Author: Guest

Ocean Fairies, by Wendy Peterson

Reviewed by Molly Martin

Jesse is sitting on a sand dune imagining merfolk and waiting for the ocean fairies who live in nests in the foreshore. No one but Jesse knows about the little fairy penguins. Soon Roger the leader of the fairy penguins and his friends appear. These are not just any old fairy penguins; these penguins can speak every language on earth and when they are near Jesse can understand the language of birds and others. The penguins tell Jesse of a treasure ship with merfolk living in it not far out in the ocean. They help her travel out to the ship by ‘penguin power.’ When Vegemite accidentally stabs Jesse’s dingy with a dagger he finds in the ship the leader of the merfolk comes to help Jesse to shore. The Selkie is the ruler of the sea; he controls storms and waves. The Selkie promises Jesse a wish. Jesse is completely under his spell, and yearns to see the beautiful creature again.

Jesse buys a yacht with a coin Coral found on the treasure ship and now she and her penguin friends can travel out on the sea whenever they like.

Jesse meets the Selkie, a beautiful sea princess, Raindown the seal leader and Manomam, a seal who is caught in a nylon fishing line. She and the fairy penguins travel in a bubble to the undersea city, go to the island where the merfolk shed their tails and listen to wind harps in the trees. While on the island Jesse learns something special about the Selkie and the Sea Wizard.

Australian writer Peterson has crafted an especially charming tale of magic, love and kindness in her book Ocean Fairies. Amply composed characters move against a lavishly executed tapestry of intonation, seascape, and settings in this delightful narrative of a solitary young girl and her endeavor to overcome misfortune in her life. The characters are appealing and well-developed, especially the diversified dispositions of the penguin fairies. Coral likes to sit in Jesse’s lap, Vegemite pines for tuna sandwiches. Timothy is helpful. Roger is the shrewd, sensible leader. Zestful action, first class, energetic dialogue, and appealing scenarios are all included in this wonderfully directed tale.

Peterson deftly captures the imagination of the reader from the opening lines as we meet Jesse sitting in the dunes and holds interest tight through this gripping tale to the last paragraph as Rujarn, the merfolk, fairy penguins and Jessee all join in dance. With a keen eye for detail Peterson has captured the essence of the sea and those who may live in it.

With it’s beautiful cover and lovely inner illustrations, splendid storyline and easy reading style Ocean Fairies is a special delight sure to bring pleasure to youngsters in the target audience. This is a charming book for classroom use, free reading time, the home library or for an older sister to read to younger sibling.

US kids will find the small ‘Australian’ differences of language to be particularly charming I believe.

Enchanting read. I found each of the little fairy penguins especially appealing. Happy to recommend.

Ocean Fairies, by Wendy Peterson
Twilight Times

Buying for Baby, by Melissa Rogerson

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

Useful for anyone preparing for the arrival of a baby, but especially for first time parents, this book is a simple guide to what is and isn’t needed.

Including pregnancy itself, the book covers small and large items and gives useful tips on choosing particular ones. No specific brand information is given, but questions are asked so parents can find the item appropriate to their own situation.

The book is a useful reminder for parents in subsequent pregnancies, too, and makes a handy reference for grandparents and people with lots of potential parents as friends.

Divided into chapters according to parts of life, such as traveling, sleeping, bathing and feeding, the book goes into detail about the possible purchases facing new parents. Each chapter ends with a table to summarise the relevant items; the table separates the items into ‘will need’, ‘will probably need’, ‘might want’, ‘unlikely to need’ and ‘later might need.’

Rogerson has based the book on her own experiences, which are scattered through the book, as well as research and discussions with other parents. She quotes real life parents throughout; sometimes the quotes are showing opposite sides of an issue, too, so readers can make their own judgements. Her stated opinions are supported by her reasons, and occasionally by links to reputable sites such as kidsafe and sidsandkids.

