March 2012 – Page 2 – Aussie Reviews

Animal Rescue: Gorilla Grab by Jackie French

Leo can talk to animals. It’s a skill that’s could win friends at school, if no anyone believed you. But no one does.

‘Hshh-shoo!’ sneezed Mum. She stopped by the guinea pig cage and blew her nose.

Leo looked up at her. His guinea pig looked up too, a shred of lettuce wedged between his teeth. Alan Nesbit Kirk twitched his whiskers. ‘Is hshh-shoo! the sound humans make when they are about to attack zombies, with swords?’

‘No,’ Leo signalled, hoping Mum didn’t wonder why he was twitching his nose at his guinea pig. ‘Mum doesn’t do swords. She just has a cold.’

‘Does she karate chop them instead?’ the guinea pig asked.

Leo can talk to animals. It’s a skill that’s could win friends at school, if no anyone believed you. But no one does. Except Mozz and her grandmother. In his first jet-flight adventure, he and sort-of-friend Mozz helped rescue some elephants. This time, gorillas are in danger from man diseases and Mozz and Leo are going to vaccinate them. In their quest to vaccinate all the gorillas, they encounter more than they expect. They are in a race to outrun poachers, and then there’s the dilemma of what to do with a sick baby gorilla. Leo isn’t convinced that he should be anywhere near Africa or enormous gorillas but Mozz makes it difficult for him to refuse to help.

‘Animal Rescue: Gorilla Grab’ is the second in Jackie French’s new series of chapter books. It blends real life animal conservation issues with wayout inventions and talking animals. The action proceeds almost faster than Mozz’s jet. On one level, these are wild and whacky adventures, but there are also very clear conservation messages and themes about fitting in, finding your own specialness and surviving at school. Every main character in ‘Animal Rescue: Gorilla Grab’ has their own talent, their own wackiness. There is a warning at the back about the plight faced by the endangered Mountain Gorillas, and some factual information about them. Recommended for confident independent readers.

Gorilla Grab, Jackie French
Scholastic Press 2012
ISBN: 9781741698497

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Takeshita Demons 2: The Filth Licker by Cristy Burne

Miku and her class are off on school camp, and she should be revelling in time away and no homework. But something’s wrong. She can smell it, she can feel it.

‘Cait, are you still there?’ I could hear breathing on the other end of the phone, but Cait’s voice had disappeared, cut off halfway through a sentence. ‘Hello?’ It was dark outside, late on the night before school camp, and I had a bad feeling in my gut that was cutting like knives. I was supposed to be packing shirts and shoes and lucky charms to take to camp, but I hadn’t even opened my case.

Miku and her class are off on school camp, and she should be revelling in time away and no homework. But something’s wrong. She can smell it, she can feel it. Cait, who believed her and helped her in her first brush with Japanese demons, is acting oddly. For a start she claims to have no knowledge of the demons they fought so recently. Before they even reach the camp, an ancient man appears and offers a treat to one of their classmates. Miku struggles to make anyone believe they are all in danger. Not even Cait seems to understand the urgency. But there’s no way Miku is going to be able to best the demons on her own. Help, when it finally comes, is from unexpected quarters.

The Filth Licker is the second instalment in the Takeshita Demon series from Cristy Burne and the action proceeds at breakneck pace as it does in the first adventure. They feature demons from Japanese mythology who have for some reason followed Miku and her family in their move from Japan to London. Miku is assisted in her fighting of the demons by remembering the stories told her by her grandmother. In Japan, they were protected from the demons by her grandmother and by a house ghost, but in England their protection seems to have vanished. Miku is a clear-thinking and resourceful demon fighter, who must often fight alone. The demons are clever and resourceful, but always there is a way to overcome them. The disgustingly-named Filth Licker is just one of them! Recommended for upper primary readers.

