December 2015 – Aussie Reviews

Cyclone Fever by Sally Morgan ill Beth Norling

It was my unlucky day.

I faked being sick so I could miss school.

My plan was to hang out with Piper, my dog. Read comics, Eat Gran’s apple cake.

But that was before the weather alert about Cyclone Thelma. Gran was in a panic. My plans were in a mess.

It was my unlucky day.

I faked being sick so I could miss school.

My plan was to hang out with Piper, my dog. Read comics, Eat Gran’s apple cake.

But that was before the weather alert about Cyclone Thelma. Gran was in a panic. My plans were in a mess.

Danny and his family live in north-western Australia, where cyclones are an irregular reality. Gran has lived here all her life and has experienced many cyclones so she knows what to do when the weather reports begin monitoring a storm at sea. Danny’s plans of a relaxing day at home with is dog go out the window as Gran and the family make their preparations. Not everyone thinks this level of preparation is necessary, but what Gran says, happens. As the storm approaches, Danny begins to realise the danger a cyclone can bring to a town. Perhaps Gran knows more than the weatherman? On each page there are words presented in different font, sometimes because they may be challenging for young readers. Each opening includes header and footer illustrations and there are colour illustrations on every page.

Cyclone Fever is a new title in the fabulous ‘Mates’ series from Omnibus. Each title presents a particularly Australian story. Cyclone Fever is funny and real, showing a multi-generational family living their normal life – which just happens to include cyclones. The approaching storm is treated with the respect it deserves. The family works together to prepare and they also extend that support into their community. The characters are warm and empathetic and Danny’s story is told with great humour. Recommended for early primary readers.

Cyclone Fever, Sally Morgan ill Beth Norling

Omnibus Books 2015 ISBN: 9781742991030

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Little Lunch: The Off-Limits Fence by Danny Katz ill Mitch Vane

Amba was sitting beside Battie on the bench that goes in a circle around the big old tree. She said, ‘Hey Battie, did you hear what happened this morning?’

Battie was chewing on a chewy muesli bar. He had to take a big chewy blob out of his mouth and hold it in his hand so he could talk.

‘No, Amba, what happened this morning?’

‘Well,’ said Amba, ‘Max and Elsa had to go home from school early. Their dad came and picked them up from the front office and nobody knows why.’

Amba was sitting beside Battie on the bench that goes in a circle around the big old tree. She said, ‘Hey Battie, did you hear what happened this morning?’

Battie was chewing on a chewy muesli bar. He had to take a big chewy blob out of his mouth and hold it in his hand so he could talk.

‘No, Amba, what happened this morning?’

‘Well,’ said Amba, ‘Max and Elsa had to go home from school early. Their dad came and picked them up from the front office and nobody knows why.’

Set in a primary school, ‘Little Lunch: The Off-Limits Fence’ is a collection of three short stories. In the first, ‘The Bench that goes in a Circle around the Big Tree’ offers a ‘Telegraph’ story about why two of their friends, Elsa and Max had to go home early. The explanations become wilder and wilder until someone realises they actually know the real story. It doesn’t stop the rumours though. The second story ‘The Equipment Shed’ offers a look at the opportunities offered by free play and the third ‘The Off-Limits Fence’ is narrated and acted out by a single child playing all sides of his football game, including that of the umpire. Black and white illustrations appear on every opening. There is a contents page and named character images.

The Off-Limits Fence is hilarious! Each story is entirely believable while being totally wild. It’s as if Katz and Vane peeked through a hole in a fence at a primary school. Every teacher, every parent, everyone who has ever had a chance to observe children at play will recognise the truth of these stories. Each story is short but rich in detail (including the gross bits). Readers of all ages will chuckle at the absurdity of the observations and language. Recommended for newly independent readers and anyone wanting a chuckle.

Little Lunch: The Off-Limits Fence, Danny Katz ill Mitch Vane
Black Dog Books 2015 ISBN: 9781742032375

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

The Bad Guys Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey

Pssst!

Hey, you!

Yeah, you.

Get over here.

I said, GET OVER HERE.

What’s the problem?

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I get it …

Pssst!

Hey, you!

Yeah, you.

Get over here.

I said, GET OVER HERE.

What’s the problem?

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I get it …

The Big Bad Wolf begins this tale of good deeds done by bad characters by insisting the reader come closer. Bad Guys are just misunderstood, you see. He convenes the first meeting of the ‘Good Guys’, which includes a snake, a shark and a piranha. Each of them has a rap sheet longer than his arms. But Wolf is sure his plan will work. Trouble is, before he can convince the general public that these are now the Good Guys, he has to convince his crew. When words won’t cut it, he takes them out on a mission to do some ‘Good Deeds’. How can it go wrong? Presented in graphic novel format with varying text types and sizes and images on each opening.

Aaron Blabey has written many successful picture books and The Bad Guys is his first longer text. The Bad Guys is the first in a new series. The text is short and fully supported and extended by illustrations. Young fans of Blabey’s work will be engaged with this fast-moving story. Adult fans will be chuckling too. As with all his work, there’s a deeper message about making judgements about character purely on past actions and appearance. Wolf may be struggling with stereotypes, but he wins points for persistence. Recommended for newly independent readers and any fans of Blabey’s picture books.

