Little Audrey by Ruth White

A beautiful true story about the author and her family growing up in very grim conditions in a coalmining community in Virginia. This has been the setting of Ruth White's other novels particularly the excellent Belle Prater's Boy.

The story is narrated by Audrey, Ruth White's older sister, and tells the story of the family's early life after the death of their youngest sister and before the death of another family member whom I shan't reveal as it will ruin the story for you. The father is a miner and the mother does the best she can no matter how miserable she feels. Each of the four girls in the story has a unique personality and the sense of community is one that does not exist today. It is heart warming, it is sad, it will make you laugh and cry at the same time and it is brilliantly written.

Will appeal to Intermediate and Junior Secondary students but adults will get a lot out of this short book.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux 2008

Stories from coal mining towns in Appalachia - An interview with Ruth White

Ten Cents a dance by Christine Fletcher

Set in Chicago in 1941 just before and just after Pearl Harbour and America's entry into World War II. Chicago is noted for it's jazz and blues music, and for it's connection with gangsters. Both feature in this novel.

Ruby is fifteen and sick of working in the packing house bottling pickled pigs feet. Who wouldn't be? When offered the chance of working in a dance emporium for 10 cents a dance by a shifty old school pal, Ruby jumps at the chance. Soon she is rolling in the money with the other girls after serving a pretty interesting apprenticeship, and coming in contact with dubious characters and the music scene. When war breaks out and the servicemen are on the scene everything changes. With a change in family circumstances forcing the issue, Ruby has to decide what she is going to do with the rest of her life.

A story of a little known period of American life and a very enlightening one at that, as Ruby makes the transition from girl to woman.

Suitable for secondary school students but young adults will get off on it too.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Bloomsbury, NY. 2008.

Four animal fables from Gecko Press

Gecko Press continues to provide New Zealand children with a wealth of innovative, quirky picture books translated from (mostly) European languages, and these four recent offerings are no exception.

The animals featured here display few animal characteristics (except for the zebra parents in Zou who, unsurprisingly, find it difficult to hold miniature teacups in their standard-sized hoofs) but are instead used to illustrate totally human values-- and foibles.

Both Zou and The Big Yawn are aimed at the very young. The former, by French writer Michel Guy, features a young zebra who overcomes a wealth of everyday disasters in order to bring his parents a cup of tea in bed. They eventually get their tea, but much more important is the love that comes with it. Zou has few words and would suit the beginning reader.

Monika Spang’s The Big Yawn is the perfect read-aloud bedtime story. The zoo animals prepare themselves for bed in various unexpected ways, linked by a large yawn that moves from one page to the next, rounding up the stragglers, until

‘Some snore, some snuggle, some count sheep,
All the animals are going to sleep…
..And you?’

The illustrations, by Sonya Bougaeva (author/illustrator of 2007’s The Visitor) are both charming and witty.

The Fearsome Five by Gecko favourite Wolf Erlbruch would suit a slightly older audience. The five are a self-described group of ‘ugly misfits’ who learn the secret of happiness from a Hyena with a plain face but a good outlook on life. United by friendship, their love of music, and a taste for pancakes, they eventually

‘..discover the old truth that what you look like doesn’t matter as much as what you do, and that being happy is a matter of attitude’.

The Chicken Thief, originally published in French by Beatrice Rodriguez, is one of an increasing number of new wordless picture books that work well at junior level. When a chicken is captured by a night-prowling fox, her distressed friends set off in hot pursuit, desperate to save her before it is too late. But all is not as it seems…
The reader/ viewer is kept one jump ahead of the would-be rescuers in what turns out to be a delightful story about the folly of jumping to conclusions. While The Chicken Thief can be enjoyed at its simplest level, older children will find more complex layers to explore and much ground for discussion.

No animals were harmed in the making of any of these books.

Reviewed by Cecily Fisher

Published by Gecko Press

Book Reading – Kate de Goldi’s “10pm question.”

A 10 part adaptation of Kate de Goldi’s “10 pm question” is due to air on Radio New Zealand National on July 6th. The novel has already won the NZ Post Book Awards this year and is currently nominated as a finalist in the Montana Book Awards fiction category – the first book to be a finalist in both awards. Catch your fix of Frankie’s quest for reassurance in an uncertain world.

Bribes to get boys into reading.

Rongotai College in Wellington is currently trying out a new scheme to get boys reading, offering them a can of drink if they can prove they've read two books, a voucher from Subway if they are able to stretch to five, and a movie voucher if they can make it to 10. The school says the scheme has been so effective that library book borrowing has doubled since it launched.


"Boys don't read enough. Some are only reading one book a year, so we want to push them. We are not trying to turn them into English students, we just want them to read books," teacher Kit Norman, who is in charge of the scheme, told New Zealand website Stuff.


