story time books

Mandy Hager’s new novel is the first book of a trilogy called Blood of the Lamb. Margaret Mahy’s endorsement on the cover says: “Like 1984 for teenagers – direct, passionate & powerful.” That, and the fact that Mandy won the Esther Glen Medal for Fiction in 2008 with Smashed, set up a fairly high level of expectation for this book, and it doesn’t disappoint. It is a novel about power and control, about hope and courage, about love and loss of innocence, and about a whole lot of other issues, but it carries all those issues easily because of the author’s storytelling and writing skills. When Maryam reaches puberty she has to make the crossing, physical and symbolic, from the world of childhood to the service of adulthood. The people of her small island, Onewere, in the Pacific, know that they have been chosen to survive the catastrophe which destroyed most of earth’s population. But her crossing allows her to see that her people, particularly the women, are being manipulated for the benefit of a small elite whose lust for power is almost unbelievable. She is then faced with a stark choice: to stay and probably die, or to leave behind everything she has been raised to believe. The rest of the story is what happens as a consequence of that choice. It’s a very powerful book, a beautifully written book, one which, like the best of speculative or futuristic fiction  creates an utterly believable world, and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy with impatience. Definitely a teenage/young adult/adult read, with wonderful characters, and a lot of thinking required of the reader.

I don’t usually review a book before I’ve finished reading it, but this is so good I need to talk about it. By Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Millions and Framed, this is even funnier than those two books. It would make a superb read-aloud for anyone from about eight up, and some even younger than that would enjoy the story. Parts of it are very reminiscent (in tone and humour, not subject)  of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with mocking comment on parental expectations.  Liam is twelve, and very tall, so that people often think he is a lot older than he is, especially as he’s starting to sprout facial hair. When he successfully impersonates an adult in one situation, which nearly leads to him driving a Porsche out of a showroom, it leads him to take advantage of that in another situation, and mayhem ensues. As with the author’s previous novels, there’s a lot lurking in the subtext, behind the laugh-out-loud humour, in this case implied comment about parenting and growing up too fast. But it is definitely not a text book, and if there is justice in the literary world this will become a real classic. Now I have to get ready to go home to finish reading it. It’s one of those horrible situations which happens only with the best reads, where I want to know what happens, and read more of it, but I don’t want it to finish. I’ll have more stock by next week, unless everyone else has also discovered how good this is. It also has a striking silver cover which made one customer want to polish the book, so anyone with obsessive compulsive tendencies should avoid this edition.

This is a republication of Tony Ross’s 1982 cautionary tale about a boy who, as the title suggests, is rather naughty. Which is not really a surprise given how dim his parents are. Whenever Nigel is asked to do something he pretends not to hear properly. So when asked to wash the dishes he gives the fishes a clean, and when his mother asks him to get his hat he pretends that he heard “paint the cat.” But one night when his deliberate mishearing has him out until eleven instead of seven, and he falls asleep, the leader of Nightland offers him wishes and then mishears him. When he asks for a golden rose he gets a nose, when he asks that his nose be as it was before the little man hears that he wants his toes to cover more of the floor, until he is a bear with a golden nose and very large feet. After stumbling home he wakes back to normal, and though tempted to collect dogs, he does as he is asked and collects logs from the orchard. Very silly and funny and will be enjoyed by another generation.

If you wanted to compare this book with others, (something I always wonder about the validity and usefulness of) you might say it’s a sort of hybrid of the ideas behind The Boy who cried Wolf and Where the Wild Things Are. This new paperback edition of a picture book by Sarah Garson turns the former on its head when the consequences of not listening to the little boy are visited on his teacher. “Dan Moon was a bit of a dreamer,” the story starts, but by the end of the story we’re not sure whose reality is more real, Dan’s, or his parents’ and teacher’s. Julia Eccleshare’s comment on the back cover says: “Following in the tradition of classics such as Where the Wild Things Are and Not Now, Bernard, Daydream Dan celebrates flights of childish imagination which adults ignore at their peril.” And in a way that seems to happen more easily when the author and illustrator are the same person, much of the story is told by the pictures, with minimal text. Another wonderful picture book celebration of the power of imagination.