The Bad Guys : Episode 1, Aaron Blabey

Scholastic 2015 ISBN: 9781760150426

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

The River and the Book by Alison Croggon

I am not a storyteller, so I don’t know how to begin. When I think of Blind Harim the Storyteller, my courage wavers. Harim’s voice enters your blood like a drug, bringing visions and strange dreams. He attracts crowds of people who bring mats and sit around him in rows, their faces upraised like flowers. The men roll cigarettes of dark tobacco and smoke them as they gaze at the ground, their harsh faces suddenly gentle, and the women bring bags of sugared almonds and pop them into the mouths of small children, to keep them quiet. …

I am not a story teller like Harim, but my story burns inside me, wanting to be told, and I have decided to write it down. I am sitting in my kitchen at my table. It is evening, and the moths are fluttering around the room, bumping into my lamp. Mely is fast asleep on the other chair. I like the noise th pen makes as it scratches across the paper. It is very peaceful. It feels like a proper time to begin.

This is the story of the River and the Book, but it is my story too.

This is the story of the River and the Book, but it is my story too.

Simbala is born into a small village by a river. The village relies on the river for transport and for fish and even for the soils brought by floods. But the river is shrinking and it no longer provides as it once did. Simbala’s family are the keepers of the Book. Her ancestors have looked to the Book to provide answers to whatever questions are asked. And the Book answers. Now it is Simbala’s turn to learn to read the Book. It is she who is there when the stranger comes.

The River and the Book is a lyrical tale of life, and of change. Although Simbala can read the answers in the Book, she doesn’t always understand the answers it offers. Her village must change now that the river is poisoned, and she too must change if she is to understand what is meant to be. At once philosophical and literal, Simbala’s story offers cultural and environmental truths that we ignore at our peril. This is a short novel, rich in imagery and language. Recommended for mature readers.

The River and the Book, Alison Croggon

Walker Books Australia 2015 ISBN: 9781925081725

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Wesley Booth: Super Sleuth by Adam Cece ill Michel Streich

Here’s everything you need to know about me:

I’m a super sleuth (which is another word for detective, only awesomer);
I do not have a head shaped like a giant lemon (no matter what my stupid big brother]says); and
I have a nemesis. Her name is Cassidy Strong. Note: she is evil.

And it’s because of Cassidy Strong that I’m standing in front of the whole school, and I’ve just told everyone I’ve solved the biggest case in the history of Hub Hill Primary. Only one problem: I haven’t solved the case, I’m not even close to solving the case, and Cassidy Strong (remember she’s the evil one) tricked me into saying I had. That’s why she’s standing in the front row with a grin so wide it looks like she’s got a banana jammed sideways in her mouth.

Here’s everything you need to know about me:

I’m a super sleuth (which is another word for detective, only awesomer);
I do not have a head shaped like a giant lemon (no matter what my stupid big brother says); and
I have a nemesis. Her name is Cassidy Strong. Note: she is evil.

Wesley Booth: Super Sleuth has a reputation to protect. Or establish. He is sure he will soon solve Hub Hill Primary’s mysterious rash of thefts. If only his offsider would stay onside. If only he can stay out of range of the school bully. If only he can pass his maths test. If only he can beat the new girl, Cassidy Strong. But apart from that – the solution and therefore his reputation is assured. All he has to do is be super-observant, process all the clues he finds. Somehow, despite worsening relationships at home and at school, despite more red herrings than he’d hoped, eventually Wesley prevails. There are black and white illustrations at each chapter heading and scattered throughout.

Wesley Booth was standing in front of the queue when confidence was handed out and somehow received a second helping. Only a double dose of confidence allows him to keep pushing on when everything around him seems to be set against him. He’s also fortunate to have very forgiving friends, because he’s so single-minded that he sometimes overlooks their needs. There is plenty of humour wrapped up in this mystery and readers will be curious to solve it. Classes seem more like secondary classes although the action is set in a primary school, with different teachers for every subject and pass and fail grades. Set up seems to suggest this might be the first in a series. Ideal for confident middle primary readers but also for reluctant older readers.

Wesley Booth, Super Sleuth, Adam Cece ill Michel Streich
Scholastic 2015 ISBN: 9781742991016

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

As Big As You, by Sara Acton

Claude was a large elephant.
Finlay was a small one.

Claude is so large that he can make the earth shake with his trumpets, shower a whole herd of elephants, and stomp like thunder. Finlay is little and can’t do any of those things. He can’t wait to be as a big as Claude. But when they become separated Finlay has a special adventure all of his own. When they are reunited, Claude tells Finlay that one day he will be big, too. But in the meantime there is no hurry to grow up.

