Everyone except Gerald loves Mr Impoppable. Gerald hates balloons and has become the world champion balloon popper, so Mr Impoppable becomes his target; but this balloon is different. He makes fabulous chocolates for all the kids. And they love him for it but Gerald hates chocolates and warns Mr Impoppable that he will pop him. So one quiet afternoon, Gerald uses his pin to try and pop Mr Impoppable. He fails.
The chocolatier sends him off to sharpen his pin. This sharpened pin does not work either, and Mr Impoppable invites Gerald to stay for lunch. Gerald is surprised, no one has ever asked him to stay for lunch before But Gerald carries on with his quest. He uses a sword and this fails, so Mr Impoppable bakes him a birthday cake. Gerald trains a bunch of ninja kittens who hiss and spat and hack and when this fails the pair sit down to afternoon tea. Gerald brings in a cannon, once the property of a fearsome pirate, and a slingshot and when these also fail, they sit down to a game of chess. Gerald continues on with his quest. He has a bunch of scientists create a steamroller, the likes of which has never been seen before. Gerald rides the Popatron 3000 to mow down Mr Impoppable and something does go pop, but not what Gerald expects.
This very funny story of two people at odds coming together. Gerald is convinced that he will succeed but the chocolatier knows he will not. He offers the hand of friendship to Gerald and the two become close. Gerald seems to be a friendless boy intent on doing negative things to fill his time. So the hand of friendship that is offered from his victim takes him aback, and he accepts what is offered.
The wonderful illustrations are mesmerising: I was entranced that a few seemingly simple lines could get across the feelings of the two characters. A small change in the way the mouth curls, or the eyebrows on the face sit, allow the reader to be aware of the feelings of the two as they come to some understanding of each other. The story and its images will serve to encourage readers to look again at difference and how to bridge that gap.
Themes Difference, Understanding, Balloons.
Fran Knight
Birdie lights up the world by Alison McLennan and Lauren Mullinder
EK Books, 2023. ISBN: 9781922539489. (Age:3+)
Each evening at sunset, Birdie the penguin would sing to the sky, enticing the stars and the moon to come out so the other zoon animals would not be left in darkness. She believed that she was the chosen one, and this was her sole purpose. But she is dismayed when she gets sick and cannot sing, and depressed when the sky lights up in its evening show regardless. Clearly, she is not as important as she thought she was. What is her purpose if not to sing the night in?
This is a sensitive story that opens up opportunities to discuss some philosophical questions with young readers about purpose and responsibility and coping with disappointment. The teachers' notes suggest some of the questions that could be posed and how Birdie's situation might be related to their own lives, particularly if ambitions or expectations are thwarted somehow. In a world where every little thing is rewarded with praise and celebration, some children are not learning how to deal with things that don't work out the way they want and so this is a chance to ask, "But what if..."
"The author has said that she wanted to deliver the message that we all have special, unique gifts and it's our responsibility to share them with the world. If we have a song to sing, we should sing it, whether it fills a stadium or only brings joy to one person. It all counts."
Garth Nix is a favourite fantasy author of mine – I especially loved Sabriel, the first of the wonderful Old Kingdom series, and The left-handed booksellers of London and I was thrilled to find that there was a collection of short stories that I had not read. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz comprises of eight stories gathered for the first time, plus one new story “The Field of Fallen Foe,” to whet the appetites of those who are familiar with those previously published. Featuring Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, readers will be drawn into their world, where they function as agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World. The pair are tasked with finding and removing gods who have been listed as dangerous. Sir Hereward is the son of witches, a knight, skilful at swordplay and artillery, while Mister Fitz is a sorcerous puppet, who wields magic needles. And what a combination they are! Travelling from place to place they encounter adventure and danger in a magical land.
It was very easy to fall into these short stories and grow to like the main characters. Each one saw the pair face a different sorcerous god, and both had to draw on their skills to overcome the danger. There are scenes of derring-do, with the pair facing pirates, using gunpowder, and riding strange creatures across difficult terrains. By the end of the collection, the reader is familiar with some of Sir Hereward’s background and the family of witches he is related to, and how Sir Fitz was created.
