deborah abela – Aussie Reviews

Teresa: A New Australian, by Deborah Abela

’This is it. The beginning of our new lives. Ready?
Teresa and her mama nodded. ‘Ready.’
They stepped into the cheers and music and beneath flying streamers and confetti. All around them were people in tears, hugging and laughing.
People made sure they stood together to take their first steps onto Australian soil. When they did, he wiped his sleeve across his eyes. Mama kissed his cheek. ‘You old softie.’

War rages across Europe, and Teresa and her family endure tough times in their homeland, Malta. There are bombing raids every day, and her father is away fighting alongside the allies. Even when peace finally comes, life is difficult, so Teresa’s family make a difficult decision – they will leave Malta and start a new life in Australia.

In Australia life is safer, and Teresa’s parents find jobs, but there are still many obstacles to overcome, including getting used to Australian ways. Not everyone is welcoming of new Australians, but Teresa is determined to succeed in this strange new land.

Teresa: A New Australian is wonderful new historical fiction, exploring the life of one new migrant in the years following World War 11. Teresa is a feisty, loyal girl who faces each new challenge head on. Readers will enjoy getting to know her and at the same time will become familiar with aspects of Australia’s history they may not know.

Teresa is an outstanding addition to the New Australian series.

Teresa , by Deborah Abela
Omnibus, an imprint of Scholastic, 2016
ISBN 9781742990941

Ghost Club: A Transylvanian Tale by Deborah Abela

‘You’re not getting away that easily.’

Angeline fixed her sights on the faint red glow of the ghost that had appeared on the screen of her Tracker. She and Edgar had been following this particular spectral pest for days, and once again it was almost in her grasp.

She stepped carefully and quickly over the damp forest floor, which was twisted with roots and choked with the musty decay of leaves. Swirls of mist caught in her torchlight, creeping from between the trees and circling her ankles like snakes.

She knew she shouldn’t be her on her own. …

… But she tonight she’d had little time to act, so act she did.

‘You’re not getting away that easily.’

She knew she shouldn’t be her on her own. …

… But she tonight she’d had little time to act, so act she did.

Angeline Usher and her brother Edgar are ghost catchers. They are the youngest ghost catchers in the Ghost Club and very excited to be visiting Transylvania for the annual Ghost Club Convention. Dylan is a more reluctant ghost catcher, but despite this, he has a good eye for details. As a trio, they make an effective team. The highlight for the Convention is a talk by famous (and gorgeous) Ripley Granger. The entire Usher family are besotted by him. Angeline can quote from all his books. But when in Transylvania, surrounded by so many ghosts and stories, even a Convention of Ghost Club ghost catchers can be taken by surprise.

Ghost Club: A Transylvanian Tale is the third offering in this series. The adults stay close by but are still in the background. There’s their ghost catching parents, their inventing grandmother, ghostly grandfather, a poet called Gloom and the agoraphobic and knowledgeable Endora. The three young ghost catchers are able to do their ‘catching’ because of the combination of their skills. Each brings something unique to the team. Abela suggests that ghosts are souls who have unfinished business in this world. Therefore the job of the ghost catcher is to locate the ghost, determine what troubles them and then fix it so they can rest in peace. Dylan’s behaviour gives voice to those who might experience fear and demonstrates that despite it, it’s possible to act when action is required. Recommended for mid-primary readers.

Ghost Club: A Transylvanian Tale , Deborah Abela Random House Australia 2013 ISBN: 9781742758534

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores and online.

Stories for 7 Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight

What do seven year olds like to read about? Lots of things! And this book aimed at seven year old readers, covers lots of different subjects, in different forms. There is a story about a mother on a diet, one about surfing in an outback pool, another about a young emperor with a headache, and yet another about an author visiting a school. Whilst all are prose, one is interspersed with poetry and others use fairytale, mythology, first person narration and even the format of a school report, meaning there is plenty of variety.

The 11 stories are illustrated by Tom Jellett, giving a uniformity to the volume, and back of book biographies introduce each author who include some of the biggest names of Australian children’s literature, including Morris Gleitzman, Paul Jennings and Margaret Clark.

Suitable for newly independent readers to read on their own, the stories are also suitable for reading aloud.

Stories for Seven Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight, illustrated by Tom Jellett
Random House, 2012
ISBN 9781742756622

Available from good bookstores or online.

Ghost Club: The New Kid by Deborah Abela

‘There he is!’

Angeline sprang over the chesterfield lounge and raced down the murky corridor with Edgar close behind.

Their boots pounded on the floorboards. Their long, hooded coats flapped behind them as they ran through multicoloured beams of moonlight pouring in through stained-glass windows. Just ahead, a loud, deep moaning burst into the night – followed by an ancient Chinese vase.

