Monster Chef

Monster Chef by Nick Bland (Scholastic Press)

HB RRP $24.99

ISBN 978-1-74283-825-0

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Marcel is a monster. It is his job to scare all the neighbourhood children. And although he tries very hard, he is just not very good at his job. To unwind after work he cooks and this is his real passion. Who knew this love of cooking could help with his night job.

Kids will love this light-hearted and fun rhyming story about Marcel. They will giggle at his attempts at giving kids a fright and delight in the grossness of what this monster cooks up in his kitchen.

    He made earthworm spaghetti and hot cactus pies,

    with smelly-sock soup and a cockroach surprise.

The illustrations are bright, bold and suitably icky, starting from the front cover where a huge green monster – Marcel – eats worms with lashings of slime from his lunchbox while a snail escapes, making his way over Marcel’s big toe.

This story has a fabulous twist in the ending and is perfect for preschool kids who delight in the gruesome and (not so) scary.

Nick Bland is the author of well known and popular Very Cranky Bear stories as well as King Pig, which was shortlisted this year for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year.

Bilby Secrets

Bilby Secrets by Edel Wignell, illustrated by Mark Jackson (Walker Books)

HC RRP $ 29.95

ISBN 9781921529320

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

A CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) Short-Listed book, Bilby Secrets reveals extraordinary information about this charming marsupial. Before white settlement, two types of Bilbies lived on the Australian mainland. One of them – the Lesser Bilby - is now said to be extinct. But at Easter lots of chocolate bilbies can be found.

The story is presented in two parallel parts on each page. There is the narrative with the Bilby as protagonist at the top, and the factual information displayed in sentences shaped like waves. The two parts are connected by a common thread creating continuity and flow.

Did you know that a Bilby mother can have a litter of three babies and that they can have four litters in one year? Or that a baby spends 75 days in its mother’s pouch?

How does a Bilby keep predators from following them into their tunnel? How old are they when they start to mate?

This and lots more information about the Bilby’s secret life is beautifully presented in this well-researched book. Fantastic illustrations in earthy colours created with mixed media, accompany each entry. This educational and entertaining book will make the perfect gift for readers of all ages at Easter. Perhaps to accompany a chocolate Bilby (just a small one)?

Event: QLD CBCA Judge talk

Invites Teachers, Librarians, Teacher-Librarians, Teacher-Aides
and anyone with an interest in children’s literature
to hear the CBCA Qld judge for
The Book of the Year Awards

Mia Macrossan 

talk about the 2014 short list

Friday 11^th April

Barry Jones Auditorium
 Ipswich Library and Information Centre
cnr South and East Sts Ipswich

9.00am – 3.00pm

Program for the day

9.00am – Early Childhood and Younger Reader categories

10.45 Morning Tea

11.15am – Eve Pownall Award and Picture Books

12.45 Lunch

1.30 Options - 1. Older Reader category for secondary school teachers or
2. Workshop to develop ideas for the shortlisted books for primary school teachers

Register online at http://idtl.net.au
by Tuesday 8^th April

PD Certificates available

Suggested parking in the Ipswich Square Carpark

http://www.ipswichcitysquare.com.au/location.php

More information: jstubbs@exemail.com.au

For All Creatures

For All Creatures by Glenda Millard, illustrated by Rebecca Cool (Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 9781922077066
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Glenda Millard’s extraordinary affinity with the natural world is on display in For All Creatures. She also has a talent for utilising uncommon word forms and concepts. They appear to come easily to her and have served her well in her writing. This talent illuminates the pages of each book she creates. Using alliteration and assonance freely, the repetition of sounds is perfect for reading aloud.

For All Creatures was first published in 2011 and proved extremely popular due to its unique and clever text and Rebecca Cool’s stunning illustrations. Represented are birds and animals, things that sit, fly and crawl, and creatures of all descriptions and size. One could spend hours identifying the natural world involved and still remain excited by what they see.

Glenda collaborated with Rebecca on Isabella’s Garden. Her easily identifiable illustrative style translates the text perfectly using bold colours and lines, and intricately detailed characters, settings and backgrounds. This outstanding book that has several identical end pages that seem to embrace the contents was a CBCA shortlisted book. It comes highly recommended and ‘we are thankful’.

