Dancing Backwards in High Heels, by Christine Darcas

I startle when he takes me by the hand to lead me to the stereo system. As a wife, I believe I should repossess my fingers, deliberately keep my grip loose. Eight-year-olds hold my hand. My sons. My husband. Before then, boyfriends held my hand, or men who had some kind of interest. The last man who held my hand tried to slip his other up my skirt. When was that? Ten years ago? Fifteen? Back in the days when I had a nanny, a wardrobe full of tailored skirts and high heels and some semblance of a figure to go with them.

When Madeleine Hutchinson arrives in Australia with her husband and sons, she struggles to settle down. Her younger son is hyperactive, her older son is a moody teenager, and her relationship with her husband is strained. She has no family in Melbourne and hasn’t made any friends yet. When she happens upon a dance studio, she wonders if perhaps it has something to offer her.

Soon, Madeleine is taking private dance lessons and starting to feel like someone other than a wife and mother. But Geordie, her husband, isn’t so sure about her new life. Madeleine’s new dance partner is young and attractive, and he seems to find Madeleine attractive, too. Will she risk her marriage on this attraction?

Dancing Backwards in High Heels is an exploration of one woman’s search for identity against the backdrop of being forty-something, a full time mother and wife, and living in a new country. It also examines issues of family and marital relationships, and the impact of infidelity, both real and contemplated. Madeleine is a likeable first person narrator and the problems she is faced with are familiar for many women, and believable.

An insightful exploration of one woman’s complicated life.

Dancing Backwards in High Heels

Dancing Backwards in High Heels, by Christine Darcas
Hachette Livre, 2008

This book is available from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

In Ecstasy, by Kate McCaffrey

My body ached and my face was sore – I guess from smiling so much. I don’t remember ever laughing more. A new world had opened up for me, a place where I was confident and beautiful and a hot guy like Lewis wanted to be with me. That morning I figured life couldn’t get any better. How could something that made you feel like that be bad for you?

Mia and Sophie are best friends. They do everything together, and always have. So when they go to a party and are offered ecstasy, both girls take the plunge and pop a pill. For Mia, taking ecstasy seems to open up a whole new world. Her shyness disappears and she becomes vivacious, beautiful, popular. But as her social circle grows and her new relationship with Lewis -a year twelve boy – blossoms, her friendship with Sophie suffers.

Kate McCaffrey is an author who not only deals with teen issues, but deals with them head-on in a way which is both confronting and realistic. In her previous novel, Destroying Avalon she explored cyber bullying. Here, she tackles the growing issue of teenage drug use. Rather than trying to simply explore the consequences of drug taking, McCaffrey takes readers inside the life of the teen characters, showing why they make the decisions do. For Mia, using ecstasy and other drugs seems to offer a solution to her problems, rather than being a problem itself. For her friend Sophie, ecstasy is also a temptation, but her experiences are different. Sophie has her own set of problems to deal with.

This is a gritty novel on an important subject.

In Ecstasy, by Kate McCaffrey
Fremantle Press, 2008

Harum Scarum, by Felicity Young

She thought of Katy Enigma, girl detective, always ready for adventure, flying golden hair, long legs – would Katy go with this man?
‘Look, if you’re not okay with this,’ the man said, ‘Dan’ll understand. To be honest, he’s scared about meeting you.’
The man smiled. He had soft brown eyes and despite the strange nose and his peculiar voice, his face looked kind.
Bianca placed her hand in his and felt him shiver.
She didn’t know why, it wasn’t cold at all.

When 11 year old Bianca Webster disappears, it soon becomes apparent she has been abducted by a paedophile. DS Stevie Hooper must try to piece together what has happened, and stop it from happening again. As Stevie investigates, it becomes clear Bianca has been lured away by one of the members of the Dream Team, an internet paedophile site where men exchange photographs, videos and even the contact details of innocent girls.

This is a gripping but chilling thriller. Stevie and her colleagues race against time to shut down the paedophile ring before another girl can be killed. In the meantime, two apparently unrelated murders also seem to have links with the case. Stevie also has to sort out her personal life – finding a good babysitter for her daughter, and keeping her relationship with her fiancé Monty intact.

A page turner.

Harum Scarum, by Felicity Young
Fremantle Press

Ratwhiskers and Me, by Lorraine Marwood

Ratwhiskers is sleeping.
I must have dozed.
I am filthy. I am worn out.
I am hungry.
I’m late to bury a body.
I don’t know where I am.
But just above me the sky is dark.
The stars cold glitter.
Night is safe sometimes.
I unroll.
I ache.

