Are You the Easter Bunny?

Are You the Easter Bunny? by Janeen Brian, illustrated by Lucinda Gifford (Angus & Robertson) HB ISBN 9781460765494

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Bilbies, which not many know, are one of Australia’s most important and endangered animals. 

In this joyful picture book, an Australian author and illustrator show the animal in its natural habitat, the desert.

Numerous children's books have been written about the Easter bilby, but this picture book, ideal for readers aged 4 to 7, turns that idea on its head. This bilby replies to a small red bird that asks if it’s the Easter bunny. It explains its world: how it digs holes that shelter it from the heat, how it listens, sniffs, and feels for its food, how it uses its’ whiskery sniffer-snout’  to find seeds and grubs, and how it uses its ‘tall pink straight ups’ (its ears) to listen.

Ideal for carers and teachers to read aloud, this text in strong, rhyming verse, uses rich language such as ‘four scritcher-scratchers’ and 'a long, slim bottom wriggler’ which will surely elicit giggles from young children.

The illustrations make good use of white space and reds and greys, showing the bilby in its environment.

By the book’s end, the reader will be assured that a bilby is not an Easter ‘bunny’, but an animal that is Australian. It concludes with the words, ‘I’m a bilby, hip hooray! But I think it’s grand to help the lands. And I hope I’m here to stay.

Ming and Flo Fight for the Future

Ming and Flo Fight for the Future by Jackie French (Angus and Robertson) PB RRP $16.99 ISBN 978140760208

Reviewed by Kathleen Grace

This latest book in the series, The Girls Who Changed the World
, is an empowering and exhilarating look at the girls who went before us, and the way they shaped the world.

Twelve-year-old Ming Qong is convinced that girls must have changed the world, even if they are rarely mentioned in history books. So, when she gets the chance to go back in time, she imagines herself changing destinies from a glittering palace or an explorer's ship. Instead, she ends up in Australia in 1898, living a tough life as Flo Watson on a drought-stricken farm.

Luckily, Ming is rescued by Flo's Aunt McTavish. Wealthy Aunt McTavish belongs to Louisa Lawson's Suffragist Society, who are desperately and courageously fighting for women's rights. And Ming is determined to get involved, to make a difference. But change is never easy, so how can one girl change the world?

From Jackie French, one of Australia's favourite writers, comes an inspiring new series for all young people. The author, French, says, ‘A book can change a child’s life. A book can change the world’: this was the primary philosophy behind French’s two-year term as Australian children’s literary Laureate.

Like all of French’s books, this latest novel is well-written, engrossing, and is likely to appeal to readers aged 9 years and older.

The Schoolmaster’s Daughter

The Schoolmaster’s Daughter by Jackie French (Angus and Robertson) PB RRP $17.99 ISBN 97814607577710

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Reading this well-written, gripping, and fast-paced book, one can see why Jackie French’s writings have been acclaimed over the years and have won many awards.

Drawing on her own family history, this is a story from French about education in colonial Australia - and how women once had to fight for their right to it. Set it 1901, the first year of Federation, it begins with a shipwreck as teenager Hannah and her family, the Gilberts, head to a new home in north-eastern Australia. Hannah's father has a new post as the schoolmaster in school there, where the school's wealthy patron, a sugar planter called Mr Harris, will give the family a life of comfort and the best society.

Having managed to survive the shipwreck, the family is rescued by a Pacific Islander youth, Jamie, who takes them to his white mother, Mrs Zebediah who welcomes them. She and Jamie are pariahs in this racist society, but Hannah and her mother become fast friends when Hannah’s mother goes to their home regularly to teach Hannah, Jamie and Mrs Zebediah. Later, when he younger brother, Angus, is taken by their mother to Sydney for an operation, Hannah spends many happy hours with Jamie, both of them reading and becoming closer friends.

​Secrets lurk in this subtropical paradise. Mr Harris's fortune is built on slavery and the whip. And the new Federal government's first law demands that all Pacific islanders - even those born in Australia - be deported. If Mr Harris learns of the secret school that Hannah's mother is running, it will mean ruin, violence, and possibly even death.

​

Hannah and Jamie must fight for Jamie's right to stay in the land he loves, and for their rights to education and equality. The question is: can the friendship and love of two young people win against such prejudice and power? Will Hannah ever make it to university and to fulfill her hopes of becoming a poet?

​

Based on the lives of Jackie French's great-grandparents and grandmothers who taught - and fought - for equal education and the rights of all Australians, no matter what their background or the colour of the skin, this story shows us how the bravery and the battles of the past can give us courage for the challenges of today.

This book for readers 11+ years, is highly recommended.

Wink

      Wink by Rob Harrell, (Angus & Robertson), 2020, RRP $19.99 pb

      ISBN: 9781460758878 (paperback)

      ISBN: 97814607`2610 (ebook)

      Reviewed by Pauline Hosking

      Based on Rob Harrell’s real-life experience, this is the story of Ross Maloy, a seventh grader diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer. In most respects Ross is an ordinary teenager living in the U.S., with a crush on a cute girl and an understandable fear of the class bully. He’d like to blend in, but his cancer makes him visible. Ross can’t help remembering how his mother died from cancer when he was four.

