June 2012 – Aussie Reviews

Silhouette, by Thalia Kalipsakis

There’s silence as Natasha scans the room and stops on me. ‘You,’ she says, pointing. ‘Show us. from the start.’
The command hits me like a shot of adrenaline. Moss glances at me. It’s just a moment But it pulls me. I want him to look at me again.
Heart racing. I step forwards and begin to dance. This is my moment, my chance to express.

All Scarlett wants is to dance, and she’ll do whatever it takes to earn a place at the National Ballet Company. But first she has to finish her final year at the Academy of Performing Arts. When she decides to audition for a spot as a dancer on a Moss Young video clip,s he doesn’t plan on letting it distract her from her studies. But moss is charismatic, and he is interested in Scarlett. It can’t hurt to spend some time with him.

Silhouette is a a young adult novel set against the background of a dance academy but isn’t just a tale of a dancer following her dream. Scarlett is a complex character with a past which haunts her, and faces problems which seem universal to teens – peer pressure, the need to balance responsibility with having fun, relationships, friendships, and family dynamics. Though strong and determined she is also at times impetuous, making mistakes and showing flaws.

A gritty tale of growing up, making mistakes and moving on.

Silhouette, by Thalia Kalkipsakis
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012
ISBN 9781921759659

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

Wind in the Wires, by Joy Dettman

It had been like being sucked back to that other time. Like the missing years, like every year between their saying goodbye at the Sydney station had been wiped out. He’d been twenty=two again, and whole for a time – until she’d come to Ringwood.
In the light of day, those years had come rushing back – and they hadn’t stood still. He wasn’t twenty-two. She wasn’t eighteen. You can’t wind back time to where you lost it. And she hadn’t come out there looking for him, but for Jimmy.

It’s 1958 and times are changing in Woody Creek. Jenny’s children have grown up. Georgie and Margot are living in Granny’s house. Georgie is running the local store, but Margot doesn’t do much at all, though she has a secret, and odd, relationship with Teddy, from next door. Her other children Jenny knows little about. She hasn’t seen Jimmy, her only son, since she was tricked into giving him up, believing her sweetheart Jim to have been killed in the war. And her youngest daughter Cara, she gave up at birth – and has never told anyone about.

Now though, that daughter, Cara, is growing up, and starting to suspect she’s adopted. When she tries to find out about her birth family, she and Georgie connect, but neither can even begin to imagine the consequences of the secrets their families have buried.

Wind in the Wires is the fourth title in the Woody Creek series and will best appeal to those who have read the previous titles. I was new to the series, and was aided by the front of book summary of the characters and action so far, but still took a while to get into the story. I was, however, glad I persisted, being drawn into the lives of this strange, intriguing family.

The characters are diverse and compelling. Some, like Georgie, Cara and Jenny are likable for their determination and persistence. Others, like Margot, are hard to like, but are nonetheless intriguing. It is easy to be drawn into this family’s life and want to know more, though it is then hard to witness the hard twists of fate. The portrayal of life in the Australia of the 1950s and 1960s is also fascinating.

With plenty of room left for at least one more sequel, readers will be left wanting more.

Wind in the Wires, by Joy Dettman
Pan Macmillan, 2012
ISBN 9781742610788

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

What Makes My Mum Happy, by Tania Cox & Lorette Broekstra

What makes Mum happy?
When I start her day with breakfast on a tray;
when I make her a crown to wear into town;
when she watches me dance, skip, hop and prance.

The simple text of this hard cover offering focuses on what makes Mum happy – with an emphasis on things Mum and child do together, or that the child does for/around Mum – making things for Mum, playing together or doing every day things. Illustrations support this – showing various mothers and their children revelling in being together. In both text and image it is lovely to see togetherness being celebrated, and hugs and cuddles in abundance, and also to see the mums and children coming from different ethnic groups and seemingly having different interests, rather than being generic.

Released in April, in time for Mother’s Day, this a book to be enjoyed all year round by mums and their children, and with simple, minimal text would be suitable for the very young.

What Makes My Mum Happy, by Tania Cox & Lorette Broekstra
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742378374

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

Five Billion Sold, by David Glynn

Did you know ..
* The young Agatha Christie was a keen surfer. and she once almost drowned off the Hawaiian coast.
* Even at 80, after five heart attacks and nearly blind, Catherine Cookson was still producing three or four books a year.
* JRR Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings – more than 500 000 words – in longhand; it took him 12 years.

To be considered a bestseller in Australia, a book needs to sell about 10, 000 copies. The authors profiled in this book have gone well beyond being bestsellers, then – with five billion copies sold between the 30 authors profiled – and none having sold fewer than 50 million. Agatha Christie alone has sold 2 billion copies. But this is not just a book about numbers. Whilst the authors have been selected based on their huge sales figures, what follows is an intimate profile of each author, with a focus on the background to the writing of one of the author’s works.

Authors are profiled from each decade from the 1930s through to the 2000s, and from a variety of genres. As well as Christie, Cookson and Tolkien, there is Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Jackie Collins and Colleen McCullough and more. There are also chapters and short treatises on topics including the history of the paperback, typewriters of the rich and famous, and even the reading habits of presidents.

