Month: September 2013

The Boy on the Page by Peter Carnavas

One quiet morning, a small boy landed on the page.

At first there was nothing else.

Then very slowly, a world began to appear.

One quiet morning, a small boy landed on the page.

At first there was nothing else.

Then very slowly, a world began to appear.

An unnamed small boy tumbles onto an empty white page. As each page turns, his world develops. First there are plants and animals, then people and buildings. Initially he is an observer, but gradually he begins to participate and to experience. Some of his experiences require his input, others require him to just be. He grows to manhood, meets a girl, builds a house, a life, a family. He wonders though, what is the meaning of his existence on the page. Why is he here? A pivotal experience, where he tries to leave the page but lands straight back on it, provides the answer. Illustrations are watercolour and pencil and include lots of white space.

‘Why am I here?’ is a very big question for a picture book. The boy in these pages ponders this as he wanders through his world, learning, growing and developing a sense of how to be. There are many good things in his life, indeed he is very fortunate to have friends, family, a home. But in the midst of good fortune, he is not as firmly anchored to the world by a belief in his purpose as he would like to be. In attempting to leave the page, then returning, he finally understands his purpose. Children may read this literally, but there are many other interpretations, particularly for his attempt to leave the page. In this journey through life, if we are fortunate, we have many companions. Hopefully, we remember that. The boy/man has two animal companions throughout – perhaps symbols of his personality/state of mind? Recommended for early primary-schoolers.

The Boy on the Page, Peter Carnavas New Frontier Publishing 2013 ISBN: 9781921928468

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Dog On Log by Tania Ingram ill Kat Chadwick

Dog.

Frog.

Frog on dog.

Frog on log.

Frog on dog and dog on log.

Dog and frog near hog in bog.

Dog.

Frog.

Frog on dog.

Frog on log.

Frog on dog and dog on log.

Dog and frog near hog in bog.

Dog on Log begins in a very Dr Seuss way with very simple cumulative rhyming text while the illustrations provide details of just what’s going on. There’s a birthday party in-the-making. With very few words, the tension rises as the time of the party nears. When the birthday girl wakes in surprise, chaos ensues. Though it’s not quite the triumph Dog and his helpers have planned, all turns out well. Illustrations are pen and ink as well as digital media. They are mostly in gentle watercolours set in white space. Spreads extend to full page bleeds when the action is at its most intense. Endpapers suggest the woodland setting of the party, and feature the animal guests.

Everyone loves a party and all the animals are keen to help. Unfortunately they don’t all have the same idea about what constitutes help. Young readers will enjoy discovering what’s happening in the illustrations as they listen to the rhythms in the text. Younger animals find the waiting a challenge, and even the balloons have personality. All ends well though and readers learn that even if things don’t go quite to plan, it doesn’t mean that the attempt is a disaster. A humourous offering for pre- and early-schoolers.

Dog on Log, Tania Ingram ill Kat Chadwick Omnibus Books 2013 ISBN: 9781862919648

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

My Band by Elizabeth Lea & Chantal Stewart

I’m off to play in the band.

See if you can guess which instrument I’m going to play …

It starts with the letter Tt

I’m playing the triangle.

I play the triangle by hitting it

with a small metal rod.

Triangles belong to the percussion family.

I’m off to play in the band.

See if you can guess which instrument I’m going to play …

It starts with the letter Tt

I’m playing the triangle.

I play the triangle by hitting it

with a small metal rod.

Triangles belong to the percussion family.

Here’s a musical instrument primer, written and illustrated for young children. Each spread has a flap and a question. The same character, a young girl, is featured asking the question throughout, as if she’s trying all the instruments on for size. As well as the first letter, there’s a small image showing part of the instrument. When the flap is opened, the instrument is revealed in full and there is an explanation of how to play it. There’s also information about which family the instrument belongs to. When the reader reaches the final flap opening, the band is revealed: a collection of young children. There is a blank space for a photo of the reader, so they can be the leader of the band. Final pages feature projects and history based on some of the featured instruments. This is a sturdy paperback, built to withstand multiple readings. Youngest children will enjoy the open-the-flap, while budding musicians will enjoy learning more about music. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.

My Band

My Band, Elizabeth Lea ill Chantal Stewart National Library Australia Publishing 2013 ISBN: 9780642277701

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

Brodie by Joy Cowley ill Chris Mousdale

We all knew that Brodie was sick,

But we thought he’d get better.

Maybe it was because he talked a

lot about being a chopper pilot.

When the rest of the class had

sport, Brodie sat inside, drawing

pictures of planes and helicopters.

We all knew that Brodie was sick,

But we thought he’d get better.

Maybe it was because he talked a

lot about being a chopper pilot.

When the rest of the class had

sport, Brodie sat inside, drawing

pictures of planes and helicopters.

