nonfiction – Aussie Reviews

Professor Fred Hollows, by Hazel Edwards

foundation, to ensure that his work continued long after his death.

In Professor Fred Hollows, part of the Aussie Heroes series, author Hazel Edwards recounts the key events in Hollows’ life and work in a simple, accessible form. Coloured illustrations scattered throughout the book bring the story to life.

Three out of four people who are blind don’t have to be. They are blinded by poverty alone.

Frederick (Fred) Cossom Hollows was born and grew up in New Zealand, knowing from a young age that he wanted to make a change for the better. He studied medicine and then decided to become an eye doctor. Moving to Australi,a he recognised the need to take eye care to the people who most needed it, and so set up mobile eye clinics, working in remote and Aboriginal communities providing low cost and free medical aid, and saving the sight of thousands of people. Later, he took his programs to other countries. Before his death in 1992 he established a foundation, to ensure that his work continued long after his death.

Hollows is an inspirational character and an excellent role model to be presented to children as an example of humanitarian action, and the power of self-belief and the difference an individual can make. Professor Fred Hollows would make an excellent addition to school libraries and is suitable for classroom use.

Professor Fred Hollows (Aussie Heroes), by Hazel Edwards, illustrated by Pat Reynolds
New Frontier, 2012
ISBN 978192104275

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Sexpectations, by Leissa Pitts & Craig Murray

Sexpectations is careful not to preach or talk down to the readers. It varies the pace of delivery, the approach and uses repetition to ensure core principles like respect, choice, safety and health remain front and central. Teenagers may get much of their sex information from other teenagers…

Welcome to Sexpectations Girl. This book has been written for you, a girl who has expectations, or may not know what to expect, about sex.
Despite how much our society has changed over the years, ‘sex’ still causes a lot of debate because of the many meanings and ideas people attaché to that simple three-lettered word, making it hard to wade through all there is to know about sex.

Sex! What a cool topic … but why call a book Sexpectations?
Well, sometimes we can be expected to know everything there is to know about sex, but rarely get a chance to talk about it in an open, healthy way, or to ask questions like ‘What do I do?’, What’s normal? And that’s just a few of those tricky questions we all have …

Sexpectations is two books for the price of one, one aimed at girls, the other at boys. But that doesn’t mean they are intended to be read separately. Each can be read first, but where a topic has been tackled in one, the other might just reference that topic then direct readers to ‘flip’ for more information. The approaches are different but both authors present a broad range of factual information in a variety of ways. There are frequently asked questions and debunking of myths. There are resources listed so readers can research further. The text is presented in different colours on coloured paper and illustrations are mixed with photos. Some information is presented in point form or lists, while other information is presented in a more conversational style.

Sexpectations is not a puberty book although hormonal changes are certainly discussed. It’s for readers who want to be informed before they make decisions about sex. All sorts of decisions, even if it’s a decision NOT to make a decision. Having the ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ sections back to back with cross-references in certain topics encourages each to learn more about the other and perhaps the way each approaches sex. Sexpectations is careful not to preach or talk down to the readers. It varies the pace of delivery, the approach and uses repetition to ensure core principles like respect, choice, safety and health remain front and central. Teenagers may get much of their sex information from other teenagers, but if they get it from teenagers who have access to this book, they are going to get good information.

Sexpectations, Leissa Pitts & Craig Murray
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781741751437

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

This book is available in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

Be Your Best, by Geoff Huegill

Geoff Huegill is one of Australia’s best known and best loved swimmers. From the age of four until he was 26, Huegill lived and breathed swimming, training daily and winning an impressive array of medals including Olympic silver and bronze, five world champion titles, eight world records and five Commonwealth Games gold medals. But in 2005, exhausted from the years of training…

What I was attempting was nothing less than rebuilding my credibility, and the only way I was going to succeed was with a mammoth effort.

Geoff Huegill (widely nicknamed Skippy by friends and fans) is one of Australia’s best known and best loved swimmers. From the age of four until he was 26, Huegill lived and breathed swimming, training daily and winning an impressive array of medals including Olympic silver and bronze, five world champion titles, eight world records and five Commonwealth Games gold medals. But in 2005, exhausted from the years of training, and suffering depression, he quit. Two years later, having gained 45 kilos in weight and hit rock bottom, Huegill returned to swimming, determined to regain his fitness and get his life back on track. In 2010 he returned to Commonwealth Games glory, with two golds and a silver. More importantly, though, he had turned his life around – proving to himself and the world that he could follow his dreams.