The book itself is easy to read and comprehensive; there are ideas in there that many parents would probably forget to mention to their pregnant friends. It can be read from start to finish, or just referred to as required, and even carried around as a reference on shopping trips. Also included are suggested shopping lists so the parents-to-be can plan before leaving the house and avoid being bewildered at the choices in the shops.

Buying for Baby: A guide for parents-to-be, By Melissa Rogerson, Illustrations by Dave Owen
The Baby Shopper, 2003

Dorothy the Dinosaur and the Magic Shell

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

Dorothy the Dinosaur wakes up one morning feeling down in the dumps for no clear reason. Wags the Dog, Captain Feathersword and Henry the Octopus do their best to cheer her up by taking her to the beach. Still unhappy, Dorothy walks along the beach and finds a most unusual shell.

When Dorothy blows the horn, it has a magical effect on her friends; they stand on their heads, somersault and make animal noises and can’t stop!

Finally, Dorothy is happy and laughs at her friends’ antics so much she can’t blow the shell again for some time. Eventually, a blow of the shell frees her friends and they return to normal behaviour. Dorothy throws the shell into the ocean before playing with her friends and building the captain a sand ship.

The book has clear illustrations of the Wiggles characters and will delight all young children. The text is simple and short for preschoolers, but interesting enough to captivate early readers, too. The book shows children it’s ok to feel down sometimes, but it’s more fun to be with friends and laugh! A fun read from the Wiggles.

Dorothy the Dinosaur and the Magic Shell, The Wiggles, Illustrated by Jonathon Bentley
ABC Books, 1999

Dabu – The Baby Dugong, by Selena Solomon

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

Although not a happy story, this book is a vivid recounting of a baby dugong’s growth to adulthood.

Dabu is born and finds comfort in his mother’s presence. His mother teaches him survival means and the strength of family, as Dugongs travel in great family herds.

Each page is predominantly blue, with clear pictures to enhance the story. The first half of the text is in English, followed by a repetition of the story in Kala Lagaw Ya. This language is the traditional language of the Western Torres Strait and is slowly becoming extinct.

The Dugong, or sea cow, is also facing extinction. Traditionally, hunting the dugong was dangerous but very prestigious, and young men still hunt them with traditional methods today.

As Dabu grows, he learns about the dangers of mankind and actually sees his mother speared by men. She cries, tells Dabu to get away, and swims for her life. Dabu stays with his mother until the end, before finding his family again and realising he is no longer afraid of the ocean.

Although this story could happen anywhere tropical, Solomon set it in the Western Group of Torres Strait Islands. The Dugong was named, via an anagram, after Badu Island.

The book includes a full list of Kala Lagaw Ya words used in the story with an English translation beside each word.

Dabu – The Baby Dugong (kazi dhangal), by Selena Solomon, Illustrated by Dennis Nona, Translated by Ephraim Bani Magabala Books, 1992

Forefathers, by Nancy Cato

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

At nearly 700 pages long, this epic story takes time to read. It is an interesting concept for a book – the overall central character isn’t born until page 546! The preceding parts are about the ancestors of young Joseph as they dealt with life in white Australia.

The story covers the period from 1824 to 1969, and it moves through the different eras seamlessly. Cato doesn’t waste time describing the differences between times; her characters live their lives, and their world is defined by the story.

Reading this book gives a broad overview of Australian history as it covers convict labour, aborigine extinction in Tasmania, early settlers, gold rushes across the nation, world wars, shearers’ rights, the depression, conscription, the aboriginal referendum, the Vietnam War, land rights, Holt’s disappearance, Collins’ trial and the Granville train disaster. It is an interesting refresher on our history, and often shows both sides of an issue through different characters.

The final part is the most political as much of the story revolves around the conditions of aborigines in the 1960’s and student politics.

Adventures in the story abound, with characters experiencing desert crossings, snowfalls, car crashes, a train accident, snakebite, diseases, a ferry sinking, fishing losses, droughts, floods and infidelities.

