anthology – Aussie Reviews

Once Upon a Christmas, edited by Beattie Alvarez

I slid down the icy balustrade outside our town house. The chill of the evening fairly took my breath away, then, I was airborne. I landed in the flurry of snow at the base of the stairs, startling the band of carol singers who had just crossed the street.
Father opened the door and took in the scene. ‘Please forgive us,’ he said to the carol singers. ‘My singers who had just crossed the street.
Father opened the door and took in the scene. ‘Please forgive us,’ he said to the carol singers. ‘My daughter has no fear.’ Michael Pryor The Spirit of Christmas

For adults who remember the Christmas Annuals of their childhoods, Once Upon a Christmas will feel familiar, while for children who may not have encountered such an offering, it will prove an unexpected treasure. With over 150 pages of stories, poems, illustrations and more, the anthology celebrates a huge variety of Christmas traditions and imaginings.

The stories are from different cultures, and represent both Australian Christmas settings and traditions as well as those from around the world and in different time periods. The range of genres is also wide including historical fiction, modern fiction, speculative fiction, nonfiction, humour, and poetry. Black and white illustrations throughout are complemented by coloured plates in the centre of the book. Creators whose work appears in the book include Susanne Gervay, Ursula Dubosarsky, Duncan Ball, Sophie Masson and more.

Once Upon a Christmas is a book which will be treasured.

Once Upon a Christmas

Once Upon a Christmas, compiled and edited by Beattie Alvarez
Christmas Press, 2014
ISBN 9780992283858

Available from good bookstores and online.

Remembered by Heart, various authors Foreward by Sally Morgan

This moving collection of youthful memories touches on a broad sweep of history and includes people from many Aboriginal countries. The stories have been shared in the hope they will make a difference to people’s understanding of the past, and in the belief that a just future can be created for all.

These are powerful stories of survival that share pain, humour, grief, endurance, life experience and hope. Take as a whole, they detail the devastating impact of many decades of repressive legislation on the lives of individuals and families. Legislation which, while aimed at ‘protecting’ Aboriginal people, obliterated any access to basic human rights.

Remembered by Heart is an anthology of true stories from a diverse range of Aboriginal Australians, often about their youth of that of their parents. The anthology reflects a variety of experiences across many years. Authors detail what it was like to live on a mission, to be removed from your family to live miles away from anywhere familiar, to a variety of education opportunities. For some, education meant learning to keep house for others. For others, there was the chance to complete high school.

Remembered by Heart is a moving collection of true stories about growing up in a different time. It details the range of Aboriginal experiences from 1930s to more recently. The collection reflects many voices, and reads like oral stories. Publicity material with the collection suggests it is aimed at upper-primary and early-secondary readers, but there is much here for a broader readership. No one should be able to say that they haven’t heard these stories, so that there is no risk of repeating mistakes of the past. But as well as tales of horror, there are many stories of family, connection and reconnection. Recommended for anyone who wants to understand Australia’s past.

Remembered by Heart, various authors, foreward by Sally Morgan Fremantle Press 2014 ISBN: 9781922089779

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Hatched Anthology forward by Tim Winton

IT’s an odd thing to have a writing award given in your name, especially when you’re not dead yet. But clearly, not being dead has its rewards. The pay-off is being here to see young people exercising their hearts and minds for the pleasure and excitement of simply being allowed to do so. And if being the patron of such a prize is premature then I’ll just have to endure it as another form of being a little early and a bit awkward, as is my lifelong habit.

It’s an odd thing to have a writing award given in your name, especially when you’re not dead yet. But clearly, not being dead has its rewards. The pay-off is being here to see young people exercising their hearts and minds for the pleasure and excitement of simply being allowed to do so. And if being the patron of such a prize is premature then I’ll just have to endure it as another form of being a little early and a bit awkward, as is my lifelong habit.

Hatched is a collection of stories taken from the twenty years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers. The annual Award, auspiced by the City of Subiaco in Perth, is open to all Western Australian school children from five years old to age eighteen years old. This anthology features work from the first 20 years of the Award. Each story is accompanied by the category it was entered in and the school at which the author studied. Stories range from the real to the fantastical and explore a range of themes. Generational feuds, friendships, bullies, obsessions, the future all get an outing. Writers featured range from mid-primary to upper-secondary. The collection includes a forward by Tim Winton and cover image by Shaun Tan.

