Children's and Young Adult Books
Frances Kelly reviews 'Jigsaw Bay' by John Merson and 'Restless: Stories of flight and fear' by Garry Disher
More than ever books on today’s market have strong competition – particularly so if the title is intended for the 10+ reading audience. Publishers of children’s literature are responding to the need to entice a reading audience from the many technological forms of vivid and spectacular entertainment. Jigsaw Bay deserves a mention in this capacity.
The puzzle of Jigsaw Bay begins on an autumn morning as Danny McCall sets off, not to school, but to a secret place on the bay where he is playing truant with Yoko and Sam who will soon be part of the mystery. The plot is a good action one, strongly based in environmental ecology, corruption, and power. Danny, Yoko, and Sam with the help of greenie school teacher Bob and some slick court room tactics eventually win out and the murky details of corruption in Billington are revealed. The ideas in the plot kept me reading to the end of the book which is intended to attract readers by its directness and lack of complexity. I question, however, whether in an effort to succeed, the author has underestimated his audience and with the very best of intentions has ended up short changing readers.
... (read more)Katharine England reviews 'A Dream of Seas' by Lilith Norman and 'The Secret Beach' by Jackie French
Lilith Norman’s exquisite novella was first published in 1978 and was an IBBY Honour Book in 1980. Set in a lovingly realised Bondi, the archetypal seaside suburb, the book packs a huge amount into its seventy-eight pages: life, death, love, grief; a question of focus; and, drawn in spare and beautifully controlled strokes, the disparate two worlds that touch at the shoreline.
... (read more)Stephen Matthews reviews 'The Girl with No Name' by Pat Lowe, 'This Summer Last' by Lee-Anne Levy, 'Jake' by Lee-Anne Levy, 'Spider Mansion' by Caroline Macdonald, and 'The Night Tolkien Died' by Nadia Wheatley
‘Years ago we threw the old didacticism (dowdy morality) out of the window; it has come back in at the door wearing modern dress (smart values) and we do not even recognise it.’ John Rowe Townsend’s words, from more than a quarter of a century ago, retain a fresh ring of truthfulness. I recalled them after reading The Girl with No Name (Puffin, $8.95 pb), Pat Lowe’s first novel for children.
... (read more)Meg Sorensen reviews ‘Hero’ by Allan Baillie, ‘Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo’ by Tim Winton, ‘The Road to Summering’ by Maureen Pople, and ‘Clare Street’ by Nora Dugon
Hero, Allan Baillie’s sixth novel for young readers, shows this seasoned storyteller at his best. Succinct yet incisive, it is a highly disciplined display of how tight technique can turn a single incident into an exciting story. Right from the first line, ‘A single drop of water exploded on Pamela Browning’s open exercise book’, we know we are on the precipice of an event towards which every mumble on the earth and rumble in the sky lead.
... (read more)These books in the Touch the Sun series are very good. But as all reviewers have to do, I will compare. I had three favourites which were, Top-Enders (McPhee Gribble 114 pp, $6.95) by Jennifer Dabbs, Captain Johnno (McPhee Gribble, 122 pp, $6.95 pb) by Rob George, and Peter and Pompey (McPhee Gribble, 114 pp, $6.95 pb) by John Misto. These three books compelled me to read, they were interesting as far as I think it is possible to be when writing for this age group.
... (read more)Margaret Dunkle reviews 'The Lonely Hearts Club' by Robin Klein and Max Dann
Miracles can still happen. Robin Klein and Max Dann, two of the most popular and successful contemporary children’s authors, have combined forces to write a comedy with a boarding school setting which might, just possibly, start a whole new trend in Australian children’s literature.
... (read more)The last time I’d seen this particular Bob was when we were at the school where I had to pretend not to be good at English and French and where he was a bikie and one of the likeable Bad Boys. I’d admired his audacity in running for school prefect and his campaign posters with their slogan ‘VOTE FOR BOB AND YOU WON’T GET DOBBED’.
And here he was at a party almost twenty years later, a taxation officer in a grey suit saying to me ‘And whaddya do for a crust?’ I said, ‘I teach a course in Australian Literature’. ‘Yeah?’ He didn’t sound too surprised. ‘Be a short course, wouldn’t it?’
... (read more)In Australia, few publications regularly review children’s books for the information of the general reader/buyer. ASA chairman, Ken Methold, suggests that Australian writers need to advertise their varied skills and publicise their works. I agree.
... (read more)'The problems of Australian children's book publishing' by Rosalind Price
The problems of children’s book publishing are not really different in kind from those which beset other types of publishing; they are the familiar problems exacerbated by the fact that these books are designed for a group of second-class citizens who, being young and dependent, have little influence on what is produced for them, and little financial clout.
... (read more)Children’s Book Week is traditionally a time to take an overall view of the last year’s output of children’s books. Such an overall view is necessarily superficial but it can be interesting to note the appearance of new authors and illustrators, new themes, or different treatment of old themes. This article will look at the picture books and fiction of the last twelve months.
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