This is a must have collection for Nix’s fans, easy to read and enjoyable, and is likely to appeal more to adults and older teens. George R.R. Martin mentions on the back cover that Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz “are the best partnership in the world of fantasy since Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser’’ by Fritz Leiber, and readers may want to check out that collection too.
An array of different dads and their children are shown in this story: playing, talking, having fun, eating and drinking, studying. Each page reflects the love felt between the two as they wake in the morning, eat breakfast together, then go through the day at the playground, at the supermarket, walking though a field, playing in the back yard, mending the car. Each image shows the love felt between the two, offering different dads and their children. One dad is in a wheelchair, one is hearing impaired, there are different body shapes and ages, while the children depicted are just as diverse. I loved looking at the different hairstyles of the young and old. The bold illustrations will attract the eyes of the readers as they scan each page, working out what the child and their father is doing, how they are interacting and what it shows about their relationship. Some pages are standouts; I love the double page of Dad cooking eggs, his daughter sitting on the kitchen bench, and the double page showing them in the supermarket, doing what all of us love to do, the indistinct shelves giving the impression of speed, and I love the image of the pair on the roof watching the night sky.
A delightful story of the link between fathers and their offspring, the book shows a group of diverse fathers interacting with their children, embracing the love that exists between them all, modelling a loving and strong relationship.
Text Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9781922790330. (Age:16+) Highly recommended.
What makes a woman stern and forbidding towards her children? Why would they grow up feeling unloved? Kate Grenville’s grandmother was a woman like that. And when in her later years she regretfully asked the question of little 5 year-old Kate, “Do you love me Cathy?” the child’s answer was “No”. Grenville’s latest novel Restless Dolly Maunder is an attempt to understand that aloof and unloveable woman that was her grandmother.
Dolly Maunder was a young woman in the late 1880’s, living in rural Currabubula, NSW. As a child she liked going to school, she was “clever little Dolly”, rewarded with the teacher’s star. She thought she might like to be a teacher too, but the response from her father was a resounding “Not over my dead body”. She was a girl, her place was in the home, there was work to do, and one day she would be married, and carry on with the household work and rearing children.
Grenville masterfully captures the drudgery of women’s daily work at that time. One of the first jobs was to prepare meals for the men on the farm.
But before you could put the butter on the bread you had to churn the cream, and before you could churn the cream the milk had to be set out …, and before that the cow had to be milked, and before you could milk the cow you had to … etc.
The long litany of tasks turns into a chain of syllogisms, which drag on to be repeated day after day. And then one day you married, and you started the same chores over again. Dolly becomes bitter and resentful of the freedom that man take for granted, and that feeling of entrapment finds its outlet in her relationship with her children. In wanting better choices for her daughter, she finds herself repeating the same mantra “Not over my dead body”, overriding her daughter’s wishes and insisting that Nance study pharmacy. Nance might be offered a different future but the overriding forcefulness is the same.
Restless Dolly Maunder is a reminder of the struggle that women had to undertake to be recognised as individuals with the right to make their own choices and their own future. Dolly Maunder may not have got it completely right, but she struck out as hard as she could to make it happen. With the result that today Kate Grenville is a woman making her own career with wonderful books that highlight the experiences of women in the past, their struggles not forgotten.
Headline, 2023. ISBN: 9781472299352. (Age:Adult young adult) Recommended.
