The Iliad - a graphic novel adaptation by Gareth Hinds
Candlewick Press 2019. ISBN: 9780763696634.
Themes: Ancient Greece, myths/ legends. Homer's epic poem, about the
tenth year of the Trojan War, fought around the twelfth century BCE,
has endured as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but it
is more than a war story, it is one of human heroism and failings,
and the interference of gods. To help understand the work, all in
beautiful fine watercolours, Hinds presents us with an illustrated
cast of characters, important Achaeans, mainly in blue (Greeks) and
Trojans, mainly in red, explaining that each character's initial can
be found worked into his armour. The other important players are the
twelve Gods who are depicted in semi-transparent pastel shades.
A prologue sets the scene, explaining the modern day location of the
warring armies, how the war started and the involvement of the Gods.
The story picks up as the battle weary Achaeans, camped outside the
fortress of Troy make offerings to appease the Gods who have brought
sickness to the camp. It is seen that the Gods are angry about the
refusal to ransom the daughter of Apollo's priest, taken as a war
spoil by Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans. He agrees to give
her up but claims Achilles' woman Briseis in return. A well placed
footnote explains that the army had been raiding allies of Troy and
that men and women became slaves, valuable 'spoils of war'. Achilles
is furious and withdraws his support. The war continues with the
upper hand shifting backwards and forwards between the two armies
often influenced by the Gods who struggle to exert dominance over
each other. Brave men die on the battlefield, their names recited,
ensuring everlasting fame and honour for their families.
The famous finale between the Trojan hero Hector and Achilles is
gripping, it is a bitterly fought battle vividly brought to life in
the illustrations. The author's note at the end reflects on why we
still read the Iliad. 'Humanity is on display with all its nobility
and pettiness and violence and tenderness, it is, simply, a powerful
story.'
Introducing a new readership to some of the most important works of
Western literature has been the goal of Gareth Hinds' wonderful
adaptations of classics such as Beowulf, the plays of Shakespeare,
and this companion volume to The
Odyssey. The adaptation retains the essence of the original
with helpful maps and notes but some students may find it long and
challenging. However, the characters are the original superheroes
and the story compelling, while senior students will find it
rewarding it will also appeal to action graphic fans of all ages.
Sue Speck
Red by Jed Alexander
Cameron Kids, 2018. ISBN: 9781944903114.
(Age: 3+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fairy tale, Wordless. A
wordless take on the classic tale, Little Red Riding Hood,
in which the Big Bad Wolf and other woodland creatures are planning
something surprising sees Red scampering through the woodland,
meeting the wolf and other creatures along the way. Children will
tell her to be careful of the wolf, but a bigger surprise is about
to happen. I love the wolf's body seen through the trees, and the
red of the girl's cape contrasting with the black and white
background, the small creatures welcoming her to the forest, readers
needing to look closely at each page to spot them all. The image of
an elderly comatose Grandma is turned around as the girl reaches
Grandma's house and finds all the animals there waiting for her. The
black, white and red illustrations beg the audience to add their own
words. They will all know the original story but these illustrations
will make them use their imaginations to build a new tale, one in
which everything ends happily, wolf included, rather than his
stomach filled with stones and drowned.
Fran Knight
Computer coding projects for kids by Jon Woodcock and Carol Vorderman
Dorling Kindersley, 2019. ISBN: 9780241317761.
(Age: 8-16) This is a visual step-by-step approach to split
complicated code into manageable chunks, so that the most impressive
projects become possible. Suitable for complete beginners, this book
gives a solid understanding of programming, how to create their very
own projects from scratch, and move on to more complex programming
languages like Python. Difficult coding becomes easy and fun to
understand using Scratch 3.0, the latest software from the world's
most popular programming language for beginners.
'Make a Dino Dance Party or create your own electronic birthday
cards. Build games, simulations and mind-bending graphics as you
discover the awesome things computer programmers can do with Scratch
3.0.' (Publisher)
Donna Isgar
Baby's first jailbreak by Jim Whalley
Illus. by Stephen Collins. Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN: 9781408891810.
