April 2012 – Page 2 – Aussie Reviews

The Memory Tree, by Tess Evans

He tightened his grasp on his children and the elusive words came.
‘We’re still a family,’ he said, and we all love each other. Mum wouldn’t want us to be sad all the time, would she? Now what we’ll do is finish breakfast and go and buy a tree. We’ll plant it in the garden. It’ll be Mum’s tree and whenever we need to, we can go there and think of her. What do you say to that?’

When their mother dies suddenly, Zav and Sealie are left bereft. Their father proposes that together they plant a tree in Paulina’s memory, a place to remember and feel close to her. But as the tree grows, Hal’s grief does too. In the grip of depression he hears voices telling him what he must do. When Zav leaves home to go to the Vietnam Wat and Sealie to begin her nursing training, Hal is left with his grief, and the voices – telling him to do something unspeakably terrible. Years later, Sealie struggles to care for her brother, who has returned from war with is own depression to battle, and is horrified at the news that her mentally ill father is being released into her care.There seems little hope for any of them to find peace.

The Memory Tree is a brilliant offering from the creator of the bestselling Book of Lost Threads. The story is not a happy one, but it is deftly handled as it explores the impact of mental illness on families, and themes of obligation, loss and hope. The characters are wonderfully complex – as well as the three main characters already mentioned, a special delight is the character of Godown, a pastor who is an ex-US Army soldier, who befriends Hal and becomes part of the family. He is a character who could easily have been a caricature, but instead grows and develops most endearingly.

A fabulous read which is at once gentle and gripping.

The Memory Tree, by Tess Evans
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742377896

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

Our Nest is Best

‘It’s spring,’ said Ruby Robin. ‘Time to build our nest.’
‘Yes,’ said Rocky. ‘But what kind is best?’
“Let’s visit the other birds and find out.’

Before Rocky and Ruby Robin make their own nest ready for their eggs, they decide to check out the nests of other birds to get ideas for their own. But Owl’s nest seems too big, Fairy-wren’s too small and Greb’s nest too soggy. Finally the robins realise they need to make their nest their own way – with bark, grass and moss, lined with fur and feathers. They both agree that their nest is perfect for them – even though it wouldn’t be perfect for the other birds.

Our Nest is Best! is an educational board book which will entertain as it informs about different types of birds, their environments and, of course, their nests. Very young readers will enjoy the bird illustrations, all of which come from the National Library’s collection, while older readers will be interested in the facts which are presented through the use of a fictionalised story.

In sturdy board book format, Our Nest is Best! is suitable for children from birth up to school age.

Our Nest is Best! by Penny Olsen with Penny O’Hara
NLA Publishing, 2012
ISBN 9780642277374

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

The Reluctant Hallelujah, by Gabrielle Williams

Dodie has a lot on her plate. It’s the last week of school, and final exams are looming. So, when her parents don’t come home she takes a little while to figure out they’re missing

We lifted the square of carpet, and there it was. A solid iron trapdoor. With a lock. An ornate, old-fashioned lock that would fit an ornate, old-fashioned iron key perfectly. I’d seen enough NCIS to know that two missing parents and one locked trapdoor is a combination for great TV but not so great in real life.

Dodie has a lot on her plate. It’s the last week of school, and final exams are looming. So, when her parents don’t come home she takes a little while to figure out they’re missing. Then a boy from her class who she barely knows tells her to trust him, and from there things get more and more weird. Her parents, it turns out, have been hiding a massive secret – a secret that people are prepared to kill for. Soon Dodie finds herself on a road trip – driving an odd assortment of people, including one who’s dead, from Melbourne to Sydney. Chased by bad guys and the police, and never sure who they can trust, Dodie and her new friends get to know themselves, each other, and a lot about life.

The Reluctant Hallelujah takes quirky to a whole new level, with a twist, revealed in the basement early in the book, which will leave some readers uncomfortable and others laughing out loud. As the story continues there are romantic, bizarre and sad turns aplenty, keeping the reader guessing right to the end.

There’s much to like here, though a word of caution that there are some elements of the content which may prove controversial in some school settings – though it’s not possible to elaborate on these here without spoiling the plot. Those who are offended may be over thinking things a little, in a book which is, in the end, an absorbing read.

The Reluctant Hallelujah, by Gabrielle Williams
Penguin, 2012
ISBN 9780143566847

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

Comeback, by Peter Corris

‘I was heading for the golf course. I wanted to take a look at it. I’m going to play there next…Jesus Christ!’
‘What?’
“He’s crowding me off the roa. I have to stop. Shit, oh shit….’
I heard two sharp reports and then nothing except the buzz of an open connection.
‘Bobby! Bobby!’
The buzz stopped.

Cliff Hardy is back in business. Finally he has his PI licence back and is free to take on new clients. But new clients are slow to come – and then, when he finally gets one, the client gets himself murdered. Bobby Forrest seemed like a nice enough guy – so why was he being followed, and, more importantly, who wanted him dead? As Cliff investigates he finds links to his own past, and plenty pf dead ends. It’s going to take all of his skill to solve the case and keep himself out of trouble. Come to think of it, staying out of trouble is not something likely to happen where Cliff Hardy is involved.

