Midget Bones' Diary

Midget Bones' Diary by Robyn Osborne (Puppy Care Education)

PB RRP $31.99

ISBN 9781922187987

Reviewed by Ashling Kwok

Midget Bones' Diary is an unusual book to say the least. It follows the trials and tribulations of 'The Bones' as he adjusts to life outside the animal shelter he has called home for many years. Being fostered and playing happy families was not something Midget had planned on.

Midget isn't a big fan of change and enjoyed his time playing top dog at the shelter. Life with humans was fraught with difficulties and he was unaccustomed to such close human interactions and not prepared to share his new home with a large and unwanted kennel companion from the shelter.

Midget Bones' Diary is written by an award-winning Australian writer and teacher, with an obvious love of dogs. She has had four other books published and is a regular contributor to Dogs’ Life magazine.

This book is suitable for young adult and older readers who enjoy reading amusing animal tales. It is written in a diary entry format and features a full year of entries. The language is simple and suits this style of book which is odd, given that the entries are ‘written’ by a dog.

What bothered me about this book is that Midget Bones was edited with the US market in mind so there is American spelling throughout. If you can get past that, you will probably enjoy reading this original story which is written in a very usual way.

Alice-Miranda 2014 Diary

Alice-Miranda 2014 Diary by Jacqueline Harvey (Random House Australia)
HB RRP $17.95
ISBN 9780857980526
Reviewed by Marian McGuinness

Seeing this gloriously pink 2014 diary sent me searching for my own diary secreted away from prying eyes all those years ago. Mine wasn’t fancy; it was purely for personal, secret thoughts of my life as an eight-year-old. Fans of Alice-Miranda will delight in this hard-back, pink-spotted, gorgeously illustrated A5 diary. Perfect for a Christmas present or for a new start to the school year.

It has a week-by-week calendar for all the special occasions in the year including Australian holiday dates. It is filled with plenty of space for personal details, the reader’s family tree and favourite activities. There are quotes from the Alice-Miranda series, quizzes, drawing instructions and even an “Application for Enrolment” to fill in for Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies. Young diary-keepers can also try their hand at the assortment of recipes, like “Nana Jones’s Marble Cake” and “Easy Spaghetti Bolognaise.”

This beautifully detailed, pink-ribbon-bookmarked diary is just waiting to have a name printed in ‘This Diary Belongs To …”

The Invisible Hero

The Invisible Hero by Elizabeth Fensham (UQP)
PB RRP $19.95
ISBN 9780702238901
Reviewed by Jo Burnell

The Year 9 English and History teachers team up to create a major project with a difference. One Man’s Hero is another’s Villain. Find a hero or villain in history. Look into their actions and motives and explain whether they are a hero or villain to you.

The Invisible Hero is made entirely of student diary entries. Power struggles that pulsate  in the school grounds permeate journal entries. Some students are high achievers with very specific ambitions. Others do the bare minimum to pass, making quick exits to Facebook. Phillip is dyslexic, so his actual entries fill the left page while plain English translations are provided on the right.

The Invisible Hero is a rollercoaster. Conflict and stark contrasts arise at every turn. Even the teachers don’t see eye to eye. One is a merciless bully, the other deeply concerned about all of her charges. Phillip’s struggle to find a place in his world is just one of the major dramas embedded between the pages. No one is going to come out of this class unchanged, but the revelations are not all positive.

The piecemeal nature of diary entries left me hungry for more. My favourite characters had a nasty habit of writing less than I would have liked. Quirky facts about weird people in history was the glue that held The Invisible Hero  together. Who would be perverse enough to murder people to sell their bodies for medical research? What about the bloke who bought the bodies?  Were they considered heroes or villains in their time?

How does that help me understand the good guy that everyone likes who persecutes a select few? The issue of relative good and evil also emerges. One man’s idea of evil can be justified by another as good.

Be warned. I couldn’t put The Invisible Hero down. It got under my skin like an itch that wouldn’t go away until the story was resolved.