story time books

Diana Wynne Jones has been writing children’s books about magic (including the Chrestomanci  series and the filmed Howl’s Moving Castle) since the 1970s. While fashions have come and gone, and authors like J.K. Rowling have made unimaginable amounts of money, she has written before and after such trends. This is her latest novel,  a lovely stand-alone story with wonderful characters. Andrew Hope, the hero of this story, inherits his magician grandfather’s house and field-of-care. Andrew remembers spending much of his childhood there, but much is also forgotten, and while Andrew is dimly aware of his own magical powers, he hasn’t used them much. Strong-minded and thoroughly eccentric staff try to bend him, and introduce their relatives into the mix, and a 12-year-old boy appears needing refuge from some shadowy threats. Giant vegetables and an oversupply of cauliflower cheese are running gags, and Andrew is a lovely gentle character who almost immediately falls in love with one of the new staff. English eccentricity and magic combine well and Jones is a consummate storyteller with plenty of practice who creates a wonderful consistent slightly alternative reality. Well worth a read, especially for those who don’t like the darkness of Harry Potter. There are villains here, but they are not very scary, being rather more of the bombastic and bumbling variety.

This is a wonderful book. Until now there have been only a few books on fossils for children, and they’ve been written elsewhere, so to have a New Zealand book, especially one as good as this, is great. So congratulations to publishers Random House and authors James Crampton and Marianna Terezow from GNS Science. The book has a very clear introduction to fossils, geological time scales, finding and collection fossils, classification, and how to use the book. Then each chapter covers a site where fossils can be found, with a clear structure within each chapter of: “Where is it?”  “What rocks are there?”  “Where will you find the fossils?” “What fossils will you find?” “How old are the fossils?” and “What did [the site] look like in the [period when the fossils were laid down]?” At the end there are driving instructions for finding each site, map references and a good index. A practical plasticised cover so that the book is protected in the car and backpack is a sensible addition. Beautifully presented, by people who know their subject, and written in a style which is accessible without being dumbed-down, this is an essential addition to the library of fossil hunters, or schools.

The second new Step-by-Step title from Gecko, this one by Michele Mira Pons, illustrated by Marion Puesch, is just as good as the first (see review below), another great combination of easy-to-read text and illustrations which add to the explanation and to the experience. It includes information about where food comes from, food types, likes and dislikes, how taste works, energy balances, history of food, balanced eating and even some recipes. Full of the uncommon sort of common sense, it is an eclectic selection of facts about what we eat. Once again, as good an introduction as I’ve seen of this topic and like The Adventure of Life, should be in every school library.

This is one of two new titles in Gecko Press’s translations of the Step-by-Step series. By Jean-Benoit Durand, with illustrations by Robin Gindre it is an excellent introduction to scientific theories of the origin of the universe and the evolution of life on earth.  Complete with explanatory pictures and graphics, it explains current theories on how life came from simple chemical beginnings to where we are now, and where things might go in the future. By far the best short introduction for children to these subjects I’ve seen, and as with many good children’s books many adults might be enlightened by the chatty explanations of concepts they may have found difficult to grasp.

This is a series for Scholastic by Gabrielle Lord. The first book, January, actually arrived in October or November, and now there’s one every month for the rest of this year. We already have standing orders for every book in the series, an indication that it will probably become more popular as word-of-mouth recommendations take off. Often series start slowly in terms of sales, but pick up momentum as more books are published. In the first book the premise was set up: Callum Ormond is chased by a staggering, sick man who tells him that, “They killed your father. They’ll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days.” It’s a thriller mystery with chases, violence, doubts and fears, so not for the faint-hearted, but it’s very exciting, and there are add-ons like a website where Callum blogs. Each book (so far) is under 200 pages,  with a largish font, numbered from back to front to reinforce the countdown aspect of the plot, and it’s written like a diary with chapter headings for days and subheadings for times within the days. The plot certainly thunders along and there’s plenty of tension, with each book (so far again) finishing on a cliffhanger moment. I think the series will appeal to quite a few who are not regular readers, so it’s well worth a try if you have a slightly reluctant reader who finds many books a little slow.