Be Your Best is Huegill’s story. Starting with his childhood and early involvement in swimming , through to the sudden death of his father when Huegill was 12, and he highs of his swimming career, the book then examines what went wrong before moving on to how he managed to get his life back on track. A special section in the middle of the book also details Huegill’s Be Your Best principles, which he promotes with his business partner Keith Staggers.

The text is written in Huegill’s honest, straightforward voice. He admits his failings and is honest but not boastful about his strengths. Coloured photography throughout the book also charts his story.

Fans will love this offering.

Be Your Best, by Geoff Huegill
Ebury Press, 2011
ISBN 9781742751658

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Headstarts, by Dr Cindy Pan & Vanessa Woods

Headstarts is full of summaries of current and recent research about children and parenting. There are tips on sleeping, nutrition, care solutions, behaviour management, nutrition, teaching maths, assessing when you need help (whether it be in maths, behaviour or co-existing with teenagers) and talking about sex…

‘It’s got to be-ee-ee-ee perfect …’ goes the popular eighties’ song where a woman sets out the conditions for all her future relationships. Good luck, honey!’
For career mums juggling the dual rules of worker and mother, being a perfectionist can be a recipe for stress, depression, conflict and lower overall satisfaction with themselves and life.
Of course there are lots of rewards (such as the thrill of achieving) that come from perfectionist behaviour, features of which might include being organised, hard-working and committed to your goals. But sometimes perfectionists are motivated by guilt, fear of failure, or fear of others’ disappointment or censure rather than the rewards of a job well done. It is when the fear of negative consequences is greater than the lure of positive ones that this form of perfectionism becomes less healthy, leading to decreased satisfaction and leaving the perfectionist vulnerable to dejection, shame, embarrassment and a generally low mood.

Headstarts: 100 Tips for Raising Clever, Confident, Creative Kids (Headstarts) is full of summaries of current and recent research about children and parenting. There are tips on sleeping, nutrition, care solutions, behaviour management, nutrition, teaching maths, assessing when you need help (whether it be in maths, behaviour or co-existing with teenagers) and talking about sex. Each is accompanied by information on the source of the information so if you want to, you can access original research. Much of the contents are around reassuring parents that they are normal, their children are normal and any challenges, behaviours or insecurities they have are shared by many other parents and children. Headstarts is practical, readable and reassuring.

Headstarts begins by suggesting that you not be too hard on yourself. Difficult when all around you there are family members, doctors, nurses, friends and passersby offering advice on what you should be doing. Headstarts doesn’t suggest you read every tip here and embrace it, in fact if you did, you’d be much more confused than ever. What it does do is present the findings of research, simplify it for the lay reader and say ‘Okay, now you’re informed, make the decisions that are right for you and your children.’ It also suggests you pick and choose what’s right for you and your child/children at the time, while reminding you that things may change. There is also a warning that current research may not match future research, just like what works for your first three-year-old might not work with your next three-year-old. Overall, it’s suggesting that you learn to listen to yourself, your child and to trust the way that you negotiate with each other. Recommended for parents and those considering becoming parents.

Headstarts: 100 Tips for Raising Clever, Confident, Creative Kids, Dr Cindy Pan & Vanessa Woods
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781741755749

The Heroes of the Kokoda Track, by Nicolas Brasch

The 1942 Kokoda campaign lasted only four months, but has become a key part of Australia’s story. Lacking equipment and supplies, and unprepared for the harsh tropical conditions, the troops who fought along the track were outnumbered, battling disease, mud and rain…

Try this
Put six bricks into a backpack, and climb the steepest hill you can find. But don’t do it until it’s been raining for days, so you keep slipping. Now don’t make a sound because in the bushes around you, there might be enemy troops, armed with rifles and bayonets, poised to pounce at the slightest sign of activity. Then imagine this is no game, this is reality, this is war – this is Kokoda.

The Heroes of the Kokoda Track, part of Black Dog Books’ Our Stories Series packs a lot into just 32 pages. In language which primary aged students will understand, author Nicolas Brasch explains the significance of the Kokoda campaign, its progress and the roles played by Australians and by Papuan locals. Historic photos support the text, and the design, with text boxes providing easily digestible slices of information, will appeal to even reluctant readers.

Excellent for classroom and school library collections, but also suitable for private reading.

