young adult – Page 3 – Aussie Reviews

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.

Stresshead, by Allayne Webster

A girl wearing reindeer ears and a name tag: Say Hello to Melanie drags milk through the checkout and shoves it into my green enviro bag. I’m almost sure I see a speech bubble appear above her antlers: I’d rather be anywhere but here.
I can think of more important things I could be doing at a quarter to seven in the morning than buying milk. I need to get home and check the net again. Year Eleven exam results come out today and my Wi-Fi has picked this morning of all mornings to go on the blink. Not a good omen. I’ve double-checked my mobile fifty gazillion times: No Messages.
Today marks the fourth day Jack hasn’t answered my calls, my textsies, emails, Twitter or Facebook. Four totally suck-worthy days of boyfriend incommunicado. That’s as long as we’ve ever gone without talking – a Guinness Book of Records qualifier.

It’s results day and Dennie can’t access the internet. Everyone in her family is a lawyer and it’s crunch time, career-decision-wise. Her boyfriend is AWOL, her best friend has a problem…and…and…it seems everyone wants a piece of Dennie, except when they don’t and they should. Then there’s Clara, friend of Mum’s who doesn’t have a care in the world; a suddenly turning up sister, a secret-sharing mother, an oddly-loquacious overseas brother and Dennie’s head is spinning. Everyone wants to know when she’s going to choose law, like all the rest of the family. Dennie sees them so sure and her insecurities feel like the worst secret in the world. This is going to be her toughest Christmas yet, if she makes it that far.

Yes, Dennie is a stresshead. But she’s got good reason. She seems to be the go-to girl for everyone’s troubles. Her family is united by their connection to law, but for a group of people who talk for a living, they seem to struggle with talking to one another. Like most families, they rub along together without really talking. And when summer heats up, so do emotions in this household. Dennie seems to be the calm one, although she is prone to sudden not-so-tactful outburst. As it must, the pressure begins to tell and Dennie can no longer hold all the secrets, all her fears inside. Help comes from surprising places. And Dennie learns that no one, no one, is exactly as they appear. This is high – almost camp – drama: serious and funny all at the same time. Recommended for mid-secondary readers.

Stresshead, Allayne Webster
Omnibus Books 2011
ISBN: 9781862918207

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

This book can be purchased from good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Moonstone Promise, by Karen Wood

Last one!’ yelled Tom, as he sent a bale of prime lucerne tumbling off the back of the semitrailer.
Luke let it fall to the ground end-first. It bounced, then toppled onto its side with a thud. He stabbed his hay hooks into it and with one last surge of energy heaved it up to the top of the stack, where Lawson was arranging the bales tightly in a crisscross pattern.
‘That it?’ yelled Lawson.
‘Yep,’ Luke shouted back, hanging the hooks onto the beam that ran along the wall of the shed. He was dripping with sweat, itchy from the tiny stalks and dust, and his muscles ached, but he felt great. ‘That oughta keep their bellies full for a while,’ he said, looking up at the mountain of hay.
Lawson scrambled down the side of the stack like a mountain goat and brushed the loose green leaves from the front of his shirt. ‘Eight hundred bales, I’m knackered!’

Fostered teenager Luke loves living with Harry on this horse property. He loves the horses, the open space and the fact that Harry seems to actually like him and want him around. But Harry is sick. When Harry dies, and tempers flare, Luke flees the place he’s called home. He heads north in search of brumbies and work and a place to belong. He finds the brumbies, he finds learning and peace in the great outdoors. But there’s unfinished business back at Coachwood Crossing and it won’t leave him alone. He’s not sure he’ll ever be able to return, even after the moonstone promise he made to Jess.

Moonstone Promise is the second instalment in a series from Karen Wood. The first instalment, Diamond Spirit introduced Jess and her horse-filled world. It also introduced Luke. Moonstone Promise is his story, and begins where Diamond Spirit finishes. But it could easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Luke struggles with the demons of his past as well as uncertainty of his future. His meeting with Bob and two of his friends leads to a connection with and reading of the land that provides strength and direction. Wood’s portrayal of Gulf characters is at once playful and insightful. Luke’s journey is more than physical although you’ll have to read the novel to discover where he finds his home. Recommended for secondary readers and anyone who loves horses.

Moonstone Promise, Karen Wood
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN: 9781742373164

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

This book can be purchased from good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Surface Tension, by Meg McKinlay

Reviewed by Dale Harcombe
‘The day that I was born, they drowned my town’ is the opening sentence of Surface Tension. Who could resist a book with an opening like that? I certainly couldn’t. I immediately wanted to know why the town was buried and correlation the two facts had with each other in the story and I’m sure other readers will too.

Told in the first person, it also sets up questions about why Cassie feels out of place in her family. The book gives a lot of emphasis to the swimming of laps Cassie needs to maintain for her health. In the end her swimming becomes a crucial key in the story. When Cassie swims in the lake instead of the pool she finds an intriguing mystery. As summer wear on and the drought, with the help of her friend Liam they set out to uncover the secret drowned under the lake. Liam is another multi -layered character with his own secrets and problems.