There are not many opportunities for young writers to practise their craft beyond school boundaries. Or to read the work of other young writers. The Tim Winton Award for Young Writers offers both. Young writers can see their work in print and also read works by their peers. It also allows the wider community access to the stories and the concerns of young writers. This anthology is testament to the imagination and skills of our young writers as well as to their families and teachers. It will be useful in schools and libraries to inspire other young writers. Beyond that, it’s an entertaining and fascinating read. Recommended for mid-primary to upper-secondary schoolers and beyond.

Hatched, an Anthology, forward by Tim Winton Fremantle Press 2013 ISBN: 9781922089458

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Stories for 5 Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight

Some of the best-known names in Australian children’s literature, with offerings new and old, combine in this wonderful new anthology targeted at, as the name suggests, five year old readers. Contributors include Ursula Dubosarsky, Janeen Brian , Mark Macleod and more, and Tom Jellett provides grey scale illustrations

A couple of the stories (The Two Gorillas, by Dubosarsky and The Gorilla Suit by Victor Kelleher) were previously published as part of Penguin’s Aussie Nibble’s series, and others have been published in School Magazine or by other publishers. Two stories (Charlotte the Explorer, by Dianne Bates and Look! by Lizzie Horne) appear here for the first time.

Good stuff.

Stories for Five Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight
Random House, 2012
ISBN 9781742756660

Available from good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

All are well targeted for five year old readers, each suitable for reading aloud in a single sitting. Early independent readers would also find the stories accessible.

The Wilful Eye and The Wicked Wood, ed by Isobelle Carmody & Nan McNab

‘You are different,’ whispers the princess, almost crouched there, looking up at me. ‘You were gentle and kind before. What has happened? What has changed?’

Whilst the term fairytale may conjure up, for many readers, images of beautiful singing princesses, wicked witches and Disney-esque happy ever after endings, these ancient tales were not intended for young readers. And, says Isobelle Carmody in her introduction to this collection, when they were passed over to children they lost their gloss and their value. In The Wilful Eye and The Wicked Wood Carmody and her co-contributors attempt to rediscover this value with six retellings of six classic tales in each volume.

To label the stories retellings is really an inadequate description both of the concept of the collection and of the work it contains. Each writer has chosen a traditional fairytale and given it their own touch – sometimes set in a modern or futuristic environment , at other times telling the story from a new perspective. The reader will not necessarily easily recognise the original story, and some of the stories may even be new to the reader, but each is followed by an Afterword from the author explaining something of their process and choice.

This is not comfortable reading, but it is not meant to be. Each writer takes their story to depths which will have the reader gasping, or wondering, or pondering even long after the last word is read. Suitable for reading cover to cover, but these collections are probably best dipped into and savoured one at a time. Suitable for older teens and adults.

The Wilful Eye
ISBN 9781742374406

The Wicked Wood
ISBN 9781742374413

Both edited by Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab
Allen & Unwin, 2011

From Kinglake to Kabul

When an Afghan rug is made, many knots are tied. Each one is a connection between individual strands. Standing back from the work, a strange magic occurs. The rug can be seen in its beautiful entirety: the intricate design, the startling colour, the richness of materia. So it is in this book, each story knot tying people and two resilient communities together forever.

From Kinglake to Kabul is a collection of stories, both fiction and factual. The stories come from an international school in Kabul in Afghanistan and from secondary students from Kinglake who were affected by the Black Saturday fires of February 7 2009. Here, teenagers, supported by family, teachers and others, discover that despite the apparent difference in their appearance, landscape and history, they have much in common. Contributors not only write their own story, but in some cases, respond to the stories of others. Sometimes they are surprised at the similarities in their lives, sometimes by the difference. But always there is empathy and enhanced understanding of themselves and of others.

A collection of stories from a war-torn, faraway country and a fire-ravaged community. From the outside, it could be difficult to expect this to be an easy or a fun read. But it is. It has sadness, plenty of that, but the overwhelming sense is of people surviving, finding ways to not only survive but thrive in challenging circumstances. It doesn’t pretend life is easy, but demonstrates the resilience and humour of humans all over our world. There are Afghan stories of returned refugees and the other-nationals who help them. There are stories of those who escaped unimaginable terror, changed but not beaten. The stories are creatively and effectively linked by the editors, giving connection to very disparate stories. This is a fabulous collection which should be read by everyone, but particularly those who don’t yet understand that we are one people. Recommended for upper primary and beyond.