A child narrator tells the story of his class, his teacher and his friend Brodie, who has been sick for a while. Just how long is not clear, but it’s an accepted part of school life that Brodie has to go to hospital sometimes. Even when he’s at school, he doesn’t play sport with them, instead staying indoors and drawing. His illness does not define him, but his ability to draw and his love of flying does. One day he’s going to be a chopper pilot. But Brodie doesn’t get better, he dies. The class, with the guidance of their teacher, Mrs Patawai, have supported Brodie during his illness by treating him as one of them. They have expected that he will get better, even when he’s suggested the contrary. Now they channel their sadness into supporting his family. Illustrations are rich and painterly, have a collage feel to them, and tell their own story about where Brodie has gone.

Brodie is beautifully written, sensitively and imaginatively illustrated. It introduces the concept of death and rather than shy away from it, allows children to face it; to ask the myriad questions it presents. The question of what happens after death is answered in many ways and allows readers to bring their own beliefs, or those of their family or community, without closing the door to beliefs of others. It acknowledges the sadness of loss, and the opportunity to acknowledge the sadness of others because of shared love. Illustrations use a limited pallet of blues and golds and browns, calling to mind sky, earth and sunshine. Brodie was first released in NZ in 2001, and re-released in 2013. It well deserves another outing. Recommended for primary readers and classrooms.

Brodie, Joy Cowley ill Chris Mousdale Walker Books 2013 ISBN: 9781922077752

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores and online.

The Heiresses, by Allison Rushby

Ro couldn’t help herself. However rude it might be, she continued to stare, then reached out and touched the girl on the arm. “You are real,” she said quietly. “It was just…I was wondering if this was some kind of odd dream.”

“Perhaps it is,” Thalia said quite calmly. “Though I’ve never had a dream before where I’ve been told I’m a triplet and it ha turned out only a few minutes later to be true.” She shot a look at her brother’s retreating back.

For seventeen years Thalia, Erato and Clio have lived with their adoptive families, each girl unaware that she is one of a set of triplets, separated after their mother died in childbirth. Now they have been reunited by their aunt, Hestia, who believes they have been wrongly denied their mother’s estate. She wants the girls to work together to claim what is rightfully theirs.  But working together is not easy for three girls who have just met, and harder still when each has a reason for needing the inheritance.

As they get to know their new-found aunt, and each other, the girls struggle to figure out who they can trust. It seems they can’t even trust each other.

The Heiresses is an intriguing story of family, betrayal and more, with an element of mystery and loads of tension. Suitable for a new adult and adult audience,and set in 1925 London, there is lots to like about the story and its three diverse, feisty heroines.

The HeiressesThe Inheritance: The Heiresses 1

The Heiresses, by Allison Rushby

Pan Macmillan , 2013

ISBN 9781742613147

Available from good bookstores or online.

 

Larrikin Lane by Kate Darling ill Ben Wood

I live in a farm house. There’s no farm here any more though. Before I was born, this house sat in the middle of paddocks. They stretched from Cooper’s Creek to the top of the ridge. My granddad had hundreds of sheep, and a few horses too.

Over time, the farm shrank like wool in the wash. Now there are houses where the sheep used to graze.

I live in a farm house. There’s no farm here any more though. Before I was born, this house sat in the middle of paddocks. They stretched from Cooper’s Creek to the top of the ridge. My granddad had hundreds of sheep, and a few horses too.

Over time, the farm shrank like wool in the wash. Now there are houses where the sheep used to graze.

A young boy narrates the story of his home, explaining that it was once part of a large grazing property, and that even though it is now part of suburbia, a little bit of the old farm remains. There’s Mum, Dad and Arkie; the vegie garden; the big gum tree and the tree house. And there’s Delilah the crazy-eyed goat and Lola the hand-reared black sheep. Unfortunately, grumpy Mr Meyer who lives next door is less than relaxed about his neighbours. There’s the noise, and the wandering animals. When Delilah eats some of Mr Meyer’s prize roses, he declares war. It’s up to the narrator and his little sister Arkie to find a solution.

Larrikan Lane is a new offering in the ‘Mates’ series from Omnibus Books. These are short, fully colour-illustrated chapter books with fast-paced over-the-top stories. Each opening also features header and footer borders. Words that might be difficult or unusual are presented in different fonts. At the completion of the story is a spread about the story or the idea being explored. In Larrikan Lane this spread explores the notion of larrikins and urban vs rural living. ‘Larrikin Lane’ shows how hostility between neighbours can be converted into cooperative living with just a little understanding and compromise. As with all Mates titles, Larrikan Lane is a humourous and rewarding read for newly-confident readers.

Larrikan Lane (Mates)

Larrikan Lane, Kate Darling ill Ben Wood Omnibus Books 2013 ISBN: 9781862919891

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Flora’s War by Pamela Rushby

We can always smell them before we see them.