Comeback is the latest in the long-running Cliff Hardy series. Hardy is a little older and, sometimes, slower, but he still manages to get himself in and out of all kinds of scrapes, making friends and enemies equally well. Fans of Peter Corris’ work, won’t be disappointed with this latest installment, but it will also please new readers.

Comeback, by Peter Corris
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742377247

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

Quiet the Mind, by Matthew Johnstone

For anyone new to meditation, or who has perhaps been put off by difficult mystical concepts, this is an excellent starting point.

Although this book offers many visual analogies to consider, the most important thing to remember in meditation is your nose and the breath that flows in and out of it.
Think of your nose as a lighthouse from which you take all your meditative bearings.
If you get lost in a sea of thought, think of your lighthouse and ome back to your breath.
If you hear a dog bark, come back to your breath.
If you feel uncomfortable, move gently and come back to your breath.
Breathing in and out, nice and slow and steady.

Every day our mind processes up to 70, 000 thoughts, even when we sleep – roughly one thought every 1.2 seconds. With so many ideas buzzing round our heads, it’s no wonder that we need to stop and try to quiet the mind. However, it is difficult to find a way to still our thoughts, when we are constantly stimulated by the world around us – television, the Internet, music, mobile phones and more, keep our minds constantly busy. Quiet the Mind offers a simple way to counter all that activity – through meditation.

Using simple text and cartoon-style illustrations, the author (who has previously written two successful books about depression) first explains why meditation is important and how it can help, before giving a simple step by step rpocess to meditate. There is no mumbo-jumbo, and nothing confronting in terms fo spirituality or religion, making it accessible to people of all beliefs and backgrounds.

For anyone new to meditation, or who has perhaps been put off by difficult mystical concepts, this is an excellent starting point.

Quiet the Mind, by Matthew Johnstone
Pan Macmillan 2012
ISBN 9781742610733

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

The Night Before Mother's Day, by Doug MacLeod & Judy Horaceck

‘Twas the Night

before Mother’s Day,

Mum lay awake,

The sense of excitement

Was too much to take.

She knew that tomorrow

Would bring her such joys

As gifts from her daughter

And two darling boys.

This laugh out loud little offering shows how one mum – who is, in a way, a part of every mum – lies sleepless through the night before Mother’s Day, enumerating the ‘delights’ the day will hold. First there will be home made gifts and flowers pulled (with roots intact) from the garden. Then there will be breakfast, made with love, but not easily digested. As Mum tosses and turns she frets about these and the other joys the day ahead holds – before thinking, finally, of her own mum who will understand, having been there herself.

In small format hardcover, with cartoon illustrations, mothers will nod in agreement with the humour of the book, making it an ideal Mother’s Day gift, especially from one mother to another. Of course, in spite of the illustrated format this one is aimed at adults rather than children – with little ones unlikely to appreciate the wry humour, although older children and teens may well get it and join in the laughter.

As for this mother – she loved it!

The Night Before Mother’s Day, by Doug MacLeod & Judy Horacek

Allen & Unwin, 2012

ISBN 9781742379401

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

The Shiny Guys, by Doug MacLeod

A dark look at mental disorders and the journeys on which their victims can be forced to travel. Though there is a liberal sprinkling of humour, this is a confronting look at how fantasy and reality can merge, and the mental health system.

The inmates of Ward 44 come in all shapes and sizes. Some are old, some are young, but we are united in one respect. Our brains don’t work. Or rather, they do work, just not in a way society finds acceptable. We have mental problems, some more serious than others.

Colin Lapsley is fifteen years old, and trapped in Ward 44, a psychiatric ward. Colin doesn’t think he’s crazy, but he does know that he’s visited by the shiny guys, strange shapes that flitter on the edge of his vision. He’s pretty sure that the new girl in the ward, Anthea, can see them too. His other friend in the ward, Mango, can’t see the shiny guys, but he is tormented by bad dreams, and has an attachment disorder – a compulsive need to hold on to people.

When the shiny guys start to show themselves to Colin more fully, he realises they want him to face up to the terrible things he did. It was his fault, he’s sure, that his little sister disappeared, and now it’s up to him to fix things, under the direction of the shiny guys. But as the shiny guys get more insistent, Colin wonders if he’s going to be able to put everything right for himself and his family, as well as for Anthea and Mango.

The Shiny Guys is a dark look at mental disorders and the journeys on which their victims can be forced to travel. Though there is a liberal sprinkling of humour, this is a confronting look at how fantasy and reality can merge, and the mental health system. With the story set in 1985, MacLeod is careful to reassure readers that modern psychiatric wards are different than Ward 44, which is reassuring, yet the issues and illnesses faced by the characters are still very relevant. It’s also important to note that although some of the treatment methods used in the book (including electric shock therapy) are questionable, the staff of the ward are generally portrayed sympathetically as people doing the best they can with limited resources.

