Children's and Young Adult Books
History has never been so much fun,’ says the blurb of one of the books reviewed below. Welcome to the twenty-first century. Work is fun. History is fun. Writing is fun. Writing history must therefore be really fun!
... (read more)Here are five reasons why there is a literacy crisis in Australia. It is not about teacher-training; it’s about appallingly conservative publishing choices and the positioning of ‘reading’ as something that needs to be slipped under the radar of children’s attention, rather than celebrating it as one of life’s biggest adventures. What these novels share is a commitment to sport as a structuring narrative principle. Australian Rules, rugby union, netball, athletics, soccer: the sports and titles change, but the overall arc remains the same. In this respect, these books feel market-driven: generic responses to some global marketing division called ‘encouraging reluctant readers’. While this enterprise is not unworthy, the assumption that children who are not reading will be automatically attracted to novels about organised sport seems dubious.
... (read more)Young Murphy by Gary Crew, illustrated by Mark Wilson & 101 Great Killer Creatures by Paul Holper and Simon Torok, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen
The Astrolabe by Susan Arnott & Our Enemy, My Friend by Jenny Blackman
The authors of these four books use a narrative device common to much fantasy fiction: the notion of quest. Sometimes that quest requires a physical journey, and sometimes it involves searching for something closer to home, but the very process is almost invariably life-changing for the characters involved.
... (read more)Changes in the composition of the family or friendship group are among the most challenging situations to confront children, so it is no surprise that many books for the upper-primary-aged reader address this theme.
... (read more)Katharine England
My favourite books this year have all been tales of self-discovery. I loved the teenage characters emerging from their crude, protective, school-induced carapaces into engaging, tender individuality that Melina Marchetta draws with such affection and humour in Saving Francesca (Viking). I was riveted by the magical adventures, beautifully told, of a nameless Chinese slave girl as she grows into her prestigious and responsible dragon-tending role in Carole Wilkinson’s memorable Dragonkeeper (black dog books); and by the lyrical language and clever interweaving of themes (the horrors of Hiroshima with the power of story and the blessings of friendship) in Kierin Meehan’s Night Singing (Puffin).
... (read more)Archie Fusillo
The following books manage to avoid patronising their intended audience by eschewing proven ‘age-appropriate’ characters and/or sanitised versions of contemporary issues inserted into formulaic plots. Finding Grace (Allen & Unwin), by Alyssa Brugman, balances pathos and drama in telling the story of a young woman, Rachel, who discovers the real meaning of heroism and personal strength when she leaves university to care for car accident victim Grace. Wildlight (Penguin), by David Metzenthen, weaves historical detail, an ear for dialogue, and a keen sense of adventure into a clever story of self-discovery by his illiterate protagonist Dirk Wildlight. Ian Bone’s The Song of an Innocent Bystander (Penguin) grips the reader with the force of its moral and ethical dilemma, while never straying from being a probable story set in a world that is becoming less and less predictable.
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When a children’s picture book first comes into the home, there is no way of telling whether it is going to be ‘the one’ – the one that will be read and reread; that will have pictures drawn about it and songs made up about it; that will be carried around and allowed to spend the night at the end of the bed. There’s no rhyme or reason to it; awards and critical acclaim don’t mean too much. The book is simply chosen, and becomes the centre of the child’s universe for a week, a month – a lifetime.
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