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Pam Macintyre
Pam Macintyre is the editor of Viewpoint: On Books For Young Adults and teaches in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne.
Most of us have a good bit of ego wrapped up in our children. We want them to do well so that we feel good about ourselves as well as them,’ says the wise and frank Jackie French. Parents walk a fine line between encouragement and pressure. Each of the above books is careful not to let itself fall over that line.
Is Your Child Ready for School? (Sandra Heriot and Ivan Beale, ACER Press, $19.95 ... (read more)
This splash of books demonstrates that the vigorous publishing for the young adult market embraces subjects as varied as mental illness, bullying, sleuthing in medieval times, crime in the present, defending an occupied Australia and two dead mothers; and is written across the genres of realism, fantasy and historical fiction. But how much is enticing to the adolescent reader?
... (read more)
What a pleasure it is be transported from mundane life and traverse the realms of the imaginary with a good guide. Mind you, some guides and imaginations are better than others, and so it is for these four journeys into the fantastic, which cover a variety of treatments, from Isobelle Carmody’s quest fantasy of small creatures, to the parodic melodrama of Gary Crew, to Emily Rodda’s intertwini ... (read more)
Lucy’s parents have separated, and she is off to London to visit her mother and her new family. She is fortunate to be able to fly: the world is in the grip of perpetual rain, and travel is restricted. Some inhabitants have become amphibians; others live in government camps. But Lucy’s fate is rather more intriguing. A cloud boy (seen only by Lucy) appears outside the plane window before being ... (read more)
Learning about the world is one of the great fruits of reading. It can be as much fun as solving a puzzle, provided the information is presented to invite questioning and interpretation. These five attractively produced, accessible books are designed to appeal to their intended audiences, but how well do they avoid the over-simplification that is an inherent danger in tailoring ‘facts’ to the ... (read more)
Not really? Tom Mackee? That boorish, pervy, smart-mouthed Year Eleven boy from Saving Francesca (2004), who offended Tara Finke whenever he opened his mouth, is the central character in Melina Marchetta’s new book. At least he loved music and was not a bad guitarist. Last time we met him, Tom became part of Francesca’s circle at school. Occasionally charming, a dab hand at witty repartee, he ... (read more)
One story about a young disaffected male, and another about a sacrificial female, typify the extremes of the range of material currently being published for young people. Straggler’s Reef, for the younger end of the readership, is a conventional story of the past intersecting with the present to resolve events in both time frames. Karri, her brother Jarrad, and their father are sailing off the c ... (read more)
Lively and cheerful, these three books aimed at young readers are sure to persuade their potential audience that reading is fun, language can be powerful and magical, and life in books is more exciting than the lived version. What more enticing motivations to read can there be for those starting out?
The Lenski Kids and Dracula, originally published in 1992 makes a welcome return in this Aussie B ... (read more)
The Keeper by Rosanne Hawke Lothian, $12.95 pb, 160 pp
Blyton got rid of them, Dahl demonised or mocked them but adults are definitely central in the lives of young people in this recent trio of books for the emerging to the retiring adolescent.
The Keeper (Lothian, $12.95 pb, 160 pp) is aimed at the younger end of adolescence, perhaps written with the view that such readers will be willin ... (read more)