The Traitors' Gate by Avi

When Avi publishes a book read it. He never fails to deliver, and he doesn't fail with this one.

Written for your sophisticated reader at intermediate and high school level, it is a story set in Dickensian London, indeed it could almost be the story of Charles Dicken's early life.

John Huffam's father is arrested for debt under mysterious circumstances and is imprisoned in a debtor's prison with his mother and sister. There are rumours that Mr Huffam was about to sell British Naval secrets concerning the discovery of "rifling" in guns which allows them to fire longer distances with greater accuracy. Young John gets involved in all the intrigue along with a street urchin, Sary the Sneak, and an array of sinister characters, just like a Dicken's novel.

Avi deliberately writes the story in a Dickensian way, save for the metaphors that characterised Dicken's writing. Nonetheless he portrays the City of London in the 1840's in such descriptive and realistic way with it's dinginess, it's squalor and it's fog, that the city becomes a character in the novel.

This novel is also a mystery which draws the reader in and Avi manages to extend the mystery right to the last page. You will not be disappointed.

Read it!

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Atheneum Books

New Zealand Book Month

In Wellington for the weekend ? On Sunday 31 August 2008 you and the kids can discover some decidedly bookish events at Te Papa designed to kick off New Zealand Book Month. There’s a giant kid snake, badge making, and that old faithful - character dress-ups - all up on level one at The Void. Children's activities include:

10.30am Capital E National Theatre Group - Kiwi Moon puppet show
11.30am Gecko Press - Snake and Lizard - Storytellers Moira Wairama and Tony
Hopkins lead a giant kid snake around Te Papa.
12.30pm Lynley Dodd - fantasy dress-up competition - children to dress as
characters from The Dudgeon is Coming, The Other Ark and The Nickle-Nackle
Tree with book prizes.
1.30pm Fifi Colston - craft activities linked with Janie Olive and Verity's
Truth.
2.30pm Kate De Goldi and Jacqui Colley - Lolly Leopold reading and badge
making.

For more information about events visit www.nzbookmonth.co.nz


Flickr image by Velvet Android

Gool by Maurice Gee.

The sequel to Salt and a good one at that. Gee continues the themes of "man's inhumanity to man" and "man's inability to learn from history" that he started in Salt but this time he polarises man's hatred in the form of a mother Gool, and her offspring, which threaten the world.

Hari and Pearl who were the heroes of Salt have had children, all of whom have inherited the gift of being able to talk in the mind and to influence behaviour in both humans and animals with this power. Xantee is the most influential in this book which is written sixteen years after Salt finished.

Hari is attacked by a small Gool which has latched onto his throat and is sucking his life away. Xantee and her siblings and other similarly gifted friends, set out to find Hari's father Tarl with the hope of destroying the mother gool so that the world can be restored to a better place. There is action aplenty in the forests, in the mountains and under the destroyed city of Belong.

Maurice Gee has written a satisfactory sequel to Salt and while much of the story is gloomy he does have a positive ending, but can man learn from this?

Will appeal to secondary students and young adults

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Puffin Books

Secrets and Spies

by Judith Bryers Holloway

This book is a bit different!

It is a New Zealand book set in a fictional city, where big business and local council are trying to manipulate the lives of ordinary citizens. Some primary aged children, with the help of a seventh former, fight the council to allow a home for old dogs to remain on a piece of prime real estate.
The book has many short chapters (two to ten pages long), and is illustrated by a number of black and white photographs.
Once the characters and settings are established, the story moves along briskly. One chapter is written as a TV play, complete with stage directions. There is also a chapter about making a submission to a council meeting.

Photos were taken in the Horowhenua area, and $1 from the sale of each book will go towards Hearing Dogs NZ.

Primary (good readers) and Intermediate level.

Reviewed by Lynn

Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle

Translated by Sarah Ardizzone with illustrations by Francois Place

Toby Alone thrusts you into the story immediately – Toby a 13 year-old who just happens to be one and a half millimetres tall (“not exactly big for a boy of his age”) – is on the run and is hiding from his pursuers in a hole in the tree in which he lives.

Toby Lolness lives in a tree – a tree as we understand it – but for Toby and his fellow inhabitants the tree is their world. Anything outside the tree is a fearful place full of danger and uncertainty.

Toby’s father is a clever and well-respected scientist. But when he refuses to share the secret of one of his inventions, because he is worried about the effect it would have on the tree, he is shunned and made an outcast. Toby’s family are banished to live in the Low Branches and that is just the beginning of the adventures of the Lolness family.