“This is the soil/ all dark and deep,/ in Isabella’s garden.” That’s the first line of this lovely picture book  by Glenda Millard and Rebecca Cool, based on the repetition and accumulation (and rhythm and rhyme) of the old This is the House that Jack Built. But it is also a book about the seasons and change, and it diverges from the accumulation of the original after “the mantis that prayed to the moon/ that winter would come never or not quite so soon, ” for Jack Frost spread his mantle of sequins and shimmer,/ and encrusted the garden with glisten and glimmer. / Till all that remained was the well-feathered nest/ that was built by the bird with the scarlet breast/ and a handful of seed for the wild wind to blow./ Enough, just enough, for a garden to grow.”  A wonderful evocation of garden and seasons and cycles, with beautiful illustrations, in hardback, published by Walker Australia at $30. Someone told me about this one after they had heard it enthusiastically  reviewed on the radio, and I’m also very impressed. Anyone who wants to instill in children a love for the changes of the natural world (in its garden form) should share this book with them. Three copies arrived this morning, I’ve shown four people, and three have bought this book.

“One morning bear heard a tap, tap, tapping on his front door,”  begins this delightful picture book written by Bonny Becker and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton. When he opens the door and finds a small mouse he politely points out the notice on his door saying “NO Visitors Allowed” , not so politely tells the mouse “Go away” and closes the door. But this is one very persistent mouse who turns up in the sugar bowl, the bread drawer and the fridge. Even after bear has boarded up the windows, locked the door, blocked the chimney and even plugged the bath, the mouse reappears.  The bear gives in then and has a cup of tea and cheese with the mouse, who watches his tricks, laughs at his jokes, and is generally most attentive. When the mouse says he must be off, the bear begs him to stay, the mouse asks about the sign and the bear tears it down. “Oh that,” says the bear, “That’s for salesmen. Not for friends,” and hand in hand they return inside for more tea. “One lump of sugar or two?”

New in paperback, this novel by Neil Gaiman is unusual, and unusually good. Winner of the Newbery Medal for 2009, illustrated in Chris Riddell’s inimitable style,  it’s one of those wonderful fantasy novels so firmly based in reality that it’s almost impossible not to be carried along into areas which the reader might not otherwise contemplate. Many of the main characters are ghosts, much of the action takes part in a graveyard, there are hauntings and fadings and walking through walls, but it’s all firmly connected to human nature, good and evil, great storytelling and wonderful writing. I’m usually not much of a fan for ghosts and ghouls and suchlike, but this is  a great reading experience.  The Times called it “A memorable, captivating read,” and The Independent on Sunday said: “Deserves to become a classic of children’s writing.”

Book three in the Stone Heart series is now available in paperback, but I can’t find the cover image for it, so no picture, except the hard cover one. I’ve cut and pasted from the review last year:

“The first book, reviewed on this site in November 2007, I thought was very good, the second (July 2008) just as well written and building on the first, but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and the three books together are a terrific achievement. The trilogy has fantastic pace, the characters are as well drawn as any in children’s literature, the battle between good and evil is finely balanced and wonderfully described, and the writing is beautiful. I think this series stands alongside Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy as some of the best writing for children (or anyone else for that matter) of the last few years. It probably won’t be as successful or as widely read as Harry Potter’s story, but it deserves to be. I particularly like that fact that the line between the sides is based on those characters with heart and those without, and many of the minor characters are wonderful. The soldiers, kings and queens, Shackleton, the Black Friar, Spout the gargoyle (the taint who is on the side of the spits), and many others have their own distinctive voices. Charlie Fletcher has a wonderful ear for accents and idiom, and the characters are very well rounded, in spite of many of them being made of stone or bronze. Wonderful stuff, very highly recommended, especially for those who like their fantasy to ring true. I very much hope that Fletcher is writing more for children.”

If you, or someone who loves good writing for children, hasn’t read this series, I suggest they do.

This is a beautiful hardback picture book by Sharon Holt and Brian Lovelock. Holly doesn’t want Mum to go out, but Mum says that Dad will tell her a story, and he says it will be about the night she was born. So Holly starts asking questions: “Did I hatch out of an egg like a chicken?…What if I was a kitten?…What about a baby kangaroo?” and while she continues through a few more animals, Dad explains what would have happened if they had been that animal, then “Your mother didn’t do that.” Finally he explains what did happen the night she was born, and Holly goes happily to sleep, with the last page showing Mum, home again in her going-out coat, and Dad, hugging while looking fondly at the sleeping Holly.  Beautiful story, lovely illustrations, another wonderful picture book from Walker.

This is a hardback picture book from Mallinson Rendel, by Catherine Hannken and Trish Bowles, who also brought us Fiapule a year or two ago. Talia’s story starts on the plane as it lands in Samoa, and she finds the trip she’s been looking forward to isn’t as easy as she imagined: lots of relatives she’s never met and all talking in a language she doesn’t understand. She feels looked at and laughed at and isn’t enjoying it at all until the next day when her cousin takes her swimming in the warm sea and she begins to feel part of her family. Wonderfully warm and gentle in text and illustrations.