The new, sumptuous mansion in Park Lane London is the height of 1905 modernity, packed with every luxury imaginable, the home of the de Vries family, built with money from their diamond business and it is stuffed with artworks and objets d’art. The house comes with a well-trained staff to keep it running smoothly including Mrs King, the housekeeper, Mr Shepherd the butler, and there are maids, manservants, housemaids, the cook, chauffeur and groomsman. But all is not well, the master has died, his daughter is planning a ball and the housekeeper has been dismissed after being found in the men's quarters. Now in charge of the mansion, Miss de Vries (mama died when she was young) is in search of a marriage alliance and tasks her lawyer with finding a suitably blue-blooded husband for her as she plans her ball, a sumptuous affair to catch the world’s attention albeit while she is dressed in mourning black. Meanwhile Dinah, aka Mrs King is doing a lot of planning herself. It seems Mr de Vries, real name Danny O’Flynn, was not only Dinah’s father but he also has a sister, Mrs Bone whose pawn shop is the centre of her own underworld empire. Mrs Bone too has a score to settle, having lent Danny the money to set up his diamond business, and is open to Dinah’s audacious plan to settle the score. They plan a magnificent heist, stripping the mansion entirely during the ball and pre-selling the contents on the black market. As the days are counted down, intricate arrangements are made to infiltrate the house servants and guest list. They carefully plan the operation, bringing in specialist help like the twin trapeze artists called Jane, the flamboyant actress, Hepzibah and the talented and ambitious seamstress Alice, also a relative, keen for her share to pay off unscrupulous loan sharks. There is great dialogue, often with an undercurrent of private understanding, and wonderfully described characters such as Mr Shepherd the butler, who smelled of grease and gentleman’s musk, “was like an eel, heavy and vicious, and he moved fast when he wanted to” p3 or Mr Lockwood “the lawyer seemed smooth, but he only seemed it. Really he was serrated all over, knicked and ridged from top to toe and you could prick yourself if you got too close” p13. But there are so many characters and sub-plots the story falters and loses pace. The much-anticipated ball eventually arrives but by then it seems less like a well-oiled plot than a farce and winding up the multiple sub plots means the ending fizzles out. First time author Alex Hay draws on his extensive knowledge of the era with its undercurrent of shifting social change and brash new architecture so there is much to like if you are prepared to be entertained and suspend disbelief.
A gently humorous look at relationships and friendships is explored in this fishing story. Fodor Dodo and Noodle go fishing. They are dressed for fishing and have their lines ready, so readers will be amused when the page is turned to reveal them sitting in the bath. Fodor Dodo throws out his line and very soon he catches a fish. Noodle asks what sort of fish it is. He replies that it is an underguppie and goes into the kitchen to cook it. While Food Dodo stirs the pot, Noodle sets the table.
When all is ready, Noodle calls in Dimple to eat the fish with them. All their imaginative play is overturned when Dimple calls out that the fish is his and demands his underpants back. Fodo Dodo placates Noodle, taking her back to the bath to watch a movie, Return of the Underguppies.
Gecko Press publishes curiously good books, and this is one that exemplifies their promise.
Readers will love working out what is going on: they will engage with Fodor Dodo and Noodle as they use their imaginations to create a space in the bathroom emulating a boat and catching a fish. They extend their story to the kitchen where they cook the fish, readying to sit down and eat it. But Dimple deflates their story by pointing out the fish is not a fish but his underpants. He undermines the friendly imagining but they have the last laugh, returning to the bathroom to watch the dryer as the underpants go around.
Children will relate to the imaginative playing of the first pair of friends and be dismayed when Dimple deflates their story. They will see that the two can shrug off their disappointment and return to the game they are playing. In this way readers will learn that they can be strong despite disappointment even from their friends.
Themes Role playing, Games, Imaginative play, Undermining, Humour, Friendship.
Harriet Hound is pretty much like other girls her age - she is eight years old; she has short curly hair; her favourite letter is H; she lives in a town called Labrador; and she loves dogs. She lives with her grandparents, her mum, and her older brother Hugo in a huge home especially built to be dog-friendly and now it is a dog rescue shelter. BUT - she is also autistic and has a superpower that allows her to summon the dogs from her family's rescue shelter every time there's trouble afoot... Whether it's a carnival catastrophe, a sudden storm, or vanishing vegetables, Harriet and her best dog friends use their super special talents and problem-solving skills to save the day!
