Flood, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley

In January 2011 much of Queensland and parts of NSW were subjected to terrible flooding. the rest of Australia – and the world – watched in horror at the destruction and loss of life. In Floodthe team of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley capture those times in words and pictures accessible to children.

The rain stopped, but the wall of water surged into the river. Hour by hour the river rose. In some places water only nibbled at the bank, but in others it burst across the river bends…up into the streets. It sounded like a helicopter.
It sounded like a flood.

In January 2011 much of Queensland and parts of NSW were subjected to terrible flooding. the rest of Australia – and the world – watched in horror at the destruction and loss of life. In Floodthe team of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley capture those times in words and pictures accessible to children.

The text explains the flood – its origins, its sights and sounds – and specific instances of heroism, such as the tugboat driver who stopped the boardwalk from doing further harm. The illustrations highlight the damage and desolation with watery browns and blues, as well as the courage and heroism of volunteers working int he midst of the floods. The image of a dog as a watcher, and participant, in many spreads gives youngsters a character to empathise with.

French and Whatley have teamed together on brighter subjects before – most famously the. Exploration of such a serious topic required a different approach, and Wahtley’s use of different drawing and painting techniques helped here. Whatley has used his non-dominant hand for the images and his use of acrylic washes highlights the feeling of wetness.

Profits from the sale of Flood are being donated to the Qld Premier’s Disaster Relief appeal.

Flood

Flood, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley
Scholastic, 2011
ISBN 9781742830728

This book is avaialable in good bookstores or through Fishpond.

Nanberry, by Jackie French

Nanberry is fascinated when the white men arrive in Tumbalong (now known as Darling Harbour) in extraordinary boats, but incredulous at their inability to survive and to respect the land. But a year after their arrival, Nanberry’s whole family is struck down by a mysterious illness and Nanberry, fighting for his life, is taken in by the new colony’s doctor.

Nanberry had expected great warriors to come from such extraordinary canoes. But instead they had been poor strange creatures, small and hunched over, with pale, pinched faces.

The white ghosts chopped down trees. They built big huts. They lived in them all year, until they stank. Their women didn’t know how to fish and when they gathered oysters they threw away the flesh and kept only the shells.

Nanberry is fascinated when the white men arrive in Tumbalong (now known as Darling Harbour) in extraordinary boats, but incredulous at their inability to survive and to respect the land. But a year after their arrival, Nanberry’s whole family is struck down by a mysterious illness and Nanberry, fighting for his life, is taken in by the new colony’s doctor. Soon he is Nanberry White, the adopted son of Surgeon White. He is used as an interpreter and learns white men ways, but feels torn between his new life and the life and family he has loss.

Later Nanberry has a new brother – a white brother, born to the surgeon and his housekeeper. The story follows both brothers as they grow and learn in the fledgling colony.

Nanberry: Black Brother White is based on the true story of Nanberry, one of the first of the Eora people to live with the English settlers following colonisation. Told from differing third person viewpoints – chiefly that of Nanberry, but also the perspectives of the Surgeon, his two housekeepers and his younger adoptive brother Andrew – the book offers an insight into the times, exploring the impact of white settlement on the Aboriginal people, the difficulties faced by the settlers, and the growth of the colony. Mainly though it is Nanberry’s story based wherever possible on historical records, but fictionalised to make Nanberry an authentic character with whom readers can connect.

Suitable for teens and for confident readers in upper primary school, Nanberry: Black Brother White is an outstanding read.

Nanberry: Black Brother White

Nanberry: Black Brother White, by Jackie French
Angus & Robertson, an imprint of Harper Collins, 2011
ISBN 9780732290221

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

Christmas Wombat, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley

It’s Christmas Eve. Mothball the wombat has no idea what Christmas is, or why there are strange, annoying dangly things hanging on the tree but she does know the smell of carrots, her favourite food. When she finds strange creatures are eating her carrots, she fights a battle of wills. Soon, though, her quest for carrots and a comfortable place to sleep sees her taking an unexpected sleigh ride around the world…

Strange creatures are eating my carrots!

It’s Christmas Eve. Mothball the wombat has no idea what Christmas is, or why there are strange, annoying dangly things hanging on the tree but she does know the smell of carrots, her favourite food. When she finds strange creatures are eating her carrots, she fights a battle of wills. Soon, though, her quest for carrots and a comfortable place to sleep sees her taking an unexpected sleigh ride around the world.

Christmas Wombat is a wonderfully quirky Christmas picture book starring Mothball, the wombat who first starred in Diary of a Wombat. Text is funny and simple, from Mothball’s point of view and readers left to make their connections about what is happening. The reindeer (the aforementioned strange creatures) are delightful, but of course Mothball is the star of this book – and readers will love her.

A perfect Christmas gift for readers young and old.