(Ages 4+) Highly Recommended. Themes: Animals, Babies. Baby Frank is
back. A hilarious follow-up to Baby's
first
bank heist, this wonderful rhyming story, is full of
mischief and cute animals. It is so much fun to read aloud, the
illustrations are brilliant, with lots of little details for young
readers to spot.
Can Frank and the animals convince the visitors that they belong
right where they are? The answer is both yes and no. But what
happens finally, you'll have to discover, by getting your flippers,
trunks, or other appropriate appendages on a copy of this
chuckle-worthy book.
The storyline is great, as it gently introduces the downsides of
performing animals, without coming across in a preachy form.
I have to say, this is one of the funniest picture book series, in
recent years, with high hopes for more instalments of the adventures
of 'Baby Frank'.
Donna Isgar
Where the river runs gold by Sita Brahmachari
Orion, 2019. ISBN: 9781510105416. 340p; p/b.
Shifa has to protect herself and her brother Themba as she finds out
the unfortunate truth about her parentage and the controlling
government she lives under in a world supposedly ravaged by an
incredible storm. Characters are deep and well developed,
with even the seemingly most antagonistic characters having a human
side to them. The treatment of Themba's implicit neuro-divergence is
fairly respectful. The plot is largely character-based at first,
focusing on interactions in an oppressive society, but pivots to a
sort of thriller action with escapes and secrets towards the end, in
a way that is interesting and doesn't feel jarring, but the
conclusion does feel a bit rushed and insubstantial.
The novel tackles a variety of themes, and handles them largely
well. There is examination of the expression of creative freedom
under an oppressive government as people struggle under ARK's
'freedom farms'. The populace is controlled through complete
isolation from and lies about a better outside world, but people
fight back with stories and artwork. Treatment of people with
neuro-divergence and mental illness is also looked at, as Themba
struggles to cope on the oppressive farms and everyone tries to deal
with the old lady on the farm. At the core of the plot though, is
environmentalism, with the world presumed to be after a mass
extinction event and the protection of what natural life remains.
The novel takes place in the fictional 'Kairos Lands' with a vaguely
futuristic technology level after recovering from a cataclysm. The
setting is well established with some interesting, but not
too intrusive, world building.
Vincent Hermann
I am so clever by Mario Ramos
Gecko Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781776572496.
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Fairy Tales, Red Riding Hood, Wolves.
In a turned about version of Red Riding Hood, we have a wolf
who thinks he is very clever, being outsmarted by the girl in the
red cloak.
The story begins in the usual way with Red Riding Hood taking a
basket of goodies to an ailing grandma on the other side of the
woods. The wolf convinces her to tarry, picking flowers for grandma,
while he scurries off to the house to eat her up and be ready for
the little girl as dessert.
With Grandma nowhere to be seen, the wolf puts on her nightgown,
taking her place in bed, ready to eat the girl when she appears. But
first he must wipe away his paw prints from the doorway and when he
goes outside to do this, the door slams and shuts him out.
He encounters the woodsman searching for his glasss, and spies the
bears, three little pigs, a prince looking for Sleeping Beauty and
seven dwarves off for a shower. He sees Red Riding Hood and tries to
accost her but falls flat on his face, his feet tripping over the
long nightogown, so breaking his teeth and leaving him with egg on
his face. He is shamefaced, not eating the two people he expected to
eat that day. Too clever for his own good.
This engrossing version of Red Riding Hood will have readers
recalling other versions and telling their own stories about the
characters met during the reading. I do like the inclusion of the
other tales as background to the wolf's meanderings in the woods,
and love the turn about of the original story. The illustrations
will appeal to the readers, especially watching closely the various
expressions on the wolf's face as he changes from a confident and
clever wolf to one despairing, embarrassed wolf at the end.
Translated from Le Plus Malin (2011) I turned the page
expecting a little more.