The Heroes of the Kokoda Track, by Nicolas Brasch
Black Dog Books, 2011
ISBN 9781742031347

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

Drawn From the Heart, by Ron Brooks

If you are a parent, teacher or librarian with a love of children’s books, chances are that you are well familiar with the illustrative brilliance of Ron Brooks. As the illustrator of some of Australia’s (and the world’s) best loved picture books, including John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat , Old Pig and Fox , Brooks has captured the hearts of readers for 40 years. In Drawn from the Heart, however, Brooks shares far more than his illustration work with readers.

Reading this memoir is an intense experience. On the face of it, this is a book which traces Brooks’ life through childhood, study, marriage and raising a family, whilst also detailing the process of illustrating his various works. However, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that this is much more. This is a story into which the reader is drawn. Brooks is honest and intimate, creating a sense that he is telling the tale just over a cup of tea across a well-worn kitchen table. The reader is invited to cheer, to smile, to weep and mourn with Brooks. This is definitely not a dry-eye book.

There is lots of factual information imparted – the detail of the creation and publication process of each of Brooks’ picture books is fascinating – but at the same time you are left a real sense of Ron Brooks as a person of great intensity.

A must read for anyone with a passion for children’s books and illustration, this is also simply a wonderful read for any human being.

Drawn from the Heart: A Memoir, by Ron Brooks
Allen & Unwin, 2010
ISBN 9781742371559

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews

How to Talk to Girls, by Jonathan Toussaint

All humans communicate no matter who they are. It’s something people love to do. If you think about the reasons we talk to each other, you’ll come up with a list that includes getting information, telling each other stuff, seeking help, understanding each other, and having fun together. Good communication helps with everything you do each day – how would you get anything done with other people if you didn’t talk? This exchange of ideas is a powerful tool, and the better you know how to do it the more you will enjoy talking to others and gaining benefit from it.
Good communication can get you further than you think. It might help you to get a part-time job, to do better in school, to make close friends, and to talk to a girl. Boys are always wanting to know, ‘How do I get a girl to like me?’ The answer is (so not) a big secret: be a good communicator!

It used to be so easy when you were little. You either played with girls because they were playing a game you liked, or you ignored them if they weren’t. Simple. But as time progresses, things get a bit more complicated. Suddenly it’s like there’s a whole new set of rules and no one gave you the rule book, or that’s how it can seem. How to Talk to Girlsaims to decode some of the supposed ‘rules’ of talking to girls, or to debunk some of the myths that just seem to make things harder. Boys are different to girls, no surprise there, but the differences may not be the ones that you’ve imagined or heard rumours about. ‘How to Talk to Girls’ includes quotes from boys about the challenges they feel in talking to girls. The most important message? Learn to communicate, with honesty and integrity. The rest will happen as it will.

How to Talk to Girls is made up of short pithy chapters with plenty of photos and chapter headings to guide the reader. They can begin at the beginning and read right through, or flip through and stop where they will. The advice is low key and realistic and reassures the boy trying to talk to girls that it’s as hard for the girls as it is for them. It also is clear about the fact that not every interaction with girls or a girl is going to be a winner, and to try to retain some perspective. It’s also clear that at the basis of every relationship is friendship and if you get that right, then your chances of a successful relationship are higher. Recommended for those entering and those already teenaged. A companion book to ‘How to Talk to Boys’ by Dianne Todaro.

How to Talk to Girls, Jonathan Toussaint
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN:9781742371948

How to Talk to Boys, by Dianne Todaro

Inside each of us are the answers to all of life’s tricky questions, especially the one about how we talk to boys. But just like anything we do, the more we practise it the better we become. Talking to boys can be quite different to talking to girls, and I warn that for some of you it may take a little time before you feel totally comfortable, especially if you have a physical reaction to that particular boy who is very cute. I like to call it that ‘gush’ feeling you have when you see him and all ‘smart chick thinking’ ideals somehow fly out the window. Oh boys, the mystery of those good looking, smart, cheeky monkeys! It would be impossible to live without boys, but it can sometimes feel like it is impossible to get to talk to them, too. So let’s ignore all impossibilities and explore all the possibilities in how us girls communicate with boys.

Boys, boys, boys. What is it that changes them from being brats, a nuisance and show-offs to being the ones who makes your tummy flutter and your words desert you? And why can it feel so hard? Is it only you? Well, no it’s not only you. Many girls struggle to make conversation with the same boys that only a short time ago they were best mates with (or enemies). How to Talk to Boys takes a look at why this is the case, interviews lots of girls and gives some suggestions on how to make it easier to get to know this new species. It all boils down to being yourself (once you work out what that is) and communicating in a way that both of you enjoy and understand. Discover the advantages and limitations of the myriad ways you can ‘talk’ to boys. There is also a section on same sex attraction.