As Big as You is a breathtaking book. The story is really heart warming and the message is a good one, but it is the visual feast offered by the illustrations and design of the book which make it really magic. With the spine at the top rather than the side, each spread is long (portrait rather than the usual landscape orientation), which enables Claude’s size and the vastness of the landscape to be emphasised. On the opening spread, Claude is so big that very little of him fits onto the spread – one leg, one ear, one eye and a trunk frame the page, with the void in the middle bearing the single sentence ‘Claude was a LARGE elephant.’ The next spread introduces Final, and has him at the bottom of the spread, eye to eye with two beetles, and the spread above him largely empty apart from three butterflies. The cleverness of this beginning is carried through the book with simple yet beautiful watercolour illustrations and attention to text layout.

This is a beautiful book.

As Big as You, by Sara Acton
Scholastic, 2015
ISBN 9781743629697

Bamboozled, by David Legge

I love my grandad.
I visit him every week.
And every week, things are the same.
But last week when I arrived, something seemed odd.

When the young narrator of this story visits her grandad, she does all the things she usually does – drinking tea, helping with the housework and gardening, feeding the cat and so on – but all the while, she can’t help feeling that something is different than usual. As the text describes what seems a very normal day, the illustrations show things which viewers will find anything but normal – from the giraffe in the front yard when she arrives, to the tea being poured from a watering can, and the cat, which is in fact a tiger in a highchair. Readers will love spotting these details and so very many more, but the biggest surprise will be in realising what it is that the narrator has sensed as different – Grandad’s odd socks.

The fabulousness and eccentricity of Grandad and his house will delight, and the realisation that the girl has not overlooked all of this but has, instead regarded it as normal, is satsifying, leading readers to question and discuss what they are seeing, and versions of normality. The bright, detailed watercolour illustrations reveal more on each rereading.

First published in 1994, it is lovely to see a new edition released to mark the 21st anniversary of Bamboozled.

Bamboozled, by David Legge
Scholastic, 2015
ISBN 9781743620212

My Dog Bigsy, by Alison Lester

This is my dog, Bigsy.
He sleeps on my bed every night
and he hardly makes a sound.
But when Dad lets him out in the morning,
I hear him barking all around the farm.

Most of the time Bigsy the dog is quiett, but first thing in the morning he runs around the farm and barks at everything. He chases the cockatoos out of the orchard. They squawk and screech as they flee. Then he sends the kangaroos bouncing away from the farm, before greeting the horses, cows, ducks and more. Finally, though, he heads home for breakfast, and – exhausted from all that action – another sleep.

My Dog Bigsy is a delightful celebration of playful dogs, farm life, and noise. Youngsters will soon be joining in with the squawks, neighs and quacks, and everyone will fall in love with orange and white Bigsy. The design of the book is also to love, with the tactile canvas feel cover echoed in the green linen hills of the outside scenes, against which Bigsy and the other animals are collaged.

Perfect for early childhood readers and dog lovers of all ages, My Dog Bigsy is adorable.

My Dog Bigsy, by Alison Lester
Penguin, 2015
ISBN 9780670078936

Blue Whale Blues, by Peter Carnavas

I’ve got the Blue Whale Blues,
I’ve got the Blue Whale,
BLUE WHALE BLUES.

Whale is singing the blues. He’s sad because he doesn’t know which was the bike he found goes. Luckily his good friend Penguin is there to help him turn it up the right way. But with that problem fixed, Whale finds another, and another. Finally comes the biggest problem of all, when the friends set out to ride thier ‘bike’ and discover that it isn’t a bike at all, but an abandoned shopping trolley.

Blue Whale Blues is a humorous story about friendship and imagination which will have youngsters laughing out loud – and probably telling Whale and Penguin of their mistake long before they realise it for themsleves, with a little help from their friend Turtle. The repeated refrain will encourage them to join in singing the Blue Whale Blues, and the illustrations, using watercolour, collage and digital techniques, will delight.

Lots of fun for preschoolers but adults will smile too.

Blue Whale Blues, by Peter Caranavas
New Frontier, 2015
ISBN 978192505941

My Australian Story: Vietnam, by Deborah Challinor

It’s supposed to be a fair way to decide who does national service and who doesn’t, but Mum reckons it isn’t. She says the fate of a mother’s son shouldn’t depend on a number picked out of a barrel. The marbles that go in the barrel have the days of the month on them. An agreed number of marbles are drawn out of the barrel, and if your birth date is on one, you’re ‘balloted in’.

It’s 1969 and Davey’s big brother Tom has been conscripted. Chosen because of his birthdate, he has no choice but to report for service. Soon, Tom is in Vietnam and his family are back home worrying about him. But there are other things happening in Davey’s life, too. He and his two best mates love surfing, and are determined to win the inaugural Newcastle Under-14 Championship. Thye are fascinated, too, by the planned moon landing, and follow preparations keenly. But growing up isn’t always fun, and Davey and his mates have some hard lessons to learn.

Vietnam , part of the My Australian Story series, is a wonderful diary format story giving an insight into Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War through the experiences of one family. It also offers a snapshot of late 1960s life, including the music of the time, key events in the year, the union movement, the impact of war on generations of Australians and more.

An excellent offering for primary aged readers.

My Australian Story: Vietnam , by Deborah Challinor
Scholastic Australia, 2015
ISBN 9781743628003