After receiving a horrific first diagnosis, Ross’s dad finds an amazing doctor with a more hopeful approach. The doctor believes Ross can eventually be cancer free, though he will have impaired vision. The treatment, painstakingly recorded, causes Ross to lose his hair. The skin around his eye dries up and he has to use a particularly icky ointment.         

One of Ross’s best friends drops him, unable to handle the difficult situation. Luckily there’s still his other best friend, Abby - until she announces that her family is leaving town.

Ross’s life is made even more difficult when someone starts sending hurtful memes to his class-mates’ phones. Memes are pictures or photos that have been altered in some way and text added. The nastiest shows the Grim Reaper holding up a sign with the word ‘Ross’.

In the midst of this darkness, the radiation technician from the hospital agrees to teach Ross to play the guitar. Music becomes a real positive. It gives Ross fun, hope, and an unlikely friend.

Rob Harrell is the author-illustrator of several graphic novels. Alongside the harrowing descriptions of Ross’s life are really funny cartoons paralleling what he’s going through. There are also lots of amusing extra illustrations throughout the text.

The characters, and their reactions, are sympathetically drawn. I particularly liked Linda, Ross’s stepmom, who doesn’t really know how to make things better but tries hard.

Wink is poignant, heartbreaking and hilarious by turns. It’s an uplifting story of survival and finding the comfort of music and laughter. Recommended for middle grade readers.

The Ghost of Howlers Beach

The Ghost of Howlers Beach by Jackie French (Angus & Robertson) PB

RRP $16.99 ISBN: 9781460757727

Reviewed by Jeffery E Doherty

The Ghost of Howlers Beach is the latest historical fiction book for children by Jackie French and appears to be the first in a series called The Butter O’Bryan Mysteries. The story takes place on the east coast of NSW, in the early 1930’s during the Great Depression.

Twelve-year-old Butter lives in a Very Small Castle with his Father and three aunts, whose real names are not Aunt Elephant, Aunt Peculiar and Aunt Cake. Although Butter is the grandson of one of Australia’s most successful Jam Kings, he is still aware of the hardships and suffering of the people around him. This becomes more apparent after meeting three children and their dog playing cricket on his beach. Butter believes the children are from the nearby susso (sustenance payment) camp. The children are secretive and when they vanish, Butter wonders, who are these children and why they refuse his help? He is certain Gil, Olive and little Tish are hiding a secret and he is determined to uncover it.

  

You can teach children facts and figures about events in history like the Great Depression, polio epidemics, the aftermath of war, rampant unemployment and the suffering and helplessness of people who can’t even afford to feed their families. I remember learning about these topics in school, but they had no tangible effect on me because it was almost impossible to conceptualise what living in those hard times would be like.

Jackie French lures the reader into this world through the eyes of her naive and caring narrator, Butter. He comes from a wealthy family and is not suffering like the families living in the Susso camp, but his family is broken in other ways. This is a story that touches the heart and brings history to life in a way my history teachers never did.

One of the main take-a-ways from this book for me was the reoccurring theme of helplessness. The helplessness of the damaged soldiers returning from war, the unemployed and their families living in desperate poverty, the children living in fear of being taken away by the authorities, but also the helplessness of  kind-hearted people who see such enormous issues and cannot find a way that they can make a difference. This is a theme that has great relevance with current issues like the recent devastating bush fires, the refugee crisis and climate change.

The Ghost of Howlers Beach is an excellent book and I highly recommend it for readers 8-12 years old. I would also recommend it to teachers who want to bring this period of history to life for their students. There are some great teaching resources at the back of the book dealing with the cause of the Great Depression, the Susso, making do, Indigenous Dispossession, Don Bradman, as well as some interesting recipes from the time.

BumbleBunnies Book 4 The Balloon

BumbleBunnies Book 4 The Balloon by Graeme Base (Angus & Robertson) HB RRP $16.99 ISBN 9781460754030

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Here is the fourth new picture book in the BumbleBunnies series for young children by award-winning, bestselling creator Graeme Base. This book follows the other BumbleBunnies adventures, The Pond, The Sock and The Gate. Wuffle the puppy, Lou the kitten and Billington the Duck are about to have their peaceful afternoon interrupted.

BumbleBunnies The Balloon uses simple text to build tension as a large stray birthday balloon appears and heads towards the rosebush. You can almost feel a young reader holding their breath as they anticipate the bang! The Bumble Bunnies appear to come to the rescue but there doesn’t seem to be anything useful around to use.

 
The illustrations are bold and bright with a lush green palette to enhance the backyard setting. Graeme Base has created detailed backyard illustrations that relate to a young child’s world. I particularly like the double page spread where the BumbleBunnies steer the balloon away. This captures how vast a backyard is to a small child and the BumbleBunnies could easily be imagined in any child’s yard.