Takeshita Demons 2: The Filth Licker, Cristy Burne
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books 2011
ISBN: 9781847801364

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

The Littlest Angel 1: Lily Gets Her Wings and 2: Lily Has A Secret by Elizabeth Pulford ill Aki Fukuoka

Lily rolled over in bed. She stared up at the starry painted ceiling. Today was the big day. The day she tried out for a place in Amelia’s Angel Academy.

Lily rolled over in bed. She stared up at the starry painted ceiling. Today was the big day. The day she tried out for a place in Amelia’s Angel Academy.

The trouble was, there were two of them trying to get into the academy. And there was only one place left. It was between her and Tisa.

With an anxious sigh, Lily glanced over at Tisa’s bed. It was empty. Oh no! She was probably practising already.

Lily really, really wants to be an angel. That means being accepted at Amelia’s Angel Academy. There are two candidates and only one place, and from her late morning waking, things just keep going wrong. Tisa, the other girl vying for the Academy place, is ultra-determined that she will win. Whoever wins the place will learn all there is to learn about being a proper angel. As the testing progresses, Lily becomes surer that Tisa is going to win. But there is more than one way to test a trainee angel.

In ‘Lily has a Secret’, Lily does a good deed, but it seems sure to get her into trouble. She rescues a kitten, but having a kitten in the Academy is Against The Rules. And her former nemesis, Tisa, is becoming more and more impatient with her as their rehearsal for the concert is constantly disrupted. Illustrations of Lily and her adventures are scattered throughout.

The Littlest Angel is a new series from New Zealand writer Elizabeth Pulford. They are shiny-covered, with coloured pages and will surely appeal to young independent readers, particularly girls. Who doesn’t long to be able to fly and to help people achieve their dreams? Lily is exceptionally pure-hearted, but this same heart that endears her to almost all at the Academy also gets her in all sorts of scrapes. She tries valiantly to follow all the rules, but there always seems to be a reason to break them. If it’s not her wings being torn, then it’s some other calamity. Fortunately there are people to help her when she thinks she is in trouble. Slowly she is coming to know and understand Tisa, a very different child/angel, who bends the rules in other ways and always seems to be cross. Recommended for early primary independent readers.

Lily Gets Her Wings , Elizabeth Pulford, ill Aki Fukuoka Scholastic NZ 2012 ISBN: 9781775430223

Lily Has a Secret , Elizabeth Pulford, ill Aki Fukuoka Scholastic NZ 2012 ISBN: 9781775430230

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Ready to Read Series: Extreme Animals; Slithering Snakes … and more!

Ooh! Look at the holographic covers!

Dinosaurs, sharks, bugs, extreme animals, snakes and machines. Three of these titles are Level 1, for beginner readers and the other three are Level 2, for newly independent readers. Images are photographic (ahem except of course for the dinosaur title which is illustrated) and the text is informative, delivered in short sentences. The main narrative is in rhyme, with text boxes providing extra information. There is a guide at the beginning for parents wishing to assist their child in learning to read. Each title also includes a quiz page, to help cement any new information and provide structured opportunities to be sure the information was absorbed. There’s also a illustrated dictionary.

This new series of readers from Scholastic is guaranteed to find many fans in the classroom and at home. Each cover is holographic featuring title, a main image and five images along the bound edge of the book. Each image changes when the cover is moved. Think snakes and dinosaurs opening their jaws wide. Deliciously scary. The covers will ensure these books are chosen from any pile, and the content will keep them there. The need for information will entice the reader from word to word, page to page. The dictionary, key words, sight words and quiz will keep readers coming back. They will ignite new interests and feed existing interests. A great addition to any school reading program and to any home. Recommended for children learning to read.

Bugs, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831183

Extreme Animals, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831169

Slithering Snakes, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831176

Mighty Machines, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831190

Dangerous Dinosaurs, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831213

Sharks, Scholastic Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742831206

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

The Red Poppy, by David Hill &Fifi Colston

The two soldiers come from opposite sides of the conflict but, in spite of language difficulties, realise they have more in common than they could have imagined, and help each other to stay alive.