The story has the feeling of a fairy tale where the fate of many people rests in the hands of one tiny individual who accomplishes great deeds. The tree stands for the world and the sap is the life force which can be, and is being, plundered for short term gain by greedy corrupt individuals.

You have to pay attention while reading this. The story flits forward and back in time and there are quite a few characters to remember. But it is worth it.

As I was coming to the end I kept on thinking “How will it all be resolved in so few pages?” Well…. it wasn’t! There is more to come – at least one more.

By the way - it is beautifully produced – nice paper, lovely illustrations and a brown paper dust jacket that can be opened up to show you a map of the tree. It is all very smart.

Suitable for year 6 and up. However be wary. In the fairy tale tradition there is some nasty stuff – Bernie, the prison warder’s daughter, is not someone you would want as your friend, and it might be worthwhile to read it before you give it to your younger children.

Published by Walker Books

Write On

Three quick items of interest if you are living in (or close to) Wellington.

Writers from the Wellington region are invited to submit a children’s story for the Jack Lasenby Award; a biennial award offered by the WCBA, (Wellington Children’s Book Association). First prize is $500 and entries close: October 31st 2008. Please email the.wcba@gmail.com for an entry form or you can pick up one from the Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie.

And what better person to inspire you than Joy Cowley, one of our most successful children's book writers. Tonight - Monday, 25th August, Joy is giving a talk entitled Getting Started as a Children’s Book Author that outlines how to get into the field of writing for children - and if you are in it already, how to develop your writing career further. Venue is Upper Chamber, Arts Centre, 61-69 Abel Smith Street, beginning 7.30 pm.

If you can’t attend Joy’s Cowley’s lecture then there’s another opportunity to attend a writing workshop in Wellington aimed at emerging children's book writers. This day long session will be lead by internationally published children's book author, creative writing teacher and manuscript assessor, Fleur Beale.

That workshop date is Sunday October 5th 2008, 9.30am-4pm at The Arts Centre in Abel Smith St. The cost is a very reasonable $50 - including morning and afternoon tea. However spaces are limited so be quick. For more information visit the www.the-wcba.blogspot.com


Flickr image by LarkingAbout's

Win big with your picture book lists

Remember those picture book lists! We want them!

And you want to win some Babette Cole signed picture books too - you know you do.

See here for how you can do this.

Flickr image by Natashalcd

The Birthday Tree by Paul Fleischman

This fantastic picture book would be suitable for year 4 upwards.

It is about the life of Jack, beginning as a baby, with his ex-seafaring parents honouring his birth by planting a tree.

As Jack grows, so does the tree. The tree begins to represent Jack's moods: when he is happy the tree limbs stand straight and proud; when he is sick or sad the leaves tremble on their stems.

One morning Jack's parents find their son's bed empty. This is the beginning of Jack's journeys. His whereabouts are represented by either a seabird or land bird perched on top of the tree. When the tree almost dies the parents realize Jack is in grave danger. Will he return? They watch the tree in hope.

Previously published in 1979, with a different illustrator, this new edition of Paul Fleishman's first picture book is published by Candlewick Press, in 2008.

From Dyane, in Whangarei

The beautiful miscellaneous by Dominic Smith.

This book isn't for everyone. Some will love it as I do, others will condemn it as a load of crap. In any event it is really deep, deeper than many people want to go or can be bothered with. Essentially it is a coming of age book of a teenage boy whose father is a genius and expects that his son will be the same. It is also a father and son story, a story of family relations, of life and death and of friendship, and there are moments in this book that will have you struck with wonder.

Nathan Nelson is an average boy and believes he is a disappointment to his father. A car accident in which his grandfather is killed, leaves him with a mental condition called synesthesia which gives him the sort of memory that a savant has. He is sent to a special clinic at which teenagers with special gifts are monitored. His father at last has something to be proud of, or does he? At this clinic Nathan meets Teresa and Toby who have special gifts and are to have a profound effect on his life.

The intellectual banter of this book is a treat, but it is essentially for senior secondary students or those that think deeply on the meaning of life with the tongue tucked firmly in the cheek.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Atria Books

2008 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards

On Monday night the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards were held at the National Library of New Zealand. The Drawbridge Mural added some background glitter, the acrobatic stilt walkers some lofty entertainment and the passionate observations from readers, authors, speakers and judges were as lively and engaging as the finalists. A point judging panel convener Bob Docherty noted when he congratulated all those on the shortlist, “here is real quality writing and such a variety of genre and style”. And so to the winners, they are.