This simple book captures the delights of small children where small things can bring lots of fun.

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia by Jackie French and Virginia Hooker, illustrated by Mark Wilson (Angus & Robertson, an imprint of Harper Collins Children’s Books) HB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781460750025 October, 2019

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia is a non-fiction picture book that covers the history of the land masses of Southeast Asia. It is a very detailed and informative picture book that has been carefully and meticulously compiled about our mysterious Asian lands. I particularly like the fact that the book covers our part of the world from an Australian perspective, not a European one and that it celebrates the diversity of the different lands in Southeast Asia and their cultures and history. Australia is an interwoven part of southeast Asia and we are all connected.

The text is easy to follow, and the illustrations are simply stunning with the use of lots of lush greens and blues and browns of the lands. Each spread incorporates a striking illustration with a timeline and poetry that sings. Mark Wilson’s illustrations showcase and capture each land by bringing to life the lands, people, customs and the weather. They encourage the reader to explore the history and interconnection of us all. Wilson also brings in a geographical aspect to each land and its people. This picture book could easily be a coffee table book with its stunning illustrations by an award-winning illustrator. The paintwork and detail are second to none and the human face is captured so well.

The book’s 48 pages are appealing to both adults and children alike and will be a valuable resource for teachers as it can be used in a classroom to great effect. The book starts at 200,000,000 BC when Gondwanaland is one huge landmass in the southern hemisphere and then in sections it goes through one land at a time, with an era of its history and how it’s linked to all of us in Southeast Asia. We are all connected by the winds and tides that create our weather.

This picture book has much to offer any reader aged 8 years and over.

Jinxed (The Curious Case of Cora Bell)

Jinxed (The Curious Case of Cora Bell) by Rebecca McRitchie (Angus and Robertson) RRP $17.99 PB ISBN 978 1 4607 5764 2

Reviewed by Nean McKenzie

This highly imaginative middle-grade fantasy is about Cora, who has one eye and lives in a dingy city called Urt. Cora finds a small box and accidentally summons a Jinx, which sets a series of events rolling. She must flee to save herself, along with two hairy fairies called Tick and Tock. She travels by a magical ‘POP’ from one world to another, trying to evade the Jinx and make sense of her powers, which become more apparent the more magic she encounters.

There are a lot of questions in this story, and it’s clear it will take more than one book to answer them. The mystery in this book is: what or who is Cora? Tick and Tock have an amusing list of possibilities that get ruled out during their journey.

When Cora encounters a warlock and the Jinx, she seems to be able to absorb some of their powers. When she meets Artemis, who can transform into a giant bird, she absorbs some magic from a Princess in another world. It is then that she finds out she is a 'Syphon'. The ramifications of this will be further explored in the next book, which is confirmed by the ‘to be continued’ at the end.

Jinxed is fast paced and enjoyable. The humour, mostly supplied by the fairies, works well. Tick has a habit of choosing inappropriate words ('At least the sandwich was dishonest,' said Tick. 'Delicious,' corrected Tock.) The banter between Tick and Tock also lightens up the difficult situations Cora goes through. The different worlds are well described, as is the transition between them, which usually involves falling through a swirling blue light (depicted by the cover illustration by Sharon O’Connor).

Author of the Whimsy and Woe books, Rebecca McRitchie, has produced a fun book suitable for upper primary readers, who love a bit of magic and adventure.

Ruby Red Shoes goes to London

Ruby Red Shoes goes to London by Kate Knapp (Angus & Robertson) HB RRP $19.95   ISBN 978-0-732297-62-6

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Ruby Red Shoes Goes to London is the third book in Australia’s popular and most well travelled series that 4-8 year old children are sure to love.

Ruby the hare loves to travel and this time, wearing her ruby red shoes of course, she’s off to London with its red phone boxes, red letterboxes and red buses.  Maybe she’ll meet the Queen? Maybe she’ll have a delightful afternoon tea?  But there is more to this clever book than travel tales. It warms your heart from the inside out with family love and an understanding of death.  This book shows that we are all connected to the vast universe.  Ruby is full of wonder as she embraces the magic of living in and exploring London.  Most of all, there is gratitude for the place she calls home.

Kate Knapp’s illustrations shine with a whimsical touch that has superbly illustrated the story.  The soft colours have a very English feel and show life in London so well from the trains that run along burrows and swoosh alongside platforms to the hop on, hop off, red buses and all the London sights along the way. There are little snippets of information through the illustrations which help add to the story.  The sheer wonder of Buckingham Palace is so beautifully illustrated with detail.   London looks truly delightful.

The text paints London accurately with descriptive words and verbs -- for example ‘Ruby receives their affections with open arms, so much so that she is soon off-balance and sitting in a joyful pool of corgi cuddles and kisses.’

The book touches upon the topics of adventure and travel, family and friends, the universe, our global connection to the world and so much more.   Ruby Red Shoes is a book to be loved and treasured forever.  It is well worth a read for both children and adults.