Pam Macintyre

Pam Macintyre reviews 'The Keeper' by Rosanne Hawke, 'Wolf on the Fold' by Judith Clarke, and 'Closed, Stranger' by Kate De Goldi

April 2000, no. 219 • 19 September 2022

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)

Pam Macintyre reviews 'Burning for Revenge' by John Marsden

December 1997–January 1998, no. 197 • 01 December 1997

The fifth book in a planned series of seven would not be surprising if it were science fiction or fantasy. But Burning for Revenge is neither, rather its connections are with the much more currently unfashionable genres of adventure and war stories. And what a war adventure series it is. This fifth volume, in hardback, has been on the bestseller lists in this journal and daily newspapers since its ... (read more)

Pam Macintyre reviews 'Preloved' by Shirley Marr, 'Night Beach' by Kirsty Eagar and 'The Messenger Bird' by Rosanne Hawke

July–August 2012, no. 343 • 04 July 2012

Adolescent girls aged sixteen to seventeen are at the centre of these three Young Adult novels: girls whose heightened emotional states prompt supernatural events. Broken families, disconnection from parents, obsession, music, art, and death impel the protagonists to seek solace and healing in the metaphysical. For Shirley Marr (Black Dog Books, $18.95 pb, 272 pp, 9781742031903), it is the Chinese ... (read more)

Pam Macintyre reviews 'Taj and the Great Camel Trek' by Rosanne Hawke

September 2011, no. 334 • 22 August 2011

To make Ernest Giles’s trek across the scrub and desert of southern Australia interesting to younger readers, relate it through the eyes of a young protagonist. It was an inspired choice to invent Taj, twelve-year-old son of the historical figure Saleh Mohamed, Afghan cameleer, and an equally inspired choice to invent Taj’s beloved young camel, Mustara. The love and respect between camel and b ... (read more)

Pam Macintyre reviews 'Good Oil' by Laura Buzo

February 2011, no. 328 • 04 May 2011

There is much to like in this début Young Adult novel: its straightforward storytelling, distinctive central characters, well-tuned adolescent dialogue, and humorous depiction of first love. Fifteen-year-old Amelia attends a girls-onlyschool, has two sisters – one away at university, the other just three years old – and a theatre director father who has a hands-off approach to parenting. Her ... (read more)