In its favour, the movement through generations and branches of Joseph’s ancestral tree ensures that there are characters for every reader to like and dislike. There is also enough overlap that characters in one part of the book may well be mentioned in another part, although it may be in passing.

However, the large time period and many generations covered makes for a vast cast of characters in the book. Although family trees are provided at the beginning of the book, it can still be difficult to keep track of who individuals are and how they interrelate with other characters.

Forefathers, by Nancy Cato New English Library, London, 1983

Captain Jim, by Mary Grant Bruce

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

Captain Jim is the sixth in a series of fifteen books about Norah Linton and her family on their station, Billabong. The series was very popular with girls as they were printed, and has touched generations of Australians and others. Billabong is an isolated cattle station in Northern Victoria in the early 1900s. Having never known her Mother, Norah lives with her Father, David, elder brother, Jim, and their friend, Wally Meadows.

The family is in England during the first world war and Norah has just inherited a large home in Surrey from an Irishman they had adventures with in the previous book. Wally sees that Norah and her Father can somehow use the house to aid the war whilst he and Jim are off fighting.

Norah sets up the house as a home for lonely soldiers on leave and those recovering from injuries. They find people to work with them in the house and on the surrounding farmlet. It is not much later that Jim and Wally return to the front as soldiers again.

Soldiers from Jim and Wally’s regiment are the first guests, including their Major’s family who stays with them for the war’s duration. Australians become frequent visitors, also, including Harry Trevor a friend from the first Billabong book.

After a while, the house is very busy and often full. Norah and David Linton fit into the country life around them, even joining in a spring hunt. It is upon their return from the hunt that the telegram arrives with news of Jim’s death.

This news is a hard blow to Norah and her Father, and keeps Wally from visiting them in his guilt and anguish. Being in the house of soldiers gives them a purpose to continue on and many support them in their grief. Grant finishes the book six months later, at Christmas, with family celebrations including all the house guests.

Captain Jim, by Mary Grant Bruce
Ward, Lock and Co, 1919

Favourite Australian Stories, Compiled by Colin Thiele

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

 

A collection of twenty-two stories by Australian authors, this book forms part of our literary history. Some of the included authors are well known today, such as Alan Marshall, Henry Lawson and Henry Handel Richardson.

There is no common theme to the stories beyond their connection to an idealistic, simpler Australia. Each story is based around the people and places that formed many of the images Australians hold of themselves.

A few of the stories have been collected from publications such as The Bulletin and Meanjin, whilst others have been published in books.

Two stories are based on women, and two on children. The Drover’s Wife is a classic tale of the family left behind when men went droving whilst And Women Must Weep shows a young girl’s experience of her first ball. Watching animals in The Ant Lion and The Foal ends up teaching children lessons about life and respecting it.

There is humour in The Funerals of Malachi Mooney, mystery in A Golden Shanty, another world in The Jumping Jeweller of Lavender Bay and the puzzlement and danger of a drunk in The Lobster and the Lioness.

Kaijek The Songman(1941) shows the interrelationship between a white prospector and an aboriginal couple in the middle of nowhere. The story is largely told from the point of view of Kaijek and Ninyul as they happen upon the prospector’s camp. However, it is obviously written by a white man for the Bulletin market when there was little real sympathy or understanding of aboriginals.

An interesting collection that would enhance any understanding of the development of the Australian psyche.

Favourite Australian Stories, compiled by Colin Thiele
Rigby, 1963

Animalia, by Graeme Base

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

One of Graeme Base’s earlier and best known books, Animaliais a treat.

Base himself didn’t think another alphabet book was needed in the world, so didn’t expect much of this book; how wrong he was! Animalia is an alphabet book, with most letters being allocated a single or double page. T and U, N and O share two pages between them.

Each letter has a poem that conjures up bizarre and interesting animal images, yet seems almost insignificant in the face of the illustrations.