Esther’s Rainbow

Esther’s Rainbow written by Kim Kane and illustrated by Sara Acton (Allen and Unwin)
PB RRP $24.99
ISBN 978-1-74331-370-1
Reviewed by Ann Harth (www.annharth.com )

Esther’s Rainbow starts and ends with a rainbow and colours fill every page. Esther spies a rainbow while eating lunch on Sunday. It’s soft, warm and smells like honey.

On Monday Esther looks for her rainbow but instead, sees all things violet, like Daddy’s shirt and Granny’s chocolate creams. On Tuesday she sees indigo in a forgotten feather and the midnight sky but Esther still can’t find her rainbow. The days of the week go by and Esther sees a different colour each day. When she wakes on a Monday to a soft, sweet rain shower, her rainbow returns.

Kim Kane and Sara Acton have introduced colours and the days of the week within the page turning quality of their book, but the unique imagery and memorable language are what attracted me. Children will be able to relate to the violet in hard, shiny nail polish, the blue in the echo of a swimming pool and yellow on baby’s I-like-butter chin. The words flow beautifully and the simple but effective illustrations allow you to fall in love with Esther immediately.

Esther’s Rainbow is suitable for children aged 3-6 but children younger and older will enjoy it as well. It recreates a familiar but colourful week in the life of a child but enhances it with a unique touch. Most children will identify with Esther’s experiences.

Kim Kane was born in London but now resides with her family in Melbourne. 2011 was a big year for her as two of her picture books, Family Forest and Vegetable Ark were recognised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Family Forest was shortlisted for the CBCA award and Vegetable Ark was a CBCA notable book in two separate categories. But those aren’t her only awards. Her first book, Pip: the Story of Olive, received the Barbara Ramsden Award in 2008.

Sara Acton was also born in England and lived in New Zealand before moving to Australia. She now lives near the ocean in New South Wales. She is an award winner in her own right and her work in Esther’s Rainbow illustrates the reason for this. Her book, Ben and Duck, was the winner of the CBCA Crichton Award for new illustrators.

Ann Harth is a published children's author and writing tutor at Australian College of Journalism. She loves to read and is committed to creating children's literature that inspires, entertains and triggers a tiny twist in the mind. Her latest middle-grade novel, The Art of Magic, will be released in 2012.

What Was the War Like, Grandma?

What Was the War Like, Grandma? by Rachel Tonkin (Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 9781922179265
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

With a new edition of this book - the first published in 1995 - opportunity opens for a new generation of readers to learn about WW2 through Emmy’s eyes and voice.

The announcement in 1939 that Australia is at war sets off the informative text and detailed illustrations that take us through the stages of enlistment, brownouts, blackouts, and the air raids at school which force the children into the garden trenches that would hopefully keep them safe.

There is a reality and urgency in every illustrated scene. The expressions on the children’s faces are cheeky and vibrant as we view the antics in the classroom.  Like a movie, the illustrations blast across the page with the narrative attached, through the daily rituals of ordinary people as they adapt and survive through changing times.

There are joyous scenes of children entertaining adults to raise money for the war effort, while rationing governs their lives and recycling becomes an art. But there are always the cunning that used tricks to get things they wanted and couldn’t normally have, like beer.

We learn about the people who were exempt from joining up because of the importance of their work, and the way that women moved into men’s roles such as tram conductors and the land army.

Australians hadn’t heard of hamburgers before the Americans landed and were billeted with families. Because letters were heavily censored, some soldiers would write the name of the place where they were fighting beneath the stamp, and mothers would steam them off to learn where their sons were fighting.

But what is most obvious is that in no matter what situation children found themselves to be, they would always have fun for their inventive minds created new games from their new situations, and play never stopped.

At the end of the book Rachel Tonkin explains how she resourced her information. This is a great learning and teaching tool for readers of all ages, enhanced greatly by the outstanding illustrations that accompany the text.

Fireshadow

Fireshadow by Anthony Eaton (University of Queensland Press)
PB RRP $19.95
ISBN 9780 7022 3381 4
Reviewed by Jo Antareau

Anthony Eaton began the story with a premise that the biggest battles we fight are the internal ones. We meet Vinnie a teenager who has escaped from his life, camping in a remote wilderness. But he cannot escape his memories, his guilt at surviving the accident that killed his sister – and the possibility that he was at fault.