From Kinglake to Kabul, Ed Neil Grant and David Williams
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781742375304

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

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

A Ute Picnic, by Lorraine Marwood

The sound of heat,
a roar like a sawmill
hungry for wood
that day,
that forty-five degree day
(Black Saturday)

From confronting, but very real, explorations of the realities of bushfire, as above, to the silliness of passersby mistaking a milk tanker for party lights, this poetry collection captures the highs and lows of rural Australian life.

Award-winning poet Lorraine Marwood offers a collection that is very Australian, and which delights in its variety. What is common across the collection is the excellence which makes each poem give the reader pause to consider, to enjoy, to celebrate.

Spiders are made fascinating:
Knot
of spider
curled against the daylight
waiting for the moon
(Knot)

and cows, which feature prominently (as is to be expected in a rural-themed collection) play follow-the leader (Cow Tracks and Facts) and swing hips in joy of gourmet anticipation (They Buck Only for Oats).

In a classroom setting rural youngsters will delight in the familiarity of the subject matter, and the accuracy of its portrayal, whilst city kids will delight in the novelty of the images. In private, readers will enjoy dipping into the poems one at a time, or reading cover to cover.

A Ute Picnic and Other Australian Poems is an outstanding poetry collection from an outstanding poet.

A Ute Picnic and Other Australian Poems, by Lorraine Marwood
Walker Books, 2010

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature

The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literatureis a weighty tome with an ambitious aim – to bring together the best of Australian literature from all periods in a single volume. To do this, the book includes 1500 pages, and was compiled by a team of seven editors and with financial and academic input from organisations around Australia.

A review of such a volume is difficult because such a review cannot discuss the quality of the writings so collected, but must instead focus on the success of the choices made and their presentation. And such a collection is sure to be successful in the eyes of some, yet debated or even derided by others. For this reviewer, the book is a success both as a collection of quality Australian literature, but also as a point of discussion about what has and hasn’t been included. If readers and academics discuss whether more genre fiction should have been included, or why a particular favourite author hasn’t been included, this can only be healthy – because they are discussing just what does make up the best of Australian literature.

As to what the book actually contains – there are 513 works from 307 authors, including fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Each author is introduced with a brief biographical note and there are also several introductory essays – a general introduction to the collection, as well as introductions from each of the contributing editors who focussed on specific areas or eras of Australian literature.

This is a collector’s item which will please any lover of Australian literature, and will also make a wonderful academic tool from high school to university level. It is supported by a website, at www.macquariepenanthology.com.au, which includes a teaching guide for secondary schools and more.

Six years in the making, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature is an exciting offering with much to offer Australia’s literary and academic communities.

Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, General editor: Nicholas Jose
Allen & Unwin, 2009

This book can be purchased online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Untangling Spaghetti, by Steven Herrick

When my dad heard my brother call me
‘A Dork!’
He said,
‘Jack, we don’t say that word in this house.’
So Jack walked quickly out the back door
Stood in the yard
And yelled at me,
‘You dork!’
In his best older brother voice!

Untangling Spaghetti is a collection of poetry for children from award-winning author and poet Steven Herrick, bringing together poems from his previously published collections . From the funny, like House Rules above, to the silly and even the sad, the collection is fun to browse or to read cover to cover.

Poems are arranged into themes, including House Rules, the Big Match and Seeing the World and demonstrate Herrick’s keen understanding of, and empathy with, a child’s view of the world. He says in his introduction that many of the poems come from the experiences of his own sons and in other poems, including the poetry visitor, Herrick’s own experiences are also obvious.

This wonderful collection deserves a place in school libraries and classrooms, but will also be loved at home.

Untangling Spaghetti: Selected Poems, By Steven Herrick
UQP, 2009

A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly:
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a wooly grub that climbs upon a tree.

Many Australian parents (and grandparents) would remember learning the lines above – from the poem The Triantiwontigongolope. Now the poem, and many others, is available for a new generation of young Aussies to enjoy, with the rerelease of A Book for Kids. First published in 1921, and enjoyed at home and in schools ever since, the book has been reproduced with the original illustrations in black, white and red, and with titles and page headers in red. The addition of a foreword by Andy Griffiths will help draw young readers in, and the stories and poems will do the best.

Although some of the language and subject matter will be unfamiliar to children, the sense of fun is timeless, and the ‘old fashioned’ material will have a novelty value rather than make the text inaccessible.

Along with the aforementioned Triantiwontigongolope, the book includes poems such as The Ant Explorer and Hist and stories including The Little Red House. This is a book for children of every generation, and one which parents and grandparents will enjoy sharing.

A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis
This edition black dog, 2009