Told in a series of short stories, this is a delightful book from the author of one of my favourite recent releases, The Bravest Word and again, she makes Harriet's autism such a natural part of her life, something Harriet and her family are comfortable with, and it is this authenticity that not only allows those on the spectrum to read a book about themselves but for those around them to understand the condition better. As Harriet says, "I stimmed. I flapped my hands out to the side and clicked my fingers out in front of me over and over again. It's okay. There's no need to be worried. Stimming is something I do ALL THE TIME. I do it when I'm worried and when I'm angry. Sometimes I can't stop my hands from doing it, but I also do it when I'm excited or when I'm happy. I stim to calm myself down." Can there be a better, more straightforward explanation By showing that being autistic is just a different way of being human, that there is nothing wrong that needs to be "fixed", and certainly nothing to be ashamed or frightened of, Foster advances the cause of acceptance immeasurably. Indeed, she continues this focus on kids with special needs in her book, The Unlikely Heroes Club.
Autistic or not, this is a wonderful set of stories for young, independent readers who love dogs and who would desperately like to live where Harriet does, and have her superpower.
What are people for? This is the question that Leeva Thornblossom wants to find the answer to.
Her mother is obsessed with fame and her father is equally obsessed with making a fortune. They are the Mayor and Treasurer of the small town they live in and are very unpopular as they charge more and more taxes and don't look after the citizens of the town.
Leeva is their servant, only born as her mother heard babies helped you become famous, which didn't work so now Leeva has to work to ensure that she isn't costing the family money. Leeva is eight or nine but isn't sure as no one has ever celebrated her birthday. Her employee manual prohibits her from leaving the property and although she has found small things that bring her joy, including the word of the week she wants to know what people are for.
The only people she knows are the people on her parents' TV shows and the ones she observes from her windows, crossing the road to avoid walking past her home. And then the newspaper mentions school, Leeva hopes that she will be able to attend but her father forbids her but in the process phrases his statement in such a way that Leeva finds a loophole that she uses to visit the library. This sets off a chain of events that helps Leeva to find answers to her question.
This book was a great read with a lot of parallels to Matilda and Pollyanna in that Leeva keeps a positive attitude, uses her brain to create workarounds and is helped by the people around her who know who her family is but recognise her as a person in her own right who is not a reflection of her parents.
This is a brilliant book that would work as a class novel, read aloud or read alone. It will appeal to a wide range of readers and become a firm favourite.
Themes Family, friendship, community, animals.
Mhairi Alcorn
A curious daughter by Jules Van Mil
Macmillan, 2023. ISBN: 9781761263767. (Age:16+)
Readers who enjoyed the story of Avril Montdidier in A remarkable woman, will eagerly pick up this sequel about her daughter Joy, another independent female. Joy is eighteen, wanting to assert herself against a mother she finds distant and confining in the way she plans and organises everything. Joy fails to realise that it is these skills that have made Avril the successful fashion designer that she is, and it is Avril’s business acumen that has supported their life on the Queensland cattle station. Joy is at an age where she rebels against her mother's control.
The author’s style is to carry the story along with conversations that tell us what the characters think and do. It makes for easy reading, and the chatter is pleasant. Readers who enjoy romance may enjoy Joy’s gradual discovery of different loves. However, it seems rather shallow. Independence seems to be about Joy choosing what she wants and doesn’t want. The fault is always in the man, and there is little analysis of her own role in relationships.
Nevertheless this is a light and entertaining read, a family saga set in the 1970s, with travels from Australia to England and France. It includes scenes from the music scene, the fashion world, and horse-riding at the homestead, so probably plenty to appeal to the right reader.
Themes Romance, Rock band, Independence, Travel.
Helen Eddy
The sacrifice by Rin Chupeco
Fire Reads, 2022. ISBN: 9781728255910. (Age:Young Adult) Recommended.