As well as a good plot I loved some of the descriptive writing in this book, like this one describing the drought. ‘It had been a dry winter, a dry few years, and now summer was sinking its teeth in and the lake was, well, sinking.’ Another is the description of her leg ‘strobing with pain.’ But the main thing that keeps you reading the pages is the mystery to be uncovered. Meg McKinlay manages to keep adding layers to the mystery and keep the tension in the book right to end of the book.

This story could be read by competent readers from 8 upwards, but there is enough drama, interest and characterisation that it could easily extend to readers of early high school ages.

Surface Tension, by Meg McKinlay
Walker Books, 2011
Paperback RRP $15.99

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Violence 101, by Denis Wright

The management staff of Manakau New Horizons Boys’ Home waited in a cramped office and fidgeted. There were four of them, with an empty chair waiting for a fifth. Helen Grenville looked at her watch for the third time in as many minutes. Eight-fifteen and soon the others would drift off, and Monday was such a busy day. She cleared her throat to begin speaking, and in he breezed.
‘Sorry all, not holding you up, am I?’ Terry slid into his chair and dragged his papers out of a battered leather satchel.
‘No more than you do every Monday, Terry,’ Helen replied tightly, ‘and theirs just so much to do today.’
‘Mea culpa, humble apologies, et cetera, et cetera. Come on, let’s not dilly-dally. What’s up, Helen?’

There’s a new boy coming to Manakau New Horizons Boys’ Home. Hamish Graham. Fourteen-years-old, ultra-bright, ultra-violent. He’s been in trouble since he was a small child, and no one seems to quite know what to do with him. Hamish knows, and he’ll tell you if you ask him. Actually, he’ll tell you even if you don’t ask. And Hamish, via a journal, will also tell you why he behaves the way he does. To him, it’s clear and simple and those who don’t understand are just not trying. He has his heroes: foremost among them Alexander the Great. But there are others too, war heroes and legends, and Hamish is sure he’d be more understood in their worlds than he is in his own present world. People in this world seem to lack the will or intelligence to understand him. But that’s their problem, he reasons, not his. The cover shows a teenager’s single eye staring intently out, intelligent and provocative.

A novel with the title Violence 101, and with a cover like this is not going to be light and fluffy. And nor should it be. Denis Wright dives deep into a troubled boy’s psyche and looks out through his eyes. To him, his reactions and responses are totally reasonable. But to most of the staff at the ‘homes’, his reactions and explanations are something quite other. Violence 101 is not an easy read, and again, it shouldn’t be. It takes the reader from an uncomfortable place, pushes them hard until finally they stand on the edge of a precipice with the wind blowing the wrong way. Is Hamish right? Is he just misunderstood by those with insufficient intelligence or imagination? Or is Hamish the ultimate unreliable narrator, showing that his intelligence has one big blind spot when it comes to self-analysis. An uncomfortable yet riveting read. Recommended for lower- to mid-secondary readers and beyond.

Violence 101, Denis Wright
Black Dog Books 2011
ISBN: 9781742031781

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

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Triple Ripple, by Brigid Lowry

Reviewed by Dale Harcombe

At the beginning I found the concept of Triple Rippleby Brigid Lowry odd. However it doesn’t take long to be intrigued by the cleverness of the three interwoven stories. There is the storyteller who gives the story of Glory taken to an unspecified palace in an unspecified Kingdom, there is also the writer including snippets of the writer’s life and problems, as well as the story of the 15 year old reader, Nova, who is reading the fairytale. The writer gives insights into creating the book and the characters of glory, Princess Mirabella and others. The 15 year old reader picks up the fairy tale. Nova is experiencing her own problems at school.

Rather than being a distraction the idea of three stories it is an engaging concept. The further you get into the fairy tale the more you are keen to see what is happening in the writer’s life and thought processes, as well in the life of the reader. Sometimes there is a parallel between the life of the 15 year old reader whose father is coming home and Princess Mirabella of the fairytale waiting for the king. Use of humour and the constant changes make this a very easy book to read. Most female readers of around 12-14 will love this book.

What is interesting is the way the writer sometimes works out a scene then decides what is wrong with it and goes back and changes something. So we, the readers, end up with a second and sometimes a third version of the same scene. Schools will particularly find this interesting for creative writing projects, as it gives insight into a writer’s mind and shows how one change can influence the direction of the book. For example the fairy tale the writer ideally thinks of bears little resemblance to the finished story.

Triple Ripple, by Brigid Lowry
Allen & Unwin, 2011
Paperback RRP $17.99

This book is available in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

How to Talk to Girls, by Jonathan Toussaint

All humans communicate no matter who they are. It’s something people love to do. If you think about the reasons we talk to each other, you’ll come up with a list that includes getting information, telling each other stuff, seeking help, understanding each other, and having fun together. Good communication helps with everything you do each day – how would you get anything done with other people if you didn’t talk? This exchange of ideas is a powerful tool, and the better you know how to do it the more you will enjoy talking to others and gaining benefit from it.
Good communication can get you further than you think. It might help you to get a part-time job, to do better in school, to make close friends, and to talk to a girl. Boys are always wanting to know, ‘How do I get a girl to like me?’ The answer is (so not) a big secret: be a good communicator!