Fran Knight
Oi duck-billed platypus! by Kes Gray
Oi duck-billed platypus! by Kes Gray
Illus. by Jeff Field. Hodder Children's Books, 2019. ISBN:
9781444937336. pbk.
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Animals, Verse, Word play,
Alliteration, Humour. Following on from the success of the zany fun
filled humour of the "Oi" books (Oi Frog
(2014) Oi Dog
(2016), and Oi Cat
(2017)) this paperback version follows a slightly different
variation as the frog finds it difficult to find a rhyme for some of
the animals that appear before him, waiting to be seated. What do
you rhyme with a duck billed platypus or a hippopotamus, an ostrich
or a meerkat. Frog, cat and dog are puzzled and platypus is not very
patient, reminding the trio that he is waiting, as he points out the
queue behind him of other animals also waiting for their rhyme
before being seated.
Eventually the Frog asks for their first names and they find it much
easier to use their first names rather than their second to find a
rhyme that fits. So Dolly the duck-billed platypus sits on a brolly,
Kate kookaburra sits on a gate and Lemony lobster sits on an
anemone. Everyone is satisfied, the alliterative names of the
animals used to make a nice rhyming seat until a kangaroo happens to
come along, with the fearful name, Amelia Esmerelda Honeydew
HigginbottomPinkleponk-Johnson. The resolution will have children
trying vainly to find a rhyme and like frog, telling the kangaroo to
sit where she likes.
Full of humour, reflected in the appealing illustrations, the tale
will bring laughter from all readers, recognising the alliteration
and how it teams with the animal's name, seeing the rhyme that frog
comes up with, perhaps offering an alternative, all the while
looking closely at the expressions on the faces to see what a
quandary frog is in. In a class emphasis could be the word play,
rhyme and alliteration, while discussion with younger readers about
first and last names would be appropriate.
All readers will love looking out for the seat of each of the
animals and delight in the end papers with Field's platypus
panorama.
Fran Knight
Playing with collage by Jeannie Baker
Walker Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781406378665.
(Age: 6+) Highly recommended. Themes: Collage, Arts and crafts,
Invention, Recycled materials. The front cover invites the readers
to look more closely at the image, working out what it is made of
and what it could be. For those who know Jeannie Baker's work, the
background knowledge that she plays with collected items from nature
will stand them in good stead as they scan the cover. But those who
do not know her work, and there can be only be a handful, then this
will be an eye popping read.
Aimed at a younger audience, but with enough information and
instructional images to appeal to anyone with an interest in art,
Playing with Collage is a joy to read.
Each chapter involves a double page of information with illustrative
photographs, allowing the reader to see just how her work is done,
as she gives the most basic of instructions that will make every
reader believe that they can do it too, even someone new to the
field.
After the introduction, three more double pages talk about Tools,
Tips and Playing with Materials. After these the book is divided
into four parts, each dealing with a different aspect of collecting
materials. The first is Paper which encourages readers to collect
all sorts of paper, then play around with it, making different
shapes and images. This is followed by Out in Nature, where she
shows the readers the sorts of things they can collect when out in
the field. Again, On the beach shows a range of things that can be
collected while beach walking, and the last section, In the Kitchen
showcases the sorts of things that are right under our noses.
Baker goes on to discuss Translucency encouraging the reader, as
always, to try it out for themselves, and the last section shows a
variety of found materials and asks the reader to guess what
materials she has used in her egg box collage.
And this then is the aim of this beautiful book. Readers will be so
entranced that they will go out and try her techniques for
themselves, marvelling at her work, seeing her work with fresh eyes.
Readers familiar with her work will be astounded at the range of
materials she collects to use in her collages and look more closely
at the books when they come across them. For others this book will
initiate collection and storage then experimentation as they try out
some of the techniques she espouses.
This is a beautiful read from every point of view: an instruction
manual, an art book, a book espousing the art of collage, a peep
into Baker's talents, an inducement to re-look at Baker's other
books.
