Tag: children’s classics

Looking for Alibrandi, by Melina Marchetta

I’m beginning to realise that things don’t turn out the way you want them to. And sometimes when they don’t, they can turn out just a little bit better.

Josephine Alibrandi is in her final year of highschool, and it’s going to be a good one. She’s going to stay out of trouble, work hard and get into law at uni.  But her determination doesn’t last long – she’s in trouble on the first day  in religous education class. And this is just the start of a tumultuous year where Josephine (Josie) falls in love, gets her first job, fights with her mother and nonna, and meets her father for the first time. Along the way she has to confront who she really is, and who she wants to be.

Looking for Alibrandi is a classic coming of age story. First published over twenty years ago, it has been re-released as part the Penguin Australian Children’s Classics series in a delightful hardcover edition. Teens will love getting to know this sassy main character and adults will enjoy the chance to become reacquainted with her. The writing is still fresh and appealing with themes and issues which are still relevant to today’s readers.

 

Looking for Alibrandi , by Melina Marchetta
Penguin, 2014
ISBN 9780670077786

Available from good bookstores or online.

A Fortunate Life, by A.B. Facey (Australian Children's Classics Edition)

I had a problem now – I had to ride the pony. I was frightened – although I was big for my age I was still under nine years old. Bob took the saddle on the pony, then helped me into it and I grabbed the front of the saddle and held on. Then Bob put the saddle on his horse and trotted it around in a circle to show me how to rise to a trot. I got the idea of this, but not before I had fallen off several times, to the amusement of Uncle, Aunt, Grandma and the other kids.

Whilst his introduction to a working life may have seemed humorous to those looking on, Albert Facey’s experience being sent away to work at the age of nine was just one episode in a an often sad and frightening childhood. His father had died soon after his birth and his mother had abandoned her children to their grandmother’s care. From the events which brought the Facey family to Western Australia, through his childhood years and onto adulthood, Facey shares his tale in a down to earth manner.

Since it was first published in 1981, A Fortunate Life has captivated readers of all ages. Now released in condensed form as part of Penguin’s new Australian Children’s Classics series, the story is accessible to junior readers, offering them an insight to life in rural Western Australia in the early years of the twentieth century.

The hardcover format with embellished cover makes this a delightful collector’s edition.

A Fortunate Life (Australian Children's Classics)Book Cover: A Fortunate Life: Australian Children's Classics

A Fortunate Life , by A. B. Facey
Penguin, 2013
ISBN 9780670076895

Available from good bookstores or here .