"I am the first person to admit it is a bribe, but the results speak for themselves."


If pupils can read 20 books – proved with a reading log and with parental guarantees of home reading sessions – they are awarded a mobile phone voucher, with each class's top two pupils winning a school blazer, and the top three students overall taking home a clothes voucher. Robert Walpole would surely have approved.

End of the Alphabet by Fleur Beale

Ruby Yarrow is a very nice person, selfless and caring but she has low self worth and is put upon by her family, particularly her younger brother Max. When her best friend Tia proclaims "I'm not talking to you until you stop being a doormat", Ruby reassesses her life and takes steps to get some backbone. What results is a family story of internal struggle particularly between Max and Ruby, but also between Ruby's stepfather, who is a very good father, and Ruby's mother. In between times there is a Brazilian trip to consider and Ruby's great efforts to turn her life around.

Many readers will sympathise with Ruby's situation particularly when it comes to doing tasks around the house and sibling rivalry. Fleur Beale always writes a good story and this is no exception.

It is aimed at intermediate and junior secondary school students but adults will enjoy it too.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Random House 2009.

Butterflies and Moths

By Nic Bishop Published by Scholastic 2009

In this attractive edition, full-page close-up photographs of butterflies and moths at varying stages of their life cycles (some magnified up to 20 times) are accompanied by descriptive text. Each page of text has a key sentence picked out in larger font of a contrasting colour. The magnificent photographs are so clear and crisp there is a temptation to touch them to feel the texture. The book is printed on brightly coloured pages and the whole package leaves one in awe of the majesty of nature.
Nature-lovers (and photographers) of all ages will enjoy this book.

Visit Nic Bishop’s website to find out more about the author and his photography.


Reviewed by Melva

Sea Transportation: discover science through facts and fun

By Gerry Bailey Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2008 Series: Simply science.

'Sea transportation' is a dip into aspects of sea transport for students in middle primary school, but it would also be an interesting book for older, less able readers. I found the layout eye catching and absorbing - the simple text boxes and cartoon style illustrations used on most pages lend it a graphic style that is popular with children. It has a contents page, glossary and index, which makes it useful for information literacy work.

The book covers topics often not mentioned in books about boats. For example, there is a section on floating and sinking that leads into the concepts of density and displacement, there is a brief run down on the importance of navigation and rudders, and there are several pages on travelling under the sea - submarines, bathyscapes and submersibles.

I found two very minor problems with the book . Fighting ships (pages 28-29) - I think might have been better presented in chronological order, and the map of the world (page 18-19) does not include New Zealand. We seem to have fallen off the edge of the picture!

The other seven titles in the Simply Science series are Communication, Energy, Land Transportation, Simple Machines, Light and Colour, Space, and Weather.

Reviewed by Heather

Titanicat by Marty Crisp

Does anyone really know about the many unsolved mysteries of the “Titanic”?

This is a story about one of them – the Titanic cat!

This is an amazing story set in 1912, pertaining to the maiden voyage of the “Titanic”. A boy named Jim is on his first exciting voyage as a cabin boy, and is about to start a huge adventure to see America.

Every ship has a cat to bring good luck to the journey and to control mice and rats, and Jim is assigned the care of the ship’s cat. He compassionately befriends the cat and her four kittens on board and calls her 4-0-1. Due to superstition about calling a ship its correct name while being built, this is the name of the ship as well.

Seafarers also claim that a tortoiseshell cat can “see the future” and the old sailor’s saying that “a mewing cat on a ship can mean a difficult journey”, is a superstition even today.

Just before the breathtaking departure of the maiden voyage, it becomes apparent that 4-0-1 is absent and is not in her usual spot beside Jim.

On the 15th April, on a moonless night, the huge ocean liner “Titanic” suddenly hits an iceberg and quickly begins to sink.

The captivating story of the disappearance of the cat and her kittens continues and we see how the Titanic cat’s action dramatically changes the young boy’s life.

The story is suitable for primary and intermediate children and has bright, crisp, clearly painted illustrations.

This would make an excellent read-aloud story and is an intriguing version of the Titanic cat and how a sailor's superstition still exists in today’s world.

Reviewed by Shirley

Published by Sleeping Bear Press (2008)

The River Runs by David Hill

David Hill is one of New Zealand's great children's authors and he has done it again with this novel about two boys growing up in Taranaki in 1967.

Chris and his older cousin Roger don't like each other much, and the bigger and stronger Roger bullies the smarter Chris. As the story progresses the boys grudgingly begin to relate to each other until a crisis and emergency force the boys to unite for the common good.

The novel flows easily and David Hill’s mastery of language keeps the story going in an interesting way. Many snippets of life in 1967 come up especially popular television programmes and books children were reading at the time. As a child of the 60's I could relate to this story very well and I hope David Hill writes this sort of novel again.

