February 2013 – Page 2 – Aussie Reviews

Red Fox, by Sandy Fussell

My muscles ache but my heart aches even harder. I am the only one who has made it to the shore. I am the only one who has survived the monsoon’s rampage.
For the first time in my life I am completely alone. No Mikko to tease me. No Kyoko to make me smile. No Yoshi, Taji, Chen or little Yuri. Not even Sensei is here to help me.

When Niya wakes up on a deserted beach, he is all alone. He fears he is the only survivor of a terrible shipwreck. He can no longer hear his beloved Sensei and the other Cockroaches are nowhere to be found. Soon, though, he is reunited with Chen, and together they set off to search for their friends, who, if they have survived, will have headed to the temple city of Angkor.

Red Fox is the seventh title in the Samurai Kids series and will delight lovers of the series. As always there are challenges for Niya and his friends, and this time Niya needs to dig deep to confront both the physical obstacles, and his growing maturity. He has his own student, Chen, to look out for and to guide, and must also trust Sensei as he starts to let go regardless of whether Niya wants things to change.

As with most series, Red Fox is best read having read the previous instalments, but Fussell’s story genius is such that it could be read in isolation with touches of back story included and a plot not reliant on a full knowledge of what has gone before.

Red Fox (Samurai Kids), by Sandy Fussell, illustrated by Rhian Nest James
Walker Books, 2012
ISBN 978192207750

Available from good bookstores or online.

Crazy Relief Teachers 2: Ms Law and the Corn-fusing Case of the Broken Window by Matt Porter

‘Crazy Relief Teachers: Ms Law and the Corn-fusing Case of the Broken Window’ is instalment two in this hilarious series from Matt Porter. There are jokes and puns aplenty, as Steele and his mate Pete navigate their way through the classroom legal system.

The furry orb would be hurtling towards me any second.

Concentrate, Steele,’ I told myself, tapping my bat on the concrete pitch.

It was day three of the before-school test match. The only thing higher than the other’s team’s score was the temperature.

Radley paused at the top of his run-up, squeezing the tennis ball between his grubby fingers. Sweat trickled down his angry face.

Weasel patrolled the outfield. He scurried in front of the cypress trees only pausing to give his little brother a mouthful. ‘Ferret, drop another catch and I’ll drop you!’

Steele Bucket and his mate Pete are back again for a new instalment of ‘Crazy Relief Teachers’. This time there’s a mystery and a trial and their new relief teacher Ms Law is determined to get to the truth. Pete, the accused is just as keen to prove his innocence as Brittany Baxter, Prosecutor and rival for the Annual Outback Creek Corn-Fest trophy, is to prove his guilt. For the duration, their classroom becomes a courtroom. Ms Law is the judge, and after a dismal attempt to defend himself, Pete allows Steele to conduct his defence. Grade 6B are the audience, the hecklers and the witnesses. The stakes are high, the classroom will not rest until justice is done, and seen to be done.

Crazy Relief Teachers: Ms Law and the Corn-fusing Case of the Broken Window is instalment two in this hilarious series from Matt Porter. There are jokes and puns aplenty, as Steele and his mate Pete navigate their way through the classroom legal system. Their new Crazy Relief Teacher (CRT) has a legal language all her own and there are plenty of others in the classroom happy to be swept up in the drama. Steele is resourceful and relentless in his defence of his friend. Pete is focussed, perhaps even obsessed with the Corn-Fest. Other characters, like Radley, Weasel and Brittany are delightfully caricatured, and will be recognisable to most upper primary students. ‘Crazy Relief Teachers 2’ is full of fun and an (only slightly?) exaggerated reality of the classroom. But as before, the CRT is only there temporarily. What will the next CRT be like? Look out for the third instalment in Crazy Relief Teachers. Recommended for mid- to upper-primary readers.

Crazy Relief Teachers 2: Ms Law and the Corn-fusing Case of the Broken Window, Matt Porter
Celepene Press 2012 ISBN: 9780980699470

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online

Into That Forest by Louis Nowra

Me name be Hannah O’Brien and I be seventy-six years old. Me first thing is an apology – me language is bad cox I lost it and had to learn it again. But here’s me story and I be glad to tell it before I hop the twig.

I were born in Tasmania, born not in a hospital but here in the backblocks. In this actual house. It is crumbling round me ears now, but the roof hardly leaks and if I chop enough wood I can heat the place when it snows. Though I live here by meself I am not lonely.

Hannah lives deep in the Tasmanian wilderness, with only her mother for company. Her father, a whaler, is a welcome but infrequent third member of their family. Only Rebecca and her father visit, and not very often. So it is a special day when her father is home, and her friend Rebecca has come to stay overnight. The family set off on the river for a special picnic. The weather changes and the river becomes a monster. Hannah and Rebecca end up in the bush, saved by Tasmanian Tigers. Hour by hour, week by week, they become less human, more tiger, until they forget their language, forget almost everything they have known before. Survival depends on working together with their tiger family. Each section begins with an image of the Tasmanian bush and text that begins large then diminishes to normal size.

