Courageous Kids and Their Amazing Adventures

Courageous Kids and Their Amazing Adventures by Stephanie Owen Reeder (NLA) HB RRP $19.99 ISBN 9781922507624

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This is one of the best books for young readers I’ve read in a long time. Based on Owen Reader’s multi-award-winning Heritage Heroes series, it includes incredible true stories of bravery and survival of Australian children. There is, for example, the story of Lennie Gwyther, who, at the age of nine, rode his horse Ginger Mick alone from Leongatha, Victoria, to Sydney, NSW, for the opening in 1932 of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Another story is of 16-year-old Grace Bussell, who, with an Aboriginal man, saved 50 people from drowning after their ship was wrecked in Margaret River, WA in 1876. Altogether there are seven stories of remarkable children in this sturdy book.

Each story is written as fiction in third person, but the stories are based on facts: Owen Reeder obviously spent many hours researching so all the details in the stories are one hundred percent accurate. Accompanying each story are break-out boxes with historical information. At the conclusion of each story is a follow-up ‘What happened to’. For instance, Belinda ‘Bee’ Kay, aged thirteen, who cared for her four siblings for weeks on a deserted island in north-west Tasmania when their parents and younger siblings drowned, never married, and died in a mental health hospital from pneumonia when she was in her 30s.  

At the end of the book there’s a glossary, lists of resources used in compiling the stories, and author notes and acknowledgements. Each of the stories is brilliantly written, packed with details that create vivid images in the reader’s mind. This is an engrossing book which is suitable for readers aged 9+ years. It is highly recommended.

 

 

 

Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt

Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt by Sharon Giltrow (GiltWrote Publishing), RRP $15.00 Junior Fiction ISBN 9-781765-547307

Reviewed by Susan Hancy

Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt is the first book in The Utility Belt Series, self-published by Sharon Giltrow with intriguing illustrations by Thu Vu. Gecko-loving Samara Rubin is about to turn 11, and she has one wish – to be courageous enough to stand up to Toby King, the meanest boy in school. Little does she know that when she receives the curious gift of a utility belt from Uncle Steve for her birthday, she’ll discover the confidence to not allow herself to be bullied.

The utility belt used to belong to Samara’s deceased father, and turning 11 is the age that Uncle Steve and Mum have agreed on for Samara to inherit it. But it’s not just the belt she’s received. To Samara’s and Mum’s surprise, it’s come with a Madagascar Day Gecko, whom Samara names Madi and who guides Samara on how to use the belt.  She has 7 days to use all 11 secret gadgets that it contains – or else! What that “or else” is, is anybody’s guess, but it sounds pretty ominous.

Over the following chapters, the reader is pulled into Samara’s world of 11-year-old life challenges, wondering what Madi is going to recommend as the next utility from the belt, how Samara will decide to use it and how she’ll overcome Toby as her class nemesis. Even though this book is positioned as speculative junior fiction for 6 to 12-year-olds, I think it will be a great read for the 7 to 10-year-old age range of kids who have surpassed typical junior fictions but are not quite ready to take on the length and smaller print size of middle grade fictions. It was a hit with my 9-year-old daughter, who took a sneak peek at the end of the book, which introduces book two of the series about Toby King and his utility belt. That got her – and me – even more curious to find out what is going to transpire between Samara and Toby, why he also has a utility belt, and how his perspective will either confirm or change our opinion of him as the class bully. We can’t wait to read book 2!

The Apothecary

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy (Text)

PB RRP $19.95

ISBN 9781921758171

Reviewed by Nean McKenzie

The Apothecary is a novel for young adults with elements of fantasy, alchemy and adventure. The setting is the early 1950s in a London still recovering from the Second World War and the threat of nuclear weapons now looming. This fast paced and highly imaginative tale has the reader turning pages until the conclusion. Large black and white drawings at the start of each chapter add to the overall appeal of the book.

Janie is fourteen when her parents leave California, under suspicion of being communists. Janie starts her new school in London and quickly meets Benjamin, the son of an apothecary who has been kidnapped. Janie is drawn into a dangerous world where she is pursued by Russian agents anxious to steal an ancient book called the Pharmacopoeia. The kids decipher the Latin in the book and make elixirs to turn them into birds and make themselves invisible. This helps them to allude their trackers.

The Apothecary is also about first love and fitting in. The main character Janie is a brave, admirable heroine and the story exciting. However the events outlined in the story lack credibility in some ways. At the start of the book is a 'note to the reader' from the main character, now grown up. She mentions that she lost her memory and that although she has pieced it all together with the help of her diary, some of what happened seems unbelievable, even to her. Because it is written in first person, the fact that Janie's memory is unreliable could make the whole story less believable for the reader.

The Apothecary has an interesting setting (both time and place) and has likeable, courageous characters. It will appeal to young adults of around ten to fourteen years. 

The Winds of Waa (Nerra: Deep Time Traveller #2)

The Winds of Waa (Nerra: Deep Time Traveller #2) by Tasma Walton, illustrated by Samantha Campbell (Scholastic Australia) PB RRP $15.99 ISBN: 9781761521027

Reviewed by Dannielle Viera

Nerra now knows that she can travel back in time to the Dreaming. So when her great-grandmother’s box of artifacts opens again, she realises that a grand adventure awaits her. In the box, a feathered headband catches her eye. When she puts it on, she is instantly transported to the realm of the Creation Beings. Nerra soon discovers that the evil Devour’ena has returned, and they have captured Waa the Raven. Can Nerra find a way to free Waa and stop the Devour’ena from destroying Country?

Inspired by her Boonwurrung heritage, Tasma Walton’s time-slip tale takes readers aged eight to twelve deep into the heart of the Dreaming. Enthralling Aboriginal language and lore abound, which will appeal to Indigenous and non-Indigenous children alike. Nerra is a clever and courageous Aboriginal heroine, while the Creation Beings – including Bunjil the Eagle and Koonwarra the Swan – are strong and comforting presences in the suspenseful story.

Indigenous illustrator Samantha Campbell brings the characters to life in her detailed pen-and-ink images. Perhaps the most striking is her drawing of Tooradin the Bunyip, a blend of ancient reptiles and emu. Dynamic vignettes and full-page illustrations depict moments of high drama, helping kids visualise the relentless action's elements.

The Winds of Waa is a breath of fresh air in the middle-grade scene. Combining the age-old legends of Aboriginal Australians with the modern idea of time travel, it is an enthralling story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.