Esther Glen Award - for fiction Smashed by Mandy Hager (Random House New Zealand). The judges described this novel by Wellington based author Mandy Hager as a, “stand-out story about seeking the truth, with characters that are believable, strong and still in our minds long after we close the covers.”

"A brilliant story, from a master illustrator." Rats by Gavin Bishop (Random House New Zealand) took out the Russell Clark Award for illustration. Certainly a popular choice with the audience and in a lovely touch of Rats synchronicity Bishop noted in his speech (above) that this is the year of the rat, that he had recently come face to face with a rat in his compost bin, “we both shrieked” and that Russell Clark was one of his art tutors at University. "A book that will be around for a long time," and one that works particularly well as a read aloud the judges concluded

While the judges were, "disappointed in the number and the variety of entries for the non fiction award," they were encouraged “by the superb quality of the five finalists in the Elsie Locke Award for non fiction.” That prize went to Draw New Zealand Birds by Heather Arnold (Raupo Publishing). Here is a book the judges described as, "timeless, it will still be relevant in 50 years time... A professionally written, and laid out book"

The Te Kura Pounamu prize was given to Kai Ora! 2 – Tikanga a Iwi series (Hana Ltd) by Kararaina Uatuku, Hana Pomare, Charisma Rangipunga, Hana O’Regan and Che Wilson. This award recognises outstanding work in te reo Māori for children and young people. The judges said this beautifully photographed series was, “unique with nothing else available on the topics in Maori or English.”

Each award consists of a medal or Taonga and $1,000 prize money. Heartfelt congratulations to the finalists, the winners - and judging panel; Bob Docherty, Alice Heather, Belynda Smith, and Rosemary Tisdall.

Tally Charts - one of a new maths series.

By Vijaya Khisty Bodach Published by Capstone Press, 2008.

Sam and Kim make tally charts to keep count of their pick up sticks, and tally charts are made for other things too, like favourite ice cream flavours and sports, how many times heads comes up when tossing a coin, and how many times the carousel spins on a carousel ride. There is a Table of Contents, Glossary and Index. This book has lovely, colourful, full page photos, and large examples of the tally charts - ideal for shared reading with very junior primary classes.

There are four books in this Making Graphs maths series - bar graphs, pictographs, pie graphs, and tally charts. They all have very simple text, and large colourful pictures. Great for starting off or finishing a maths lesson.

Reviewed by Heather

Reviews in Loos

A few years ago a creative, innovative librarian at one of our courses told us about a strategy that she used to get teachers into the library – reviews in loos. She figured that she had a captive audience for a few minutes each day, in the staff toilets. Reviews started appearing. Not long after, teachers whom she seldom saw in the library started popping in.

Ever since then, I have suggested this as an approach whenever I can. Goodness knows how many Focus schools have this in their strategic plan.

It then occurred to me, as we were holding our reading and literacy course, that we should try it out too. I “borrowed” a few reviews off the Create Readers website, added in the tear off strips, and put them up in our loos.

It turned out to be great success, both with course participants (heard excitedly discussing the different reviews) and our own staff, one of who was heard to say “Well, I spent a lot longer in there than I meant to!”

Why not give it a go, especially if you are already doing reviews. You never know who might appear in the library – just make sure that you put them at eye level for easy reading. And remember some of us sit and some of us stand!

Don't forget to change your reviews as frequently as your other toilet pages.

Thanks to my colleagues for the reviews and to the fabulous librarian whose idea this was.

From Lisa, in Auckland

Mighty Monday

We know good things come in three and here’s the proof. First, Library Week is upon us! Check out the Library Week website for info on events taking place nationwide - and grab some ideas for activities.

Second. There’s also The Lunch Pack Competition over at the NZ Book Month 2008 site and that also kicks off from today. It's a great way to win some prizes and also view the top 25 kiwi kids’ books.

And last but not least, tonight it’s the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. The full finalist list is here and we’ll post the winners on the blog just as soon as they are announced.

Banner Image courtesy LIANZA

Tell us your must-have picture books and win!

Remember to tell us your picks for the best picture books - books that every library/ home with young children should have.

Click here to get the full story.

Leave us your picks and go into the draw to win your prize - some signed Babette Cole books.

Let us know by the end of August

Gross Books for Boys

And speaking of Beattie's Book Blog, (see previous blog) this recent post refers to a great article from the Wall Street Journal: "Problem: Boys Don't Like to Read. Solution: Books That Are Really Gross"

Check it out for a New York take on this issue, with some new "gross" resources to try out in your library...