Today it’s bad, really bad, but not as bad as the first time, because then we had no conception of just what we’d see when the wooden doors of the train slid back. Then, that first time, we’d all surged eagerly forward as soon as the train stopped, ready to help, prepared to assist those who could walk and carry those who couldn’t.

Cairo, 1915

We can always smell them before we see them.

Today it’s bad, really bad, but not as bad as the first time, because then we had no conception of just what we’d see when the wooden doors of the train slid back. Then, that first time, we’d all surged eagerly forward as soon as the train stopped, ready to help, prepared to assist those who could walk and carry those who couldn’t.

And then it hit us.

It was overpowering. It stopped us dead in our rush forward; made us stagger back. It wasn’t heat, or dust, or blowing sand – in Egypt, we were used to those – but a smell. It was more than a smell. It was a stench. So strong it grabbed deep into our throats; made us cough and choke, made our eyes pour water. I’d never smelled anything like it before; couldn’t begin to think what it was.

I know now.

Flora and her archaeologist father regularly travel to Egypt, but this time things are different. From the moment they arrive and are collected in a motor car, Flora knows this trip is going to be full of new experiences. After all she’s almost sixteen and it’s 1914. She’s looking forward to a summer of helping her father and parties with her friend Gwen, if only her father, Gwen’s mother and her brother Frank would stop trying to cosset them. They are modern girls and are ready for all that life will bring. But nothing has prepared Flora or her friends for the upcoming war and how it will affect their lives. Cairo is awash with soldiers, many of them Australian, training in the desert and spending their leisure time in town. They are waiting to go to war. And then they do. Flora and her friends discover that the war is closer than they could have thought possible. Close enough to touch all of them.

Flora is excited that this year in Cairo, she will be treated as an adult, not a child. She will experience everything, sharing it with her close friend Gwen, whose family also spend time every year in Cairo. Being treated like an adult means that she can learn to drive, a wonderful rite of independence. But with independence comes responsibility and Flora learns that casting aside childhood means learning about the ways of the adult world. War accelerates this and Flora’s Warexplores themes of love and loss, fear and bravery. Excitement is tempered by danger, archaeological discovery by moral dilemmas. For Flora, war is a rite of passage that alters her, her friends and her world in ways she could never have imagined.

Flora's War

Flora’s War, Pamela Rushby Ford St Publishing 2013 ISBN: 9781921665981

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

10 Green Geckos by Phillip Gwynne ill by Lloyd Foye

There were ten green geckos living in our house,

but when one green gecko got taken by a mouse,

there were only nine green geckos living in our house.

There were ten green geckos living in our house,

but when one green gecko got taken by a mouse,

there were only nine green geckos living in our house.

Based on the rhyme, 10 green bottles, and offers a decreasing count as geckos one by one leave the house. The method of their leaving is humourous and the ending makes clear that no green geckos were harmed in the making of this story. Illustrations are colourful, full page and funny. The geckos have personality. Numbers are offered in words and symbol.

This is a delightful piece of nonsense and very Australian. Anyone who has ever slept in a room with a gecko will recognise the noises they make. The geckos may be stylised, and their activities fanciful, but there is plenty for a pre-schooler to chuckle at as they access counting in both words and numbers. Recommended for pre-schoolers and early primary children.

10 Green Geckos
10 Green Geckos, Phillip Gwynne ill Lloyd Foye Scholastic Press 2013 ISBN: 9781742833484

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

10 Silly Wombats by Ed Allen ill Andrea Edmonds

Ten silly wombats getting on a bu.

Ten silly wombats getting on a bus.

And if one silly wombat should make a big fuss,

There’d be nine silly wombats getting on a bus.

Ten silly wombats getting on a bu.

Ten silly wombats getting on a bus.

And if one silly wombat should make a big fuss,

There’d be nine silly wombats getting on a bus.

10 Silly Wombats is a counting book based on ’10 Green Bottles’. It is full of the same sing-song rhythm as the original. The wombats begin by boarding a bus – well almost all of them – and continue through fun-filled activities, losing one of their number at each turn. One in a car race, one at hide’n’seek, all activities unusual in wombats but recognisable to children. The final spread reassures readers that there is life after a Silly Wombat adventure with all wombats safely tucked up in bed for a final story before sleep. Illustrations are full page and provide many other mini-stories for readers. Numbers are spelled out in the text, but the number symbol is hidden in the illustrations.

This series of sturdy paperbacks for young children are sure to do well. They offer rhythm, rhyme, repetition, number recognition and counting practice all wrapped up in a bit of nonsense. And there’s the silliness. Life is serious enough. There’s room for some nonsense and humour. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.

10 Silly Wombats, Ed Allen ill Andrea Edmonds Scholastic Australia 2013 ISBN: 9781742836386

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com