When a gung-ho Hollywood film crew storm the reputedly haunted Philippine island of Kisapmata and come across the enigmatically aloof local youth Alon and his dog Askal, they quickly realise they need his help to evade the island’s ghosts.
A history of unexplained deaths and disappearances plagues the island but this does not deter the film crew. They have to decode a sacrifice-related riddle and avoid a multigenerational curse, to avoid following the fate of a gold-plundering adventurer and a cult-leader, and becoming the next victims. It becomes evident that the curse has been laid on those who are not kind-hearted and fair, and the Hollywood crew, which includes amongst others, an alcoholic, an accused abuser and a selfie-obsessed influencer, must ask themselves whether they fit this bill.
The characters must try to evade a vengeful sleeping god, dangerous sinkholes, murderous trees and enigmatic ghosts and spectres from their own pasts. All these plot devices seem to require blow-by-blow descriptions of supernatural confrontations and fight scenes and so The Sacrifice never lets up the fast-paced action as various crew-members are condemned to their gory deaths.
Add in a faltering gay teen romance and some inter-cultural and inter-generational exchanges and misunderstandings, and you have a sure-fire page-turner with a final twist that in retrospect, seems inevitable, if sad.
This is not high-brow literature; there are a number of inconsistencies in the plot, some issues with the unauthentic use of Philippine and teen language, and most disappointingly, no strong female characters. However if you don't take it too seriously, The Sacrifice is overall an engaging read from an author of five series that all draw heavily on Asian folk tales of vampires, witches and ghosts.
Themes Mystery, Paranormal, Asian legends.
Margaret Crohn
An A to Z of dreaming differently by Tracey Dembo and Lucia Masciullo
Penguin, 2023. ISBN: 9780143778905. (Age:5+)
A beautifully illustrated alphabet book which will empower, support and intrigue the readers, has instant appeal as they rush to add positive words to those offered. Each letter comes along with a sentence containing words that start with the letter, offering grounded advice about its place in people’s lives. I love O, as it tells of two words, Oh no! and Oops! leading on to the P as things do not go to Plan. O could have many other words attached, OMG being a very often used phrase although the word that starts with G seems to be changing as more people are saying Gosh or Goodness. Readers will love how the letter O goes across the page to P, showing that all Plans are not always successful but you can Pick yourself up and try again.
Each of the 26 letters has words attached that are positive and bold, entreating the reader to be themselves, and proud of it. Y is for Yourself and Z tells that some day will be Zig, and other days will be Zag, while many others will Zip along.
The book reminds children to be themselves, that its okay to act differently and to question. Positivity exudes on every page, encouraging the readers to take charge of their lives and be happy.
The soft, engaging illustrations reveal four friends and we follow their lives through the alphabet, supporting each other as they try to achieve their dreams. Teacher's notes and an activity are available.
This is a book that gives the reader a mysteriously warm feeling and yet an intensely sad memorial of a past that is too raw to revisit; it is redolent of passion and the scent of oranges served with baguettes and the buttery saltiness of French cuisine. The fragrance of this book will linger long after the last page is turned!
Saskia is an Australian wife and mother in her 40s, lightly struggling with anxiety and her relationships, and exercising her artistic tendencies with her paper cut-out art sculptures. Into her medicated normality arrives the interruption of the announcement of an inheritance that forces her to confront her past. She has inherited half of a villa from a wealthy woman she met in the year she worked as an au pair on an idyllic French island. The villa must be visited to sign legal papers, but that also means she must confront her past and the man she thought may have loved her before the moment of awfulness of that year in her youth. Time has passed and Saskia has kept secrets from everyone in her present, and the things she had tried to forget are now confronting her stability, her sense of self as a mother and the things that she struggles with in her marriage. Can she revisit the past with her family in tow and stay on an even keel, or will everything in her life be repaired by re-examining that part of her life from a different perspective?