It used to be so easy when you were little. You either played with girls because they were playing a game you liked, or you ignored them if they weren’t. Simple. But as time progresses, things get a bit more complicated. Suddenly it’s like there’s a whole new set of rules and no one gave you the rule book, or that’s how it can seem. How to Talk to Girlsaims to decode some of the supposed ‘rules’ of talking to girls, or to debunk some of the myths that just seem to make things harder. Boys are different to girls, no surprise there, but the differences may not be the ones that you’ve imagined or heard rumours about. ‘How to Talk to Girls’ includes quotes from boys about the challenges they feel in talking to girls. The most important message? Learn to communicate, with honesty and integrity. The rest will happen as it will.

How to Talk to Girls is made up of short pithy chapters with plenty of photos and chapter headings to guide the reader. They can begin at the beginning and read right through, or flip through and stop where they will. The advice is low key and realistic and reassures the boy trying to talk to girls that it’s as hard for the girls as it is for them. It also is clear about the fact that not every interaction with girls or a girl is going to be a winner, and to try to retain some perspective. It’s also clear that at the basis of every relationship is friendship and if you get that right, then your chances of a successful relationship are higher. Recommended for those entering and those already teenaged. A companion book to ‘How to Talk to Boys’ by Dianne Todaro.

How to Talk to Girls, Jonathan Toussaint
Allen & Unwin 2011
ISBN:9781742371948

Being Here, by Barry Jonsberg

The boy sat in the branches of the fifth tree on the left, his scuffed boots dangling. Leah turned her eyes up. His face was heavily freckled, his eyes large, brown and almond-shaped. His hair stuck out at wild angles. ‘Hello,’ she said.
When Adam appeared in the orhcard, Leah discovered a friend. A secret friend. And a friend was something she desperately needed.

Leah Cartwright is living out her days in a nursing home when she is approached by sixteen year old Carly, wanting to interview her for her local histroy project. Leah agrees to talk, but only on her own terms. She’s not going to answer questions – she’s going to tell her own story. As that story emerges, Carly forgets the interview and is drawn into the tale of a young Leah, growing up on an isolated farm with her puritan mother, her only escape the magic of books and her secret friend Adam.

Being Here is a beuatiful tale of the magic of story and imagination. The first person viewpoint of the elderly Leah is an unusual one for a young adult story but works brilliantly here, with Leah telling her story to Carly and also getting to know Carly and her story.

At some times shocking, at others sad, and at still others joyful, this is a gripping, beautifully woven tale.

Being Here, by Barry Jonsberg
Allen & Unwin, 2011
ISBN 9781742373850

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

Girl Saves Boy, by Steph Bowe

I was imagining him. There was a real, flesh-and-blood boy drowning in the lake. No illusions. No hallucinations.
… I couldn’t let this boy die as well.

When Jewel sees a boy drowning in the lake, she is instantly reminded of her brother’s death, and is determined not to let this boy drown, too. Jewel has recently returned to her childhood town, trying to keep her own head above water following the recent death of the grandparents who have raised her since her brother’s death eight years before.

Sacha, the boy Jewel saves, isn’t sure he wants to be saved. Not yet over the death of his mother, he has just been told he has a terminal disease. Oh, and made the discovery that his father is gay. In or out of the lake, it seems he’s going to drown regardless.

Girl Saves Boy deals with a heap of issues, most predominant that of teens facing the death of loved ones, and their own mortality, but does so in a warm, engaging story which will have readers alternately laughing, crying and sighing at its beauty. The subject matter could be heavy, but Bowe balances the tale adeptly.

Wonderful.

Girl Saves Boy, by Steph Bowe
Text Publishing, 2010
ISBN 9781921656590

This book is available from good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

Six Impossible Things, by Fiona Wood

saw Estelle for the first time that day.
She stopped outside our place and stared up into the bare branches of the footpath plane tree. First checking there was no one nearby she turned slowly around and around and around, framing her view of the twig-snaggled sky with a hand to her eye.
Then she walked into the house next door, half-dizzy, smiling and carrying my heart.
There’s this sky she likes.

Dan Cereill’s life is filled with upheaval. First the family business went broke, then his dad announced he was gay and moved out, leaving Dan and his mother to cope on their own. Now Dan’s living in a new house and going to a new school, while his mother flails around trying to set up a wedding cake business and listening to sad music. When he sets eyes on his beautiful neighbour, he wonders if there’s hope after all – but he soon realises Estelle is way out of his league.

Six Impossible Things is a witty journey through crushes, family break up, teenage reinvention and general chaos. Dan is a likeable narrator who has a lot to deal with. He gets himself into lots of scrapes – not always his own fault – and from time to time does some pretty dumb things, but he has a good heart and is doing his best to survive more changes than any kid should have to deal with in one hit.

A loveable character and a gently humorous storyline.

Six Impossible Things, by Fiona Wood
Pan Macmillan, 2010
ISBN 9780330426060

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