Twins, Angeline and Edgar, are more than just the only child members of the Ghost Club, they are also very skilled ghost-catchers. When there’s a haunting report, they don their coats, hitch their backpacks and set off to solve ghostly mysteries. It’s a job they’re born to, one they enjoy immensely and are very good at. Enter Dylan, grandson of Grandmaster Fleischmann. He’s just joined Ghost Club and Angeline and Edgar look forward to helping Dylan settle in and learn the ways of ghost-catching. But Dylan isn’t quite convinced that ghost-catching is the job for him. Then they get a call from the castle. There’s been a sighting of a ghost, and he doesn’t seem friendly.

The New Kid is the first title in a new series from Deborah Abela for mid-primary readers. Twins Angeline and Edgar are part of an extended, loving family. They have nosy neighbours, variable cooking skills and secrets. They live in a normal street, and are perfectly normal. Except that they are also ghost-catchers. In this first instalment of a series, the reader meets a broad range of characters both dead and alive. Dylan is swept along in the ghost-catching excitement, wondering if he’ll ever adjust to this new world. Angeline is the leader, seemingly invincible, yet like the ghosts they encounter, she has secrets. Edgar speaks a fluent ghost-catcher language which can seem quite foreign to outsiders. They may seem different to outsiders, but this family and their Ghost Club are as cohesive as any community. And there are gadgets galore! Recommended for mid-primary readers.

Ghost Club: The New Kid , Deborah Abela
Random House Australia 2012 ISBN: 9781742750804

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Avaialble from good bookstores or online .

Grimsdon, by Deborah Abela

It wasn’t exactly stealing – it hadn’t been that for a long time, not since the floods came and wiped away everything they’d known.
Isabella was with the other kids, searching rooms, looking through cupboards and drawers. This time they were in a grand building with tall ceilings and views overlooking the harbour, but the furniture was tattered, the walls smudged with mould, and a chill wind cut through smashed windowpanes.

The city has been flooded by huge waves. Most of the people are gone, the buildings are abandoned, their feet deep in the new high tide line. For three years, Isabella, Griffin, Fly and twins Raffy and Bea have survived here on their own. They use flying foxes to get around, and found treasure to barter with the few adults they know. They live in an opulent apartment, an almost mystical dwelling, filled as it is with toy rooms, costumes and unusual furniture. Then Xavier arrives, flying his Aerotrope. Like the wonderfully inventive Griffin, Xavier can make amazing machines from unusual components. Xavier is accepted into their group, despite Griffin’s suspicions. Xavier shows them a bigger world. They offer him friendship. But there are mysteries here. Where did Xavier come from? Where are all the adults? Were the floods inevitable? Are there really sea monsters?

Deborah Abela gives the reader a super-paced adventure mystery, set in an abandoned city where water keeps the protagonists captive. Grimsdon uses multiple viewpoints but most of the action is voiced by Isabella, Griffin and Xavier. None tell their complete story though. Each has secrets. Adults are portrayed as thugs or bullies, with the exception of a scientist, discovered in the State Library. The children establish their own family and pool their skills to survive. The cover art suggests a very dark tale, and although intense and dystopian, there is plenty of hope and light in the relationships forged by the flooding disaster. The ending brings change, and character revelations, but offers hope for the future of the children, and for their world. Recommended for mid- to upper-primary readers.

Grimsdon, Deborah Abela
Random House Australia 2010
ISBN: 9781741663723

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

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

The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen, by Deborah Abela

She spilled onto the roof, arms splayed to break her fall, and turned in time to witness Rolo puling his brother to safety.
But there was something unusual about the rescue. It was if Uncle Rolo’s arms stretched further than their length should have allowed. And that Rondolf had fallen far below the edge of the roof, far beyond any chance of rescue, before he was hoisted upright.

Aurelie’s childhood has been far from normal – but that’s how she likes it. Her family run Bonhoffen’s Seaside Peier, and she has grown up playing the dead girl in the ghost train and the back end of the cow, sleeping in her room above the ghost train ,and surrounded by loving relatives, especially her doting uncles Rolo and Rindolf. But, on the day she turns twelve, Aurelie accidentally discovers her family’s secret, a secret so strange she struggles to accept it. Then Aurelei and her new friend Rufus discover a plot to force the family from the pier, and Aurelie must use the secret to help her defeat the town’s most powerful man.

The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen is a fun but also touching story of family togetherness, filled with things kids love – funfairs, chocolate, funny characters, ghosts and more. In this story the good characters are not only kind hearted, they are also delightfully quirky, and the bad characters are like bumbling, blustering pantomime baddies, who, in the way of pantomimes, also sometimes realise the error of their ways to become good.

This is a gorgeous read, which middle and upper primary aged readers will adore.

The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen, by Deborah Abela
Random House Australia, 2009

This book is available from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.