Christmas Wombat

Christmas Wombat, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley
Angus & Robertson, 2011
ISBN 9780732291716

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

Booms Busts and Bushfires, by Jackie French

Booms, Busts and Bushfires is the eighth title in this ‘Fair Dinkum Histories’ series from Jackie French and Scholastic. The series started with Shipwreck, Sailors and 60,000 Years and ends with this newest title. Jackie French casts her net wide, to touch on a wide range of subjects from the liberal environment that founded the Nimbin communities, through weather extremes, to politics, economics, technology and Indigenous rights…

Australia had changed before, but slowly – with hot, dry periods that lasted for years, decades, even thousands of years; with the slow spread of Indigenous nations across the continent, and the faster, but still gradual, spread of the colonisers after 1788.
Now everything seemed to speed up. So many changes had occurred in the US, the UK and Europe during the 1960s – all of them watched every night in Australian lounge rooms on the television news – that some people spoke of the 60s as a decade of social revolution. Different ways of thinking, new inventions and changing fashions still mostly came from overseas, but communications and travel brought information to Australians faster than every before. Once we had been at the end of the world. Now, with cheap plane tickets and TV, we no longer seemed so far away.

Booms, Busts and Bushfires is the eighth title in this ‘Fair Dinkum Histories’ series from Jackie French and Scholastic. The series started with Shipwreck, Sailors and 60,000 Years and ends with this newest title. Jackie French casts her net wide, to touch on a wide range of subjects from the liberal environment that founded the Nimbin communities, through weather extremes, to politics, economics, technology and Indigenous rights. Text boxes inserted throughout expand information where necessary. Peter Sheehan’s cartoon-like illustrations help to illustrate and lighten the text, although the tone is conversational and entertaining as well as informative. There are detailed Contents, Bibliography and Index pages for skimmers or re-readers keen to find particular information.

History is such a big topic that it’s hard to pin it down. Attempts to include everything must fail, because it is impossible to gather it all together. Particularly in books for children. Jackie French’s strength is surely in her ability to dance across the years landing lightly on events, minor and major. Social history is as important as politics in helping the world come alive to those who did not live it. Booms, Busts and Bushfires and the other titles in this series provide a tasting plate – enough of a look to get a broad sense of history, and enough details to encourage and support further reading. Peter Sheehan includes a wonderful series of caricatures of Australian Prime Ministers! Recommended for mid- to upper-primary readers and beyond.

Booms, Busts and Bushfires (Fair Dinkum Histories S.)

Booms, Busts and BushfiresJackie French, Peter Sheehan
Scholastic Press 2011
ISBN: 9781741697865

 

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

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

The Tomorrow Book, by Jackie French & Sue Degennaro

That’s REAL LIFE, your royal highness,’ said the butler kindly.
‘Well…’ said the little prince. “I think real life could be improved.’

The little prince loves reading the books in the palace library, but somehow the real world never seems as good as he imagines. So, when his parents leave him in charge, he and his friends start to change the world using the ideas from the books in the palace library. Together, they believe, the world can be perfect –

The Tomorrow Book is a wonderful tale of one child’s quest to make the world a better place by reducing pollution, recycling and using solar power. The use of a fairy tale structure is cute, giving a gentle message about the difference that could be made to our world by action towards positive transformation. Printed on paper from sustainable plantations, and with the art using recycled materials for collage, this is a gorgeous book with an important message.

The Tomorrow Book

The Tomorrow Book, by Jackie French and Sue Degennaro
Angus & Robertson, 2010
ISBN 9780732289393

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

Baby Wombat's Week, by Jackie French

Few Australian picture books have been as internationally successful as Diary of a Wombat (2002). Now the team from this book have produced a sequel, Baby Wombat’s Week, featuring the offspring of that first wombat.

Just like his mother, Mothball, Baby Wombat creates havoc as he digs, searches for food, and plays with his friend – a baby human. Using the same minimalist diary format, and the same adorable style of illustrations of marvellously expressive wombats, and colourful surrounds against white backgrounds, Baby Wombat’s Week will delight fans of the earlier work, and attract a whole new legion of fans.

Very cute.

Baby Wombat's Week

Baby Wombat’s Week, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley
Angus & Robertson, 2010

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

Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs, by Jackie French

Up, up through the blackness of the wormhole ceiling. Boo was pressed next to Yesterday’s blue silk dress on one side, and Princess’s gold brocade one on the other, his nose between Mug’s armoured knees, the pink dinosaurs around them.
Up…up…suddenly the world grew light.
Too light. Boo blinked. Something was shining in his eyes!
It was a sign, as tall as the cliff at school, adorned with blinking lights. There was a picture of a bed – a big one, with brass knobs and a patchwork quilt – and words above it, pulsing red and green and blue: ‘Welcome to the Ghastly Otherwhen.”
He gulped. It looked as though they’d arrived.

In Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior Boojum Bark (Boo), would-be Hero, banded with his friends from hero school to overcome the evil Greedle. Now, with the Greedle out of the way, Boo is determined to visit the Ghastly Otherwhen, previously the Greedle’s home, to rescue his mother. But no hero has ever conquered the Otherwhen, and everyone seems to be trying to talk him out of it – everyone except his friends Yesterday, Princess Princess, Mug and Squeak.

Together the four friends journey to the Otherwhen, but when they get there they find it is not at all what they had expected. How can they rescue Boo’s mum when she seems so happy to be there, and doesn’t remember Boo at all?

Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs is the second title in the School for Heroes series from award winning author Jackie French. An entertaining blend of humour, action, adventure and even mystery, there is much here to keep middle and upper primary aged readers turning the pages.

Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs (School for Heroes)

Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs (School for Heroes), by Jackie French
Harper Collins, 2010

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

The Night They Stormed Eureka, by Jackie French

It’s 1854 and, on the Ballarat goldfields, men are willing to risk their lives to find freedom and make their fortunes in the mines.

Sam is a homeless teenager, who finds herself transported back through time, to 1854, on the Ballarat goldfields. She is taken in by Mr and Mrs Puddleham, who adopt her as their daughter. Throughout the time she spends with them, she learns not only of the difference of the times, but also important life lessons.

Whilst she is on the goldfields, a rebellion evolves, and she soon finds herself embroiled in the excitement of the Eureka stockade. She finds and loses new and old friends, Sam learns about herself, and about life all the while.

The Night They Stormed Eureka is a gripping, time travelling adventure. Lots of excitement and gripping tales await the reader of this book. It is appropriate for mid to late teens, but can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

A great read from an award-winning author.

The Night They Stormed Eureka

The Night They Stormed Eureka, by Jackie French
Harper Collins, 2009

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

The Wombat and the Grand Poohjam, by Jackie French

The Grand Poohjam giggled. As soon as the kids were married, he’d be able to claim O’Straylia in the Princess’s name. After he killed her father, of course. And then he could get rid of her.
Oh yes, the Grand Poohjam knew exactly how to make kids do as they were told!

The Grand Poohjam has a cunning plan. He will marry his adopted son to a small Princess from O’Straylia and then get rid of her so he can take over her country. But when the Princess arrives she has a present for the Grand Poohjam – a singing wombat. All he has to do is get the wombat to be happy, then it will sing and make him rich.

Putting his original plan aside, the Poohjam does everything the Princess asks to make the wombat happy – from stopping the floggings, to making sure the kingdom’s children have books, to allowing Father Christmas to visit. It seems nothing will make the wombat sing – but the princess and prince get happier every day.

The Wombat and the Grand Poohjam , part of the new Mates series from Omnibus, is lots of fun. Young readers will enjoy seeing the wicked Grand Poohjam being outwitted by a small princess and a cheeky wombat. Like all titles in the Mates series, this one offers short chapters, good sized print and plenty of full colour illustrations, to help readers making the transition to the novel format.

This funny book, by one of Australia’s best loved children’s authors, will be a hit with young readers.

The Wombat and the Grand Poohjam (Mates)

The Wombat and the Grand Poohjam (Mates), by Jackie French and Andrew Marlton
Omnibus, 2009

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

The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded, by Jackie French

For a moment he thought he had been hit himself. In the head maybe, that would be it. For there it was, chomping the grass like its life depended on it.
A flaming donkey.

When Jack Simpson lands at Gallipoli, his job is to carry the wounded away from the battle with his fellow stretcher bearers. But when both stretchers and bearers are scarce, Jack wishes he had a donkey to carry the wounded. When he does find a scared, scrawny donkey, who he names Duffy, Simmo sets to work, carrying the wounded to safety. The partnership of man and donkey starts as a practical way to help the wounded, but it is soon also a deep bond between the two, and a pairing which will become a part of Australian history.

The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded is a wonderful children’s novel which focuses on a well-known piece of Australian history. The story of Simpson and his Donkey has been retold many times, but this version offers the dual perspectives of both the man and his donkey friend, as well as occasional chapters from the viewpoint of other characters, including several chapters focussing on Richard Henderson, the New Zealand soldier who took over Simpson’s work after he was killed.

This is history which is accessible for young readers, built on a well researched base and fictionalised in an interesting format.

The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded: The Famous Story of Simpson and His Donkey - a True Anzac Legend

The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded, by Jackie French
Angus & Robertson, 2009
ISBN 9780732288396

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

Also by Jackie French

The Camel Who Crossed Australia (2008)
A Rose for the ANZAC Boys (2008)
Macbeth and Son (2006)