David Glynn is an avid reader and non fiction author who lves in Sydney. His passion for the book is evident in this thoughtfully researched and accessible offering.

Five Billion Sold: The Amazing Facts Behind the Fiction, by David Glynn
Arbon Publishing, 2012
ISBN 978098046676

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

Hey Jack! The New Friend and The Worry Monsters, by Sally Rippin

Jack is feeling a bit grumpy. His best friend Billie is away, and he has no one to play with. So when he and Dad find a lost puppy, Jack is excited. They take the puppy home until they can find its owner. But Jack wishes that he could keep the puppy for himself.

‘If you were my puppy I would call you Scraps,’ says Jack. He imagines all the fun that he and Scraps would have together.

The New Friend is part of a fun early reader series from award wining author Sally Rippin and publisher Hardie Grant Egmont. Jack is a regular kid who reacts the way many children would when finding a puppy – he wants to keep it. Told in simple language and large font, to be accessible to new readers, the story is supported by grayscale illustrations on most spreads.

In The Worry Monster Jack is back with a new problem – worry monsters. With a spelling test looming, Jack can’t chase the worry away. He is a bad speller and is sure he is going to fail. he doesn’t want to practise for the test, because that will only remind him of how bad he is at spelling. But then he leaves the study too late and his worry only increases.

Both books stand alone, though readers will enjoy following Jack’s adventures in both these and other titles in the series. The bright covers will appeal, as will the fact that they are about situations to which young readers will relate.

Good stuff.

The New Friend

The Worry Monster (Hey Jack!)

Both titles by Sally Rippin
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012

Waltzing Matilda: The Secret History of Australia's Favourite Song, by Dennis O'Keeffe

Wherever there are Australians, it seems ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is there. In fact, it seems ‘Waltzing Matilda’ has always been there. It holds a unique place in our culture. Quite simply, it is part of Australia and part of being Australian.

For more than 115 years Australians of all ages and backgrounds have sung ‘Waltzing Matilda’ – around campfires, at sporting events, in schools, in fact anywhere people gather. Regarded as an unofficial national anthem by many, if not most, tit is certainly as well known as the official anthem. Yet, whilst we know that Banjo Paterson is attributed with its writing, and many also know that it is connected to the Shearers’ Strike of the time, few people now its full history.

In Waltzing Matilda: The Secret History of Australia’s Favourite Song, singer/songwriter Dennis O’Keeffe traces the history of the ballad, including both its writing and setting to music, as well as the events in Australian history which led to its creation. Readers are treated into an insight into the life and times of AB ‘Banjo’ Patterson, and into the politics of the workers movement and socio-economic conditions. Whilst the song is uplifting and often regarded as a harmless ditty, it tells the story of a tumultuous piece of Australian history.

Written after years of research, Waltzing Matilda: The Secret History of Australia’s Favourite Song is an enlightening, accessible read.

Waltzing Matilda: The Secret History of Australia’s Favourite Song, by Dennis O’Keeffe
Allen & Unwin, 2012
ISBN 9781742377063

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

Jake’s Concert Horror by Ken Spillman ill Chris Nixon

Mrs Paul announces that the class is going to put on a musical play for the end of the year concert. Yay! The play is based on ‘The Little Mermaid’. Not so yay.

Mrs Paul clapped her hands three times.

Everyone knew what that meant. She wanted silence and all pencils down.

Jake wished he could keep colouring his picture of a dragon, but he knew he had to stop. He lifted one edge of the paper so Jonah could see what he had done.

Wow, went Jonah’s lips, not making a sound.

Mrs Paul waited until the class still.

‘Right,’ she said. ‘I have very exciting news for you.’

Mrs Paul announces that the class is going to put on a musical play for the end of year concert. Good news. The play is based on ‘The Little Mermaid’. Not so good news. Not for Jake anyway. He’d much rather the play was about pirates, or dragons. But still, he says he’s happy to be considered for a major role. He just didn’t plan on having a major role. Or having to anything disgusting. Blagh. Soft black and white illustrations are liberally sprinkled through the story.

This is not Jake’s first adventure. He’s appeared previously in ‘Jake’s Gigantic List’, ‘Jake’s Monster Mess’, Jake’s Balloon Blast’ and ‘Jake’s Great Game’. In this outing, Jake explores the challenges of being on stage, including having to interact with other performers and the notion that everyone, EVERYONE will be watching him. Jake gets help from his teacher, his family and even from watching his friends perform, but ultimately he has to perform on his own. His internal anxieties are gently but clearly identified and managed with honesty and humour. Recommended for newly independent readers, particularly those chosen for major roles in school productions!

Jake’s Concert Horror, Ken Spillman, ill Chris Nixon
Fremantle Press 2012
ISBN: 9781921888755

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

The Secret of the Swords, and The Poison Plot, by Frances Watts ill Gregory Rogers

Meet Thomasina, kitchen hand who would really rather be a knight-in-training.

‘Thomasina?’

Tommy ignored the voice calling her. ‘Go, Sir Benedict!’ she whispered.