Each page of the book is packed with pictures within pictures. The overall page scene relates to the letter’s verse; for instance, “Eight Enormous Elephants Expertly eating Easter Eggs” has a picture of eight elephants with Easter eggs!

Beyond that, the page contains many other items beginning with the letter for the page. In fact, there at least a thousand different alphabetised things in the book to find! Some are subtle, some are well hidden and some may take time to identify (such as the philosopher and politician, or the hamster, Humpty and hook). All are detailed and linked to the letter – even the can is a coke can and the wolf is white!

Like other books by Base, the book can appeal to many age groups, each group looking at the levels that are appropriate and being unaware of shared levels within.

As a final challenge, Base warns, “In Animalia, you see, It’s possible you might find me.” With care and effort, the boy Graeme can be found on each page in the book.

Some of the Animalia pages have also been made into jigsaw puzzles that are both fascinating and challenging because of the depths to each letter’s picture.

Animalia, by Graeme Base
Viking Kestrel, 1986

Bananas in Pyjamas: SPACE BANANAS

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

This story is about the Bananas In Pyjamas and Teddies of Cuddles Avenue.

The Bananas overhear the Teddies wishing to meet space people, and decide “it’s tricking time!”

Next morning, the Bananas dress up and trick Morgan and Lulu into entertaining space Bananas. Just after their friends see through their trick, Amy arrives and believes they are real Space Bananas.

The Bananas promise Amy a ride in their space ship that night. Amy is very excited and enjoys her trip, until she notices Morgan and Lulu amongst the stars out her window! In usual good humour, she accepts the joke on herself and leads them all into a new game of space travel.

Like the TV shows about the Bananas and Teddies, this book appeals to young preschoolers as they love the characters. Again like the show, though, the story line and text are perhaps suited for a slightly older age group. Younger children will enjoy the pictures and an abridged version of the story more than an actual reading of the text.

Fun story with bright illustrations that show friends playing together with good humour and intentions.

Bananas in Pyjamas: SPACE BANANAS by Richard Tulloch & Leonie Worthington
ABC Books, 1997

Women on the Move, by Sandy Givens

Reviewed by Tash Hughes

This is not a book to be read in one sitting and then put on the shelf. It requires time and effort to fully appreciate its beauty and benefits.

The author herself suggests writing in the margins and using highlighters wherever something grabs your attention. Givens also suggests setting up a workbook to use as you read the book. Her suggested format matches with exercises in the book. In other words, Givens wants this book to be a tool in your journey, not a book to be read then shelved.

Givens has written this book to help women identify where they are, where they want to be and how to find ways to navigate the difference between these two places.

This book is not unique in the topic of teaching others to move ahead in their lives; what is unusual about this book is that is written by an Australian woman for Australian women. That’s not to say that it is anti non-Australians or men, but just that it is easy for Australian women to relate to.

Givens frankly uses herself as an example in her book and admits that she herself is still working on setting and achieving goals and maintaining her self-esteem. She doesn’t preach or use terms that require a dictionary near by; the book is for everyday people to read as and when they can.

There is no sense of dictating what your personal goals should be, just an acceptance of working towards what is valuable to you. That is, the book shows no expectations that your goals will be professional or world shattering. By this, Givens shows herself as interested in her readers and purely sharing her knowledge, rather than setting herself above anyone else.

The book is divided into seven sections, each dealing with a different issue along the road to self-fulfillment. Within each section, text, cartoons and diagrams describe concepts and this is supported by exercises for the reader to do. At each exercise, Givens encourages doing the exercise before continuing on with the text as this increases the impact and understanding of the following thoughts.

Reading the book from front to back allows for a gradual development of ideas, but it isn’t necessary to enjoy the book and Givens invites you to use the book in whatever order best suits at the time.

Women on the Move, by Sandi Givens
Knowledge-Able Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2002

Available direct from the author.