Fran Knight
Argh! There's a skeleton inside you! by Idan Ben-Barak and Julian Frost
Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760631635.
(Ages 4-8) Highly recommended. Themes: Human Anatomy, Skeleton,
Hands. This simple, interactive and very enjoyable picture book
seeks to give young children a look inside their hands to discover
what makes them work. The aliens Quog and Oort need to get to a
party but their spaceship needs repairs. Neither of them has hands,
which makes it more difficult to make their repairs. Through some
clever interaction Quog grows what he needs to make the repairs and
in the process the reader comes to understand how their skeleton,
muscles and nerves work together to make their hands the useful
things they can be.
The bright, simple but informative illustrations make this an
extraordinary introduction to human anatomy for young children. The
interactive parts of the story were particularly popular with the
children who heard this book read aloud; putting their hands onto
the page so that Quog could see inside made the book come alive for
the young audience.
At the end of the entertaining story the authors give us more detail
about what is inside our hand and how it works, just in case we
would like to grow another hand. Very well thought out and
informative for all who read it.
The duo that produced this book also gave us Do not lick this
book, (it's full of germs) and this one will be just as
popular with young readers. Great addition to every primary school
library.
Gabrielle Anderson
Sweet sorrow by David Nicholls
Hodder and Stoughton 2019. ISBN: 9781444715415.
(Age: 12+) Highly recommended. Sweet sorrow is a lament to the
end of childhood and to first love. A bildungsroman, the novel
follows Charlie Lewis on his quest to get to know the lovely Fran
Fisher, amateur actor and Shakespeare aficionado. In an attempt to
impress, or get her number, Charlie agrees to join a production of
Romeo and Juliet that the Full Fathom Five Theatre Co-operative are
organising over the Summer. Without his mates to join him in his
scorn, Charlie finds himself intrigued with the players and the
drama students.
While he scoffs at theatre sports, Charlie finds himself with
friendships completely different to the friendly scuffles and
drunken antics of those he's known before. Being part of the play
allows Charlie not only to get close to Fran, but also to grow as a
person independent of the politics of the boys and rebelling against
his parents' expectations. But the pressure of looking out for his
father and navigating the ditch between his parents and him and his
sister is almost too much. When the walls Charlie built to keep
himself and his dad safe start to crumble, everything quickly comes
crashing down.
Told both in the present and retrospect, Sweet sorrow
follows the summer Charlie threw off social expectations he'd come
to respect in school, he starts to work to pull his life together
after the stress of his father's erratic behaviour, bankruptcy, and
divorce sends him down a dark and spiralling path of failure. I
would highly recommend this novel to boys twelve and up who struggle
to fit in and achieve at school as they might find some parallels
with Charlie.
Kayla Gaskell
Hear the wolves by Victoria Scott
Scholastic, 2017. ISBN: 9781338043587.
(Age: 11+) Highly recommended. Themes: Alaska, Wolves, Survival,
Bullying, Abuse. Sloan, partly deaf and still suffering the loss of
her mother who left two years before, is left alone in her house by
her father and older sister, when they trek to the neighbouring
village for a meeting. Sloan finds several other people still in the
village: Ms Wade who has injured herself and needs medical
attention, Pilot and his abusive father, Nash, a young boy and their
teacher, Mr Foster. Together they pack some supplies and head for
the moored boat to go down river to the next town to get Mrs Wade to
a doctor.
But the community has cleared the land, denuding the place of
rabbits and hares the main source of food for the wolves, and
Sloan's father, in building a fence has stopped the elk coming near
the town. Wolves are now hungry, unable to keep themselves fed and
so track the six people as they make their way towards the river.
The trek should only take a day but is hampered by the injured woman
and an alcoholic Nash trying to control the group, so the search for
shelter becomes obvious as each night the cold and fear sets in.
