‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler

‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler by Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $15.00 plus $3.00 postage in Australia

EBook $3.00 via Clancy’s blog

ISBN 9780646940571

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Another fantastic piece of work by Clancy Tucker, ‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler is Book 1 in a series about a gutsy fourteen year-old girl called Sam Tyler. She is smart in mind and mouth, but is still grieving for her father who was killed two years ago. This grief won’t allow her to accept Max, who has filled her dad’s place.

When her school mate Zoran is kidnapped and held to ransom, Sam’s life changes drastically. Sam now needs Max’s help. Her investigation into the missing boy’s life gives her a sense of purpose. It fires her up. The kidnapping gives birth to a new relationship between Sam and Max. The shift in Sam’s character is brilliantly built up.

Together with her friends Neve, Tina and Jason, Sam creates a committee to help the police find Zoran. This leads to their community being brought together by the school children to keep the search alive and vivid in people’s minds, and find the missing boy. The group also discover inside themselves hidden strengths that give meaning to their life.

Never one to shirk the hard issues, Clancy Tucker has again addressed powerful themes.  The main one here is missing children. It is tied to threads on teen suicide, bullying and its lasting effects, domestic violence, grief and loss.

This story is fast-paced and full of mystery and as always, comes with strong messages full of optimism and hope. It is aimed at the 8-80 year age group and I can’t wait for Book 2!

Adventure Classics for Boys; Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Kidnapped!

Adventure Classics for Boys; Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Kidnapped!  (Egmont)

HB RRP $19.95

ISBN 978-140525465-6

Reviewed by Lillian Rodrigues-Pang

www.thestoryline.com.au

This book offers three classic adventure stories. It is all boy in presentation with a blue mock cloth cover, a shipwreck image on the front and gold gilding around the edges. It is an attractive hard cover book. The original images are used throughout which are a delight.

A few months ago my son’s teacher suggested he start reading the classics. I gave him Treasure Island after finding it in a second hand bookstore. It began well enough although the language was a major barrier - he came to me so often with English phrases that are out of date and that I had no idea what they meant. Some we looked up, most were too difficult even to guess at and in the end we had to give up on the story. Thankfully this abridged version takes some of the harder classical English out while retaining the feel of the story. The stories are accessible in this format and I am glad as I felt a huge loss at not being able to get through the original.

The first story is Robinson Crusoe. The concept of a shipwreck and living completely alone on an island is one many good tales have come from. If you can put aside the fact that native peoples are portrayed as cannibals and inferior it is a grand adventure tale of survival and determination.

The second story is Treasure Island. I really enjoyed this story. I like the fact that the protagonist is a boy who makes bold decisions. He is wonderfully capable and adventurous and a great judge of character. He fights against the odds and in the end gets a share in the treasure.

The third and final story is Kidnapped. It is an intriguing story that shifts and changes but contains a strong friendship at its core. The story is quick moving and resolves well.

Far Rockaway

Far Rockaway by Charlie Fletcher (Hodder/Hachette)

HB RRP $28.99

ISBN 978 0 340 99732 1

Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Cat Manno and her brother Joe are devoted to their grandfather, Victor Manno who encouraged a love of reading by giving Cat old classics for Christmas and birthdays, but Cat wasn't really interested until Victor visited each summer and read the novels out loud. Suddenly Kidnapped, The Last of the Mohicans and Treasure Island are transformed in a far more lively way than the old-fashioned style in which they are written. When the children visited Victor in New York he took them to museums by subway train, and said that one day they should all go to the end of the line to Far Rockaway. It hasn’t happened yet.

But now the children are a lot older, Joe has become independent and when Cat and her parents next arrive in New York she finds Joe has already visited Far Rockaway on a gig with his band. Cat is upset as she thought Joe, Victor and herself would go together. She is also worried about a lie she told Victor, that she had read The Three Musketeers, his latest gift. She tries unsuccessfully to get out of going to Far Rockaway by train with Victor because she knows she will be found out when she can’t talk about the characters in the story. A trip has been arranged for the following day.

While walking in the city, the troubled Cat lags behind her parents and Victor and tries to contact Joe on her smart-phone. When there is no answer, Cat decides now would be a good time to Google The Three Musketeers to learn about Milady, a character in the story whom Victor has mentioned. Concentrating, she steps off the kerb and into the path of a fire truck. Victor leaps to push her out of the way, but they are both mown down and taken to hospital. Cat is in a critical condition with head injuries, and her grandfather’s legs and chest have been crushed.

Cat enters another world where she has to fight for her life and that of Victor against the evil Magua, and is helped by Chingachook, characters in The Last of the Mohicans. Her battle is fought on parallel lines to what is happening to her in hospital. Each time she overcomes, her condition also improves, and when she is in deep trouble, complications threaten in the natural world, as she fights for her life. Cat’s other-world battles continue alongside the heroes and villains of the rest of the classics read by her grandfather.

It isn’t until Cat faces her arch enemy, the Magua, and saves herself, rather than relying on help, that her battle is over. The result is reflected in real life and the hospital team know that she will recover. Much later, in memory of Victor, Cat and Joe at last travel to Far Rockaway together.

I found this 400+ page book challenging. It is extremely detailed, with many facets which make it a complicated read. Despite the story having a courageous female protagonist, it is essentially a very masculine, swashbuckling tale in part, and the reality side depicting a hospital operating emergency and treatment is bluntly expressed. Will girls love it? I’m not sure. Nevertheless, Far Rockaway is a first-rate adventure, with plenty of gripping moments and imaginative escapades. The loss of Victor is handled well. Determined readers of both genders should find this novel well worth the effort.