MacLeod is best known for his comedic offerings but, although The Shiny Guys has very serious subject matter, it is not a huge shift from his usual cleverness. In fact it is the use of humour which makes the story so palatable.

The Ghost of Ping-Ling, by Peter Cooper

‘Hallegat is on a mission of extreme importance to the Emperor. We think he may be in need of some help in the days ahead, and you may well be the perfect person to give it.’
‘Me, ganshe?’ said Dillen. ‘I’m just a temple orphan – how could I be of use to a mana-lord?’

Dillen has always wanted to know more about the world, snatching moments to study maps and read the scrolls in the temple library. But he has no expectation of being able to explore the places for himself, especially not so suddenly. A late night visit from a mysterious easterner who says he has a task for Dillen sets off a chain of events which sees Dillen fleeing for his life from his temple home, and travelling across some of the most dangerous parts of the Empire trying to help a powerful mana-lord. Along the way he makes some new friends – and some very powerful enemies. Is he following his destiny, or making a foolish – and huge – mistake?

The Ghost of Ping Ling is the first in a superb new fantasy trilogy Tales of he Blue Jade with an oriental flavour and plenty of action. Dillen and his new friends race against time and an array of enemies and dangers, repeatedly getting into situations from which escape seems impossible, and relying on their wit, their team work and a dash of luck to escape. Fantasy fans aged from 10 and into their teens will find plenty here to please, and will be keen to read the next installment, though this one is satisfying on its own as well.

Good stuff.

The Ghost of Ping Ling , by Peter Cooper
Omnibus, 2012
ISBN 9781862919181

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

Currawalli Street, by Christopher Morgan

Now there is a gravel road running east to west where the track once was, but the rivulets the rainwater makes in the gravel look exactly the same as when there were only tree roots and branches bending in opposite directions in that spot. At the crest where the break in the vegetation was and where animals stopped to look about, there now is a church. Its spire is higher than the currawalli trees, even though some of them are two hundred years old. the gravel road is called Currawalli Street.

In a street on Melbourne’s outskirts a community grows in the months before the Great War (World War 1) – seven houses with very different inhabitants, but brought together by their location and their growing sense of the impact world events will have on their lives. Years later, in 1972, Jim, a soldier fresh from fighting in Vietnam, returns to the same street following the deaths of his family. The street is much changed, but the residents have links to those 1914 characters, the third generation of families living in Currawalli Street. The changes in that time are many – more houses have been built, the city has come closer, and cars and electric ovens are the norm. The attitude to war, too, is different, with the monument which stands to the first war a sign of different attitudes to those faced by Jim. Yet in Currawalli Street there are some things that don’t change, especially the sense of community between family and friends old and new.

Currawalli Street is a quiet book. There is no strong single plot line, with multiple strands in both the first and second parts of the book, and the jump from 1914 to 1972 forcing the reader to try to draw the connections between the characters and events of the two times. Whilst this is a little disconcerting, the overall effect is in making the reader examine the characters, following their stories for a while then surmising what may have happened both in the intervening years and, at the book’s end, in the years to come. Some readers will find this frustrating, but others will enjoy the rich layers of character and setting.

Currawalli Street, by Christopher Morgan
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742377100

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

The Greatest Liar on Earth, by Mark Greenwood & Frane Lessac

Youngsters will enjoy de Rougemont’s tall tales, and the journey on which they take him, from poverty to fame and back again.

Louis raised a hand to silence the crowd. “In uncharted waters, my schooner drifted through heaving seas, where gruesome fish with bulging eyes and hairy moustaches reared out of the water.”
A member of the Royal Geographical Society revealed himself. “Is everything you say true?” he asked.
Louis smiled serenely. “Every word,” he replied without hesitation.

Louis de Rougemont is an explorer. He has written a book telling of his travels – travels so breathtaking amazing people queue up to come and hear him speak. There’s the story of riding a giant turtle, the one about wrestling a crocodile, and even one about finding giant nuggets of gold. Everywhere he goes Louis is feted and applauded. Until newspapers reveal him to be a charlatan – possibly the greatest liar on earth.

The Greatest Liar on Earth is wonderful historic fiction, telling the “true” story of a man who made his name by telling lies. Youngsters will enjoy de Rougemont’s tall tales, and the journey on which they take him, from poverty to fame and back again. Back of book facts show the truth on which some of his stories were based, and the illustrations bring to life both the rich tapestry of Victorian London and the exotic settings of the fraudster’s “adventures”.

The team of author Mark Greenwood and artist Frane Lessac have a knack for bringing history to life in a way sure to engage young readers, who will be intrigued with the character and his story at the same time they are learning about the past, and receiving a gentle lesson about the consequences of not telling the truth.

Wonderful.

The Greatest Liar on Earth, by Mark Greenwood & Frane Lessac
Walker Books, 2012
ISBN 9781921529856

This book is avaialble from good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.