This is an incredibly rich and layered story, switching between the past and the present, and with both French and English language and culture woven through the story. Relationship struggles across generations rear their head in different ways, and truth and lies are told for complex reasons. The story is told both in the present, but also through the resonance of the account from Saskia’s past told from her friend and benefactor’s perspective and from her own long suppressed memory. The scent of the past hangs mysteriously over the secrecy of Saskia’s present. There are whiffs of the power of ambition, charm, great wealth and their influence to subvert life. But there is also just a story of love and betrayal that could so easily have changed the paths of all the characters in the story. I loved the story and the complexity, and even the challenge of not having French language skills did not impede my enjoyment of this adult story. Vanessa McCausland knows how to weave a story that is both romantic (occasionally sensual and almost erotic) and profoundly moving. Adult relationships are revealed with many layers of complexity and problems that younger readers may not yet be world-wise enough to understand.
Themes France, Romance, Mystery, Relationship dysfunction and abuse, Mood disorders, Eating disorders, Same-sex attraction.
Carolyn Hull
Poster girl by Veronica Roth
Hachette, 2022. ISBN: 9781529331035. (Age:17+)
Sonya Kantor has spent the last decade locked in the Aperture, a prison on the outskirts of the city after the Delegation fell - the Delegation that she was the Poster Girl for, her face with the slogan 'What's right is right', all over the city. The Delegation and its constant surveillance through the Insight, an ocular implant that tracks every word and every action, rewarding or punishing by a rigid moral code set forth by the Delegation. Then the revolution - the Delegation fell, and its most valuable members were locked in the Aperture. Everyone else, now free from the Insight's monitoring, went on with their lives. Ten years of being imprisoned and a new law is passed, releasing those who were children under the Delegation. Sonya falls just outside of the age limit having been 17 when imprisoned, however the new government, Triumvirate, offers her a deal - find a missing child stolen from her parents by the old regime and earn her freedom. Going out into the world she has been shut out off for a decade, that has changed drastically, she will have to dig deep into the past to find the missing child.
Roth, author of the popular dystopian Divergent series, has created another dystopian world in which readers can easily see themselves. Technology has merged with humans and everyone is heavily reliant on it, and the government observes every move you make. Well written and evenly paced, this stand alone novel is a great dystopian mystery, perfect for fans of both genres. Given the character's age, 27 years old, and the content of the story, this novel is more suited to an adult audience. There are flashbacks to when the character is 16 and 17 years old, but the majority of the story occurs when Sonya is 27.
Text Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 9781922790125. (Age:Adult - Senior secondary) Recommended.
I am a fan of both Jinks’ adult thrillers (Shelter, The attack, and her children’s stories (A very unusual pursuit,The reformed vampire support group), and am always keen to pick up another book written by her. Traced is set in the time of COVID, with Jane MacDonald working as a contact tracer who knows that there are people who don’t want to be contacted, because of varying reasons, one of them being domestic abuse. When Jane realises that one of the contacts is the man, Griffin Clynch, that she and her daughter Tara have been hiding from for years, things begin to become very difficult for her. She knows that she must warn Clynch’s partner to leave him but is also appalled when she realises that he lives very close to her. She must protect her daughter and herself.
Jinks takes the reader back and forwards from 2014 to 2020, relating the events that have led Jane and her daughter to change their names, occupations and location. The author is an expert a describing domestic abuse and coercive control, describing the stages that Clynch goes through with Tara, Jane’s daughter. He is initially charming, but gradually he manages to isolate his victim from friends and family, getting her to change jobs, lose confidence and eventually live in fear for her life. The feelings of the helplessness of Tara and his latest victim, Nicole, are described vividly, and it is easy to see how they could become ensnared by him, too afraid to ask for help. However, Jane is a strong person who battles to save her daughter and Jinks brings to life the feelings of a mother pushed to her limits.
The build up of suspense kept me reading to finish the book in a couple of sittings, as I feared that the abuser would find Jane and Tara and dreadful things would happen. And the terrifying climax could well keep readers up at night!
People who enjoy novels by Jane Harper may like to add Jinks’ repertoire of psychological thrillers to their reading list.