This is an Australian young adult novel by Casey Lever, apparently her fifth, and it’s a story in which “things are seldom what they seem.”   Steven Byrd is a clever student, but one who is remarkably dumb when it comes to some things. Take his obsession with Avery Adams,  the ice queen who clearly hates him. Avery’s current boyfriend, Connor,  appears to be a bad boy who is rumoured to have spent time in juvenile detention. When Steven discovers they are playing a secret game, he wants in, and takes his Samoan mate Tala along. The fifth player is Connor’s half-sister Jude who appears to be competing with Avery for who hates Steven the most.  The game turns out to be a version of truth and dare, and the five find out quite a lot about each other.  Interesting idea, great execution, and a story which feels very real.  The blurb seems to me to portray things as rather darker and more edgy than they actually turn out to be, and the messages are ultimately positive ones. A good read for secondary age students. Maybe don’t try this at home though.

Volume 2 of this trilogy is just as fast-paced and engaging as the first. Wynter is alone, searching for Prince Alberon so that she can work out what is happening to her beloved kingdom. She meets up again with Razi and Christopher and they travel together, meeting with other bands of travellers.  a lot happens, but little is really resolved, leaving author Celine Kiernan a lot of explanation and tying up of ends in the third volume. There are major issues in this trilogy: power, identity, race and culture are all part of the story, with religion and the treatment of women in there too,  so it’s a sophisticated read good for teenagers and adults. It’s hard to pass real judgement on a trilogy after two volumes, because so much depends on how the threads are pulled together or left to fly in the last installment, but it’s certainly a ripping yarn so far, with characters who have plenty of emotional as well as intellectual complexity, and plenty of themes to ponder. The nearly monochrome covers on the Allen & Unwin editions available here won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I like their understated suggestion a lot.

Des Hunt’s ninth novel is another adventure-based story which will appeal mainly to the boys. Until now one of the features of his books has been the setting in New Zealand places. This one starts in the Coromandel, but moves to tropical Queensland before its halfway point. Luke has never known his father, who left before he was born, but he’s a bit of an internet whizz, and he tracks his Dad down at a resort called The Crocodile Nest at a place called Cape Tribulation. There’s pig hunting, crocodiles, internet scams, and a mild love interest in its very early stages. Another good read for intermediate and junior secondary students.

Yehudit, known to nearly all as Ditty, is a daughter in an ultra-orthodox Jewish family in this Australian novel by Robyn Bavati. Until she is twelve she is the ideal daughter, but when her friend Sarah finds that her mother has a secret vice, a tv set in a cupboard in her bedroom, and they see the Nutcracker ballet, she is torn in two. She wants to be the dutiful daughter she has been, but she needs to dance.  When she tries dancing, the dutiful pull is too gentle, the pull of the dance too strong, and she creates a web of deception to be able to continue. And because her passion and natural ability are so great, and she practises at every opportunity, she becomes very good, very quickly, and has an opportunity to audition for the Australian National Ballet. It’s a beautifully written story, with a real feel of both the Jewish world and the ballet world, and utterly believable characters.  A most impressive first novel. Because Ditty ages from twleve to eighteen in the story it’s really a teenage read, but there’s nothing to stop a younger reader enjoying this too.

Jordan Sonnenblick, author of Notes from the Midnight Driver (reviewed here in May 2008) is the author here, and it’s another very good read. San Lee is a teenager who has moved towns and schools often, and he’s become used to recreating himself in each place. He is adopted,  an Asian with Caucasian parents; his father is in jail;  reality is not all that attractive.  This time though, he doesn’t really make a choice about his identity; a few assumptions by others, a little encouragement of those assumptions, knowledge he has only because he studied the subject at his last school, and he is suddenly seen as a Zen master. Even a girl who seems way out of his normal league is interested in him and gives some pretty good signals, but San is so busy keeping up appearances and trying to keep out of trouble that he doesn’t exactly read things clearly and makes some unjustified assumptions of his own. Sooner or later the castle of lies is going to tumble down, though a lot of library research keeps him ahead for a while,  and when it does he discovers quite a lot more about himself and others.  Very funny,  with wisdom included, for twelve-year-olds and up. Great characters, including the adults, good story and themes, and laugh-aloud funny in many places.