Seadog - A tale of old New Zealand by Dorothy Butler, Illustrated by Lyn Kriegler

I enjoyed reading this picture book story of old New Zealand set in the remote Karekare Valley on Waitakere’s wild west coast in 1890.

It is a delightful narrative about 10 year old crippled Joseph struggling on his crutch and wishing to find other occupations besides the activities in which his strong, active brothers are involved. Although Joseph enjoys exploring, walking on the beach and reading, he does not think his days are as interesting as his brothers’.

One day there comes a dog from the sea. Seadog and Joseph have a lot in common as the reader will find out once they read the awe-inspiring tale of a young boy's tenacity and courage, based on a true incident that happened 100 years ago.

The illustrations are very creative and complement this exceedingly readable tale of old New Zealand.

Reviewed by Rosina

Published by Reed

You can also see comments about this book, Dorothy Butler and Lyn Kriegler on Beatties Book blog

Two reviews for the latest Jackie French

A Rose for the Anzac Boys

What a stunning story this is! It is a story of World War 1 that has never been told like this.

Midge is a 16 year old New Zealand girl, finishing school in England. As the realities of the war hit home in England Midge joins her friends in opening a canteen to serve cocoa to the soldiers as they make their way to and from battle, in France. This rapidly expands to encompass the full horrors of the war from the incompetence of the Officers running the war, to the horrors of the trenches, the huge casualty lists and terrible wounds, and the relationships that were made and ended in an instant.

Where Midge cannot go she learns about through exchanging letters with the soldiers she meets. Midge also exchanges letters with family back home and with nurses and friends in New Zealand and Britain so we get an all round view of the war.

The book covers the period from 1915 to the end of the war and includes Gallipoli but is essentially the war in France and the Home Front in England. The immediate after-war period of the influenza epidemic, the Suffragettes and the social conditions in England are touched upon. "How do you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paris" and "how can you expect women who have experienced what Midge has to go back, to being housewives?"

It is sad, it is horrifying, it is uplifting and it is inspiring. I have never read a book quite like it. Written for high school level and while it is the women's story, war is hell for everybody.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by HarperCollins (Angus and Robertson)

A Rose for the ANZAC Boys

by Jackie French

This book is a tribute to the thousands of women volunteers who supported the war effort in 1914-1918 and beyond.

Jackie French says in her notes that she almost didn’t complete it a number of times because it was so upsetting – so be warned – multiple hankies needed!

Three teenage girls are at school in England, and they decide to go to France to offer hot cocoa and sandwiches to troops. Midge, the main character, is from a New Zealand farm and has two brothers enlisted – one in Gallipoli and one in Belgium. She encounters incredible bravery and horrendous injuries, as her role becomes more first aid and nursing.
After the war she still has to cope with the aftermath of war injuries.

The women of the time were often unsung heroines who arranged and managed supplies to supplement the troops’ meagre rations.

Visit Jackie French's website here and read more about this, and her other titles, and about Jackie herself.

Reviewed by Lynn

Titanic 2020 by Colin Bateman..

A new Titanic has been built in the same shipyards as the first one, and has a captain (Smith) with the same name as the original Titanic. Jimmy Armstrong (thank heaven his name wasn't Jack Dawson), a 13 year-old misfit, accidentally stows away and gets involved in the most fantastic story Colin Bateman has yet told.

While on board ship an earthquake hits San Diego dislodging two bottles of highly contagious biological organisms which when released into the air cause massive death to the world's population. The new Titanic docks at Miami takes on 2000 passengers and what follows is a surreal voyage, while the world and civilisation as we know it dies.

Colin Bateman tells a witty story with a black humour that titillates the reader. There is action aplenty and a hint of a shaggy dog story about this novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it will most appeal to Intermediate and Junior secondary school students especially boys. Give it a whirl you will love it.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Hodder Children's Books

Colin Bateman has his own blogspot too. The next in the series, Titanic 2020: Cannibal City is due soon if not already here.

Spice up your book club with Speed Booking

Speed-booking is an activity that can bring avid readers and reluctant readers together by engaging them in a process that serves both groups’ needs, in a fast-paced student-friendly atmosphere. It puts a literacy spin on a culturally popular activity called speed dating, in which adults sit across from each other and spend a few minutes introducing themselves before they move on to the next person and repeat the process.