His solitude is broken by another pair of campers, an old man and his granddaughter. Despite his initial resentment, Vinnie is drawn into their world. Erich, the old man, is dying yet is drawn to the remains of a World War II prison camp in the forest.

Erich’s history is gradually revealed in parallel with Vinnie’s. At Vinnie’s age, Erich was a young German soldier, a man whose pride was shattered from being a POW interred in an enemy land, a man determined to continue fighting a battle in the camp the only way he could – by defying the guards. Yet the elderly Australian camp-doctor recognises something in Erich as he takes him on as his assistant, and nurtures his medical skills. Eaton adroitly portrays how kindness eventually wears-down Erich’s stoicism and he comes to trust the doctor and his daughter, Alice.  But a friendship in a POW camp does not go unnoticed, and Erich soon has other battles to fight.

This is a gripping read for Young Adults. Both Vinnie and Erich need to sever themselves from the burden of their own parents’ baggage as both stories reach a climax. Each needs to make a decision to let go of the past and stare-down their own ghosts.  

This book also portrayed a largely forgotten part of Australian history, that Germans POWs were interred in Australia.

First published in 2004, this book was a CBCA Honour Book for older readers. Anthony Eaton has published eleven books for children, young adults and adults.

Wildlife

Wildlife by Fiona Wood (Pan MacMillan)

PB RRP $16.99

ISBN: 9781742612317

Reviewed by Wendy McLean

Fiona Wood started out in life as a script writer, and has written scripts for many well-known TV shows including, Something in the Air, The Secret Life of Us, Home and Away, Neighbours and more recently for The Reef Doctors. Fiona describes her switch from script writer to YA author as ‘more a very lucky accident than a decision.’

I am very grateful for her ‘lucky accident’ because her two YA books, Six Impossible Things and Wildlife, are two of the best examples of contemporary YA fiction I have read. Fiona’s first novel was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers 2011 and with very good reason.

Fiona Wood’s second novel Wildlife, a companion novel to Six Impossible Things, is a fantastic follow on which may even be more powerful than her first novel. Wildlife is set in the Victorian wilderness, where sixteen year old Sibylla Quinn and her peers from Crowthorne Grammar are spending a term at an outdoor education camp. Sibylla is used to blending into the background while Holly, her extroverted best friend, seeks and thrives on attention. The tenuous balance in their friendship shifts the day Sibylla appears on a billboard as the new face for a global advertising company. She attracts attention from her classmates and the most popular boy in Year 10, Ben Capaldi, which she finds confusing and uncomfortable. With this shift in social order, Holly and Sibylla’s friendship is tested, and finally emerges as the toxic relationship it has always been.

Lou (from Six Impossible Things) is new to Crowthorne Grammar, having transferred schools after the accidental death of her boyfriend Fred. While Sibylla is dealing with her new position in the social hierarchy and with friendship and sexuality, Lou is still dealing with her grief and anger. Her only aim is to endure the term and remain separated from her peers while she reconciles her loss. However, the sheer proximity to Sibylla, Holly and the other students forces Lou to engage with them and become embroiled in their relationships. Lou forms a connection with Sibylla’s genius childhood friend Michael and as Sibylla and Lou’s lives become intertwined over the term she realises she can move forward without ever forgetting Fred.

Wildlife covers a number of challenging themes, which are heightened by throwing the characters into a challenging environment. Themes include friendship, love, self-image, sexuality, and grief and loss. Fiona Wood explores these with sensitivity and an authenticity that will make you cry with Lou as she grieves, scream at Holly as she manipulates Sibylla and thank Michael as he leads Lou on the path to recovery.

Wildlife is a both heartaching and heartwarming; it is a story of both loss and love. Fiona Wood has handled these challenging themes with compassion and thoughtfulness, and experience and authenticity. Wildlife is an honest and raw coming of age book that will stand the test of time.

Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the ANZAC Deli

 Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the ANZAC Deli by Nadia Wheatley (Lothian/Hachette)
PB RRP $16.99
ISBN: 9780734413819
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Nadia Wheatley wrote these two excellent books in 1982 and 1984 respectively. They are now considered classics and for this 30^th anniversary edition, Lothian have combined the stories in one book. Five Times Dizzy received the New South Wales Premier’s Special Children’s Book award in 1983. In 1986, it was adapted into a twelve-part television series for children. Dancing in the Anzac Deli was commended in the 1985 Australian Children’s Book of the Year Awards, and in 1986 received the IBBY Honour Diploma for writing.