The night before the battle,
Jim McLeod wrote to his mother and his sister Edith.
He said nothign about the day to come, nor the mud’and the rats> he didn’t mention the piles of stretchers
waiting for the dead and wounded…

Jim McLeod waits in the trenches waiting for the order to attack the enemy. As he waits, he spies a patch of red poppies that the battle has left untouched. Later, as he scurries across no-man’s land, he takes refuge in a crater right where the poppies were. As he lies wounded he realises he is sharing his hole with an enemy soldier, also wounded. Forging an unlikely alliance, the pair figure a way to seek help, with the aid of a rescue dog and one of those red poppies.

The Red Poppy is a beautiful picture book offering about war and humanity. The two soldiers come from opposite sides of the conflict but, in spite of language difficulties, realise they have more in common than they could have imagined, and help each other to stay alive. The story doesn’t hold back on the horrors of war and its impact. The sepia toned illustrations, brightened with the reds of the poppies, reflect the time period and the serious nature of the subject matter, as well as helping readers to understand why the red poppy is used as a symbol of remembrance. At the back of the books are the lyrics for a song, ‘Little Red Poppy’, by Rob Kennedy, and a CD recording of the song is included.

Released in plenty of time for Anzac Day, this is an excellent educational resource which is also suitable for private reading.

The Red Poppy, by David Hill, illustrated by Fifi Colston
Scholastic NZ
ISBN 9781869439989

This book is available in good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Strictly Confidential, by Roxy Jacenko

Perhaps if my life as a publicist had begun in Milan, I’d be lounging in my La Perla finest, all frastaglio embroidery and mixing it with Italy’s beautiful people. Hell , I’d probably have found myself at one of Berlusconi’s bunga-bunga parties in the name of product placement where I’d thank God that, in my twenties, I was far too old to be his type.
Instead it all began with a red Vixenary g-string in the back-streets of Sydney’s Darlinghurst.

Jasmine Lewis – Jazzy Lou to her friends – is working her backside off trying to make her way up in the world of PR. No matter what time of the day – or night – her boss Diane summons her, Jazzy is there, doing Diane’s bidding. She’s done coffee runs, she’s handled laundry, she’s even got out of bed at 3am to rescue a client from the paparazzi. But no matter what she does, it seems Diane is never happy – so when Jazzy Lou is summonsed to Diane’s office she knows it isn’t for a pat on the back. But some clouds really do have silver linings, and soon Jasmine is founding her own PR company – Queen Bee – and doing things her way. It should be all positive from here. Right?

Strictly Confidential introduces the chaotic, but fun, character of Jazzy Lou and provides an insider’s look at the world of PR. Author Roxy Jacenko is herself a PR powerhouse, having started her own PR firm when she was just 24. the novel is populated by a colourful cast of characters, including (of course) Jazzy, as well as her best friend Luke, a gossip columnist, cricket players, actresses, pop starlets and more. Whilst at times it is a little difficult to remember who is who in this cast, that serves to accentuate the craziness of the world Jazzy Loud occupies.

An absorbing, fast paced novel.

Strictly Confidential: A Jazzy Lou Novel, by Roxy Jacenko
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 978174237757

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

Watermelon on My Plate, by Paddy Dewan

The pages of this slim volume are filled with poems on a range of topics – from natural features such as clouds, to animals including mice and roosters, to fantastical creatures such as dragons. The poet, Paddy Dewan, takes interesting angles on things such as paintings hanging on walls, which can ‘tell a story’ or ‘reflect past glory’, encouraging young readers to stop and think about the topics.

Some of the best poems in the book are the shape poems, which young readers will enjoy because words and pictures come together to create a whole, so that in the poem about a bicycle wheel , the lines of poetry are spokes in the illustrated wheel and the reader needs to figure out where to start reading. In ‘Cloudie’ the poem drifts through pictures of clouds.