A very readable book suitable for children from years 5/6 through to junior high school.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Mallinson Rendel 2008

"Gone" by Michael Grant

‘ONE MINUTE THE teacher was talking about the Civil War.
And the next minute he was gone.
There.
Gone.
No "poof." No flash of light. No explosion.’

This curtain raiser of a beginning is a real kick-off for an action packed novel that will keep you fixated and thoroughly absorbed right through to the very end.
Perdido Beach has been encircled with an impenetrable barrier. Everyone over the age of fourteen disappears. There are no adults, no telephone service and no Internet facility. Chaos and fear abound!!!
What materialises is an isolated city renamed FAYZ or Fallout Alley Youth Zone. Children develop special powers and animals and birds mutate. Amidst all this confusion, Sam appears to have some control...but only just. Caine and his following of bullies from the Coates Academy enter this new world to torment, to rule and to control.
The violence in the book may be a bit overwhelming and disturbing. However the synergies of the peacemakers towards a peaceful adjustment manages to counterbalance this harshness. There is that underlining quality of good versus evil that pervades the book that reminds one of the "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding where there are no adults to control the anarchy that runs amok.
The last pages leave the reader with a plenitude of questions. It's however a relief to know that 'Hunger' the sequel to 'Gone' has now been published.

By Janice Rodrigues

Living sunlight: How plants bring the Earth to life.

By Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm published by The Blue Sky Press 2009

A simply written, beautifully illustrated, picture book which explains a big topic in just a few words per page, with more details at the back of the book for those who want or need more. Presenting the Sun as the narrator the authors explain how it gives light and life to living things on Earth through the process of photosynthesis. Younger children will enjoy the illustrations but the science content is for older children, middle primary and above.

Reviewed by Melva

Red Butterfly by Deborah Noyes, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

A young Chinese Princess is preparing to journey to an unknown far off oasis and an uncertain future. The Princess wants to take with her a memory of the many splendours in her fathers kingdom. One such splendour is a secret deeply guarded from the outside world and the penalty for divulging this secret would be death. So with this knowledge do you think the young princess would take such a risk and if so why? Could it be courage or revenge or both?

Read this gracefully illustrated picture book and find out how and what the young Chinese Princess decided to take as a keepsake.


"Take with you some small piece of brightness, some shining memory, for the world is large, little butterfly, and the road is long."


A good read for a range of age groups. Older children will find new depths in this story.

Reviewed by Coral

Published by Candlewick Press (2007)

Matariki

As dawn approaches on June 24th the star cluster known in Aotearoa New Zealand as Matariki will be rising. This will herald in the Maori New Year. With each passing year, this celebration is becoming more popular.

Hear Toni Rolleston-Cummins read her book The Seven Stars of Matariki

And the Maori version (translated by Hone Morris) too - Te Huihui o Matariki


Published by Huia 2008

The author, Toni Rolleston-Cummins (Te Arawa, Ngai te rangi, Ngati Ranginui), is a primary school teacher, has a journalism degree and has written poems and stories from a young age. Finding a shortage of good books about Matariki, she originally wrote this story to engage and entertain her class, to make the story of Matariki come alive and have meaning.

The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett

A Sonya Hartnett novel is always something I look forward to and this one does not disappoint. It is for those who like to think deeply and meaningfully about the nature of life and existence.

In this instance she writes about an oft misused word, Love. What is love? why do we fall in love? What happens when love dies or is not enough? And more importantly when love ends can we love again?

Maddy is 75 years old. She comes home one day to find a young boy sitting in her living room. He is well mannered and talkative and she feeds him, makes him comfortable and then tells him the story of her life and her relationship with a man she loves and is known only as Feather.

Beautifully written, at times fanciful, but never dull. It will appeal to your mature reader at high school level, and for adults. This truly is a gem.

Reviewed by Bob

Another interesting review from Linda Newbery in the Guardian

Published by Walker Books (2008)

Finding Home by Sandra Markle

When we think about Bush fires in Australia our thoughts are for people and property. But what about the animals?

Just imagine how frightening the sights and sounds of a bush fire must be: flames, the sounds of crackling, thick black smoke, sparks being carried on the wind igniting everything in its path, animals fleeing, these are the sounds and smells of bushfires.

This book is based on the real life story of a koala nicknamed Cinders who survived two bushfires.

The story portrays the determination, love and survival instincts of a mother koala who protects her young joey from a raging bushfire. After getting her joey down safely from the tree she embarks on a journey in search of food.
Encountering people and a dog along the way she eventually finds a new source of food and a home for them both.

This is a thought-provoking book, reminding us that animals matter too! It is supported by wonderful illustrations and anyone who loves animals will love this book.

Primary level.

Published by Charlesbridge (2008)

Reviewed by Tina