The boy doesn’t remember much – just smoke and running to escape. Now he is on the goldfields, working as cook for three miners. But there are many hardships on the goldfields – death, disease, shortages, and the miners expect him to work hard. There is no kindness. When the boy befriends a Chinese boy tending a market garden, it makes life a little easier – until the miners turn on the Chinese, and the boy finds himself caught between the two groups. Then his Chinese friend discovers his secret, a secret which could make life harder for both of them.

Ratwhiskers and Me is a beautifully rendered verse novel, telling the story of conditions on the Bendigo goldfields in the 1850s. Marwood uses a minimum of words for a maximum impact, bringing to life the hardships of the life of the miners, the harsh prejudices faced by the Chinese and the extremes of human behaviour during the goldrush. The use of the verse novel format allows both a vivid first-person narrative and a paring back of all but the most important details, taking the reader on an emotional journey through gripping events.

A masterpiece.

Ratwhiskers and Me, by Lorraine Marwood
Walker, 2008

Lampo's Circus, by Alexandra Adornetto

With a judder and a jolt the tent was propelled high above the treetops. The tassels blistered their hands and the wind flung their small bodies from side to side like kites, but the children clung on like death, so determined were they not to be left behind. The tent burst through cloud, dampening them so that they shivered all over. They closed their eyes and tried to remain calm as they followed Federico Lampo and his Travelling Circus on their furthest journey yet…into the sky.

Milli and Ernest think they have seen the last of power-hungry Lord Aldor, and life in Drabville is wonderful. Until a circus comes to town. Everyone is raving about the wonderful circus acts, but Milli’s mother won’t let her go, and loyal Ernest decides not to go either. When they are finally allowed to attend, on the last day the circus is on town, they quickly discover there is something sinister about this circus. With the rest of the town’s children, they are soon whisked away to the Conjuror’s Realm.

In this new and frightening place Milli and Ernset soon discover that Lord Aldor is up to his old tricks. This time he wants to use the children to conquer the province of Mirth. Milli and Ernest set off to warn the Queen of Mirth, in an attempt to thwart Aldor’s plans and to get the children back to Drabville.

The Lampo Circus is the second in young author Alexandra Adornetto’s Strangest Adventures series. Like the first, this offering is told in an entertaining first person voice – with an intrusive narrator at times commenting on events rather than simply narrating them. This adds a humorous touch of familiarity which young readers will enjoy. The adventure itself is exciting, again with many humorous moments, with a touch of Lemony Snickett or Alice in Wonderland, as Milli and Ernest come up against seemingly ever-worsening odds and a series of bumbling, yet scary, adversaries.

This is a magical offering for 9 to 12 year old readers.

The Lampo Circus, by Alexandra Adornetto
Harper Collins, 2008

This book is available from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

White Crane, by Sandy Fussell

I can hear someone groaning. It’s me.
A great shadow looms over my head. I cringe as the shape crouches, ready to spring. Instead it purrs inside my ear.
‘Go to sleep, Niya.’
Claws extended, it prods my blanket around me, before slinking back towards the cliff edge. With a growl, it disappears down the mountain, leaving me to sleep in peace.

It isn’t easy training to be a samurai, but for Niya the task is extra difficult – because he has only one leg. In spite of his disability, Niya dreams of being a great samurai and, in the meantime, of defeating all of the other competitors at the Annual Samurai Trainee Games. First, though, he must get through a gruelling training schedule and a difficult journey to attend the games.

Niya belongs to the Cockroach Ryu, under the training of the great Sensei Ki-Yaga. The other students at the Ryu are, like Niya, disabled. Kyoko has extra fingers and toes, Mikko has only one arm, Taji is blind, and Yoshi is big and strong but refuses to fight. At the Trainee Games they must compete against able-bodied opponents, none more competitive (or nasty) than the Dragons. The reigning champions sneer at the members of the Cockroach Ryu and will stop at nothing to beat them

White Crane is the first title in the new series. This perfectly wrought tale will delight child and adult readers alike. Set in the mountains of Japan, and with a blend of mysticism, adventure and exploration of friendship, this is a wonderful offering for primary aged readers.

Samurai Kids: White Crane, by Sandy Fussell
Walker Books, 2008

Trust Me, edited by Paul Collins

This fat and juicy collection, writes Isobelle Carmody in this book’s introduction, is like one of those dessert plates where you get to try a little bit of everything, so that you can decide what you’ll order next time as a full-sized portion.This wonderful analogy is just part of what Carmody has to say on the topic of genre and on the content of the anthology, but it a very clever way of describing what is on offer here.

