Robert’s parents have separated and rather than have him live with one or the other, he’s been despatched to boarding school. His schoolwork is slipping and his only friend asks unanswerable questions. Robert spends alternate weekends with each parent, who never see each other. As if things aren’t bad enough, Mum has a new boyfriend, Adam. Robert is sure that when he has repaired the broken wedding cake ornament, everything will be alright again, like it was before his parents separated. But his efforts seem to make everything worse. It’s time to get serious.

Superglued echoes the emotions of many children in this challenging situation. Neville Barnard tackles a difficult subject with a healthy dose of humour. While Robert struggles to adjust to the changes in his life, his friend Jon asks questions like ‘What do you call a black greyhound?’ and ‘Why is the third hand on a watch called a second hand?’ As Robert repairs the ornament and finds ways to get his parents to spend time together, the reader is kept guessing. Barnard’s light touch allows the reader to enjoy the escalating action while empathising with Robert, his parents and even Adam, the new boyfriend. Recommended for mid-upper primary readers.

Superglued, by Neville Barnard
Lothian Books 2006
ISBN: 9780734409300

You can buy this book onlie at Fishpond.

Secrets of Eromanga, by Sheryl Gwyther

Time sure was the weirdest thing. Now, after weeks of crossing off the calendar dates, the day was finally here, and in a strange sort of way it felt as if no time had past at all. Then last night, every time she woke, the clock-radio’s red numbers had only jumped ahead an hour or so. It had been the longest night ever, with less sleep too.

Ellie is excited to be travelling to North-west Queensland for her holidays. She will see Tom again and get to help out on a dinosaur dig. The arrival of blonde-haired, red-shoed, tight-jeaned Peta is the only down side of what promises to be an exciting holiday. Peta is beautiful, assured and everywhere Tom is. In a parallel journey, a young ornithopod hatches from her egg and travels across the same country, countless years before Ellie. Ellie, Tom and Peta visit another fossil site only to encounter fossil smugglers intent on selling their finds to the highest bidder.

Secrets of Eromanga is an Australian outback adventure that includes plenty of factual details about dinosaur fossils and where they might be found. Eromanga was once an inland sea and is fossil-rich. The novel speculates on the life of some of the dinosaurs who lived by the sea as it simultaneously tracks the discovery of the fossils. Ellie is a realistic heroine, who finds the courage she needs when circumstances require it. She also experiences all the jealousy and insecurities of most girls of her age. Tom manages to stay outside the friction between Ellie and Peta but is pleased when they find a way to be friends. Recommended for upper primary readers.

Secrets of Eromanga, by Sheryl Gwyther
Lothian 2006
9780734409215

Edwina Sparrow Girl of Destiny, by Carol Chataway

If you are reading this journal, then chances are I am already dead. My name is Edwina Sparrow. I am fifteen years old and my mother is trying to kill me. My mother has always been odd, but since Gran’s accident, things gave got far worse. I have decided to start keeping a journal to document the progress of my deranged mother because there may be a murder inquiry. Someone needs to leave a line of evidence.

Edwina Sparrow’s mother has put the whole family (Edwina, brother Julian and Gran) on a cabbage-only diet. Edwina’s father is in Antarctica and not expected home anytime soon. Gran had a nasty incident with a pressure cooker and is now convinced she’s living through the Second World War. At school, Edwina and others are targets of bully Krystal Shard and her cronies. And this is only the beginning. Julian’s on-screen romance flounders, Mum moves from the Cabbage Diet to the Fruit Diet and beyond, Gran thinks Edwina is her younger sister Emily and at school girls are falling like ninepins to diet-related conditions. Even her best friend McKenzie seems to be avoiding her. Edwina knows she could fix everything, if only people would listen to her sensible suggestions.

Edwina Sparrow Girl of Destiny is a wonderfully idiosyncratic example of the unreliable narrator inherent in first person narrative. Edwina thunders through her life, unaware of any viewpoint other than her own. She is a likeable character with the subtlety of a bulldozer. The journal allows us to get very close to this main character and to read between her lines to some of the challenges she’s facing. McKenzie is a great foil, with his search for his place in his family of all boys. Julian copes with the vagaries of their family in a much quieter way, but it is Edwina who solves the mystery that occupies all his thoughts. Krystal Shard is a nasty piece of work, manipulating her so-called friends with disastrous consequences.

Carol Chataway provides the reader with a warm and affectionate look into the mind of an ostensibly prickly teenager and subtly urges them to look beyond the obvious.

Highly recommended for Year 7-9 readers. Readers who enjoy this novel might also enjoy works by Jaclyn Moriarty and Melina Marchetta.

Edwina Sparrow Girl of Destiny, by Carol Chataway
Lothian Books 2007
ISBN 9780734409874