In speed-booking, students talk about books, not themselves, and are interested in finding not a date but a book they might want to read at a future time (a notebook or reading journal is a useful accoutrement!).

Speed-booking is very adaptable and basically involves students taking turns giving a speedy overview of the book they’ve been reading and answering a question about their book before quickly rotating to the next student and repeating the process.

Students arrange themselves in pairs sitting across from each other. Each person has e.g. five minutes to give an overview of their book, and for their partner to ask a question, before one person moves on to their next ‘date’, and then again after the next five minutes, until the leader halts the process.

Once children have participated in speed-booking several times they become good at developing questions on their own. However, when they first start they will probably need help asking and answering questions. To that end it is useful to provide a list of questions, such as:

• What was the main character like? Did you like or dislike him/her?
  
• What was the main conflict or struggle in the book, and how did it develop?
• What was your favourite part of the book and why?
• When and where did the story take place, and how did this setting affect the characters and events?
• Why did you choose this book, and how did it keep your interest so that you wanted to keep reading it to the end?
• Was this book like any other book you’d read? Why? Why not?
• How would you rank this book if 1 represented the worst and 10 the best? Explain your rating.

These ideas for speed booking, since shared with quite a few New Zealand schools, came from Christine Boardman Moen's article "Speed Booking – Creating a Classroom Literacy Community" in Book Links, May 2007. You can look at this article in full by going to EPIC's MasterFILE Premier database. Search for "speed booking" (use inverted commas to make sure the two words are right next to each other). Choose PDF Full Text. The majority of New Zealand public libraries subscribe to EPIC, and all NZ schools are eligible to register for free (subscriptions are paid for by the MOE).

From Jan, Palmerston North

Grim and Grimmer

The White Snake, The Girl Without Hands, Godfather Death, The Devil's Sooty Brother, and The Glass Coffin. With titles like these it’s not surprising to learn that fairy stories were originally aimed at adults and were less Disney and more The Sopranos. However since the 18th century fairy tales became a more integral part of childhood experience, so that by the late Victorian era the genre was primarily considered children's entertainment.

For an intriguing look at this fascinating genre of children’s literature the exhibition Grimm Stuff: folktales and fairy stories at the National Library in Wellington showcases the work of notable fairy story illustrators from the Victorian era to today, including Arthur Rackham, Maurice Sendak, and New Zealand's Gavin Bishop.

Grim Stuff also explores folk tales from around the world, and includes a delightful look at the 'flower fairy' phenomenon –from New Zealand’s indigenous Hutu and Kawa to that towering luminary of this petal power sub genre - Cicely Mary Barker and her flower fairies. The exhibition opens August 8th and we’ll keep you posted on up-and-coming related events.


Flickr image by Michael-A

Library Week, 18- 22 August, 2008

Library Week is almost here and many libraries around New Zealand will be taking part in New Zealand’s biggest story time at 10.30am on Wednesday 20 August. Diana Neild’s delightful picture book Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig is an ideal read aloud for this year’s story time.

You can check out the events in your area and gather ideas for Library Week by logging on to www.libraryweek.org.nz, or try out the micro-blogging page under What’s my story and let others know what you are doing during Library Week 2008.


For Year 6-8 students there’s an interactive book competition with fabulous book prizes to be won every day! Go to COMPETITION on the library week webpage to find out more.


Keep watching this blog for more news about Library Week and the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.

Three new Titanic books

Titanic by Jim Pipe. Firefly, 2007
The Titanic : an interactive history adventure by Bob Temple. Capstone Press, 2008
Nightmare on the Titanic by William Caper. Bearport, 2007

96 years after the event, the Titanic disaster has lost none of its powerful grip on the imagination. Here are three quite different books, each with their own strengths.

Jim Pipe’s Titanic is a visual stunner. From the dramatic cover right through all the flaps, fold-outs and envelopes, readers will love poring over the beautiful reproductions of deck plans, menus, telegrams and newspaper cuttings.

Bob Temple has made clever use of the “Choose your own adventure” format in his book The Titanic: an interactive history adventure. Readers can take on the role of a first class passenger travelling in luxury; an immigrant in third class on their way to a new life in America; or one of a number of crew members. The variety of experiences and outcomes help to give a real feel for the drama and horror of the disaster.

Nightmare on the Titanic is a slim little volume compared to the other two. However William Caper has done an excellent job of describing the Titanic story in relatively brief and simple text. Generously illustrated, this is a very approachable book for less able readers.

Reviewed by Pamela

So What’s Your Choice Picture Book?