This is a chilling read. A blizzard has blown in unexpectedly, the
wolves are a constant threat in the background, the hatred between
Pilot and his father is overwhelming and the ammunition is running
out.
The book reminded me of many other stories set in the Alaskan
wilderness, the Hatchet series of books (Paulsen) Call of
the Wild (London) and The Great Death (Smelger), but
in this one the wolves track and hunt their quarry, Ms Wade and
Sloan all the while telling the reader of the behaviour of these
animals, pushed to the brink by the destruction of their habitat.
Sloan has been afraid of being alone since her mother left and the
extraordinary decision by her father to leave her to force her to
survive is akin to a child being thrown into water to teach it to
swim. But Nash's cruelty to his son is mind numbing. In this harsh
landscape some people's humanity has deserted them and reading this
book reminds us over again of the need for people to understand each
other and work together to survive. And no where more so than in the
Alaskan wilds.
Fran Knight
The million pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton
Penguin, 2019. ISBN: 9780241363317.
(Ages: 15+) Recommended.
Themes: Mental health, Contemporary. Emma Smith-Barton's debut novel
draws on her own experience as a Pakistani child growing up in the
UK.
Not only does Neena have to deal with the usual teenage search for
identity but ten months of grief since the mysterious disappearance
of her older brother Akash, whom she obviously adored. Her parent's
grief exacerbates their cultural expectations of Neena and she
begins to 'act out'. When they announce a new pregnancy, Neena
really flips out.
Neena seeks solace in the company of Fi, her brother's ex-girlfriend
- perhaps to feel close to him again or maybe to solve the mystery
that is consuming her. She juggles the demands of school, work and
home with her need to feel numb with Fi. A clandestine romance with
gentle Josh, only adds to her pressures. Neena's confusion persists
and she puts herself in danger visiting an older drug addict who may
or may not know something about Akash's disappearance. Neena's
childhood friend, Raheela, reaches out to her but is pushed away.
While we wonder what happened to Akash, the story is more about our
increasingly unreliable protagonist and our concern for her mental
state and destructive behaviour. Smith-Barton uses very mature
themes and language to explore the consequences of not talking to
someone about your feelings of loss and anxiety - feelings which
potentially can spiral into psychosis.
We don't know who to believe in this story, perhaps not Neena. The
fast pace and insightful writing teaches us far more about the
complexity of grief and trauma than any hopes we harbour that Josh's
love has the power to salve Neena's troubled mind. The million
pieces of Neena Gill is riveting because it is a credible
exploration of a family under pressure and fascinating because we
wonder if the pressure came before or after the bad stuff? Emma
Smith-Barton may have grown up between two cultures, but she is
definitely a very astute observer of the inner life.
Deb Robins
Monkey time by Michael Hall
Greenwillow Books, 2019. ISBN: 9780062383020. 48pp., hbk. Monkey is trying to catch time.
Up, down, and all around Monkey goes.
Can Monkey catch a minute
Can you?
From the creator of both Little
iand Red,
a crayon's story comes a new story that explores time,
this time. Asleep in a tree with branches remarkably like a clock
face, Monkey is taunted by Minute who challenges him to catch him as
he races around the 'clock'. And when, despite Monkey's frantic
effort, Minute beats him another Minute pops up with the same
challenge.
'We are lightning fast, and you are a slowpoke, Monkey.'
Fifty-nine times, Monkey chases the minutes until . . .
Time is a very abstract concept for young children and while they
constantly hear about 'Just a minute' and 'Wait a minute' and so on,
it is hard for them to know just how long a minute is. For anyone,
even an adult, who is watching the clock a minute can whiz by or it
can drag like a gammy leg, so it's no wonder it's a tricky concept
for a little one to grasp. However, by having fun with the book and
challenging the child to see what can be accomplished in a minute
using a one-minute egg-timer as a visual reference, it will start
them on the journey towards understanding. The addition of the
strategy for breaking an hour up into blocks and the counting
endpapers enhance the power of the book, as do the descriptions of
the rainforest creatures that appear in Monkey's story.