Trust Me is an anthology offering short stories, poetry and illustration from fifty of Australia’s best known creators for children and young adults. From the sheer silliness of Andy Griffiths’ The True History of Sir Donald BADMAN, to the horror of Lili Wilkinson’s The Babysitter and from the romance of Carol Jones’ Under/Over to the beauty of Meme McDonald’s Farewell Song, there is something for every taste, as well as plenty to ignite new tastes. Readers are offered samplings of a range of genres including fantasy, horror, science fiction, history and poetry. What is common is the high standard of the various offerings.

Wonderful for individual reading, this would also be suitable for classroom use and school library collections.

Trust Me, edited by Paul Collins
Ford Street, 2008

Thorn Castle and Devil's Lair, by Ian Irvine

‘All right so far,’ he called back, pretending to be cheerful. ‘I won’t be long.’ Unfortunately his voice squeaked and made him sound even more scared than he was.
A minute later his skin prickled, there came a dull flash and Kim cried, ‘Help! Help!’
As Tamly scrambled backwards along the path, all he could hear was distant, eerie laughter.

Tamly is the only person in Meadowhythe who can’t do magic. He wishes he knew why, and longs to learn magic. But it is precisely his lack of magic which makes him ideal for the dangerous challenge of rescuing the Book of Spells from the evil sorcerer Lord Harshax. Together with his magically gifted friend Kym, he sets out to steal the book and save his village.

Thorn Castle and Giant’s Lair are the first two of four books in the Sorcerer’s Tower series from Omnibus. Each book is a short self-contained tale, but each builds on the last to complete a bigger story, allowing the tale to be read in bite-sized portions perfect for the reluctant or younger reader.

From one of Australia’s masters of the fantasy genre, this action-packed series is a wonderful introduction to the genre for readers aged 9 and over.

Sorcerer’s Tower: Thorn Castle and Giant’s Lair, by Ian Irvine, illustrated by D. M. Cornish
Omnibus, 2008

Thorn Castle and Sorcerer’s Tower are available from Fishpond. Buying through these links supports Aussiereviews.

Worms! by Lyn Uhlman

Jason loves growing things. He works hard in his greenhouse to produce beautiful flowers. His Dad and his brother aren’t so interested in plants. They are into astronomy and spend hours trying to tune into alien signals on the airwaves. But when a new family moves in next door, Jason thinks he may be the first in the family to meet a real life alien.

Jason’s suspicions start when the neighbours arrive in a strange glowing vehicle in the middle of the night. Then when he peeps through the fence and sees one of the neighbours putting a human head on over a worm body, he is convinced. The neighbours are really giant worms. But why are they are here on Earth and what do they want from Jason? Jason’s biggest problem could be convincing his Dad and his brother that their neighbours are aliens. Until his Dad figures out the truth and Jason embarks on the journey of a lifetime.

This fun, action packed novel will have 8 to 12 year old readers turning the pages. There is plenty of humour and adventure as well as the fun of an alien code. At the end of the novel there is a message for readers to translate – a bonus which young sleuths will love.

Worms! is an outstanding offering from Queensland based author Lyn Uhlman. It is part of the Breakers series from Macmillan Education.

Worms!, by Lyn Uhlman, illustrated by Tom Kurema
Macmillan Education, 2004

Me, Myself and Prague, by Rachael Weiss

I had about five thousand dollars all up when I arrived in Prague, enough to keep me going while I figured out what to do about work. I had that glorious feeling you get when you’ve taken your first step on an exciting journey – fresh and new – a feeling that everything would turn out well. A feeling that lasted all the way out of the airport…until I found myself in a shuttle bus driving further and further away from the gorgeous city into light industrial suburbs.

Rachael Weiss feels she’s a disappointment to her parents – to her mother because she’s unmarried, and to her father because she is not an orthodontist. Instead, she’s a writer, so she figures it’s time to escape the family and head off on an adventure. She will go to Prague in search of her Bohemian roots, stay in her father’s apartment there and write the great Australian novel. She might even fall in love with a handsome Czech man.

Me, Myself and Prague is Weiss’s account of her year in Prague as she experiences the highs and lows of living in a post-Communist country where she knows nobody and does not speak the language. With a blend of humour, honesty and self-exploration, Weiss takes the reader into her life, experiencing the twists and tones and cheering as she gets to know – and like – herself.

Me, Myself and Prague: An Unreliable Guide to Bohemia

Me, Myself and Prague: An Unreliable Guide to Bohemia, by Rachael Weiss
Allen & Unwin, 2008

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