It’s supposed to be easy for girls to talk. Isn’t that what girls do most of their waking hours? But of course it’s not that easy and often the chatter of girls is a way of covering up their insecurities and anxieties. Dianne Todaro uses a conversational style to let girls know that it’s not unusual to find it difficult to talk to boys, but also that it’s not difficult to learn how to do it more easily and successfully. Like the companion title ‘How to Talk to Girls’ by Jonathan Toussaint, How to Talk to Boys is full of simple advice, tips and quotes. Practice is the key. There’s also suggestions on what to do if at first you don’t get it perfect, or if the boy you thought was the bee’s knees, turns out to be someone quite different. The text is broken in to chapters, with multiple text types, perfect for dipping into, or reading from cover to cover. Recommended for almost- and new-teens.

How to Talk to Boys, Dianne Todaro
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781742374383

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author
www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Gift of the Gob, by Kate Burridge

Compiling dictionaries is tricky, especially now when English is acquiring vocabulary at such an extraordinary rate. Many new words are one-offs, of course, spur-or-the-moment, short-lived. People do love to invent words and…some even send their creations off to dictionary editors in the hope they might make it onto their lists. …Stroodle ‘the annoying piece of cheese stretching from a slice of hot pizza to one’s mouth’, like all of Rich Hall’s wonderful inventions, certainly fills a lexical gap, but hasn’t yet made it – it remains a sniglet ‘a word that should be in the dictionary, but isn’t’.

Gift of the Gob is subtitled ‘Morsels of English Language History’. It is not intended to be a dictionary, rather a degustation offering of many and varied words of interest. It begins with a definition of ‘gob’ and other words in similar form, rejecting the salivary ‘gob’ for other more interesting meanings including mouth, ‘gobbet’ for mouthful and more. Chapters include ‘Dictionary’, ‘Slanguage’, ‘Language on the Move’ and more. Burridge tracks the origins of words like ‘hamburger’ (derives from Hamburg) and follows the path past the original meaning, through the ham-burger (meat-in-bun) which leads to limburger, eggburger and more. Much of the content has been inspired by questions Burridge has received from the public, either via radio and other shows, or via contact directly with her. Information boxes offer asides on particular words or sayings, or provide answers to questions.

English is an amazing living language with words entering and leaving official dictionaries. And those who love English, do so in a variety of ways. Some want the language to stay as they learned it, with no relaxing of ‘proper’ English. Others make up words for themselves or for others. It’s a living language, and language changes in usage. Once offensive words become mild, and new ones arrive to shock or titillate. Gift of the Gob dances through the field of wild and ordinary words, bringing them all to life by sharing their history. The reader may never use some of the words examined here, but it’s fascinating to understand a little more of their journey to our modern usage. Burridge introduces and reintroduces words and their meanings in an informative yet conversational style, that excludes no one. Recommended for anyone fascinated by the ever-changing language we call English.

Gift of the Gob, Kate Burridge,
ABC Books 2010
ISBN: 9780733324048

Reviewed by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, by Chris Coulthard-Clark

More than just a record of the battles in which Australia and Australians have been involved, The Encycopaedia of Australia’s Battles, provides an intresting insight into Australia’s history as a whole.

As well as detailing the many battles Australians have joined on war fields overseas, the book details the many battles fought on Australian soil in the two hundred years since white settlement. These include battles fought between European settlers and Aboriginals resisting colonization and battles such as those on the goldfields, including the Eureka Stockade.

The book includes chronological entries of over 300 battles in which Australians or Australian troops have been involved – at sea, in the air and on the ground. Each entry provides the date and location, the main units and commanders involved and an account of the course of the battle. ENtries are illustrated with maps, drawings and photographs.

The author, historian Chris Coulthard-Clark is an expert in Australian defence history. A graduate of Duntroon and the Australian Dfence Force Academy, he has worked as a government policy analyst, historical consultant and a research editor.

The Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles is an outstanding resource for historians, writers, teachers, an anyone with an interest in Australian history. First published in 2001, it has been rereleased in 2010.

The Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles, by Chris Coulthard-Clark
Allen & Unwin, 2010

This title can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through these links supports Aussiereviews.