The other day I came across this wee gem of a list, a top 100 picture books list compiled in August 2000.by Joan Gibbons, then the Deputy Librarian, Education Library at University of Waikato.

Top 100 picture books August 2000


It’s now eight years on, and some of these books will be out of print so what better opportunity than to create a similar listing today with more up-to-date titles, but not forgetting those picture book classics as well! Here’s how.

Leave a comment giving us your choice picture books of all time - old, new, tried and true, NZ and elsewhere. Your list can be up to ten books with one book per author. Then at the end of this month we’ll collate and make available a list of the top choices.

And just to make it interesting - everyone who posts a comment will go into to the draw to win one of three Babette Cole books graciously signed by Babette herself! Just remember - you are welcome to submit multiple lists but they won’t equate to multiple entries for the completion.

Post your picks by the end of August to be in to win.

Happy list making.

Shadow of the mountain by Anna Mackenzie.

Geneva's brother Stephen has been killed in a rock climbing accident and this has shattered the whole family. Geneva tries to confront her fears by climbing the mountain on which Stephen was killed, but discovers she has other mountains to climb as well.

Narrated in the first person by Geneva this is a satisfying story about grief and healing, and also about teenage friendship and relationships. Not everything goes smoothly and misconceptions and misunderstandings cause havoc with Geneva and her friends. A positive aspect of this book is a very good male role model in Angus. I am sure most parents would be delighted if their daughters had a boyfriend like Angus.

Not a demanding read this story and what it lacks in real drama it makes up in commonsense advice.

Suitable for teenage readers.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Longacre

You can download a teacher resource kit for this title

Searching, Struggling, Choosing and Changing. Part Two

Here’s part two of number five in our ongoing series of short lists of great contemporary fiction titles is titled; Searching, struggling, choosing and changing.

Hush: an Irish princess’ tale. Donna Jo Napoli. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007.
Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted. Suggested level: secondary.
Igraine the brave. Cornelia Funke. New York: Chicken House/Scholastic, 2007.

Love, Stargirl. Jerry Spinelli. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
Still moping months after being dumped by her Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl, a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world’s longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life in Pennsylvania. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

Over a thousand hills I walk with you. Hanna Jansen. Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Books, 2006.
Jeanne and her family, who are Tutsis living in Rwanda during a time of civil war, flee their home in hopes of evading Hutu soldiers as political events threaten to overtake them. Suggested level: secondary.

Revolution is not a dinner party. Ying Chang Compestine. New York: H. Holt, 2007.
Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists’ Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter. Suggested level: intermediate, secondary.

Ruby red. Linzi Glass. London: Penguin, 2007.
Set in Johannesburg during apartheid at the time of the Soweto uprising. Tells the story of Ruby, who is from a privileged white background, and her relationships with both an Afrikaner and a talented black artist, who is a member of the ANC. First person recount. Suggested level: secondary.

Solo. Alyssa Brugman. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2007.
After yet another outburst, Mackenzie is sent to a wilderness camp, 24 hours alone in the Australian bush to confront her past, her family and her demons. That’s when things start to unravel. First person recount. Suggested level: secondary.
secondary.

Teacher’s dead. Benjamin Zephaniah. London: Bloomsbury, 2007.
A teacher is dead, murdered by two of his students in front of the school. He was a good man. People liked him. So how could this happen? Why? It just doesn't make sense to Jackson, and he is determined to investigate the case until he understands.
What I was. Meg Rosoff. Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin, 2007.

Flickr Image by Solarina

Classic Kiwiana by Richard Wolfe and Stephen Barnett

Classic Kiwiana is a delightful little read.

Informatively laid out with one topic per page and a great photo about the subject on the facing page. There is a lovely photo of a Tip-Top double-header ice cream standing up proudly in the Tip-Top ice cream stand. All the illustrations are well done from the humble cabbage tree to the Silver Fern Cut Plug tobacco tin.

The information to go with the illustrations is just as interesting. I have learned many things I did not know – the origin of the Swanndri, how jandals came to be and who made the remarkable railways cups. I could go on and on listing the contents - they are all so enticingly written about – corrugated iron, weetbix, four square etc etc

We find this an excellent book to add to collections about national identity – an increasingly popular topic in schools to go with the new curriculum. It is written in a fun and informative way and I can imagine it could also be a welcome gift for overseas friends and relatives as well as a useful addition to the school library.

Suitable for all curious people from year 5 and up.

Published by Penguin Books

Reviewed by Beth