Into That Forest is a powerful story of survival. Two young girls find themselves in the forest being raised by Tasmanian Tigers. The Tiger world is a brutal one and the girls must adapt or perish. Their Tiger family are patient and caring in teaching them all they must know. The action is set in a time when Tigers were being killed to protect the interests of the growing farming community. It is suggested that the target reader is in mid- to upper-primary but the story deserves a wide readership and has much interest for adults too. The main theme is that of survival, but friendship and family bonds are also explored in depth. The girls must survive not only their experience in the bush but its aftermath. Recommended for mid-primary and for all ages beyond.

Into That Forest, Louis Nowra
Allen & Unwin 2012 ISBN: 9781743311646

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

The Colour of Trouble by Gerry Bobsien

A month before her mad run to Darcy’s place, Maddy Macarthy was in trouble for a different reason. It’s not an unusual thing to happen, but four weeks before the epic stack in front of Max, and before the whole problem that was tucked into her trackpants, Maddy was caught up in another kind of trouble.

She was sitting in a silent car, the air bristling with the fury only mothers can brew. Mum gripped the steering wheel and every now and then she turned and glared at Maddy like she was about to say something then decided not to.

Arty 15 year-old Maddy and her football-mad twin Jack are living with their grandparents while their mother does a stint in a hospital in the country. Maddy loves to push the boundaries of her art, and to provoke a reaction in those who see her work. But this time she may have gone too far. But she needs this, this public response. Because so much else seems to be topsy-turvy. Her business partner Darcy is being too weird, her brother is distancing himself, her loved art teacher is supportive but cautious. How is it possible to see some things so clearly and yet be unable to make sense of others? Her life feels as steep and uneven as the roads around her grandparents’ home.

Maddy, protagonist of The Colour of Trouble has synaesthesia, and for her that means that sounds have colour, and colours have tastes. This isn’t a real problem for her, just a flag for the reader that Maddy’s unique take on the world has a few extra shades. And shadows. For all her insight on things art, she sometimes fails to see what’s happening around her, and also to acknowledge her emotions and reactions. She is at once intuitive and obtuse. Like most teenagers.

The Colour of Trouble is a realistic novel about coming of age, beginning to establish identity and learning some of the rights and responsibilities that come with that. It’s also an amazing look into the mind of a creative teenager and what is possible. Maddy is fortunate in having many caring people around her to support and encourage her, including mother, grandparents, art mentors, teachers and her friends. It is a story about change, growing up and taking grown up responsibilities for your actions. Recommended for early- to mid-secondary readers.

The Colour of Trouble, Gerry Bobsien
Walker Books 2012 ISBN: 9781921720840

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

January Reads

Well, where did that go? And by that I mean January. Seems only seconds ago we were ushering in the new year and now here it is February already!

After last year’s challenge to try to read a book a day (at which I failed miserably) this year I’ve decided not to put a number on t, but I am keeping track of my reading and am going to try to post my list each month.

So, without any further nonsense, here is my reading list for January, with links to reviews

1	Thirst	LA Larkin	Pier 9/Murdoch
2	The Magnificent Tree	Nick Bland & Stephen Michael King	Scholastic
3	Sheep on a Beach	P. Crumble & Danielle McDonald	Scholastic
4	Too Cold for a Tutu	Mini Goss	Allen & Unwin
5	Dads: A Field Guide	Justin Ratcliffe & Cathie Glassby	Random House
6	Hannah & Emil	Belinda Castles	Allen & Unwin
7	In the Company of Strangers	Liz Byrski	Macmillan
8	Friday Brown	Vikki Wakefield	Text
9	The Burial	Courtney Collins	Allen & Unwin
10	Word Hunters	Nick Earls	UQP
11	Finding Jasper	Lynne Leonhardt	Margaret River Press
12	Unforgotten	Tohby Riddle	Allen & Unwin
13	Heather Fell in the Water	Doug MacLeod & Craig Smith	Allen & Unwin
14	Around the World in 80 Days	Jules Verne & Robert Ingpen	Walker Books
15	Unnatural Habits	Kerry Greenwood	Allen & Unwin

Six of these were picture books – which I only count in my tally if I also review them – so I definitely had a slower month reading-wise. Must have something to do with the beautiful summer we’re having in my part of the world.

Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne, illustrated by Robert Ingpen

“A true Englishman doesn’t joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager,’ replied Phileas Fogg, solemnly. I will bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone who wishes, that I will make the tour of the world in eighty days or less.’

It’s not often a book so obviously not set in Australia, or featuring any Australians, is reviewed here on Aussiereviews, but when the illustrator is one of Australia’s best, the review is more than warranted. Around the World in Eighty Days is the latest in a wonderful series of classic books brought to life in the wonderful illustrative work of Robert Ingpen.

These are the sort of books which make a book lover’s heart swell just to hold – hard cover, sumptuously illustrated, gorgeous cover, jacket, endpapers…in short, pure bliss.

At the same time, the opportunity to discover, or rediscover, the Jules Verne classic story is also a treat. I thought I knew it, but knew only the bare bones – and, perhaps like many other readers, was surprised to realise there was no balloon travel involved in the story!

Text and illustrations combine to transport the reader back to 1872 on a journey of wonderful imagination.

Suitable for readers of all ages.

Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Walker Books 2012
ISBN

Available from good bookstores and online.