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Margot Hillel

Margot Hillel taught at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.

Margot Hillel reviews 'Joey' by Barry Dickins, 'Looking Out for Ollie' by Sharon Montey, and 'Ghost Train' by Michael Stephens

May 1995, no. 170 26 August 2022
If you want to say something about life to other people, you should tell them a story. – Manning Clark   Writers for children have always known this: from the Puritans who thinly disguised their religious teachings under stories of children who lived a pure life and went to heaven, and those who didn’t and went to hell; to modem writers who tell stories to help children cope with diffi ... (read more)

Margot Hillel reviews 'No-name Bird' by Josef Vondra

April 2000, no. 219 01 April 2000
Given the recent happenings in East Timor, this is a timely novel. It is the moving story of the developing tragedy following the withdrawal of Portugal from its former colony and the invasion by Indonesia. The book is focused through Jose, a fourteen-year-old boy who finds the events puzzling and distressing. He finds some solace in the fighting cock given to him by his uncle, the person he most ... (read more)

Margot Hillel reviews 'Creep Steet' by John Marsden and 'The Secret' by Sophie Masson

July 1996, no. 182 01 July 1996
The two books reviewed here, although very different in many ways, do have one thing in common – they have something to do with a secret, which the readers, and the protagonists, all come to know. Sophie Masson has written a number of books about the Seyrac family, in which she draws on her own French heritage. In this, the fourth, changes come to the family as Maman works to finish her book an ... (read more)