Barbara Braxton
The little mermaid by Geraldine McCaughrean
Illus. by Laura Barrett. Orchard, 2019. ISBN: 9781408357231.
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fairy tales, Hans Christian
Anderson, Mermaids, Cautionary tales. When a little mermaid gives up
her tail, voice and her home in the sea because she loves a prince,
it is to be hoped that she receives his love in return, after all
she saved his life when he was drowning at sea. But no, she cannot
tell him, she has given up her voice, and he marries the princess
from the country next door. This Hans Christian Anderson tale always
intrigued me, and even more so when it was modernised so that true
love came out trumps in the end. I preferred the one where she went
back to sea a wiser and happier mermaid, although Anderson's tale
has a religious ending that surprised me when checking the original
story for the review.
This wonderful retelling by McCaughrean comes from the original
Anderson fairy tale and will be a pleasant surprise for all readers.
Mermaid Delphine falls for the prince, and despite warnings from her
five golden haired sisters, takes the potion from the sea witch who,
in exchange, swallows her voice like an oyster. Delphine stays with
the prince in his palace, a companion who dances for him but must
wash her feet each night to wash off the blood. But the prince does
not know that she loves him and marries the princess from another
land, and with that the witch's curse says that Delphine's heart
must break and she return to the sea as sea foam.
Her sisters sell their hair to the sea witch in return for a knife
with which Delphine must kill the prince in order for her to return
home, the magic spell broken. But Delphine cannot do this and so
jumps into the sea where a greater magic than that of the sea witch
restores her to her family.
This beautiful retelling is accompanied by the most engaging of
illustrations: against a sea of blue, black silhouettes appear,
mermaids and sea creatures wind their way across the pages, the
mermaids' hair spilling out behind their tailed bodies, the weeds,
small fish and different blues contrasting with the world on land
with women in their large ornate dresses, along with castles, horses
and the prince.
This would be a wonderful read aloud as well as an engaging series
of lessons in comparing fairy tales, or comparing this with the film
or asking people to retell the story of The little mermaid
before reading one of the versions. And of course there is the statue
in Copenhagen to wonder at.
Fran Knight
The middler by Kirsty Applebaum
Nosy Crow books, 2019. ISBN: 9781788003452.
(Age: 12-14) Recommended. Themes: Dystopian fiction, Future society,
Friendship, Loyalty, Siblings, Betrayal. Maggie is looking for a way
to make herself noticed. She is a middle child, not a heroic eldest,
who will help to fight in the silent war to help her society. When
you turn 14 you go to camp and then to fight, it is a tradition that
no-one questions. But Maggie is not an eldest and laments the fact
that she is often forgotten even by her own family, so finding and
catching a Wanderer seems the best and most noble thing she can
manage to change that. Maggie and all the other townsfolk are
indoctrinated during their schooling to believe that the boundary of
the town is there to keep them safe from the outside world and the
wanderers - dirty, deceitful, dangerous people that don't have a
town to call home. So why does the one that Maggie has met seem so
nice and friendly? Una and her father are certainly dirty but are
they dangerous? She has connected with them and she feels compelled
to help. Una's father is badly injured, her mother is dead, so
Maggie gets the medicine they need and gives them food. She tells
herself that she will turn them in but when this happens facts are
revealed that make her question everything she has ever been told
about her society.
Maggie narrates the story, telling us about her family in such
detail that we get to know them well: her eldest brother Jed, about
to leave for Camp; her youngest brother Trig, who is special and
needs extra care; her hard-working mother and father; a family
living in the 20th century but at a time when the war has meant life
is a struggle and they don't always have the things they need to
live an easy life.
This book allows us to see that everyone has a different point of
view and putting yourself in another's shoes often reveals the truth
about life instead of the beliefs and prejudices that surround us.
The story could link with discussions about refugees and how their
lives are affected by the way society views their situation and life
choices.
Gabrielle Anderson