Tommy knew it would be Mrs Moon, the cook, angry because she wasn’t standing at the long table peeling mountains of potatoes with the other kitchen girls. Instead, Tommy was standing at the kitchen doorway, watching the knights practising in the great courtyard.

The Secret of the Swords introduces Thomasina, or Tommy, who would much rather be in the courtyard learning to be a knight. But it seems her destiny is to be at the mercy of the cook, Mrs Moon, endlessly peeling potatoes and other horrible kitchen jobs. But a chance encounter with an uppity boy leads to a new job. She is now Flamant’s Keeper of the Blades. It may not be knight-training, but at least she’s working with swords. And these are very special swords.

There’s to be a banquet at Flamant in instalment two of ‘Sword Girl’: The Poison Plot. Tommy is loving her new job learning the history of the swords in her care and getting to know her way around the castle and the village. When she overhears a plot to poison Sir Walter, she has to act. She has to think quickly, or the consequences will be awful. Luckily she’s as sharp as the swords she looks after, although the solution is somewhat unexpected.

‘Sword Girl’ is a new series from Frances Watt, featuring Tommy and set in medieval times. Black and white illustrations throughout the text take the reader into the past and into the castle. Tommy makes friends with many of the castle inhabitants, but a few enemies too. Enough that she can’t completely relax into her new job. Luck may have landed her in a much better job than her old kitchen one, but quick thinking is going to keep her there. And she’s a resourceful character in a tough but magical world. There’s plenty of humour here as well as page-turning stories. Recommended for middle-primary readers.

The Secret of the Swords (Sword Girl), Frances Watts ill Gregory Rogers Allen & Unwin 2012 ISBN: 9781742377285

The Poison Plot, Frances Watts ill Gregory Rogers Allen & Unwin 2012 ISBN: 9781742377926

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Shooting the Fox by Marian Halligan

Would you like to see the fox I shot this morning, he said, as he opened the gate in the wall.

Would you like to see the fox I shot this morning, he said, as he opened the gate in the wall.

This is a particular form of words. It is not a question. You do not say no. It appears to be polite – would you – but it leaves no room.

I went and saw the fox. Exquisite red creature. It does not know yet that it is dead. Its eye is not dim, its brush is defiant. Soon it will droop and decay and know its own mortality.

Shooting the Fox is both the title of the collection and of the first of the short stories therein. The cover and endpapers are both beautiful and like the content portray a mystical reality. The stories examine the human experience, through love and fidelity, marriage and adultery and more. Characters do not always behave well, stories do not always have happy endings. One story character converses with the writer and attempts to control their own narrative. Another plays with verbs and sentence structure. There are women in towers, women in thrall to dishonourable men, men and women with secrets. Settings range from tropical to European, remote to urban, contemporary to imaginary.

The cover of Shooting the Fox has a dreamy, ethereal quality to it, and this reflects the stories within. Which is not to say that the stories are light – they’re not. But even the most confronting subjects are handled with lightness and deftness. Halligan invites the reader to peek through the window at the lives of others, and provides the opportunity to imagine the world from a different perspective. From the first story where a 43 old virgin weds, to the final one which reimagines Australia, there is a surprise around every corner and a glimse of how others live and love.

Shooting the Fox, Marian Halligan
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781742376677

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

The Quicksand Pony by Alison Lester (15th Anniversary Edition)

It’s fifteen years since ‘The Quicksand Pony’ was originally released and it has lost nothing of its appeal. It is as relevant and as gripping as it was on first release.

The moon was full the night they disappeared. Windswept paddocks lay clear and blue under high tatters of cloud. A car lurched, without lights, along the rutted road that ran from the town to the bay. It moved erratically, urgently, as though the driver didn’t know how to drive. The wind whipped away the sound of the engine…

Nine years later …

Biddy thought she lived in the perfect spot, with the town on one side, the headland on the other, and the bay in front. Sometimes she rode up to the gravel ridge behind the stockyards and planned how she would defend her kingdom if she were a princess.

Biddy lives with her parents on a farm on the edge of town and the edge of wilderness. She is bright and curious and desperate to be a cowgirl and help with the mustering. It’s tricky and tiring mustering cattle from the scrubby headland, and the country is full of mystery and unexpected danger. Biddy’s pony becomes stuck in quicksand on the beach. Next morning, the pony is gone, but there are footprints on the beach. Biddy can’t imagine who it could be, the headland is wilderness. No one could possibly live there, particularly someone as small as the footprints suggest. The mystery wraps itself around her and begs to be solved

It’s fifteen years since The Quicksand Pony was originally released and it has lost nothing of its appeal. It is as relevant and as gripping as it was on first release. Biddy is a delightfully grounded child, clearly secure in her world, wild and determined. ‘The Quicksand Pony’ is about notions of family in its different guises, about community. It’s also about survival and adapting to changing circumstances. It’s a thrilling mystery and a lovely visit to the world of a cattle farm and a rural community. Recommended for upper-primary readers.

The Quicksand Pony, Alison Lester Allen&Unwin 2012 ISBN: 9781742378008

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author