Other poems are rhymed and, although some of the rhymes seem forced (such as the phrase ‘stare your eye’, used to rhyme with ‘piled up high’), the topic and perspectives are interesting, and the black and white illustrations on every spread are really endearing. The book’s size and cover are unusual, being small format with a glossy softback cover, giving it a slightly historical feel in keeping with the traditional nature of much of the poetry.

Watermelon on My Plate, by Paddy Dewan, illustrated by Ros Care
Papyrus Publishing, 2011
ISBN 9781875934676

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.

Dead, Actually, by Kaz Delaney

Contrary to popular belief, the air in hell is freezing – because surely that’s where I’d somehow landed. My breath caught; my heart jerked…
My body froze.
My brain shut down.
I clutched at the doorframe.
But still she stared at me.
Her…A dead person. In my room.
Let me clarify: not a body, a dead person.
An already-buried, dead person.

Willow’s having a bad week. A very bad week. Her parents have told her they’re heading off to start a church in Africa. The guys she has a crush on treats her like a little sister. And then there’s the matter of JoJo Grayson, a rich girl who inconveniently visited the drive through where willow was working – and then went and died, making Willow the last person to see her alive. This means that Willow is the one that JoJo is haunting, and JoJo isn’t any nicer dead than she was alive. She’s going to make Willow’s life very difficult until Willow can figure out what happened in the lead-up to JoJo’s death.

In the meantime, Willow is suddenly popular. All of JoJo’s friends, the ‘in’ crowd, want to spend time with Willow, ostensibly to learn more about their dear departed friend. But Willow soon realises there are ulterior motives ta play. these people think Willow knows something – and they’re pretty keen to find out what it is.

Dead, Actually is a tragi-comic story of life, death, and life after death – and of friendship and family, too. There’s a lot happening in Willow’s life apart from the haunting, with her woefully inadequate parents having invited a shyster evangelist into their home and her feelings for her best friend’s brother, Seth. This could be a lot to deal with in one story, but Delaney does it well with the story unfolding over just a few days and the characters delightfully drawn. Willow is an endearing first person narrator, outwardly strong but with her vulnerability helping to make her believable, and JoJo is the girl you love to hate (even after she’s dead) but who you come to understand just a bit better.

Suitable for teen readers, Dead, Actually is a delightful blend of mystery, romance and the supernatural all wrapped up with comedy fiction.

Dead, Actually, by Kaz Delaney
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742378183

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

Every Minute in Australia, by Yvette Poshoglian

170 pages of facts with a very Australian focus – with Vegemite, Cottees cordial, sport stars such as Cathy Freeman and landmarks such as Uluru all included.

Every minute in Australia $730 will be spent on bottled water, 9.5 avocados will be grown and 673 kilograms of cheese will be made. But that’s not all, because at the same time 749, 619 tonnes of iron ore will be mined, 41 boxes of Weetbix will be bought and 95 people will take off or land at Sydney airport.

These sometimes quite staggering figures (all that iron ore!) and loads more are revealed in this nonfiction offering. Every Minute in Australia is 170 pages of facts with a very Australian focus – with Vegemite, Cottees cordial, sport stars such as Cathy Freeman and landmarks such as Uluru all included.

The facts are divided into categories including food, animals, sport, technology and more. And whilst most pages include a statistic which converts items into times per minute, there is a lot more information and explanation. For example, the Vegemite page (page 8 ) tells us that 41 jars are brought per minute, which equates to 22 million jars per year, before going on to explain what Vegemite is, who invented it and more.

Not just random facts, the book takes the time to educate and inform on issues including water usage (and wastage), recylcing, illnesses such as cancer and more. There are also activites for young readers to have a go at in each section.

This is a fun nonfiction offering which will appeal to primary aged readers.

Every Minute in Australia, by Yvette Poshoglian
Scholastic, 2012
ISBN 9781742832128

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