Inspired by Nadia’s experiences of living in Greece as well as in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, the stories are centred around Mareka and the Wilson kids who live in Smith Street, Newtown. In the first book, Mareka is troubled about her Yaya (grandmother), a short stout lady dressed in black the Greek way, who misses her village in Crete and especially Poppy the goat. When Mareka is not helping out at her dad’s delicatessen, she is pondering what she could do to make Yaya happy. Then there is the rivalry between herself and the Wilson kids who spend their time laughing and whispering about her, especially Patricia who is around the same age as Mareka. Jenny Wilson who is eight likes M’reka but if Mareka plays with her, the others in the gang snigger even more. But their mum is nice and both families want the kids to be friends.

At last Mareka hits on the idea of buying Yaya a goat. She needs to raise the money but her best efforts leave a shortfall. When someone accidentally betrays her secret in front of the Wilsons, it looks as if Mareka’s plan will fail until Mrs Wilson comes up with a great fundraising idea. Not only is it successful but it brings the whole street together. Love and friendship abounds and Mareka and Patricia are wary friends.

Peppered with a lot of Greek words and references, this romp of a story about Greek immigrants adapting to the Australian way of life is inspiring, informative and fun.

Dancing in the Anzac Deli continues the lives of the Smith Street crowd. One morning Mareka comes into the delicatessen to find the window has been smashed and new glass is being installed. Her parents appear tense and unhappy, and a Greek called The Munga, a creepy, sinister man, visits her father and appears to be the reason behind her parents' anxiety.

The Munga works for the Red-Headed Man who wants to take over the delicatessen to use as a second-hand fridge shop. The local councillor, Kyrios Graham, knows he is a bad lot, using the fridge business as a front for other deals - protection money and bribes to name a few. The Red-Headed Man uses The Munga to scare people into doing what he wants, which is why the Anzac Deli's window was smashed.

When the Smith Street children find that the empty Haunted House they play in has been rented out and now has a Trespassers will be Prosecuted sign in the front, they go to see Alderman Graham to plead for his help. But it is hard to find a loop-hole to enable Graham to rid Newtown of the two thugs.

Nadia Wheatley weaves a very enjoyable and action-packed story, giving a wonderful insight into the Nikakis family and their Greek superstitions and tales which the Aussie children of Smith Street find fascinating. One such superstition saves the day, and the whole street rejoices by dancing in the Anzac Deli.

These are two immensely entertaining stories kids will relate to easily and learn about another culture into the bargain.

CBCA 2012 BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has just announced the winners and honour books for 2012. Congratulations to all winners, honour books and those shortlisted. Children's literature is alive and well!


Book of the Year: Older Readers
(These books are for mature readers)

Gardner, Scot The Dead I Know, Allen and Unwin


Honour Books: Older Readers
Condon, Bill A Straight Line to My Heart, Allen and Unwin
Newton, Robert When We Were Two Penguin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)



Book of the Year: Younger Readers
(These books are intended for independent younger readers)

Constable, Kate Crow Country Allen and Unwin


Honour Books: Younger Readers
French, Jackie Nanberry: Black Brother White Angus and Robertson, Harper Collins
Green, Susan The Truth About Verity Sparks Walker Books Australia



Book of the Year: Early Childhood
(Intended for children in the pre-reading to early reading stages)

Bland, Nick, Illus: Freya Blackwood The Runaway Hug Scholastic Press, Scholastic Australia

Honour Books: Early Childhood
Hartnett, Sonya Come Down, Cat! Puffin Books,
Illus: Lucia Masciullo Penguin Group (Australia)
Honey, Elizabeth That's Not a Daffodil! Allen and Unwin


Picture Book of the Year
(Intended for an audience ranging from birth to 18 years. Some books may be for mature readers)
Arranged by Illustrator

Graham, Bob A Bus Called Heaven Walker Books Australia

Honour Books: Picture Book of the Year
Brooks, Ron, Text: Margaret Wild The Dream of the Thylacine Allen and Unwin
Whatley, Bruce, Text: Jackie French Flood Omnibus Books, Scholastic Australia



Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
(Intended for an audience ranging from birth to 18 years range. Some books may be for mature readers)

Lester, Alison and Tulloch, Coral One Small Island Penguin Group (Australia)

Honour Books: Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Do, Anh and Suzanne, Ill. Bruce Whatley, The Little Refugee Allen and Unwin
Qld Art Gallery Surrealism for Kids Qld Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art

In a previous BWB post, I had a stab at picking the winners. See how I did!

