Month: August 2005

Noble Sindhu Horse, by Lynette Chataway

When Francis and Ava go to Thailand for two years, the expect to come back to Australia changed. They do come back different, but not in the way they had hoped. Both find life back in Australia increasingly unsatisfying, but neither really understands the cause of this dissatisfaction.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, Nikkon, a farm labourer, finds his own life a struggle as he tries to negotiate a spiritually and emotionally satisfying path through life. While Nikkon’s and Francis’s paths do cross, the stories are parallel rather than intertwined, exploring how disenchantment is a human condition not confined to particular cultures or circumstances.

Noble Sindhu Horses is a story whose theme will resonate with many readers. Ava, Francis and Nikkon are characters whose inner lives are believable and for whom it is possible to have empathy – making the story moving and very real.

Noble Sindhu Horses, by Lynette Chataway
Pandanus Books, 2005

Fire in the Belly, by Carole Wilkinson

We shall not have peace until the prejudices which now separate the different races shall have been outlived. To attain this end, what better means than to bring the youth of all countries periodically together for amicable trials of muscular strength and agility?

When Frenchman Baron de Coubertin proposed and founded the modern Olympic Games, it is unlikely even he could have foreseen just how big and how important to the world this event would become.

Since the first games, held in Athens in 1896 and featuring 241 Athletes from just 14 countries competing in 9 sports, the Olympic movement has grown so that in recent games around ten thousand athletes from 200 countries have competed in 28 different sports. More importantly, the games have also, as the Baron hoped, come to be about much more than sport and winning.

In Fire in the Belly award-winning children’s author Carole Wilkinson traces the history of the Olympic movement from its roots in ancient Greece, to its reinvention by the Baron, right through until modern times. Each Games from Athens (1896) till Sydney (2000) is profiled, with information about the number of countries, athletes and sports, a general overview of the event, interesting highlights and first person recounts of key events. There are plenty of interesting facts and quirky tales that will fascinate young sports fans.

Fire in the Belly is a fascinating read, from an author who makes nonfiction just as readable as fiction for primary aged readers.

Fire in the Belly, by Carole Wilkinson
Black Dog Books, 2004

The Lost Tribe, by Jane Downing

When Marianne inherits the family home, built by her ancestor Mary Anne Clarissa Purcell, she also inherits a passion. Mrs Purcell was an adventurous woman who, in 1864, had set sail with her husband to explore the Pacific in his trading ship, and found herself living with missionaries on the island of Medolan.

Marianne is considered the quiet one of the family, so when she decides to retrace her ancestor’s roots and return to Medolan, her family are surprised. But once there, Marianne finds herself developing a passion for the place and for its secrets – secrets which she could never have imagined. As Mary Ann Clarissa’s story unfolds, so too does Marianne’s own, as she learns as much about herself as about her ancestor.

The Lost Tribe tells the twin stories of these two women, connected by blood but separated by generations. Readers will find themselves absorbed in both tales, fascinated by the mysteries and absorbed by the cultures of the missionaries of the nineteenth century and of the islanders they work with.

A strongly woven story.

The Lost Tribe, by Jane Downing
Pandanus Books, 2005

Dr Quark, by Nancy Walker & Lloyd Foye

In the Serengeti National Park
There lives a vet called Doctor Quark
Her waiting room is filled each week
With groans and moans and piercing shrieks,
From animals, both sick and sore,
Upon the chairs and on the floor.

Dr Quark’s waiting room has animals of all types and with a wide range of problems – from an antelope too fat to leap, to a zebra with one big white spot. As they wait impatiently to see the vet, the waiting room gets noisier and more chaotic. How will Doctor Quark choose who gets to see her first?

This cute rhyming text is filled with funny images of strange ailments – a springbok that thinks she is a sheep, an eagle that quacks, and so on – which young children will love. All are brought to life with the colourful, funny illustrations of Llyod Foye.

This a great read-aloud title.

Dr Quark, by Nancy Walker & Lloyd Foye
Koala Books, 2004

Stowaway, by Trudie Trewin

Heather had never felt quite this bad before. She wiped the sweat off her palms again, this time onto her dress. She could feel the thumping of her heart under the material. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. She groaned. ‘This is easily going to be the worst day of my life,’ she thought.

Heather is terrified of giving a talk in front of her whole class. She would do anything to get out of it. So, when her Aunty Jenny stops by in her ambulance before school, Heather hides in the back, looking for lift to somewhere she can hide out for the day.

Soon, though, Heather is regretting her actions. The ambulance is called to an accident and as it races through the streets, Heather is thrown around and hurts her wrist. Surely her day can’t get any worse than this?

Stowaway is a humorous and fast moving story which deals with a very real fear for many children (and adults) – speaking in front of their peers. The solution is appropriate, the characters and their actions believable.

Part of the Trekkers series by Macmillan Education, Stowaway is equally suitable for classroom or private reading.

Stowaway, by Trudie Trewin
Macmillan Education, 2005