When I’m Shining with Joy by Wendy Mason and Lisa Maravelis, illustrated by Kayleen West (Kids Light Up) PB   RRP $12.90 ISBN 978-0-6482065-0-7

Reviewed by Stacey Gladman

When I’m Shining with Joy is a young children’s book designed essentially to put a face to joy. The authors describe joy as a ‘stable emotion that is a deeper sense of contentment than happiness. Joy allows one’s true self to shine through’ and work through how joy feels like, and how you look with joy in your heart.

On the flip side, it also describes what it feels not to have joy and how it can impact on your life - for example, “when I feel grumpy or sad/ then I just cannot see/ the light has turned off/ and joy fades from me”.

When I’m Shining with Joy is all about teaching children to find the inner joy in themselves. It uses the descriptor of a switch within oneself and using it to turn on the lights to find joy again if life gets you down. 

The story is easy to relate to and a cute way to teach children about inner resilience. The imagery is also sweet and eye-catching; I think the use of bears was a nice touch to tell the story. This is fantastic learning tool for young children, and adults alike who may need a reminder to shine bright.

Hell and High Water

Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman (Walker Books)

PB RRP $17.99

ISBN 9781406366914

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

The brilliant Buffalo Soldier won Tanya Landman the Carnegie Medal. Here is an equally brilliant and exciting adventure in three parts, about courage, resilience and race, and secrets and truths.

Fifteen year old Caleb is the dark-skinned son of a fair-skinned man. Pa protects Caleb from the racist attacks he frequently faces. All that Caleb knows about his mother is that she died at childbirth. In fact Pa has shared very little about his own life. They are a loving pair that wants nothing more than what they have.

The two make their living by travelling through the country with a wagonload of hand-made Punch and Judy puppets, entertaining crowds.

Pa is set up and arrested for theft. He is taken to jail and condemned to seven years in America. Caleb must reach his aunt Anne, a person he has never heard mentioned before.

In Tawpuddle, Anne lives a frugal life as a dressmaker with her young daughter and stepdaughter Letty, while her husband is at sea. Another mouth to feed is the last thing they need.

‘It’s astonishing what a person can get used to if their circumstances change’, Anne tells Caleb. His sewing skills come in handy when he can’t find work in the poverty-stricken town due to his colour.

When Caleb finds Pa’s body washed up on the beach, slowly secrets and truths are unwrapped.  Caleb and Letty are determined to discover the real story behind the treachery and lies they have been forced to accept as truth. But he is surrounded by corruption and deceit and can find no justice. Who can be trusted when no one is who they appear to be?

Yet his strong sense of right and wrong learnt from his Pa never wavers. His belief in truth as its own reward is what keeps him from giving up.

Tanya Landman has the ability to create characters that readers immediately fall in love with. Their situations are carefully crafted individual storylines that weave into a larger story that continues to expand. Once you’ve read her work, you will never forget it.

Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars

Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars by Martine Murray (Text Publishing) PB RRP $14.99

ISBN 9781925240085

Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald

‘Imagine if you were never scared of falling, how much higher you might climb …. Or if you weren’t afraid of being clumsy and awkward, how much more gracefully you might dance’

I really enjoyed reading this book. Martine Murray has a gentle style that is sprinkled with her own delightful and surprising use of language.

For example-

‘Life was a jagged dance of joys and sorrows, up and then down and sometimes in knots or jolts or dizzying rushes over or around again.’ (P153)

Molly’s mum has a wonderfully free spirit. She likes to gather wild herbs deep in the woods and mix mysterious magic potions. Their house is coloured with Persian carpets, billowy curtains, candles, pot plants and brightly patterned cushions.

Molly’s dad and her two older twin brothers are ‘off having adventures’ in exotic countries with names like Morocco, Madagascar and Cuba.

Molly’s best friend Ellen Palmer lives in a tidy red brick house with a ‘normal’ mother, father and brother. They have a neat yard, a dishwasher, a trampoline and they eat delicious food that comes in packets.

How Molly wishes she had a ‘normal family’ like Ellen.

Next door to Molly and her mum live some terrible neighbours - Prudence and Ernest Grimshaw. When the Grimshaws threaten to kill Molly’s rooster, something has to be done.

Molly’s mum decides to grow a fast-growing tree for privacy. She concocts a potion to make the tree grow faster. But the magic goes seriously wrong. Molly must work out a way to save her mum from a most unusual situation.  Luckily Molly develops a special friendship with a young boy named Pim- and together with Ellen they work together find a solution.

Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars is about friendship, family, resilience and the power of appreciating life in a world that glitters with curiosity and wonder. I recommend this book to kids who like to read stories that sparkle.