Luke’s Way of Looking

Walker Classics: Luke’s Way of Looking by Nadia Wheatley, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 9781921977725
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Reissued through Walker Classics, this is a poignant story with strong themes of a boy who sees the world differently and expresses it through his art. This causes him to be bullied and marginalized by his teacher and peers.

Being different makes Luke an outsider. He can’t explain why he paints things in a way the teacher can’t understand. His classmates mock him and he’s friendless and alone.

Luke decides not to go to school one day. He’s tired of being laughed at and having his brushes broken by his angry teacher. He takes the opposite road and stays on a bus that passes a building which looks different to other buildings from the outside.  When Luke goes in, he feels an immediate affinity with his abstract surroundings.  He wonders what his teacher would think if he could see the different interpretations and styles of painting and art creations. Luke recognizes a separate place where everything his eyes look upon is beautiful.

Overflowing with happiness, Luke sets off for home. The world around him seems changed. The revelation that there is a place where he belongs has made him a new person. He decides to go to afternoon classes. Nothing bad can touch him now. When Luke starts to paint his way, the teacher remains silent.

Matt Ottley has captured the essence of the text, and through his illustrations we can feel the emotions the boy and the teacher are feeling. Its colour-filled covers depict Luke joyously liberated and swinging from a tree branch amidst his abstract art. This was a CBCA Honour Book and is now another classic available again to a new audience of readers.

At the end of the book there is a full page summary of the story by Dr Robin Morrow, President of IBBY Australia. Following is a page each of biographical information on the writer and illustrator.

Whisper

 Whisper by Chrissie Keighery (hardie grant Egmont)
PB RRP $16.95

ISBN:

9781921759321

Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

Whisper has been short-listed for the 2012 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Older Readers. It is easy to see why. Chrissie Keighery has penned a wonderful book about Demi, a girl who has become totally deaf following a vicious bout of meningitis. The whole way Demi experiences life and how she reacts to the world, and how the world reacts to her, has changed.

Keighery's  meticulous research is apparent. She opened up a whole new world to me in her portrayal of the deaf community and its interactions within and with the hearing world. All this is handled perfectly through a range of sympathetic and unsympathetic three-dimensional characters, in both the deaf and hearing worlds.

The strength of the story lies in its depth. It is not merely a story about a girl who goes deaf and how she deals with it. Whisper explores aspects of everyday life for an Australian teenage girl: changing schools, making friends, blossoming love, family friction. These issues are exacerbated by Demi's deafness but her enduring spirit and strength guide her through. Demi also learns that sometimes those that may seem the most privileged may also have their own cross to bear.

Neville No-Phone

    Neville No-Phone by Anna Branford and Kat Chadwick (Walker Books)
PB RRP $15.99
ISBN 9781921529962

Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

It is no wonder that Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot was awarded Honour Book in the Younger Readers category for the 2011 CBCA for Anna Branford has a remarkable ability to tap into the heads of her target readership.

Neville No-Phone is a hilarious account of how Neville and his friend Enzo endeavour to obtain a mobile phone. Neville speaks from the page in this story written in first person, present tense. The boys firstly try to convince their parents that they need a mobile phone since, they claim, everyone else has one. Their efforts are to no avail. When they find a mobile phone left on a seat in a bus shelter it leads them into trouble with their parents, teacher and conscience.

Both Neville and Enzo are wonderful characters. They are fun and inventive and find that having a mobile phone is not all it’s cracked up to be. The story moves from them wanting a device to learning more about communicating with others. The secondary characters, particularly the boys’ parents and Dennis, are full of life and add much to the story.

Kat Chadwick’s numerous black-and-white illustrations capture the mood of the text perfectly. This is a book that younger readers are sure to enjoy.